Fractured Introductions

Posted on Sat Jul 16th, 2011 @ 1:58am by Lieutenant Commander Aral Aix & Ensign Andrexi Callai MD

Mission: Too Close for Comfort...
Location: Sickbay, U.S.S. Arizona
Timeline: Concurrent with 'Helping Hands Pt02'

Aral Aix entered Sickbay. Having taken possession of the Arizona's meagre scientific resources he had realised he was long overdue for his physical. The bruises sustained during the away mission persisted across his abdomen, arms and legs and he had found sleep elusive, having to sleep on his back rather than right hand side.

Idrani lay unconscious on a bio bed at the far end of the room, otherwise the place was the picture of stark clinical organisation. His presence had attracted the attention of the nursing staff. A young blonde Ensign approached him, "Can I help you sir?"

Aral smiled. "Aral Aix... I'm here for my physical." He had never been one for hospitals, although he had never been afforded the luxury of avoiding them. As reluctant a host as he was, he was unable to escape the inbuilt urge to protect the symbiont.

"Take a seat on bio bed four and the doctor will be with you shortly." Aral was guided to the bed closet toward the door.

Dr. Andrexi Callai squatted in front of an open emergency cart. Inventorying the locker was a med tech's responsibility, but Andy never quite minded getting his hands dirty with the more menial tasks of the profession. Besides, he always saw the medical field as a team effort and the techs were all busy with various other duties, while he had only been familiarizing himself with the Arizona's medical facilities and protocols. There was no reason he couldn't pitch in to help.

His head perked up as he heard Ensign Wildman's voice calling his name. He glanced over his shoulder in the direction the sound had come, but saw only a wall, with no one in sight. When he heard it again, he slowly rose to peek over the top of the cart. The nurse was walking through Sickbay in the distance, searching for him. His expression twisted in thought. Ensign Wildman projected her thoughts far too easily. And loudly. He'd have to get used to that, he supposed.

Another tickle in his brain drew his eyes toward the door, where a dark haired Trill sat patiently on a biobed, watching the nurse searching for the doctor.

Andy rose smoothly to his feet, swiping the nonexistent dust from the cart onto his pants as he stepped around to approach the man in science blues from behind. "Please state the nature of the medical emergency."

Aral was certain that the presence standing before him was not an EMH, partly because the ship wide holographic system was still offline but mainly because it wasn't singing Gilbert and Sullivan or complaining. Humans had to be the only race in the galaxy able to design and create a technological miracle only to spend countless hours arguing with it.

"I am here for my physical and you are about as much an EMH as I'm the Empress of Romulus."


Andy cocked his head, regarding the man curiously. He picked up a tricorder and conducted a quick sweep. "Hmmmm..." he frowned at the readings in confusion.

Aral looked at the young Medical Officer, his own face had flooded with irrational alarm at the young man's frown. "What's wrong doctor?"

"This says you're a Trill."

Were it not for the fact that Aral would have rather sought medical treatment from Colonel DeVries than Dr Torrna he was starting to regret not demanding the Chief Medical Officer. "Your service jacket says you went to medical school." Aral replied, of course, he had not read the doctor's records and he was immediately beginning to regret his informal approach to paperwork.

"If I didn't know any better, from your empress comment, I'd have thought you were human." He had long since decided that it was a hopeless cause to ever try to understand humans.

"I've changed my mind." Aral replied slyly, "Incredibly annoying. You must be an EMH." In reality he was rather entertained and it showed on his face.

The young Betazoid grinned mirthfully to himself, sensing a wave of relief from the man, as much as seeing him subtly relax. "I'm Dr. Andrexi Callai, sir," he said with a disarming smile to the dark haired man. He looked over the commander carefully, visually assessing him for any obvious issues.

"I'm Aral Aix." The Trill replied; he paused to reassess the junior doctor. He certainly appeared to be less of a head case than himself or Torrna. "I am here for my physical." He paused to find the right words, "I was one of the away team held captive on Archadia."

Andy nodded understandingly. "Were you injured, sir?" he asked, opening the tricorder again and beginning to conduct an actual scan.

"Not seriously," Aral began; memories of his treatment on the planet surfaced. "Bruises... I took quite a few kicks." Aral gestured to his abdomen and his chest. "Mainly around here." Although his arms and legs retained dark patches also. "Also on my arms legs and sides." He finished speaking and moving his arms.

"I see that," Andy said as he studied the results of his scans. "You've got soft tissue injury. Relatively minor, but it's extensive." He nodded in satisfaction at the results. "And a couple of hairline fractures to the left fourth, fifth, and sixth ribs, and to the sternum." He closed the tricorder and stowed it back on the bedside table, extending his hands toward the commander with a questioning look seeking permission to touch him.

Aral, either ignoring or not noticing the medical officer's silent question, began speaking. "I want you to carefully scan the symbiont." His hands automatically grasped his abdomen in a protective manner. "I think it took a lot of the force."

