Posted by Ensign Adeline McGill (Medical Officer) in Sickbay: Some form of prodding and poking.

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Karl Olfmann (Security Officer) in Sickbay: Some form of prodding and poking.

Adeline looked up as the sickbay doors swished open, a sound that was becoming permanently ingrained in her head as it seemed to happen at least once every 30 seconds. Thankfully, Starfleet had prioritized getting the medical staff in place to handle all of the incoming transfers, but that still left her duty shift harried, running from patient to patient to clear new crew members for duty. Nodding once to the security ensign whose physical she had just completed, she made her way to the latest in the long line.

“Can I help you?” she inquired and then immediately turned bright red as she mentally chastised herself. Clearly he was here for a boarding physical and that was the dumbest question she had uttered for at least the last three hours. “I mean…” she stammered, “I assume you’re here for your physical?”

Dr. McGill

“You would assume correctly.” Karl inclined his head and then gave her a slight smile. It accented his mismatched eyes. “Unless you have a reasonable art exhibtion around here somewhere, that is?” He didn’t know what had made him attempt a joke and it made him feel awkward. To deflect attention he fumbled at his bag and pulled out a data slate.

“My file,” he paused for a second to look at her rank pin, “Doctor.” Then he handed the data slate over. “It’s all in here, but to save time, yes this,” he pointed to his mismatched eyes, one blue, one hazel, “this is genetic. And the other pertinent thing is that I am a blank, so I apologise if you are a telepath or empath. I was born like this.”

Being a pyschic blank made him even more unusual than a telepath. He literally had no pyschic presence. He was a null object. He not only couldn’t be read, he literally didn’t generate any thoughts or emotions that could be broadcast. It was a null of presence. While normal people didn’t notice, even the least talented telepaths and empaths found him difficult to be around. The higher grades actually found him painful and his presence generated real discomfort. Which was, of course, part of the reason he was here. Karl’s last boss had been a full betazoid and for the 18 months they had worked together it had been difficult in all ways. He had signed off the transfer request with indecent haste to get rid of Karl.

Olfmann

Adeline laughed at his humor, although it came out slightly forced and uncomfortable. Her fair cheeks had faded in color slightly, but still retained a pink hue, as she reached out to accept the PaDD from Olfmann. She glanced at it, knowing that she wouldn’t have much time to review it, but her attention quickly returned to the officer as he summarized the contents. “Oh, that’s interesting,” she commented, idly and unspecifically to whether she was referring to his eye color or his blank mind. “Well, if you just make yourself comfortable on the biobed here, I will run some scans to confirm your medical status.”

She led him to a nearby biobed and gave it an unnecessary pat as she turned to pick up a medical tricorder. “Have you recently developed any new symptoms that I should know about?” she asked, her voice soft and slightly shy. She held the tricorder at the ready but had paused to allow him to answer her question first before beginning any scans.

Dr. McGill

“New symptoms?” Karl sat down on the biobed. As normal it was uncomfortable and squeaky. New, like the ship. He swung his legs up and lay down to stare at the ceiling. Finding the ceiling a normal and terrifying shade of sick bay sterile beige, he looked at McGill instead. “New symptoms makes it sound like I am ill. I assure you that I am not. I am merely just me, for all that entails.” He sure as hell wasn’t going to tell her about his sleep issues.

He stared at her for a bit, then realised he was staring, went to stare at the terrifying beigeness again, then decided it was better to just be creepy than beiged out. He looked again at McGill. “Is this your first posting, Doctor?”

Karl.