Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Brenner “Bren” Satis (Doctor/specialty in neuroscience) in Sick bay and meeting Bren…When the past doesn’t match the future or the present

Posted by Civilian Jessa Novar (Child) in Sick bay and meeting Bren…When the past doesn’t match the future or the present
SNIP

It had been twenty-four hours since the promenade attack. The adrenaline and battle drug had worn off enough to leave Jessa nursing a headache. It was the remains of a severe concussion but with her nanites, her healing rate had fixed it to a mild one. What would be more interesting was the large black and blue patches all over her back, arms, and chest. The concussion from being slammed into the forcefield she erected to contain the blast had prevented any real injury but there was bruising. If the nanites had not been directing all their healing powers on her concussion, she would have looked perfect but without a fresh dose of nanites, she was stuck healing much much slower.

“I don’t know why we are here. This is stupid. I am not going to let you use veeches or hoodoo magic on me,” Jessa said frustrated as she and O’Neill passed the pneumatic doors of sick bay.

“You are being stupid,” O’Neill shot back with the same tone he used with his own sons when they were irritating him. Moving to the nurses station, he waited for someone to approach.

Jessa Novar

Bren was only beginning to find his rhythm within Sickbay when Jessa and her escort arrived at the nurses’ station. He’d finished his residency rotations half a decade earlier and had spent the intervening time largely within a lab. There had been patients, of course, but they had been selected. He was only beginning to reacquaint himself with the routine of fixing sprained wrists and healing digestive upsets.

Bren slid the PADD he’d been working on into the pocket of his lab coat as he approached Jessa and O’Neill. He clasped his hands behind his back as his dark eyes moved from the officer to the adolescent.

“Hello. I’m Dr. Bren Satis. How can I help?”

Satis, MO

“You can’t. Where is Dr. Lauren,” Jessa said in a tone as if she were the commanding officer of the ship. Looking around sick bay, she scanned the area for the CMO or Primrose. Her last venture into this space yesterday was less than stellar and she was not looking for a repeat.

“One second,” O’Neill raised a finger to Satis with a highly displease expression. “Oh for cryin’ out loud Jessa you and I went through this ad nauseam. She is off duty and is not going to make a house call,” he leaned back in a way that would have been comical if it wasn’t abundantly clear he was on his last nerve. While O’Neill generally played the role of less-than-intelligent security officer by choice, it was little comments like this which showed his level of intelligence. “Now pipe down or I swear to god,” he left the threat open before turning back to Satis with a forced pleasant smile.

Satis’s eyes moved from child to adult and back again, a slight upturn of his lip the only sign of the amusement he felt watching the battle of wills. While he only knew a vague sketch of what had happened on the Promenade, mostly due to medical’s relocation to the secondary sickbay, he was able to fill in the blanks enough to know that this was the young woman who had been present.

“Hello Dr. Satis, I was wondering if you had a second to look over this delightful young lady. Rinker is in a meeting with the Captain and Lauren has been on shift for the past thirty-seven hours.” While Dr. Satis was relatively new to the crew, he and the rest of the medical team for the past seven days had been working out of the secondary sickbay while the primary sick bay had been for the Captian recuperation and to house Jessa in isolation in lieu of the brig.

Holding out her hands Jessa spun around slightly as if modeling for Satis. After making a full turn, she curtsied to Satis and gave O’Neill a very tween-like eye roll. “Okay, he looked me over can we go now?” Jessa had no desire to be here in the least. She felt safe with O’Neill but that did not mean the situation felt safe. She might be twelve but it was clear to her how on edge the crew was. Even though Jessa was used to Dr. Lauren, that did not mean she hadn’t given her meds to make her sleep. If she was asleep, she could not defend herself which is why she had slept the previous in her armor. Part of Jessa wanted to reach up and activate the suit using the small dime-sized metal disc just below the mastoid bone on her ear. She refrained from doing so however because there was no need to tip off the man in blue that she could protect herself if needed. The suit also seemed to alarm the crew and so far this man had not done anything to her yet.

