Concentration

Posted on Thu 15th Nov, 2018 @ 2:56pm by Lieutenant Commander Lanis Dhuro MD

1,115 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Oblivion
Location: Sickbay, Holographic Instruction Room 1
Timeline: MD 15

The holographic instruction room at the current moment was an exact replica of Starbase 109's main operating room. Pale blue walls surrounded Lanis and the illusory surgical team he worked with as he delicately wrestled with a joined Trill's fragile aorta. Circulation was being handled by a heart bypass machine, or Lanis would have been covered in blood. As swiftly as he could manage, Lanis suctioned out blood that had accumulated in the aorta's inner walls and then worked the anabolic protoplaser in and around the injury site to restore the interior vessel walls to their proper position.

How many different species of patient had he practiced this same surgery on, Lanis wondered? At least five by now? Bajorans, Cardassians, Humans, Vulcans, and Andorians. He'd chosen each species because they were either common patients or because their circulatory systems posed particular challenges that he needed to solve. Why a Trill tonight? Because a joined Trill diplomat had just been posted to the station, and Lanis figured he had best refresh his skills at treating them.

How many ways was it possible to screw up a thoracic aortic dissection and repair? Lots of ways, and Lanis had surely screwed up many of them during the course of his practices. His first two times on his current patient, he'd lost either the symbiont or the host, which essentially meant he'd lost both.

He rarely practiced an entire surgery, of course, only particular elements of it, over and over until he got them right--and then he continued to practice them to remember the feel of doing the process correctly. When he started to dream about the procedure, it was time to move on to either a different species of patient or a different emergency surgery. This one he practiced because it had to be performed quickly, lest the patient bleed out before he could repair the damaged aorta.

There were times when he hated torn aortas, hated the tedious repetition, the intense attention it demanded--every bit as much as he loved it. Lanis spared a momentary glance at the monitor that tracked the symbion't vital signs. All good, so far.

No amount of litas in the world would make me want to have another creature crawling around inside of me, Lanis thought as he directed the computer to materialize a graft at the site of the simulated aortic aneurysm.

"Computer, release hemostats at both ends of the ascending aorta, and reduce bypass function by 10 percent every ten seconds on my mark. Mark." He closely monitored the returning blood flow to the area, checking for bleeding along the edges of the graft site as more and more normal blood flow was restored to the holographic patient's heart and lungs. He nodded to himself. The graft would hold, this time.

The display screen on the bulkhead flashed a "communication requested" pattern, standard practice when someone was trying to reach surgical team members at work, to ensure they weren't interrupted at a critical moment. When Dr. Dhuro acknowledged, an image of the station's Chief Medical Officer appeared. "Lanis, come and find me when you're done there? I'm preparing our sleeping beauties for awakening, and I need a handsome prince."

Lanis unkinked his back and laughed softly. "I just finished this round," he said. "I'll be right there. And may I recommend you undergo a slit-lamp examination?"

"Recommendation noted," the CMO responded with a slight smile... the all-too-rare kind that seemed genuine, rather than a promise of vivisection to come. "Isolation Ward Four," she said, and vanished from the screen.

Lanis shook his head with an amused look as he discontinued the surgical simulation. The room returned to its usual black walls with white grid pattern as the door slid open, and he exited. In the antechamber to the isolation ward he donned an environment suit and then joined Chlamydia in the room where the stasis pod and the Lady Less One Ring awaited.

"Which of these two would you like for us to awaken first?" Lanis asked.

"Actually," Chlamydia said, sounding thoughtful, "take a look at this?" She brought up a three-dimensional rendering on a holographic PADD and turned it in the air, displaying the ring which had been removed from their patient. "Look at the way in which this is anchored to her bone. Does that remind you of anything?"

Lanis studied the holographic image. Something about it looked disturbingly familiar, but his mind was still too full of the aortic repair to recall exactly what the image reminded him of. "Aside from old-fashioned titanium dental implants--and root canals?" He thought for a moment. "Or a very painful version of a--well--different kind of ring? What does it remind you of?"

"Commander Breaux," Chlamydia answered.

Lanis went still for a moment and suppressed a shudder. "Computer, display microscopic image of thoracic dermal plating and costal attachments found on patient Breaux, Lt. Commander Scott Allen. Show alongside the magnified ring image currently displayed, at the same magnification."

Instantly, a second image floated in the air, alongside the first one. That was fast, Lanis thought. His lips drew together in a thin line. "It looks consistent. Not an exact match, but very close. I could posit someone else using the same technique, or even an evolution of the technique used on Commander Breaux." He kept his tone clinical only with an effort. Sweat broke out on Lanis' gloved palms.

"I think we need to talk to an expert," Chlamydia opined. "I asked Dr. Whatsisface to look at the bone samples, but as far as I can tell, he never did. And, of course, now he's off to some new plague zone." She sighed, and shrugged. "Perhaps now I can finally get the gastroenterologist I've been begging Fleet to send me."

"You asked him at least twice in my hearing, and he didn't have an answer either time," Lanis said with a sigh. "Isn't there an Earth scientist named Brennan who works with bones? Or are you looking more for someone who is a specialist in Borg physiology?"

"I was thinking of Commander Collins-Keller, actually," Chlamydia answered, turning to regard the patient being held in a medically-induced coma. "She recently published a paper about a deactivated Borg spore. Her insight could be fascinating, and surely her offspring is about ready to depart for college by now."

"You think so?" Lanis said, unable to entirely stifle a laugh. "I didn't know there were such things as Borg spores--and a good thing, too, or that would keep me awake nights. But yes, by all means, if she's done research into this, let's consult her," he agreed.

 

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