Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Brigette Marshall (Chief Engineer (CE)) in Side Sim - CMO Office - The Bear Cave (Tag CE)

Posted by Lieutenant Solomon Kane (Chief Medical Officer) in Side Sim - CMO Office - The Bear Cave (Tag CE)

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Brigette Marshall (Chief Engineer (CE)) in Side Sim - CMO Office - The Bear Cave (Tag CE)
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<snip>
He put on the glove and flexed the fingers, and he scowled. Well, he scowled more than usual. “Its already pretty restrictive. Range of motion in the fingers is crap. Any fine motor function will go right out the window, and if you are working in trying to get a finger or fingers in somewhere small, the odds are you’ll end up tearing the glove, making it useless.” and he glared at the covering for another minute. “What if…” and he suddenly stood and went to his desk, coming back with a pad of actual paper and a pencil. He began sketching, and in a few minutes he turned the pad around and slid it across the table.
On the page was a black and white drawing, but it was beautifully done. Complete with shading and creases where the glove would crease as the fingers contracted, it showed a cross-section of the glove near the wrist. Two layers separated by a void between the two were all labeled. The layer against the skin was labeled ‘Novaloid / Para-aramid cloth’. The top layer was labeled ‘bioplast / nanopolymer blend’. The void was labeled ‘ionization- inert gas’.

“What if you encapsulate a gas inside the glove? The skin side layer would be moisture absorbent, so no sweating. The out layer will be flexible, but the nano polymers already reinforce the plasma conduits. And should the outer layer breach, the gas will neutralize the plasma on contact.”

Kane, CMO

She watched in fascination as he drew the sketch. Her leg unbending so she could move closer to the table to watch. As he slid the paper to her, it took her a moment to stop being impressed with his drawing, and focusing on the drawing.

“I hadn’t considered using the blend on top. I figured something like that would have to be so thin as to make it almost useless.” There was admiration in her voice, but she didn’t look up as she looked at the drawing more intently. “Novaloid....” she murmured half to herself.

Looking up, she glanced at him a moment in thought. “How much gas would be needed in the middle layer? It seems like it would have to be significant for insulation and, if breeched, to render the plasma inert. Wouldn’t that be rather like working with a large balloon on your hand?” She wasn’t criticizing, it was her own question as her left hand absently flexed open and closed trying to imagine the feel of the gas layer pressing away while she tried to grasp something.

Bridie
CE

“Not necessarily. Think about it. You dont need all the plasma rendered inert. Just what is burning the tech. So they reach in and try to grab something, ok? They brush against a… a… oh hell I dunno, a screw or something. That causes the plasma to arc. The outer layer protects from the arc, right? Well say they cut the glove, then it arcs. You only need enough gas to neutralize the arc at the point of contact… not the whole thing. And if they cut the glove, the gas comes out right there anyway, so…” and he sat back and looked at her, waiting for her comments. His face had changed slightly. It still held a scowl, bit it was somehow… softer… or maybe just less angry and annoyed. Either way, the change was noticeable if she looked hard enough.

Kane, CMO

Completely attentive, she noticed the difference. She kept her smile to herself once more, though it was getting harder. “That makes sense. No need to flash the whole conduit leak, merely save the hand.” She picked the padd up and typed in the suggested materials and reran the sim.

With her current specs, the injury rate on the covered skin if plasma leak occurred was about 15%. The tear risk was 20% and the burn rate to skin if outer layer ripped was about 25%.

With his materials and the gas added, the injury rate to the hand was dropped to about 3%… The tear risk was 11%, and the injury to the hand if the outer later ripped was down to 7%.

Her smile wasn’t hidden any more as she looked up at him and slid the Padd to him. “I wouldn’t have thought of the aramid as an outer later to help prevent the tearing. I was worried about the heat shielding being the outer later, not the inner.” She couldn’t help it, she had to add, “See… relatively painful.” A small laugh accompanying her words. But she quickly got back to the glove. “Do you think this would be practical as a full body suit? It seems like it would be more maneuverable in most situations. And certainly where manual dexterity is a critical thing.” She was holding his drawing up to look at it once more. “Or maybe just the arm sections…” she half murmured as the realistic aspects of such a thin suit clashed with the need for oxygen tank, helmet and mag boot attachments. Her teasing comment to him already forgotten.

She reached up to scratch her face where an errant strand of hairs had fallen from her tightly braided bun. Setting the drawing down, yet still puzzling over its use beyond just the gloves, she reached up and released the auburn hair from its jail of knotted braids. Shaking her head a moment and sighing in relief as the tension on her head eased, she placed it back in a simple ponytail and picked the drawing up again. “Yeah… maybe just gloves…” she said and bit her lip still trying to puzzle out the full suit with the changes.

