Third Eye

Posted on 27 May 2019 @ 5:09am by Lieutenant JG Naiya Hope Dr

Mission: Shakedown
Location: U.S.S. Andromeda - Sick Bay
Timeline: MD2 1330
1247 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Razant stumbled down the hall toward sickbay, squinting against the blinding light. Regrettably, he had underestimated just how bright these humanoids liked it. The reception was only one day away and he needed a solution or he wouldn't be much help if something or someone were to threaten the event. Muttering under his breath, he rounded the final corner with one hand on the wall to steady his advance. With all of the time he spent studying Andromeda's schematics, he could navigate these corridors blind. Of course, that wouldn't prevent him from running into people.

"Oof!" He grunted, plowing headfirst into a humanoid woman sporting a blue Starfleet uniform. A PADD clattered to the ground by his feet and he immediately stooped to retrieve it. As he stood, he came face to face with a pair of hazel eyes, though he couldn't see much else through his squinted vision. He tilted his head forward in respect - a customary gesture among his people.

"My apologies... lieutenant," he said, extending the PADD with his left hand. His deep voice was rich and had an oily quality to it.

"I'm sorry too" the woman in a teal trimmed uniform replied accepting her PaDD back and straightening herself up. "I should probably been looking ahead instead of at my PaDD so it's as much my fault as anyone's." she admitted gracefully taking the blame.

They stood, hesitating for an awkward moment after which she spoke again. "Are you lost? I could direct you somewhere? Where are you trying to get to?" she offered.

"Perhaps you could guide me to the sickbay," the Reman grunted, peering at the woman through a half-closed eye. "I would like to avoid further collisions Lieutenant..."

He realized he did not know this officer's name.

"I'd be happy to." she smiled. "In fact, I'm just going back there myself. Would you like to come with me?"

Assuming he wouldn't refuse the offer Naiya took a step forward, back the way he had come. "I'm Dr Hope. I trust it was me you were coming to see, if I can make such a guess without sounding self opinionated."

Grunting in relief Razant placed a haphazard hand on Naiya's shoulder,

"Thank the Elements it is you. You will have to guide me, doctor. I'm afraid this light is too strong for my Reman eyes."

"No problem. I'd like to take a look at your eyes if that's okay with you." she said as they walked, slowly so that he wouldn't stumble. "I'm wondering if I can put together some form of 'contact filters' together for you to wear whenever you need to. I'd have to make them soft so you can wear them for as long as necessary...... Sorry.... I'm thinking out loud.... I'm sure i could make light more comfortable for you...."

"No apologies necessary good doctor. But, I fear contacts may be too much of a liability," Razant replied as they stepped toward the sickbay doors. Hissing softly, the doors slid open for the approaching pair.

"In my line of work, an impact could knock the contacts from my eyes," he mused aloud, hoisting himself onto the nearest biobed. "I have heard stories of a famous Starfleet engineer who utilized ocular implants to help him overcome his natural blindness. Could you replicate such a device to filter the light?"

"I certainly would be happy to give it a try." she said, smiling softly at him. "I'd love the challenge, Do you have any preferences with regard to what you might like them to be made of? I can utilise a whole range of metals that are suitable and harmless as implants.

Razant returned the smile as warmly as his cold, pallid face would allow,

"This I will leave to your expertise, Doctor," he replied as his eyes were scanned. He gazed inquisitively at the woman before him. She was beautiful by humanoid standards and clearly in a state of peak physical health. There was more to this woman than met the eye. According to her personnel file, she was not fully Trill. He waited for the scan to complete before he switched topics,

"Tell me - the legends of the Ba'ku homeworld - are they true? Do your sons and daughters live forever?"

Naiya looked up in surprise. "For ever?" she chuckled. "No, they don't.... we don't. We do have pretty good longevity by comparison to some other humanoid races but once we leave our own world we do find that shortens in most cases. It's the metaphasic radiation effect. We all have to have an implant to manage away from the source .." instinctively she put up her hand and touched one finger on the small oval pad just above her supra-clavicular, in the lower left side of the back of her neck.

It was small and under her uniform so it wasn't visible but her unconscious movement to touch it indicated to him where it was.

"For myself, I do have some Trill genetics that help me with the adjustment." she added with a smile. "Some of the first of my race to leave our system did have a hard time but Starfleet medical developed this modulator which saved a lot of lives. The principles also formed the basis of the work we were able to do to help the SoNa to recover from their side effects of leaving before this technique was available."

"Now.... sorry to babble on.... I'm looking at these scans as we're talking and I can see a clear way to implant directly into the main optical nerves. Everything that delicate has its risks but I'm talking about adding in filter tech. Let me show you." she put up a detailed schematic onto the screen behind his biobed and then used the LCARS controls to rotate him to see it. She pointed to what looked like a thick cable of a mass of fibrous chords behind and inside the eye itself. On the schematic it was possible to see the threads in the 'cable-like' nerve complex. She showed him the exact threads she needed and how she would be able to attach microfibres to those already there to connect the implant in.

"The sensitivity to light is transported here.... " again she was demonstrating by use of the screen showing over-simplified diagrams and presentation images. "and your implant would sit here... it's tiny... the size of a grain of rice...but FULL of technological wizardry." she smiled at him.

"The most important thing you have to decide is whether or not you trust me with this and what you want to eat when you come round from the anaesthetic?" she grinned widely.

As she had hoped he accepted the proposed procedure and signed the Consent Form. She booked him an appointment the next morning and let him retire with a promise that he would attempt to get some sleep before he came in.

The next day they went ahead with the procedure and it worked very well. Naiya made notes on what had been successful and resolved his problem making records available that would help anyone else with similar problems in the future. Satisfied with a good couple of days' work Naiya took herself to bed with a great sense of satisfaction and pride.

These were the kind of things that made her work worthwhile.


Dr Naiya Hope
CMO - USS Andromeda

&

Lt Razant - Chief of Security
USS Andromeda