TWG - USS Sovereign - Is There ANOTHER Doctor on Deck

USS Sovereign
Is There ANOTHER Doctor on Deck
by Parker Gabriel
(parker_gabriel@juno.com)

Is There ANOTHER Doctor on Deck?

FEW PERSONNEL SERVING ON BOARD THE U.S.S. SOVEREIGN QUESTIONED THE MEDICAL SKILLS OF DOCTOR MICHAEL KEEMER. One of those few personnel who did question those skills was Keemer himself. Having failed to save FrioDraca's life when the previous Chief Security & Tactical Officer was killed in action against the Jem'Hadar, he was now undergoing serious doubts about his own fitness to serve on board the Sovereign in a medical capacity--or in any capacity, for that matter.

"Everyone else aboard this bucket seems to think I'm a damned fine doctor," he was grumbling to Christopher Thomas Robinson. "Well, I don't feel like a damned fine doctor--you and Frio were good friends, and I couldn't even save him."

"Even Saw-Bones Pill could never have saved Frio," Robinson disputed, referring to Dr. Leonard Horatio McCoy. "He couldn't save the vision of my right eye, remember. The same goes for Star Fleet's current Surgeon General, Admiral Dr. Christine Marie Chapel, who was Dr. McCoy's most gifted protege--and his successor as Chief Surgeon of the Enterprise II. Face it, Doctor Who. Every physician loses at least one patient."

"I know that," Keemer acknowledged bitterly. "But Frio wasn't the one for me to lose."

"Then what do you want, Doctor Who? For me to hit the intercom unit, like this--" Robinson struck the bulkhead intercom unit control with his left hand as he spoke-- "and call the Main Bridge asking Commodore Siandierra, 'Is there ANOTHER doctor on deck?'"

The boatswain's whistle sounded at that point. "Siandierrrra herre, Commanderr. Surrprrisingly, the answerr to yourr question is yes."

"Sybil here, Robinson," came the voice of Commander Sybil Sixteen. "I thought you knew about my medical degrees--or did you?"

Floored, Robinson was at a loss for words. Sparing a glance at Keemer, he saw the Chief Surgeon grinning as though he had swallowed a tribble. Addressing Keemer, the spy managed to stammer, "Uh--Doctor--you--you're telling me you knew and I DIDN'T?"

Keemer nodded. "That I am," he said. "That I did--that you didn't."

Robinson whirled on the bulkhead intercom unit. "No, I did NOT!" he finally acknowledged, losing his temper. "Here I was, with my doctor being a teacher's son who tried to avoid being a teacher himself by becoming a doctor, only to become MY teacher about this time, and a highly reluctant one at that. And all the while, I never knew that this vessel's Commanding Officer had a fully-qualified physician as her Executive Officer, and later as her Second Officer!" His indignation broke and he added more calmly, "Thanks a lot, Skipper. Evidently, even though I'm an Intelligence Officer, I'm one who is not in the total confidence of his Commanding Officer--otherwise, why else would I be the last to know these things?"

"Because you didn't have a NEED to know." This from Siandierra.

"But am I to understand that now you do?" Sybil asked. "I've tried to keep my medical training and skills under wraps, seeing as I have a similar condition to Ensign Horton's."

Robinson and Keemer could not help laughing. "I understand now," said the former. "After all, who wants to be treated by a vampire doctor--or even a pseudo-vampire doctor?"

Keemer favored Robinson with another mouthful-of-tribble grin. "Who else do you think MY doctor has been all this time?"

The Intelligence Officer stared at his own physician, shocked. After breaking that stare, he turned to the bulkhead intercom unit. "I'm reporting to the Main Bridge," he said. "Hopefully, our next assignment from the Bold One will be to deal with a possible medical crisis somewheres."

* * * * *

Boarding the Main Bridge, Robinson nodded to Telsek K'Mar. "Relieving you, sir," he said as he took Telsek's place behind the Tactical Console.

"I stand relieved," Telsek said. But he himself did not debark from the Main Bridge.

"Are there any messages from Star Base 217?" Robinson asked.

"Yes," said All Of One, the Executive Officer. "Coming through now."

As Joseph Horton worked controls on his own board, the face of Vice Admiral Robert Vosseller Jr. became visible on the main viewer. But he was not transmitting from his ground-based office on Star Base 217; instead, this message was being transmitted from on board the Main Bridge of his flagship, the Challenger V. Its markings, to anyone who saw them from outside, read: U. S. S. CHALLENGER V. NCC-1676-D. STARSHIP U. S. S. CHALLENGER V-- UNITED FEDERATION OF PLANETS.

The Challenger V was externally identical in configuration to the Galaxy V and the Enterprise V, and indeed, it was a sister ship to both vessels. As soon as he saw that Robinson had relieved Telsek at the Tactical Console, Vosseller became all business.

