Investigations

Posted on Fri Apr 25th, 2025 @ 8:11am by Lieutenant Sarah Wilson & Lieutenant Commander Aurora Vali

825 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Masimal
Location: Sickbay

Making her way down to Sickbay Aurora stepped into the expanse of room and made her way over to Sarah offering a warm smile. “Hi Sarah, the Captain suggested we work together to investigate the disease mentioned in the message we received.”

"Oh Hi, great to see you" Sarah smiled warmly, indicating that Aurora head towards her office. "They've started sending the data through, have you had a chance to review the message again?"

“Not yet, I thought we’d do that together” Aurora offered a smile. “Sarah on an unrelated matter, have you felt like something is off? Not mission related, just in general?”

"I got the distinct impression that something happened during the spatial anomaly, but I can't quite out my finger on it." The CMO mused as she pulled up the data that had come through. " some people's readings are a bit whack, little things like hormonal fluctuations, weird dreams and the like"

Aurora nodded. “I’ve got a calendar that’s getting busier by the day, and I don’t feel right myself, I just can’t explain why.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Anyway back to the matter at hand, we need to see what we can gleam from this message.”

"Exactly, and the sensor data is beginning to come through" Sarah replicated them both a warm beverage and settled into her chair, activating the message first. There was talk of a virus from the person making the recording, then right before it terminated there wad a blurry image and a scream. Sarah paused the recording and looked to Aurora for her thoughts.

Aurora nodded. “It’s hard to tell whether this person is suffering from delusions due to this virus they speak of, or whether that blur is someone or something chasing them.” She paused. “Why don’t we repeat it frame by frame and see if it gives us more detail.”

"Good idea" Sarah rewound the recording a minute and set the time interval to 1sec frames then began the playback again. This time muting the audio and concentrating on the visual. As they did so the viral data was coming through from the bridge.

"Keep reviewing this, I'm going to have a look at what the bridge was sending through" Sarah continued.

Aurora nodded not taking her eyes off the playback incase she missed anything, it was all so odd. Repeating the footage time and again she sighed. “All I’m getting is a possible other person chasing, or maybe following the first. It’s difficult to tell.”

"From what I can gather from the sensors data there's some kind of pathogen or virus that's infecting the population. Could it be that the infected people are attacking the non infected people?" Sarah mused as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Whatever it is, it's bad. We need to help"

“It’s a very definite possibility” Aurora nodded. “It could be the pathogen is making the infected see others as something they’re not. That would make them exceedingly unpredictable and dangerous.”

"Pathogens can change behaviours, some viruses also do the same. Pathogens can go one step further though and some can almost take over the host." She shuddered. "It's been documented in some remote regions of Earth"

Aurora nodded. “We should warn the Captain, she’d obviously send people down in containment suits, but they need to know that people could be violent.”

"She won't send people down without more information. We just need to make sure she has everything she needs to make a decision" Sarah replied, taking some notes. "Shall we see what the infra red sensors found?"

“I forgot about that” Aurora nodded. “Let’s see if the readings show anything.”

The same bright reds emanated from the plantlife and some animal life, also showing up in the general population. "Holy geez. Whatever is infecting the people began in the plant life, which means it's either in the air or the water" Sarah mused.

"What we really need is a sample. Do you think the Captain would let us beam a portion of plant life up and keep it in a biohazard field?"

“There’s only one way to find out” Aurora looked at Sarah. “Question is how did the plant life get infected? Could something alien have landed here and started off infection? It’s all so odd.”

"So many questions, right?" Sarah replied ruefully. She was interrupted by a call from the bridge for the away team to head to the Shuttle Bay.

"Gotta go, looks like you're it to sort this out until I get back" she smiled with confidence. "I have full faith in your scientific abilities"

“Great!” Aurora grinned a wry grin. “As you said ideally we need a sample to test, fingers crossed something will turn up. Good luck and be careful.”

"You too!" The CMO grabbed her meditation and headed out, leaving Aurora to continue their research.

 

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