Star Trek Hunter
Episode 7: The Great Mushroom
Scene 14: Taking His Breath Away
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7.14
Taking His Breath Away
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Dr. Jazz Sam Sinder and Dr. Tali Shae had moved Lt. Tauk to the forward surgery as Pep was recovering in the main surgery. They had conferred about the young lieutenant's diagnosis. Communicating the results was Dr. Shae's responsibility.

"We thought at first you might be having an allergic reaction to the spores," Tali Shae said.

Tauk shook his head. "I was coughing before we got to Pillo. This has been coming on for a while."

"Then you suspected. Why didn't you come to me?" Shae asked.

"There isn't much that can be done. It's lungworm," Tauk said.

Tali Shae rolled her eyes. "How about if you let me be the doctor in this room? It isn't lungworm. What you have is a genetic condition. Your lung tissues are breaking down. Dr. Jazz administered a medicine that will suppress your symptoms temporarily. We will need to do surgery tomorrow. Dr. Jazz will remove the destroyed material from inside your lung, reconstruct the damaged areas and we can correct the missing sequence in your DNA at the same time."

Tauk shook his head. "You can do the surgery, but I cannot allow you to alter my genetic structure. That would violate one of our highest laws."

"I thought you were no longer a citizen of the Ferengi Alliance - weren't you exiled?"

"Due to my doctoral dissertation. That does not change the fact that I am ferengi. I may have mathematically proved that, according to game theory, the Rules of Acquisition are counter-productive to wealth generation and general prosperity, but I cannot condone genetic therapy. Unlike humans, we learned the lesson from our eugenics wars."

"I'm not talking about making you into some sort of superman, Lieutenant," Dr. Tali Shae countered. "Just correcting the defect that is causing your lung to consume itself."

"There can be no exceptions, Doctor," said Tauk. "Doctor Dolphin was right to ask the question whether the benefits of genetic therapy are worth the risk that people will cheat. Ferengi are very familiar with that concept. Cheating is inevitable and inevitably leads to self-destruction. The ferengi learned that lesson the hard way. We tried half-measures. Which led to a second eugenics war. That's why we refer to them as the eugenics wars."

Dr. Tali Shae took a deep breath. "I understand. I need you to understand that the window for genetic modification is not very wide. If you change your mind - and I'm not suggesting that you are likely to - we may have a few months. Without the treatment, the outlook is not good. With a combination of surgeries and medicines, we can slow the progress of the disease. But it will be fatal within no more than a year - two years at the outside. And as it progresses, it will become debilitating and extremely painful. The pain can be managed, but at increasing cost to your mental awareness."

Tauk grimaced. "How long will I be able to continue in my duties?"

"Are you certain you want to remain at your post, now that you have a time limit?"

"Doctor, this," Tauk looked around, gestured vaguely to the room around him, "this is my home. There is no other place for me."

Tali Shae walked over to one of the forensic workstations and sat down. "I really don't know, Tauk. There are too many variables. I suppose a year, maybe more, maybe less. Honestly, I'm just wildly guessing. Dr. Jazz is designing the surgery. We should be ready tomorrow. Do you feel up to a senior staff meeting? Justice Irons has scheduled it for the main surgery, considering we have two senior staff recuperating down here."

"I think I can manage it, thank you, Doctor."

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