Chocolate Surprise

Posted on Tue Sep 26th, 2017 @ 11:25pm by Captain Brady Dering M.D., PhD & Commander Zoe Eckhardt M.D.
Edited on on Wed Sep 12th, 2018 @ 7:46pm

Mission: My Place In This Universe
Location: Zulu Base Medical
Timeline: 2388/08/18 1526 (August 18 2388 1526)

Kelly sat on her bed in the medical facility on Zulu Base with her translucent emerald green violin sitting next to her. A PADD was in her hands as she worked on editing in the dub that she always mixed with it to create a unique sound. After twenty minutes, she sat back and hit the playback on it and focused her attention on the music that came from it.

Ever since Adonai had arrived at the Starbase, the young Nygean made it a point to try and frequent the station's medical facilities as much as he was allowed to. During days when the medical personnel were busier than normal, Adonai was refused entry. On days such as this however, when it was much quieter, the teenager was permitted to casually observe what was going on. In Adonai's mind, he wanted to get as much experience as possible with how Starfleet and the Federation operated in this realm of work. He surmised that it could only be beneficial for him in the long run.

As Adonai fumbled about with a medical tricorder that he shouldn't have really been touching at all in the first place, he began to hear some music coming from nearby. He looked from side to side, wondering if maybe he had touched something that had caused the music to appear in the first place. It couldn't have been him though. He hadn't really been doing anything that would have caused the music to play.

There were a few patients currently in the room with Adonai. In an effort to find out where the music was coming from, he followed the sound and approached each of the areas those patients were occupying. It didn't take him long to find out that the music was coming from some girl. She appeared to be about the same age as he. Yet, she wasn't holding any instruments. There was one beside her but she wasn't currently playing it. Adonai, who was just a bit confused, scratched his head gently.

"Excuse me?" he spoke aloud to the girl on the biobed. "Where is that music coming from?" he asked. He was very curious to find out.

Kelly jumped at the sound of the male voice; she didn't get many visitors other than Doctor Dering and it surprised her. Thinking it might be an irate staff member who didn't like music at first, she quickly tapped the PADD in her hand to mute it, looking up a bit self-consciously. "Umm..." She stopped. The young man standing in the doorway was either the youngest Medical person in Starfleet that eschewed a uniform, or he was a Cadet. "Hi. It's coming from my PADD."

Smiling, she held up the battered, rough-looking PADD. "It's not as bad as it looks, but it serves its purpose. Was my music bothering you?"

"Hello," Adonai greeted in turn. "And no, it wasn't. I just wasn't sure if I had caused the music to start playing in the first place." The Nygean looked at the device that the girl was holding. He remembered it being called a PADD. "You can play music on that thing?" he wondered in awe.

"No," Kelly said, setting it down and picked up her violin. "I play music on this. It's called a violin. I just record it onto my PADD and mix in the rest of the instrumental. Sort of a one-gal band. I'm Kelly. What's your name?"

"I am Adonai," he answered. He looked upon the violin with wide eyes and excitement. "I have never seen such an instrument. On my planet we do have stringed instruments but I have never seen one this close in person." And in that condition as well. Living in poverty kind of excluded Adonai and his family from being able to get any of the niceties in life.

"It's nice to meet you, Adonai. Did you like what you heard?" Kelly asked him, noticing his excitement. "I could play something for you, if you like."

"Likewise Kelly," replied the Nygean. "And I would very much like to hear more if you're willing to play. I've never heard anything like it before," he said. "What you played just before I came here was very good."

"Thank you," she smiled. "I have one that I've played before if you'd like to hear it. I call it Spontaneous Me. The one you heard was Zi Zi's Journey." Picking up the PADD, she cued up the mix she had for Spontaneous Me and attached the patch cable to her violin. Smiling, she tucked the violin under her chin and slid the bow across the strings, tuning it for a moment before she began to play.

Getting up, Kelly began to move in tune with the music, a smile crossing her features until she was dancing with the song as she played it. The bow played across the strings as she moved from one side of the room to the other, turning and twisting, her legs extending and kneeling before she slowly came to a finish with a bow. "I hope you liked it."

"That was extraordinary!" exclaimed Adonai. As soon as Kelly began playing, he followed every movement closely with his eyes to the point where his head was moving from left to right with each stroke of the bow. "Do people who play that instrument usually move the way that you did when you played the music?" he then asked.

"Thank you," Kelly said with a slight blush. "Er...no. I just like to dance to the music and sometimes I just can't help myself and dance while I'm playing. I'm glad you liked it, Adonai. Do you play, dance or sing?"

The Nygean couldn't help but laugh out loud although he was doing so to himself. "I'm afraid that I can't. I mean, sure I can drum my hands to a made up tune, but I have no professional experience. I didn't really grow up with music unfortunately. Those kinds of things were for people who were more privileged than my family."

Kelly set her violin in the case as she unhooked it from the PADD. "That's horrible. Do you mind if I ask you a question? I hope you don't think I'm rude."

