An Uncommon Cold?

Posted on Tue Feb 9th, 2010 @ 5:58am by Commander Jack Tolren & Commander Basil Hart

750 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: FORGING AHEAD

ON

Without warning Jack sat bolt upright in bed. He was dripping with sweat and cold barely see his vision was so blurry. After a moment waiting to see if his eyes would adapt to the low light he realised nothing was happening.

"Computer, lights," he called out.

Brightness seemed to burn its way into his head and he slammed his eyes shut with a wince. After taking a few deep breaths he felt his heart rate slow, he opened his eyes, this time with significantly less pain, although the vision was still blurred. He glanced at the clock beside his bed, 0730 hours, he was late. Not only was he late, but he was also still tired.

As he tried to turn out of bed he felt a wave of apathy sweep through his body. Did he really want to get up, he wondered.

It took a few seconds but Jack realized something was wrong, it wasn't like him not to be up early. Neither was it like him to wake up sweating, or not wanting to get out of bed. He came to only one conclusion, a trip to sickbay was required.

Dragging himself out of bed, he took a shower and got dressed in his uniform. There was no way he was presenting himself to the new Chief Medical Officer looking like he had been rolling around in a field, or smelling like the wrong end of an animal. Half an hour later, he was making his way, gingerly, along the corridor to the doors of sickbay.

Basil was busy saying good bye to the five year old child of one of the shop owners when Jack dragged himself into sickbay. He was pale, and looked like a vampire on a day pass. Basil took one look at him and hurried over to give him a hand getting to a bio bed. "Good Lord! You look awful, commander! Lie down here and don't move." He grabbed his antique doctor's bag and pulled out an honest-to-goodness stethoscope. Placing the appropriate ends in his ears, he placed the cold sound-amplifying disc on the commander's chest. "Breathe normally." he instructed.

As Jack laid back on the biobed he relaxed slightly and at the doctors instruction began to breathe normally and evenly. "I have a headache, I'm dizzy and very warm."

"How long ago did you develop these symptoms?" Basil was all business.

"I woke up with them only about thirty minutes ago," Jack replied, suddenly shivering involuntarily.

Basil frowned. "Your lungs sound congested. I'll need a blood sample for analysis." He grabbed a hypospray and reversed the injection coupling's polarity, placed a sterile carpule on the end of the device, then pressed it with a hiss to Jack's neck. A slight sting accompanied the motion, and the phial quickly filled with blood. "Nurse Waite," he barked, "get this sample to the lab stat! I want to know what bug he's got."

She took the phial and hurried towards the med labs.

"Any clues as to what it could be?" Jack asked.

Basil thought for a moment. "Well, most colds are not accompanied by a fever, but other than that the symptoms you are displaying are identical. As far as I know, you have not been anywhere near or had contact with anyone from a medium to high risk zone. Until I get those lab results back, I would rather not guess. However, there is something I can do which might help." He turned to the replicator on the bulkhead. "Computer: one bowl of chicken soup, homemade, hot." A steaming bowl of hot homemade chicken soup materialized, complete with spoon. He brought it over to Jack, grinning. "Now eat this. Doctor's orders."

Jack nodded, sitting up slightly so he could get to the bowl. "It's worth checking on the cadets too, they've been on an away mission to Tiberius Five with me in the last couple of days."

Basil nodded. "Duly noted, Commander." He tapped his comm badge. "This is Doctor Bindrel to all cadets involved in the recent away mission to Tiberius Five. Please report to sickbay at once for a routine checkup." He looked back at Jack. "How's that soup?"

The bowl was empty, and Jack was asleep. Basil checked his readings, but there didn't seem to be any immediate danger. Now all he had to do was wait for the cadets.

OFF

Commander Jack Tolren
XO, Star Base Typhon

Lieutenant Commander Basil Hart
Chief Medical Officer,
Star Base Typhon

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