[snip]

Hunter then told her what the Captain had said, asking if the Elder one rewarded her and if she had seen the Elder one. Cross was taken by surprise ‘’No to both questions ,this happened a long time ago and all that is left is that the Captain suffers from these episodes ‘’ she went on ‘’ When we came back to Earth the Captain spoke wit Admiral Spoke and Sulu and they told him that what transpired would be classified. Few of the present crew know ,guess you can count them on your fingers, even the then Cmdr Kord is no longer on the Merrimack ‘’.

“Oh! Yes!” Faith remembered, “It was Commander Kord who was the XO back then. Joe Milligan was the COS. He didn’t become XO until after Kord had left. My memory is very poor and to tell the truth, I wish I could forget everything!”

With nothing else to go on with the male doctor showed Cross the brain scans ‘’Most of it does not even make sense ‘’ the CMO nodded ‘’ I need to conduct a more in-dept images ,maybe something, anything would eventually show up’‘.

Faith tired to see the images too, her interest being both from a medical and a personal standpoint. She sat back down again when Cross began her work.

Cross did not waste any time, after injecting a dye into Glen’s vein, she brought the medical equipment she needed. After the images were produced the CMO took them to her office to decode and analyze them. She did not pick what was there straight away and took time before the female doctor realized what was on the images , now more pronounced and recognizable by the dye and it all came down to a tiny egg-shaped powerhouse sitting inside the brain.
It’s called the hippocampus.

Decades before, scientists had found that this hippocampus sits dormant in the brains of 99% of people on Earth.
As long as the hippocampus is dormant, one can never reach the cognitive potential.
However, once its activated it, it emits a powerful brainwave from the brain.

Cross showed what she found with Hunter ‘’ And the question still remains, had it been active through out Glen’s life or was it the worm that activated it, somehow I believe its the latter ‘’ .With both arms resting on the desk and her body leaning towards him Cross spoke ‘’ You do know how much calories the brain needs to work and in this case the metabolism is much more faster, we need to pump up his body with a’ liquid diet’ .

Hunter did not need to be told twice ,he got up ‘’I’ll insert a central line now’’ .

“I’ll help you with that,” Faith said. “I’ll just get my scrubs on first!” She went away and quickly got changed.

Hunter cold not help but smile seeing Faith running away to get ready, meanwhile he called Kate for the things needed to insert a central line ,something which she had done many times before and brought what was needed. The doctor waited for Faith to come back ‘’Faith you do remember that I once told you I’ll be your mentor and now is the time to show you how a central line is put in place ,it has to be a person who is familiar with the procedure either a doctor or surgeon’‘.

“Yes, Doctor,” Faith replied, keen to get the experience.

Meanwhile the nursing officer explained what was on the trolley and for what it is used ‘’Using aseptic technique is paramount as the catheter shall be inserted in the right internal jugular vein ‘’ and as Hunter got to work both Kate and himself kept explaining what was being done to Faith.

Faith watched and learned.

’’ A common principle is to feed it through up to the “15” mark on the catheter when using the right internal jugular vein, indicating that the catheter has been fed 15 cm into the vessel. Pull out the guide wire, attach the claves, and flush all three lines with sterile saline. Next secure and Dress the Central Line

’’ Place the clip over the catheter where it inserts the skin, now suture the clip in place.Put the Biopatch over the site and finally, put the Tegaderm over the site’‘.
Kate brought the medical tricoder ‘’In the past either ultrasound or X-Ray where used to determine that the catheter is in the exact position’’ as she scanned she gave Faith the medical tricoder to see for herself .At that point she gave Hunter the thumbs up and he left.

‘’Now Faith the doctor’s job is finished and this is when we take over ,she brought the nutrition liquid diet ‘’Its to be given over 12 hrs ,if the Captain has not regained consciousness by then another bag would be attached.Also its up to the nurse to check that the site is clean ,flush the three lines with saline so they won’t get blocked and if needed change the dressing, though all this is usually done when the patient has had the catheter in situ for more then three days ‘’.

Faith acknowledged the instructions. The procedure was straightforward and she would now be able to repeat it with some practise. However, she remembered back to her days birthing children on Eta Cassiopeia, it was very different when the patient was someone you knew rather than a stranger. It was much harder, much more emotional.

• Faith, Yeoman