Medical Mysteries

Posted on Wed Oct 13th, 2021 @ 12:38am by Leiddem Kea (*) & Isaac Nicoli Dr. & Jinx Jorasco & Curtis Vaan
Edited on on Wed Oct 13th, 2021 @ 7:30am

Mission: Mission 14: Holoworld
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD 02: 1300
2959 words - 5.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Issac headed off towards the general direction of where the ship's plans told him was Medical, a surprisingly small group of facilities for a ship of this size. But then again, it was a holo ship and could make what it needed as it needed it. He was completely oblivious to the rest of the party. He just assumed that people were coming with him. He had his fleet-issued phaser on his belt, but if he came across a problem of an engineering nature he was screwed.

Leiddem smiled as he followed the man in silence. He loved silence, and it allowed him in his role of security that day to focus. He and Curtis had been called from the ship to join up with the expanded plan of searching around. “Well, isn’t this place all shiny and new,” he said, not having seen anything that shiny and new in years.

Jinx huffed up behind the two larger men, her shorter legs having a harder time keeping up. She had slung a spare engineering kit over one shoulder, just in case it was needed. Her fighting sticks were secured at her thighs, and she had a small Type I bridge phaser attached to her belt. The standard Type II was too big for her small hand to fit comfortably, though she could use it if necessary. Her science tricorder was on the other hip.

"This is awesome. Isn't it awesome?" Curtis grinned, looking mainly at Leiddem. "These are next-gen holoemitters, totally state-of-the-art. I'd love to get my hands on some of these to play around with."

“I have heard about all the things that can be done with them. I heard of them being used for medical reasons.” It had been in a medical textbook about an officer on a seabase that had nearly died in labour and the doctors had kept her alive by using holo emitters to replace blood that she had lost until it could be created by her body. “If only we had this stuff for Dixoho, or any number of the other issues we’ve had.”

“My culture doesn’t even have holotechnology,” Jinx admitted. “At least not until we met other species.” She still wasn’t completely up to date on the tech, but she knew the basics and still found it amazing. “Is this better than Starfleet?”

“Way better,” Leiddem assured, thinking of all the ones he had been in as a Marine. “Starfleet have holoships for training purposes but not for you things like this floating hotel. I like my vacations on a planet with fresh air and breeze.”

“And allow pets.” Jinx had left Zambi back on Mary Rose, at least until they got a bead on the situation.

Issac was listening to the others' chat. Most fleet officers he had known would have considered this inappropriate. He knew for a fact that some chit chat was good for morale and oftentimes people were sharper when there was off topic talking. "These emitters are newer than even I had access to," he said. "And I commanded a starbase’s medical facilities." He had been scanning while he made a bee-line for Medical. "I am pretty sure that Medical will be mostly holographic."

"I don't think it will be much further, maybe." Most holo projections moved with those inside. This one was different. "Door," he said, waiting a beat for the door to appear. It did not!

“It is civilian. It would not work if it was a vast empty space like training vessels. We need to find a door out of this deck,” Leiddem commented. Not all of it is holographic. It would have to have compartments and rooms just like normal ships. It would not work as a civilian ship otherwise.”

Jinx nodded. “People would run into each other, wander into other projections.”

"Not always," Curtis corrected proudly. "Advanced holograms are often designed to be able to phase through solid matter. I'd guess the ones on this ship are certainly designed that way." Curtis was like a kid in a sweet shop just thinking about what he could do with the tech on board.

“Computer, door.” Leiddem demanded, and the computer this time responded, and a door appeared further down the ante chamber that they had first appeared in.

“There we go,” Jinx said. “Maybe we could ask for a map of the ship?” she wondered. “Might be easier to find our way around. And the hologram said he wanted to be helpful.”

"If there's power, we can surely pull one up or download it directly from the computer core," Curtis explained. "Dude...I'd love to get my hands on that sweet, sweet computer..."

“Finally found something to get you interested in,” Leiddem teased just a little as they moved through the doorway into a grander corridor.

"Are you kidding? This is like a holo-programmer's wet dream. When I was a kid I'd have killed to work on one of these," Curtis explained.

The doctor was a little annoyed, on a fleet ship it would have worked. He didn't see why civilian ships wouldn't have kept the same basic commands ad their fleet counterparts. The big Russian did his best not to let it show though. He was a professional and a doctor after all.

“Hologram or real?” Leiddem demanded, not able to tell, as there was no glitching, but one could never be sure.

Jinx pulled out her tricorder and scanned the area around them. “This part registers as real,” she noted. “Seems to fit the idea of partitioned holograms.”

“Would have to be by ship design. You need compartments,” Leiddem said simply as he moved into the corridor, relieved that they were walking on something that would not shift or change under them.