Bridie
CE

Kane watched her hair fall around her face, and thankfully she was engrossed in specs, or she would have seen a remarkable shift come across his face. The scowl was replaced by eyes that opened wide and a slight parting of his lips in surprise. As she tucked her hair back, he shook his head to clear and refocus; the normal scowl replacing the momentary lapse.

“You, uh… you could…” and his words stumbled for a second but he caught himself. “You could do gloves and then segmented pieces, kind of like armor. Cover the important parts… ‘cept the face. This would in no way be transparent.”

Kane, CMO

For once, she was so engrossed in the specs, she didn’t notice his face, or his stammered start to his reply. “Well,” she looked up and grinned. “Anyone stupid enough to put their face that close to plasma would deserve what they got… don’t you think?” She was referring back to Jodders’ accident earlier in the week. “But that would be interesting. To wither put a simple glove replacement on a hasmat suit, or a full arm attachment. I don’t see a need for more than that. I need to replicate a sample and we’ll have to test it in more than just a sim.” She glanced back at him from looking back at the PaDD. “If you don’t want to be bothered, I can do all the testing. I’ll just let you know how it goes.”

She knew she had pushed it, asking him to help this much. And the last thing she wanted was him blowing up and kicking her out cause he had ‘helped’ and wouldn’t watch her test because it wasn’t his job.

“I believe I promised dinner…” She smiled and pushed up from the table. “When did you eat last, today?” She stepped towards the door planning to go to the mess for something for them both.

Bridie
CE

“N-no, no. Its fine.” and he internally cursed enough to make a Klingon blush. ‘Get ahold of yourself, man. he thought to himself. “You’ll need some medical scanners to do the eval, anyway. Bioresistance before and after plasma contact. I wouldnt trust your JO’s to get that as specific as you’ll need.” and he looked down at the glove and new specs before realizing she asked him about dinner. “And, uh, yeah. Sure. Dinner’s fine, I guess. Eat here or go to the mess?” he asked with just a hint of less annoyance than was typical.

Kane, CMO

She didn’t realize how much it would be a relief to hear him offer to help. Her own insides chiding her at her ridiculous reactions. “I’ll go get it. How about you think of the sims we need to run. You know what tolerance levels we need to hit to make it successful.” She didn’t give him a chance to answer, but turned and headed out the office, closing the door behind her.

She glanced at the nurse in the room and smiled. “Back in a minute. Getting dinner. You want anything?” It made no sense to run just for them if the nurse wanted something as well.

Bridie
CE

The nurse looked up and a very confused expression swept across her face. “Um… no? No thank you, I mean.” and her gaze went from the CE to the office door, and then back to the CE. “How’s… how’s everything going in there?” she asked hesitantly.

Kane, CMO

She smiled and nodded. “Ok… and it’s going well. Thanks.” She ducked out the door and headed for the mess.

The nurse watched her leave and her jaw dropped open. Composingbhwrself after a few moments, she put the field surgical kit and suture tray back. “Wont be needing those, I guess.” and she grinned slightly. Oh, she could not wait to tell Jessica at lunch tomorrow.

About 10 minutes later she returned with two trays and stepped into the bay. Nodding to the nurse, she balanced the trays in one hand and knocked with the other. She hadn’t gotten confident enough to simply walk back in unannounced.

Bridie
CE

The door slid open and Kane was seated at his desk, feet up, when she came in. A pad, much larger than the one he had sketched on before, was propped up on one leg and clear box of colored pencils sat on the desk. The pencils were sorted by color, and the red section was open.
As she came in, he dropped the pad face down on the desk and stood up. Crossing to her, he took the trays and set them on the table, one on each side. “Thanks.” was all he said, and he took a seat.

Kane, CMO

She handed him the trays and smiled. “So didn’t ask what you wanted. One if meatloaf with potatoes, gravy and corn. The other is spaghetti with a side of Parmesan asparagus. You can choose whichever you want. I don’t mind either one.” She glanced at the pad he had been drawing on but said nothing. “Any ideas on what program you want to run for the tests?” She sat down at the table and waited to see which meal he prefered.

Bridie
CE

Kane didnt look at her, just said “You pick. I’m not particular.” and then there was a knock on the door. “Come!” he said loudly, and the door slid open and the Charge Nurse said “Sorry to interrupt…” and she glanced from him to the CE and a brief amused look flashed across her face and was then gone. “Ensign Conkirk is complaining of pain at the surgical site. He’s got some leeway on his pain meds, but thought you might want to check.” Kane simply nodded and stood up. “Be back in a minute. Go ahead and start.” He said flatly and walked past the nurse… who looked at the CE with a very odd look as the door closed.

