<USS Avalon> Background Log 'The Doctors are out'

"The Doctors are Out"

-Doctors Lindsay Kaiser and Carson Fuller

(Recent Background)

 

 

Doctor Lindsay Kaiser's black hair fell over her face like a velvet waterfall, 
obscuring parts of it's olive skin from view. Long bangs hung askew from it as 
she looked down. 


"What do you think, Carson?"

Doctor Carson Fuller shrugged. "Three, maybe four weeks, judging by the amount 
of fatty amino-acids in the soil. That is, of course, unless someone moved it."

The two of them stared at the object in question before Carson spoke again.

"Male?"

"Undoubtedly." Doctor Kaiser straitened up, tossing the long strands of hair 
out of her face with her hand.

"How can you tell?"

Lindsay showed him her tricorder readings. "See? Brain mass and density is way 
low. Male, undoubtedly." She smiled and leaned her head to the side in a smug 
sort of way.

"Bitch. The brain's only light because most of it's bubbled out of it's ears 
and mouth. I'd say, judging by how the skin slough seems to be coming along, 
that it was female. I always knew all that makeup you women wear was bad for 
you."

"Let's settle it then. Two beers say it's a guy."

"You're on."


The two of them scanned the corpse with their tricorders. 

"Male. See? About twenty five, six foot four, approximately two-hundred pounds 
before he started to decompose. You owe me a drink."

"Cause of death?" Carson thought for a second. "Massive internal trauma, 
several broken bones, but no lacerations of the upper epidermal layers...brain 
damage unascertainable."

"The larva in his mouth and eye cavities are roughly three point two weeks old."

"That information would correspond with the amount of amino acids that have 
leached into the soil beneath him."

"I'd say we have our man." Doctor Kaiser signaled one of the Starfleet officers 
over. He looked at her like a man condemned, then shuffled over, his eyes at 
his feet. The entire contingent of Starfleet Security Personnel had been 
avoiding the site of the crash since the two forensic doctors had arrived."

Carson looked at the officer blandly, talking to Lindsay as he did. "It would 
appear that the he was not dead until the suspects in question failed to land 
their vehicle."

The suspects in question were scattered over the next hill?and the next?and the 
field after that. The runabout they had stolen from the maintenance bay had 
broken apart in the upper atmosphere. The cockpit fragments had been scattered 
throughout the continent, but most of the heavier stuff, including the aft 
section, had landed within a three mile radius of where the two doctors and 
their escort of security officers were standing.

"Um..." The security officer took a quick glance at the dead man, then 
regretted having done so. "He's dead, right?"



It was quite possibly the dumbest question either of the Doctors, or the 
security officer himself had ever heard.

Carson rolled his eyes and Lindsay answered.

"You ever see a live guy looking like that?" She looked at him squarely. 
"Neither have I. Yes, of course he's dead." She turned away from the other man 
to face Carson. "Do you think he might have survived the crash?"

"Doubtfully, although without viable lung tissue, we won't be able to tell. 
It's entirely possible that he passed out."

The security officer ventured another question. "Do you think he was alive on 
the way down?"

This time, however, he got an answer that was laced with pity. For years, 
Lindsay and Carson had been asked similar questions by family members, friends, 
officials, and even total strangers.

"Alive? Possibly, if you say that heart pumping and lungs breathing is alive. 
But conscious? It's very unlikely that the victim was conscious and aware that 
he was falling." Carson looked at the officer once more before returning to the 
body.

"He probably wasn't strapped in." Lindsay observed. "There's no sign that he 
was torn out of any sort of harness. Chances are, he just bounced out of the 
aft compartment."

Out of all the wreckage, the aft compartment had remained the most intact. It 
still even had a large portion of the starboard warp nacelle attached.

"I'm going to have to say that the ship broke up due to mechanical failure. 
Perhaps the kidnappers pushed the ship too hard."

"Now only one question remains. Where's the girl?"

One month earlier, a young couple on their honeymoon had been kidnapped by a 
group of terrorists who wanted to cash in on their opulent background. Now, 
with pieces of the kidnappers and the full body of the husband, Doctors Kaiser 
and Fuller had to find the wife.

"Offhand proposal? The body fragments don?t belong to the kidnappers.?

"Go on." Carson was used to her 'offhand' proposals, most of them turning out 
to be accurate in the long run.

"I say the kidnappers sent the runabout up with a couple of mechanics and our 
boy here, then they went off in some other direction."

"Evidence?"

"Well, for starters, we're missing a body. Then, there's no conclusive evidence 
that the fragments over there are the kidnappers."

"There's not any proof to the contrary either."

"We'll see."

But they never got a chance to. Another officer who seemed far less swayed by 
the obvious signs of gore lying about him strode up to the three standing 
clustered around the body.

"Doctors?" he said commandingly. "Can I have you come with me please?"

"What's this about?" Carson asked, stepping towards the other man.

"Carson! No!"

Carson froze, then relaxed. "I wasn't going to step over it. Sheesh, Lindsay, 
you and your damn superstitions."

"I'm just saying--"

"Excuse me." Interrupted the new officer rudely. "You two need to come with me, 
now. I have a shuttle waiting."

"Fine. Lead on." Carson said, gingerly avoiding stepping over the body. "Who's 
going to take over here?"

"That's classified."

"Where are you taking us?"


"That's classified."

"What's this about? Wait a minute, I already know. Classified."

The security officer nodded. "I don't even know what this is about, but if I 
did I wouldn't tell you. It'd be my job."

The rest of the walk to the shuttle was in silence, both Doctors fearing the 
worst. Perhaps some cruise liner had exploded, or something equally messy. 
Maybe some nut had blown up an embassy. It wouldn't be the first time. Hell, it 
was even possible that someone had assassinated one of the top Admirals, or 
even the President himself. 

They entered the shuttlecraft, but the security officer did not follow. "This 
is where my trip ends. Good luck, Doctors."

The doors closed rapidly and the shuttle began to rise. For a moment, the two 
of them thought they were being abducted. A voice from the upper section called 
back.


"Sit down and relax. Agent Fuller, Agent Kaiser--You're contract has been 
renewed. You have one week to prepare for active duty."



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