Posted by Civilian Sisnil Zoi (Intelligence Consultant) in So… This Is It

Posted by Ensign Dradvia (Medical Officer) in So… This Is It

Posted by Civilian Sisnil Zoi (Intelligence Consultant) in So… This Is It
Posted by… suppressed (6) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
“Okay,” she yawned and put the half eaten cracker in her hand back down. She was awake for awhile longer. Once she finally did fall asleep it was well past the 24 hour mark. She slept alright for the first few hours. Too many memories intruded on her in her dreams to sleep all night.

The next few days were typical. Dradvia had a couple of days off which allowed her to feel more like herself before returning to work. It was the third day after Sisnil’s procedure, and she woke him to ask if he wanted to go with her. She figured he was eager to get the results.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil of course enthusiastically agreed. He was getting around without the support frame, if slowly, and he was having to be reminded not to start pushing too hard too quickly. His telepathy and empathy had returned. Functionally, his vision had not improved, so he was anxious to hear the results.

~ Zoi

Dradvia had Sisnil lay back on a biobed and rolled several pieces of equipment up to him. They took neurol synapsis images, did a complete exam of his occular system, and brain imaging to begin with.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

The surgery had healed perfectly, his paracortex was flawless and his psilosynine production was normal. His ocular cortex had healed a lot because of the procedure, it still had damage, but was healed enough to facilitate sight.

The problem was the ocular nerve. While his physical eyes were fine, the ocular nerve had healed… As much as it was going to. Which was why his sight hadn’t improved. The brain could process the signals it received, but the signals it received were still the problem.

~ Zoi

“Sisnil, I want to try something before we go further and start discussing what’s going on. I just want all the information first, okay?” She knew he could read her thoughts. She wasn’t devistated, she was actually thrilled by the results, but also a bit disappointed and frustrated. She picked up a device and set it over his head like a pair of safety goggles. “Just a slight stick to the back of your head. Like having a single hair pulled out.” There was the sensation and then she tapped on the controls of her console. “Alright, open your eyes and tell me what you see.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

There was a little prick. He almost didn’t feel it. “Lights,” he said at first. He peered harder. “What am I supposed to see?”

“Not anything in particular. I am just testing how the signals are sent and processed now.”

According to her test, the nerves weren’t functioning correctly, there was no correct signal to send to the ocular lobe. Everything was processed through a nerve too damaged to do its job.

~ Zoi

Dradvia adjusted the machine. It picked up the signal from his eyes and then transferred the signal through the device filament and directly into Sisnil’s occipital lobe.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

That changed the results. Bypassing the damaged nerves, Sisnil’s face brightened. “Dee, what did you do?” He asked. “I can see.”

~ Zoi

“Okay, so the procedure worked. Your paracortex and telepathy is perfect. The Psilosynine we injected in the occipital lobe healed the optic nerve and the damage to the occipital lobe. Now the bad news is that could only heal existing damaged cells. The echtallin completely destroyed a portion of the nerve where it connected to the lobe. The Psilosynine can’t grow new nerves.

“Now the good news is that this last test proves that your eyes and optic nerves are sending intact signals and that your occipital lobe can process those signals.” There was a smile in her voice. “The device I put in you is picking up the signal your optic nerve is sending and jumping the damaged area and sending it to the occipital lobe. Making a bridge. So, now you can see.”

She moved around in front of him and sat. “This device is for testing purposes, but there are a few prosthetic options we can consider.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil looked at her, seeing her clearly for the first time since the echtallin poisoning. He was still laying back on the biobed, knowing the testing implement was temporary. “Okay, let’s talk,” he said, in a tone she’d know well: syndicate bartering. He was expecting a heavy cost.

~ Zoi

She reached out and took his hand, it shook slightly. The tone was unnerving. She knew that’s what he did, she wasn’t scared of him, but it was uncomfortable hearing it from him. That was why she took his hand. It made her feel safe, made her grounded. “Okay, so the first option is a pair of glasses that pair with a receiver. The receiver is a small filament inserted into the lobe. The glasses have cameras and they send the images picked up by the cameras to the filament. It runs on radio signals. The downside is it isn’t intuitive. If you move your eyes, the image doesn’t change. You have to move your head and there is no Peripheral vision.

“The next option is more integrated. You would have two implants here and here.” She traced her finger around the edge of his brows. “They would be integrated to your eyes and pick up the signals in your optic nerve and then transfer the signal directly to the occipital lobe. This is also he most intuitive and most like your real eyes, because they are. The downside is because of the location if they get damaged your vision will go blury, but the damage would have to be severe.

“The last option is prosthetic eyes and nerves. Your vision would be greater than humanly possible. You could see things not possible with the naked eyes. We would remove your eyes and nerves and replace it with computer parts. This requires intense brain surgery and the recovery and adaptation process is long. The implants are also remotely programmed and maintained rather than directly.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer