Posted by Captain John Tiberius Glen (Captain) in Side Sim - Sickbay - 10 minutes after presentation finishes
[snip]

That’s when she took a good look at the Captain ‘’Glen you look sick what’s wrong?’’ the female doctor asked now concerned about him ‘’I’ll go and get my medical tricorder you wait here just in case Wong is around.”

“I had another black-out in my ready-room,” Glen replied. “I had to leave the Bridge before the media interviews and the Sybyl arrived and to let Joe take over. The pain in my head came back again, just as it did before when all this got stirred up again. I’m worried that it is more than psychosomatic and that there is actually something physical, some piece of that abomination still inside my head, worming its way around in there. I can’t discuss it with any other Doctor other than you, so please do scan me or whatever you need to do. I have to get it out!”

She bit on her lower lip and nodded ‘’My thoughts exactly ‘’ but Cross reasoned it would be highly unlikely that the thoughts in his brain put there by the worm could be removed *Something is brewing * the female doctor thought.

Cross made her way to the door to bring her medical tricorder She looked back at the man whom she knew she could trust and how patient he had been with her ‘’Captain rest assured I will never reveal all that is classified’‘.

“I know you wouldn’t… and I’m sorry, I should have told Wong to leave the ship. There is still time to ask him to leave. I have several concerns now though and a visit from some kind of temporal police because of these activities of Doctor Wong is probably the least of them. Firstly, if Joe ever found out about the child then he’ll be devastated. He’d want to go off on some foolish mission to rescue the child. I need him on this ship. And no disrespect to Commander Kord, but he’s the best first officer that I’ve ever had. Secondly, what if Doctor Hunter is another spy like the Doctor Kim doppelganger? How much do you know about him? Why is Hunter gathering information from the crew using Security Officers? Then finally, I’m also worried about you and your augments. Having augmented genes is a criminal offence with a life sentence in prison. I don’t agree that children should be punished for the crimes of their father or grandfather, but that’s the Law. There are too many people who know too much, and that won’t keep their mouths firmly shut!”

‘’Joe knows by the time you manage to save me the kidnappers were long gone with the child, I never mentioned their names and you do remember were they had come from? I would urge you to consider speaking with Hunter and hopefully gain his trust…I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to see Kord gone having been your first officer for so many years ‘’ with those last words she left the office to bring her medical equipment.

Glen was satisfied by some of what Cross told him. “So, let me get this straight! Joe already knows about both the child and the kidnapping? And he is really okay with that? I guess I misjudged his Irish-American temperament. You do know about his Starfleet record and his reprimands for striking senior officers? He isn’t a man to cross lightly! And of course I know how hard it would be to travel backwards in time to a distant galaxy, but there are ways to do so, the gravimetric field of the Nexus would be one, if one could catch it up.”

“As for Hunter,” Glen continued, “then I’ll need to trust you he isn’t a secret agent. Maybe I should sit down with him as you suggest and find out what his problems and grievances are? You always kept your augments a secret and it isn’t mentioned in your personnel file, so I just assumed that Starfleet wasn’t aware. You realise that I’ve been keeping it secret all of this time that we’ve know each other, when there was no need to do so. And if it isn’t going to send you to jail, you could get specialist treatment from a Doctor of Genomics? I could still pull some strings for you if you’d like?”

“You do know that what Doctor Wong is trying to do for you isn’t a bad thing either? He simply wants to treat your mental health issues? To stop all your craziness and impetuousness. All the disobedience, and your post traumatic stress. The problem is that it stems from both your augments and those life experiences which he cannot ever know about. It is such a confused and complicated situation that we are in now. The being swore to secrecy is much harder that I ever thought it would be. What was it that Sir Walter Scott wrote: ‘Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive.’ I don’t really know how to get out of it either.”

“Are you going to perform a scan now?” Glen asked. “In some ways, I hope you do find something physical. If it is just the memory of implanted thoughts that are plaguing me, well then there is no quick fix for the headaches and black-outs! And I somehow don’t think Doctor Wong’s activities with coloured liquids in jars are going to help me much either!”

Cross came back with a tricorder ‘’He ain’t there, sometimes I feel like we are playing hide and seek!’’ she exclaimed before starting scanning.

“I believe you mentioned something before to me regarding reading memory engrams in the neocortex, and how memories can be decoded using imaging scans and computer generated neocortical representations,” Glen added. “However, I told you I had no time to sit around for any of that. I believe that I wasn’t very co-operative at the time.”

‘’Actually when it comes to sickbay and doctors you’re never co-operative ‘’ there was a hint of humor in her tone.Once finished Cross read the scan ‘’There is nothing wrong Captain,what I believe has happened is what that worm left is still implanted in your memory .The exact word is infix meaning to introduce into the mind, implant implies teaching that makes for permanence of what is taught while instill stresses gradual, gentle imparting of knowledge over a long period of time. Maybe by time you’ll forget all about it’‘.

“I’d like to forget all about it,” Glen replied. “Is there nothing you can do to make that happen quicker?” he asked rhetorically; he knew that it would be unethical in any case, even if possible.

She shook her head’‘Sorry Captain there nothing I can do ,the Vulcan science officer who helped me by taking the emotions onto himself is not around anymore and though I do remember even if at times its vague,the stronger emotions deriving from those circumstances still pop up’‘.

Cross always felt comfortable around Glen and it showed, she sat on her desk looking at him ‘’ My hypothesis is that darn psychiatrist coming on the ship has made you feeling uneasy about what happened in the past’‘.

“There is no question of that!” Glen said. “The funny thing is that the man thinks he is doing good by bringing it all up. He would say that you need to confront your fears and anxieties in order to fight them, or some other psychiatric ****! Pardon my Klingon! …when all he is doing is making it worse!”

“So, how do I get rid of him?” Glen mused out aloud.

‘’I do believe Hunter knows him more then anyone else on board, I suggest you talk to him’’ Cross got down from the desk she was sitting on ‘’I’ll go and get him right now if you want?’‘.

“There is no need for that,” Glen said. “I can call him to come to me whenever I wish. That’s what it’s like when you are the Ship’s Captain!”

Cross rolled her eyes ‘’I suppose being the Captain has its perks, how’s the headache mild, severe?’’ she asked just to know what analgesic to give him.

“It’s not a severe as earlier,” Glen said. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to make it down to Sickbay. I’d probably say it’s mild now, I guess. The thoughts are harder to dispel - that whole idea of a parasitic being crawling inside my skull - it gives me the creeps!”

• Glen, CO

Cross came back with a couple of painkillers ‘’ Two every four hours,if the pain increase don’t hesitate to call me ‘’ the female doctor bit on her lower lip not quite knowing what to say ‘’Though our horrible experiences were different and have caused us fear and terror I do understand ,have lost count of the disturbing,harrowing nightmares that make me wake up screaming.I know there is nothing I can do about it…maybe in time it shall become a distant memory’‘.

Cross CMO.