[7] MEDBAY video;

[dogbane]

[ NO FILTER: MEDBAY RECRUITMENT ]

[For those who have seen William Tsang's typing at all in the past month or two, it comes as no surprise that he's opted for video. He's in his white coat, meticulously groomed and just as meticulously-- not hungover, the quiet sterility of Medical Bay all chrome and blue light behind him.] Oi oi.

If you've got experience or want experience in medicine or the healing arts, please apply today. You don't have to be a fucking brain surgeon, although we could use a couple more of those. [A beat. He blinks hard.] We've got need for: field medics and EMTs, psychiatrists, nurses, medical scientists, pathologists, pharmacists, robotics experts, magical healers, potion-makers, and people who just straight-up like to clean. We're making use of the volunteer program as well. Please give us a bell if you're interested and capable of learning. The nanites and other technology does a lot of the heavy-lifting, but we still really need personnel.

The past few clusterfucks, Medical Bay has become something of a stronghold. That stronghold is weaker when we're understaffed.

We have a few medical practitioners in these past few Jumps, although we've lost a few too. Our current staff is as follows. Contact them when you need help, and they'll do their best to provide an assist. Some are combat-ready, others prepped for room visits, and some operate strictly out of the Medical Bay.

[William attaches a spreadsheet, that is also carefully groomed of typographical errors.]

NAME	TITLE	MAGIC/SCIENCE AND SPECIALTY
William Tsang	Chief Medical Officer	Residency-level Physician, Magical Healing
Galadriel	Healer, Emergency Deputy CMO	Magical Healing
Natasi	Duties suspended, in captivity by SEC for murder of a DUPRR agent
Esme "Granny" Weatherwax	Medical Officer	Magical Healing, Potions
Clarke Griffin	Medical Officer	Student-level Physician
Leonard "Bones" McCoy	Medical Officer	Physician, Surgeon
Cora Hale	Trainee	Logistics, Supplies, Field Medicine
Tadashi Hamada	Trainee	Equipment/Robotics Calibration, Logistics, Supplies, Field Medicine
Muscovy	Trainee	Magical Healing, Logistics, Supplies, Field Medicine

[ FILTERED TO MEDICAL BAY: ...WELL, SOMETHING! ]

So, [William's masque of sobriety and lucidity is probably less convincing to those of you who actually see him at work day-to-day. But he does look decidedly less run-down today, for the purposes of his video, than usual. And very gamely, he continues:] A slew of you lot are new. Some of you are really small, and might have even gone completely unnoticed since joining due to a general failure to be observed over the counter-tops. If I fucked up any of your task and ability descriptions, please let me know, and I'll-- [he gestures vaguely.] In any case, I should've made introductions earlier.

So here goes. Any of you guys ever played doctor?

[He hoists a morbid-looking dummy into view of the camera, its plastic chest-plate missing. Dozens of sockets for missing organs, all of its alarm lights off for the moment. Someone's competing for creepiest manifestation.]

Let me know if you want to do a meet-and-greet, and I'll set up the shift rotation. Whoever ain't on-call can maybe join in a toast to Dr. Simon Tam, Lúthien, Lily Potter, and Dr. Jennifer Keller, may they be remembered as those who held any number of passengers' herniated intestines in during disasters past. Updates and advisories on the ship's latest methods of confusing and killing us, also welcome.

Even if not, say hi to each other here, too. Some of you probably need friends or some shit. [William's understanding of psychiatric health ends here!] Cheers.

Comments

[Video]

[tadashiwashere]

[Tadashi debates for several moments how he wants to handle the "Bones" fiasco. On one hand, he knows comedic gold when he sees it, but on the other he doesn't know the man in question well enough to subject him to his questionable sense of humor. Finally he decides to go for a more neutral approach.

Tadashi's video cuts in and he smiles. So far, he doesn't look anything close to exhausted. It'll be a few weeks before it's even noticeable that he's endeavoring to stretch himself too thin.]

Tadashi Hamada here. Just wanted to check in and say how much I appreciate the opportunity to work with the medical staff here. I'm hoping I can pull my weight and learn a lot from all of you.

[dogbane]

[Oh, video. Ninety percent lower possibility of graphic typos this way. Well done, team. William wobbles back into the lens in a moment, smiling. He's in a different part of Medical Bay now, sitting down with a bar of some type.]

