Another Professional Consultation

Posted on Fri 30th Aug, 2019 @ 1:15pm by Commander Jasmine Collins-Keller

1,137 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: A Diplomatic Affair
Location: Science Offices
Timeline: MD 6, 09:30

Chlamydia Addams arrived in the Science Department administrative office in the usual way: she walked. Several people, however, would later exchange gossip about not having noticed her until she spoke, and an urban legend would grow up about her having appeared in a puff of purple smoke. The Zeta Reticulan spider riding on her shoulder would become a dread thing that none had dared to look upon, for fear of the loss of their souls. Addams, unaware of this future, simply said, "Is Commander Collins-Keller about? I should like to speak with her, if she has a few moments."

Upon hearing Chlamydia ask for her, Jasmine stepped out of her office and smiled. Looking around at her staff staring blankly at each other, she spoke. "Did I miss a morning meeting? Shouldn't you be working on your assignments for the day?" She asked as she strode to where Chlamydia stood. "Good morning, Doctor Addams." She smiled. "Hello handsome." She spoke directly to Thing who she found more intriguing than scary or anything nasty. "It's good to see you both. To what do I owe this visit?"

Thing casually waved its index finger, while Chlamydia raised her tricorder. "I have something on which I should appreciate your opinion."

"Of course, Chlamydia." Jasmine moved closer to the woman to see what she needed. "Did you want to step into my office?"

"Please," Addams agreed, "and thank you." She followed the Commander into the office, and gracefully took a seat. "I apologize for the drama, but I've come across something I don't understand, and am hoping that you might. I do not want this in the base networks, so I've isolated the file on this tricorder, and isolated the tricorder from external networks." She handed the device over. "This is the last transporter record for Lieutenant Dallas Briggs. I'd particularly like you to look at his prosthetic leg, and tell me if anything strikes you as odd."

Jasmine smiled. "Of course," She took the tricorder in hand and studied it for several minutes. "I've never seen a prosthetic with an integrated device like this." She frowned. "it appears to be added post manufacture, but I can't hazard a guess as to the purpose it would serve." She could see where the neural transmitters would attach and she knew the nanite cluster gave the wearer a sense of touch.

Addams raised her eyebrows. "Could you make an informed speculation?"

"Well, it doesn't appear to emit any form of radiation or have any frequency waves." Jasmine loved a challenge. "I wish I had the actual leg to look at though." She looked again at the tricorder. "Would you have any problem with me making a holographic model?" She asked. "I'll keep it out of the main computer, of course. But I think it might help figure things out and give us a view of whatever this is.'

Chlamydia nodded. "Certainement, mon amie. But be absolutely certain it is not on a networked computer. We have reason to believe it is connected to Adrien Dobbs -- you'll recall the nanotech samples from his chamber of horrors? His projects bring new meaning to 'a fate worse than death.' At least one person has already been abducted or killed over this. I should be very much regretful if you or any of your staff were to join his parade of tragedy."

Jasmine took a breath and tried to calm herself. She managed not to drop the tricorder and run screaming out of the lab, but she could feel her heart beating at twice its normal pace. "I do recall the videos. I had no idea he might be involved." She continued to look over the information as she walked over to her computer. This time she typed a bit of information using a separate keyboard. "This is my personal lab computer. It's used to store my own research. Nobody has access to it but me." She reassured herself as she explained to Chlamydia what she was doing.

The Doctor merely nodded, listening. After a moment, she asked, "Would you like me to go while you work on it, or...?"

"N-no." Jasmine shook her head. "It should only take a few moments. Unless you have something more pressing. It may take a little while to decipher the information after, but if you would like to have a look at it, the holographic model will be done in five minutes."

"Excellent; I shall abide here, quietly," the Doctor responded with a very slight smile. She took a PADD from a pocket of her lab coat and began reading.

A few moments later, Jasmine turned on a holographic projector. The prosthetic leg looked identical to the real thing if it had been opened up and laid on a table. The detailing always amazed Jasmine. How could the computer decipher all the schematics and make a picture so quickly? "Well, Doctor Addams, what do you think?" She asked.

Addams stood, tucking her PADD back into her lab coat and approaching the model. "It does seem to be accurate," she answered. "What do you think?"

Jasmine was pleased with the hologram, but she was very interested in the device. "This here. It almost looks like a communication device. But why would something like that be in a prosthetic leg?" She asked herself out loud and then looked at Chlamydia to see what she thought.

Addams merely shook her head. "The mind boggles; the imagination runs amuck."

"And look here, it seems to be connected to the neural network -- it's somehow connected to the man's nervous system." She turned the hologram 45 degrees. "Could it be a new way to operate the prosthesis?" She asked the doctor.

"No," Addams opined. "I believe it's a new way to operate the man." She paused. "Why do we detect no communication medium? No radio waves, no subspace waves?"

"It could be a something that gives off no traceable waves in order to remain hidden, perhaps photonic?" She mused out loud.

Addams shrugged. "For the moment, I have what I needed. If you come up with any further thoughts or conclusions, please let me know... discreetly. And do keep in mind what I said about keeping this off the networks?"

Jasmine stopped for a moment and then said, "I'll keep the secret." Memories of the note in her dream, threatening her daughter and husband rushed to her head as well as visions of the videos that were found proving exactly how far some people like Dobbs would go.

She watched Chlamydia leave her lab and then turned to her image of the prosthetic again. "What are you?" She asked out loud before shutting down the viewer and removing the memory chip and placing it carefully in a secure box.

 

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