"The reason I'm aboard the Challenger is that two ships will be necessary for this mission," he said. "I will rendezvous with you in four days, and I understand that there'll be two doctors available from your ship to supervise the situation."

"Bold One frrom Black Cat," Siandierra said. "Is it an Earrth colony that's in trrouble?"

"Yes," said Vosseller. "Apparently the Satcher-Koop colony on Ingraham B--"

"Bold One from Scarlet--didn't a macrobrain of flying parasites wipe out the intelligent civilization that once existed on that planet?" Robinson interrupted.

"The fact that it has no indigenous intelligent life forms left any longer made it a good location for the colony," Vosseller said. "And yes, the indigenous Ingrahamites were indeed destroyed by flying parasites that we still suspect originally came from the Large Magellanic Cloud. The Satcher-Koop colony was established there to research other microbial life forms."

"Only...something's gone wrong," Sybil said.

"I hope the colonists weren't engaging in biological warfare research," Robinson added. "That kind of research has been illegal since the First Khitomer Accords of December of 2293." At Vosseller's apparent lack of comprehension, the Intelligence Officer explained, "I've been studying the timeline of political events that followed my departure from my own time."

"If the Satcher-Koop colonists were indeed up to anything like that, I wouldn't be at liberty to say," Vosseller confessed. "But they are facing the possibility of a plague that could finish the work those damned flying parasites began more than a century ago."

Horton's fingers were already dancing on touch-pads. "Laying in course for Ingraham B now," he said. "What speed should we use?"

Vosseller shrugged. "Black Cat's discretion."

Siandierra turned to the Security-Tactical station. "If you have any suggestions, RRobinson, now's the time."

Robinson himself also shrugged. "What's the matter with a time-warp of factor nine?"

Sybil grinned. "Works for me."

Siandierra nodded. "Warrp nine at my command, Misterr Horrton."

"Permission to lead the first away team?" Telsek asked.

"Granted, Telsek," said Vosseller. "Commander Robinson will be your Number One."

"If I go, then Doctor Who does," Robinson insisted. "He's been doubting his abilities as a physician, and a mission like this will either restore his confidence--or motivate him to leave our crew."

"As logical an argument as I have heard in favor of Dr. Keemer's participation," said Telsek. "I will be including him in my away team."

"We'll see you at the rrendezvous," said Siandierra. "Black Cat out."

"Bold One out."

The transmission ended.

"We can go to warp nine at any time," Horton said.

"Engage."

Horton tapped a touchpad.

* * * * *

The Sovereign had accelerated to a warp factor of nine, one thousand five hundred and sixteen times light-speed, which allowed less than twenty-four hours of travel per parsec. To cut down travel time to Ingraham B, Horton was using collapsars's gravitational fields as slingshots. Sometimes he approached them from the directions of their rotations, and sometimes from opposite directions; but he always took care to guarantee that he did not slingshoot the Sovereign so far out of its normal space-time continuum that he could not bring it back easily.

During the journey, which took a total of three days using Horton's short-cutting methods, All Of One conducted drill maneuvers for Star Fleet Marine Strike Group Number Seven Hundred And Ninety-One, and Star Fleet Ranger Senior Captain Traci Giorgianni conducted similar maneuvers for her unit of the Star Fleet Rangers Service when she was not busy in the Warp Engine Room.

* * * * *

Ingraham B, the location of the rather young Satcher-Koop colony, was a planet that Christopher Thomas Robinson had expected never to visit in his lifetime. It brought back too many unhappy memories of an extinct people and a culturally dead planet. Worse, it made him wish he knew nothing about the history of the logs of the Enterprise.

As the Sovereign entered minimum zero-atmospheric standard orbit, a counter-clockwise circular orbit equivalent to the planet's radius plus three hundred and seventy-six meters for every kilometer of the radius, which assumed a sensible atmospheric limit of one hundred and seventy-four meters for every kilometer of the planet's radius, its scanners and sensors could make out the Challenger V in the same orbital plane.

The two ships found that the atmosphere of the planet was still breathable. But as he, Telsek K'Mar, and Mike Keemer met in the SickBay, where Sybil Sixteen had joined them, Robinson said, "Before we beam to the planet's surface, we'd better outfit ourselves in aseptic suits containing timed-release supplies of tri-ox compound."

"I was hoping I could fly to some of the potential hot zones," Sybil confessed.

"Absolutely NOT!" Keemer admonished. "Some of the microbes in those hot zones, if they happen to be disease microbes, could infect a person through the epidermis. Commander Robinson's right about this; we have to take the full range of precautions. That means we wear aseptic life-support suits with timed-release tri-ox supplies, just like he said."

"I'm also thirsty," Sybil added. "Is there any sterile blood left?"

