Posted May 18, 2021, noon by Lieutenant Ari O’Connell (Chief Medical Officer) (Calé Reilly)
Star-Fleet Medical, some months prior to the main sim
Deep in the bowels of the medical reference library section of star-fleet medical lie the Stacks. Rows upon rows of towering, old fashioned bookshelves. Filled with medical literature. The accumulated wealth of medical knowledge of the federation across various PaDDs, computer chips and even (or so rumour told) actual books and scrolls. The Stacks were obsolete now of course. Kept merely as a matter of posterity now that the medical database had absorbed all of the information contained within these sacred tomes.
Anti gravity boots allowed any scholars who sought out the original texts to go from point A to B and for those who wanted a more authentic touch and only looking for something half way up, ladders. On top of one such ladder, hair in a bun, and wearing the tell tale teal colour of medical a young female officer balanced. She pulled a stack of PaDDs from under her arm, blew some dust off of it, then placed it on the shelf. She then pulled another out and read the title a moment. This caused her to pause and frown. “Andorian Thrombosis…what are you doing here.” She asks the PaDD.
Carefully, so as not to lose her balance, she looked over her shoulder to the shelving behind her where the PaDD belongs. She glanced down and swallowed, it was a long way to the bottom. She took a breath, and gently set her other PaDDs on the shelf and turning gingerly, started to reach across the aisle with the Thrombosis PaDD in hand. The distance was a little too far, she stretched, reaching, holding the top of the ladder with her finger tips. She was almost there, almost right…there closer, now almost…
The ladder pulled away from the shelf. Ari yelped, dropping the PaDD and grabbed the top of the ladder, which stood up straight up on its end, mid aisle. Ari held her breath and closed her eyes as the ladder swayed precariously then swung around. She stilt walked for three or four steps.
“Oh..oh oh…help help help!” She yelled, struggling for balance. The ladder swayed again and crashed into the the top of another shelf. The dark haired woman screamed and screwed her face up ready to meet her demise under thousands of years of medical treatment. Ironic perhaps. Her hands slid down the ladder and she went with them screaming all the way. It wasn’t until she hit the ground and rolled did she realise she was safe. And that’s when the shelving fell into the next one over and a domino effect took place for seven or eight units. Thousands of volumes and chips and PaDDs falling off of shelves.
Ari stood up mid mess and looked around at the chaos. Her hands stung and somewhere she was aware that she had bruises forming. “Oops…” she breathed as people began hurrying through the mess to help.
“Lieutenant!” Someone bellowed in anger
She could tell that it wasn’t her best moment even now, months and months later, when she looked back on the event in the Stacks and felt her cheeks flush with the echo of embarrassment. She had always been clumsy…even as a child. She sighed as she stepped into the transporter room and saw the knowing smirk spread across the transport chiefs face. No, It definitely wasn’t her best moment. And she knew that the story would haunt her a while yet. She shook her head and stepped into the transporter.
“Is the Challenger ready to receive me chief?” She asked sternly, glaring at him.
“Yes Ma’am” he responded wiping the smirk off of his face.
“Then energise.” She said and kept the stern posture until the swirling dissolved one transporter room and brought back another. It was once she stopped sparkling that she sighed deeply and on the outward sigh let her body relax. She pressed down on the feelings of trepidation, gripped the shoulder strap of her duffle, and stepping off the pad headed to the door. “Thank you.” She told the transporter chief as she passed.
Some minutes and a little disorientation, despite her memorising the deck layout, later Ari found herself before the Captain’s office. She straightened her uniform, adjusted the stylus in her bun and pressed the chime.
Lt. O’Connell
CMO
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