Deep scan
Posted on Sun Sep 26th, 2021 @ 11:30pm by Lieutenant Lily Marlow
Mission:
A New Beginning
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: After Rutherford takes command
4060 words - 8.1 OF Standard Post Measure
Lily sought out Lhaes, he had told her that he had been in intelligence and she really needed to seek his counsel. Coming into sickbay, she looked to see if he was there.
"Coming to check and see how I am doing as CMO?" Lhaes asked, though his expression made it evident that he didn't think she was doing such at all. "What can I do for you doctor?"
"Well, I need some advice and it has something to do with an intelligence matter. You see I have had some issues, and I went to go talk with our Counselor. During our session something was revealed to me. My mind had been tampered with before I came onboard the Majestic, it happened years ago. " She started off, her voice slightly lowered, Lily rubbing one hand with the other.
"Tampered with?" Lhaes arched an eyebrow at her. "I could run some deep scans, perhaps they will reveal when exactly this happened? Did you learn why this happened?" He could see his fellow doctor's discomfort, and he had no trouble sensing it either.
"Deep scans what would that entail? I had gone to get some food when I went to comfort my friend, when I got back to her cabin I was witness to it blowing up and was caught in the initial outskirt of the blast radius, which flung me back. My friend, had come to check on me, and her fiance was there! They did check to see if I was alive. I heard their conversation, apparently they did call for help. Then I remember nothing more. All that had been hidden from me, it was blocked." a tear trickled down her cheek at that memory.
"A deep scan of your brain could possibly uncover if your memory is actively blocked, or whether your own brain did that to protect you from further trauma," Lhaes explained. "The body has a funny way of protecting itself at times, trust me I have endured sufficient torture in my younger years to know this. And that includes the moment when I watch my parents get killed."
Lily's eyes went rather wide. "Oh no! That is terrible that you witnessed that." Lily covering her mouth for a moment, then lowered it. "I would like to know if my brain had blocked it or if someone had done that mental block. How would we go about that procedure?"
"I would have to take scans of your brain, but they would be detailed so that may well be a lengthy procedure." He paused as he considered the options. "It may actually be a good idea to keep you overnight and sedated so that the scan could run," he offered after a few seconds of silence. "I can't guarantee it will work, but it's worth a shot."
Lily nodded, "I am willing for that to happen. I just need to find out either way. And I trust you." looking at Lhaes with great confidence.
"I will strive to keep your trust in me," he promised. "Come back tonight when you are ready for bed and I will make sure we are ready."
"Okay, that sounds like a good plan." Lily stated. "I really want to get to the bottom of this. I will see you later on then."
Lily returned when it was almost time for her to go to sleep, dressed in comfortable clothing. "Okay, here I am. Shall we begin?"
The Romulan nodded, leading her towards the scanner. "I have tried to make it a little comfortable for you," he admitted, "but I doubt you would notice much as I would need to sedate you to avoid movement. The scan will take several hours, and I will be here to keep watch over you. At no point will you be left alone. If I have to step away, a night nurse will take over for me."
"That sounds good to me, there is a good staff here." Lily nodded, "okay so time to get scanned." climbing up on the bed she needed to be on. "I've done this before, but have never had one done to me." she stated.
"Same," Lhaes admitted as he helped her get comfortable. "Just relax and let the scanner do its work. By the time you wake up in the morning it should be finished, and I'll be here waiting. I'm going to inject you with a sedative so you'll remain still during the night. If for some reason you do wake up, and you want out just call for the nurse, alright?"
Lily nodded, "I will try my best." as she closed her eyes, to let herself relax and allow Lhaes to inject her with the sedative. She was nervous about all this, but this she felt was necessary.
Gently, he gave her shoulder an encouraging squeeze before pressing the hypospray to her neck. "Relax," he urged, "I will see you in the morning."
Lily nodded, her heart rate had sped up at first then it settled down as the sedative took affect, her breathing steady and rhythmic.
A nurse came by to check on Sommers. Marlow and the procedure. "Will you be alright sir?" she asked.
Lhaes nodded quietly. "I will," he answered, "but I'm concerned as to what we'll find."
Lhaes hadn't slept very well that night and when he walked into sickbay he had to stifle a yawn as he took a big gulp of his coffee. He walked straight up to the scanner, where the deep scan had finished only several minutes ago. Picking up a hypospray with a mild stimulant, he reached to press it against Lily's throat, after removing the scanning devices.
