Disclaimer... seriously, we all know it.
Written for Sickbay Month
Set in Series 3, after 'Impulse'.
Electrolysis- chemical decomposition produced by passing an electric current through a conducting liquid.
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Neuroscience
It began with a faint buzzing in the depths of her ears and a tingly sensation on the back of her neck.
As Hoshi fine-tuned her console to try and distinguish what the disturbance was, she felt the oppressive rise of blood pumping through her temples and the rushing sound which came combined with the increase of blood pressure in her ears making her feel quite nauseous.
Suddenly, the noise flared into a piercing attack on her senses, the shock of it sending her vision into a bright light, diminishing into sparks and strange swirling patterns before lessening to black as she slipped quietly off her chair.
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Hoshi's silent form lay on a biobed in Sickbay, completely unaware that she was surrounded by Doctor Phlox, Captain Archer, and Sub-Commander T'Pol with Crewman Cutler not too far away, assisting Phlox with his treatment of the patient.
At that specific moment, not long after Hoshi had collapsed on the Bridge, Phlox was telling Archer and T'Pol what he had found so far.
"Apart from a list of symptoms which Ensign Sato is being afflicted with, I cannot tell you what exactly is wrong with her I'm afraid Captain. I have never seen anything like this before in any patient I've had, no matter what the species."
"But can you treat her?" Archer interjected forcefully.
Phlox took a breath in, and another one after that. He rested his hands on the biobed, leaning slightly upon them and looking at his patient before answering.
"I will treat her as best I can Captain, but if I tell you her symptoms, you will understand why I must be cautious before I try anything, especially as this is unknown ground to me."
He moved around to the head of the biobed and raised his left hand to the monitor above Hoshi's head which was carefully measuring her vitals. Archer came up next to him, sparing a glance at Hoshi's peaceful face before examining the colourful wavy lines and bars on the screen.
T'Pol stayed at Hoshi's feet, where she could view both the young Ensign, the worried fatherly Captain, and the Doctor- as confused as she'd ever seen him before. She mostly wanted to stay away from the close presence of Captain Archer, a man who seemed to be able to sense her moods far too well for a human, and it had not been very long since she had been in the Sickbay herself since the -unsettling- episode of seeing her fellow Vulcans and herself under the influence of forces outside their control.
Her gaze focused as she heard Phlox speaking to the Captain. Now was not the time to lose one's composure nor to 'daydream', as she had caught her fellow human shipmates doing on occasion.
"Now Captain," she heard Phlox say, "do bear in mind that when the Vulcans warned us about the dangers of the Expanse, I insisted that the entire crew have a complete physical so that could closely monitor each individual, should anything untoward happen."
Archer flinched in remembrance. "Yes I do Doctor. A complete physical." He shifted his shoulders squeamishly and folded his arms before him.
Phlox gave a small hint of one of his usual smiles, but his non-understanding of Ensign Sato's case was troubling him too much for him to take any real humour in the Captain's discomfort. So he carried on with his list of symptoms instead, much to Archer's thankfulness.
"So here Captain, if I bring this screen online, you will be able to see exactly what I mean when I tell you what is happening." He unfolded and swung around a secondary screen, which fitted in the area underneath the main biobed screen which was showing Hoshi's present condition. The waves and bars on the secondary screen were much more active.
"This smaller screen shows Ensign Sato's normal readings, and the main screen shows her readings at this present moment in time. Her symptoms are serious Captain, you must understand this. From what you and the other Bridge crew have told me you saw before she collapsed, Ensign Sato seemed to have developed a static electrical field about her person beforehand. What the main screen shows is that she seems to have a total shutdown of her body's electrical synapses and consequently, her nervous system has collapsed."
He pointed towards a single dead line in the centre of the screen.
"This line shows her brain activity. As you can see, it is nil."
He pointed to the secondary screen. "This is what it should be- a hive of activity. Her brain has shut down. I believe this happened on the Bridge, and so her body collapsed, unable to receive any signals from the brain."
He stopped to give Archer a moment to take it all in. The Captain had gone pale and very still. Yet he still managed to open his mouth to ask, very quietly, "Is she going to die Doctor?"
Phlox turned from the two screens to look Archer dead in the eye. "She should already be dead Captain, that is why I am more confused than upset at Ensign Sato's condition. She is alive, very much so, but she is more in a very deep coma."
