Anaphylaxis

Posted on Tue 30th Aug, 2022 @ 6:25am by Lieutenant JG Bikram Auden
Edited on on Wed 26th Oct, 2022 @ 11:43pm

2,249 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: The Hunted
Location: Eefra VII (Beta Quadrant)
Timeline: One month prior to current mission

-Start-

{Eefra VII- Beta Quadrant}

Janna was helpless as her colleague slowly died before her eyes. Safely locked away in their shuttle, secure from the Jungle around them, the cool clean air and dry environment was small comfort to the notion of being alone. Kato was clearly allergic to the insect bite, but not responding to her hypospray loaded with anti-histamines and pseudo ephedrines. The next recommended treatment was a modified epinephrine for the man's mixed Human heritage. Alpha Centauri Humans were just different enough to matter and it was clear now he responded differently. Janna tried to remember molecular chemistry to the degree she was confident mixing the dose but never came to any confident conclusions.

She cried a bit, screamed a bit, but it didn’t help when Kato stopped breathing entirely. Nothing was working! It occurred to her that she was reading from the screen but not comprehending. She was guessing and Kato was dying. The contents of their first Aid kit were strewn far and wide as she tried to see a simple solution, or find a panacea to buy time.

“Computer! Re-mix, adjust ratio by another 5%, re-administer, neuroleptic? shocks, he isn’t breathing oh nooo…” She was reading the recommended treatments but was out of her element. Panic was setting in, there was no time to get him to a sickbay, he had minutes left at best.

The cold and steady tone of the computer replied, “Inadvised, present levels of administered medication exceed tolerance. Protocols can be enabled for advanced treatment if needed.”

Janna perked up at the mention, “Advanced treatment protocols? We have an EMH on this thing?” Their Aeroshuttle was a pleasure craft at best, it mounted decent sensors, but was unremarkable.

“Negative. The shuttle is not equipped with an EMH.”

Kato was turning purple, she didn't have time for this, “Computer if you have an idea, damn it, do it now!”

“Acknowledged, working.”

The tone was flat, Janna wasn’t sure if a fake cheerfulness was better, but the flat tone belied her emotional state, which only then occurred to her as the whole point. She was losing her calm, and had to breathe deep, re-assert her discipline. A beat passed as her sanity almost restored, and she went to grab for the first-aid kit. She was hoping another option might present itself the whole time. She remembered the manual bypass process somewhat. Trachostotmy, or something she thought privately.

The replicator began working, and the subspace receiver lit up. A specialized berth with interior holographic assemblers began working, it was something she had never seen before on a shuttle. Power indicators showed all reserves had gone to increasing the download bandwidth for the shuttle, and the replicators were receiving massive amounts of information. Two small devices began forming under the swirls and sparkles of milli-cochrane incandescent radiation, to pattern hard light into replicated matter forming the basis for molecular union.

Kato had stopped moving entirely, Janna grabbed the laser scalpel. She accessed the medical information in her database, Tracheostomy was listed and shown, but she immediately knew there was no way it would work. She’d kill him sawing at his neck like a savage. She wasn’t even sure that was the best action, she just didn't know and that was the worst part of it.

Realization dawned that Kato was dead, in function and soon form. This wasn’t supposed to have gone this way, he was too young to die like this. She couldn’t solve the swelling in his throat, and in the dawn of the 25th century, allergies to an insect bite would take another life.

A desperate wheeze escaped as the bulging eyes and clawing hands slowly lost their vigor. Janna was beside herself with dread, and helpless agony.

“Kato I am sorry!” She screamed as he feebly grasped her hand, his last cloying moment of life as she cried over and again, “I am so sorry!” His eyes closed, she felt her stomach twist into a knot. She didn't know what prompted these words, but she found herself babbling, “I will tell your family about you, I will remember you!” She wailed in frustration, the medical equipment around her mocking the moment. His salvation lay in the mountain of gauze and sterile plastics.

She tried to stay calm, but an emotional energy had claimed her. She thought to soothe him, say those things the living presume the dying are thinking. “I will speak about your life and light a candle for you!”

Kato had stopped gurgling, he had stopped everything in fact.