O’Neill had no idea how much the medical staff knew about the actual battle on the promenade. With the MECH’s set to civil defense, the casualties were next to minimal instead of an all-out crew slaughter. Giving Jessa a side glance and a frown he held up a finger again. “Just one more second,” he politely gestured to the doctor. “You don’t need to see him. You look like you were the shuttle cock in a game of badminton between a Klingon and a Nauscican.” Turning his attention to Satis, O’Neill had looked at the man and then nodded to an open med bed. “Any chance you can spare five minutes for a look-see? She has been complaining of a headache and upset stomach. I am thinking concussion maybe. She got her bell rung a couple of times on the promenade.”

Jessa Novar and O’Neill

“As much as I appreciate the twirl, I think a quick scan would give me a bit more insight into just how well you’re healing. There’s no reason you have to deal with that headache if we can take care of it right? Go ahead an hop up on the biobed and I promise, if all looks well, I’ll have you out of here in five.”

“We only need half that time to figure out and treat a person back in the Union,” she crossed her arms watching the doctor move across the space. “Our medicine is way more advanced. It also fixes everything.”

“Fabulous,” O’Neill stated, his voice thick with sarcasm. “This is your perfect chance to elucidate how brilliant the Union is and how backward we are. I know I love hearing it. I am sure the doc there is waiting with bated breath to know it too.” Sarcasm tended to irritate most people and O’Neill wielded this better then he did his weapon.

Satis moved to the to the open bed and gave it a pat.

“And if you’re interested, I can put an image of your brain on the display here and show you exactly what I’m looking at.”

Jessa waited just long enough that the moment felt like it needed a second direction but Satis did not move or break his genuine feeling of concern for her. O’Neill let a small smirk spread over his face watching the doc have the patience of Job but not capitulate an inch in his demands. It was a gift most doctors seem to possess. To move the action along, he whistled out a classic western tune from a famous holovid where two cowboys were facing off ready to draw down followed by the lyrics “Ah-ah-ah-ah wah-wah-wah.” It was meant to show Satis this was a normal reaction by Jessa and based on past experiences, she would be the one to jump the gun and lose patience before the other person.

Bren’s stolid demeanor was in direct contrast to the whirl of emotion he felt emanating from Jessa. While he appreciated O’Neill’s supportive indication that Jessa’s patience had the lifespan of a short holovid that failed to go viral, he could already feel her emotional stamina begin to wane. His best bet was to deprive it of the stimulus of his own reaction.

Jessa shot Jack O’Neill a sharp eye roll along with a click of her tongue emphasizing her aggravation with the security officer beside her. Dropping her arms, Jessa was stuck in a conundrum. Scanning the room, Primrose was no longer in the space so she felt decidedly safer than when she came in a day earlier. Dr. Lauren was not here but neither was the woman that threw her out. Aside from O’Neill, the only other person familiar to her was Yvonne Washington at the nurses desk. Jessa also was acutely aware of how drastically her station in life had changed in the past twenty-four hours. She was alone on the ship and possibly in this blob of space in the universe. While her primary mission was to get the Prism and information about these people, it had now flip-flopped to finding enough information to get home and then the Prism. It was time to learn as much as she could as fast as she could.

Bren sensed the wall of defensive frustration not uncommon in pre-teens emanating from Jessa, but he identified a curious intellect under the hostile surface. Perhaps an appeal in that vein could pierce the veil of obstinance.

Satis, MO

Moving from the spot next to Jack O’Neill, Jessa walked to the bed Bren was standing next to and hopped up. While the space did not look like it had with the security walls up, Jessa found a certain comfort in the bed she had been using for the past week as her home. Her mind wondered if this was a tactic to put her at ease or trap her again in the space. Turning to face him, Jessa lifted her chin up in an attempt to show confidence as she addressed him. “I am not scared of you. I also don’t need you. Our medical is vastly more advanced than yours. My nanites are programmed to fix any and all medical conditions I sustain,” she repeated for a second time. “I am only here because Jack,” she stated looking to her left and suddenly realizing he was no longer by her side. “Jack,” she repeated utterly ignoring Bren for the moment. For all her proclamations of needing no one, Jessa instantly was on edge. She did not get off the table but spun around looking for him frantically.

