Genre: StarTrek: The Next Generation

Title: New Civilizations

Summary: Riker recovers.

Chapter 18

When Beverly had called to see when Dr. T'Shing could examine the hat, she'd received a rather terse answer, which puzzled her. The distracted voice said she'd come as soon as she could but could not promise when. So, more out of curiosity than anything, the doctor decided to run her own diagnostic of the thing on her table. As she expected, the physiology was so alien she couldn't distinguish cardiovascular from digestive, or even determine if it had a central nervous system. Fluids moved, there was a temperature, evidence of life, but beyond that, the information was meaningless.

Pondering whether she should go any further with the exam, she heard Riker stirring and she moved quickly over to his couch. As she punched up the latest information, what she saw made her smile, so she settled back to wait for him to naturally come to consciousness. To the nurse and the orderly who were standing by, she said quietly, "I think things are under control now. You can return to your previous duties."

The young man left and the nurse picked up the computer notepad she'd been working with before Riker had entered, and turned to the display she'd been studying.

Looking at Riker, Beverly noticed his eyes were open and trying to focus. "Welcome back, sleepy head." Picking up his hand, she gave it a brief squeeze.

"Well, what happened this time?" His answer indicated that he was aware enough to know that this was just one of many times he'd awakened in Sick Bay, a doctor hovering by.

"You were very ill," replied Dr. Crusher. "You passed out just as you came into Sick Bay." She decided not to mention his making a pass at the nurse just yet. "Do you remember anything about the hat?"

"Hmmm, right now, I'm not sure of my own name. That must have been some bug." He made an effort to get up, and, this time, Dr. Crusher didn't stop him.

"Yes, it was some bug. We were worried about you for a while. Okay, so what is your name?" she asked.

As he sat up, he formally replied, "Riker, William T., Commander, Federation Starfleet." He smiled at his doctor, his friend, reassuring her with his eyes. "Ah, that's better. My head is beginning to clear."

She stood in front of her patient more to prevent his getting off the table and leaving than to get his attention. "Now, what can you tell me about the experience of wearing it? Did you know you were acting a little... peculiarly for a while? Before passing out, I mean."

Riker thought for a second and then his eyes gazed at the doctor, opening wide. His embarrassment made his mouth go slack. "Oh, Beverly, I owe you an apology!" He seemed to remember more and looked first at the door through which he'd entered and then he caught sight of the young nurse in much the same pose of study as when he'd first seen her. He raised his voice to catch her attention, "Ensign, I believe I owe you an apology."

She looked up, blushed, and smiled. Then she shook her head and waved her hand to indicate that she was passing it off as inconsequential and went back to studying the wall. Will continued to look at her for a few more seconds, his face thoughtful, worried.

Taking hold of Will's jaw, Beverly pushed his head to one side so she could look at the welt, about half an inch wide, that ran around his hairline, and gently touched it with her finger. Riker winced and tried not hiss in pain but only managed to cut off half of the intake of breath. Still holding her patient gently, Dr. Crusher retrieved an instrument and aimed it at the welt. As it twinkled and twittered, she slowly worked it along the perimeter of the dark hairline. "Will, do you recall why you acted the way you did?" Will tried to shake his head, but Beverly firmly and held his head still while she sharply inhaled in frustration. "Talk, don't move. I'm almost tempted to have you put that thing back on to see just what was going on."

Riker frowned, but didn't move; only saying, "Beverly, I recognize 'what' I did, that it even seemed like a good idea at the time. Why I did it, I can't say. I felt like I was reacting to clear 'go' signals, from you, from her," he nodded at the ensign, "from—" his discretion ended the explanation.

Finished, Dr. Crusher put the healing tool away and looked again at her handiwork. She seemed satisfied at the decreased redness. Then she turned to the table where the hat remained. She reached into one of the shallow drawers of the medical cabinet beside her and pulled out a pair of nearly transparent gloves. Donning the gloves, which seemed to disappear as soon as they were on, she approached the creature. Using a quick motion, she flipped it onto its side.

Riker, watching her, still weak and disoriented, reached out. "Be careful! Don't break it." He nearly tumbled off the table.

She returned to him, helping him to regain his balance. "Will, I'm more worried about it breaking me!" She looked back to the hat, which was still on its side unable, or unwilling, to right itself. Then she looked at Riker as if remembering something. "That hat you were wearing had cilia that penetrated into your skin and transmitted a virus. Did you know that thing is alive? That it's a living creature?"

Reaching up to gingerly touch the now healing welt line he answered, "Alive? You mean I was wearing a live animal as a hat?"