Archer flung his hands away from him as if he could no longer contain himself. He took a step towards the Doctor, then stopped and turned towards the unmoving screen, blaming it inwardly for its' cursed readings. He swung back to the Doctor- "She is a vegetable! No matter what, I can't think of a single person who would even for the smallest moment, be content to live their lives as completely mindless, especially when that mind was so brilliant before- just like Hoshi!"
Phlox placed his hand on Archer's right shoulder firmly rather than sympathetically. "Captain, Ensign Sato was in perfect health. There was absolutely no reason whatsoever for her to just suddenly collapse suffering a complete cerebral shutdown. When it is not natural, there must therefore be a cause, and I will not rest until I examine Ensign Sato completely and find such a cause. And once there is a cause, then we can find the cure. I promise you Captain."
Archer lifted his eyes to Phlox's and saw the sincerity and nodded gratefully. He almost jumped when T'Pol spoke from where she hadn't moved at all at the end of the biobed.
"The Doctor is correct Captain. I suggest that Commander Tucker examines Ensign Sato's console in detail to find a cause there. I and the science teams will examine this area of the Expanse to find anything that may have contributed."
Phlox removed his hand from Archer and turned to Liz Cutler telling her which instruments should be prepared for the examinations and various tests as he went to retrieve medical journals and essays from his collection which may prove useful, as well as several new PADDs to write his notes upon.
Archer took one last look at Hoshi whose expression hadn't changed at all, and he left with T'Pol.
At the turbolift, they parted, her to the Bridge to begin the coordination of the researchers on board. Archer went to the Armoury to find Malcolm.
He found him doing a routine check and clean on the rifles. As he neared though, he saw that while Malcolm was doing an excellent job as usual, he wasn't really concentrating on the matter at hand. He seemed to be a million miles away. Or maybe not even that far- maybe only the short distance to sickbay. On the Bridge, Malcolm had had a full view of Hoshi as she had collapsed, and the man had seemed more than a little spooked as Hoshi had started giving off little blue sparks between her finger tips and her controls at the console which they hovered over before keeling over. Malcolm didn't make a move to turn to his Captain even when Archer was standing right behind him, so he cleared his throat. Malcolm jumped and spun around, eyes wide, arms bent. He came to attention immediately, forgetting that he was still holding a greasy cloth.
"At ease Malcolm," Archer said. "I've come to ask you to do a thorough scan of space as far as you can. See if you can find anything that might be a threat, anything at all that might have precipitated Hoshi's illness. Do anything you can- we won't be leaving this area until we can find our answers."
"I'll get right on it right away Captain," Malcolm replied, beginning to move to a console to start and Archer turned to leave to return to the Bridge. Malcolm stopped just as quickly as he'd begun though. "Captain, if I may..." he began. Archer turned back towards him.
"Yes Malcolm?"
Malcolm hesitated, not wanting even after all his time on Enterprise to overstep the mark with any sort of intimacy with his commanding officer. "Ensign Sato, if I may enquire on her health, how was she?"
Archer grimaced, his emotions plain on his face as ever, but in recent time, a grimace and a frown had lined his warm features too much. "She's not doing well Malcolm, but there is still hope. Phlox says she's in a coma, but we'll do everything we can for her."
Malcolm lifted his head. "Yes Sir, we will. I'll get on to that job right now, thankyou Captain."
The last thing Archer heard was Malcolm giving a security team orders to patrol the ship thoroughly for any onboard threats which might have unknowingly come on to the ship.
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It was the middle of ship's night and a hushed silence had settled upon Enterprise, although several of its' inhabitants weren't sleeping, but going about their duties.
In the dimmed light of Sickbay, Phlox was dictating his findings and thoughts of Hoshi's condition to the computer. He was settled in the chair next to the desk with PADDs spread out before him filled with notes and extracts from journals he'd found. He knew he had to move fast, so he hadn't left Sickbay since Ensign Sato had been brought to him. It showed in the numerous plates and half-eaten meals around him. Crewman Cutler had offered to return them to the kitchen, but Phlox had refused, wanting her instead to help him medically. He was grateful that his species needed little sleep, he had to find both the cause and the cure still- if there was even a cure to be found- before the electrolysis of the cerebral cortex and when therefore there would be no hope for the Ensign at all.
He paused the computer and picked up a sandwich which Crewman Grieves from the Mess had brought him. He took a bite as he scrolled through the computer screen, looking through what he'd dictated thus far.
A slice of tomato fell out of the sandwich and on to Phlox's lap, but he didn't notice as he leant forwards, noticing something which he'd stupidly missed before. His old tutor would have been appalled, for his student to miss such a glaring beacon.
