Medical Assistance

Posted on 01 Oct 2014 @ 6:15am by Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim
Edited on on 02 Oct 2014 @ 5:43am

1,475 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galielo: Deck 5 Holodeck Triage
Timeline: MD 09 1632

[ON]

Dea had reached a point she couldn't stand it anymore. To deal with the situation she located Allyndra. "Doctor I'm sorry to bother you." Mialin hoped she'd start to feel better soon.

Between her own injury, and wanting to handle the others it had been a seemingly never ending day. Allyndra was tired, hurt and hungry but patients and others came first. She had not see Lamar in a long while and wondered if he even remembered her at this point.

When Dea had contacted her she had responded to meet in the holodeck triage unit. Main sickbay was still occupied but the triage was about empty and ready to shut down. Allyndra thought it would be a bit more private and less hectic then the semi-chaos that still stirred the main one.

She waited and then holodeck doors opened and she beckoned with her ruined left hand. "Come on in," Allyndra called.

Entering the holodeck, "I know you're feeling as lousy as I am so I sincerely appreciate it. My head is throbbing and its a miracle I didn't deck my Flight Control Cadet during a department meeting earlier today. Despite my telling them I'm not 100% he hasn't learned when to back off. At the moment I'm more concerned with what that thing did to me."

"Understood, when I first looked it appeared that all your synapses overloaded. Let's get a better look shall we and see if any permanent damage." Allyndra patted one of the holodeck biobeds.

Dea took a seat then eased herself into a laying position. "Yeah I'd like to know there hasn't been. It was an unpleasant enough experience without worrying about that possibility."

Allyndra nodded and began a detailed scan of Dea's head. "Hmm......looks like there has been some stress in the pre-frontal area. Most the limbic," Allyndra pointed to her own head on the side, "like the amygdala and other parts seem to be alright. Sit up for a moment," Allyndra asked.

Shifting herself into a seated position Dea inquired, "So what exactly does that mean Doctor? What damage did that thing do?" Being vulnerable was not something Dea enjoyed.

"There has been some damage and the most obvious of which is your probably going to experience headaches for quite awhile. There are foci that are hurt. I think those will go away but some could be pretty bad at times. What has me concerned is that this area is part of forming short term memory. Would you mind taking a test?"

Dea nodded, "NoI just want to get to the bottom of this. Please say that the short term memory issue isn't permanent." Currently she tried not to think the worst.


Allyndra began with a serious of questions. At first they were simple things like your name, the current date then progressed into asking questions that involved more detailed instructions. There were even a series of pictures and drawing tasks.

To the best of her ability Dea tried to answer the questions. Some were right while other she knew were not. Frustrated by her response to things she should know.
The expression on her face when she met Allyndra's gaze said it all. "I didn't get the color of the numbers," Dea asked, "So whats the next step Doctor?"


It took a little time but when the SAGE test was finished Allyndra looked at the results. "It would appear you have some short term memory loss. How about your general feeling? Headaches? Odd sensations?"

Dea watched Allyandra closely worried about what the Chief Medical Officer had just said. "Well other than the headaches I mentioned already. Its safe to say I'm feeling sore and beat up as a result of the previous battle then the fall prior to my contact with those creatures."

Allyndra nodded and then something Dea had said about the test finally filtered in. Colours of the numbers Dea had said, there were no colours involved. Allyndra's mind finally clicked.

"Dea, I am going to show you a series of colours tell me what you see," Allyndra set up a PADD with a random series of colours red, blue, green, yellow and then played them.

Carefully Dea looked at the PADD, "8, 2, 5, 1." Growing more concerned though nothing had Allyndra hadn't officially said anything more yet. Turning her attention back to the CMO.

Allyndra sat back. This was synesthesia, where one cognitive pathway was leading to another. So far Dea had responded with a chromasynesthesia in which colours corresponded to numbers. How much more there was she needed to find out.

"I am going to say a series of numbers tell me what you perceive," Allyndra said and then started. "One, Three, Two, Five, Four," it was a simple series.

"Close, too far away, overlapping, close, too far away," Dea answered. Then recalled the monitor Mott had fitted her with. "Dr Mott said I should wear this..."As she went to show Allyndra the device she got distracted by a odd sensation. Instead of pointing to the device Mialin reached to grab her other hand. Yet Dea knew she had not injured it as far as she knew. "Please tell me what I'm experiencing is not permanent?"

Spatial synesthesia, mirror-touch synesthesia and who knew what else. It was most intriguing and unfortunately she did not have an answer to the question. She blinked in that slow way her race had when confronted with a problem and finally spoke.

"These are all forms of synesthesia. Whatever happened down there, it seems as if the experience has caused several cognitive pathways to overlap. Perhaps as a way of communicating from those non-corporal creatures I am not sure. Now as to your question, I do not know. I think the headaches will go away, the short term memory formation problem is not severe and will probably mend but synesthesia is a still little understood phenomenon. I will warn you that given the multiple ones you have demonstrated that sometimes sounds or visual clues can elicit highly emotional responses. So far you have not demonstrated any of that but just thought you should know. I could give you some medications but they would have the effect of taking you off duty and pretty much just make you lethargic and still not really help the problem. At this point I am going to have to say we will have to see if this goes away naturally and perhaps test again later." Allyndra gave her synopsis and diagnosis. She indicated the box and added, "That will tell us if there has been damage to a particular section that normally suppresses one acting out in dreams. I am concerned that if that persists along with the synesthesia that you might have to be taken off duty." Allyndra added mentally, "permanently."

"Things seem better today than they were yesterday and I honestly don't recall suddenly waking up last night to find myself attempting to do something that didn't make sense. I sincerely hope that I don't have to be taken off duty. Starfleet is everything I've worked for," Dea responded. In fact it was her entire life. "So how soon will be know if this is just temporary as well?"

Allyndra nodded. "Well we have figured out what has happened. Now we just have to hope that it is not permanent. Just be aware that odd things may happen to you for a bit alright?"

"I'll do my best Doctor," Dea didn't like the fact there were no solid answers right now. Acknowledging Allyndra's comment with a nod, "Yes I can't ignore the fact some strange things are happening."

"Perhaps it might not be so wise to volunteer the next time, though I can not fault the curiosity," Allyndra said with a genuine smile. "Now if you feel you need to, report to sickbay immediately. Otherwise, let's do another assessment in a few days alright?"

Slowly Dea nodded, "Yeah though I wouldn't exactly outright call it volunteering. More like trying to protect others from having to be the lab rat. Its part of my leadership style. Not subjecting others to something I wouldn't do myself but also realizing that we probably couldn't just run away from this one." Dea paused, "I'll keep that in mind thank you Doctor."

Allyndra nodded. "I wish I could more but I can't except to issue a be careful. I am still not sure just how cognitive systems are overlapping or linked."

Meeting Allyndra's gaze Dea commented, "Thank you for seeing me Doctor. I know you've had a tough as well."

"Nowhere near as bad and..." she held up her hand and looked sheepish, "between you and I, reallly, it will grow back."

[OFF]

LTCMDR Dea Mialin
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

Lt Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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