Solar eclipse
Posted on Sun Dec 1st, 2019 @ 7:04am by Lieutenant Sandra Adamson
Mission:
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD 06 0200
2117 words - 4.2 OF Standard Post Measure
Previously:
"Dr Adamson" she said, sitting up on the bed, and only now fully realizing that it was the chief medical officer. "We have a mission. I... need a solution, that won't make me, um, what is the human word? Wandy?" she asked questioningly. She'd heard the word 'wonky' at Academy, but it hadn't quite stuck. She liked to use human slang when she could, but wasn't always the best at it.
"Wandy?" Sandy tried to understand what the counselor tried to say, but in that context, "Oh, you mean wonky." She chuckled. "Well, what I gave you is suppressing the headache and any symptoms of migraine. But I can't guarantee you're going to go wonky. I can't..." She started blinking on and off. As her vision turned back to normal she continued, "We are working on a solution to disable the devices, but we need to make it safe." She turned around as her vision blurred out.
She reached for the trolley next to the biobed and fell over pushing the trolly forward and dropping all the stuff from it. She looked shaking at her hands. But the blur disappeared and everything turned pitch black. "Counselor, get doctor Sekat immediately." She looked around panicking, trying to remember where the counselor was. She didn't see anything, she lost her vision.
One of the night nurses had helped Sandy on the biobed. This was a strange sensation to her and it scared her as well. She had always been scared of the dark and now everything was dark. And now, that's all she saw around her, total darkness. She did hear sounds around her. Maybe it was the nurse. She wasn't sure. She kept moving her head around. She was breathing heavily. She seemed calm still on the outside, but she was really panicking on the inside. She hoped Sekat would be here soon. "Nurse?" she called out, "Is Doctor Sekat here?"
As soon as a patient was brought in, Sekat was already moving towards the bed. He froze however, when he recognized the voice as his name was called. "Call Doctor Stark," he ordered immediately as he continued forward. As they were romantically involved, he was disqualified from treating her.
"I am here," he said softly as he reached the bed and took her hand within his. "Are you ill? What is wrong?" The worry was etched in his face as he held her hand.
Sandy felt the touch of his hand and calmed down a little. She turned into his general direction, but didn't look straight at him. But it was obvious when looking at her eyes. Her deep blue eyes, turned in to pale light blue. She swallowed and said, "Sekat, I am blind."
The Vulcan held back a gasp, but held his breath nonetheless. "How did that happen?" he asked, moving to sit beside her on the bed and hold her in his arms. With being blind, he knew she must be terrified as her whole world had gone dark. The very darkness she feared. "How can I help?" he asked almost without pause to his prior question.
"I don't know, I was helping Lieutenant Kelris, and as I determined the cause of her migraine, my vision blurred a second," She tried to breath normally. "And all of a sudden I went blind. The darkness faded in and I was also disorientated." She sighed deeply, "It is possible I got the same kind of device in my brain. I am worried, Sekat."
"That is entirely possible," the Vulcan mused as he held her close to him. "We will wait for Doctor Stark and she will give you a full assessment. As your partner I really should not be performing any medical procedures on you. My opinions may be considered biased." He squeezed her hand. "However I am not going anyhwere, and you know you can rely on me."
Natasha walked briskly through the Sickbay doors and looked around until her eyes fell on Dr. Sekat sitting on one of the beds with a patient...no, with Dr. Adamson.
"Dr. Adamson," she said, stepping forward and giving her a cursory once over, checking for any bleeding, missing limbs, etc. Okay, so it's not an immediate danger, that's good. She came over for a closer look and her eyes widened as she noticed the doctor's vacant stare.
Oh. Oh no. Natasha bit her lip, thinking for a moment, then turned to Sekat and said. "She's blind, right? Do you think maybe it's another implant?"
"Yes she is blind," Sekat answered, "whether it is an implant, we do not know. I felt that you should be doing these examinations as I should not examine my own partner." Still holding Sandra's hand, Sekat slid off the bed. "Doctor Stark will need to perform scans, readings will be beter if mine do not polute them. I will be close," he promised.
Wordlessly, Natasha nodded and turned to one of the nurses nearby. "Please prep the scanner to receive Dr. Adamson, I want to get started immediately." She turned back to the doctor. "Dr. Adamson, I am officially placing you on medical leave until further notice. I promise to get to the bottom of all of this ASAP." She walked to the doctor's side, PADD in hand and hypospray in hand. "So first, we're going to take some scans. I want to be sure that I can examine you properly without putting you at further risk."
Sandy panicked on the inside when Sekat walked away from her. She sighed and turned to where she thought Natasha was. "I know how this works, doctor, I am a doctor myself." She lay down on her back. "Please keep talking to me, so I know everything is alright." Sandy hated all this. She was getting over her fear of the darkness and now her eyes failed her and darkness was all she saw.
Sekat hadn't gone far though, he was still within reach. "I am right here Sandra," he told her, "as soon as the scan is done, I am within reach. Just reach out, and I am here." He could sense her almost overwhelming fear, so he turned his head towards the new doctor. "She is afraid of darkness," he told her, "being blind is utterly terrifying for her."
