Psilosynine

Posted on Tue Nov 5th, 2019 @ 3:23am by Lieutenant Commander Sawbones & Commander Sherwin Porter & Lieutenant Commander T'Lisha "Hawkeye" Bishara & Patton O'Sullivan & Lieutenant Gareb th'Endilev
Edited on on Thu Jan 2nd, 2020 @ 5:10pm

1,372 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Atlantis
Location: Sickbay, Starfleet One
Timeline: 2429-12-03, 20:30

Sawbones looked at his reflection in the mirror of the locker room of the Sickbay complex thinking about the duality that was his life. Right now Starfleet One hovered in orbit of a replica of Earth and it had had more than its fair share of effect upon the crew of the ship. While this was a vessel of exploration and was supposed to be away from home for long periods of time, it had become his experience that many amongst the crew longed for Earth more often than naught. Today had proved that. Several members of the crew had come in for treatments that were, more or less, homesickness. They had of course treated them and sent them on their merry way, but it was indicative of a larger problem.

But who was he to question duality. He was, in the end, nothing more than a hologram. An advancement over the first generation, Sawbones was not an Emergency Medical Hologram. He was the next step of it, designed for long term functions where a normal doctor may not always apply. He was a Long Term Medical Hologram. Designed to be a full member of a starship medical staff, Sawbones had been designed as a perfect replica of one of Starfleet's most famous physicians: Leonard McCoy.

Walking through the Sickbay Complex he was about to deactivate for the evening when he heard the doors open.

Patton came into the room, along side Rigby. He was going to keep a careful eye on her. She was hearing music, who knew what was affecting her.

Sawbones joined the new arrivals, "How can I help you today?" As he said it he heard the transporter beam sending Commander Bishara to sickbay from the Bridge.

T'Lisha was beamed to sickbay and not long after she started to come around. The music was playing over and over in her head. Maybe if the tones would stop her head wouldn't hurt so bad but they just kept getting louder and louder. "Oh make it STOP !!!!! Neu......neural...blocker.....ARGH!!!!!! My Hea.....", falls unconscious again.

=^= Medical, Bridge, Commander Bishara suffered a collapse from an outside influence, sending bridge recording of the last two minutes for your edification. Bridge out.=^=

“We need to figure out what is causing this!” Patton growled. “Before it becomes an epidemic.”

The CMO was behind him. "Easy, Commander," Porter told the Officer, "even though we don't know the source, we have a treatment." Help them onto the biobeds," he ordered as he readied two neural blocker vials.

Patton went to work helping get them ready to be treated. He was glad to hear they would be back to normal before long.

Sawbones typed on the control panel as they clamshell rose around their patients. He interfaced with the autodoc functions as the medical scans started to engage. The replica of Leonard McCoy spoke, "Fascinating." Even though he was a facsimile saying the famous line of Commander Spock made him smirk for a moment.

The CMO's lips curled up slightly at the hologram's adjective. Even after all these years, he was still impressed that the computer could manifest 'surprise' when diagnosing a medical condition. Whomever programmed him really had done a fantastic job of adding McCoy's idiosyncrasies. "And what do you find 'fascinating, Sawbones?"

Gareb rounded a corner out of a lab at the last bit. "Fascinating?" The Andorian said. "Now I listen.'

"I'm detecting traces of Psilosynine in the patients," the hologram informed. "For Commander Bishara we can expect such things as she is a telepath due to her Betazoid/Vulcan origins. Commander Rigby is unusual as she's Human."

“Can you treat them,” Patton asked quickly. “And why some and not others?”

Sawbones looked at the other Medical Officers waiting for their answer to the question.

O’Sullivan thought they all probably wished he would be quiet. He was here to guard them but he had never been one to keep his mouth shut if he had questions.

"Yes," Sherwin answered as he injected Bishara first with the neurotransmitter inhibitor, "at least temporarily. This should lessen the symptoms for awhile. As Sawbones mentioned, Psilosynine is more common in telepathic and empathic species such as mine and Commander Bishara’s."

He looked over at Counselor, "because this transmitter has not previously been a part of Commander Rigby's system, the inhibitor isn't working perfectly. Additionally, whatever is creating the Psilosynine in a Human brain and augmenting it in a brain that already has it is strong enough that it may have the capability of becoming stronger than and overcoming the inhibitor."

As he was talking, his own logic began to concern him. "It's possible that if this doesn't stop or becomes more prominent, it may affect more and more members of the crew."

"So is there a way we can at least make a vaccine or device to protect the crew?" Gareb asked.

The CMO tapped his chin with his finger. “It may be possible, but in order to do that we’d first have to know what is and how it is causing the chemical changes in the brain. Creating a neurotransmitter out of nothing has to come from some sort of advanced technology.”

“Any ideas to find that information out?” Patton asked, his eyes were on protecting the victims while listening to the conversation.

The hologram stood at the workstation, bringing up the sensor feeds from outside the ship. "Perhaps our answer is on the Preserver ship? Surely they have advanced medical technology aboard, it would be reasonable to assume that they are somehow involved."

“So we go and find out,” Patton interjected. “I can have someone here in a heartbeat to babysit. I am more than willing to go help find a cure.”

"We're sure you are, Commander," Sawbones answered from the panel. "But the question is will the Preservers be welcome to our advances aboard their ship? The last time we encountered them things weren't so cozy and I cannot connect to Galatea right now so that could mean our systems are being interfered with."

“What other options do we have,” Patton demanded. “We need to help our people.” He wasn’t trying to argue, he was just trying to help the crew.”

T'Rylea groaned and moved on the bio bed again.

"I'm in agreement with Commander Sullivan. The CMO looked at the medical hologram, "I don't even need an extrapolation program to know the potential devastation this could have. If you are able to contact the Admiral," he said in reference to the interference, please, please inform him of the situation and that I am formally recommending an investigation of the Preserver ship to determine the cause of this."

T'Lisha groaned again, "Oh.....god what happened? The tones and the music stopped? Or did you give me a neural blocker?", she said massaging her temples.

Before Sawbones could answer the hologram shimmered out of existence.

“What is going on here!” Patton growled. “Why did he disappear!” He had a bad feeling like the hologram was shut down by foul play.

Throughout Sickbay the display monitors started to flicker and show static around them.

Patton moved closer and pressed his com. “We are experiencing some power issues in sickbay.”

"Commander," it was the voice of the Admiral on the other end, "We are experiencing some computer issues at the moment. I am ordering the ship to Red Alert and all nonessential personnel to their quarters. Return to the Bridge and alert the Chief Medical Officer that I will want him at a Briefing to occur at 21:00 hours."

Patton turned to Rigby. “The Admiral is holding a briefing at 21:00, he wants you there. I have been ordered to the bridge.” O’Sullivan headed on his way, concerned about what was going on.

The CMO looked down at Counselor Rigby, who was still on the table. "You may come to the Briefing if you're feeling better and your levels stabilize," Porter said. "I'll be there with you," Sherwin added before instructing a nearby nurse to monitor Rigby's vitals.

"Let me know immediately if anything changes here," he instructed the others before he went back to his office to ready his report for the Briefing.

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