Grinning, Robinson handed Sybil a Dewar bottle made of steel. "My own blood--donated yesterday," he said. "It's Type O, Rh-positive on the Landsteiner tables--quite common, and a very good group as far as agglutinogenesis goes."

Sybil opened the Dewar bottle and drank the salty maroon fluid straight down. As she drank, her pale complexion took on healthier color, and her dull brown fur acquired a faint gloss. At length she lowered the emptied bottle, allowed herself a subdued belch, and let out a short breath.

"Mmm," she said. "That really hits the spot."

"Allow me to phrase it this way," Telsek noted. "It is much safer for all other hands than having you drain their blood in their sleep and afflict them with pseudo-vampirism."

Keemer nodded. "Let's go."

The four outfitted themselves in airtight orange aseptic suits.

* * * * *

Traci Giorgianni was at the console in Transporter Room One, working the controls in preparation for beam-down, when the away team members entered.

"I've got the biofilter on standby calibration mode," she explained. "First signs you see of any contagion, send your data to the ship double-time."

"You bet," said Robinson. He and the others mounted the pads.

* * * * *

The first away team materialized in the transport reception platform of the Satcher-Koop main laboratory. They were surprised to find it deserted.

"This is most unlike the colonists," said Robinson.

"In what way?" Keemer asked.

"They're usually more careful in case visitors accidentally introduce other contagions they can't protect against--at least six guards should have been spraying us down with cryomicrobicides."

"No matter," said Telsek. "Here are the tanks." He gestured to huge tanks against a nearby wall. All had telescoping prehensile metal hoses attached to them and bore the legend: "CRYOMICROBICIDE. DANGER: AVOID SKIN CONTACT."

On a far wall, a lighted panel indicated that the tanks were all almost completely full.

"It looks like we'll have to be our own decon team," Sybil said. She pulled a hose from its mounting and sprayed down the other three with the cryomicrobicide. Then Keemer took the hose from her hands, sprayed her down with the cryomicrobicide, and replaced the hose on its mounting.

Robinson briefly shivered from the intense cold, against which his aseptic suit provided only partial protection. The cold, he reminded himself, was why cryomicrobicide was not to contact exposed skin--it would destroy life in the flesh. For the same reason, all four carried phasers and tricorders designed for low-temperature work.

Telsek led the way. But entering the main lab exposed the away team to a tableau of horror.

The floor was littered with corpses!

Keemer, who had seen many deaths before this, looked about to gag.

* * * * *

All Of One had joined Vosseller at the colony's residential structures. He was armed with a phaser rifle, to adhere to General Order 15's requirement that flag officers be under armed escort in hazardous areas, and he had linked a fluid chromatometer and a tricorder to his Borg implants.

"The atmosphere contains the aerobic chemicals released in humanoid putrefaction, in quantities in excess of sixty parts per million," he reported to the flag officer. "I am convinced that no more recently than eight days ago, at least fifty-five percent of the colonists died from unknown causes."

Not willing to rely solely on All Of One's armed escort, Vosseller too was armed, with a cobra-head phaser pistol in his case. He said, "Then let's find any survivors, so that the remaining fewer than forty-five percent can help us ascribe those deaths to known causes."

All Of One then froze in position, as if he were telemetrically connecting his Borg implants to something. "Tapping into all known surface tricorders, those of my shipmates and those of your crew, discloses extremely sparse, widely dispersed life signs. They are human, but they are weak."

Vosseller engaged the communicator controls on his aseptic suit. "Vosseller to Challenger--lock onto any humanoid life signs that are known not to belong to any away teams." He worked more suit controls, as if he were changing communicator channels. "Vosseller to Keemer and Sybil--we'll be setting up emergency triage in Challenger Cargo Bay One."

"Robinson to All Of One," came the Intelligence Officer's voice over the communicator unit built into the Executive Officer's own aseptic suit. "I'm at the main lab with Telsek, Sybil, and Doctor Who. We've found the researchers. They're all dead."

"All Of One here, Robinson," said the exec. "According to information I have obtained by linking my Borg implants with your tricorder, they died of a disease whose genetic structure shows signs of having been artificially constructed."

"Confirmed," said Telsek's voice.

"That's not all--the pathogen is active," noted Keemer's voice. "We'll have to quarantine any survivors."

"There are survivors all right, Keemer," said Vosseller. He worked controls built into his aseptic suit. "Vosseller to Sovereign--can you pinpoint the survivors we've detected?"

On board the Sovereign, Selek was already at work doing just that. He reported to Siandierra, "Survivors located. Maximum of nine hundred."

"We have found them all, Admirral," Siandierra reported. "Therre arre too many forr only yourr main carrgo bay to handle."

"Transmitting contagion data to Sovereign and Challenger," Robinson's voice said. "We can't leave the surface till all transporter biofilters have been calibrated accordingly."

"You get as many survivors as you can," Vosseller said. "The members of my crew are gonna handle the rest."

