Human Entomology

Posted on Wed Jun 30th, 2021 @ 8:12pm by Lieutenant Commander Emni t'Nai & Ensign Noah Balsam

Mission: The Place of Skulls
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Mission Day 3 at 1800

Her eyes hurt. And her back. And if she was being honest she was starting to get a headache. Since they had left orbit around Risa 76 officers had made their way through Sickbay, split nearly evenly between Emni and Kennedy. While updating physicals wasn't the hardest task on Commander Takomi's list of preparations, it had been necessary to intersperse them between drills, action scenarios, and general familarization of the new Sickbay. The result had been long days, low sleep, and a lot of time on her feet.

A few times she had considered enabling the LMH to assist with the workload, but had hesitated. It felt wrong, somehow, to only load his program when it would benefit her rather than when there would be an opportunity for him to interact. She hadn't spoken to him since he had chosen to deactivate himself shortly after having his "ceiling" lifted so to speak and at the time he had seemed quite flustered--if holograms could seem flustered.

The doors to Sickbay swished open and held as if someone was standing in the door. Without turning around Emni waved a hand over her shoulder. "Over here if you would."

Noah Hyman Balsam strode in, all legs like someone had uprooted a willow tree or else given a stick insect a human body. The lanky one looked at the voice through the blue-black glass that shielded the Chief Medical Officer's office from the main bay. Fingers dappled up his sleeve and rested in the nook of his elbow. Only a day ago he'd watched the Doctor manage to wrangle Nir Giorgiou in for his physical. Noah was far more obedient and appeared early.

"Hi. Uhhh, hi? I think I'm early." Noah said. "I can come back." Like T'Nai, Balsam looked wrung out, though not quite so badly as he had at Debbie's Diner opening.

Emni turned at the sound of the uncertain voice. The Midshipman's emotional signature was beginning to become more familiar to her, but it was his speech that tipped her off.

"No no, you're fine," she said, waving him over as she came out of the office. She indicated the empty biobed just outside ofthe office door. "Better early than late."

Not waiting to see if the youth responded she turned her back, picking up a medical tricorder and tapping lightly on a PADD to bring up Noah's file. Over her shoulder she added, "If you would remove your jacket please."

Noah chewed at the wide corner of his lip, the agreeable creases of his dimples fading while natural modesty shifted. "C-course... umm..." Noah swayed like a skittish deer to a biobed and dutiful undid his jacket. He had his usual SOJO undershirt on which he tugged at until he dropped his arms. He tried to relax but his mindscape was one of directionless anxiety, shyness, self-consciousness, a minority voice of reassertion, a waft of logic. Then, finally, a modicum of schooling his feelings as his eyes set forward and yet focused on nothing really.

Emni felt the wash of anxious uncertainty peak as she worked alerting her to the discomfort of the young man on the biobed before she turned around. She wouldn't have needed the advanced warning, though. His body language was clearly that of someone uncomfortable in his own skin.

"The shirt, too, Midshipman," she noted gently, pulling out the tone she reserved for those patients who had a clear aversion to doctors or whose procedures required the delivery of delicate news.

Another waft of anxiety, and like all tides it ebbs beyond a countertide of discipline, of self-assurance. Noah dutifully removed his shirt as well, long fingers fluttering to rest in the nook of elbows attached to pale and willowy arms.

She lifted the tricorder then, running a back to front scan, eyes on the small screen as she did so. When the device chirped it's confirmation that all vitals had been captured she set it to the side, moving a bit closer to the biobed. "Arms out to your sides," she directed, demonstrating with her own arms as she did so.

Noah obeyed, dropping his arms to hang.

Gently she pushed down on his arms from above, noting the response of his musculature as she did so. "And now straight up," she directed, completing a similar task as she moved to gently apply pressure pushing his arms away from his head. "Ok, you can relax," she noted, picking up the PADD that she had set to the side and entering notes in rapid short form.

"The work you did on Debbie's Diner is impressive," she noted as she worked. "You've got a talent there."

Noah's arms, straight up, dropped at her signal and again folded across his skinny chest. "Th-thanks," he said, his chest and cheeks already flushed. "I just hope everyone, um, enjoys it." He said with distracted concentration. "I knew a place like it back home... but it served, um, pizza." He chanced at a glance at her, "Do-do they, um, have pizza on Romulus?"

Emni considered a moment, debating whether to remind the young man that Romulus hadn't been a round for some time. Quietly she decided against it not wanting to make him any more uncomfortable than he already was.

"We had something similar," she replied. "There was a blue fruit similar in profile to Earth's tomato that we used for sauces and we had a substance reasonably like cheese. I'm not sure the flavor would be considered comparable though." A flash of homesickness shot through her as she said it. She hadn't had anything like that food for over a decade.

