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Claustrophobia

22:00 hours

That evening, Hoshi walked into Sickbay to see Phlox. She looked around, not seeing him instantly, but spied him sitting at his desk staring at the readouts he and the Sub-Commander had gathered throughout the day.

She went over to him, to ask her query, but he spied her first before she spoke.

"Ensign!" he said, delighted as ever to have visitors, it seemed to her. "What can I do for you?"

She tried to smile at him, although she wasn't feeling well enough to make it her normal smile, and he saw instantly that she wasn't herself. His overly-friendly expression changed to one of concerned professionalism as he offered her a seat next to his. "What seems to be the matter?"

She took the seat gladly. "I'm really not feeling well- my- my... head... it feels so... well, like it's a pressure cooker, and hot..." she placed her right hand over her forehead as she spoke. "I'm sorry Doctor, I'm not making much sense, I'm just so hot, and- and it feels like my head's about to explode... like everything is closing in on me too."

Phlox frowned, all joviality gone. He stood up, offering a helping hand to Hoshi to help her to stand too, which she took, and he led her to one of the beds. As she lay down, he brought out a scanner and took her readings. His frown deepened into the closest thing to a scowl that she had ever seen him make, but then she was distracted again by the pressure in her head, and she brought up both hands to cradle her temples, groaning in pain. Her left hand went down to the collar of her off-duty clothes, trying to make room between her neck and the previously-comfy old T-shirt she wore. "Everything feels like it's closing in on me Doctor, choking me," she whispered. She opened her eyes to see that Phlox had moved to the EM chamber, getting the exam table slid out and ready. "Doctor?" she asked, louder so he could hear her. "What's that for?"

He came back over to her bed, and helped her to sit up. He looked her straight in the eye. "Ensign, I can find absolutely nothing wrong with you, but you are never one to come to Sickbay complaining unless you need to, so if you say that you're suffering, I'm inclined to believe you over the scanner, especially as we have a creature attached to Enterprise, with no idea as to what effect it might have on us. As such, I want to scan you in the EM chamber as it is more comprehensive than my hand-held scanner." He helped her off the bed and on to the exam table where she lay back.

Hoshi hated the EM chamber. She had been in it before, as had everyone on the ship- it was a part of the medical check-up everyone had when they first boarded Enterprise for the Doctor's records. The only problem was that Hoshi had claustrophobia, which she didn't admit readily, but several crewmembers did know- Doctor Phlox obviously, and Jon, as well as Liz Cutler and Trip, and she'd even told Travis, despite knowing his love of gossip and pranks, but she considered him to be a good friend.

She lay back, the heat getting to her, making her clothes stick. As the table slid into the chamber, she began picking at her clothes, trying to get them away from her skin, letting her breathe. She looked down towards her feet as the chamber closed. She hated this part, and she scrunched her eyes closed.

"Don't worry Ensign, this won't take more than a minute," Phlox said into the speaker on the wall so she could hear him. He looked at the scans as the computer showed the information on the viewscreen above the chamber. He couldn't see a thing wrong with her. He took a closer look at her brain, where he could see that there were increased levels of adrenaline- he could tell that she was beginning to panic, but there really was nothing else out of the ordinary as far as he could see.

Hoshi heard Phlox over the speaker telling her not to worry, but that was much easier said than done. She tried the trick she had used last time she was in the chamber and counted to a minute to try and concentrate on the counting, rather than on the fact that she was stuck in what felt like a lit-up coffin. She got to a minute, but hadn't heard from Phlox again, so she counted to two minutes.

She opened her eyes and called out. "Doctor? Are you there?"

Silence.

"Doctor Phlox??!" She reached out to the speaker, beginning to panic. "Doctor!! Get me out of here!!"

She slid down towards the entrance and kicked out as she didn't have enough space to turn to knock or try and pry the doors open. Still no answer, so she kicked again, harder and harder. She was sure that she should at least be getting a reprimand from Phlox telling her not to damage the machine as they would have to go back to Earth to get a new one, but not even the sound of a welcome reprimand was coming. Her hands lashed out, trying to make herself heard from outside the chamber, screaming for someone to let her out, but no one came to open the door.

She was trapped.

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