He knew all along that the problem was electrical- the static field developing while she had still been conscious and every synapse and electrical field in her body shutting down. Whilst doing tests on her station on the Bridge, Commander Tucker had reported to him and to the Captain that the entire console had appeared to have suffered what the Commander had called an 'EMP' attack- an electromagnetic pulse- although 'fried' had been the word used to describe it to the Doctor, but Phlox had got the picture adequately enough. Put bluntly, something had happened to shut down all the broadband electrical circuitry which was in use within a certain area, which happened to have Hoshi's console on the Bridge and consequently, Ensign Sato herself.
The more he looked, the more he realised that the answer had been there the whole time- he knew exactly how to cure Hoshi.
He got up, without stopping to write down his discovery, nor even to pick up the tomato slice which fell on to the floor, to retrieve the machine needed. It was all so simple. If Phlox had known the expression, he would have been kicking himself as he set up the machine to Hoshi. As it was, he was doing the Denobulan equivalent to himself.
He attached the headset to her, but retracted his hand quickly as he received an electric shock. He flinched, but thought nothing of it as he went over to the cold-storage unit and took out a capped test tube sample, until he felt a faint buzzing in the depths of his ears and a tingly sensation on the back of his neck, followed by an oppressive rise of blood pumping through his temples and the rushing sound which came combined with the increase of blood pressure in his ears making him feel quite nauseous. Suddenly, as with Hoshi, the noise flared into a piercing attack on his senses, the shock of it sending his vision into a bright light, diminishing into sparks and strange swirling patterns before lessening to black as he lost control of his body, dropping the test tube and fell to the floor beside the biobed.
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Liz Cutler walked into Sickbay at the beginning of her shift at 0700 hours, rolling her eyes as she saw the tomato slice which was still sitting on the floor near the Sickbay desk.
No sign of Doctor Phlox though as she moved through the room, though she did notice that some of the animals were squawking, chirping, and generally making the amount of noise they would normally after having not been fed recently. She frowned, moving over to them and made a shushing noise towards the bat's cage in a comforting sort of way, absently stroking the bars as she looked around for the doctor- he was usually so attentive to their needs. It was very unlike him to be late in feeding them.
She saw that Ensign Sato's medbay curtain was slightly ajar- Doctor Phlox was also usually extremely careful about about his patients' privacy, even if they were unconscious and wouldn't have known anyway whether they had privacy or not. Their waking state wasn't the point.
She moved over to the medbay, flexing her fingers as she did so in self-consciousness, glad that no one had seen her stroking a cage, and looked around the curtain.
She gasped as she saw Doctor Phlox lying on the floor, totally unconscious.
She hurried to his side and rolled him on to his back, noting the floor patterns engrained into his cheek showing he'd been there a while.
She checked his pulse, was relieved to find one, moved him on to his side again, and then hurried over to the Comm panel to call for Captain Archer.
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The scene was eerily familiar as Archer and T'Pol stood around Phlox's biobed as Cutler explained the exact same symptoms for him that Phlox had done for Hoshi.
Phlox was lying on his own biobed now rather than the floor, having been lifted bodily the Sub-Commander. Cutler still had difficulty believing that such a slight woman could have so much strength.
Cutler finished telling the two officers the exact same symptoms as she'd found them- they were identical to Ensign Sato's in every way, and then she held out the test tube which had been on the floor near Doctor Phlox.
"I found this, apparently dropped by the Doctor, although what he was doing with it, I really couldn't say." Archer picked it out of her hand, looked at it, turning it over a couple of times, before conceding defeat and handing it to T'Pol who read the label on the side. It was labelled in medical jargon, which is why Archer had found it indistinguishable from many other test tubes he'd held before, but as a scientist, T'Pol recognised the markings, combined with the date marked on the tube as well- a date which had been quite momentous on the Enterprise.
She looked at Cutler.
"This is a sample from the cyborg humans which were discovered in Antarctica."
Cutler nodded, "Yes Sub-Commander, but I don't know why it might be useful. I can't see Doctor Phlox doing the spring cleaning while trying to work out Ensign Sato's cure, so he must have wanted it for something. The only thing I can think of is that he told me that these nanobacteria, or nanobots as the he called them, had the ability to heal the host- rebuild them as it were- and that medically, they had massive potential. But he said that this was technology which was vastly superior to ours, and we most likely wouldn't understand it for years to come. The other effects that came with being injected with these nanobots- hearing voices, losing ones' individuality, that sort of thing- made using these without years- decades even- of hard study and research completely impossible."
