ataraxion | 001

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001 | video

[ ENCRYPTED 75% TO MEDICAL AND XENOBIOLOGY/GENETICS STAFF + BRUCE BANNER: ]
I took the liberty of checking out the blood samples we were able to get from the creatures at the end of the maze. Some of them seemed to have bacterial infections, which isn't surprising, but I also checked them against known DNA samples from Earth.

I don't want to alarm anyone, which is why I've encrypted this for now, but so far the results are all coming back in essentially the same manner. The DNA of these creatures is a mix between Earth creatures -- the lion is a large component, and there are also what appears to be genetic material from the Australian dingo and some sort of crocodile. However, at the present time it appears as though the largest genetic contribution comes from human beings.

Obviously the samples may have been compromised, as I've really only been able to work off their blood and some hair. I'm going to request a larger sample, preferably an entire specimen -- dead, obviously. Hopefully we can get more answers, and hopefully the human genetic material was just cross-contamination.

[ OPEN: ]
I've heard a few things about people returning to the end of the maze to clear out the rest of the creatures, in addition to a possible salvage operation. My name is Elizabeth Ross -- I'm a cellular biologist and university professor back home. If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to request a mostly intact -- though definitely dead -- specimen of the creatures. I'm sure there are a lot of people who are wondering just what they are and how they got here, not to mention how they've survived the jumps, and I'm hoping that an entire specimen might be able to give us some answers.

How is everyone feeling?

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A virus that devolved people?

Reports say that they've had their eyes scratched out, likely by each other, and that they're exceptionally hungry. If they don't kill each other or aren't killed by the teams, hunger may end up doing it.

Yes, Ma'am. It spread quickly throughout the ship, airbourne, with symptoms ranging from increased paranoia, aggressive tendencies, and the inability to withstand certain habitats to a prevalence toward functioning by basic instinct alone, to feed, hoard supplies, secure territory and procreate. The devolution proceeded from there into physical transformations; indeed as with these creatures, it affected their very DNA.

[ He considers those words grimly, then nods. ]

I shall ask Doctor McCoy if I may prioritise the possibility of returning them to their previous condition.

Was the DNA change something similar -- alterations into other known lifeforms?

[ There's a pause, her lips pressing together and then, quietly: ]

The mental trauma may be more than they can bear.

[ Data shakes his head. ] In some circumstances yes, but it was in most cases incremental, a devolution transposed onto the surface of the preexisting DNA. In genus, certainly there were similarities, though it is uncertain how far the transformation might have continued had the effects not been reversed.

[ He pauses just for a moment. ]

I understand the concern, however were you in their position, would you not prefer to be given that opportunity?

Human, feline, canine, reptile... it looks far more like someone or something, whether a scientist or nature, was attempting to make something very, very dangerous.

I don't know. But... [ Her lips press together for a moment, head ducking down before she looks back up. ] I know someone who has... lost parts of himself, at times, to something more animalistic. His opinion -- an opinion I think extremely highly of -- is that it may be more humane to help them pass.

That theory should not be elliminated. Had the mixture not included those particular examples, then an accidental mixture might have seemed inherently more likely. It does not seem accidental.

[ He notes her hesitation, then changes up the encryptions, taking this conversation off the wider filter. ]

It is our duty as Starfleet officers to seek out new life. If there is the chance that the mutation that can be reversed, then it is our scientific responsibility to at least make the attempt.

Your friend... What is the nature of his affliction? [ He's thinking of Worf, actually. ]

It wouldn't be the first time.

[ er. ] I'm not a Starfleet officer. I'm a university professor in Virginia. [ And she's had quite her fill of the military, really. ]

Human experimentation involving radiation. I can't really say much more than that.

[ He inclines his head. He was simply trying to explain his own perspective. ] I am well aware that you are not. In fact there are many on board who would disagree with what we see as basic tenets. But the are mine, and therefore the rules by which I must attempt to act--in all circumstances. [ He's still clear rather than argumentative, making a statement calmly as he has been from the beginning.

He's still not sure what to make of her words. She can't say more? It seems strange. Her reasons, though, must be sensible, if only because she seems so certain, so he does not question them. ]

It is regrettable that you cannot. It would have made a fascinating topic.

You don't believe there may be circumstances where it may not be for the best?

[ There's a slight nod of her head. ] If it had happened to me and not someone else, I would be more open about it, considering the circumstances. What I can say is that, even after short periods of time in that state, he can be... rather traumatized. He ends up asking if he hurt anybody, and others who know of his condition tend not to treat him well.

It's not something I would wish on others to have to experience.

Not every species that we come across is friendly, and some life must be exterminated in order to permit our survival, however it is only after all other possibilities have been exhausted that we consider it as a last resort, and even then it is not a function that is performed gladly.

[ He considers that information quietly, turning his head in toward his shoulder. It is something that he can understand, due to his own experiences. ]

It is sometimes easier, I have found, for humans to persecute than to attempt to understand.

If you were able to look at the samples we have now, do you think you could tell whether or not it's possible with the equipment we have on board? Unfortunately genetics has had to use the equipment in medical.

I wish it weren't that way. [ She lowers her eyes for a moment, lips pressed together. ] It's even worse when it's other people you care for who are part of that persecution.

Even the equipment available in medical would be sufficient, at least to narrow down the possibilities, and my tricorder may reveal far more about the samples than we already know. I will continue to make myself available to you, if you wish.

[ While in turn making it a high priority. If they could return the creatures to their previous forms, they might be a crucial resource regarding the Tranquility, or indeed the experimentation that had transformed them. ]

And yet even the most hardened skeptics can be educated. [ He hesitates before reciting the phrase. ] We are more than just the sum of our parts, are we not?

If you wouldn't mind looking at the samples, I'd be happy to have you do so.

At times. Other times they're more focused on what they can gain from it. [ But she nods, eyes softening. ] Of course.

[ He nods. He'll find her in the medbay at some point and look them over. For now, the other topic. ]

I am familiar with that element of human nature also. For the longest time, I was believed to be the possession of Starfleet. Attempts were made to dismantle me. [ He was in fact friends with the scientist responsible, now, but it didn't make it any less of a sore spot. ] Is he here presently?

He had... quite a similar situation. [ Betty's not sure how much she is really supposed to say about everything that happened, because even though it had such a large impact on her as well, it's still Bruce that she's talking about. ]

... Yes.

[ He nods in grim understanding. As much as people in his century have come a long way, there are still those who will see him as nothing more than an asset, a complicated toy, even when he was commanding his own starship. ]

Then perhaps I shall have the opportunity to discuss such things with him in the future. I would not ask you to betray his confidences.

[ What makes it even worse for Betty is that it was her own father, more concerned for Bruce's altered genetics than for the man his daughter loved. General Ross made Bruce a fugitive, and Betty hadn't been lying when she said that she would never forgive him for that. Bruce's body doesn't belong to the Army, it belongs to him. ]

Thank you. [ She does mean that, too -- she wouldn't betray Bruce, but not being asked to is a rare thing. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

001 | video

[video] SCI filter

[video] SCI filter

[video] SCI filter

[video] SCI filter

[video] SCI filter

[video] private; starfleet encryptions

[video] private; starfleet encryptions

[video] private; starfleet encryptions

[video] private; starfleet encryptions

[video] private; starfleet encryptions

[video] private; starfleet encryptions

[video] private; starfleet encryptions

[video] private; starfleet encryptions

[video] private; starfleet encryptions

[video] private; starfleet encryptions

[video] private; starfleet encryptions

[video] private; starfleet encryptions