Scientific Anomaly #1

Posted on Sun Jul 28, 2019 @ 2:12am by Civilian T'gan & Lieutenant Jason Haines

1,608 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: Temporal Science Lab
Timeline: MD11 1000 hours

ON

T'gan and Alanna had a long conversation about why T'gan didn't want to be the one to perform the weekly checks on Jason Haines and why Alanna shouldn't. Finally, T'gan accepted that she was the most logical choice and set up an appointment for Jason to meet her in her lab.

She devised a series of tests first as a baseline and to suit the requirements set by the commander.

Jason came into the science lab as scheduled, to get 'tested' by the science team. What exactly she was expecting to find, was beyond him. Although he knew it would be inappropriate for Alanna to test him, he wasn't happy that it was T'gan. He knew she was suspicious of him, so the tests would most likely be geared towards trying to get him to reveal something, even inadvertently.

Stopping at the desk, he smiled at the petty office minding the front desk.

"Lieutenant Haines here to see T'gan", he said.

"She's waiting for you." The PO pointed down the corridor. "Third door on your left."

"Thank you", Jason replied and headed down the corridor.

Jason sighed as he got to the door. 'This should be interesting', he thought sarcastically, before knocking on the frame of the open door.

"Come in," T'gan said. She was watching several readouts on the monitor while waiting for Haines to enter and take a seat.

"Good morning T'gan", Jason said, taking a seat. "How are you today?"

"I am well." She glanced up at him, then went back to her monitor. "No sign of cellular degradation. Mitochondria appear undamaged. Adremalin levels are elevated, but that is to be expected. Chroniton levels are elevated as well, but similar to Lieutenant Wells' levels." Other scans were still running, but she backed up the the first set and turned to face Jason.

"Congratulations, Lieutenant, you are not a clone. However, I cannot rule out that you are not from a parallel dimension. Your para-cortex levels are slightly off normal."

"Well, it is good to hear that I am most likely not a clone", Jason replied. "And we really can't rule out a lot of people here aren't from a parallel dimension. Anyone on the station who has used a transporter could be and anyone who has used the portal and been on the planet could be as well."

"While that is true, they did not die and come back to life," she countered. "In that you are unique. That necessitates that we take certain precautions."

"Well, technically speaking", Jason replied. "When someone uses the transporter, they are dead. Although their pattern is in the computer, they have no conscious thought. When their pattern is reassembled, they are ressurected, but they've been out of the space time continuum for about 15 seconds."

Jason was curious what she would say to that theory.

"I disagree. They are not out of space and time, or technically dead. It is more that they are in suspended animation or stasis. It is not the same thing at all." She looked at him, unimpressed. "It does not relate to your case at all."

"Well, if that were the case, I should be able to write the pattern of the item to a secondary unit an reassemble it from there. That has yet to be done.", he said. "But I wasn't relating it to my case, just making conversation."I

He smiled at her, waiting for the next test.

T'gan sighed. "Have you remembered anything about the time between your death and resurrection-for lack of a better word."

Jason found the emotional response from her interesting. He noted that for later.

"No, I don't", Jason answered. "And I think I like it that way to be honest."

She raised an eyebrow. It was a legitimate opinion. "Yes, but if you did, it could get you out of all these tests." Or add more.

"Maybe, maybe not", Jason replied. "but, I want to go through them anyway, to prove something to someone."

It would prove to Commander Soran that he would go through with what she threw at him, but it also gave him the opportunity to see people in other departments in action. That was an enlightening experiment, that the experimenters didn't know was going on.

T'gan watched his face. She nodded. "All right. We of necessity must meet once a week. These tests do not need to be repeated. How do you wish to proceed?" She wanted to hear what he thought before voicing any opinions of her own.

"As the subject of the experiment", Jason said. "It would probably be inappropriate of me to suggest methods of testing. It would be sort of like saying to Schrödinger's cat, 'Hey, are you alive in there.' Plus, I didn't receive the outline of what exactly the Commander wanted each department to test."