"Yeah, the setup in a place like this is partitioned holo-grids under one master grid. And probably a dedicated maintenance set of projectors in case something went wrong," Curtis explained. "Means you can make all the compartments pretty modular and adapt it to whatever the user wants; big open spaces or tiny little ones, all overlapping and interacting."

"Doesn't matter if it is real or not?" he said, stepping through the door and into what had clearly been designated as the medical facilities. "It is doing the job of a sickbay." He checked the small screen on the tricorder. He saw that there were several other rooms connecting to this one. "And it is a larger facility than I would have expected But I am not getting any life signs. Maybe jamming." He tilted his screen to Jinx. "It doesn't seem like there is any, but I'm not picking up any organic matter at all."

“Is it possible it was a hologram that contacted us?” Jinx asked. “I’ve read some reports of them gaining sentience.” She started a deeper scan for what might be jamming the life sign readings.

"Very much does matter, doc. Need to know it ain't going to change under us with stuff already glitching," Leiddem said quickly as he started to sweep through the room looking in the corners. "It more than likely was built with the understanding that if Starfleet ever needed it for an emergency they could use it," the former marine commented. "All clear in here," he said, moving to the door that was opening and closing at the other end of the room to check the rooms connected.

Issac glanced at him, but decided it wasn't a discussion he was interested in. Instead, he decided to reply to Jinx. "It is possible. The EMH on Voyager was granted the same rights as we have. In a ship like this, a sentient hologram could run this place. Hell, even one who didn't know it was a hologram could. There have been cases of that as well. Could there be a holofield masking life signatures?”

"If there is, I'd love to get my hands on it," Curtis replied, licking his metaphorical lips at the thought of even more goodies to play with. "I can get the local emitters up if you want. The ship probably has a medical hologram on file."

"Unlikely to mask, but who am I to judge. I could not be sure," Leiddem called from the doorway to the next room. "This room is clear," he called, sounding far away as if he was at the other end of the room. There was a moment of silence before his voice sounded strained. "Ah, guys... I need you," he called. He was not panicked, but he had certainly found something.

“What did you find?” Jinx moved across the room toward Leiddem.

As everyone came to investigate, Leiddem stepped back to reveal a body lying between the Chief Medical Officers office and the first biobed. "Found our first body." Leiddem was surprised that the man was the first body they had found, but the door had been jammed shut at first.

“Huh,” Jinx said, moving over to the body. She didn’t touch it, but just leaned over to examine it and start scanning with her tricorder. It was a science tricorder, not a medical one, so it would only give her the broad details, but maybe it would lead somewhere.

"Ew..." Curtis shrank back away from the sight, nearer to Leiddem. "I hate stuff like that. Someone tell me it's not a real dead body."

Leiddem looked at the man and nodded as he leaned over to look properly at the man. He was bloodied, so it was easy to see the potential cause of death -- blunt force trauma -- but it would take someone more medical than security to confirm it. “I could, but I would be lying, and you value my honesty,” the Betazoid said with a shrug, allowing everyone else to properly get there to scan.

Issac knelt down next to the body. "Yes, real and dead," he said, running the device over the body. "Well, okay then." He pointed towards the poor man's chest." He was hit hard enough over the heart to send him into commotio cordis. The impact triggered a dramatic change in the rhythm of their heart which... well, needless to say without treatment he died. Slowly."

Jinx nodded. “I’m not a doctor, but that seems to conform to the readings,” she agreed, straightening up. She started to scan around the room in case there was any other evidence. “You know, this being essentially a holoprogram, the weapon might not even exist,” she mused. “Just photons and force fields.”

"I agree, but there might still be a record of the attack. Or at least the program that was used. The Base coding could still be hidden deeply somewhere"

“The EMH was not activated,” Leiddem said, surprised. He would have thought in an emergency it would have activated so would still be active.

“Maybe we should check the programming. Maybe someone deactivated it,” Jinx offered.

Issac nodded. "Can we do that before we activate the EMH? In case it has been corrupted and tries to kill us?" He was half joking. The safeties programmed into them were impressive, though one could never be sure!

“Only recognised passengers or crew would be able to turn it on and off, right Curtis?” Leiddem demanded in a soft voice. It was logical to have some security in how it was activated.

Issac turned. "Would a Starfleet access code do the job?" It might be a civilian vessel, but fleet medical codes brought a fair amount of leeway.

"For a civilian liner? Probably not. It's still a commercial venture, and most of those don't like to have Starfleet types poking around in their systems," Curtis explained. "I mean, I could probably figure out a way to switch on their EMH program. If that's what you wanted. It's just..." he leaned in to add quietly, “it's pretty illegal."