Kane, CMO

Bridie nodded to the nurse and smiled, ignoring the look she saw. Jaws would be wagging tomorrow if they weren’t already. “Ok,” she nodded and dropped the smile so she wasn’t smiling at him, directly.

When the door closed, she waited a moment then went to the desk to see what he had been drawing.

It was her…

She looked at it and bit her lip. He had started to work on her cheeks, but the hair was there, caught at the moment she had shaken out the wayward locks before binding them back again.

She quickly set the pad back down, went back to the table and grabbed the lid off the nearest tray. She got the spaghetti. She moved to the dispenser and got a cup of tea and went back to sit down while waiting for him. She had the padd beside her when he returned, her fingers moving back and forth as she ran the numbers for various degrees and amounts of plasma for the test.

Bridie
CE

Kane walked on and cast a glance at the pad on the desk, and his scowl deepened. He looked back at her and his mouth opened… but no words came out. He just… stopped. Slowly, his mouth closed and he simply walked over and picked up the red pencil that had rolled off the top of the pad and onto the floor in front of the desk. Then, he picked up the pad and went and sat down at the table. He didn’t speak, just crossed his left ankle on his right knee and, using the leg as an easily, kept drawing. He would glance at her every so often, but his eyes had changed substantially… there was no missing it now. They were still encased in a scowling face, but there was something there that had not been there before… a kindness, of sorts.

Kane, CMO

She glanced up at him, a look of curiosity on her face a moment. “You ok? I can get you something else to eat if you prefer.” She let the edge of her lip curl up slightly before looking back down at her plate and twirling for fork for another mouthful of pasta. “My guess is you didn’t eat lunch…” she said it rather matter of factly as she used lifted the padd to read her latest results from her choices.

Bridie
CE

He kept drawing, his scowl now one of concentration. “I’m fine.” he said, and then he glanced up at her. “Um… yeah. I, uh… I have… difficulty… stopping some sorts of things before I finish. Give me a sec.” and he started making long flowing strokes with the pencil. A minute or so later, he finished and laid the pad face down between them.
“You can look now, if you want. Better to see it finished than not.” and he stared intently down at the tray and began eating.

Kane, CMO

She debated looking. Part of her wondered if it was a test. If she looked, would he claim she was nosy? If she didn’t, would he think she didn’t care?

She decided to take a middle path. “You didn’t have to draw anything more about the glove. Unless you have an idea of the situation for the test.” She reached for it firming her mind to see the glove, wondering if he had turned the page and drawn it instead. She looked at him and her face was as close to blank as she could make it.

She waited for his scowl to deepen, give away that reaching for it was a bad idea. When she didn’t see that, in fact, he never raised his head again, she swallowed and turned over the pad. Seeing herself there, completed, took her breath. Her heart was racing as much as it had been when he had stood over her in the gym and she thought she was about to get throttled. “Wow…” she said, her voice cracking out of a bare whisper. “Kane…” She looked up at him with a slight look of confusion.

She took a steady breath, which wasn’t steady at all and turned it back over. “It’s amazing. I can’t even draw schematics without it looking like some child’s line drawing. You have an amazing gift.” She looked down at her spaghetti. Quickly changing the subject she asked. “So what kind of temperatures should we begin with? There’s already a training sim for changing a plasma conduit in the system. We can use that and just change the gear to see what the reactions are.” She couldn’t bring herself to look up and the lump in her throat was making eating a bit awkward.

Bridie
CE

Way to go, idiot. he thought to himself. He obviously had made her uncomfortable… himself too… She hates it. Smooth one, moron.… so he jabbed a piece of meatloaf particularly viciously. Popping in into his mouth, he simply shrugged. “That should work.” he said, his voice sounding flat and emtionless… defeated? “I can run the biometrics before and after, send you the data. Then you can make changes accordingly. It will give you a place to start, anyway.” The food was tasteless… more than normal. And he finally just tossed the fork down. Standing, he picked up the pad and tore the picture off and wadded it up, throwing it at the open recycler and missing. “Dont read anything into that. Sometimes I just get something in my head and have to get it on paper.” he excused him drawing it and trying, desperately, to minimize his embarrassment. He walked over to his desk and said “Let me know when you want to run the test. Now I have… um… some… records to update. Excuse me.” and he walked out the door.

Kane, CMO

“Yeah, that’s fine…” she said and covered her spaghetti. “You should eat…” She added as she picked up her tray and made a wide birth around the table to pick up the discarded paper. Stuffing it in her pocket she resettled her own tray and cover and left his on the table.

As she moved out the door she said, “Don’t read anything into that… you simply missed…” and she left. She smiled at the nurse like nothing was amiss, “Good night..” she said and headed for her room. Her heart was still racing and she was completely oblivious to everyone she passed till she was safely in her room.

Bridie
CE