"Neither did I," T'gan said. "So, cat, shall we open the box?"

"Meow", Jason replied to her. "I am at your disposal."

"Disposing of you would not solve the problem," she countered. "I assume youve given samples to medical? Blood, tissue, scans?"

"Yes", Jason replied with a slight laugh at the disposal comment. "And as those belong to me, I do hereby give you permission to access them. I do hope they are enlightening for you, I was never into biology that much."

"That is not what I hear," she said, prepping a PADD and handing it to him. "Thumbprint, please, so I can access your data."

"Well, be careful what rumors you trust", he replied, putting his thumb down. "I am more interested in anatomy."

"That is what I hear," she said archly, sliding the PADD into a slot in her computer. When it chimed, she pulled up his medical records and began transferring the data from his most recent medical exams. "It appears I will need more blood and tissue." She went to the replicator and extracted a small device. "Your arm, please."

Jason put his arm out, smirking a little.

"Anatomy is useful in a number of situations, beyond general appreciation", Jason said. "My mother was a doctor, so I learned a lot of first aid. My father was an intel type, who used anatomy to end fights a lot quicker than they could have gone on without his knowledge. He took the phrase, 'know thy enemy', to an extreme. My mother always complained that it perverted her work."

"Fascinating." She took a sample from the side of his neck and prepped two slides, putting them into a small cabinet for analysis.

"Now, Lieutenant Haines, please tell me what you remember of that night and the next morning."

"I don't remember a thing about the night", Jason answered. "The morning, I woke up normally, felt fine. Actually, I felt better than fine, like I had slept when I was a kid. I went to work where I found out that I had been declared dead."

"Did you have any dreams?"

"None whatsoever", Jason replied. "that I remember anyways. It was one of the best night's sleep I ever had."

"Hmm." That could be very telling, but she couldn't say anything definitive, so chose to say nothing.

"I wish I could sleep that good every night", Jason said. "Without having to get killed as part of the package."

"There may be something behind your getting such a good night's sleep," T'gan said.

"How so?", Jason asked looking at T'gan curiously.

"I believe it relates directly to what brought you back to life," she said. "I do not know what it was or how it worked, but it is the most logical explanation."

"So, are you thinking along the lines of a reboot of a computer type of thing?", he asked.

"No. I believe that your subconscious may have suppressed what happened as a dream. Whatever brought you back is responsible for your level of wellness the next morning."

"So, essentially, I forget the whole deal of dying, and then something or someone decides to bring me back alive", Jason said. "If that were the case, why?"

"I have no idea," T'gan said. "That is yet to be discovered."

"Regardless", Jason replied with a smile. "The sleep was nice, but forgetting all about a party, well that part I could do with remembering."

T'gan shook her head. "The mind has a way of burying traumatic memory."

"It must have been a horrible party for my mind to want to bury the memory of it", Jason said, noting T'gan's reaction. A smirk ran through his mind.

"I do not believe you wish to relive your death."

"You are most correct and most probably wouldn't" , Jason remarked. "I imagine there may be some cultists or other sorts of zealots who might be into that, but I haven't been invited to any of their meetings. "

"Probably for the best," T'gan replied blandly. "So, Mr. Haines, we can stop for now and continue in one week, unless you have something else you wish to try?"

"No, I think the experiment has run long enough", Jason said. "Thank you for participating."

One corner of T'gan's mouth lifted in the barest hint of a smile. "The experiment is far from over, but we can be done for today. I will see you in one week's time."

"A week it is", he answered with a smile. "I will try to think of more tests we can run by then. I hope you have a great rest of the day.

She would, now that this meeting was over.

____
OFF

T'gan
Temporal Physicist
Deep Space Five

Lt.(jg) Jason Haines
Chief Intelligence Officer
Deep Space Five

 

RSS Feed