Noah's nod was tentative. Blue food was very rare in the Human world- often it was purple and bruised looking and mauve was not a color considered particularly appealing to the palate. But that was normal under a G-type yellow star. He'd seen black fruit from red stars and deep strangely green fruits from an orange star. Then there was the white fruits of places like Bolarus, with cool white stars. "Do you like Human food?" He asked. A flash of eagerness pumped up from his amygdala.

"I'm going to check your reflexes now," she noted, indicating the youth's knees. "Maybe don't kick me?" she added with a wink before tapping each knee lightly with a small rod.

Noah sat on the edge of the biobed, as if tentative and ready to spring. "OK," he just assured.

Emni tapped lightly on his right knee with the rod causing the youth's leg to twitch forcefully.

"I have acquired a taste for it," she said, replying to his question about food. "Although there's much that I haven't yet tried. What are your thoughts on apple pie?"

She tapped his other knee as she inquired about pie, resulting in a slightly more forceful twitch. "If you would stand and walk in a straight line from here to the other end of the room and back please," she asked as she tapped a note into her PADD.

"A-apple pie? It's..." Noah blinked while he searched for an opinion on the pastry, "G-good?" He searched for Emni's response, waiting to see if she disagreed. When she prompted him, he stood and ordinarily walked a straight line and back, his arms still crossed over his chest.

"It's one of my favorites from my time at the Academy. We didn't have anything quite like it on Romulus. Something about the savory pastry mixed with the sweet spiced apples. I was never quite able to describe it to my family." Emni nodded as she spoke, mentally ticking down her list of things she needed to check as the Midshipman walked the straight line.

When he returned to the biobed she offered him a warm smile. "You can get dressed and hop back up on the biobed," she commented. "Just vision and hearing screenings left."

Noah obeyed and soon his fairness was again covered in the layers of both undershirt and uniform top. "OK," he affirmed with an agreeable nod. His stomach rumbled at him right on cue. He tended to get hungry at 1800 hours. It coincided with dinner back home. "Do you like taffy?" He pulled a wax paper-wrapped candy out of a pocket, his brown eyes on it, "Its one of my favorites. So many different flavors in just a bite."

"I don't think I've ever had it," Emni responded, noting the rumble of the youth's stomach. "I'm going to place a set of headphones over your ears. You'll hear a series of sounds. Please raise your hand for the side on which you hear the sound."

She moved to pick up the headphones, but waited for Noah's confirmation before proceeding.

Noah gestured he was ready and when the sound pulses pulsing through headphone to his ears, he raised his hand each time, depending on what side it was on. Noah concentrated with a slight slouch to his posture as he dutifully registered each. It was quickly clear that Noah had excellent hearing.

Emni's eyebrows crept upward slightly as Noah completed the test, the only sign that she had noted how precise the Midshipman's hearing was. As the last tone sounded she stepped in, gently removing the headphones and setting them to the side. Her fingers deftly ran across the PADD making a small handful of notes alongside the results.

"Do you recommend taffy?" she asked, as she typed.

Noah nodded, "I-I do. If you like sweet things," and again he tentatively offered one of the paper wraps out to the Doctor. "This one's..." He eyed its color, "Probably lime. But it might be sour apple." His eyes deferred with a drift, "Orr... watermelon. I don't like those um... so... uh... much." He blinked, "So how's my hearing? Still OK?"

Taking the proferred confection Emni unwrapped it with deft fingers, popping it into her mouth and chewing. The taffy was... well... chewy, releasing the flavor as she consumed it. After a moment longer than she expected she swallowed, a surprised smile crossing her features. "Those are good," she commented, setting the wrapper to the side for disposal later. "Lime, I think?"

The youth smiled, pleased.

Crossing back to her PADD she pinched an image, throwing it up in holo space about 10 feet from the Midshipman.

"Your hearing is," she commented, "Actually perfect. Has anyone made mention of that to you before?"

Noah bobbed his head in the affirmative. "Doctor Svetlikov said the same thing at Starfleet Academy. When I uh, well, they have annual checkups there. So I heard it four times." Noah rubbed his neck. "Uhhh you know Lieutenant Irynya right?"

Emni raised an eyebrow at the change of subject, but nodded her affirmative before adding, "Yes, I do. Why do you ask?"

Noah bobbed his head once, tentative, with a sharp-eyed glance at a sudden change of a console display behind him. It had just gone into an automated standby diagnostic. His gaze returned with a flicker of a smile, "She says I should talk to you about Mood." Noah hung there, "Mood's my pet butterfly..."

