Planet Illness
Posted on Thu Aug 13th, 2026 @ 3:44am by Lieutenant Commander Aaron Marcus & Staff Warrant Officer Madelyn Steele & Lieutenant Endymion Tox
1,898 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Preservation Instinct
Location: Sick Bay USS Ontario
The doors to sick-bay opened, revealing Madelyn, holding out a hand against the wall, to keep herself steady.
"Hello, I was sent here to get an after away mission check-up. And if I am dealing with something from the planet I don't want to get my daughter ill."
That was first and foremost on her mind, to keep Crystal safe. She didn't even dare go home to get a shower, her clothing was all covered with the various vegetation that she had come in contact with.
Despite feeling ill, Madeyn's blood turned cold. Contamination, she was worried about her daughter. Now though, she was here, who knows what she may have brought with her. As an engineer she had to be careful of contamination.
Tox had seen the Engineer come in. "Chief?" He rushed to her side. "Are you alright?"
Madelyn shook her head , causing her copper hued ponytail to bounce about. She immediately regretted it, as the room started to spin, moving to where both hands were holding herself up.
"I don't know if you want to touch me with bare hands, Tox." Madelyn responded.
Aaron strolled in as Madelyn was shaking her head. "Tox you are going to want to catch her before she..." His voice trailed off as Madelyn got woozy. "Damn I'm good. Right then get her on the bed. So Warrant Officer, what seems to be the problem?" He already had a medical tricorder in hand and scanned her. In a moment he would not need her answer the tricorder would do it for him. However, for reasons he did not understand the niceties had to be observed.
Tox helped her to a bio bed already pulling up a roll table with standard equipment. "Um...Doc here's that rash again the same as Lieutenant Xavier and Ensign Monroe." Tox noted the rash on the back of her neck.
"That clarifies things...all three were on the away team."
"Right sure does." Aaron said and stepped back from the biobed. "Tox step back. Computer erect a level ten bio field around the bio beds. No one gets close to these patients. They are now under quarantine under my order." The computer chimed and erected the field with a computer lockout. "Now we have three patients and all seem to be ill. We are going to need to run full blood scans, but first I need to do some reprogramming." He stepped over to the console that allowed access to the EMH and began to restructure the programming. "I need a puppet."
Tox sighed. "Oki doki. I suggest that we get all the away team members here. Also since we've been in contact with them....looks like we're bunking here until we figure out if it's spread."
"Yes and No" Aaron said with a smirk. He had the EMH personality subroutines on his screen. He was in the process of saving them to a secondary file and creating a linkage that would allow him to control the EMH as a puppet. "Yes to the Away Team members. Get them all here. No, to bunking here. Once I have the puppet I need I can figure out the markers of whatever this is. Once I have the markers I can test you and I and if we are in the clear then we can go back to our beds. If I am not in the clear heaven help you all because there won't be anyone else who can."
Aaron continued his work as he turned his attention to Madelyn. "In the meantime. Madelyn why don't you tell us how you feel. Your symptoms etc..."
"I am feeling dizzy, like I am drunk.' Madelyn responded, she slurred her speech a little bit. "T'Avia was acting like she had some drugs and the air tasted--sweet to her..."
Madelyn working to concentrate. "The air here is smelling better than down there, but I am catching the scent--of my clothing, nauseatingly sweet and I am feeling like I am going to hurl again." quickly clapping her hand over her mouth, immediately regretting it.
The smell was so overpowering, she turned on her right side, hoping to forestall anymore retching.
"Well crap," Tox said. "New symptoms." He walked over to the Doctor's symptom board and added them. "Doc I think we need to send out some nurses to help those that are...vertically challenged thanks to the symptoms."
"No. Can't risk any further infection. We still do not know how this is transmitted. Have any new patient use site to site transport. Directly within the field." A beat later he stepped away from the computer and laughed maniacally. "Its alive... It's alive. Computer activate the EMH." Within seconds the protons and motes of light formed but instead of the usual EMH it looked like Aaron Marcus. The hologram spoke "Please state the nature of the medical emergency. Better yet, don't. I'll figure out what you're wrong about in a minute." Aaron could not stop laughing. "Handsome isn't he. Now me. You will go into the quarantine field and be my eyes and ears."
The hologram stepped into the field and awaited orders. "Medelyn we need to know everyone that you came into contact with since returning to the ship. Me, begin a full blood scan of the patient. Search for all known cancers, and lymphomas."