In Transporter Room One, Traci Giorgianni was working like mad at the control panel. "Contagion data received," she said. "Programming biofilter."

"Take as long as you need," said Siandierra. "We'rre not going anywherre just yet."

* * * * *

It took two days to rescue the survivors from Ingraham B. Keemer and Sybil had their hands full taking care of the five hundred Giorgianni had beamed into Cargo Bay One of the Sovereign. Even All Of One appeared to be run-down.

"Permission to regenerate--I am simply too depleted to continue on duty," he complained. "For me to proceed at this pace would be futile."

"Grranted, Numberr One," Siandierra said, yawning from her own exhaustion. "I will be going off duty myself--Commanderr Selek has the ship in my absence."

"I'll tell him," said All Of One. "All Of One to Selek--the captain and I are invaliding ourselves off duty from exhaustion. You have the ship."

"Acknowledged, Exec," said Selek.

* * * * *

In the cargo bay, Keemer and Sybil were compiling as much information as they could, from their patients, on whatever struck the colony and killed more than a thousand of its people. In tricorder scans, interviews with patients, and documents on tripolymer sealant-ruggedized isolinear optical chips, they were developing a profile of a plague.

* * * * *

Robinson had returned alone to the surface and constructed an aseptic hut of thermoconcrete. He was now attempting to glean materiel from the computers in the main lab that could assist in developing an antitoxin to the disease. After two days, he was convinced he was on the right track. Eating a meal from inside his hut, he was now communicating with the Sovereign, explaining, "Apparently, the researchers recreated the primordial soup theorists believe spawned life on all habitable worlds with indigenous life. They hoped to re-manipulate it into a universal disease antitoxin, making microbial warfare pointless." He drank coffee beamed directly into his hut, whose very existence, he believed, was the only way he could survive without exposing himself to contagion. It lacked the comforts of his on-board quarters, but he had weapons, a cot, and a computer and communications station inside. The hut even had crude sanitation facilities and a fifty-liter water supply. But of most import, it had an atmospheric decontaminator and a sterile field generator to keep the disease out.

"How did it get away frrom them?"

"Apparently, at a crucial stage in the researchers's work, a major tectonic quake struck the area near the lab. It measured 7.1 on the ancient Richter scale of plate tectonic disturbances. That was two weeks ago, and once that happened, that's all she wrote."

"Mr. Robinson," said Selek, "are you telling us that a tectonic disturbance ruined the results of six years of research?"

"I'm afraid so," Robinson conceded. "It was a freak disturbance, from all accounts. The labs were carefully kept away from any subsurface crustal faults in order to prevent exactly that."

"But it didn't worrk," Siandierra noted.

"I'm worried that it may happen again--Commander Selek, could you scan for possible quakes in my vicinity?" As he spoke, he finished eating and drinking in a greater hurry than usual.

On board, Selek was bent to his consoles. These needed no such hooded viewers as Spock S'Chn T'Gai had used more than a century before because computers had become more efficient. "One is due to occur in less than a minute, Commander," he confirmed. "Its epicenter will be approximately five kilometers from your present position."

"Sir, can you predict its intensity or gauge the extent of the damage it'll cause?" Was Robinson's voice acquiring an edge of desperation?

"Six point six on the ancient Richter scale of plate tectonic disturbances," said Selek. "It will totally destroy your hut and at least forty-five percent of the laboratory building, in addition to any other damage it will cause."

But on the surface, the quake was already beginning. A crack was already open in the north wall of Robinson's hut, allowing the airborne infection to get through.

"It's in progress now," the Intelligence Officer gasped, now terror-stricken. "Set up a quarantine field in Cargo Bay Two and beam me and my gear directly into it!"

"Have you been exposed, Commanderr?" Siandierra broke in.

"Yes! The north wall of my hut's cracked, and contaminated air is leaking in!" Even as Robinson spoke, he was inhaling the pathogen and he knew it. "Doctor Who had better come through to save MY life, or he's never gonna be able to live with himself!"

Slamming a clawed hand down on her Command Con, Siandierra all but screeched in near-panic, "SickBay, Carrgo Bay One, you hearrd Commanderr RRobinson! Set up a quarrantine field in Carrgo Bay Two and beam him and his gearr dirrectly into it! And DOUBLE-TIME it, orr he's dead!"

On Ingraham B, as the quake worsened and crumbled the flimsy thermoconcrete walls of his hut, Robinson too was almost panicked. "Robinson to Sovereign! Get me out of here NOW!!!"

It was almost a relief when the transporter energies enveloped him and blocked his perception of reality.

* * * * *

Back aboard ship, Cargo Bay Two had become Mike Keemer's pro tem workstation. Christopher Thomas Robinson was inside, sleeping as normally as he could, on a mobile med-table.

