Posted by Lieutenant Tija Aizala (Visitor) in R&D Lab - Curiosity Killed The Cat

Posted by Lieutenant Dr. Solomon Kane (Medical Research & Development) in R&D Lab - Curiosity Killed The Cat

Posted by Lieutenant Tija Aizala (Visitor) in R&D Lab - Curiosity Killed The Cat
Posted by… suppressed (11) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

There was a substantially long pause before there was a chirp.

=/\= Solomon Kane is a fictional character created by the pulp-era writer Robert E. Howard. A late 16th–early 17th century Puritan, Solomon Kane is a somber-looking man who wanders the world with no apparent goal other than to vanquish evil in all its forms. His adventures, published mostly in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, often take him from Europe to the jungles of Africa and back.

Howard described him as a tall, sombre and gloomy man of pale skin, gaunt face and cold eyes, all of it shadowed by a slouch hat. He is dressed entirely in black and his weaponry usually consists of a rapier, a dirk, and a brace of flintlock pistols. During one of his later adventures his friend N’Longa, an African shaman, gave him a juju staff that served as a protection against evil but could easily be wielded as a weapon. It is revealed in another story, “The Footfalls Within”, that this is the mythical Staff of Solomon, a talisman older than the Earth and unimaginably powerful, much more so than even N’Longa knew. In the same adventure with N’Longa, Kane is seen using a musket as well. =/\=

There was a pause and then the computer continued.

=/\= Star Fleet records show a Medical officer Ensign Solomon Kane serving on the vessel Matador at the time of it’s destruction on Stardate 90632.45 (May24th, 2232) Do you wish to access that record? =/\=

Computer

Stopping dead in her tracks, Aizala muttered under her breath, “Wait. What?” Shaking her head, she replied =/\= Yes please. =/\= She wondered if that Solomon Kane might be a relative of the Solomon Kane she knew. After all, it couldn’t be the same person! He would be dead by now!

~Lt. Tija, a very nosy doctor

There was a chirp and the computer brought up the personnel file.

Name: Kane, Solomon
Birthdate: Unknown
Place of Birth: New Detroit Colony, Parses System, Alpha Quadrant
Parents: Unknown

The rest of the record was fairly generic in format, if not content. Solomon Kane was an orphan who spent years on the street as a youth. He had an aptitude for biology and medical sciences, and overcame great hardships to become a highly decorated Paramedic and specialist in Search and Rescue with the New Detroit Fire Department. A successful tenure there brought him to the attention of a Star Fleet officer and eventually he was admitted to the Academy. A contentious career there had him graduate with a Physician’s Assistant designation. He was cleared for his M.D., but never applues for the licensure. He was a skilled doctor and was on his way to a successful career by all accounts when the ship he was on was destroyed with all hands.

The picture assigned to the file was of a heavily tattooed man with wild hair and piercing green eyes… an exact facial match to the man she had examined.

Computer

Having returned to her desk once again, Aizala read the file with interest, the picture not registering with her at first. But when she did look at the picture she felt her jaw drop. Not wanting to believe that this was the same person, she asked, =/\= Computer, did Solomon Kane have siblings or children? Or any other known relatives? Anyone still alive today? =/\=

~Lt. Tija, a very nosy doctor

=/\= Solomon Kane was orphaned from birth. No record exists of familial ties. =/\=

Computer

Aizala pondered for a moment and then asked, =/\= Does a genetic profile of Solomon Kane exist? And can you show me his medical record? =/\= She still didn’t want to believe that they were the same person. And yet everything seemed to point towards it.

~Lt. Tija, a very nosy doctor

=/\= Generic record unavailable. Medical profile follows.=/\=

What came next was the medical record of Ensign Solomon Kane, along with recordings of his intake physical at the Academy which documented his tattoos at the time. A comparison to the Kane she examined would show many identical markings, including scarring, but some wholly different ones as well.

Computer

‘Of course it is,’ Aizala thought to herself as she began to review Solomon Kane’s medical file. If it were only some of the tattoos that were similar, she would have tried to dismiss it as some family thing. Despite the fact that the computer had informed her that he had no known relatives. But identical scarring was a whole different story. Forced to accept that the Solomon Kane on this ship was not from this point in time, she found herself staring at the screen for quite a long time as she not only tried to wrap her head around this information, but also pondered what to do with this information.

Eventually Aizala decided to let it rest for tonight and to go to bed. Maybe she had an idea what to do in the morning.

---

After just a a few hours of sleep, the doctor found herself wide awake again. After looking once more at both medical files, she did something that took her completely by surprise: She wrote a message to Solomon Kane that read:

Good morning Lieutenant Kane,

there is something I’d like to talk to you about. Could we meet at some point today and talk?

Best regards,
Tija Aizala

The response came about half an hour later.