Adonai's face lit up and he smiled. "Of course! You can ask me anything," he said. He didn't think that there was much that he could tell the other teenager that would be of interest to her, but if she wanted to know something specific, then he would gladly oblige. Whether it was a good idea or not for him to be so trusting was another story altogether.

"Where do you come from?" Kelly asked. "I've never seen your species before. I'm from Earth in the Alpha Quadrant."

Having spoken to a few people from around the starbase, Adonai expected that he'd probably get quite a few questions regarding his species. "I'm Nygean," he said. "From the planet Nygea Prime. It's not too far from this sector," he said although realistically he had no concept of how far everything was in relation to each other. "You're a Human, correct?" the teenager then inquired. He'd done a bit of research since arriving. Humans had a rather simple physical appearance and they made up most of the Federation's personnel.

"Yes," Kelly said. "I'm human. I don't know too much about the Delta Quadrant, though. That's why I'm here. Not in the medical center, but going to the Academy. I want to learn and explore the galaxy. What are you planning on majoring in?"

"You're going to the Academy?" Adonai asked excitedly. He didn't think that he'd meet anyone who was going there before he actually set foot on the planet where it was located. "I am hoping to go there as well. So far I've received permission from Commander Bannerman to go to.. Sapi... Sapi...." For the life of him, Adonai couldn't remember the name of the planet though. "I think I need to meet with someone else before I am officially allowed to be a cadet. I'm hoping to study medicine. That's why I was here in the first place."

"Sapientia," Kelly supplied, then cocked her head and looked at him with a confused expression. "You mean you haven't taken the entrance exam or anything else in preparation for it?" In the back of her mind, she made a note to find out who this Commander Bannerman was and why a cadet would need permission from a Commander when his name wasn't listed in Command structure of Magellan Campus.

It was true, Adonai hadn't done any of those things. He wasn't ashamed to admit it though. "It's my understanding that I arrived late to the whole process. That's why I have to go to... Sapientia... to plead my case as it were. I want to learn and do better than I could had I remained on my homeworld," he said.

"It's never too late until the entire process is over and you have not tried at all," Kelly said. "You made it this far, and I know that you'll be allowed in. It's just a matter of having confidence. I'm heading for Flight Control myself because I want to pilot the big ships into unknown regions of space."

Now that sounded like quite an endeavour! "I think I'm okay with my confidence," Adonai said although he did so in a not so smug manner. "The only thing that I'm really lacking in are qualifications. However, I'm willing to do everything that I can to achieve my dreams. Ever since I was younger all I wanted to do was help others. I worked with my town's healer for many years. I'm hoping to maybe one day become a doctor."

"That is very admirable," Kelly said. "I really hope you make it in. We need more people as dedicated as you are."

"Thank you," replied Adonai. With that being said, he wasn't going to make it far if he wasn't very observant. Kelly was in the medical facility and he didn't know why. She didn't look like she was ill. "I do not mean to be rude, but why are you here? You appear well," he pointed out.

"I'm better now," Kelly said. "When I first arrived here at the base, they thought I had a stroke, but Progressive Arteriosclerosis - a condition relating to the hardening of a humanoid's arteries - was wiped out a long time ago. The docs determined it to be an Ariolo Parasite that was passed to me genetically. I have a few more treatments to go through, though. In the meantime, I'm stuck in Medical."

"That sounds uncomfortable," the Nygean replied with concern. "I can see why you've taken to playing your music here. It would certainly help in lifting your mood."

"Doctor Dering managed to get my violin for me as a way of expressing myself," Kelly said. "Although I've been playing since I was eight years old. As for being uncomfortable, there isn't much that can be done about it until I can escape from here. I do have one thing that really lifts my mood." Turning to the stand by her bed, she opened a drawer and pulled out a carefully wrapped bar of chocolate and set aside a ribbon that had Admiral Khan on it.

Breaking a bit of it off under the wrapper so her fingers didn't touch it, she extended it to him. "Have you ever had chocolate before? It's so good."

"No I haven't," replied the Nygean. "Do all Humans eat this chocolate?" He looked at it for a moment, curious about what it would taste like. Since Kelly was offering him some, there was no harm in him taking it and so he did just that. Adonai broke off a small piece and plopped it into his mouth. Kelly was right! The chocolate was very good. It was sweet and a little milky too. Adonai was contemplating asking for another piece when he felt that something was wrong.

His face suddenly became red as a beet and he felt everything in and around his face begin to swell up. That also meant his throat. Instinctively, Adonai grabbed his throat with both of his hands and he urgently gasped for breath. Something was very, very wrong indeed.

Kelly had just started wrapping the candy bar back up when she saw the look on his face. Something was wrong. "Adonia? Crap!" she exclaimed as he started to turn red and swell up. "Computer! Medical emergency room one one two seven!"

