Nanoprobes Are Your Friend
Posted on Sat Sep 26th, 2015 @ 6:30pm by Lieutenant Commander Earl Crane & Cadet Senior Grade Chance Conradi & Janice Gree & Lieutenant Commander William Harding M.D. & Ensign Six of Ten & Cadet Senior Grade Eli Ziyad
Mission: Further Challenges
* Will’s Quarters *
Something in Will’s dream startled him awake and he lay still beside Seyla, eyes closed, trying to hang on to remnants of it that already were trying to dissolve into nothingness. He’d been dancing at the palace on Archadia, and as he turned Solaana under his arm, the crowd had parted and a hush had fallen over the partygoers. He’d pulled Solaana close, whispered in her ear, and then saw what the rest had already noticed - a Borg was approaching them, moving slowly across the dance floor. He could tell it was a female. As it reached for Solaana, he’d pushed her behind him, shielding her. The tubules extending from the Borg’s hand had brushed his throat and it was then that he’d jumped out of the dream.
He held on to the images long enough to let them play out in his waking memory and now, lay there staring at the ceiling and puzzling over what it could mean. The fact that the Borg in the dream was female seemed significant, but why Solaana? He thought back over the dream, this time focusing on her, on when he had leaned in close. He saw now that in the dream, Solaana had a sprinkling of tiny red dots at her temple. Realization hit like a supernova and Will gasped aloud. Her dream image was Enaran. In that instant, it all made sense.
"What are you doing over there?", Seyla huffed, still clinging to the last shreds of sleep. Kicking the sheets off, she turned over and rested against Will's side.
“Dream,” he answered as he wrapped his arms around her. “It was unsettling but I think it was my brain sending me a message. I have an idea now on how to fix Eli. I want to run it by Earl, and it will mean the assistance of another on this station but I think it will work.” There was an edge of excitement in his voice as he spoke. “Sorry to wake you. I know it’s really early.”
"It's okay, Will. Sometimes the best ideas come in the night," she kissed his cheek. "Are you getting up?"
“As much as I want to say no and stay here a little longer, I can’t. I need to move on this and see if it’s going to work. I want Eli out of stasis as soon as I can manage it,” he answered. He turned his head to kiss her. “What time is it anyway?”
"Mm...," Seyla lifted her head and looked across him at the clock. "Shortly after four."
“Two hours of sleep. That’s crazy. It reminds me of my intern days. I don’t miss them.” He kissed her once more. “Sorry to leave you, but this is going to take some research and coordination of several people, along with the computer. I’ll grab a few winks in the lounge later.”
"That'll be healthy," Seyla muttered and rolled back over to snuggle her pillow. "See you later, dear."
Will followed her, snuggling in at her back and kissing her neck. “I may not be home tonight, depending on how long this takes. Wish me luck.”
"You better be home tonight! Old man like you needs his sleep," she shot at him in jest, glancing over her shoulder and smiling. "Besides, you don't need luck, you have skill."
“I do, as does Earl. This is going to be tricky...if it works.” He smiled and nipped at her shoulder. “Have fun tonight.”
“Mmhmm,” she chuckled and was soon asleep as he dressed and left.
* Piper Medical *
“Five am?” Earl grumbled at Will. “Coffee, strong, black,” he ordered at the replicator. “What is so inspiring that you’d drag me in here at this awful hour?”
“I offer my abject apologies,” Will answered and lifted his own mug. "I’ve had two hours of sleep. But I had a dream that gave me a great idea.”
"Oh, dreamy inspiration. Joy," Earl toasted Will with his coffee. "Do tell."
“Well, I was dreaming that I was down at the palace and was dancing with Solaana...the Prime Minister. Then a borg came walking through the crowd and reached for her. When I stepped between them, it reached for me and then I woke up.” Will stopped to sip his coffee. “The thing is, the Borg was female and in the dream, Solaana was Enaran. You see where this is going?”
“Have you had sex lately?”, Earl asked, peering closer at Will.
Will blinked in surprise. “You know I spent three days at the palace on Archadia, right? And took Seyla home last night? What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Two women in your dream, tendrils coming at you...?” Earl shrugged, “Seems ...what? Freudian?”