Jinx shrugged. “Standing here won’t get us anywhere,” she said, scanning with her tricorder. She walked over to the wall and then stretched up, just in reach, to activate a hidden access panel that popped open to allow access to the room’s inner workings. “Little help?”

“You guys play with machinery. I will make sure no one sneaks up on you,” Leiddem commented as the person with the most weapons and security knowledge. It was, after all, the reason he was there.

Curtis scurried over to Jinx's side. It was weird to tower over her -- he towered over literally nobody, ever -- but not so much that it was a big distraction or anything. It was actually pretty fun to be able to fool around with holo tech again. "So, if we cross over the electron feed and route power back to the emitters...hey, hey -- see that? Residual connection to the EMH matrix. Just track it back to the source and...booyah." He fist-pumped and turned to Jinx. "Do the honors?"

Maybe Issac was a little more out of touch with civilian life. In the Fleet his codes would have worked anywhere; he had made the assumption that would have been the case here as well. He was a little ashamed of himself for not realizing this. Turning to face Curtis, he asked, "Is the EMH the same design as those used in Starfleet? Or is there a civilian version?"

"It will be different from what I have seen. There are different packages," Leiddem said from looking over the body on the floor. He noticed the name badge on the man and rolled his eyes. "These folks did not have a chance. He was the Chief Medical Officer onboard," he murmured, seeing the name Barry Jones and Chief Medical Officer. Leiddem could not help but scoff at how boring the man's name was. Human for sure.

“So someone killed the CMO and then scrambled the EMH,” Jinx said. “Really wanted him dead, I guess?” She had her little tongue sticking out a bit as she finagled the last connection in the panel and then stood back.

“No necessarily.” Leiddem said not jumping to any conclusion just yet. He was an investigator at heart and they really did not have enough information just yet to work out what was going on.

“Computer, activate Emergency Medical Hologram,” Jinx spoke into the air, running a hand through her red hair.

Different was maybe not a strong enough word. The EMH who appeared before them was short, around five feet maybe, pretty, female, and Trill in appearance with jet black hair and violet colored eyes. "May I help you?" she asked.

Issac frowned, and wondered why the fleet didn't have a larger array of models to pick from. "I am Doctor Nicoli. We are responding to the apparent distress of this vessel."

“Oh!” Jinx said, turning to face the EMH. “Hello!” she greeted.

"Ah. A medical emergency has not yet been registered with my system," the EMH replied politely. "I am afraid I am in the dark as to any distress this ship may have experienced."

"She's cute. Might have to steal her," Curtis remarked slyly to Leiddem before moving forward and tapping on his interface tool. "Certainly looks like she wasn't activated during the crisis, for whatever reason. Maybe nobody left to do so. Or the system was locked-out to non-crew."

"A correct assessment." The EMH cocked her head slightly, confused. "How did you manage to access my program?"

"Oh, I come with a certain set of skills..." Curtis grinned. "I'll happily tell you all about them sometime. But I think my compatriots here have a few questions about what went down here."

Leiddem ignored Curtis and the comment about stealing her. He dreaded to think what the kid would do with her if so inclined. He shook his head and started to move to explore the rest of the sickbay.

"I see." There was a pause as the EMH processed. "A medical emergency has not yet been registered with my system. I am afraid I am in the dark as to any distress this ship may have experienced."

Curtis looked at the others. "Yeah, looping dialogue subroutine. She doesn't know anything useful."

“Can you examine a body?” Jinx asked the EMH. “Do an autopsy of sorts? What happened to the Chief Medical Officer?” The tiny woman gestured to the dead body.

The EMH looked placidly at the body, then at Jinx. "Do you wish to register a medical emergency?"

“She is oblivious to it all,” Leiddem commented as he returned empty handed and none the wiser about what was going on. The hologram just stared at them patiently.

"Limited protocols," Curtis explained. "Probably a cheap civilian model EMH rather than one of the Starfleet ones."

“Someone has been in here since the crash. A first aid kit is missing,” Leiddem revealed with a shrug as he glanced back at the room he had come from. Someone was obviously onboard, but where he was was unsure. Nothing was overly making sense to the man, and he was not thick; he knew how to run an investigation and look for clues.

Jinx shook her head at the useless EMH. “I guess we keep looking,” she said with a sigh, trying again to scan for life signs with her tricorder.

"Any idea what is blocking our scans?" Issac asked, until they knew that and then overcame it they wouldn't be using tricorders to find anything!

“Not a clue so it looks like we will have to look the old fashioned way…” when everyone looked at Leiddem confused with grinned. “Look with our eyes.” It was obvious to him that they would have to rely on a less technical approach.