Round 1 Malcolm & Gray: Laying Groundwork

[Alexander Matthews]

((Sickbay))

:: Jen Malcolm never imagined that on her first day aboard the new

ship she’d already have a patient in her intensive care unit. She sat

with him, with the dermal regenerator poised over his forehead working

steadily at repairing the scarred skin beneath. It was a slow

process.::

:: Gray walked back into sickbay, he looked and felt haggard and

weary. He rubbed his tired eyes and forehead and folded his arms. He

was relieved to be away from that disgusting Denobulan, his constant

rambling sapped his energy and will to live. Hovering near Davies

biobed he knew how grave the situation was for himself and wondered

how much trouble this man was going to cause him in the future. He was

looking at a potential disaster and intended to monitor the situation

very closely. ::

Gray: Hello Doctor, may I join you?

::Jen sat up and looked over to see who had entered. She was met with

the beleaguered face of Ensign Gray::

Malcolm: Yes, Gray. :::She sat back and set the dermal regenerator

aside for the moment::

Gray: ::Sighing heavily:: This really is a troubling situation we find

ourselves in.

Malcolm: Troubling? Yes. Though I’d say a little more than just

‘troubling’ for Mr. Davies.

Gray: How is he doing?

Malcolm: He’s still comatose, but I do get some responses from pain

stimuli, so I expect him to continue improving. ::She looked at Gray

in concern - the tired eyes were the first change she’d seen in his

demeanour since the incident:: Are you ok?

Gray: All things considered... yes. It’s Davies I’m interested in

though, can you tell me of his injuries? :: Looking at Davies he could

size up the visible injuries, but he was curious to know if there was

anything else of note. ::

Malcolm: The wound to his head caused some swelling and bleeding. I’m

not sure how badly the lack of oxygen has affected him. ::She gave him

a kind smile:: The injection you administered should have helped

minimize that, I hope. He’s lucky you were there. ::She sighed and

clasped her hands in her lap:: O’Hanlon and I were able to repair his

lungs. And there’s some damage to the inner ear. Maybe some hearing

loss.

Gray: Swelling to the head is a serious deal, have you had a chance to

run any scans yet?

Malcolm: Yes. I can’t say I’m very happy with what I’m seeing on them.

Gray: May I look?

::She looked from Gray to Davies to the Padd that held Davies’ chart.

She could see Gray was concerned but didn’t want to share his

confidential information::

Malcolm: I know you’re concerned, Gray, but it’s still a little early

to learn much from the scans anyway.

Gray: I understand what you’re saying. I know you and your colleagues

have enough expertise between you but as someone with considerable

knowledge of physiology and anatomy I wanted to offer my...assistance.

I have been working on helping a particular race of people with

research into the brain, it’s something I know a lot about.

::She nodded and beckoned him over, holding the PADD out so he could

have a look at the images::

:: Gray looked at the brain scan, it was encouraging. He saw there was

some damage to a few areas of the temporal lobe. That part of the

brain dealt with several things including recognition, learning and

memory. Encouraging indeed but he would have to wait and see. ::

Gray: ::Grim smile:: It’s encouraging Jen. He likely won’t have to

worry about losing speech, motor control or even his personality. The

damage is localised and small, mainly to the medial temporal lobe near

the sagittal plane. The area is involved with episodic and declarative

memory. I think he will adapt just fine, but as you say we will need

to wait and see.

::He’d repeated everything she already knew, but there was nothing

wrong with hearing it again and having her diagnosis supported. She

looked up from the Padd to him and nodded in agreement, wondering for

a moment when she’d gotten on a first name basis with him.

Malcolm: I’ll be happier when he’s up and about.

Gray: ::Becoming cooler and more impassive again:: Indeed.

::She patted his shoulder::

Malcolm: You did everything you could to help him.

Gray: Evidently it wasn’t enough. :: His idea of “help” was a lot

different to hers however. He’d helped Mister Davies into an early

grave but the stubborn man had climbed back out again before he could

slam the coffin lid shut. ::

::She gave his shoulder another pat before taking her hand away and

returning to Davies’ beside. She picked up the dermal regenerator,

wanting to get back to work on his skin::

Gray: ::Turning to leave:: If you could keep me informed of his

progress I’d be grateful and I’d like to stop by again later when he

comes round, if he feels up to company of course.

:: He didn’t really care a shred about Davies or how he felt about

anything but he knew when it was time to do some buttering up.

Luckily, it seemed Jen was buying it.::

Malcolm: Of course.

:: Gray wandered out of sickbay considering the scan he had seen. He

hadn’t offered much information on the subject. It was one of those

things where you had to wait and see which aspects had been affected

and how badly. The scan was just an indicator right now and he hoped

it would work to his advantage. He headed towards the turbolift

thinking about some food and rest. ::

Lt. Jen Malcolm

CMO

USS Avandar

and

(PNPC)Ensign Dominic Gray

Science Officer

USS Avandar

Simmed by Blackwood