"Those that were on the planet's away team, the ones which went back were, Anahera, Yiv, T'Avia. She said she was picking up some sort of pheromones. I did speak to the Commodore when we got back. Peri was the pilot so she was up front of the shuttle. When I had reconnected the science lab to the power plant I had discovered resi--" stomach cramp, more accurate dry heaves. there wasn't anything left in Madelyn's stomach from her run back on the away mission. Madelyn hadn't eaten since, just feeling nausea. "Residue, and drag marks on the floor."
The holographic Aaron turned to the real Aaron. "I have something here. Abdominal distention brought on by foreign microbes in the stomach." The real Aaron's smiled broadened. "The game is afoot. Get me a sample." Aaron ordered the hologram. "Now, did you eat anything? Did anything come in contact with you?" He asked Madelyn and then turned to Tox. "Tox get cross reference this new symptom with our other patients. Lets see if there is a connection."
"All you're--getting--" Madelyn retched in something that was available. Nothing came out except for the thin yellow green bile that came out from her empty stomach. The taste was vile.
"Ugh..." she groaned out. "What I came into contact with, was the plant life and its all over my clothing" her groan moving into some sort of growl.
"Doctor is there a way to quarantine my daughter, I--can't have her exposed. If she gets sick I'm going to slap Amanda" another stomach spasm. "I came here first not to make my daughter sick."
Tox smiled. "Don't you worry. Nurse Hemmings is off for two days so I can call her and have her stay with your daughter. She had three kids of her own so she'll be a great choice until you're better."
"Wait a second. If your daughter gets sick you are going to slap Thorny. In that case you are free to be released to your quarters." Aaron spoke almost dismissively, as if he planned the joke and had been thinking of something else. In fact he had been thinking of something else, the wheels didn't turn in his head, they spun. There had to be a connection, the symptoms, the plants, genetic markers, something. He noticed the look that Tox had given him about his comment and sighed. "Fine... fine I won't get the child sick. Not like I can't cure her anyway, and you know watching ole Thorny get slapped would be enjoyable for all. Can we just pretend that your daughter is ill." Aaron addressed the last remark to Madelyn. "Seriously though. Me get a sample of her stomach lining. I can't believe I am going to say this and it is only the first date. Madelyn strip."
Tox sighed and shook his head. "Priorities," He muttered about the slap comment. "Ohhh you have that I just found something look." Tox got something to write with to add to their board. "Okay Doc. Hit me. What do you suspect?"
The corner of her mouth twitched rising upward, at the CMO's comment.
She drew in a deep breath, sitting upwards taking off her top, then slowly moving off the biobed and removing the lower half. It wasn't a quick process, not wanting to hit the floor. Handing over the uniform toward Aaron's puppet, she was just down to her skivvies.
Unless he wanted everything?
She looked over towards Aaron with a raised eyebrow.
"Ensign Chabbra and I developed a theory while everyone was looking for Thorny. The theory that the whole planet is a living organism. If the theory holds true then its possible that everyone on the planet was attacked by an immune response from the organism. If that is the case then they are getting sick as a byproduct of this attack. So, my dear Tox get the uniform to lab 2. Have them sample everything on the uniform and cross reference it with the scans from Thorny. In the meantime, Me perform a full comprehensive exam on Madelyn here. Keep it professional though." Aaron gave orders much like a Captain on the Bridge. Sick Bay was his command center. The puppet turned to its master with a look of exasperation. "I am Doctor not a teenage boy." It said with Aaron's voice. "Well I am both so get to work." Was Aaron's reply. He turned back to the computer to review the data. "Well now the game is afoot." he said softly more to himself than anything else.
Tox had the urge to salute but didn't. "Okay Miss Steele, let's get you changed into Sickbay fashion and start the scans." He walked over to where they kept the garments and handed her one. "I'll get Nurse Emma to help you change and I'll grab the clothing to take for analysis."
Madelyn gave a nod, what was going on with her, and her being what could be classified a walking sample, She just shrugged with the help of the Nurse she swapped into the hospital gown, sending everything with Tox.
This had to be a bad dream, couldn't it? A quick pinch to her own arm, proved she wasn't dreaming.
"Darn not a dream caused by something bad I ate." Madelyn mumbled. "A possible living planet?"
Her head was swimming and she was feeling parched. "could I have some water, please?"
The nurse handed her some water while Tox took the clothing to the lab. What was going on. The more people became ill the more he worried for Xavier.
Accepting the water, Madelyn drank, well make that just in sips. She didn't want to hurl again. She laid back down upon the bio bed, a wave of exhaustion running over her again. Closing her eyes, the redhead faded into sleep.
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Commander Aaron Marcus
Chief Medical Officer
USS Ontario
Staff Warrant Officer Madelyn Steele
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Ontario
Lieutenant Endymion Tox
Head Nurse
USS Ontario
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