Will sighed and shook his head. “No, how to fix Eli. Have some more coffee dear.” He grinned at Earl. “Solaana being Enaran meant Eli and the female Borg...Six. Her nanites could be programmed to neutralize the poison and repair his neural tissue.”
Earl sipped his coffee, thinking about Will’s statement. “Huh. And we trust these things to stop at that? What if they go off-script and start reproducing themselves and augmenting Eli?”
“They’ve been re-programmed often to be used just in such situations where there seems to be no other solution. We even altered their programming to revive Six. We’ll need her okay, and her input but if we don’t, he’s dead.”
Earl got up and walked from one end of the office to the other. “Well, dammit. I haven’t got a better idea. Suppose we’ll need to call Six, get her down here.”
Will nodded and rubbed his eyes. He pressed the comm panel and when it beeped he spoke. “Kiere, track down Six Of Ten. Have her report to my office immediately. Harding out.” He looked to Earl and smiled. “We better have some more coffee. Remind me, also, to inform Solis he owes us. If he didn’t have surgery in four hours, I’d haul his ass up here too.”
“More coffee? Hell, I think I’ll go find a bed and take a catnap. Wake me when Six gets here,” Earl grimaced and headed out of Will’s office.
“Enjoy your fifteen minutes,” Will called after him and started to laugh.
It actually took Six twenty minutes to appear and she looked surprisingly awake. She waited at the door while Kiere cross and shook Will’s shoulder. “Dr. Harding? Six is here.”
“Oh!” Will snapped awake instantly, a habit ingrained in most doctors. “Oh...thanks Kiere.” He rubbed his eyes and grabbed his cup. “Have a seat Six. Kiere, get Earl back in here.” He moved over to replicate tao mugs of strong coffee. “Sorry to wake you at this ungodly hour, Six.”
“Oh, we were awake. We hadn’t been home long and were...ah...awake.” She blushed slightly. “What do you need me for? Is something wrong?”
“It concerns Eli, actually. Dr. Crane should be here in a minute and we’ll fill you in.”
She nodded slowly. “I heard he collapsed. Is he still in stasis?”
“He is.” Will carried the mugs back to his desk and had a seat. “But I am hoping that will change soon.” They could hear footsteps approaching and Will grabbed the second mug, holding it up.
Earl entered, only one eye open, and grabbed for the coffee mug. He missed and tried again. He connected and took a sip of the coffee. "Oo. Strong." His other eye opened. "Okay, Six, we need your blood. Nanites, to be precise."
Her eyes opened wide at the statement. “My blood? But… Oh! Eli!”
“Yes,” Will answered. “The poison in his system is a form of Felodisine. It’s Romulan in origin and we have no antidote for it. It reacted with his Enaran physiology and destroyed a large part of the telepathic center of his brain. If we cannot reverse it, he will die. I think, though, that we can reprogram your nanites to neutralize it and do the repairs.”
Six considered his words and nodded. “It’s possible to alter their programming to do that but it will take a little time to fine tune them. And of course, you can have whatever you need.” She looked from Will to Earl. “Chance would be lost without him.”
"Fine tune them? How will we do that? Do you need a sample of the poison?" Earl could think of a hundred questions to ask, not all of them relevant.
“Via computer,” Six answered. “The computer already has a breakdown on the poison, yes? If so, we can use that to program the nanites. Also a sample of Eli’s DNA so they can be altered to suit him specifically.”
He was relieved she knew how to do what needed to be done. "I'll go pull the blood sample I drew. Six, do want to come with me and use the medical computer to find the poison's breakdown?"
“Sure.” She stood and then hesitated. “I should call home and let Suresh know I’ll be a while.”
Will directed her to a comm panel in the wall just outside. When she was gone from the office, he stood. “I’m not sure I’ll ever understand that pair,” he said softly to Earl.
**********
Lt. Commander William Harding, M.D.
Lt. Commander Earl D. Crane, M.D.
Janice Gree
Cadet JG Chance Conradi
Cadet JG Eli Ziyad
Ensign Six of Ten