Archer seemed a little blank at the terminology, this really wasn't his strong point, but he did remember several of the terms from the report that Phlox had given at the time the cyborgs were on Enterprise. It had been terrifying to read, especially considering that it had been their own Doctor Phlox as well as the team from Antarctica which had been inflicted.
Though they were standing around Phlox's biobed, they had come in to see him laying by Hoshi's bed, and Archer recalled seeing a machine attached to her head. He inclined his head towards the direction of Hoshi's bed whilst still looking at Cutler. "What is that machine that's on Ensign Sato's head?"
Cutler looked at him for a moment. "Oh yes Sir- that is an Electrocorticogram. It records the electrical activity of the brain by using electrodes- that is what those things are plugged in to her head at various points."
"I thought that that was what the main screen was for above each biobed. Hoshi's screen shows no activity in her brain at all." Archer said, a slight frown appearing on his forehead.
"Well yes sir, but the brain is such a delicate instrument itself, that every care has to be taken when working on it, even in this day and age. The Electrocorticogram is a highly specific machine which uses electroencephalography. This, Sir, is the measurement and recording of electrical activity in different parts of the brain. It is very exact. Unfortunately Captain, that is as much as I can tell you. Neuroscience is not my field at all."
T'Pol immediately turned away from Cutler and towards Archer instead. "Captain, I am willing assist Crewman Cutler in further investigation. The science teams are capable of surveying the area of space we are in now quite well without my overseeing of them. Between the Crewman and myself, I am sure we will find the answer much faster than we might otherwise."
Archer and T'Pol both turned to Crewman Cutler who smiled and said "I would very much appreciate the help."
Archer nodded, "Alright then, get to it. Anything you need, just ask. I will be in my Ready Room, sending an update to Starfleet."
T'Pol came around the biobed, allowing Cutler to leave the curtained area first, and they made their way towards Phlox's messy desk, still with the forgotten tomato slice sitting on the floor, to try and sort their way through his notes and musings.
"I guess it would be most useful to start with the computer recordings- it's still paused." Cutler said, "it probably has the last things Phlox noted before he fell ill too."
T'Pol nodded her assent, as Liz commanded the computer to rewind and replay itself.
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"The thing I can't work out Sub-Commander, is if Doctor Phlox was really going to use the nanobots on Ensign Sato. They're so dangerous." Liz said to T'Pol, who was studying the notes Phlox had made on yet another PADD. She looked up at her human companion, who was in turn looking towards the cold-storage unit where the rogue test tube had been replaced.
T'Pol looked over too, then returned her gaze to Liz. "As we do not know what it was the Doctor was planning to do, I suggest we search through the entirety of his findings thus far."
Liz nodded in concurrence, then picked up another PADD, yawning as she did. This didn't escape T'Pol's attention. "Crewman Cutler, it is late. You would be more efficient if you returned to your quarters for a rest."
"But what about you?"
T'Pol held her gaze, unwavering. "Vulcans do not require as much rest as humans do. I shall carry on the research and brief you in the morning if I have found anything of use. Goodnight Crewman," she said, cutting off any further argument, although Liz was beyond arguing, exhausted as she was.
"Goodnight Sub-Commander."
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T'Pol waited for fifteen standard minutes after Crewman Cutler had left Sickbay before leaving the PADD on Phlox's desk and making her way over to Ensign Sato. There was a technique known to Vulcans that she had wanted to try that might have an effect, but she was disinclined to try it in front of any human. Alone now, she placed her hands on Ensign Sato's face. While she was not experienced enough to achieve a full mind-meld, she had read enough about the actual procedure after her experience with Tolaris and the 'free' Vulcans to attempt to use it for some good.
If she was honest with herself, she was feeling an almost-fear at the remembrance of her first mind-meld, but she pushed it aside and controlled all her thoughts and emotions as her teacher had shown her so many years before.
She didn't know what she might find in Ensign Sato's mind, if anything, but she wanted to achieve more than reading the PADDs seemed to be doing. She 'reached' into Hoshi's mind- and hit a void. But it wasn't a void- there was a voice, tiny and small amidst the suppressing nothingness- but it was there! She felt something almost like triumph, and then the Vulcan in her remembered that that was an emotion and should be controlled. She pushed towards the voice, still so tiny, but something held her back, and as it did, it started to pull her rapidly away from the voice, as a bright light attacked her senses, the short hairs on the back of her neck tickled her, and that was the last thing she felt before she too joined the ranks of the unconscious in Sickbay.
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