Zoe had been in her office working through the duty roster for the following week when the call came in and she was rushing for the door even before the emergency message had finished. Grabbing her lab coat, she shrugged into it as she ran and headed for room one two seven. Rushing in she looked around and spotted Adonai then looked at Kelly and asked "What's wrong?" As she spoke, it was clear that Kelly wasn't the emergency here and she rushed to the young man's side.

"Adonai...chocolate!" Kelly spit out. "I gave...gave him a piece and he...he started turning red and swelling! Help him, please!"

With no biobed nearby, Zoe opted for the safest place for the boy to be right now...the floor. With the edges of his lips beginning to go a sickly purplish colour, she was pretty sure he wasn't far from collapsing. Lowering him down, she murmured "It's okay sweetie, I've got you, just lay down and we'll have you back to normal in no time." Resting his gently down on the floor and keeping calm lest she panic him more, Zoe swept her tricorder over him before cursing under breath. Reaching over Adonai, she pressed the emergency call button on the wall to the side of the door to call for help. The boy was going in to anaphylactic shock and she was going to need all hands on deck for this one. "He ate chocolate you say?" she asked Kelly as she adjusted the boy's airway to maximise it and reached over to grab the emergency kit on the wall.

"Ye...yes," Kelly said, watching him and tears starting to roll down her cheeks. "I...I gave him one piece....I...I didn't k..know."

"Well I'm guessing that if he hadn't tried it here he would have come across it somewhere." Zoe replied then smiled up at Kelly and added "Besides, if you're going to have a massive allergic reaction, where better to have it than in a well equipped Federation station infirmary huh?" Looking back at Adonai, she then looked at the three hyposprays that she had gotten out of the medkit.

Adrenaline. Antihistamine and Glucocorticoids.

Many species responded to this as a treatment for anaphylaxis but then she hadn't treated a Nygean before and neither did she have time to read up about their biophysiology in the database or even to contact his people. Nope. It was best guess time and she was going to have to fly blind here or he was going to die anyway. Taking a deep breath and hoping that he was close enough to many alpha quadrant species, she dialed up the hypo and pressed the first one to his neck just as the cavalry arrived.

A medic and a nurse came rushing in, and overhearing, the medic hurried away to get a hover gurney.

Adonai let out a loud gasp. His eyes opened and he slowly calmed his breathing. Whatever Eckhardt had injected him with had apparently worked in stabilizing the effects that the chocolate had on his body. "W-what happened?" he asked. "I feel terrible."

Zoe let out a sigh of relief, glad that the boy had responded to the usual medication. "Relax...you just went into anaphylactic shock. Apparently you're allergic to chocolate." she checked her tricorder and added "Well to be accurate, you're allergic to cocoa which is the main constituent of chocolate." She sat back on her heels and added "You've been through one hell of an ordeal so relax. When help arrives we'll get you to a biobed so that I can monitor you for any relapse or reaction to the medication I've given to you."

"Is he...is he going to be okay?" Kelly asked, her voice trembling as another tear ran down her cheek. She moved forward from behind Zoe and looked at him. "I...I'm so sorry, Adonai...this was my fault. I shouldn't have given that to you without knowing if you could eat it or not."

Despite his current condition, Adonai smiled at Kelly and he spoke softly to her. "I didn't even know I couldn't have it!" he pointed out. "I suppose that one could say that it happened in the right place and right time. Luckily I was here with you, and not somewhere else alone."

Adonai then looked up to the woman who had treated him. "How long will I have to stay here?" he asked.

"A couple of hours, just for observation." Zoe replied, "Your body almost shut down and you young man need some relaxation time."

The nurse had been scanning him.

"Zoe...what's going on here?" Brady walked in, his eyes going between everyone there, and sounding as concerned as he looked. He took in the evidence next to Adonai.

"I...I gave him...chocolate," Kelly said, looking down. "He had a reaction to it. I'm sorry."

Realizing how she was taking this, Brady steered her away, "It's not your fault, Kelly." he tried to reassure her just as a hover gurney was brought in.

Kelly went with him voluntarily, her voice soft and shaky even after seeing that he was stable. "I can't do anything right. If it's going to be like this before I even start Academy, what's it going to be like after I start?"

Brady placed a hand on her arm and said gently, "We're going to have a talk about that." He left her and went over to Zoe and Adonai, his eyes taking in the young man with concern, yet knowing he was in good hands, said to Zoe, "I'll join you shortly. I'm going to have a little talk here with Kelly."

"I'll leave you to it." Zoe said as she followed the gurney out, eager to get the young Nygean settled in a bed so that she could keep an eye on him.

End

Cadet Freshman Grade Kelly Khan
Cadet
Magellan Campus

Adonai
Wannabe Cadet
Magellan Campus

Lieutenant Commander Zoe Eckhardt
Chief Medical Officer
Starbase Zulu

Captain Brady Dering
Zulu Fleet Psychiatrist
Temp assign - Magellan Campus