"Sybil's worked round the chronometer collating the data we gathered on the disease affecting Commander Robinson," Keemer was telling Siandierra. "From what we gathered, some colonists developed a natural immunity to it. We're working to duplicate immunization agents we isolated in their bloodstreams and biochemistries, so we can treat Commander Robinson with them."

"What arre the symptoms like?"

Keemer shuddered to remember what he had seen on Ingraham B.

"Severe nausea and disorientation, violent neuromuscular convulsions, extreme pain that feels as though your bones were actually grinding inside themselves, diminished lung capacity and elevated cell rate, heavy sweating and corresponding increase in body temperature--within forty-eight hours of exposure, you actually die conscious and in agony."

"What makes you surre of that?"

"The corpses we found all had the twisted expressions of people in pain." The Chief Surgeon was not squeamish, but he now looked about to break down in tears. "They felt their own deaths as they died."

"Help RRobinson," Siandierra urged. Herself visibly shaken, she added, "And Doctorr--considerr that a dirrect orrderr."

She turned and left.

Sybil came into the cargo bay as Siandierra was walking out.

"I think we may have something," she said. "It looks like you were right."

And she went on to explain to Keemer what she had noticed about his findings.

* * * * *

Though he was indeed sleeping, the suffering Christopher Thomas Robinson was enduring did not allow him to be visited by peaceful dreams.

In the most recent of those horrible dreams, he was back aboard the Enterprise I as one of its "boatload of children" in the Twenty-Third Century, still an ensign and still an astrophysicist's mate, checking how warp core power consumption would affect his experimentation.

As a spasm of pain shot through his muscles, his subconscious mind's eye was seeing his ordeal against the Wrath Of Khan Noonian Singh.

("Just fifteen more seconds, and I'll be able to--")

(WHOOM!!!)

("AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! My EYE!!!")

(The klaxons sounded an alert, Condition Red. "Oh my God--we're under attack!")

(General confusion and near-panic ensued as all hands tried to get out of the Warp Engine Room, except for Midshipman First Class Peter Preston, Engineer's Mate--and Scott's nephew.)

("But what about your experiment?" wondered a trainee.)

("My experiment--forget my experiment! It's been disintegrated; it's gone! We've gotta get out of here--COME ON!!")

("But your eye!")

("I'll have Saw-Bones Pill tend to it when this is all over! Now move it! Go! GO! GO!")

(And he helped others out, giving little thought to his own safety till just before the isolation hatch dogged itself.)

("Robinson to Preston--Peter, do you copy me?" No response. "Damn you, Peter, answer me!" Still no response. "Robinson to Midshipman First Class Preston, come in!" Nothing. "Midshipman First Class Preston, this is Ensign Robinson! Acknowledge!" No response. "I've gotta get to a battle station somewhere on this ship--now where did Captain Spock say my battle station was?")

(Later, in the SickBay, Dr. Leonard McCoy was looking him over. "How bad is the infection of my right eye, Saw-Bones Pill?")

("Your eye took a pretty big metal fragment when Khan hit us with his first shot.")

("Khan Noonian Singh!" Robinson was livid. "Why, that rotten eugenicized monster. He must have gone completely mad to do anything like this. This whole attack he's made on us must be his revenge for the failure of the New Australia colony on Ceti Alpha V and the death of Marla McGivers-Singh!" His anger broke and he added more calmly, "The Wrath Of Khan Noonian Singh blasted a piece of metal into my right eye, and now it's infected--is there anything you can do about it? I mean, can you do anything at all to save my eye?")

("Well, I can set you up for surgery that can repair the eye.")

(McCoy didn't elaborate, prompting Robinson to note, "Only--there's a problem.")

("Yes. The operation on your eye will keep you off duty for a whole year if I perform it.")

("This Fleet needs people like me something desperate, Saw-Bones Pill. There'll be no operation of the kind that you're proposing. Just remove the metal fragment from my eye.")

("All right, then--I'll do the best I can do. Your eye will heal--but you will, one day, lose its vision. By refusing that operation, you've just sacrificed your stereoscopic vision and depth perception.")

("If having been a hero means I'll have to go blind in one eye as a result, then I'll pay that price. Those trainees were my friends, Doctor, and I'm convinced I saved their lives even as that infection was setting into my eye. What matters is not whether it'll stay of any use to me, but that they're still alive. An eye that can see isn't worth nearly as much as the lives of your shipmates.")

(McCoy nodded reluctantly. "I'm afraid I'll have to agree with you on that point.")

("Do you think there's gonna be a decoration for me in this?")

("I haven't the damnedest idea--beyond the obvious for wounds...or death...in combat.")

Robinson suddenly woke, groaning. The brain K3 indicator, which measured the electrical activity of his brain, was almost off the scale, showing pain that was driving the Intelligence Officer mad.

"Doctor Who!!! For God's sake, HELP ME!!!" he screamed. Then he collapsed in tears of pain.

