It seemed like a nice day for a swim. The sun was up, the water a good temperature, and there was barely a cloud in the sky. Sure, it was hot, but he could do with a tan. He’d never been tanned before in his life, but there was always a first time, wasn’t there? The He was a strong swimmer and was out in the water, going through the waves. He could feel the sun on his bare back, his shoulders, his face, his legs, but he stayed in the water, regardless. He was off duty, and he wanted to relax.

As he got out of the water, he noticed that his skin was looking a bit … redder … than usual. He knew he couldn’t go walking around Oed V in just his swimwear (even if it might have been appreciated by a certain Oed V resident of the more mature and female variety), but he knew from past experience that putting on clothes that hugged his skin would cause irritation, so he pulled on a loose shirt, tied his towel around his waist over his speedos, picked up his bag and began the trek towards the Sacred Heart Hospital.

The walk took him past the house that belonged to that woman who’s cat was regularly stuck in the tree, but despite the thought that her scones and tea would be delicious, he decided that it was better that he continued on his way to get his intense sunburn seen to.

Anna-liza did see him go by, but given the deadline she was on with her current novel, she didn’t call out to him. The last thing she needed was a distraction, especially when she was checking the viability of a victim being strangled while hanging upside down from a trapeze in her upcoming novel, ‘High Flying, Abhored’.

Anna-liza Riddle,
Amateur Detective and Writer
Oed V

On arrival at the hospital, he must have been a sight to anyone and everyone. Regardless, he entered and said to the reception point, “I need help, I got a bit too much sun while swimming.” Considering how red he looked, its possible someone may have even mistaken him for a boiled lobster or crab.

‘You shoulda seen the other guy’
Lt Hatorm Alvarsen, Security
Oed V
OOC: I’m sure with all the terraforming etc on the planet that there would have to be beaches somewhere on the planet’s surface.

A man looked up at him from near the desk. “Oh dear. You must be new to Oed. You got way too much. Come this way, I’ll get the doctor.” He led Hatorm toward the nearest empty room and then hurried off to get the doctor.

Lt Asimina, SFAMO

Hatorm followed the man and waited in the room for the doctor, being careful not to lean on anything, he’d been through this before, more times than he cared to admit.

‘You shoulda seen the other guy’
Lt Hatorm Alvarsen, Security, Oed V

A moment later a Star Fleet doctor walked in. She looked at him and her eyes widened a little bit. “Oh my. You’re going to need some time in the burn chamber. I’m Dr. Asimina.” She lifted her tricorder with the hand scanner in the other hand. “May I?” She had a very odd accent that was unfamiliar.

“Please do, Doctor,” Hatorm replied, “I’m Lieutenant Hatorm Alvarsen.”

“What happened?”

Lt Asimina, SFAMO

“I went for a swim, Doctor. I wanted to get a tan. I knows there’s something about a type of star that will burn me, and I need to apply sunscrean, but the water was so inviting, calling to me, and so, I got in, and well, this happened.” He pointed to himself, and winced slightly.

‘You shoulda seen the other guy’
Lt Hatorm Alvarsen, Security

Hannah began her scan and moved around him, careful not to touch his skin.

The scan results confirmed that he had suffered severe sunburn, to his arms, legs, back, chest, shoulders, face. In medical terms: superficial and partial-thickness dermal burns (Class 2 thermal damage). He’s also suffering from severe acute erythema (redness), localised edema (swelling), and preliminary vesicle formation (early blistering).
His skin cells are suffering from elevated epidermal apoptosis (ie his skin will peel in a few days time). Sub-dermal melanin levels critically below standard operational requirements (the sun of his home planet of Midgard IV is nowhere near as hot as Sol/the Oed Star and for most of its year its essentially winter).
Immediate application of dermal regenerator is recommended for the patient, as is Dermal hydration therapy. Prescribe synthetic sub-dermal melanin boosters prior to future surface deployment. Finally it recommends that Hatorm be temporarily restricted from active duty. He should be ready to return to active duty 25 hours after treatment, but requires medical clearance before he does so.

“You have to be careful on Oed,” she told him. “We have the artificial atmosphere now, but it doesn’t filter the rays quite the same way.”

Lt Asimina, SFAMO

“Its also much hotter here in general than back home on Midgard IV, the sun looks more red there than the yellow it looks here,” he replied, “same as on Earth … I always had to cover up and put on a topical skin blocker on Earth, even on cloudy days. And on some away missions, I had to visit sickbay to get something on my skin, I was told it would stop me burning up. On Midgard IV even in the short summers we enjoyed, we were all able to go out and swim without any kind of protection. There were also some naturally heated pools on the surface, that were very popular throughout the year, especially in the winter. Guess the doctors knew what they were talking about. I thought that as I was off duty and swimming, it wouldn’t matter so much, guess I was wrong about that.”

‘You shoulda seen the other guy’
Lt Hatorm Alvarsen, Security

OOC: So yeah, I asked Gemini what the results of a scan would be for someone suffering sunburn, with very low levels of melotonin. I told it all I wanted were the findings of he scan, the symptoms, and what the scan would recommend as the treatment (and not the actions of the doctor). Then when it gave all the medical terminology in it, I asked it to explain what each of the terms mean for people like me who don’t have much by way of medical understanding. (Then I made the post).

Russell

“Different suns make a difference. We will have you healed in no time.” She stepped to the door and called a nurse.

An older woman, walked in with a jar. She took one look at Hatorm. “Oh you poor dear. We’ll need more jars.” She hurried off.

Dr. Asimina opened the jar. “Burn gel. After we get this on you, we’ll get you to the burn chamber. Your skin will probably not like having this rubbed on, but once it is on, it will soothe the heat and tightness.” There was a knock. Asimina went to the door and the nurse came in with more jars. “Is it alright if we get started?”

Lt Asimina, SFAMO

“Yes please do, Doctor,” Hatorm replied, shrugging, “no point in putting it off. Do you need me to stand or sit?”

‘You shoulda seen the other guy’
Lt Hatorm Alvarsen, Security

“However you are most comfortable, Hatorm.” Asimina and the nurse got to work. They were careful but worked quickly. “If you’ll follow me,” the older woman said. “I’m Lt. Temple. I’ll get you down to the burn chamber and get you started.”

“Afterwards, I’ll come by and check on you,” Asimina told him before Temple led the way down the corridor to the burn chamber.

Thanks, Doctor,” Hatorm replied before following Nurse Temple.

“Just step in. There are PaDDs and a computer in there if you want to read or work on something. Or you can take a nap. It will take roughly 45 minutes.”

Lt Asimina, SFAMO

Hatorm stepped inside the burn chamber, his skin felt like it was dancing rapidly and chaotically, as if he had lots of little tribbles jumping up and down on his body. “Thanks, Nurse Temple,” he said, picking up a padd and bringing up a holonovel on it, one of the early ones by Anna-Liza Riddle - The Corpse Fried by Sunlight, in which her heroine, Ensign Maurine McGill, Science Officer of the USS Cabot Cove investigated the untimely death of a visiting scientist in the Stellar Cartography Lab on the ship.

He was engrossed in the story, and to him it seemed like no time had passed, when in fact it had been 45 minutes.

‘You shoulda seen the other guy’
Lt Hatorm Alvarsen, Security, Oed V