“Ew ah fihnine,” Jack waved her off before the blathering started talking through a mouth of donuts at the Nurse’s station. “For cryin’ out loud this is going to take five minutes so let me enjoy my donut.” Turning his body, Jack made it appear he was no longer paying attention to Jessa however he had a perfect line of sight on her. For him, it was a tactical move and meant to distract Jessa long enough for Bren to possibly take a scan before she noticed.

O’Neill had brought her in stating she was complaining of a headache and some bruising on her body. This close, Bren Satis would see why Jack now seemed so concerned. The long sleeve shirt the child was wearing hid a lot but dark black and blue splotches peeked up around her neck and wrists. It would be reasonable to assume if he lifted her shirt to examine her belly or back, Jessa would look like she went ten rounds with an abusive adult. Her heart rate was elevated but nothing to be concerned about. Her pupils were highly dilated though indicating the concussion Jack suggested but also something more. A scan of her liver would indicate residual traces of a substance chemically identical to the narcotic PCP.

Jessa Novar and Jack O’Neill

“Well, let’s put Mr. O’Neill’s mind at ease.”

A wave of emotion almost exploded out of Jessa slamming into Bren giving the possible sensation of a wave crashing into someone entering the ocean at high tide. It was not hostile or aggressive as her outward emotions had been since entering sickbay. It might best be described as a relief even though Jessa’s face held a slightly sour expression with the down-turning of her mouth at the corners and her lips pursed tightly. “Yes, let’s not give him a reason to worry about something that doesn’t involve him.” The end was far louder than it needed to be but more teen snark than actual anger.

Bren moved to the wall display, synchronizing it’s output with his tricorder, then returned to Jessa’s bedside.

Her eyes were glued to Bren. Turning her body slightly, she kept the broad side of her body facing him as if she was unsure he was going to make any sudden moves that she needed to be prepared to react to. “Can I see that?” Jessa held out her hand waiting for the tricorder. Lifting her chin some, she tried to appear authoritative and in control. As she reached out, her sleeve pulled up revealing a rainbow of dark blue-black splotches and sickly yellow-green colored spots. On the surface, these bruised colors were perfectly normal and seen every day unless you were a doctor who often used the coloration of bruises to predict healing rates. The blue, black, and purplish colors indicated fresh wounds where the blood was coagulating and losing oxygen. The yellow-green colors came from needing biliverdin and bilirubin from the liver to help repair the body.

His eyes quickly darted over the signs of bruising that were visible, his mind visualizing the network of bruises that likely extended beyond the areas within his vision. If he were to request a closer inspection, he suspected it would shut down the entire examination, so he made a note of what he saw and moved on.

Holding the device, Jessa flipped it over in her hand several times as if inspecting it. Bren did not need to be Betazoid to feel the tension radiating off her. Jessa pretended like everything was fine but her heart raced a bit. She needed to acquire information but make it appear as innocent curiosity versus gathering intelligence. The doctor next to her seemed friendly enough so Jessa decided to appeal to his good nature. “I know you need such primitive devices for your medicine but I just wanted to make sure it didn’t come loaded with the drugs you use on me.” Jessa really wasn’t scared the doc was going to dope her up. The only time Dr. Shan or Rinker used what Jessa thought was called a hypo was when she was in pain or a few times to help settle her nerves down. Only when she took a swing at the large green security alien had they given her something that knocked Jessa out and she really couldn’t blame them that time. What Jessa was more interested in was the sedative component and which devices administered it. In a pinch, it would be a handy weapon to use if she needed to get away.

“Where would you put the medicine in this device,” she handed it back over and waited. This doctor acted like he wanted to share information so she would wait for him to supply it if he did.

Bren eyed Jessa as he retrieved his tricorder from her curious grasp, “The medical tricorder is simply a tool to gather information. It doesn’t store or deliver medication. For that we use hyposprays. If we need one of those, I’ll be happy to let you examine it as well.”