* * * * *

Keemer was racking his brain trying to figure out how the immunization agents he had isolated from the survivors would help Robinson, who was now twenty-seven hours infected. But the effort had left him tired. He sat down in his office and lowered his head to his desk, muttering to himself.

"Airborne infections...inhaled...worsened under stress...no relaxation..."

He fell silent. In his "catnap," he was half-dreaming of how Robinson's tendency to react to sudden stresses with violent emotions--

Then he suddenly sat bolt upright. Stresses! THAT WAS IT!

What a fool he had been--the disease pathogen fed on the endocrine hormones whose production emotional and/or physical stresses in humans triggered! And Christopher Thomas Robinson was an emotionally intense, fiercely passionate human who never allowed himself time to relax or take any breaks!

It all made sense to Keemer now--the immunization agents had been isolated from patients who described themselves as laid-back, easygoing types. The colony logs indicated that the dead had all been high-strung people who were neither casual nor noted for patience.

All of a sudden, Keemer commenced to laugh hysterically. He remembered one of Robinson's stories about the voyages of the Enterprise, about when it had traveled to Argelius II for shore leave purposes. An evil alien sapient discorporate had traveled the galaxy for millenniums, preying on worlds where fear could be generated in abundance. It had used names like Redjac, Kesla, and Beratis, and it had corrupted Ancient Free And Accepted Masons member Albert Victor Christian Edward Sachsen-Koburg-Gotha, Prince Of Wales, into the infamous criminal Jack The Ripper, who had murdered five prostitutes in Nineteenth-Century London on Earth. When it had attacked Argelius II, using the corpse of a certain Mr. Hengist, a city administrator, originally from Rigel IV, Montgomery Scott had been wrongly accused of three murders the being had actually committed. To starve it of fear, McCoy had dosed all hands aboard the Enterprise I with a tranquilizer that he had said would work on an active volcano. If that tranquilizer and the immunization agents had synergistic effects, Robinson was as good as saved!

Recovering himself long enough to catch his breath, Keemer struck a communicator touchpad on his desk and said exultantly, "Commodore, I think I've got it! If one of the tranquilizers I've got works in synergy with those immunization agents, all we have to do is dose Chris with both of them!"

Sybil came in just then, having overheard him. "Should I test for synergistic effects?" she asked.

"Yes, yes, by all means!" answered Keemer with glee. "I'm sorry, ma'am; Sybil just came in asking if she could test the theory I formed, and I gave her the okay to do it--if it works like I think it will, we've saved Chris's life!"

Sybil was already busy in the lab. Blending the serum from the immunizers with tranquilizer after tranquilizer, she found a blend that the tricorder and the computer both showed to have powerful synergistic effects. Synthesizing five liters of it, she beckoned Keemer over to see the contents of the transparent aluminum flask.

"We've found the cure," Keemer exulted as he beheld the thin watery green liquid that the flask contained. "Get it to Robinson and dose him with it."

* * * * *

Less than three hours later, Sybil held a personal displayer to her breast like a love letter.

"I shot Commander Robinson with it," she said. "It's the right stuff, all right."

Keemer thanked her with a smiling nod. "Doctor, if you ask me, saving Chris's life MORE than makes up for not having been able to save Frio."

"You'll stay on, then?"

"No."

Sybil's eyes widened in disbelief. "Why not?"

"I don't need to now--not any longer! You're at least as good a doctor as me. I'll be leaving SickBay in excellent hands--and under particularly strong protective wings."

Both Sybil and Keemer broke up laughing.

* * * * *

It took a full day before Christopher Thomas Robinson was out of danger.

But at the end of that day, weak but alive, he could resume some duties. One was a ceremony Siandierra Anjulee Beautelier had arranged for his, Sybil Sixteen's, and Michael Keemer's benefits. A package rested near Keemer's feet.

"On this date," she said, "it is my prrivilege to assign my forrmerr Executive Officerr and forrmerr Second Officerr, Commanderr Sybil Sixteen, as ourr new Chief Surrgeon and Chief Medical Officerr. As Doctorr Michael Keemerr is accepting rreassignment to a grround-based Starr Fleet hospital, it is only fitting that he should trransferr his post to his successorr by administerring the Hippocrratic Oath to herr. Beforre he does, howeverr, Commanderr RRobinson will rrenew herr Starr Fleet grraduation oath. Commanderr, if you will?"

Robinson, in his full-dress uniform, turned to face Sybil. His recovery was not yet completed; he would need two full weeks of physical--and mental--recuperation to resume his full duty schedule. These would begin after the ceremony was over.

"Commander Sybil Sixteen," he declared, his voice still weak, "you are hereby officially requested and required to assume the duties and privileges of the post of Chief Surgeon and Chief Medical Officer of the United Space Ship Sovereign as of this date and this time, oh-six:hundred hours on Friday, November Twenty-Second, Two Thousand, Three Hundred and Seventy-Four, by order of Commodore Siandierra Anjulee Beautelier, Commanding Officer of same."