After a few moments, Lily's eyes fluttered open, then she blinked to let her eyes focus. "Er good morning." she said, greeting Lhaes. did you get any sleep or did you stay here over night?"
Lhaes offered his arm to help her sit up. "I didn't stay but I didn't sleep well either," he admitted to her, "shall we get breakfast and go over the results in my office?"
Lily nodded accepting his help in sitting up. "Breakfast sounds good, and definitely I do want to hear the results." once a light breakfast was eaten, Lily sat down to await what Lhaes had to say on the results.
"I had actually intended to go over the results during breakfast," the Romulan chuckled as he set a plate onto his desk, accompanied by a mug of steaming coffee. He called up the results of the scan, looking at the images that were generated as well as the data which had been revealed during the night. "You seem to dream vividly, does this happen often?" he asked as he turned the monitor around for her to see. "I'm not sure how to interpret these data," he admitted, "since I have no baseline scan for you."
Lily nodded, then something occurred to her, "Maybe there is a scan that had been done on me that I am not aware of. Could be in my medical files. And I just hadn't even thought to look. Here let's see if there is something there."
Pulling up her own medical records to do a more in depth search. "Its weird, I may be a doctor but I've not really felt the need to really go through my own medical records. Isn't that a stupid oversight on my part?" she stopped on the file she was searching for. "here maybe this will help out. Says I had a scan when I was taken to medical after my friend's cabin exploded. " Uploading said records. "I had been unconscious for a couple of weeks after that explosion." Lily remarked.
Pulling up the scan to the monitor, he had the computer overlay the results. "I see significant differences," he finally said, pointing at several deviating patterns, "these could indicate that your memories have been tampered with. I can't say with 100% certainty, as I've said before, but this sure does point in that direction."
The bagel that Lily had been eating dropped from her fingers down to the plate almost falling off of it. "No...It can't be true. I was hoping that it was possibly just my mind protecting me, but... from looking at that." her face clouded over but it wasn't sadness, it was anger. "How... how dare they do that to me! I feel so violated!"
Lhaes nodded in understanding. "As you should," he agreed, "however...what if they did this to protect you, and your sanity?"
"I won't know until I find out, and I know that it might open wounds or close them and may even put me in danger but, I need to know. I have this need to find out if my friend is okay. I don't care about her fiance' or husband or whatever they might be, I am more concerned about Annabelle Trevor." Lily picked up her bagel once more and took a bite out of it.
"Who is Annabelle Trevor?" Lhaes asked, "and why is she important to you?"
"She is someone I've known for a long time, ever since I was a child. She's what a person is called a sister from another mother and father. We were almost inseparable. Even went to the same college before I joined StarFleet. I had been living with the grief and sorrow of her death but now that I know that she may be alive , I just need to find her."
"Oh I know all about siblings from other parents...I am one and I have one, quite literally." His tone sobered. "What if she doesn't want to be found? What if searching for her actually endangers her life?"
"You do make valid points but, what if she needs to be found, what if searching for her will save her life? So many questions and therefore needs to be addressed but not in an overt way. Maybe someone out there has some answers or can find answers to my queries. I may need to find her. And there is something more, before I arrived on the ship, I had an odd happening. I experienced an event. In the event I was asleep then I was woken up by the ship, shaking. I heard her voice, I smelled the perfume she loved to wear for her significant other. She was shaking me awake as I was dreaming that she had died and she chided me for it. Then I woke up to find out that she was indeed dead, well what I had thought at the time. It was so real, the smell the touch, her voice. All so real." Lily said with a slight frown.
"Can you show me?" Lhaes asked carefully, "I am capable of performing a mind meld, however it isn't without risk, to me. It is not something I offer lightly, but if it'll help you I'll take that risk." He didn't perform mind melds very often, and he could barely remember the last time he had done one. At least beyond the ache in his body as he'd fallen rather awkwardly after breaking it.
Lily was shocked at his offer, and it registered in her eyes and face. "Uh... I don't know what to say, I would love to show it to you, my strange dream. However something I do need to tell you. I did talk to Aldrich about my strange dream, and had asked him if something strange had happened to the Majestic prior to my being assigned to the ship. He did say something happened, that the ship had been in an alternate universe. He didn't go into any further details than that, due to my not having clearance for that information. I now wonder if I had a brief glimpse into the life of another me in another universe. But then again, wouldn't that be an impossible happening?"
"I honestly don't know," the Romulan answered truthfully, "but it's not impossible. I have too little data on that to give you a decent answer. But I can try and help you determine whether your memory is real but I need to see it. I need to see what you saw."