She screamed, ”Kato! Kato! God I can’t-”

Movement interrupted her, two floating machines stared at her without eyes. They were the size of her head and floating near eye level. Two feet on the bottom of the mostly oblong elliptical shape gave the idea of how its orientation was situated. They were both silver chrome, numerous recessed panels suggested the smooth surface hid tools underneath. They looked cute, but there was no indication of where they came from or how they could help.

The computer spoke again, “Remove Command Blades from First Aid Kit, please activate Medical Service Drone via insertion of command processor blades.”

She blinked, then took the opportunity to dump the whole bag, finding two thumb sized isolinear rods. The ports were lined in red and orange with a blinking red light above it. She doubted her sanity for a moment, certain this was a dream. The rods fit perfectly, the well intended resting place a perfect size. After only another moment, they came online fully, one of the units alarming at the vitals of the patient right away

<{[ASB-1]=ID:(Database^FLEET:”KATO/THAAN”)*(JANNA/ILLYIAN)}{[KATO]Sym; Hypoxia, anaphylaxis, obstructed airway. Cardiac declination@ 3.vz, Bloodwork: Nep-test, 14CC administered, 62.4% of normal, toxicity occurred at 49%.}{PRIORITY[KATO]}>

<{[ASB-2]= {(NeP counteragent administered, 62.8% and declining toxicity.)}{Proposed treatment, DNA reqsequencing, Tri-Ox compounds}{[WARNING]*[ALL]= (Procedure-Tracheostomy-INVALID)(Advice [JANNA]*(Standby)*(DO NOTHING)}>

B-1 spoke aloud to Janna, “Treatment underway for patients, please stand by, no manual stimulus recommended at this time.”

Janna realized she had been holding a scalpel like a weapon. Realizing the bots were truly helping, her brain caught up with everything else. The computer had replicated these drones, and the first Aid Kit had some kind of command processor to program them instantly. Then she realized what the Bot had said, “Patients.”

Janna found herself feeling ridiculous as she asked the floating silver ball. As it was floating over Kato who had started looking less purple already, B2 replied,

<{[ASB-2]= (Secondary patient “JANNA)*(SYM:experiencing mild dissociative effects)(DIA: Fungal infection creating monopsyilictiyc compound synesthetic via endocrinal channels)}>

Janna struggled to understand its speech, “I'm high and scared from the fungus my body is digesting? And is he going to be ok?”

<{[ASB-1]=(Affirmation uncertain)*(Unknown value: ?High?”)

<{[ASB-2]= Prognosis of 100% chance to recovery: provided filtered air is used during convalescence, Leukotriene Modifiers maintained) (Query:Value#statement: ?High?)}>

Janna almost laughed but it was still too dire, “High is a quick way of saying I have mental effects ongoing that are hampering cognitive processes.”

<{[ASB-1]=(Confirmation:Value: “High” =(Chemically.induced>CognitiveÞcline)(Rx: Chlorpromzine\PTZ>

The bot spoke the message out loud as well, “The treatment has been applied to the air and will reverse mental conditions at: forty-two seconds duration.

Janna did feel better already; the edgy anxiety had stopped gnawing at her senses. Kato was doing much better and everything suddenly felt like it was going to work out. She actually chuckled, “Forty-two seconds… Ok, see you then.”

She trusted this wasn’t a hallucination in and of itself; her imagination wasn’t that good. Kato’s vitals steadily improved, and soon her panic lifted as well. Once she felt her actual self settle back into place her cognitive functions came back as well. Panic gave way to rational thought and the facts of what had happened became clear. They had thought it was a safe world, nothing detected like this by scouts, but diligence would have had them wait for a doctor to certify that. They didn't want to wait, said they’d be careful. And now this. Kato took his helmet off for one reason, a lovely kiss. She felt it on her cheek still. If this planet had a spore that was toxic, it could have been missed on a previous survey, or taken a doctor to discover. This little side trip of science and romance was supposed to be a vacation.

A minute later and she felt normal. Kato was his sallow-skinned self as well. It was a miracle they were alive. Kato coughed as B-1 made loud sharp noises and small shocks to rouse the unconscious man. With a startle, Kato snorted awake, gasping in a deep breath. The Bot was still chiming and alarming its rough-pitched technology tones, its counterpart was drawing a blood sample from Kato.