Natasha nodded at Sekat and looked down at Dr. Adamson. "I promise to make this as quick as I can, Doctor. Don't hesitate to let me know if you need anything." That being said, Natasha indicated to one of the nurses to watch vitals and began the scan.
Sandy lay on the bio bed and stared up the ceiling with vacant eyes. She bit her lip. And even though she was blind, she could still cry somehow. Not the sobbing kind, but she could feel tears form in the corners of her eyes. Her hands were holding the biobed tightly. This was her, trying very hard to hold in her panicking impulses.
Natasha took one look at the woman's white knuckled grip on the biobed and started prepping a very mild sedative, nothing too extreme, nothing to put her to sleep, but maybe enough to calm her down a bit. Her heart rate was starting to climb and the last thing Natasha wanted was to stress the doctor any more.
She watched the final scan as it finished up and as soon as it was done, she nodded to one of the nurses to pull her back out.
"Thank you, doctor, I appreciate you letting us do that," she said. She held up the hypospray and looked from Sekat to Dr. Adamson. "I'd like to give you something for your nerves, if you wouldn't mind. Nothing too strong, I promise, but I definitely don't think it would hurt."
Sandy's hard was still beating rapidly and said, "Natasha, can I call you that?" She breathed in and out and said, "I am a doctor too, I know the procedure. Please continue." She took a deep breath and said before letting her continue, "Please call me Sandy."
"Of course you can," Natasha said, pulling Sandy's bed out of the scanner and administering the sedative.
Sekat was instantly by her side the moment the scan finished and took her hand within his once more. "What would cause this sudden blindness?" He asked, reluctant to offer any suggestions as that would be interfering. His presence at the moment was that of supporting partner, not that of attending physician.
Natasha bit her lip as she started looking at the scans. "My best guess at the moment would be an implant, but without knowing more about them, I can't say for certain. I'm also going to go through the doc-Sandy's medical records, just in case there's something there, but I doubt it." She looked at Sandy. "Is there any history of anything like this in your family that you know of off the top of your head?"
Sandy stared in front of her. Then she shook her head as she shook her head. "No, no history of this. As far as I know." She squeezed Sekat's hand gently. Having him close by seem to calm her down a bit. "Natasha," She called. Did you make an imaging scan of my brain. I discovered that the other devices was attached to the cerebral cortex. The device is pretty small, you won't see it at first." She explained.
"I took scans of everything I possibly could," Nat said, nodding her head and looking through the pictures on her PADD. It took a minute but she found the image she was looking for. Sure enough, making itself at home on Sandy's cerebral cortex, just where she said it would be. Natasha frowned and zoomed in on the image.
"Sandy, I'm so sorry, it's there, right there..." she trailed off, her eyes glued to the image. It was fascinating, truly, but also, incredibly troubling, to say the least. She set the PADD next to the bed and rubbed her forehead.
"What I want to know is why this is happening. What do they-whoever they are- hope to gain?" She sighed and shook her head.
Turning to Sekat and Sandy, she said, "I think I would like to look over these scans a little bit more, if that's alright, maybe get the opinion of someone here or maybe even one of the science officers. For now, I think you definitely need some sleep, Sandy. It's obviously been a long day and I seriously think some rest could do you a lot of good."
"I think so too," Sekat ageed, "and I think, for your sanity, you should remain in sickbay. There will always be someone on hand here for you, when you need something. If we go home you will be on your own when I am on duty."
"Agreed, I'll stay whenever I can, but whenever I can't be here myself, I'll make sure there is always someone here with you if you need anything at all. Of course, I'll only be a comm call away, should you need me." Natasha reached for the hypospray again and grabbed some of the sedative from before, a much smaller dose this time. "I already gave you something to relax, but I don't think a small amount more would hurt, if you would like. It might help you sleep a bit better."
Sandy sighed and then nodded. She did her best to keep it together. "Thank you, doctor."
"I will stay with you until you are asleep," Sekat promised, "and i will be here when you wake up."
Wordlessly, Natasha pressed the now-loaded hypospray to the doctor's neck and said, as Sandy's eyes began to glaze, "We will get to the bottom of this mess, I promise you that. Come hell or high water, we will rectify this situation and get you back to normal. You have my word."
As she placed the hypospray next to the bed, she grabbed her PADD and pulled the curtain around Sandy and Sekat to give them some privacy and walked to her office, determined to sort this out. She had some people she needed to talk to. Something told her that this was going to be a lot more complicated than it seemed.
Sandy took Saket's hand as she could feel the medication take its effect. She turned to him. She couldn't see him. She closed his eyes and softly whispered. "I love...." She had fallen asleep before she could finish her sentence.
Lieutenant Sandra Adamson
Chief Medical Officer
Lieutenant j.g. Sekat
Medical Officer
pnpc Lhaes
Lietenant JG Natasha Stark
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
