By: trekker
CHAPTER 3: WHAT HAVE WE HERE? (Part 2)
…and reappeared in the hallway (Actually, they are in the Columbia's holodeck). Sarok taps his combadge, "Sarok to ensign O'Hearne: what did the analysis of our subject reveal?"
"Aside from being female, she has no weapons, or any other advanced technology with her. In fact, she seems to be perfectly human."
"I will get our CMO's (Chief Medical Officer) opinion on this matter," Sarok replied, coldly. "Sarok to Sickbay: Doctor, I request a medical analysis of a deserting crew member."
"Coming." Doctor Juan Gonzalez , the ship's CMO, was examining updated medical research journals that he had picked up before they had left Starbase 121 on their way out of Federation space when Sarok's call came. Yay. The first subject of medical interest since we left home. When he got to the holodeck , he found an unconscious schoolgirl and Sarok. What the devil is this all about? "What can I do?" he asked casually, though he was confused and disturbed by Sarok's choice of subject being a human inhabitant of the world.
"You may scan the subject and state your results."
"As you wish." But it could only help if you weren't so cold about it. He held his medical tricorder over Kagome and scanned her from head to toe. "She is human, about 16 years old, and has had minimal exposure to any sort of Federation technology, judging from her retina-cell decay rate. And she is not a deserting crew member. Results stated."
"She used a transporter, doctor."
"Would that explain why she is covered in chronoton residue? The Federation does not have anything that uses chronoton particles. At least, nothing on this ship."
"Chronotons are particles that are associated with time travel. The Iconians have used transporter devices that provide instantaneous transport to any location in the universe through 4-dimensional conduits. Perhaps she is in league with another organization that is seeking use of the Iconian remains."
"If she is, then we have no business interfering with their work. If she is not, then she has just become your accidental victim and new-found subject of study. Perhaps, being a native, she is already familiar with the device and its use is regular on the planet."
"The device is located in a building with an architectural suggestion that it serves as a shrine. The inhabitants of a less-developed culture would worship advanced technology, as has already been seen on Mintaka III, as well as on the Edo world. The technology is not theirs."
"But it's not ours either, Sarok. As ship's doctor, I reserve the right to do whatever is necessary if it is for the good of a patient. So, as ship's doctor, I am ordering you to return her to the planet with no memory of being stunned."
"I have yet to interrogate her," Sark responded coolly.
"And you intend to do that how?" he said carefully.
"When she wakes up, I will see where she goes in this re-creation of her home and I can observe her actions," Sark responded casually (for a Vulcan).
"Sark, may I explore your interrogation room before you do anything irrational."
"I am Vulcan. I do not act irrationally."
"Right." At that moment, Kagome began to stir. "Shoot. We gotta get out here!" Gonzalez exclaimed as he dashed to the door with Sark right behind him. As soon as they were out, Sark accessed the holodeck's controls and sealed Kagome in and turned on the internal visual monitor. "So much for exploring your interrogation room," Juan muttered under his breath.
Inside, they could see Kagome get up and practically jog into the first room and jump onto her "bed" and lie down for a second but then get up again and proceeded to take off her clothes. Juan, as a doctor, immediately figured out that she was human, in good health, and had a reason for being excited. (Although, where that reason came from, he was afraid that it was either from any tampering Sark may have done with her mind while she was unconscious, or she was excited before she beamed up.) He decided that it was more likely that Sark did it and reacted accordingly.
He took out a hypospray from his medkit and injected Sark at the base of his neck. Sark turned to the doctor and said "Doctor, that was…" He slumped unconscious before he was able to finish his sentence.
Juan tapped his combadge and said, "Juan to O'Hearne. Beam Sark's prisoner back to the surface." He turned off the monitor and shut off Sark's program. Then he fireman-carried Sark to the turbolift. "Deck nine." The doors closed.
Kagome (In the holodeck). . .
Kagome woke up. Her first thought was "why am I lying here, in the middle of the hallway?" Her second thought was "I'm home!" She dashed into the next room and flung herself onto the bed. "Yes! Real clothes! A real bed! Real food! I'm home! I can take a real bath! Yes!" she shouted. And she proceeded to take off her clothes in preparation for that bath. She left her kimono on the floor, and was removing her bra when everything turned sparkly-blue… and reformed around her. Except that she was in the middle of the hallway, facing the wall opposite her bedroom door, and not paying attention to the change. Until her little brother came into the hallway from the kitchen asked her the last question she expected to hear, now that she was home: "Kagome? I could tell you were excited to get out of the well when me and grandpa let you out… but do you have to take off your clothes in the middle of the hallway?"