“Janna! What is this?” His voice croaked; poor thing was still feeling it.

“Kato?! By God you are ok?”

Kato was confused still, she could empathize, and explained what she knew. “Kato, they saved our lives. The shuttle replicated them... I would have died too, it was affecting both of us, but you may be allergic to something in these mists.”

<{[ASB-2]=(Sensor/SYS: INDICES:)... “Solubilized airborne droplet matrix contains proteins and organic chemical traces. Histaminological counteragents aerosolized prevented standard reactionary reagents to form in blood of patients.”

B-1 supplemented that with, <{[ASB-2]=(Sensors/SYS: INDICES) ...“Present reactions indicate lifeform present in the macrological ecology. Bio-Forms “Janna” and “Kato” presence created responses in the medium.”

Janna was confused, “Wait, the mist is local to us? We are causing this?”

She began tapping on the console, clear minded as ever now. The bots were correct, the mists were a local phenomenon, and logically this shuttle was the cause. She looked. The previous team had used planetary survey methods which showed clearly the air was fine. Inoculations were made for the local specimens brought back, but if this spore was a reaction to invasive bodies, Kato’s reaction was allegorical to the planet itself.

She heard the Bot making its loud noises, Kato was slipping back into sleep, the diphendramastin doing its work too well. The loud noise clearly annoyed Kato, who tried to slap the Bot away. It took the half-hearted lazy hit and swayed a bit so Kato didn't hurt his hand on the metal.

“Kato, I’m prepping us to leave, we have to tell them everything. You’ll be fine but--Stay awake!”

Kato weakly protested, but said nothing more as Janna piloted the shuttle up and out of the mist. She looked behind them a moment later, seeing the misty swirls dissipate rapidly. They would get in trouble for this, but the discovery was huge. A new treasure trove like this made careers out of black marks.

A few minutes after they hit the atmosphere, she set autopilot and turned around to Kato, looking healthy. Kato had taken the bots into the back room to lay down, so she followed after him. He was on the bed talking to one of them, the loud one. The other was still running scans, a diligent machine never bored or suffering from slipped vigilance.

“Janna! I was just getting to know our doctors!”

She smiled. He was handsome and his health gave him rosy cheeks. The smile was infectious, but he was a dalliance at best. She didn’t date Humans usually; her lifespan as an Angosian was easily over two hundred years, tragedy was not something she liked signing up for.

“This one sounds like an ex, Talia Vandader. Hear the odd accent, why does it do that? I guessed Random heuristics but these guys are barely self-aware of their own programming, much like children. Best I can figure it’s random and-”

The other both chimed loudly and startled Janna, “Oh god, why is this one always barking at you?”

Kato laughed, “Barker! Great name. My blood work is clean, all cured, it wants me to take the cuff off..”

Janna looked for herself, all traces of psilocybin gone, the toxic effects of his allergic reaction mitigated.

This shuttle was set aside for R&D, it looks like they were testing these guys."

Kato shook his head, "Astounding. This should be standard issue for all shuttles."

Barker sent a message to the master console, “Have we fulfilled our purpose? If so, please remove command blades before disposing, Quantum processors cannot be replicated, future iterations for this service will require this blade.”

Janna furrowed her brow, “...disposal… why would I ever?”

Kato agreed with her, “Guess we got kids now eh?”

The joke didn’t land with Janna, Kato was someone she cared about, but not to have kids with. Besides, the bot just explained the quantum chip was irreplaceable, the shell might be free to take, but the brain was not.

Talia remarked, <{[Talia]= (DETECT: [JANNA]... Elevated heart rate and adrenal response, Unit-Janna, are you experiencing a medical condition?”

Kato was confused, and staring expectantly, Janna deep sighed at all of them. Kato had nearly gotten them both killed being an impetuous youth. He was no longer so handsome, and made jokes that made her skin crawl. More than anything he just seemed young, like a child himself.

She really wished the bots could help her with this problem.

-End-

MED-Comps

 

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