"I will, Commander," he said gently, "but first," he reached forward and put a hand on the man's arm, nodding toward his side, "I need to see how mobile those rib fractures are. I don't want to risk any further damage to either of you during treatment." He looked up into the man's deep brown eyes. "May I?"

Aral, realising what the doctor was getting at replied in the affirmative, "Oh, of course." He uzipped and removed his uniform jacket and waistcoat placing them beside him on the biobed.

Andy reached forward, pressing his fingertips along both sides of the man's ribcage. His gaze was off in the distance as he ran his fingers down each rib, checking for symmetry. When he was satisfied that there were no deformities from the beating he had sustained, Andy moved both hands to the left side of the ribcage and began gingerly examining the ribs in question, applying gentle pressure in different directions to assess for movement. He glanced up into the Trill's face when he felt the man take a sharp intake of breath. "I'm sorry, sir. That one hurt?" he asked, his fingers still on the fifth rib.

Aral nodded, holding himself still.

The doctor continued his examination, making mental note of the degree of movement of the ribs, before moving on to the edges of the man's sternum. His mouth twisted subtly -- he'd make a lousy poker player -- as a glimmer of -- something-- flashed in his eyes. "Well," he began slowly as he lowered his hands, "I have good news and bad news. Which would you like first?"

"Good news first." Aral replied, remembering the last time a very different type of doctor had asked him that question.

"Well," the ensign said as he took a half-step back and folded his arms across his chest, reminding himself yet again that most other species weren't as comfortable with the tight Betazoid concept of personal space, "the good news is that none of your injuries," he nodded to indicate the host body, "are a threat to Mr. Aix in there."

"And the bad news?" Aral asked, filled with irrational fear for the second time since entering sickbay and mentally vowing to punch the doctor if it wasn't a fatal injury. "Don't drag this out." His voice was low, he meant business.

"You're," Andy began slowly, "going to be spending a little time in here." He nodded toward the commander's chest. "Your sternum is fractured in three places which have, sort of, commutated into a larger fracture," he said as he steepled his hands to indicate two smaller fractures coming together at the fingertips into one larger fracture. "That's going to require a little minor micro-surgery. Nothing major, I can take care of that here," he added quickly, "and nothing that'll be a threat to either of you. But it needs to be done or your days playing hoverball are over." He reached forward to press his hand gently to the man's fifth rib, applying no pressure but drawing his attention there. "And somehow you've managed a spiral fracture of this rib. Not sure how. That's not the sort of fracture I've ever seen on a rib before, but we can repair that. It'll just take a little extra time on the osteo-stimulator."

Aral exhaled relieved, his thoughts of violence had all but vanished. Callai's careful choice of words had led him to suspect that the symbiont may have sustained serious internal damage. He nodded his agreement to the doctor's treatment plan.

"As for Mr. Aix," Andy finally said, his lips tight. "He's taken some soft tissue damage, too. A bit bruised up, but I don't see any neurological damage. It looks like he's started a regeneration cycle, so if you haven't noticed him being a little... sluggish," he grimaced apologetically at his own pun, "to respond, you will soon."

Aral looked at Callai and narrowed his eyes. "It doesn't work like that." Aral replied, "I'm not a networked computer..." he trailed off wondering if he was capable of feeling the damage to his own consciousness.

"Actually," Andy said slowly, chewing on his lower lip, "you... kind of... are, sir. Just not on the conscious level. Your," he interlaced his fingers together, "thoughts and memories and emotions are interwoven. So when Mr. Aix," he nodded toward the commander's abdomen, "enters a regeneration state, he's essentially going into a deep sleep. Your access of his long term memories will be affected. And depending upon how long he needs to heal, his sleep state may cause some bleed over into your dreams as well. So... you can probably expect some... highly unusual dreams for at least the next few days."

Aral's head swam, "I'm... Aix... is more than a storage device." He paused, "I am unusual." He frowned looking for the right words again, "I was joined very young, very unready." He moved his hands repeatedly from his head to his abdomen in a figure of eight, "And Aral... he sort of got swept away and eventually I grew." Aral twisted his face as he said 'grew' the word felt imprecise.

Andy cocked his head curiously, a look of intrigue passing across his face. "So... you're saying the host... is suppressed? That I'm speaking mainly to the symbiont? Or... all... to the symbiont?"

Aral narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "No, not at all. What I'm saying is that there's just no real line... an engineer would say I am more than the sum of the parts. Aix is as much Aral as Aral is Aix." He sighed and attempted a full explanation. "Most hosts are ready, they are trained psychologically for joining, they want to be joined and they live long enough to establish a real identity for themselves. I didn't have any of those opportunities, so when I was joined it was more like mixing sodium with water than a hydrocarbon... and you could say I stepped from the fire."

The doctor nodded slowly, understanding slowly beginning to settle in.

"Why do you assume there must be dominance?"

