Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: Early Morning in the Lab

(snip)

Rand nodded, “I’ll have Randy look at it, to make sure.” If her hand was still cramped she wasn’t sure what she would do. She stood up placing her spoon in the bowl and the cover on top and carrying it, left handed, to the tray. She left her glass on the table, not done with it yet. She helped collect the few various things that were left. She went back to her seat and sipped at the ice water in her glass. It was work but she was interested in what he did, “Did you get everything in planetary science worked out?”

Rand

Once everything was cleaned up and put on the tray to return to the galley, Roman took his seat again as well. “They’ve been studying the findings from an uninhabited planet that may be able to sustain life at some point in the far future. We’ve done all we can with the information we have, so I was finalizing the project and results.” It was a work question, but he loved what he did and he knew she found it interesting, too. “It is in its beginning stages of evolving life. Nothing larger than a bacteria exists just yet.”

~ Roman

“I know we’ve mapped early biological evolution on Earth. But combined with information from the Vulcan Science Academy and other databases can you predict what toes of life they might evolve into? Like animal, plant, like that?” Rand knew predictions were just educated guesses and not absolute, but it was fascinating to her that it could be done. She was always curious how it was done, how they were able to map backwards.

Rand

“It’s too early for that. Judging by the chemical makeup of the atmosphere and the type of bacteria it could be earthlike, a future class M. But as for how exactly life will evolve, at this stage there is no way to tell.” This was what the planetary scientists had concluded in their studies. They also concluded that if the planet was left to natural development it would probably take thousands to tens of thousands of years to evolve the bacteria like life forms into complex, earth like life.

~ Roman

“Oh.” Rand grinned. She had more questions than had answers apparently. “Anything interesting about the planet and bacteria? Or just that it was there?” Then a thought occured to her, “Can the bacteria safely be studied in a lab? With the environment and atmosphere being so different?”

Rand

“It has to be kept in an environment suitable to it, or it’ll die, but even if some of it does die, we can still look at the molecular structure and makeup of it.” Roman explained. “Currently the planet isn’t dissimilar to Earth before life evolved. Rocky, some water, not much else. The report will be findable on Starfleet’s system as soon as science command approves it.”

~ Roman

“Like a molecular autopsy then?” Rand’s head got that looks she always did when she was about to ask a question, she’d thought of something. As Roman would know it was pure curiosity and came from a place of wanting to know more. Not simply brainless flotsam, but Rand didn’t ask right away. She was hesitant to talk about the biology lab because she still felt really bad about what had happened. She knew Roman wasn’t upset with her, she was upset with herself. “Do the same standards of ethical treatment apply to bacteria as does the animals in your lab? They’re still living creatures aren’t they?”

Rand