Tribble Cogitation

Posted on 03 Aug 2014 @ 1:44pm by Commander Andreus Kohl & M'Ressa

717 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Multi-Purpose Lab
Timeline: MD 07 - 1620 hours

[ON]

"If you had seven industrial replicators, the entire Starfleet Corps of Engineers at your beck and call, and twelve hyposprays filled with stimulants to keep you focused," asked Andeus Kohl, "how would you track down every last Tribble on board this little ship?"

"Evacuate the ship and fumigate the entire thing with some sort of tribble specific poison?" M'Ressa remarked. "Better yet, we could engineer a virus that tags tribbles with a unique signature of some kind that the sensors can find and the transporters lock on to. The real question tho is how do you avoid killing them if possible?"

"Well, let's not worry overly much about the little details of life and death. At least not yet," Kohl said in a fit of morbid encouragement. He was pacing around the central LCARS workstation, and then he perched himself on a stool. "Let's pull that thread a little further. What all can the transporters lock onto these days?"

M'Ressa joined Kohl at the LCARS terminal. "Given the lack of environmental interference, the targeting scanners I've seen can do some incredible work. The labs on earth I worked at used them to continuously scan the environment for pathogens we were engineering and could pluck them out of the air. That and being able to isolate samples from inside tissues. We could quite literally beam out individual cells, even structures within the cell if required."

M'Ressa crossed her arms. "So what is unique about a tribble that the sensors can detect? Or can we introduce a food source into their environment that tags them with some compound our scanners can pickup? If engineering can shrink the pattern enhancers, could we use those as perimeter devices around key systems? They cross a boundary line the transporters triggers?"

Sharing a smile with M'Ressa, Kohl nodded and he said, "Oh, yes, I like that very much." He returned his hands and his gaze on the LCARS panel, and he asked the computer to show him a list of compounds the Galileo's transporter can discreetly identify, but which cannot currently be found aboard Galileo's, nor any of her passengers. At first pass, a list of several hundred compounds populated his display. "Those little buggers sure love to eat," Kohl said, continuing to effuse over M'Ressa's idea. "Might as well use it against them."

M'Ressa pulled up the data Kohl was looking at. Being a Biotechnologist, designing new compounds was right up her alley. "We should probably start by eliminating any compounds toxic to humanoids by either touch, ingestion, or inhalation."

"Safety considerations," Kohl said. He managed to sound impressed and embarrassed at the same time. With the computer's aid, he narrowed down the list according to M'Ressa's recommendation. "You'd think the nurse would have thought of that first, huh? Probably ought to rule out anything that simply can't be combined into solid food, or would be obviously distasteful to a Tribble's palate."

"That as well. Can we include programmed nanites to the list or is that a bit too far gone? Nanites could be programmed to invade the little critters, tag them with one of these compounds, and perhaps even sterilize them in the process."

"I can't actually promise you seven industrial replicators," Kohl remarked, "but it's not blue sky thinking if we're keeping anything off the list. I've used surgical nanites with reliable results in Sickbay... If they work on humanoids, why not on Tribbles?"

"Delivery mechanism is the key. Environmental system is the most widespread but what about stray nanites? Program in a terminator routine?"

"Uhhh, yes. A terminator routine would be mandatory," Kohl said, entirely enthusiastically. He jumped up from his chair, after the chronometer on his PADD began to chime. "You keep planning the big ideas, big thoughts. Send me a list! I'll... well, I'll sort out the resources."

M'Ressa nodded. She was still feeling the after affects of the sedative the doctor had given her that morning after she broke down in the transporter room, but being back in the lab and not in that damned suit (underground to boot) was a relief, and something she hoped to never repeat.


[OFF]

Lieutenant Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

M'Ressa
Biotechnologist
USS Galileo

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