Subject: USS Grail: - "Amazing, Part I"

<Ramin's quarters, 5 hours after night shift>

Oku Ramin sat there at his floating chair, spending the whole night =there at his quarters, low-lighted by the radiation source of his =

subspace-field cosmic-ray dark field microscope. As his eyes are red and =

thus more sensitive to stress, he was dropping some tears by now.

Three hours have passed since he left that glass of ale. His brain was =

better and so was his mood. There he was, looking at the two tubes, =

their lenses focused on a sample of tissue he got from the wounds of the =

crewmembers injured by disruptor blast.

The burned tissue, along with some fat and striated muscle were the =

center of the field now. Oku Ramin then had a feeling: his pathologic =

anatomy course at med school told him that something was not OK, or was =

not commonly pathologic.

That sample was very uncommon. It seemed like tissue from a transporter =

malfunction (you know, all that organic matter, like a soup, the remains =

of the guy beamed up when they said "Transporter malfunction! I lost his =

pattern? oops! Gone."), like a subspace-distorted tissue. Ramin knew how =

a disruptor-burned tissue looked like, and how a subspace-distorted =

tissue did. He knew the difference. And that was NOT only disruptor =

damage what was there.

"Computer" he said, "raise biological containment field level 3 around =

these quarters. Then establish a link with Starfleet Medical Library at =

Sol V C, authorization Ramin upsilon two sharky"

"Working" the computer replied.

"Link established. Containment fields up to 81% and increasing"

It took a while before containment was at its top. The computer claimed =

"Containment full"

"Computer, scan any subspace residues onto the sample at the =

microscope."

"Sample scanned. Levels of subspace residual distortion at 0,0003%"

Ramin thought the sample was too small, or that he got an area of the =

wound that was not as affected.

"Computer, check Medical records for significant levels of subspace =

exposure to generate tissue damage"

"Damage recorded as least as 0,0000000219%"

He got that. He found subspace distortion on the sample. But, how was it =

done? He continued watching the sample on the microscope.

"With this I am gonna write a paper in Starfleet Medical Archives" he =

thought.

Looking at this strange view of 5000-power, he found a little, let's say =

tiny, coiled thing. He was amazed. He recongized that shape as part of a =

great family of bacteria. "=BFSpirochetes?" he thought. As exobiology =

was his strongest, he started to think about them. It was getting =

stranger and stranger.

"Computer" he said, "display list of any Federation worlds' spirochetes"

The computer then displayed a list bigger than the USS Grail itself.

"Go to hell, computer" he spoke

"To set a destination for the ship you must ask permission to the =

Captain or any Navigation officer, as well as desired velocity or time =

of arrival. As the place you have indicated is not charted on the =

astrographical maps, you must provide the corresponding coordinates or =

select an alternate destination?"

"It was an e-x-p-r-e-s-s-i-o-n" he said, trying to be calm.

"Computer, isolate any species which can survive a disruptor blast"

"There are no species with desired specifications"

It was simply amazing. Ramin was wondering. =BFCould it be some sort of =

contamination? =BFCould the provider of the sample be previously =

infected?

"Computer, performance of biological containment fields level 3"

"Isolation fields working at 100%" it replied.

Oku Ramin thought that he was getting somewhat ignorant or? there IS a =

species of that sort of bacteria that lives either in disruptor blasts =

of? in SUBSPACE ITSELF? Couldn=B4t be.

"Computer, display every known spirochetes that lives in subspace"

"There are no known species with desired specifications" computer =

answered

No subspace, no disruptor, hell of an enigma! Oku saw an excellent =

opportunity to classify a probably new species, or study that? stuff. He =

was about to try genetics. He knew he had to go to sickbay to do so.

"Computer, is Sickbay occupied?"

"Sickbay is occupied. Seven people lying, none stood up"

That meant there was not a doctor but seven corpse-to-be patients (if =

this finding turned to be something weird)

"Computer, establish biological containment field level 4 in Sickbay's =

BioLab"

"Authorization required"

"Ramin upsilon two sharky"

"Acknowledged"

<Sickbay's Biolab, ten minutes later>

"Computer" Oku asked, "Analyze genetic material from spirochete in =

sample"

(Chirrs, whirs, blips) "Genetic sequence analyzed."

"Classify species according to genetic map"

"Classification impossible. DNA from this bacterium has been =

manipulated"

"Wait a nanosecond" Oku thought "Genetic manipulation?" The only noise =

heard around was that technobabble from the devices that were online by =

Ramin's request. He remembered that lecture about procedures in the =

Fantara II epidemics due to a genetically altered virus and tried to =

identify the gene sequence that had been altered.

"Computer, identify origins of any inserted DNA by species and planet"

The list was short this time. It showed the name of the base genetic =

code, a common Treponema vulcanae (the ethiological agent of Vulcan =

syphillis, which has the ability to invade and penetrate any known =

tissue IF the immune system is down. Also, highly contagious, even by =

breath). Then came the insertions. The altered code was from that =

unknown species found by the NCC-1701-D almost two years ago, those =

subspace creatures that Dr. Crusher reported on a well-known paper, =

thanks to an engineer who discovered them. Ramin read that paper the =

year after its publishment. Somehow, someone got one, took its DNA and =

chose the subspace-living code to be inserted onto this bacteria. =

Alteration of DNA in such a way only means something: BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS =

or Oku doesn't hate Horusians! The list also included the feared item: =

RESISTANCE TO OXABIOMYCILLIN. No other antibiotic killed that bacterium. =

Now, it's resistant to everything.

He wanted to be sure, but in his Thairian mind he was as sure as a =

Klingon engaging in battle. He knew that the transporter filter was OK =

and included this bug into the list of no-way-to-get-in species. There =

were to things to do: check the filter, check the bug.