=/\= I’m in the R&D lab. You can find me there. =/\=

Kane, R&D

Aizala was rather surprised about Kane’s message. Or rather the fact that he was already awake and working. Or maybe still awake? Brushing that question aside, she finished getting dressed and then left her quarters.

A few minutes later Aizala stepped through the doors of the R&D lab, a part of the ship she hadn’t been before.

~Lt. Tija, a very nosy doctor

The lab was mostly empty, but it was obvious that changes were coming. Engineering had been hard at work removing some things and adding others. Equipment sat against the back wall, waiting for a place to be. And at a work station near the back corner sat the man who had told her to meet him. He was working on something with a soldering tool, and without looking up he said “What can I do for you, Doc?”

Kane, R&D

Aizala let her gaze wander briefly through the room before walking over towards Kane. Stopping just over a metre away from him, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at him intently. “Who are you?” she asked bluntly and without so much as a preamble. “And where are you from? Or rather when are you from? And don’t tell me to read your file. Whoever created that did a good job. Too good, actually.”

~Lt. Tija, a very nosy doctor

Kane didn’t seem phased by the question. In fact he kept his eyes on what he was doing without so much as a twitch. “Yeah… you aren’t the first person to ask me that. And I’ll tell you the same thing I told the last one… read the file.” and he nodded once at his project and then looked at her, hair falling down over his face. “Let me guess… you looked at my Medical record and thought it was just a bit too neat, right? And then went down some kinda rabbit hole trying to figure out who or what I am because I just couldn’t be who I am, right? Not looking like this.” and he gestured at himself. “Not with hair and piercings and tattoos and blah blah blah blah blah…” and then he made a very accurate but very rude imitation of the sound a person makes when they are vomiting. “So you dug and dug and dug until you decided that I couldn’t possibly be my own person. That the fact that I am a trained and capable Medical Doctor couldn’t possibly have anything to do with my Medical Record being immaculate. That I insist on it. No no… the tattooed freak of nature has to be a time traveler or some s^%t because nowhere in a universe with endless possibilities could this guy be a real f&^%ing doctor, could he.” and he shook his head and looked back the device he was working on.

As Kane … talked, Aizala stood quietly and listened. She didn’t even flinch when he pretended to throw up.

“Lady, get the hell outta my lab, will ya? I don’t have time for time traveling conspiracy theories.”

Kane, R&D

“Are you done making assumptions?” Aizala asked simply, not moving an inch. It seemed that the only effect his words had on her were to make her expression and her voice a little softer. Though without any pity or such in it. Before he had the chance to answer her question, she continued, “I didn’t say that you can’t be a doctor. I didn’t even think that. So what if you have piercings and tattoos and don’t look like what some people imagine a doctor should look like? Who cares? Appearances say nothing about one’s capabilities. I’m sorry for the way I phrased my questions and for my tone of voice. I should have been less impulsive and more tactful. You are right that your medical record read to me as too neat, too perfect. There isn’t a single person I know with a record where everything is perfectly documented. And that includes my own record. So yes, that peaked my curiosity. I believe that you are who Dr. Solomon Kane and that you are a highly qualified doctor. And I think that you aren’t from here. From this universe and this point in time. I’m not your enemy or some judgemental as§%&/#. I’m simply curious. Probably too curious. And I know what it’s like people tend make assumptions about you that aren’t correct or to feel like you can’t trust others and like you don’t fit in. Which is also why I’m not really good at interpersonal stuff, small talk and the like. Not that that is an excuse for my earlier rudeness.”

~Lt. Tija, Doctor

Kane looked at her and stared for a moment…

And then started laughing. Hard

“I’m not… this universe… not time… BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…”. His hand smacked the table top and tears formed in his eyes. After a moment he grabbed a nearby rag and wiped his eyes, still chuckling and he looked up. “Oh holy s%$#, lady… that is rich. Now I’m not only a fraud; I’m a time-traveling, universe-hopping fraud who would go through all the trouble of moving through time and dimensions in order to… what? Why would I do that? So I could sit at this bench trying to- ” and he picked up the object he was soldering a moment before, “- reroute the power distribution through this shot to hell tricorder relay because I have no staff, no power, and no lab equipment?! Really? PHENOMAL COSMIC POWER!!!” and he stood up and threw his hands above his head. “The ability to manipulate the very fabric of all creation! And I choose…!” and he dropped back down in his seat and glared at her.

”… to be stuck in a biorepair lab fixing s%$# that less qualified and wholly inept people who think they are doctors broke doing procedures I can do blindfolded because I decked my last Chief of Staff.” He looked at her and shrugged.

“Sorry, sugar. I’m not a time traveler. I’m a disciplinary problem. Pull my personnel record. Have a look. Its not nearly as pristine as my medical file.” and he cocked his head to the side and blatantly looked her up and down.

“Hmmm… but maybe you like ‘em a bit… ‘dirty’, eh?” and he bit his bottom lip and looked at a very specific part of her anatomy.

Kane, R&D