Re: [JMC_Blue_Dwarf] We\'ve Got Alota Problems

That your lot for 2011? ;-)Sent from my iPhoneOn 25 Jan 2011, at 21:12, "lucky_coincidence" <phil_crestor@...> wrote:
 

Who: Seymour Niples, Alota Niples, Dr Keto
Where: Medibay
When: After Alota was rushed, unconscious, to the medibay
==========================
<<SNIP>>
"Alota?"
She had her eyes closed, and was taking short sharp breaths. He shook her
gently. "Alota if you're playing this isn't funny. I'm not mad at you any more.
Alota?"
Something was wrong and he knew it. He quickly called for a Doctor and had Alota
rushed to the Blue Dwarf's medibay.
<<END SNIP>>
Seymour looked on helplessly as Dr Keto and the rest of the medical staff hurried about. Alota was lying on a medical bunk with a multitude of sensors and monitors hooked up to her. Occasionally Dr Keto would mutter something to one of the other medical staff, who would reply in an almost inaudible whisper (or, in the case of the Big Pink Tree, a quiet rustle), sometimes passing him an additional piece of equipment or a nearby ointment.
After almost twenty minutes of concentrated activity, Seymour could stand it no longer.
"Dr Keto, please, what's wrong with her?" he asked, wringing his hands together. Keto murmured something to Wildflower, who stepped over to the medibunk to watch the monitors while the doctor stepped away, walking over to Seymour.
"Come in here," said Keto, motioning towards his office. Seymour followed him, stepping inside the doorway somewhat nervously and allowing the door to shut behind him.
"Niples, I'm not entirely sure what I can tell you," said Keto, looking back through the one-way window that connected his office to the main medibay, "Alota Niples isn't human. She has the physical appearance of one, mostly, apart from a few obvious differences..."
"The tail."
"Yes, that. But in the grand scheme of things, that's only a minor difference. If that were it, I could treat her just like any other member of the crew. Which is to say, reluctantly and with a minimum of effort. But that's not the only difference."
Keto turned and looked at Seymour, was was looking more and more ashen-faced as the doctor spoke.
"Your daughter's physiology is wildly, indescribably different from anything else I've come across. She has biological traits I've never seen before, in ANY lifeform. I'm not even sure I can refer to them as 'biological'. Her vascular and nervous systems are developed not just to a more complex level, but in a completely different direction to you or me. I'm not even sure what half the connections in her brain are linked to, let alone what their purpose is. I'd venture a guess that this extreme complexity is what allows her to perform these wormhole jumps you've been seeing, but that's all it would be - a guess. And as a result of these jumps, I have to assume, her nerves and their connections have been...degrading."
"What...what do you mean, 'degrading'?" asked Seymour, swallowing.
"Exactly as it sounds. She's still PARTLY human, and while she's theoretically capable of performing these jumps as often as she needs to, her human-like physiology can't support the demands her non-human capabilities are putting on it. Large portions of her nervous system are exhausted - some may be permanently damaged, it's impossible for me to tell at this stage and with the equipment we have. And now the stresses are showing themselves - erratic behaviour and unconsciousness are only the first signs. Before long her neural network will have become damaged severely enough that it will start to effect the more human areas of her brain - until eventually everything will shut down. If we can't stop the decay, I'm afraid that it's my opinion that Alota will die."
Seymour said nothing.
Nothing at all.
"I'm sorry," said Keto, watching Seymour, who was now staring fixedly through the one-way window back towards the medibunk, "I know that this must come as a shock to you."
"What can we do?" asked Seymour in a very quiet voice. Keto coughed, hesitated, then coughed again.
"There may be...one POSSIBLE solution," he said, slowly, "And I hesitate to recommend it. This is entirely theoretical and I have no evidence to support it at all..."
"What is it?"
"The experimental treatment would probably kill her even quicker than..."
"What IS it?" snapped Seymour. Keto sighed.
"Radiation," he said, "What few faint readings I've been able to pick up from Alota's more...developed neural systems seem to indicate that portions of her nervous system are not purely biochemical, as in humans, but that in fact they fire through radiation-based synapses. This means that those specific cells, which seem to make up a portion of her cerebellum and pallium - parts of her brain, Niples - operate at a much higher efficiency that our normal, chemically-activated synapses. I suspect that these are the parts of her brain which give her the ability to wormhole jump."
"And which are killing her."
"Yes - which is where the radiation treatment might prove fruitful. If we can temporarily - temporarily, mind you - flood those portions of Alota's brain with a sustained dose of cadmium II radiation, it could cause those non-human neurons to react, adapting to the increased load and, potentially, reducing their demands on the more human parts of her physiology. She could then recover. Or...well, or it could kill her. It would certainly kill any normal person. I'm not going to tell you the odds are good, Niples. They're not. They're awful, in fact."
"Awful...but better than zero?" asked Seymour, glancing back at Keto. Keto suddenly felt very old.
"Yes. Better than zero," he said, with a slow nod. "But I don't have a source of cadmium II radiation in the medibay. In fact, I don't think we've actually got one on board."
"It's okay," said Seymour quietly, staring back out of the window. Across the medibay, Wildflower was watching the monitors, looking worried. The Big Pink Tree stood behind her and, somehow, Seymour could see that it appeared to be wilting. Even the Tree was concerned.
"It's okay," he repeated, "I can find one."
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OOC: By request. Tag! ;)