If it was possible, Emni's eyebrow crept higher, but her tone remained neutrally curious. "Oh?" she asked, "Why does Lieutenent Irynya think you should talk with me about a pet?"

Noah's grin broadened into goofiness, his eyes smiling with it. "S-sorry I guess... that-that wasn't very clear. Um. Mood is more than a pet. Um." He slid tentatively off the biobed. "May... may I use your console?" He pointed at the Doctor's office.

Aware that they still had a vision test to complete, but curious nonetheless, she nodded, following Noah through the open doorway to the office space and waited for the young man to access the console.

Noah stooped, his hypermobile jointed elbows bending slightly forward while he leaned. With one hand he quickly stamped fingers through the keys like it was natural. When the holographic amber lines flared to life, he fluidly switched towards it. Fingers swiped, swayed and tweaked. "Access Personal files, Balsam, Noah Hyman. Locate file Mood Pediatric Vitals Assessment, full compile. Load all subroutines. Authorization Balsam Iota 71 Iota Charlie Delta 6 Ampersand." The computer rounded a sound of compliance. He sniffed and scratched his nose against his arm as the file loaded.

"How-how is the LMH, by the way?" he asked, Betazoid-like eyes cast in the amber glow of the holographic LCARs to the Doctor. "Is, um, he-he adjusting?"

Emni frowned slightly, a shot of guilt running through her gut. "Truthfully," she began, "I haven't initialized him yet. I wanted to do it when there was an opportunity for me to talk with him and we've been running constantly since we came on board to get through the updates to physicals and other reports that the new XO has requested ready. I just didn't want to leave him out in the cold without a chance to," she paused looking for the right word, "acclimate."

She stared at the holographic lines that the Midshipman had worked with, not meeting his gaze at that moment. "It's beginning to feel as though I should just get him initialized whether there is time or not. I hate having him offline like this, but really want to be aware of how significant this adjustment is for him."

Noah did an understanding bob while his eyes shifted back to the rapidly compiling file, "Computer, initialize the holo-grid," he said distractedly. Then he straightened up and smiled, his arms crossing in a faint phantom of being half-nude in public a few minutes ago. It just didn't feel right for a lowly Midshipman to give a full-fledged Doctor- and the ship's second officer- unsolicited advice. He swiped through the golden data in front of him and then pressed a key.

And on Emni's desk appeared a perfectly ordinary Monarch butterfly. Its wings pulsed once, with graceful elegance. Noah offered out his finger and the insect climbed on. "This is Mood," he said as the fiery orange of the butterfly's wings shifted to a pleasing blue-green. He offered Mood out.

The butterfly by itself didn't particularly catch Emni's attention as anything more than a well-done holographic creature. It was the color change that piqued her interest and caused her to extend her hand so that the insect could alight on her finger.

The blue-green of the creature's wings shifted as it settled into pulses of yellow interspersed with a light pink. Curiosity taking over she lifted the finger to eye level so she could take a closer look and noticed that the traditional white spots along the black edge of the butterfly were tinged with a dull grey. It's features and interactions were remarkable, small feet gently tickling her index finger while a small curled proboscis flexed in front of its face.

"What am I looking at exactly?" she asked as she examined the insect on her finger.

Noah meanwhile accessed the console desk, fingers flying. "Just a sec..." he said with a raise of his finger. He was back to his stoop until he then flicked at the holographic golds. They shifted to medical blues and greens. "Blood pressure... cardiovascular rhythm, blood oxygen ratio, serotonin levels, cortisol levels, inflammation n-factors... histamine presence..." he folded his lanky arms across his chest so the Doctor could observe. "Mood is a medical sensor." He chewed his lip as he looked at the Doctor through the data field, "For-for pediatric medicine."

Emni nodded, expression neutral, but eyes bright as she perused the statistics displaying in the holo-output. "I see," she said, turning things over as she thought through the implications of a tool like this. "That's a very impressive medical sensor," she noted. "I assume the butterfly is to help with children who are uncomfortable with medical equipment?" Though it was a statement, it still came out as a question. "And what do the colors signify?"

Noah nodded, "The-the colors are a little relative. Its to entertain the child. But certain levels of biochemistry um, they-they change the color. Blue is... uhh... p-pretty normal. Green, pushing into stress... gray is, uh, well fatigue. Pink is..." He shrugged, "Sex-uh-sexual arousal. Or at least curiosity or alertness."

Emni chuckled lightly. "I see," she said, "Do the colors correlate along a gradient--the more vibrant the more intense the emotion?" As Noah had given his explanation she had moved her hand back from her face, shifting to watching the Midshipman as he spoke.