Hey, Tadashi. Settling in all right? [he asks.] Have you had a chance to give that surgery robot arm suite thingy, [technical term,] a whirl?

[tadashiwashere]

Mr. William.

[He's surprised for a minute and, as usual, might be acting a little more formal that he needs to. William might only be a handful of years older than Tadashi, but he's in charge. And that's enough to have Tadashi's respect until further notice.]

I think so. [Aside from really wishing he'd been crazy enough to double major as pre-med so that he could settle into this role more quickly.] Er... I'm not completely familiar with the tech yet, but I've had a chance to play around with it a bit. The basic mechanics of it are fascinating. Has it been used often?

[dogbane]

[William's eyes crinkle slightly. Mr. William, that's funny. At least it isn't Mr. Tsang, and he definitely appreciates Tadashi refraining from utilizing an invalid Dr.] Not lately, [he says.] But there were some really brutal violent injuries before you came aboard, and they saw more use then.

We can probably mock something up for you to practice on, if you like. Chop up some apples, or we could clone an arm or something for sutures.

[Don't mind them. Regular shop talk.]

[tadashiwashere]

[Tadashi winces slightly in sympathy. He really hopes the violent injuries are a thing of the past, but it's probably always better to be prepared than to be caught unaware.]

I don't know how well I'll stomach working on a cloned arm. [The idea makes him uneasy, to be honest. He frowns slightly, though, shrugging like it can't be helped.] But I guess I need to deal with it at some point. That would be great.

[Actually, it might not be as bad as he thinks -- he's never had a problem staying calm while taking care of any injuries Hiro acquired. Aunt Cass tended to be frantic during those situations, but Tadashi could deal with blood.]

[dogbane]

I don't think it'd be as bad as cadavers, [William says, thoughtfully,] which was rough back in med school. Horrible smell. But I take your meaning.

However you want to start is all right with me. [But maybe he is a little excited about cutting into a cloned thing. How can he not be excited? It's definitely a step up from being a puddle of sad, so this peculiar conversation can only get moreso.] I'd say we could practice on me since I've got that regeneration shit, but that'd be worse, right?

[tadashiwashere]

It absolutely would, [Tadashi confirms. He's drawing lines in the sand here.] Let's... stick with cloned tissue for now, okay?

[The entire deal with, 'if it's not broken, you shouldn't fix it' likely applied to practicing on healthy people.]

Actually, I am a little curious about how the nanites come into play. Is there anything I should know about how they work? We don't have anything close to this back home yet, so I'm not as familiar with the science.

1/2

[dogbane]

[William nods. He should probably stop volunteering, here or there, to chop himself up for science. It's just that-- well, it was part of the culture in his homeworld, really. A lot of them wound up volunteered for science. 'Volunteered.']

Well. [A beat.] Access, mainly. The more dangerous and sensitive and specialized the equipment is, the more likely you'll need department-locked nanites. But the nanites do much more besides-- hang on, let me get the file. [He peers away from the camera.]

2/2

[dogbane]

[He sends an attachment, thus.]

Take note of immune system support and health maintenance particularly. For reasons like ethics, we don't really do experimental research to figure the limits of these enhancements. [William sets his chin on his hands.] But judging from records of injuries experienced by passengers, humans who haven't got regeneration abilities definitely heal injuries faster thanks to the nanites' intervention. Gunshot wounds that'd take months close in weeks instead.

Is that sort of what you're asking about? [There's more, of course. There's always more. Funnily enough, this horrorship medical nerding is putting some healthy conversational cadence and speed back into William's powers of speech.]

[tadashiwashere]

[Tadashi gives a short, impressed whistle as he opens the attachment, leaning close to his communicator's tablet as he inspects the file and clicks through to see the image.]

That's exactly what I'm asking, [and this is said absently as his eyes dart over what was sent to him one last time, almost like he's trying to memorize the words while he absorbs the information there. He catches himself after a moment, straightening up and moving farther back from the camera, He's more excited now -- more curious, even if he's a little wary at the same time.]

Are the nanites themselves actively repairing the tissue? They can be removed, right? Nothing is fundamentally changed from the introduction of them where we would have lasting effects without them?