"I officially honor that request and meet that requirement," Sybil responded.

"Raise your right hand and repeat after me: You, Sybil Sixteen, do solemnly swear--"

Sybil's right hand went up. "I, Sybil Sixteen, do solemnly swear--"

"--that you will preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United Federation of Planets and its Articles Of Federation--"

"--that I will preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United Federation of Planets and its Articles Of Federation--"

"--against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that you may encounter--"

"--against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I may encounter--"

"--that you will render full and unconditional obedience to the same--"

"--that I will render full and unconditional obedience to the same--"

"--that you will sacrifice your life to this end if necessary--"

"--that I will sacrifice my life to this end if necessary--"

"--and that you take this oath freely and without reservation."

"--and that I take this oath freely and without reservation."

Robinson turned to Keemer. "Commander, as outgoing Chief Surgeon, it is now your responsibility to re-administer the Oath of Hippocrates to Commander Sybil, incoming Chief Surgeon." Philip John Boyce had made Marcus James Piper renew the Oath of Hippocrates before allowing him to take over as the Enterprise I's Chief Surgeon, and Piper had exacted the same from Leonard Horatio McCoy. Keemer turned to Sybil and lifted his right hand. "Raise your right hand and repeat after me: You, Sybil Sixteen, do solemnly swear and affirm--"

Raising her own right hand, Sybil echoed, "I, Sybil Sixteen, do solemnly swear and affirm--"

"--by that which you hold most sacred--"

"--by that which I hold most sacred--"

"--that you shall fulfill, according to the best of your ability and judgment, this oath and this covenant:"

"--that I shall fulfill, according to the best of my ability and judgment, this oath and this covenant:"

"--to hold those who have taught you this art and this science as dear to you as your parents--"

"--to hold those who have taught me this art and this science as dear to me as my creators--"

"--to lead your life in partnership with them--"

"--to lead my life in partnership with them--"

"--if they are in need of provisions, to give them a share of yours--"

"--if they are in need of provisions, to give them a share of mine--"

"--to regard their offspring as equal to your siblings in lineage and teach them this art and this science, if they desire to learn it, without fee and covenant--"

"--to regard their offspring as equal to my siblings in lineage and teach them this art and this science, if they desire to learn it, without fee and covenant--"

"--and to give a share of precepts and oral and written instruction, and all other relevant learning thereof--"

"--to your heirs, to the heirs of those who have instructed you--"

"--to my heirs, to the heirs of those who have instructed me--"

"--and to all students who have likewise signed this covenant and have taken this oath according to the medical law, but no one else."

"You will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which shall be required--"

"I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which shall be required--"

"--according to the best of your ability and judgment."

"--according to the best of my ability and judgment."

"You will keep the sick from harm and injustice--"

"I will keep the sick from harm and injustice--"

"--and avoid both excessive treatment and therapeutic nihilism--"

"--so that, when you treat any patient, you will first do no harm."

"--so that, when I treat any patient, I will first do no harm."

"You will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps you walk--"

"I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk--"

"--and gladly share such knowledge as is yours with those who may follow you."

"--and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who may follow me."

"You will neither willfully give a drug that you know will cause death to any person who has asked for it--"

"I will neither willfully give a drug that I know will cause death to any person who has asked for it--"

"--nor make any suggestion to this effect."

"Similarly, you will not give to a female patient an abortive remedy."

"Similarly, I will not give to a female patient an abortive remedy."

"In purity and holiness you will guard your life and your art."

"In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art."

"You will not use the knife, save if you be engaged in this work--"

"I will not use the knife, save if I be engaged in this work--"

"--but otherwise will withdraw in favor of those who are engaged in this work."

"You will remember that medicine is an art as well as a science--"

"I will remember that medicine is an art as well as a science--"

"--and that your warmth, your sympathy, and your understanding--"

"--and that my warmth, my sympathy, and my understanding--"

"--such as you may be able to provide any of these--"

"--such as I may be able to provide any of these--"

"--may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug."

"You will not be ashamed to say 'You do not know.'"

"I will not be ashamed to say 'I do not know.'"

"Nor will you fail to turn to your colleagues--"

"Nor will I fail to turn to my colleagues--"

"--when you find that the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery."

"--when I find that the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery."

"Whatever locations you may visit--"

"Whatever locations I may visit--"

"--you will come for the benefit of the sick--

"--I will come for the benefit of the sick--"

"--remaining free of all intentional injustice and all mischief--"

"--and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male life-forms--"

"--and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male life forms--"

"--be they free or slaves."

