A Ring that Bites

Posted on Tue 7th Aug, 2018 @ 9:16pm by Lieutenant Commander Lanis Dhuro MD

747 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Oblivion
Location: Main Infirmary
Timeline: MD2, 1025 hours

“All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; only the dose permits something not to be poisonous.” ― Paracelsus

"Computer, establish restraining field around the patient, including all of her left hand," Lanis directed as the unconscious blonde woman's body materialized on the biobed in the infirmary. A faint, blue glow flared around the woman's beringed hand and the rest of her body before fading.

"Perform scan of left hand, with detailed analysis of second finger." Lanis glanced at Chlamydia, who had just joined him. "I have a present for you. This is an apparent human female, aged approximately 25-35 standard years, who was heavily stunned less than ten minutes ago. A security team had her beamed here from just below Tivoli Gardens. Apparently, she's wearing an indwelling poison ring on her left hand that contains a neurotoxin. I'm waiting to see what type."

"Oh, you dear man!" Chlamydia exclaimed, bending over the hand in question and taking a deep breath. "Oh, fooey. The field is preventing aromatics. One can tell a great deal about a poison from its aromatics." She straightened. "Ten minutes, you say? Where is... oh, there you are, David. Would you get us a... and you have one. Excellent."

Lieutenant David Longworth, SB109's Head of Nursing Staff, grinned at his boss and handed over the neural suppressor, the "Russian Sleep" headband. After more than a year working with his doctors, he knew what each would call for in a pinch.

Chlamydia drifted over to look at the display. "Ah," she said at a glance. "Lamia toxin." She noted the lifted eyebrows and went on, "Not all Lamian species are venomous, of course, but those which are have rather potent toxins. This seems to be a central nervous disruptor, which puts it generally in the fanged, rather than the stinger-bearing branches of the evolutionary tree. Stingers tend to carry periphrial demyelinating agents."

One of the Corpsmen muttered, "I'll take 'horrible ways to die' for four hundred, Guy."

"Chlamydia, this ring is embedded in the patient's finger with titanium prongs," Lanis said as he peered at the bio-readings. "The bone has completely fused with them. It has to have been placed at least three to four months ago, but I suspect longer, given how the skin has healed." He glanced at the monitor. "Computer, scan for any other indwelling objects that have been placed in or on the patient--to include but not be limited to piercings, gauges, pacemakers, proximity detectors, cybernetic implants, and the like."

"Why would anyone do that?" Chlamydia asked rhetorically. She bent over the hand again. "It's not as though the ring's venom can self-generate. So all you're doing by bonding it in place is..." she paused. "Flip back to that scan?" she asked Lanis.

"Proving to the wearer that you can do that," Lanis said in a hard voice. "Making it impossible for the wearer to claim to be anything other than the type of person who would wear such a ring." He paused. "Presuming that someone else did this to her, of course. She may have chosen to do it to herself. I've never been the sort to want body piercings or elective physical alterations, so I don't understand why people do that." He went back to the image Chlamydia requested and studied it along with her. "What do you see?"

"A mechanism of control," Chlamydia answered, "or suicide. Possibly both." She reached into the holographic display, tapped on the toxin. "Computer, remove all traces of this compound from the patient, whether present in the foreign object or elsewhere. Put it in a vial and leave it in the containment hood in lab 3."

Lanis nodded; they were seeing the same thing.

Chlamydia straightened up. "Is this person a victim or a perpetrator?"

"A perpetrator, according to Security," Lanis said. "I have her under full restraint fields. I thought that was safest, considering that without them, she could kill herself or one of us easily with that ring on. She could, however, be both victim and perpetrator. And with the neural suppressor on, I can lower the restraint field safely now."

Chlamydia straightened up, looked as though she were thinking. "Yes. Go ahead. Let's give her the benefit of the doubt for the moment. And... get that ring off her, would you please, Lanis?"

"Gladly," Lanis said. He eyed Chlamydia. "I'll be interested to see what sort of person she turns out to be when she wakes up."

 

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