Meanwhile back in Engineering, Scotty had lodged himself deep within a Jeffrey's tube in the inner-belly of the ship fiddling with warp core settings.
He felt only a slight buzz from the Crassulian ale. He adjusted himself to get a better look at the circuits in front of him, turning onto his side, his black silky hair just nudging the walls of the ship. He loved being so close.
"Hendricks, get me a phaser torch, will ya lass?"
Holly Hendricks was an easily distracted new cadet straight out of Starfleet loved to follow Mister Scott around, throwing him tools and crawling around in the Jeffrey's tubes. She genuinely loved engineering. Scotty and her would sometimes just lean against a wall in the engine room, feeling the ship humming with power and talking about warp core engines for hours.
"Hendricks, that torch?"
She had gotten lost in her thoughts when she heard her boss shout at her.
"Hendricks!"
Scotty heard a muffed "Yes sir" from his assistant, the young females' hand stretched into view holding the phaser torch. "By your left leg, Mister Scott!" She wasn't sure if he could hear her or not, over the loud hum of the engines
"Aye, I got it" he took the torch and began his work. His fingers brushed against the panel he was about to open. That's when he felt an odd sensation creep over his entire body. It started in his fingertips, working its way up his arm and to his chest. "Hendricks? Gimme the diagnostics on these panels, I'm gettin a lot of static ele'ricity 'ere"
The blond female called out that everything seemed normal on the scanner for the tube that the chief engineer was in
Scotty dug his hand back out of the mess of wires, being careful not to disconnect any of them.
"Move outta the way lass I'm comin back out, getting a weird feelin' in there" Scotty clambered backwards out of the tube. Hendricks offered a hand to help him out of the last part of the tube, and he gratefully accepted it.
"Mister Scott!" She squeaked, pointing at his upper lip where blood had dripped down from his nose.
"Are you alright?" Hendricks was about to reach up and clean it away, when he wiped the blood on the sleeve of his red uniform before she could reach him. He was a bit startled at his bloody nose but thought nothing of it. Scotty knew that space could make the body do weird things.
That's when he noticed his stomach felt tingly "Feel like I've got fire ants crawlin' round' in me belly" he clasped a hand to his stomach "you sure the readins' showed no radiation leaks or ele'ricity arches?"
Hendricks shook her head "no sir," she hesitated "wouldn't the alarms have gone off if there was a radiation leak?" Fearing that she sounded like a 'know it all', she added, "you might want to go see Doctor McCoy, just to make sure you're okay" Feeling concern for her boss
"Aye lass, and make sure you have Jacobs check that tube! I want this ship hummin' peaceful by sundown!" and with a small cough, he patted the young Ensigns shoulder and headed off to sickbay.
Thinking the Chief Engineer was acting strange, she checked the readings on her PaDD again. Only to show again that there were no radiation leaks, no disconnected wires, no shortages, no nothing. She comm'ed Jacobs anyway, "better safe than sorry" she said to herself.
Scotty felt silly going to sickbay just for a few tingles. For god's sake, he'd been electrocuted by a damn Andorian eel once! That left him in Doctor McCoy's care for at least three days; Scotty shuddered at the memory. Although when he got there, just outside the doors, he stopped, leaning slightly on the wall, staying there for minute or so. He waved off a concerned ensign. "Must be gettin' old, girl" mostly speaking to the ship. Pushing off the wall, he clapped his hands together and entered sickbay