“Will you because you don’t seem to want to let me play with that device,” she let out a small chuckle. It was not that Bren ripped it out of her hands or even was aggressive in removing it, it was more that Bren acted like most adults with cool toys that deserved more inspecting. .Jessa always found it humorous that adults lectured kids about sharing toys but when it came to adult toys like nail guns, fireworks, and mechanical saws, adults yelled ‘stand back’ instead of ‘want to try it’ when kids were around. Of course, they stated it was to keep kids safe but she had seen many adults do enough stupid things to get themselves hurt using adult toys. The tricorder fascinated Jessa on so many levels. The Union’s medical devices were large and bulky since nano’s did the majority of treating issues. The tricorder was going to be a huge advance for the Union for treating people without nanites in a much more timely manner.

She tried to sit still as he scanned her from the front but it was hard to remain still and not see what Bren was looking at on the other side of the device. She moved enough that it seemed Bren stopped trying to get a reading by pointing it at her and moved it to hovering over her head.

Methodically he moved the peripheral scanner over Jessa’s head, his attention turned to the wall display.

“It seems your nanites are doing their job, to an extent.”

“To an extent,” Jessa snapped and rolled her eyes. Opening her mouth to point out the Galactic Union’s superiority over the Federation she never got to finish as Bren calmly and patiently continued to explain what he had found. She was irritated more that Bren seemed to not care about hearing how advanced her medicine was over being interrupted.

” Do you see that darker spot on the border of your frontal and parietal lobes, just at the top of your head? That tells me you’ve suffered bruising to the superficial tissue of your brain. My readings show significant healing over the last twenty-four hours, but it will still be some time before you’re fully healed. I can give you an analgesic to limit the symptoms of your concussion while you heal, but the best medicine will be rest.”

“That is why it hurts to think?” Jessa dropped all her pretenses and the arrogant tone of her voice. The sensation of actual pain was something Jessa was not used to on a continuous basis. The nanites were exceedingly efficient at their job; however, it did take time which is why she felt the compound fracture she self-inflicted to get away from Mardusk during her first tour of the ship. The nanites fixed injuries thereby removing pain. The nanites did not relieve pain via a drug and then treat an injury which is how it seemed the Federation medicine worked. This was why the battle drug was so important in combat. The battle narcotic, injected by three puncture holes in the forearm, dulled the sensations anyone received in battle allowing one to push through pain as the nanites repaired injuries.

“Yes, that is most likely the cause as to any discomfort in your head, including when you try to concentrate. Pain is our body’s way of telling us something is wrong. If it hurts to do something, I suggest you stop. Thankfully, I expect the pain in your head to improve.”

“So you are telling me to stop thinking because it is making my head hurt?” The laugh that followed was soon replaced by a deep groaning whine as Jessa moved her fingertips to her temples and pressed hard. “Do you know how often Pellan says that to me when I tell him about one of my brilliant ideas? Like the time I suggested we should dump a whole lot of water out in space surrounded by a force field so you could go swimming in the stars or attach a platform with a parachute over the ice geysers on Isaz so when they blow you could be shot up like an amusement park ride without having to stand in all those lines all the time.” The smile on her face talking about Pellan evaporated into a tight-lipped smirk as sadness welled up in her throat. Jessa was not here to make friends or share stories about home. She was here to be a role model for the undevout and facilitate their acceptance into enlightenment.

“Without pain, one can not appreciate pleasure. Without sacrifice, one can not appreciate loss. Without torment, one can not appreciate blessing. One must suffer pain, sacrifice, and torment to be guided to the path of enlightenment. Upon finding and walking the path, one can be assured their soul will not dwell in the obsidian void of hell but flourish in the light of God’s truth.” Her tone was sing-songy imparting almost a song in her recitation than an original thought. “Pain is what makes us better,” Jessa finished shrugging diverting her eyes down to her hands as she played with a fingernail.

” I’m going to do a quick scan of your torso, just to make sure there isn’t another injury that we can address. Your nanites are likely triaging your injuries the same as a doctor would. While they focus on the bruising on your brain, they may be postponing attending to other injuries.”