Lily nodded, "Then I am willing. Just where would be a good place? I could suggest my massage therapy room. No interruptions? Or would it be better here in medical? Its just that what I have been told, doing what you suggest is a private and personal matter. And something like this needs to be where one feels safe."
"It is private and personal," Lhaes confirmed, "and somewhere safe would be preferable. I would prefer to avoid a risk to get hurt, so anywhere where a possible fall would be soft, would be better. I don't know your therapy room but if it's a safe location where we won't be interrupted, that'd be good."
"There is a soft spot in my therapy room. And also it can be made secure as well. I prefer those who come to my therapy room for massages and other treatments to feel safe and comfortable." Lily rising from her seat. "Its not far from here. And I assure you it is pleasant and I feel safe when I am in there, as well as being relaxed. A good place to go when I am needing to meditate."
Lhaes rose as well. "As long as I can't fall and hurt myself, it's all good," he answered, gesturing towards the door. "Please lead the way."
Lily nodded and showed Lhaes the way to the massage therapy room after keying in the codes to open it up. Stepping inside she had the lights come up on a low setting. Once Lhaes stepped in she put in the security code to lock it from anyone coming in to disturb then. "Don't worry there is a code to over-ride this in case of emergency." Now over here is where we will take a seat."
Directing Lhaes to the more thickly carpeted section of the room, she took her shoes off before stepping onto that area. The carpet was a dark lush green, and she pushed the chairs away, that were on the edge of the patch of green. The carpet was thick and lush. "I like to sit here and do meditation or even take a nap." giving a light laugh. "Will this work out for you?"
"Yes this will do," Lhaes said as he eased himself down onto the carpet. He ran his hand across the surface and smiled. "This will do quite well," he added. "Please make yourself comfortable and relax. Have you ever experienced a mind meld before?" He waited for her to sit as well and raised his left hand up, leaning forward little, giving her a moment before he settles the tips of his fingers against key points on her face.
Lily settled herself down upon the carpet in front of Lhaes, allowing him to touch her face, "I have not experienced a mind meld before." Lily replied, as she closed her eyes to concentrate. "I've only read articles of such taking place, with others."
Lhaes simply nodded, closing his eyes as well. He felt their minds merge as he concentrated. show me? he asked mentally.
Lily went back in her mind, taking Lhaes with her, to the the memory or the memories.
It started with Lily at the side of a grave marker the headstone a black marble with white lettering "Here lies Annabelle taken away all too soon."and upon the base of the headstone was a single Lily upon it, and beside it was a single pink rose, with Lily sobbing.
Then gentle shaking and a voice is heard. "Shhhh...don't cry Lilybelle."
And Lily's eyes fluttering open and shaking of her head, looking around in her dimly lit room, the only lightsource was the clock near the bed, and stars that the ship passed by. Her eyes stop upon a woman with dark blonde hair seated right next to the bed, catching the scent of her perfume.
"Annabelle! You're alive, your..Alive?!" screaming in joy and pulling her into an embrace.
Yes, yes I am!" laughing, "What you were dreaming about my dying again? I told you to be careful of what you ate. I've been sitting here to make certain you hadn't suffered from ill effects." Annabelle pulling Lily into another warm embrace.
How did she die? Lhaes asked, Can you take me there? Can you show me? He knew he couldn't maintain this for very long, already he felt his energy draining away.
Lily had a sharp intake of her breath then she showed Lhaes that very painful heartbreaking time. She shared the call she gotten from Annabelle telling her not to come back to the cabin, her feeling that there was something wrong, her arriving at the gate which led up to the path to the cabin, her reaching out to open it, then the explosion of the cabin. Her flying back from the concussion of the explosion. Someone screaming out for Annabelle ( her voice)
do you want to see more? the memories of what was unlocked?
The mental image of the chief medical officer nodded. I need you to show me everything you are able to. But please hurry I can't maintain this for long.
Lily took a deep mental breath then shared what happened next,
"Is she all right? I had hoped she wouldn't get back so soon."
Annabelle, there was nothing you could have done to prevent this.
"I can't believe you had me believe you were dead. I could just kill you for making me go through all the pain and agony."
"I had to let you believe, it had to be real but I just couldn't leave you to suffer anymore so... this charade is going to be continued, but it will be on her now."
"I can't .. I just can't leave her like this. We've got to get some help for her. She's been injured. "
"Don't worry love, she won't be alone. Help is on the way. "
"I heard her scream out for me, I had to check on her. I can't do this to Lily."
