Xeno Anatomy
Posted on 05 Dec 2022 @ 10:47am by Commander Calliope Zahn & Lieutenant JG Hannah Wagner
Edited on on 11 Dec 2022 @ 10:51pm
Mission:
M3 - Into the Deep
Location: Pathfinder Sickbay
Timeline: MD08 1650HRS
1070 words - 2.1 OF Standard Post Measure
"Transporter Room to Sickbay." Came a communication over the comm, the young ensign's gravelly Ferengi voice interrupting regular activities. "This is Ensign Jop with a request from Commander Zahn."
"Go ahead with the commanders request?"
"She's asking Medical to prepare a containment field in the morgue for a site to site transport. Please notify me when you are ready to receive the body for autopsy, Doctor."
"An autopsy? What species is the deceased?" Her voice was calm as she asked, walking from the main sickbay into the smaller bay that passed for a morgue. She didn't often get the chance to do autopsies.
"Uh... Transporter lock readings just says 'salt-water aquatic, unknown species'." Ensign Jop related.
She snorted and shook her head, "approximate body mass of deceased? I might need a bigger bay..."
"Not a whale, ma'am." Jop said as if he were being tested. He'd been particularly nervous since all of the drills and he seemed to miss more humorous tones from the stress. "The body is within common humanoid mass parameters."
"That is excellent. Please stand by Ensign Jop." She instructed. The morgue already had several safety measures in place and she was loathe to shut any of them down. A few buttons pressed and a containment field shimmered into existence around the bed.
"Containment field in place, prepared to receive a 7 foot by four foot mass of water including the deceased. "
Within the specified volume, the open vat in the morgue's containment room shimmered, receiving the cubic measure of water native to the deceased, the body of which was yet concealed inside of a space suit, alien in design but still recognizable as intended against the lack of elements that was the unforgiving vacuum of space. For some reason the wearer had suited up before passing on from the mortal coil, and was yet to be revealed from the silvery trappings. A lab assistant moved in promptly and began to unfasten the suit the body had arrived in. It conveniently pulled away along a center line in the front, revealing the figure within.
Hannah whistled through her teeth as she paced slowly around the vat of water, and laid eyes on the creature within.
"Incredible"
There was a halo of shed fur around the creature, and a haze of oil in the water from the little bit of breakdown that the creature had sustained. The water stank in the air, and the doctor placed a tiny air filter over her mouth and nose.
It...no...it was definitely a she and she was surprisingly long, measuring 6 feet 7 inches from crest to tail. All of the major bony prominence's were visible through the thin fur that covered her body. It had a pattern, that fooled the eye into thinking you were just looking at the light flickering through the water. A crest of longer fur started at the forehead and ended, tapering to a point at the lumbar spine. It was difficult to see coloration through the murky water.
She took several water samples at various depths and then set them into a scanner to process. "Computer, begin filtration of water, with replacement equal to the salinity within. Sort particulates into analysis bays 1 and 2."
The water swirled within the vat as it drained and circulated through the bed in the morgue. As the water became clear, the female's fur rippled. Bones that once made up a fin rose up out of the crest fur in wicked looking points. Long webbed upper appendages had an extra joint, with paired 'fingers' in three sets of two with a long thumb. The lower appendages came to two split flippers that tapered to neat points at the end. Each major flipper was tipped with a bony white point.
A pair of circles of a pearlescent material were pressed into the fur at the level of her pelvic bones on both sides. She was also decorated with tiny silvery chains. Occasionally pearls and other decorations dripped from the chain meshwork and at least 3 of her crest bones were pierced with rings of metal.
Allowing his long gloves to drip over the vat as he held them up, the lab assistant had paused, watching Doctor Wagner. She seemed to be in deep thought, observing the subject. He couldn't blame her. This was a very intriguing discovery. "The first we've seen of a new sentient species." He said with amazement, glancing at the information in the scans over the vat. The monitor included suggested period the time of death, based on the decomposition of the body and the found conditions. "She's remarkably well preserved for a twenty year old cadaver, Doctor. The suit she was in had a higher level filtration of water than the Station environment."
"It's probably the salt content in the water. The internals, I think crystallized instead of starting decomposition. We'll see in a bit. I feel a bit like an archaeologist."
"There's certainly some cross over in forensics, ma'am. Drawing probable conclusions from the evidence left behind," the Petty Officer agreed. Sebastian Murphy was something of a crossover crewmember between science and medical and had engaged in both archaeology and medical diagnostics.
"Thats no lie. " Hannah glanced at the water samples that were running and she sighed. "Lets drain the tub until she's just above the table and get some higher resolution scans of her anatomy before we take the water out of the equation entirely and start the autopsy. It will be telling to see how she looks dry."
Pulling off his contaminated protective gloves inside out and disposing of them properly, Murphy pulled on a new set of lab gloves and moved to the adjustment panel on the tank and set it to a controlled rate of drain.. he watched curiously as the oils on top stirred and the water level dropped below the peeks of the body. As the fur settled against the body it formed hollows and he thought the preserved figure looked very gaunt and bony. The extreme cold must have preserved the body from bloating and decomposing as often found in bodies recovered from watery sources. But it was more extreme than just the absence of bloating.
"I'll set up the scanning halo." Murphy said, moving to the other side of the morgue where a rolling arch was waiting to be employed for more detailed image scanning. "Lets get a better look..."