Jessa didn’t say yes or no but sat very still as Bren continued his examination.

Bren ran his peripheral sensor over Jessa’s torso. These readings were not relayed to the wall display. Evidence of healing was far more limited on these scans, and Bren was surprised his patient didn’t evince more signs of pain as he cataloged the extent of her bruising. As initial liver readings read across his device he felt his brow furrow. He looked from Jessa to O’Neill and back again. He folded up his tricorder and put it in the pocket of his lab coat.

“How are you feeling Jessa?”

“I feel perfect,” she gave him a strained smile. Jessa had not made a no-lying pact with this Bren like she was bound to with Rinker. She was feeling anything but normal. His scan seemed to explain why her head hurt and hurt worse the more she tried to think about complex ideas. It didn’t explain why she felt like her heart was racing in her chest even when she had no reason to be upset or agitated.

” Any tenderness or sore areas?”

“Can’t your machine tell you that? It seems to tell you everything else. That I am too skinny, too short, that I hurt my head, that I need rest, that I need to eat,” she threw her arms up getting irritated. “Besides pain is life. A life without pain and sacrifice is one spent dwelling,” she stopped reciting her litany and looked at Bren with a blank stare. “Spent dwelling in the illusion,” her voice trailed off followed by an angry groan. Pressing the heels of her palms into her eyes, Jessa struggled to remember the verse she was trying to impart. “A life without pain and sacrifice,” she half whispered no longer caring about imparting knowledge to Bren but trying simply to remember something that had been drilled into her brain. “Ugh, why can’t I remember this? It…it is because… your medicine is…is,” her voice became more whispery as her complexion paled and she started to retch. Jessa had felt slightly queasy all morning but nothing like this.

Bren signaled for a nurse to come to the beside. The nurse had a metallic pail ready for anything Jessa’s retching might bring up.

Grabbing the bucket, Jessa dry heaved several times not bringing anything up. Part of her wished she had eaten breakfast instead of refusing Ian out of spite give it to her. The other part was thankful that she wasn’t regurgitating it back into the bucket because she had eaten. After several large retches and a few coughs, Jessa handed the bucket back to Bren.

“I haven’t given you any medicine, Jessa. Not yet. Your concussion is the most likely cause of your nausea and any dizziness you feel. Still, I think it’s best to be thorough.”

Jessa could have been defiant and lobbed accusations but her stomach was slowly quieting down. It was not worth the energy to pick a fight with the Doctor right now.

” I’d like to take a small blood sample. I’d like to check your white blood cell count to rule out the possibility of infection. Would that be okay?”

It was a little white lie. The amount of injury she had sustained could very well have left her prone to infection, but it was unlikely. There was something else within her system that Bren was keen to investigate further.

Satis, MO

Nodding Jessa leaned back on the bed. Satis had not asked her to do so but it felt better to lie down than sit up. It also would let her close her eyes and not have to focus on anything. “I don’t want to be here anymore,” she snapped in an angry tone draping one of her arms over her face. Right now she wasn’t sure if she wanted to cry or spew out profanity but until Jessa figured it out, she wasn’t going to show Bren Satis anything she was feeling.

Jessa Novar

Drawing blood was as simple as a hypospray in reverse. It took only a few moments for a vial to fill with the dark red liquid he was taking from her forearm.

“The nurse is going to put a small sensor on your right wrist. It’s simply there to monitor your vitals. I’m sorry this is taking a little bit longer than the five minutes I promised. The good news is, you are free to close your eyes and rest while I run your blood sample. We can even get you a pair of headphones if you like.”

“No, I don’t need,” she snapped sitting up before clenching her jaw tightly. If Bren offered her something she didn’t want maybe she could get something she did want. “I will sit and wait if you get me,” Jessa began to gesture with her hands an object that seemed to be a rectangle that was four to six inches tall, “that drink that is brown and has the white fluffy stuff on top. I don’t want the frozen one with the red fruit on it but the one with the ice cubes that ninety percent of the adults walk around with like it is an accessory to their clothes and not a beverage. I like the sweet one but not the one....caramel,” she yelled out excitedly as if she was on a game show and knew the answer. “It is caramel something but it makes me feel good but I can’t seem to get one unless Ian or Rinker get it from the replication box on the wall.”