A sob.
"Annabelle, we have to leave, we just have to leave. She won't be alone for much longer."
"Okay... I.. what if she finds out, she'll hate me for the rest of her life. "
"You told her not to come, but she didn't listen. And she won't remember anything, she is unconscious. She doesn't know you are alive and well, and so am I."
"you don't know that.... "
"Come along Annabelle, it is time to go, they are coming near and she will have help. "
A kiss on the forehead, "Good bye sister of my heart, I'm sorry." and then nothing.
Lily started to close up the memories when another one, that she didn't realize she had. an image of someone from shoulders down, blue medical lab coat. And there was the left hand of someone wearing a ring on the middle finger, and on the ring was an infinity symbol. The hand was slender with long fingers.
Two memories.... Lhaes' mental image was fading as he came to that realization. One real, one isn't... The Romulan lifted his hand and closed his eyes. "We found the lie...." he whispered, before slumping sideways, his body completely limp.
Lily's eyes flashed open and was next to the CMO's side she didn't know how long he would be out but she checked his vitals, then set to make him comfortable. She then sat next to Lhaes to keep watch and to think about her memories.
After a few minutes, the Romulan stirred and slowly opened his eyes. "How long was I out?" he asked softly as he stared at the ceiling. He didn't trust himself enough to turn his head to look at his fellow doctor. "Do you remember what we saw?"
"I do remember what we saw, and that last memory of a hand with a ring that had an infinity symbol on it. I have no idea what that would stand for but that was just a flash of a memory. I don't recall noticing someone at my bedside when I was unconscious. But why that memory. I don't recall waking up." Lily stated. She shivered slightly. "this is way too weird, this sort of happening."
Lhaes nodded slowly, making no move to sit up. "Perhaps security can help you track down that symbol, and the owner of such a ring." He felt so weak, as if he might pass out a second time, this intense had the meld been on him. He closed his eyes again, holding his breath a few seconds in the hope the room would stop spinning. "At least now you know one of your memories isn't real."
"I am definitely planning on doing so. Hopefully talking with the Chief of Security will solve some of these mysteries." Lily giving a bit of a deep seated sigh. "Here I thought I am slated for a simplistic life, and now instead I'm just a bit complicated." roling her eyes then giving a light laugh. "Thank you for the help, Lhaes."
"You are welcome." He paused, now only slightly turning his head to be able to look at her. "You are only as simple or complicated as you want to be," he added, "this isn't an added complication, its merely adding to who you are as a person, as a whole." He closed his eyes again. "I think...I will rest here for a while, unless you can help me back to sickbay, then I will rest there. I don't feel so good..."
"I can help you back to sick bay but, how about we stay here, so you can rest then you can make it back to your quarters. " Lily giving a gentle, smile but also with a concerned expression in her eyes. "Thank you, now I have more to go on to find out what I need to solve this mystery."
He caught the concern as he briefly opened his eyes and gave a weak smile. "This is not uncommon," he explained, "a mind meld is very draining to me. It will take a few hours before I feel like myself again." He closed his eyes again. "I will sleep here then," he decided, "I don't think I can make it to sickbay at the moment. If you can give me something against the nausea, then I'll be fine."
Lily nodded, "Okay I can do that." rising from the floor and going to the drawers she had in the therapy room. She came back with a lozenge and handed it to Lhaes, "This is ginger and will help with the nausea. It is lightly sweetened with honey." kneeling once more near Lhaes.
"Candy?" Lhaes arched an eyebrow at her as he put it into his mouth. "Is that not dangerous, since I was intending to sleep?"
"It will dissolve rather quickly, just be patient won't take very long." Lily assured Lhaes with a smile. "I do understand your concern, though." she sat back on her heels and waited. To her calculations it should be gone in one minute.
And it was, though it left him with a weird taste in his mouth. "Remind me later not to do this again any time soon," he told her as he made himself more comfortable, "I can't afford being down like this too often. Though I'd appreciate it if you could inform my wife of my whereabouts? It'd make her a bit less concerned probably, if I don't turn up."
"I will do such, I'll let you sleep here and I will let her know." she smiled softly, "I'll also remind you not to do this again as well." Lily rising to her feet. "Rest well Lhaes." she said before turning towards the door.
"Thank you," came a mumbled and barely audible response. The Romulan was already half asleep as Lily walked out.
Lt. Commander Lhaes Sommers
Chief Medical Officer
Lt. Lily Marlow
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
