Holmesian Fallacy

Posted on Sun May 19, 2019 @ 5:08pm by Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Lieutenant JG Camille Lévesque PhD

2,242 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Plaga Navis
Location: Quarantine Lab

Nicole relished the feeling of Camille's warm hand in hers, but was shaking her head. "I could not have looked more awkward on that recording," she said. "Your mother is going to think I'm some Cheshire freak with a painted grin."

“Maman et papa will think you’re beautiful and friendly,” Camille assured her, giving her hand a squeeze. “I can’t wait for you to meet them in person.”

Nicole smiled. "Well, I vote when we send a message to Rigel, we do it audio only so we can just make weird faces the whole time without anyone knowing."

“So you want your mother and friends to not see your girlfriend’s beautiful face and know that I can barely speak l’anglais,” Camille teased. “Je comprends.”

"My mother comes from the land that invented English," Nicole said. "As far as she's concerned, no one can speak it properly." She squeezed Camille's hand. "As for your beautiful face, they'll see it soon enough."

They approached the lab and Nicole hesitated. She let go of Camille's hand. "I...would also suggest we stay somewhat more professional in front of the Professor. No need to fuel his curiosity any about my life."

“That’s fine,” Camille agreed. “You should know that I told him we’re together. But on duty it makes sense to be professional regardless. I did promise that to Commander Hunter anyway.”

"Good. Glad we agree." Nicole smiled then leaned in and gave Camille a peck on the lips and a playful goose on the behind before quickly turning and walking through the doors.

“Ee!” Camille shrieked at Nicole’s smack to her hindquarters, but she smiled widely nonetheless. She’d have to find some way to return the gesture.

As Nicole walked in to her station, she saw Professor Anderson hunched over a scanner. "Is everything all right?" she said. She knew that tight-shouldered posture.

"No, as a matter of fact, nothing is all right," Thomas said bitterly, sitting back from the scanner and rubbing his chin. "Take a look."

Nicole stepped in and looked through the scanner. "No noticeable reaction," she said, looking at the computer readouts to confirm. "So this prion was a dud."

"They were all duds," Thomas said. "Not one produced a reaction one way or another."

"Well the next batch..." Nicole paused, looking at Camille in confusion. "That's not possible. We need to run the tests again."

"I did, overnight," Thomas said. "Not one reaction. It's as if the prions didn't even exist."

“Ça ne se peut pas,” Camille said, looking at the data herself on the screen. “No reaction? Did the prions at least interact with the neural tissue we used as a control?” She looked to Nicole. “If not, then we designed some awful prions. If yes, then there’s something else going on.”

"The prions interacted with the control tissue," Thomas said. "The virus is another matter entirely."

"We did not design awful prions," Nicole said. "Considering we had the computer simulations directing us. So the question is, what are we missing?"

Camille found a stool and sat down. She took her glasses off a moment and rubbed the corners of her eyes. “Let’s start at the bottom. The virus is composed of atoms which form molecules."

"Bit too bottom, dear," Nicole said, sitting down as well.

Camille threw her a look. "The virus is able to interact with the host. It is capable of electro-chemically interacting with proteins and nucleic acids in host cells.”

She put her glasses back on and turned to look at a large monitor. “Computer, display on screen the clearest image possible of the virus interacting with a host cell.” As the computer chimes, she looked to the doctors Anderson. “Maybe we missed something here.”

The computer beeped, an image of the virus attached to the cell membrane of the sample tissue. "Standard attachment, injection of DNA, replication," Nicole said. "It's behaving like a virus...."

She scanned the tissue. Nothing seemed amiss. The virus was present and the tissue was dead, all normal. "I want to see this happen," Nicole said. "Let's prep another round of samples, but no prions. I want to watch this virus work. We'll monitor the virus' development and the deterioration of the cells, and see if we missed anything."

Camille scrunched her face into a frown as she looked at the monitor. "Let's also infect other types of cells," Camille suggested. "We used neurons just for prion control purposes. But it's not a disease that primarily affects the brain. Maybe we see how it interacts with blood cells, muscle cells, lung cells, cells from the digestive tract, and others, too."

"Good idea," Nicole said, tapping her combadge. "Anderson to Sickbay: I need a full rack of tissue samples prepped for the lab."

"Cromwell here, Doctor. Confirm: you want one of everything?"

"Affirmative, Maggie," Nicole said. "And now that I think of it, I need it for Human, Vulcan, Tellarite, Andorian and Klingon."

"Understood. I'll pull a team together to assemble it now."

The channel closed and Nicole shrugged. "Might as well run the spectrum," she said. "This is going to take a while though." She sighed in frustration.

“Is there anything else we can do in the meantime?” Camille asked. “Maybe there’s something else.” She took off her glasses, having noticed a smudge, a fingerprint from when she last took them off. “Pardon, Nicole, but do you have anything to clean glassware in that old medicine bag?”

Nicole snatched her black bag from near Thomas and sat down, rummaging through it. "Cotton Handkerchief..." she said. A moment later, she pulled out a white cloth and handed it to Camille. "There you are."

"Cromwell to Anderson," Maggie's voice said.

"Go ahead, Maggie," Nicole said.

Camille took the handkerchief from Nicole, smiling warmly as she did so, and began wiping her glasses. She was eager to hear from Maggie, too. Maybe this wouldn’t take as long as they thought.

"We've got a bi of a situation down here and we need you," Maggie said.

Nicole gave Camille a curious look. "On my way," she said, closing the channel. "I'll be back soon as I can." She gave Camille a peck on the cheek and grabbed her bag, leaving the lab in a rush.