"It... was the way you said it, I think," Andy began. "I read a journal article back when I was in med school, about a joined Trill who served aboard a civilian research ship. Lie back, please." He put his hand on the commander's shoulder to help him into a reclined position and began to pass the osteo-stimulator across the ribs on his left side, focusing first on stimulating the body to repair the fourth and sixth. "There was an accident onboard and he was exposed to high concentrations of acylcreotic gas. It's... devastating to humanoid nerve tissue. It de-binds the chemicals that store memory from the cortex. The host's memory... personality was mostly gone." He adusted the device to the more seriously injured fifth rib and began to run it across the tender surface as he increased the output to the point that the commander could feel the energy from the device vibrating across his ribs. "Clinically, he was brain dead, even though there was about 10% of his memory still intact. But the symbiont was unaffected by the gas and, after a couple of weeks of recovery, began to express as a single, dominant personality."

"I suppose being braindead and being a teenager are quite similar." Aral replied, "Although it's interesting the symbiont formed a cohesive personality." He paused taking a couple of uncomfortable breaths as he tried to lie still. "I've found myself influenced by all previous hosts." He paused to think about that statement carefully, realising the hosts had been only ever been half the creature.

"We're all creatures of our experience, sir." He continued to run the device across the commander's ribs, adjusting the frequencies and depth accordingly. He felt the man flinch away momentarily and quickly held his hand still. "That shouldn't hurt," he said, shooting a puzzled look back down at him.

Aix looked up at Callai blankly.

"Sir?" the doctor looked back down at his patient, his hand steady on Aix's ribcage as he manipulated the buzzing machine across the bone. "Are you all right?"

"That really... really hurt." He replied, abandoning all attempts at machismo.

"I'm sorry, Commander," Andy said, reaching back across to the table and selecting a hypospray. He held it up for him to see. "I can give you a little local anesthetic if you want. Or something a little stronger." He tilted his head down to regard the man's face carefully. "Both are safe for the symbiont."

Aral shook his head, "Just fix it... and knock it off with the sir." He paused, wiping the pained expression from his face, "Aral is fine."

The young doctor smiled warmly down at him. "My friends call me Andy," he said, peering into the man's brown eyes. He pressed the device lightly against Aral's rib again, adjusting the angle of attack on the fracture, and the Trill began to feel a deep tickle as the bone began to knit back together. "If you pull down the top of your shirt, I can take care of the surgery on your sternum for you, if you'd like. Or I can ask Dr. Torrna to take care of it, if you'd rather."

Aral shook his head and zipped his shirt open. "Well, Maliya has been trying to get me into this position for years... but you're here. "

Andy chuckled quietly as his eyes scanned over the bruises already formed on the man's chest. "I can imagine." He shook his head in amusement, finally moving the device from Aral's rib and replacing it on the table. He took the hypo and held it up. "You're going to want a little anesthetic for this one."

The Trill nodded and wondered how long the junior doctor's bedside manner would last.

Andy pressed the hypo to his neck and triggered it, injecting him with the medication. He ran a sterile field across the man's bruised chest, then took the laser scalpel and began to create a small incision. "Any pain?" he asked, eyes on his work. He knew what the answer would be, but a good doctor should always check in on his patients.

"No, not at all." Aral was reeling from the anaesthetic which had taken effect instantly, and was rather fascinated at the sight of the microsurgery on his numb chest.

He saw the man watching his every move with the scalpel and equipment. Most patients wouldn't want to watch as you performed surgery, cut on their bodies. But Aral was a man of science, judging from the color of his uniform. By nature, he held a curiosity that many others didn't. "Pectoralis major," he said, indicating the muscle in question with his little finger as he continued to manipulate the surgical equipment. "Pectorialis minor. And that there," he indicated the bone as he revealed it, "is your sternum and xiphoid process. And that," he said as he pointed to a crack, "is your commutated fracture."

Aral made an interested noise as he watched Callai's hands at work; he was filled with a sense of wonder as he watched his bone reform under the whirring device the doctor held over the bone. He felt the vibrations reach the anaesthetised parts of his body. "It's very interesting." He remarked.

"I've always been amazed at how well the humanoid body heals," he nodded toward his equipment, "even without the technology." His gaze went to the man's build. "Of course, it helps that you're in such good condition."

"Thankyou" replied Aral still dazed from the anaesthetic, "It's the hoverball mainly..." his mind drifted back to his attempt at yoga alongside Maliya and he giggled, "the yoga did nothing for me..."

Andy finished mending the bone, then carefully repaired the overlying muscle tissue and fascia. "I've never played hoverball," he said softly as he worked on closing the incision. "Never quite figured out all the rules."

"I'll teach you sometime." Replied Aral, as he zipped up his shirt and attempted to sit upright altogether too quickly. Callai caught him and eased him into a sitting position. "You need good balance." Aral added.

"I've never had a problem with balance," Andy said, slightly amused by the commander. He watched his eyes for a few moments until they began to focus more appropriately as the anesthetic began to clear from his system. "But that sounds like fun. I'm in. Just one thing." He picked up a padd from the table and entered a few commands, finally handing it over to the commander. "Doctor's orders. Light duty for three days. No hoverball, strain, or lifting anything over five kilos."