[They're basically robots. Tiny robots. And robotics is something Hamadas are passionate about.]

[dogbane]

It's actually been quite difficult to determine if that's what they're doing, [William says, thoughtfully.] Problem is, when we have tried to take micrographs of nanites, they've been outside the person's body-- and by then they're already starting to deactivate, generally. My guess is yes, to direct tissue repair. I mean I suppose it depends on what you mean by 'direct.' What they were working on back in my homeworld, they were hoping to facilitate re-epithelialization on a molecular level.

As for removal-- [William scoots his seat back, then points through the Medical Bay office he's sitting in.] We've got a nanite extraction machine here. Right through there. [His arm falls.] I'm given to understand it's painful to have them extracted, but it'll leave you otherwise unharmed. [A beat.] Well, unless a Jump kills you 'cause you can't open a pod for yourself, or you can't communicate because the translation function isn't working 'round your brain, or that kind of shit.

[tadashiwashere]

Painful, but possible. And yet still not something that would be advisable.

[Tadashi rests his chin on his fist for a moment, considering that. He's curious how having these nanites inside their bodies will affect them in different scenarios. There are obviously several benefits, but he's still looking for the possible cons. Even still, this sort of tech is something he wishes was on his world. If the nanites could relay biometric information, scans and screenings might be more streamlined -- more diseases and injuries could be identified early.

If only there was a way to send the tech back.]

Huh. Are nanites capable of sending remote signals? I know we have scanners over there, but do we have a way to monitor, say, heart rate from a distance?

[dogbane]

Nanites have presented themselves as extremely unresponsive to most novel efforts to communicate with them, [William says, thoughtfully.] We had this lad could control nanites, from his homeworld. Like that was his bloody superpower. But he could barely get a read off these ones.

We haven't tried much to tinker around with the native hardware, though. [William sits forward.] Maybe if you have a look at it, you'd be able to tell how it works, and build something based on the important components. We haven't had anyone try. Some form of signalling seems likely-- it's not like the nanites are swarming the surface of our skin, when we flag access panels.

[tadashiwashere]

I could have a look.

[That eagerness in his voice? It's more than just a desire to help. The opportunity to learn more about and understand the intricacies of a new technology is basically one of the most exciting things that could happen to him. Especially when medical is one of the applications for the tech.

Before he gets too far ahead of himself, he has other concerns.]

Is there anything else in place to track passengers' biometrics? If there's not, I could start work on something to that effect. Assuming, of course, that anyone wants their vitals to be tracked.

[dogbane]

[That is a bit of an assumption. William smiles a little, ruefully.] Guess they might not, [he says.] Secretive and tetchy bunch, a lot of the people up here. But it might be good for the kids. No promising that the corridor interference wouldn't fuck it up, though, if people go wandering.

But you really need to have a look at the extraction machine. There's even a gutted one in Xenogen, just ask Charles-- it doesn't work but that means all its parts are there for the fucking-around-with.

[tadashiwashere]

[Just from his interactions with Max, that doesn't surprise Tadashi. The kids, though, would likely benefit having an eye kept on them. Half the reason he even thought of the idea was out of an urge to know where Hiro was.] I might try a few tricks to boost or relay the signals to get around the interference. No guarantees, but I can see what I can do. It might take me a week to come up with a prototype -- maybe two. I'll let you know.


Charles? If he doesn't mind, I'll take over the scanner that my brother and I have been working on. I might be able to get a 3D rendering of the parts. Hiro is actually more intuitive than I am about robotics. I'll work with him a little and see what we can come up with about the nanites.

[dogbane]

Yes. Yes, [William starts to look slightly cagey, shifting slightly, visibly in front of the camera.] I can't imagine he'll say no, but you should probably ask. Interdepartmental politeness and that kind of shit.

[Ordinarily, William would be very amenable of initiating contact, but at this period in his life, he RATHer hesitates to ask Charles Xavier for anything and think it would be an improvement over Tadashi doing the same.] Sounds brilliant.

[tadashiwashere]

[Tadashi lifts an eyebrow at the cagey reaction. He considers asking after it, then files it away as something to figure out at a later date.]

Great. I'll send Charles Xavier a message and get back to you when I have something to report.