Three Tired Doctors, to Say Nothing of the Thing

Posted on Wed 18th Apr, 2018 @ 10:38pm by Lieutenant Commander Lanis Dhuro MD
Edited on on Wed 8th Jan, 2020 @ 10:51pm

1,393 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Brushfires
Location: Promenade, somewhere
Timeline: Evening of the day that 'Samurai' arrives.

"So where do you find fish on this station?" Lanis asked as he and Chlamydia Addams headed to the tram. "Is it part of the Riverwalk, or do they serve it at Pearl with a Chainsaw?"

"I'm too tired for the Promenade, and not sure I can face more Besm," Chlamydia said as they walked through the half-loop ramp which changed their gravity orientation to match that of the tram. "There's a fellow on the Riverwalk, though... just a cart, really, but he does make the most delicious fish and chips. Or chicken and chips, if you don't care for fish."

"It's been a while since I ate fish. Used to eat it all the time when I was growing up, any time we were near a river, anyway." A thought occurred to him, and he was ashamed that he hadn't thought of it before. "Shall we stop by the CDA clinic and see if Gaden's at a stopping pint?"

"A stopping pint?" Chlamydia chuckled as they stepped aboard the tram and whisked downstation along with a small crowd of others. "You're truly tired if you're making Freudian slips. But yes; let us. Better yet..." she tapped her combadge. "Doctor Anjohl, this is Addams. Doctor Dhuro and I are taking a casual dinner on the Riverwalk. Would you care to meet us at the tram station on deck 1554?"

Gaden ran a hand through his hair and set is PAAD to the side. "Sure," he replied pinching the bridge of his nose. He was ready for a break, more than ready. He'd been reading the latest medical journal, some esoteric article on bone marrow and he'd been getting bored. He would have to come back to it later, but for now, had an excuse to set it aside.

The doctors rode the rest of the way in silence, holding the straps placed for rider convenience. At some point, Thing clambered from Lanis' left shoulder to Chlamydia's right. When the tram doors opened at the Riverwalk station, the trio exited. "Ah, Doctor Anjohl. Welcome to the river," Chlamydia greeted. "I trust we haven't kept you waiting too long?"

Lanis, meanwhile, was peering at Thing, who had somehow become a right hand instead of a left one--which made sense, considering that he now hung from Chlamydia's right shoulder, instead of from Lanis' left, but it didn't make any other kind of sense. At last, he shook his head and looked over at Gaden. "How did the surgeries for the Samurai crew down in the CDA clinic go?"

"Well everyone survived, it was a rough go for a bit, but we managed. How did things go with you?"

"Very, very busy," Lanis said. "I haven't done that many back-to-back surgeries in one day since before the Cardassians left Bajor. I'm thanking the Prophets everyone was stable, or it would have been an even rougher day."

Gaden pinched the bridge of his nose. "Let's hope it's a very, very long time before we have to deal with something like that again," he said.

Chlamydia made a sound of agreement and gestured out of the tram stop. "In the meantime... I am hungry. Fish and chips are this way, gentlemen."

"Did I hear right that the USS Hermes will be docking here soon, as well?" Lanis asked as the three of them exited the tram and walked toward the aroma of frying fish. As always, it amazed Lanis how natural-seeming the decks of Tivoli Gardens were. Grass and even trees grew on this deck, along with various flowering plants.

"Fish and chips sounds wonderful right about now," Anjohl said, "Was Pattington's there when the two of you went to the Academy?" he asked, "It was a little hole-in-the-wall, about half a mile from the grounds on Folsom?"

"It may have been," Lanis said. "When I was at the Academy, I usually went to a place called Zero Zero, which served pizza. I think of it sort of as flat hasperat."

"Hermes?" Addams asked, but was distracted by the discussion of food. "I barely attended the academy," she responded. "And when I did, I was attending the Staff Officer courses, which is much like drinking from a firehose. I had no time nor energy to venture off campus."

"In other words, I should be thankful that they made me go through the whole four-year course and surgical residency?" Lanis said with a faint chuckle. "For me, that was bad enough. Attending medical school while still learning the language it's taught in was not fun." He sniffed the air and pointed to a cart with an umbrella over it. "Is that the place?"

"I can see where that would be a problem," Gaden said, "I at least knew Federation Standard before I got to the Academy. And, in answer to your question, I do think it's the place we are looking for."

"Oh, I lie," Chlamydia said, not directly answering the question, but leading them toward the cart. The umbrella had a cartoon fried fish on the side, and it was eating chips. "I did leave campus once. My Aunt Lily and Uncle Herman came to visit, and took me to lunch at a very nice place called 'Grandpa's,' as I recall."

"Well, I'm glad somebody dug you out of the study-holos for a night out," Lanis said. He eyed the fish and chips cart. "You have an unexpected and delightful whimsical side," he told Chlamydia. "I would never have guessed you'd enjoy a place like this."

"Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find Alaskan Pollock at the frontiers of the Federation?" Chlamydia asked rhetorically. She held up two fingers to the white-bearded human running the stall, and he nodded, taking two fish filets out of a cold compartment and applying the batter to them.

"Gentlemen?" he asked. "Fish or Chicken?"

"Definitely fish for me," the Bajoran doctor said. "I can at least pretend that the deep-fat fried fish is good for me."

"Fish, please," Lanis told the man at the cart. "I'm sure you burned off enough calories today to afford it," he said to Gaden with a grin. Lanis turned to Chlamydia. "I used to know a neuropsychologist named Pollock. Never realized his surname meant a variety of fish. So what did they do, bring a school of fry all the way from Alaska on Earth and raise them in the winter-zone section of river here?"

This has got to be the most desultory, frustrating conversation I've ever had with Chlamydia, he thought. Now, why is that? He eyed her and Gaden as the three of them waited by the fish cart. Could simply be tired. I'm sure all three of us are; I certainly am. And yet ... Could she have divined my real reason for asking her out? Maybe. Or maybe my imagination is working overtime.

How to test which hypothesis was true? Lanis mulled over that as he waited for his fish filet to cook. The simplest explanation is probably the truth, he told himself. Probably.

"I'm certain I don't know," Chlamydia answered the question Lanis had asked. "They could be replicated for all I know." She caught the look the cart vendor sent her way. "Sorry, Charlie," she said, looking contrite. "Where do they come from?"

The vendor chuckled. "Well, you're not that far off," he answered. "They're vat grown. After Starfleet pulled out a while back, we weren't sure how long we'd be able to maintain replicator technology, so there's a whole vitoculture mini-industry a ways up." He glanced at the illusory sky as if to demonstrate what he meant.

Charlie picked up a sheet of newsprint and wrapped two of the fish planks and a generous helping of pommes frittes and handed them to Addams. "Ma'am," he said with a smile, before repeating the process of wrapping for Gaden. "And our fish is actually quite good for you," he said, handing over the bundle. "Omega-3 oils, anti-oxidants, and best of all, zero mercury."

"Zero mercury is always good," Gaden said with a slight grin,"trust me I would know, I'm a doctor."

Addams examined the newsprint and smiled. "I look forward to telling Mr. Clement that his paper is a fishwrapper."

 

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