Beverly nodded, "Some party favor, hmm?" She returned to the table where the creature still lay. She bent over and peered into the inner curve. "Doc D'Jang is supposed to come and get it to give it an exam but she said she might be a while, and I'm awfully curious about it." She reached in a finger and tried poking gently. "All I can see is a lining of what looks like down. The cilia seem to have been withdrawn. You know, not only did it give you a dose of disease, I'm fairly certain it was influencing your behavior. Either that or it was the virus that had you acting that way, but I just don't think it was."

"Did you tell the Captain about this? Is he all right down there?"

Seeing that Will was about to get off the table, the doctor returned to her patient. This ritual of protest from senior officers and having to stop them physically from escaping from her healing duties was often frustrating. "Yes, he knows. Yes, he's all right. He's back on board and," she pushed Will back onto the table, "no, I don't want you to leave just yet. I still need to go over something. I just wanted you to be fully awake before I did..." Beverly broke off because Doc D'Jang entered Sick Bay.

The Veterinarian paused at the sight of Riker sitting on an exam table. The look on her face proving she was still wary of this man.

"It's okay, D'Jang. He's been defused," said Beverly.

Riker grinned sheepishly the veterinarian. "Apologies?"

"Depends on what Dr. Crusher says. Is he what you need help with? How do you want him sliced?"

Not in the mood or with the time to joke, Dr. Crusher pointed to the other table. "There's your patient."

Looking at the overturned hat and looking back at Riker and then Crusher, D'Jang acted uncertain. "You want me to examine a hat? Sorry, Beverly, I—"

"The computer says it's alive." Dr. Crusher's attitude was not to be interpreted as anything but serious.

D'Jang, still perplexed by what she was hearing, approached the table, advancing until she stood next to it, her head cocked slightly to one side. Finally, she reached out to the feathers, set the thing upright, and laid both hands onto the sides of the carapace.

After about ten seconds, she looked quisitively over her shoulder at her two observers. "It has the life force of a chrysalis right now. I'm not getting a thing from it, no feelings, barely even a sense of life. Whether it's in shock or whether this is a normal condition, I don't know. I'll have to take it to my lab and do some tests. Is that all right with you?" She picked it up.

Beverly nodded. "Be sure and run some communicable disease tests while you're at it. Will is just recovering from a virus that the thing injected into him. It has cilia that came out from just under the inside edge. They attached themselves to neurons."

Where D'Jang had been holding the creature quite closely to her body, she suddenly stretched out her arms. "Whoa! Guess I don't want to cuddle with it then, do I?" She looked at the feathers critically. "Anything else I should know?"

"I don't think so. I was hoping you'd fill us in." Beverly looked perplexed at D'Jang. "I thought you could read animals? Are you not getting through to this one?"

Commander T'Shing smiled at the doctor. "The computer says it's alive, the evidence points to its being alive," she looked down at the array of feathers, "but a live what? This thing could be a fungus for all I'm getting. I've got some equipment in the menagerie that'll provide more information. Any hurry?"

Beverly nodded. "Captain Picard is waiting as we speak."

Doc D'Jang made a hasty exit, muttering to anyone who cared to listen, "Cure it now, analyze it yesterday, pull miracles out of the air, but make sure you hurry. Nobody—" the door whispered shut behind her.

"Speaking of the Captain, I'd better tell him you're awake." Beverly tapped her communicator with one hand and braced her other hand against Riker's shoulder at the same time. "Stay where you are Commander. Captain Picard?"

The captain's voice was neither alive with authority nor was it tense with a situation at hand, rather it was the voice he used when he was being called out of deep thought. "Yes, Dr. Crusher?"

"Commander Riker is awake and seems nearly normal."

Riker spoke up. "And feeling fit for duty, sir. I'm being held captive by an overzealous medic."

"Captain, I'm not going to let him go until I run one more test on his nervous system. Commander Riker was under some sort of neural influence. Whenever a person's nervous system is affected in any way, whether it's electrically, chemically or physically, there are often aftereffects and sometimes even damage. I can't allow Will to return to duty until I've verified that he's not altered in any way."

"Number One, I would value your assistance on the bridge but not until you are declared fit for duty. Dr. Crusher, I'd appreciate all due haste on these tests. Keep me informed. Picard out."

Both Riker and Crusher looked at each other. Riker's face said he felt more needed on the bridge than any need for a declaration of good health. Crusher's face said that Riker staying put, no matter how badly the situation on the bridge may be going. Both knew that if Picard's brusqueness was any measure, the situation up there was serious.

Reading Riker's face, Beverly added, "The quicker you lie down and let me run these tests the quicker I can tell if I can let you go."

"Well," he said as he lay back on the couch, "At least fill me in on the situation. What's been going on?"

TBC to Chapter 19

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