Burn, Baby, Burn!

Posted on Mon Jul 18, 2022 @ 11:08pm by Lieutenant Commander Zachary Addams & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot

951 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: We Will Take Care of You
Location: Sickbay

Alice 348 watched one of the targets leave the medical facilities and immediately relayed the information to the others. Primary directives were reiterated, new directives were issued. They had anticipated there would be changes made to their plans, given the unanticipated changes to the crew and location of certain targets, but those were being dealt with.

However, with the patient gone, the requirement for privacy should be lifted, and she could resume monitoring her target. It was a significant directive, given their lack of knowledge of him. She stepped back into the examination room and immediately took in the scene.

The doctor was encased by a chemical foam, affixed to the bulkhead, and his exposed skin was turning decidedly red. He seemed to be vibrating or attempting to thrash inside the casing, but he couldn't move. Alice tilted her head, her number plate flashing rapidly as she analyzed the material and looked for confirmation to act.

She stepped back into the main area of Sickbay and called out. "Attention: The Doctor has been incapacitated and appears in distress!"

The two nurses who had been assisting and Doctor P'k'ala came running back and stopped short when they saw Addams. "What has happened to him?" Doctor P'k'ala asked.

"Unknown," Alice 348 said. "I was not in the room when it occurred. When Commander Walker left, I reentered the room and found him like this."

The nurses grabbed at the now concrete-like foam encasing the doctor and tried to pull at it. "Get a laser scalpel," Nurse Phillips said, looking at Nurse Carson. He tried pulling Addams to a biobed, but the doctor was glued to the wall fast. Phillips grabbed a tricorder and began scanning quickly. "His pain receptors are going wild," he said. "The hell...body temperature is 39 C and rising. We have to get him out of this or he won't survive."

"Perhaps I can assist," Alice 348 said, approaching the doctor. She took hold of his arm and squeezed digging her fingers into the solid foam around him and causing it to crumble under her strength. She shucked it away from his uniform quickly and began pulling and crumbling the rest of it from his torso and face, allowing him to breathe freely.

By the time Carson had a laser scalpel to hand over, Alice had removed the majority of the casing, save for what was caked into the doctor's hair.

"Cold bath," P'k'ala shouted. "We've got to get his temperature down fast." He looked at Alice. "Thank you for your help. We will take it from here."

Alice stepped back as they carried the doctor out of the exam room and into a treatment room, then followed at a logical distance. The nurses moved the doctor quickly into a room with a basin and keyed a command into the replication system. Water began to quickly fill the basin and the condensation on the outside of the tub showed how cold it was rapidly becoming.

While medical advancements had come a long way in the past few centuries, some things were still the best way to do it, and a dense water bath was still a quick way to cool someone down. The nurses quickly, but carefully, stripped Addams' uniform and boots off, leaving him in his boxers and a tshirt, then lowered him into the water, keeping his head submerged, but his nose and mouth above the surface.

"God, I can feel the heat coming off of him," Phillips said, cradling Addams' head.

"Body temperature now at forty degrees and still rising," Carson said, her voice strained with worry.

"Just give it a minute to soak in," P'k'ala said. He scanned Addams and frowned. "All right...holding steady at forty degrees....holding....thirty-nine-point-eight....thirty-nine-point-four....temperature is dropping."

Everyone let out a sigh, but that's when the doctor began to convulse.

"Shock from the water?" Phillips guessed, trying to hold him steady.

"No, he's in pain," P'k'ala said. "Heart rate is dropping, blood pressure falling. His body doesn't know which way to fight it." He picked up a hypospray and pressed it to Addams' neck. "We've got to keep his heart rate up, regardless of the pain.

"Again, may I assist?" Alice 348 said. Everyone turned around in shock, having forgotten she had followed and observed.

"Do you know how to correct what was done to him?" P'k'ala said.

"Possibly," Alice said, her number plate flashing. "And my instructions are to assist when and if I am able."

P'k'ala watched her carefully, then made a judgement call. "Do it."

Alice stepped forward and looked at the tricorder, then at Addams. She reached out with two fingers and pressed against his neck, then sternum. She continued down his body and finally took the programmable hypospray from P'k'ala and pressed it to Addams' neck. He stopped convulsing and calmed, his heart rate returning to normal, and his breath easing.

"He will require significant rest, but he should recover," Alice 348 said.

P'k'ala looked at her. "Well done," he said. "You would make a passable doctor."

Alice tilted her head, her number plate flashing. "That was a compliment."

"Yes," P'k'ala said, dryly. He looked at Carson and Phillips. "As soon as his temperature returns to normal, get him dried off and on a biobed in isolation, and have him monitored around the clock."

They nodded as P'k'ala led Alice out of the room. "I believe I have a report to fill out. Thank you for your help, but it would be best if you return to your quarters for now. They may need a statement from you later."

"I understand," Alice said, and turned and left Sickbay, listing the matter as settled as she conferred with the others.

 

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