At the IME

The Impossible is Possible

            “Admiral Archer, it’s good to see you again, as always.” Phlox stood and greeting his former captain with his usual flair and a friendly smile. “I was hoping you’d come by again when you got back.”

            “Do I have a choice, Doc?” Phlox placed a hand on Archer’s shoulder. “I want you to meet your new Physician’s Assistant, Ms. Riaan. She was our acting doctor slash medic on Endeavour after the Orions attacked us and Dr. Sussa was killed.” Phlox’s eyes grew a little wider, even for him.

            “The medics and nurses-“

            “They’re well educated, but they don’t have the instinct,” Jonathan interrupted. “Doctor was what the crew called her.”

            “I don’t have a formal background, but I enjoyed it tremendously.”

            “You speak English as well? Where did you find her, Admiral?” Archer took a deep breath and nodded in agreement at his fortune.

            “I forgot, you never met Riaan on Akal. She was the healer for most everyone in Tammalynnia when the Malurians were running their reactor? Poisoned their water table. Twelve years ago, one of the first places Enterprise visited.”

            “Ah, yes, I remember, yes. I think I can arrange for you to spend all the time you like here, if you don’t want to be paid, that is. Unfortunately I have no control over that.”

            “That’s no worry, Phlox. Students don’t usually get paid, do they?”

            “Indeed, Admiral. We can talk more about that after I see what’s happening in your brain, now, so have a seat.” Phlox pulled out some small scanning device and holding it activated the laser with a switch. He scanned around Archer’s head holding the unit very carefully at a specific distance. He stopped and looked at the reading, pressed a button and watched the results appear on the view screen above the bio bed Archer sat on. All three looked at the image as it slowly rotated in 3D. “Have you been using a transporter, Admiral?”

            “No, Doc, not this entire mission. Only if there was an emergency, and we never had cause for that.”

            “That explains why your readings have remained stable. I don’t see any progression, but neither do I see regression, I’m afraid. Given that, I think we’ll simply maintain our current therapy and see if eventually the damage will reverse itself.”

            He nodded, expecting worse news than static readings. He was about to slide off the table when Phlox stopped him.

            “Ah ah ah, not just yet, Admiral. I need a blood sample for the records.” Archer waited until the doctor had extracted 15 mls of blood from his jugular. “Admiral Archer started calling me Dracula a few years back,” he uttered to Riaan. She looked at Phlox with curiosity. “I guess you haven’t had much time to get through some of Earth’s classic literature.”

            “Jon, are you ill? You never said anything about an illness.” She put a hand on his leg, trying to connect and gain his attention at the same time.

            “It’s not contagious,” Phlox jumped in. Archer gave Phlox a small nod to send him away out of earshot. Over the years their rapport made it easy to communicate without verbalizing everything. Archer slid off the table and looked again at the readings on the view screen above the bed. Until someone filed them, or someone else got on the bed, it would remain displayed.

            “It’s a neurological degradation from using the transporter too much. It was more severe when he first diagnosed it. He has a cocktail of assorted pharmaceuticals he infuses every six months or so to keep it from getting worse. “

            “What does it do? The illness.”

            “Some memory loss, slower motor skills, cognitive functions diminished. Nothing I haven’t learned to live with.”

            “Why didn’t you tell me?”

            “Would it matter?”

            “No, but why would you keep something like that to yourself?”

            “Told you, memory loss,” he smiled. “I come in every 6 months and Phlox takes care of me. Don’t you Doc?” Phlox returned at the subtle invitation from Admiral Archer.

            “He’s my favorite patient. So are you leaving this lovely lady here with me today? It’s a quiet day; in fact I only have one scheduled patient this afternoon. I’m sure we could cover a few things. If you are so inclined,” he directed at Riaan.

            “Doc, Riaan has a seafood allergy, or at least a seafood aversion after the Marina brought a crab to the table last night. I almost had to carry her home. Can you give her something for that?”

            “I’d just never seen a crab before. It startled me.” Phlox’s expression changed to illumination that Admiral Archer and this woman were more than colleagues or ship mates. He glanced at Archer with a most obvious grin that Riaan couldn’t see. Archer kept a stone poker face.

            “I’m headed back to HQ. There’s a never ending pile of PADDs to upload, download, read, delete, edit and save. Anything else, Doc?”

            “No, Admiral, you know I’ll let you know if anything interesting turns up after I analyze your scan.”

            “Then, Riaan, I leave you in capable hands, and I’ll see you at sixteen hundred. He leaned over and gave her his customary public-not-quite-on-the-lips-kiss and strolled out without giving Phlox another look.

Phlox questioned Riaan about her education and experience, not as a job interview but as a friendly counselor who would know where to start her off in her training. He introduced her to the nursing staff, familiarized her with the basic equipment and scanners, and tried to put her at ease.

            “Ms. Riaan, I think a great place for you to start will be in the lab. Once you’re familiar with most of the instruments and why we run the diagnostics that we do, it will be easier to transition to more complex procedures.”

            “It’s going to be a long road, isn’t it?”

            “Not necessarily. Cap – Admiral Archer was right, you show an instinct for biology, it seems. The hardest thing for you will be learning to operate the equipment. With a short formal education you can test into your doctorate. It’s week long practical exam that covers everything from radiology to surgery. Much of the schooling can even be done at home.” Phlox suddenly stopped, not sure where her home was. “But, you can accomplish the testing program after being here perhaps two years.”

            “That’s encouraging,” she told him. “So let me ask you, Doctor. How would you diagnose an allergy to this sea food that the admiral loves so much? It would be a shame if we couldn’t go to the same restaurants. He keeps talking about something he calls ‘trout’.”

            “Of course, and yes, many people have allergies to shellfish. Umm, crab is a shellfish, for all intents and purposes. First, let’s take a blood sample to check for the antibodies that cause the specific allergen.” Phlox pressed a micro sampler to her neck below the ear and took a standard 15 ml sample. “Now, come to the lab.” Riaan followed Phlox to the centrifuge and an interesting machine that was similar to one on Endeavour that the other crewmen used. A single ml of blood was dispensed into a tube that began running a variety of chemical tests. “This is your first step,” he told her.