Chapter Eight: Growing Problem
Back in his office and with an hour yet before he planned to wake Jake, Dr Bashir drummed his fingers on the desk, considering. He had somehow assumed the bugs were confined to the crawlspace where Jake and Nog had found them, but now he realized there had never been a reason for that to be true. If one had gotten into the O'Briens' quarters, they could easily have infested some other living quarters.
And if someone was bitten who lived alone, how would anyone know? If someone failed to show up for duty, obviously an investigation would be made, but there were enough civilians on board for his concern to be quite real. And even Starfleet personnel might happen to be on an off-duty day.
"Computer, pinpoint any lifesigns that have been stationary for twelve hours or more," he requested, unsure whether it had the proper algorithms to complete his request.
A map of the station lit up on his desktop with two areas flashing red. One he discounted almost immediately; it belonged to a species that came from a planet whose night lasted eighteen hours. But the other lay suspiciously close to the infested crawlspace, and was likely to be in trouble.
Grabbing a medkit and a neural stimulator, he hurried from the infirmary with only a brief word to the nurse on duty. He should have run that check as soon as he knew a bite was involved, he realized; why had he assumed Jake was the only one, or even the first?
When he reached the sleeping man's door, he typed his medical override into the access pad without bothering to try the door chime first; he was too sure that this man, too, was affected. But he called out as he entered the room; even sure his patient was unconscious, it seemed more polite.
"Hello? It's Dr Bashir; the computer said you'd been sleeping for a while, so I came to check on you."
As he expected there was no response, and he quickly made his way to the man's sleeping quarters.
One glance told his trained and practiced eye that this patient was in worse shape than the previous two. For the first time, his tricorder scan failed to come up normal, though it was no direct result of the elusive venom. Rather, the man had been sleeping so long that he was badly dehydrated, and his blood sugar was approaching dangerously low levels.
Bashir pulled an IV bag from his medkit, starting the man on life-saving fluids before tapping his combadge to call for a stretcher.
oOo
Sisko was in the waiting room to pick up Jake when Bashir returned, but on seeing the doctor had a more critical patient, he merely nodded as he passed.
When Bashir was sure the man was stable and no longer in immediate danger, he woke Jake and walked him out to meet his father. "Sisko, Jake's fine…but we have a problem."
oOo
"So it would appear the bugs are starting to spread throughout the station," Basher concluded after explaining about the latest victim to the members of the senior staff gathered in the meeting room.
"Do we know where he was when he was bitten?" O'Brien questioned.
Bashir shook his head. "I haven't been able to try waking him yet; he's so dehydrated he would be unconscious anyway. Once the scans show he's in a normal sleep state, I can wake him and you can ask any questions you want."
"So he must have been bitten before Jake, if he was out for two or three days," Sisko reasoned.
"If," Bashir stressed. "Dehydration can happen surprisingly quickly, so I'm not ready to make a definitive statement about when he was bitten."
"Surely the station logs could tell us how long he was in his room?" Dax suggested.
O'Brien shrugged. "Probably, if knowing is really that important."
"I'm not sure it is," Sisko admitted. "What's important is finding a way to get rid of the bugs and a cure for those who've been bitten — which I know the doctor is already working on."
Bashir nodded. "I'm just not sure what we'll do if I end up getting bitten myself."
"Why would that be a problem?" Dax wanted to know. "As long as your medical staff knows what to do to wake you, you should be able to work on a cure whether you've been bitten yourself or not."
"True…" Bashir admitted slowly, not daring to admit his true fear that the venom would work differently in him. "I'll be sure to train them with the neural stimulator, and instruct them to check on me if I don't show up for duty."
"And I'll start work on developing an insecticide that's safe for all species on the station," Dax agreed.
"Well, I wouldn't mind getting rid of the Howlooters," Sisko muttered.
Dax smiled faintly, then turned to Bashir. "I could use a couple of your specimens, if you can spare any."
"Of course, and we can have someone get more if we need them. Just be careful; any insect bites can be dangerous to a joined Trill, and I don't want to find out what these would do to you."
Next chapter coming next week!
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