"You will remember that you do not treat a fever chart or a cancerous growth--"

"I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart or a cancerous growth--"

"--but a sick intelligent life form--"

"--whose illness may affect the family and emotional stability of that life form."

"Your responsibility will include these related problems--"

"My responsibility will include these related problems--"

"--if you are to care adequately for the sick."

"--if I am to care adequately for the sick."

"You will prevent disease whenever you can--"

"I will prevent disease whenever I can--"

"--and regard prevention as preferable to cure."

"You will remember that you remain a member of society--"

"I will remember that I remain a member of society--"

"--with special obligations to all your fellow intelligent life forms--"

"--with special obligations to all my fellow intelligent life forms--"

"--those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm."

"What you may see or hear in the course of the treatment--"

"What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment--"

"--or even outside of the treatment--"

"--in regard to the lives of your patients--"

"--in regard to the lives of my patients--"

"--which on no account one must spread abroad--"

"--you will keep to yourself, and respect the privacy of such patients--"

"--I will keep to myself, and respect the privacy of such patients--"

"--regarding such knowledge shameful to be spoken about."

"For the problems of your patients are not disclosed to you--"

"For the problems of my patients are not disclosed to me--"

"--that the Universe may know them."

"Most especially will you tread with care in matters of life and death."

"Most especially will I tread with care in matters of life and death."

"If it is given to you to save a life, then you shall render all thanks."

"If it is given to me to save a life, then I shall render all thanks."

"But if it also fall within your power to take a life--"

"But if it also fall within my power to take a life--"

"--then you will face this awesome responsibility--"

"--then I will face this awesome responsibility--"

"--with great humility and awareness of your own frailty."

"--with great humility and awareness of my own frailty."

"Above all, you will not play at godhood."

"Above all, I will not play at godhood."

"May you always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of your calling--"

"May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling--"

"--and may you long experience the joy of healing those who seek your help."

"--and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help."

"If you fulfill and keep this sacred oath--"

"If I fulfill and keep this sacred oath--"

"--may it be granted to you to enjoy life and art--"

"--may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art--"

"--respected while you live--"

"--respected while I live--"

"--remembered with affection after your death--"

"--remembered with affection after my death--"

"--and being honored with fame among all who live for all time to come--"

"--but should you falsely swear, trespass against, and/or violate this oath--"

"--but should I falsely swear, trespass against, and/or violate this oath--"

"--may the reverse be your lot."

"--may the reverse be my lot."

Both Keemer and Sybil lowered their right hands.

"Computer, transfer all Medical Division command codes and protocols from Commander Doctor Michael Keemer to Commander Doctor Sybil Sixteen. Authorization Robinson delta-four."

Two seconds later, the computer voice responded, "TRANSFER COMPLETE. MEDICAL DIVISION OF U.S.S. SOVEREIGN NOW UNDER COMMAND OF COMMANDER DOCTOR SYBIL SIXTEEN."

"I relieve you, sir," said Sybil.

"I stand relieved, ma'am," was Keemer's response. "Oh, and Sybil--" he regarded his successor with a confident gaze-- "all my hopes."

Robinson had been saving his strength, and now infused almost all of it into yelling, "Ten-HUT!" After a pause to get his breath back, he added, "There's a DOCTOR--and an OFFICER--on deck." He brought his boatswain's whistle to his mouth and blew what sounded like, "Hyoo-WHEE--hyoo." This officially piped the new Chief Surgeon onto duty.

Turning to Sybil, he finished, "I wish you the best of luck, Commander, in your new post."

"Thanks, Commander," Sybil said with a wry grin. "It looks like I'm gonna need it."

Keemer bent down to the package at his feet. "Before you take over for me," he said, "seeing as you've already returned from that special study leave you had to take, I think it's only fair that you should have this."

He opened the package and broke out its contents.

It was a white laboratory coat.

On its left breast, embroidered in red, were the caduceus and red cross that had been the Earth symbols for medicine for centuries, and were still the symbols of the Star Fleet Medical Division.

"I took the trouble to prepare it for you as we were on our way to Ingraham B," he went on. "It's made to your own measurements. My own predecessor as Chief Surgeon of this ship prepared mine by hand, in the same way, while I was on my required study leave."

Robinson nodded at the reminder of Enterprise history. Dr. Sarah April, nee Poole, who had been the first fully-qualified doctor aboard any Class One capital starship, had herself taken a special study leave before the Enterprise I was slated to launch, and she had required it of all incoming Chief Surgeons before they could assume their posts.

All he said aloud was, "It now behooves us to see to it that there's yet ANOTHER doctor on deck. I'll begin my own studies in Starship Field Medicine tomorrow."

"Just don't allow them to interrferre with yourr rregularr duties," Siandierra admonished jokingly.

"They won't," Robinson assured her. "Besides, I now see that those studies are necessary for my duties. Sometimes, a spy in the field can't always count on there being a doctor in the house."