Camille blushed at Nicole’s kiss, and her eyes followed her girlfriend out the door. She then turned back to Thomas, embarrassed by her reaction and assuming he’d just seen her check his daughter out. “Eum, maybe we can look again at the prion reaction data. See if we can identify the problem. Nicole won’t be back for a while.”

Thomas couldn't help a knowing grin. "It's all right," he said. "I was young and in love, once. I know how it is."

Camille couldn’t help but giggle at his comment. Regardless of what happened between him and his ex-wife, or him and Nicole, he was right. He knew love, and that love brought Nicole into existence.

Thomas sat back and rubbed his eyes, looking at the monitors. "I just hope this doesn't drive us all crazy."

“I’m confident it won’t,” Camille said. “It’ll be exhausting, but it must make sense. The universe makes sense, and this is in the universe. So it must make sense, too.” She smiled widely, her confidence, or possibly her innocence, shining through her eyes. “So you were a professor on Alpha Centauri? Ever collaborate with on Earth’s United Kingdom or France?”

"I did collaborate with one scientist from the UK," Thomas said with a slight grin. "I haven't had the pleasure of anyone from France, however. Alpha Centauri may be 'next door' to Earth, but most of the conferences bypass there and go for the homeworld."

“That’s true, but at least you’re close enough to come by for conferences,” Camille said. “That scientist from the UK...because of the way you’re smiling...was that Nicole’s mother?”

He smiled wider. "As a matter of fact, yes," he said. "I've spent quite a time on Mantilles, though. The University there is superb, and I enjoy my students. Although, it's nice to finally use up some of my saved vacation time finally."

"I've never been to Mantilles. I've never actually been out of Sol until this assignment. Though I'm hoping Nicole will take me to Rigel one day."

"It's a beautiful planet," he said. He immediately bit his lip and looked down. "Clearly it's done Nicole well." He turned and faced her, sitting back and crossing his legs. "Tell me about her? Who is she from your perspective?"

Camille couldn't help but smile. "She's so many things. She's brilliant. She's the strongest person I know. She's protective of her friends and loved ones, myself included. She can have a gruff exterior but inside she's so very sweet and kind." She lifted her glasses a moment to wipe her eye. "A little while ago, I look her to a holodeck program of Montréal. We went snow-shoeing, and she insisted on being cold and uncomfortable rather than let me change the temperature for her. She gave me a kiss and said I shouldn't compromise home for anyone. That was a good day."

"It sounds it," he said, smiling. "Her mother and I honeymooned on Pacifica. Two weeks of sun, water and no dry academic questions. All in all a very enjoyable time. Her mother didn't care much for the cold either. Too many British winters, I think."

"I need to ask you a question, though," Camille said, looking Thomas in the eye. "Why does chocolate get her drunk?"

Thomas, tilted his head, then realized what she was asking and laughed. "It's not chocolate, it's refined sugar. Sucrose breaks down like alcohol in her system, similar to Vulcanoids. Her mother's bloodwork isn't quite the same. It's something else that makes Nicole unique."

"Ohhhhh!" Camille said. "Makes sense. Pensez-vous...um, do you think maybe you can help me find a way to make something chocolate for Nicole that doesn't contain those sugars?"

"Well, I'm not much of a confectioner," Thomas said, "but we can give it a try. Traditional chocolate making is possible, but without sugar, the chocolate will come out very bitter. I'll see what I can find for you, though. Is chocolate one of your vices as well?"

“Un peu!” Camille said with a giggle. “Maybe there’s some sweetener that wouldn’t affect the texture, is healthy, and wouldn’t be metabolized in her system to an alcohol? Like a form synthehol, but chocolate?”

"I'm sure there's something," he said idly, thinking. "Would be an interesting side project to distract me." He smiled at her and looked at the viewer, checking there progress. "But enough about me, and enough about her," he said as he adjusted the scanners. "Tell me about the young woman she's seeing."

"Moi?" she asked. "Well, you know I'm a life scientist. I'm from Québec but was educated in Ottawa, Nottingham and Paris. I went to the Academy later in life. I spent some time on Jupiter Station before coming here. Umm..." She thought about what else to say. "I'm a year older than Nicole? I can't see anything without these damn things." She pointed to her glasses. She couldn't help but chuckle at her awkwardness. "Any specific questions?"

He gave a smile from behind the scanner. "I'm curious...are you a career ship officer? Or just getting some deep-space experience before you return to settling back down on the soil?"

“I...don’t actually know where I’ll end up,” Camille admitted with a shrug. “The University setting wasn’t for me. This career lets me explore and discover new things in fields all over the galaxy, while working in the most advanced labs available. Maybe I’ll want to try something new one day. But for now this is where I am.”

Thomas sat silently for a while and finally said, "hm..."

Camille cocked her head. “Is something wrong?”

Thomas turned to look at her. "I'm sorry? Oh...no no, I was...confused by this sample."

She got up from where she was sitting to get a closer look. “What’s strange about it?”

"The sample tissue is degraded, but the virus....well, shouldn't there be more of it?"

“Well, yes,” Camille observed. “You’re right. The viral load is far too small. It looks comparable to the amount we put in.”

"It's like it hasn't replicated at all," Thomas said, curious.

“Taberouette.” She looked closely at the screen readout. “What the hell did the virus do then, if not replicate?”

"I'm not sure," he said. "But I'm guessing this is why the prions aren't having an effect. I'm going to run a few tests on the samples. I want to see exactly what's going on." He glanced at the chronometer. "Go get something to eat and attend to your duties. I'll hold down the fort."

Camille kept staring at the screen, but then nodded. “I should go check on my team anyway. And I have an idea for finding inspiration. Be sure to take a break and get food too, okay?” With that, she gently touched Thomas’s arm in a gesture of reassurance and then left the lab.

 

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