[snip]

‘’Their nurse gave me information on the vaccine .They got infected because it was a miniature microorganism that escaped through their filter system,the rest of the papers are for how their engineers accomplished a system so nothing with be able to get through again’‘.

The doctor stood up pacing ‘’I’m certain I brought those papers with me but I cannot recall for the life of me were I left them’‘.

“I’m sure they called that infection on the Habitat ‘a disease’,” Glen added. “I’m a pilot not a doctor, but doesn’t that tend to mean that it is ‘disabling of health’, whereas this infection appears to be a positive boon, if it improves senses and musculature?”.

‘’True Captain but its not yet airborne and airborne means it gets inside the body ,especially through the lungs ,that is the reason it had killed so many of their people ‘’ Cross looked at Glen with those piercing red eyes of hers ‘’If we wait we might very well loose half of our own crew ‘’ her tone was grave.

She gave the child who was still absorbed with the diagnostic wand a mild sedative ‘’Kate wrap her up in a sheet and put her in the cubicle where we have the only cot available on the ship, leave some soft food, milk and sweets .Please make sure the lock is closed from the outside ,do keep an eye on her every now and then’‘.

At the word ‘Cot’ the doctor could not help but think had things turned out differently her baby boy would have been laid down in that cot .

Cross did find the paper records their past visitors had given upon her request. At present though rigging such a complex system into the Merrimack would be quite complex to roll out in any length of recent time. Looking also at record scans of the girl Cross again can confirm the girl was infected by the bacterial symbiote. But now that they knew what to look for it would be child’s play to adjust the internal medical scanners to do a section by section sweep of the ship to look for said bacteria and who was infected. Since it was not harmful it seemed so far they could also probably focus on how they would move ahead with the locals on the planet they had so suddenly left behind just after arriving. No doubt after 3 or so hours being gone if the girl did have parents or caretakers they would probably have noticed she was missing, assuming they had maternal instincts to care/protect the girl they probably would be looking for her. They could also try talking to said girl, see what ability to communicate through the UT she could provide, since no one had done such yet either really.

Kate came with the papers which held all the information ‘’They where in your office Cross ‘’ the doctor nodded ‘’Great !When all this is over Engineering would have some work on their hands ‘’.

Miriam wished she could at least be a bit enthusiastic as the nursing officer.

“We have two excellent linguists about the Merrimack,” Glen said. “McKenzie Lovejoy and Pashi zh’Vhohlehr. If the Universal Translator isn’t decoding what this girl is saying, can we get them to speak to her? I’m surprised this hasn’t happened yet. She might have more information about how her community deals with the effects.”

’’ Captain I’m surprised too ‘’ .

Cross could not take on most of what was happening just by herself, Hunter had just told her to take Cara on for he did not want the Anthropologist to feel embarrassed.

‘’Captain give your orders to the science dept while Kate shall go with the information on the vaccine and hand it to them ,Kate remind them this could be a race against time , Hunter make sure anyone who goes inside the cubicle is wearing the appropriate gear ‘’.

“I’ll get the science department onto the scanning right away, and I’ll ask our linguists to come and speak to the girl,” replied Glen. “I’m also wondering how the Klindons dealt with it and whether it affected them. It is possible that it didn’t affect them because of the chromoanagenesis they have suffered as a result of the Qu’Vat virus?”

=?\= Captain Glen to the Bridge. Take the ship to Amber Alert. =/\=

=/\= Science Department. Captain Glen to Lieutenant Aphelion. Please adjust all internal medical scanners to do a section by section sweep of the ship to look for this alien bacteria and who has been infected by it. =/\=

=/\= Captain Glen to McKenzie Lovejoy and to Pashi zh’Vhohlehr. You both claim to be excpetionally good linguists. Please report to Sickbay and try to make some sense out of the native girl we accidentally picked up from the planet. We have a critical sitaution aboard the ship and need some answers. = /\=

She then pulled the curtains for the sake of privacy ‘’Cara do please lay on the bio-bed so I can seal all your tail’’ .

From behind the curtain Cross could not help but smile * Guess the Captain is with us once again *.

Cara was having trouble keeping control of her tail. it was stronger, more agile and more manipulative than before. It seemed to have a mind of its own.

“I’m trying my best to climb up, doctor,” Cara replied, as the tail whacked the curtains. After a struggle, Cara managed to lie face down on the bio bed with her tail waving in the air behind her. “When you’re ready!”

‘’You may be ready but I’m not!’’ Cross exclaimed as she tried to get hold of the tail which seemed to have developed a mind of its own.The curtain parted and Hunter came in ‘’Your knight in shining armor has came to the rescue my dear’’ it took him a couple of frustrating, strenuous and tricky problematic task before he had it firmly in his grip ‘’ Hurry up Cross it’s killing me’’ the doctor said out of breath.

NE Chips came in with some more results, “..Doctor Cross? We ran the checks, this bacterial symbiote is fully different and not related to that which we got on record from the habitat. We’ve also began to run tests to create a vaccine from the native girl’s blood samples. Its slow going since her body looks at it as being natural and ok to have, where as ours looks at it as hostile, we’re having trouble with cross species replications as a result and also then going from say a base human vaccine to other species. So this will probably take a bit…” She said.

“Is this the best time for NE Chips to have his fifteen minutes of fame?” asked Cara. “This is killing me too! I don’t really care right now whether it is hostile to us or a miracle cure. Can we just get this procedure over with?”

• Cara Meow