The Scientist Under A Microscope

Posted on Sat Apr 18th, 2015 @ 12:56pm by Lieutenant Commander William Harding M.D. & Commander Patrick Leroy
Edited on on Sat Apr 18th, 2015 @ 12:59pm

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Piper Medical Center

* * * Piper Medical Center * * *

Dr. Harding was just finishing some last details and instructions before his trip down to Archadia. Everything was set for Dr. Crane to man the helm of Sickbay for a couple of weeks and Will was looking forward to some time on real ground with real sun. Footsteps approaching his office door pulled his attention away from his daydreaming and Kiere appeared in the doorway.

“Commander Leroy is here, down in room 205.”

“Thanks Kiere. This is my last one before I beam down.” Will rose and moved out into the corridor.

“Have a good trip.” She waved and took off to go back out front.

* * *

Pacing back and forth Patrick had walked the length of the room hundred times now. He’s medical assessment done not too long ago, this call from Doctor harding seemed deliberately enigmatic.

Will reached room 205 and stepped inside. “Good morning Commander Leroy.” Will smiled to the CSO. “My apologies for having you in so early, but I am due on Archadia this morning and I wanted to get this out of the way. Please have a seat.”

“Good morning Mr. Harding,” Patrick responded albeit without returning the smile as he took a seat. “I have to say I find this call a bit strange for my medical is still long to be due and, at this moment, I have some urgent matters to attend in Galileo due to my recent absence.” He paused making some inward consideration then asked directly “Why I’ve been summoned here?”

“Well, it concerns your absence, actually,” Will answered. “I understand from your report that you had something rather unusual happen while you were away. I am curious as to what happened and want to make sure everything is as it should be.”

Patrick eyed him with a sideways glance “I’ve related everything in that report. I have to say that it hasn’t been the best experience of my life. I’m still trying to understand how it could have happened. I’ve been thrust in the future. But not our own as I’ve seen. The future of the alternate universe we had the misfortune to incur not long ago.”

“I see.” Will pulled out his medical tricorder and began to scan Patrick. “Sounds like you got a double whammy there. Time travel can have physical after-effects but alternate dimensional travel has some quite different consequences. It’s somewhat concerning that you left from a different place and yet ended up in the same universe the Admiral and the XO encountered. Perhaps that is a matter for the CSO, hmm?” Will smiled as he began to examine the readings.

A tight smile lined Patrick’s lips as he recalled a scene not long ago where he haunted Kh’ali about chronitons level with a tricorder remembering her reaction. Now he understood what she meant.

“It seems I’ve underestimated the chroniton level in my body,” Patrick said observing Harding “I deem them the first cause for what’s happened or.. Well they explain the jumping to the AU. What I’ve been unable to explain myself so far is the temporal shift and the accelerated aging of my body.”

“That is what interests me too. I’ve done work on the opposite effect, that is stopping aging, but this is vastly different. Logic would dictate that you were sent far into the future, but according to your report, the child Faye was only what? Twenty-five years or so ahead?” Will laid the tricorder aside. “Lie down please.”

Patrick abided to Harding’s request without too much enthusiasm. Being a scientist he knew all too well what this meant. Behind the doctor kind words and sociable mood Patrick occupied the place of a guinea pig, the thought irritating him somewhat.

“She was at least thirty years ahead from the time I… Held her in my arms,” Patrick said in the end, answering to Harding’s question.

Will nodded. “Which leaves the anomaly. “I suspect you’ll be dissecting the data from that for some time to come.” The biobed’s arch slid over Patrick and Will turned his attention to the panel on the wall as the various in-depth scans began. He was silent for a moment, watching. “Well, if it is any consolation to you, you appear to be a man in his early thirties, vital signs normal for the most part.”

“You can bet on that doctor,” escaped from Patrick’s mouth. “It has been the worst period of my life a taste of the future that should be normally far away. I’ve been lucky to come back and…” He paused a little as if the thought discomforted him. “Federation is not in a good situation there. A tiny dot of light in a quadrant became almost invariably hostile.”

He stood silent a while as Harding evaluated the biobed readings “I should leave behind any knowledge I’ve garnered from this experience but that’s easier said than done. There is people there I could care for there and for which I’ll never know what happened to them.” He turned his head to regard the doctor then “Don’t you think that something bad could also happen here?”

Will considered the question. “It could happen anywhere, Patrick. When you get right down to it, the entire Federation is a group of vastly different cultures and species. Sheer determination is what has kept it together this long and individual choices day by day that result in what we see as our present. In that other universe, different choices were made that changed things, resulting in a different end result. Much like your science experiment variables. One tiny adjustment….” Will stopped and frowned as he regarded the panel. “Interesting. your vital signs reflect your true age, however, the neural scans would say otherwise.”

“What do you mean?” Patrick asked starting to rise from the biobed “Is there any damage?”

“I wouldn’t call it damage exactly, more like the passage of time. Do not interpret that to mean that your’ brain is old and senility is going to set in. What I mean is that while your body appeared to jump from one time to the other, your brain seems to have recorded everything along the way.” Will rested a hand on Patrick’s shoulder, settling him back on the biobed. “Does that make sense?”

“I’ve grown up? Is that what you mean?” Patrick smiled with irony.

“How about calling it wisdom beyond your years?” Will joked. “Seriously though, this is something to monitor in the long run since we have no idea what changes may come in the future. Short term? Your chroniton levels are skewed but that is to be expected. I will leave instruction for those to be checked again in two days to compare.”

“Said like that it could seem a boon,” Patrick replied skeptically. “I’ll get back here for the further checks. But I’ll be also doing my research on the subject in the meantime.” Raising on his elbows he looked directly to the doctor. “Are we done? I should really get back to Galileo and then attend to some personal affairs of utmost importance.”

“We are and if you discover anything we need to know in your investigation, please inform us.” Will smiled again at Patrick’s last words. “I understand congratulations are in order.”

“Well thank you,” Patrick replied perking an eyebrow as he stood from the biobed. News ran fast on SB900 or so it seemed. “I’ll keep you informed.” He ended offering the hand to Harding.

“Take care, Commander, and give Kh’ali my best.” He watched as Patrick made his way out, visions of a sun-drenched terrace on Archadia already filling his thoughts.

***************
Dr. William Harding
The Man Of The Hour

Patrick Leroy
The Man Of The Years