Picking up a PaDD, O’Neill sent Bren a message in written form. “She is looking for an iced caramel coffee.” Jack set the PaDD down and went back to eating his second donut. It would have been far easier to just get it for Jessa but the charades were a fun distraction and it was an opportunity for Jessa to learn other people could meet her needs. Not that Jack, Rinker, or Ian minded, it was more about Jessa trusting someone enough to meet her needs and ask for things. Being a betting man, Jack sided with the doc not hopping a kid up on caffeine but it was not unheard of for other adults to do that and send a kid back home as a sick joke

Bren moved to a station against the wall, still within sight of Jessa and O’Neill. He inserted the vial of blood into the receptacle that led to an internal centrifuge. It would take a couple of minutes before the machine had done its job. the centrifuge would separate the various cells and proteins within Jessa’s blood sample, allowing Bren to analyze the distinct components therein. He was especially eager to see the levels of her white blood cells, biliverdin, and bilirubin. Those would give him indications as to whether or not she was suffering an infection and how well her body was healing.

The monitor immediately began pushing out results onto the console from Bren to read. Jessa’s levels of bilirubin and biliverdin were elevated but within a range one saw with extreme bruising such as in shuttle accidents or other impact injuries. The nanites would explain why she did not look like a grape from all the bruising but metabolically showed all the symptoms of severe impact injuries. Her white blood cell count was within normal limits. As a side note, the computer analysis did indicate again no presence of any antibodies to all the common diseases for which all Federation citizens were immunized as standard medical care from infancy on such as influenza, mumps, measels, and the like. Jessa was not sick from any of them but she also had never been exposed to any of them including the common cold which the entire universe seemed to have been exposed to at least once in her life.

In addition, he wanted to isolate any foreign substance within her blood. He’d noticed her agitation, accelerated pulse rate, and dilated pupils, all signs of amphetamines or a drug of similar properties. The idea of a twelve year old subjected to a drug of that sort was nothing short of barbaric.

Satis, MO

The last result that showed on the reading glowed red and was bolded. Presence of the class II controlled substance Phencyclidine, 1-(1-phenylcyclohexyl)piperidine in the bloodstream. Since the diagnosis involved a banned narcotic, the scan listed the most probably point of entry on the patients body: Three puncture holes in Jessa’s forearm that resembled injection site bruises found commonly when people used the archaic method of hypodermic needles instead of hypos.

Aside from the diagnosis the amount in Jessa’s blood posed and answered several questions. The presence of it would account for a majority of Jessa’s presenting symptoms such as highly increased pain tolerance, mood swings, agitation, and all the other physiological effects consuming such a narcotic would cause an individual. This was not the first blood test in the system under Jessa’s file. There were several over the past week with all occurring before the attack on the promenade. Jessa had been under constant supervision her entire stay on the Atlantis except for when she tried to escape with the other aliens. The only difference between the first blood sample taken when Jessa needed emergency surgery upon her arrival and this one was the presence of the narcotic.

A final perplexing problem with Jessa’s blood was no mentioning of nanites in her blood from any sample taken at any time. A highly detailed report from Dr. Lauren Shan and Commander Heathcliff Rinker confirmed that there were nanites but that they resided on a sub-celluar level. The reports indicated that unless you set up a scan looking for them, you would never find them based on the size of the nanites and the location. The report best described the nanites as working almost like a virus where they infected a cell and lay dormant until they needed to be activated. From there they could leave the cells they were inhabiting and travel to areas of the body where repairs were needed. It was this infinitesimally small size which caused the computer to not detect them in any routine scan from medical but needed the power of the science microscopes to view them. Running the sample under electron microscopes, one would see the nanoparticles associated with them. In comparison, the Federation Nanotech looked like a boring 747 compared to a gnat.

Jessa Novar