Posted Jan. 11, 2019, 5:09 a.m. by Cadet Maximilian Woolley (Doctor) (Tim Olivieri)
All had been fairly routine in Sickbay since Max’s arrival on the Challenger. Boarding physicals took up the bulk of his day with the periodic injury or illness sprinkled in to add some flavor. Despite the routine nature of all of it, Max wasn’t bored. He treated each case individually rather than next in line. His training as a scientist and a physician taught him to make fewer assumptions and more observations. Analysis often, but not always, trumps instinct.
So it was after the third or fourth headache he treated that he began to consider that there may be a pattern worth examining. Headaches were once a common occurrence on Earth. They were, now, a medical oddity. Those that did emerge were often early symptoms of more serious conditions which gave way to early treatment and were thus halted in their tracks. Alcohol clearly played a roll in at least one of those cases. Or perhaps it was merely correlated.
His shift in the clinic ended for the night, Max decided to spend some time in the lab to see if his suspicions held water. Standing back he looked at a display where four profiles were displayed in comparison.
Unreported injuries, maybe? Max pondered. Maybe people were hitting their heads and just not reporting them for some reason.
=C= Computer, show white blood cell count on all four profiles.=C= Max’s heart quickened a bit as the computer acknowledged his command with a chirp as he awaited the results.
Nothing. No indication of infection. No clear responses to physical injury.
Crossing his arms he leaned against a lab table as he looked a the profiles. He knew there was an answer in there somewhere he was just a bit stuck as to where to look next.
Cadet Max Woolley (Medical)
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