Kagome jumped and gasped when he said that, and thought better of what she was about say to him after she remembered catching Inuyasha spying on her from the tree when she came out of the lake ("Sit, boy!"). Twice in one day! Why can't I have some privacy when I'm taking a bath?! Ugh! Forgetting completely about the kimono she had been wearing a little while ago (she had left it in the starship's holodeck), she mentally spazzed and said the first thing she could think of: "you didn't see that!" and she ran into her room and slammed the door, leaving her confused younger brother with his unasked "Why?" standing dumbfounded in the middle of the hallway. Then he walked away. After slapping herself a couple times and saying "wake up, Kagome! Wake up, Kagome!" she put on her bathrobe and half-walked, half-ran to the bathroom. A real bath! Finally!
ON THE U.S.S. COLUMBIA. . .
Sark walked into astrometrics, where he found Captain Ramon. "Captain, I apprehended the suspect, but before I could attempt further analysis and interrogation, Doctor Gonzalez released the prisoner."
The captain, who had grown used to Sark's comments about the doctor's impulsiveness, irrationality, and unorthodox methods simply replied, "Let's go visit the good doctor, shall we?" He hated doing this, but it was the only way to keep Sark from bringing it up at the most inopportune moment, when the what-ifs would drive him crazy.
IN SICKBAY. . .
"Hello, captain. Sark." The doctor greeted them. "What did I do now?" He had also become used to Sark's tattle-tales.
"Sark says you released his 'subject' before he could attempt interrogation," Ramon stated evenly (though putting enough emphasis on 'subject' to convey his distaste for that word).
"Well, she was in good health, too young to join Starfleet but not by much, had no significant sign of exposure to Federation technology give or take one phaser blast. But, she was covered in chronoton residue."
"Chronoton residue? Where did that come from? Shouldn't she have been kept on board for further examination?"
"Iconians are the only known race that uses chronoton-emitting transporter devices. I figured if I stayed within my boundaries then I could let her go without further ado. Besides, she seemed to be thrilled about coming home, albeit not to Columbia, and everything she did had nothing to do with attempting to contact someone."
"Sark, how did you attempt to interrogate your prisoner?" Ramon asked.
"I had downloaded the schematics of her house onto my tricorder and from there, I transferred them into the holodeck's database. I intended to observe her actions and she would not be aware that she was being observed."
"Hmm. Clever," The doctor commented, "But what if she did not do what you anticipated?" (Juan took this opportunity to cough loudly.) "What if she had tried to leave the facility? What would happen then?"
"If she intended to do that, she would have done so before she started taking off her clothes, Sark," Gonzalez pointed out.
Ramon raised an eyebrow upon hearing that and asked Sark: "Did your tricorder show you anything particularly interesting? From a scientific perspective?"
"It did not."
"So perhaps you made a mistake."
"She used the transporter."
"If she has no way of transmitting whatever information–– "
"–– other than orally or telepathically to the other people in other parts of the house," interrupted Sark.
"Did she have any of the organs that allow telepathy, Doctor Juan?" Captain Ramon asked.
"No, she did not," affirmed Juan.
"Then it would be too late to stop her from transmitting that information anyway, assuming Sark's thoughts are in order. Case closed."
"Rommel to Sark, no one has come through yet, and we're really getting bored, and I really feel uncomfortable when I have to sit around doing nothing. Can we come up yet?"
"Very well. Please report to sickbay with Lt. Damond promptly."
"I didn't say boredom makes me sick. Why sickbay?"
"That is where the debriefing is taking place. You will learn more upon your arrival."
"Whatever you say. Away team out."
The lieutenants arrived in sickbay a couple minutes later. "Greetings, lieutenants. How was it, aside from boring as you have already stated?" Ramon greeted.
"Boring," Rommel and Damond replied in unison.
"Gotcha. What happened while you were down there?"
Rommel and Damond exchanged nervous glances. "We saw a group of someones walking into a house on the far end of a courtyard. But that was it," Damond finally answered.
"Sark here suspects a coup of advanced people trying to corrupt a less-advanced civilization," the doctor casually explained, "He thinks the people you saw were spies or something like that; members of an advanced culture negotiating the sale of a transporter device. You know… like the Ferengi."
"Maybe if we had more people here, we could guess a better idea of what's going on. I'll call senior staff meeting at…" Ramon checked his chronometer (watch), "1700 hours. I want to see you guys there too. Meeting adjourned. I will see you in one hour." After addressing the lieutenants he strode out of the room."