Space Oddities (part 3)

Posted on Mon Apr 18th, 2016 @ 2:35pm by Commodore Samantha York & Ensign Maria Delgado & Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Tate & Lieutenant Arnon Barak MD, PsyD & Lieutenant JG Victoria Drani M.D. & 1st Lieutenant Leroy Mangalia & Lieutenant Verdeath Newmark & Crewman E.M.H. Galen

1,467 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Point of View
Location: various

[CONTINUED]

[OLD]

"Doctor Drani." Newmark looked up from the patient and nod to the nurse. "Finish wrapping that knee for me please." He said as he crossed over to her. "So far there is not a whole lot to report, we are getting a steady stream of minor injuries from the sudden stop, two plasma burns and I am considering using a cargo bay as with the reports of turbo lifts being out I think we need to get the medical facilities spread out closer to the patients." He said. "So far there are no trauma calls but it is still early."

[NEW]

Galen had reappeared in the Sickbay a few minutes before. She had ended up in the arboretum, believing that she was there to see to wounded from the Parada Civil War. Finding nothing but a few distressed plants, she returned to the Hollo-Core to analyze what was happening to her. Unfortunately, she'd been reactivated by Dr. Newmark a short time later. There was an emergency and the crew had been injured; this was what she had been created for. The problem lay with the Main Computer, not her. So she worked in uncharacteristic silence on a patient with a minor head injury and tried not to make any inquiries of the Main Computer. Galen did however, continue monitor the malfunctions as they spread throughout the ship, with growing concern.

Arnon immediately stepped in and started treating patients. He stepped over to where a junior doctor was treating a plasma burn. He answered several of the young doctor's questions and walked him through a procedure.

Drani nodded and glanced at the EMH. "How has the EMH--I mean Galen been acting? Any odd behaviors that you've noticed?" she asked Newman. After her encounter with Arnon's hostile hologram, she was wary of the EMH as she could turn violent as well.

"Best to just grab the holographic bull by the horns," said Arnon when he overheard Victoria.
He left the resident to his work and walked up to the EMH.

"Galen," he said. "Tell me, have you felt any urges to attack the crew with kitchen implements while singing songs from 1980s Earth? Or any other unusual urges? Or experienced anything out of the ordinary with your programming."

Galen paused with a hypo spray just a few millimeters from a patient's neck and looked up sharply at Arnon. She knew nothing of Drani's recent experience and was confused by the question. Had her recent behavior been reported to the others already? She could no lie to him, although she had no wish to alarm anyone. "No kitchen implements." She tried to smile reassuringly. "Although the Main Computer has been sending me corrupted input, which caused me to believe that there were medical emergencies in other...locations...when there were none."

Galen gave the hypo to the patient and put it back on the tray near the biobed. "I have since restricted my contact with the computer."

Drani overheard the conversation and approached Galen and Arnon. "Galen, you are hereby restricted to Sickbay. You only treat patients here. If there are patients in other parts of the ship, a medical team will be dispatched until I am satisfied you have regained full control of your programming."

"Yes Doctor, of course." Galen replied.

Suddenly, power to Sickbay went out as the medical bay and suites went dark before being flooded with red emergency lights a moment later. "Computer, report!" Drani ordered.

"Nobody is home. Please try again later," came the computer's voice.

The lights blinked, dimmed, and then came back on at half power.

Thankfully the holographic projectors in the sickbay had been rerouted to run off the Holo-Core's internal power supply after the last blackout in sickbay a few weeks before. Galen could remain active within the confines of the sickbay indefinitely.

When the lights came back on, Galen placed a reassuring hand on the shoulder of her patient then stepped away from him to stand closer to the others. "This is quiet disconcerting." She said to them in a confidential tone, so as not to alarm the patients. "I have been monitoring the malfunctions spreading throughout the ship. It is as though the computer has suddenly become unfamiliar with it's own systems, and therefore is testing all them at random to see what they do." She shook her head, a very human reaction to frustration and worry. Her programmers had done well. "I am concerned what will happen when it starts testing the life support systems..."

It barely took Arnon a second to react to that little piece of information.

"Lieutenant Barak to Lieutenant Cross!" he said.

When Cross didn't answer, Arnon tried the Commodore.

"Lieutenant Barak to Commodore York!" he said, tapping his commbadge again.

"York here," Sam said. She'd finished checking the steam engine and was now heading to engineering to find out why no one was answering comms there.

"Galen says that it seems as though the computer has forgotten how the ship works and is testing the systems by turning them on and off," Arnon said. "She's concerned that the computer might 'test' life support in the same way. Can Operations isolate life support from the main computer? I tried Lieutenant Cross but didn't get a response. This is a matter of some urgency as you can well imagine."

"Life support is currently being run from a steam engine on deck 6," Sam replied. "But the rest seems...odd. Not odd, curious. I'll look into it."

Arnon frowned.

"The that steam engine is where the power for life support is coming from," he said. "But unless that steam engine has a computer built in that has taken over for the main computer, the main computer still has the ability to turn life support on and off, no?"

"The steam engine has no computer," Sam assured him. "Could the computer do something to the power relays? Possible, but the steam engine itself has no computers. It runs on steam."

"That was my point," Arnon replied. "I'm not worried that the computer is going to take over the steam engine, but the steam engine is only providing the power. Life support controls, including the on/off switch, are still controlled by the computer. Can we isolate the life support functions controlled by the main computer, from the main computer?"

"We can try, but until we figure out what's going on, there's no guarantee that it will work. We have no idea if we can isolate parts of the ship from the main computer and still make them work.

-Space-

Leroy was parked just under where the Captains Yacht was in the saucer section. Reaching down, he grabbed an energy bar, and opened the package to the sound of aluminum and plastic. Taking a small bite he radioed out for any of his officers, to see if their scanners had picked anything up.

-^-Mangailia to the bridge. We have anything up yet?-^-

"Mangalia, we have 50% power. Science is running scans. Shields are partially operational. Engines are still down. Feel free to come home, I think we're okay for now," came the voice of Maria who was helping where needed.

"Thanks Bridge. You heard em boys, everyone back inside the bus, the field trip is over," his obviously sleep deprived order drawing a couple of chuckles. As the three members landed, Leroy followed them in, docking at his own position at the very front, he was the last out, but also the last back. "Wake me when we get to vacationland," he said as he powered down, kicking the seat back a little before passing out in the cockpit.

Jennifer rose from her seat turning to Delgado at the science station. "Do we have long range communications?"

Maria turned to the Ops station. "No. But you might through Astrometrics. They tap into the long range scanners and into the Starfleet Science database network."

"No idea. It depends on how close the nearest relay station is," Maria replied.

"No idea. It depends on if the long range sensors are working," Maria said. She quickly pulled up the long range sensors and checked them. "They're working, but not at full capacity. Should be enough to get to a relay station."

"Good, relay our situation to Starfleet Command, request assistance from any nearby vessels." Tate stated not wanting to take any chances or unnecessary risks.

Maria nodded. "I'll head down to astrometrics and see what I can do. Wish me luck!"

(To be continued...)

Lieutenant JG Verdeath Newmark
Assistant Chief Medical Officer

Crewman Galen
EMH

Lieutenant Arnon Barak
Chief Counselor

Lieutenant Victoria Drani
Chief Medical Officer

Master Sergeant Leroy Mangalia
Flight Leader

Ensign Maria Delgado
Science Officer

Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Tate
Intel Officer

Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer

 

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