She could hear a voice from another room. "Captain? Are you finally awake?" It was the doctor.
"Yes," she replied slowly. "Finally awake?"
"Yes," he answered. His voice seemed to be closer, most likely in the same room. "You've been out for over six hours."
"Six hours?" She half shouted. The shock quickly left her. She then realized that the doctor had six hours to figure out what was wrong with her. "Have you learned anything about my condition?"
His voice lowered, which made Lydia uncomfortable. "Yes, I have," he said finally. "I'm afraid you're not going to like some of it."
Her heart sunk. "Just tell it to me straight, doctor." She sounded quite defeated.
"Well," he started, "I began by going through your itinerary... trying to see where you've been, so I could narrow the search. Do you remember going to Aldebra 3 a couple of months ago?"
Her mind quickly returned to the rock climbing she did on Aldebra 3. The beautiful terrain, the marvelous twin suns in the sky, the smell of flowers was like expensive perfume. Supposedly, it was the best rock climbing planet in all the alpha quadrant. "Yes, I do." she replied from her daydream.
"Good," he measured his response. "Do you remember your physician telling you to do something before going to Aldebra 3? He told you during your preliminary physical, then reminded you again about a month before you left."
Her mind strained to remember conversations from that far back. She hadn't been to Aldebra 3 for almost three months. Suddenly, the memory came back to her like a brick. "Vaccinations?" she asked. She began to feel nervous. She had forgotten to have the necessary injections before going. The second time her doctor told her, she thought he was just being worrysome because of her age. Surely this can't be it. This couldn't be her fault.
"Yep," he replied with finality. "That would be it. This virus is just one of several nasty, little bugs on Aldebra 3. Be thankful, Captain. You could have caught something much worse there. This Aldebran cranial virus is one of the more moderate bugs."
"Oh, my God," she replied. "There are things worse than this?"
"Considerably. I spoke with a senior member of the Aldebran Ministry of Medicine. He said there no less than five species of virus that can cause death to a human within twelve hours of contact."
"I thought Joe was just being overly proective of me," she said with a sigh. "I can't believe I brought all this on myself."
"Yes, well," Dorrin replied with unusual sympathy, "no sense beating yourself up about that now. What's done is done. Here's the shortened version of what's happening to you. The virus is actually feeding off the alpha waves in your brain. That's the frequency of electricity your brain generates during calm, conscious hours. Its byproduct is an enzyme that's actually corroding your brain tissue."
"Dear God," she said quietly.
"So...as parts of your brain are corroded, you begin to lose its associative functionality. That's what's happening to your eyesight, sense of taste, muscle control, etcetera. It's the act of corrosion that's giving you the headaches."
This was beginning to overwhelm her. She struggled to think of what to say next. "Is there anything we can do?" she finally asked.
"Yes." He replied with confidence. "There's actually a fairly simple way to kill the bugs. If I put you into a catatonic state, the virus will eventually starve to death in ten to thirteen days. The enzyme they produce will coalesce, then everything can be removed with a simple surgical procedure."
"Ten to thirteen days?" she repeated. "What about the damage already done?"
"That's the hard part." He replied slowly. "Repairing brain tissue has always been problematic at best. However, I do know of an excellent neurologist. He's one of the best in the business. He's actually published more books than I've read...and I read a lot. I've already contacted him. He's doing a long-term research project on Starbase 173. He's been working on a special kind of dermal regenerator specifically for brain tissue. He can't make any promises, but it might help give you back some of your lost functions. I was just listening to the message he sent me."
Her heart dared to lift once more. This was, potentially, wonderful news. All thoughts of completing the Warlord far from her mind, she asked "Can you see if Commander Kirk can arrange transporation for me to Starbase 173?"
"Listen, Captain," Doctor Rass stated firmly, "I'll make certain you get to Starbase 173. Don't you worry about that. The most important thing is killing this virus before it causes more damage. The sooner you let me put you into a comatose state, the sooner we can start starving these bugs. I have the necessary injection on the table. I can place micro stimpacks on your major muscle groups that will provide random muscle contractions. That will help reduce your rehabilitation time once you're out."
She didn't even think. Perhaps that was more impulsiveness on her part, perhaps just a typical human reaction. "Do it, doctor." She stated.
"As you wish," Dorrin replied.