Noah again nodded, "With-with some variation. Mood can't read minds. Not like a Betazoid," Noah chewed his lip a moment, and gestured at the butterfly, "Or-or emotions. But Mood can, um, show based on the biochemical signatures and skin responses what a person is going through. P-pain levels, arousal... depression, anxiety. So if Mood came out to be, say, all gray. Then that person is-is probably suffering exhaustion. Or if Mood is deep red, that person is experiencing high levels of pain."

The Romulan woman nodded as Noah spoke, taking in the information. She picked the insect up once again, noting that the flashes of light pink were longer than those of yellow now. The grey of the exterior dots fits with the less than ideal amount of sleep she had been getting. "I have a lot of questions," Emni began, turning her hand over and watching as Mood traversed her palm, "but probably most importantly, why did Lieutenent Irynya particularly think you should share Mood with me?"

Noah watched the holo-insect make his way with blind trust about the Doctor's hand. "She-she thinks since you're a Doctor you could show him to Starfleet Medical. Mood was my senior thesis for systems design. I-I think she's just trying to help..."

Emni nodded absently. "I see."

Gently she returned Mood to Noah's hand, waving the youth into a chair in front of the desk. "I'm not sure I can expressly get Mood in front of Starfleet Medical, but I can certainly allow you to use him in practice here in Sickbay. I'm assuming you have already submitted him for consideration anyway, so what I could offer is to add my recommendation to the file. Any recommendation I would make would go much further, though, if I have engaged with the program in regular day-to-day patient interactions."

Noah set Mood on his shoulder where the small butterfly flowed like a lava lamp of blues and greens, and dashes of gray. He obediently sat down, drawing up one knee to hug his arm around. "Yes Ma'am, I-I did. They have it but... uhh... m-most software like this takes years to get reviewed let alone, um, implemented. I was tuh-telling Irynya about Zimmerman's prototype for the first EMH and how long that took."

She paused then, considering a moment before continuing. "You mentioned Mood is a pediatric tool. We don't necessarily have children amongst our crew to engage with, but if you can account for the variable in the data I'm happy to introduce Mood to my team and run a trial window for you amongst adults."

Again Noah nodded. "I-I can roll back some of the newer templates for pediatric medicine. Originally my, uh, my roommates were the people I tested him on. And I can try to... uh, firm up some of the diagnostic elements."

"Whatever you think would make the program appropriate for a deep space sickbay," Emni noted, acknowledging that she wasn't the expert in holographic diagnostic devices here. She moved to stand, but then paused and settled on the edge of her seat, setting her elbows on the desk and steepling her fingers.

"A last thought," she began, "before we finish up your physical." Absently she tapped the tips of her steepled fingers against her lips before threading them and settling her hands on the desk. "In case Lieutenant Irynya hasn't made you aware, I am an empath. You mentioned testing Mood on your roommates. Were there any empaths in that group?"

Noah chewed on that, "N-no. No empaths were uh... I mean I didn't know any. And Irynya isn't one... I don't think? Or Walsh or Parsons." His eyes narrowed with a thoughtful scan of Mood's past in his mind. "I-I don't think any of the demonstrators for my thesis were either. One Vulcan but Vulcans... they-they aren't exactly empaths."

Emni nodded, "Well, then, if it's of interest and you find you have the time along the way, I'm glad to offer any help I can for calibrating the color reaction against the different emotional reactions I'm able to pick up. It's another data point, albeit one that isn't exactly biochemical in the way that Mood functions. But it could be an interesting experiment. Besides that, not all species exhibit stress, anxiety, arousal, etc. with the same biochemical signatures. And then there are those of us whose biochemistry is made even more complicated by ancestry from different species..."

The Romulan doctor waved her hand, cutting herself off. "Think on it and let me know what you'd like to do," she finished. "But I'm glad Lieutenant Irynya suggested you share him with me."

Noah's nod was tentative as it definitely was a large undertaking, and very complex. Noah was, ultimately, an engineer. And something like Mood would need some finesse. "Yes Ma'am," he said with a nod. He raised his hand to encourage Mood on to his finger. "Bedtime, Mood," he said with a smile. "Computer, end program Mood Pediatric Vitals Assessment Tool and cycle back to source server." The butterfly grayed out and phased away.

Balsam glanced back at the Doctor, "So... am I free to go?"

Raising an eyebrow once more, Emni stood. "Almost," she said, "Vision test first and then you can go."

Stepping around the desk she indicated that they should return to the biobed where they had begun. "Shall we?" she asked.

=/\= A mission post by =/\=

Lieutenant Emni t'Nai
Chief Medical Officer

Midshipman Noah Balsam
Computer Core Specialist

Special Guest Star: Mood
Super cool holographic butterfly and pediatric diagnostic tool