Pain: The Great Educdator

Posted on Mon Mar 17, 2014 @ 9:33pm by Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres

862 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: A Whole New World, Part 2 - Durbatuluk
Location: Sickbay/Main Engineering

Nicole sat in her office, staring at Yarin's skin samples again as she fixed her hand. They seemed to react much like an Earth creature she'd studied. There was a species called a 'chameleon' that Terrans said could change its color at a whim based on its environment. She'd done some research and discovered that it didn't work like that at all. Much like Yarin, a chameleon's skin changed based on temperature, light intensity and mood.

Their top layer of skin is actually clear, and below that are several layers with special cells, each one a different layer of color. If the cells are switched 'on,' then the chameleon changes to the color that those cells put out. Mix two layers, get a new color. It struck her as a creative way to express themselves. She'd asked her mother to take her to Earth to see one in person, but they had never gotten around to it.

But that still left her with the question of how to get that into a fabric. As a diagnostician, she enjoyed a good mystery, but not when it came to mechanical things. Broken bodies came to her, broken machines went to...

She immediately stood up, grabbed her little black bag with her newly-healed right hand and marched out of her office. "McHale, you're in charge till I get back," she snapped, and left Sickbay in a rush, jumping into the next turbolift she found.

"Engineering," she said.

A few long moments later she stepped out and threaded her way through Main Engineering once again to the Chief Engineer's office. She knocked on the doorway to get his attention. "Commander? I need help with a puzzle."

"Come on in Doc," he said after turning to see who it was that was trying to get his attention. "What can I do for you?" he asked her.

She dropped into a chair with a huff. "So if you recall, I have the task of somehow using our Science Chief's unique color-changing skin to synthesize something that will allow our guests to change the colors of the fabrics and such in their quarters." She sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "Unfortunately, I wouldn't have enough skin cells to do that, even if I skinned Mr. Yarin alive." She momentarily had a slight grin, as if the thought amused her, then shook it off. "Near as I can tell, they act like this Terran animal called a 'chameleon' which means they require the mood of the creature to change color as much as anything else. So unless the room is feeling happy or depressed, nothing will change much. Of course, with our guests the room will probably feel royall pissed off--" She paused, realizing she was starting to veer off topic.

"Anyway, I realized there's no biological solution that I can come up with on the fly, but I was wondering if there was an engineering solution you could think of that could achieve a similar result: instead of a clear cover layer with changing sub-layers like the chameleon, could manipulate a visible layer of color over the surface of the fabrics?"

"Hard to say without knowing much about them." Miguel said as he shifted in his chair leaning further back against it as he thought about her request. "Tell me, how does their visual cortex respond to holograms?" he asked her.

Nicole sighed. "I wish I could tell you. Despite their nit-picking over everything from food nutrients to air quality, they still refuse to let me scan them. I've taken a few subtle passes. Their visual range seems to be on par with ours. What are you thinking? Put them on the holodeck?"

"No need for that. If they're visual range is the same as ours holograms could be the answer to your problem." he told her. "The Prometheus Class starships are the first class of ship that have holographic projectors on every deck so as to facilitate operations of the EMH. So basically every room on this ship has a holographic projector. It might take me awhile, however i do believe I can reprogram the projectors in their quarters to allow them to alter the color scheme of anything inside."

"Huh," Nicole said, sitting back and thinking. "I didn't realize. Do you think you could spare someone to set up a program they could use? That way they can set it exactly how they like it, and go guv themselves."

"Sure thing, take Ensign Fletcher. He's our specialist when it comes to the holodecks, he'd be your best bet to get it done correctly and in the shortest amount of time." Miguel told her.

"She nodded again. "Surprised he hasn't wound up in my Sickbay yet anyway," she said. "Half your staff has been to see me between yesterday and today." She stood up and sighed in frustration. "Whatever magic spell you have that keeps you laid back, share it; your staff's starting to get twitchy."

She gave a wave and left his office, picking her way through the Engineers looking for Fletcher.


Nicole Anderson
CMO
USS Victory

Miguel Torres
CEO
USS Victory

 

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