Goo Exam

Posted on Mon Aug 9th, 2021 @ 8:16pm by Lieutenant JG Adrian Sage

1,291 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 3 - Fear Is Fear Itself
Location: Science lab
Timeline: prior to being attacked

Agapov was curious about the science staff. And didn't quite know how to go about meeting them. Sure they were on a small science ship and so it wouldn't be too difficult to meet people, but still, her siblings were keeping her busy. Giving a sigh of relief she walked into the science labs, looking to see if she could spot someone inside. Or was that a mistake? After all no one really lived in the science lab.

Nearly no-one. Adrian leaned back to peer out the doorway as he heard footsteps. "Hi!" he called out, "are you lost?"

Giving a slight start "No not lost, oh good, there is someone here!" giving a smile. "I'm Agapov, I'm new to the Copernicus. I'm here to.. I am newly arrived science officer. Hi!" giving a light laugh. "Okay that isn't one of my more dynamic introductions." she said rubbing the back of her head. "What's your name?"

Rising, Adrian emerged from the lab. "I'm Adrian," he chuckled, "local chemist. What's your specialty?" He gestured for her to come into the lab, returning his attention to an intricate setting. "And uh....I assume Agapov isn't your first name?"

"No it isn't. My first name is Anja" she chuckled following after Adrian. "What are you working on? Looks interesting."

"Oh I'm trying to determine the chemical composition of the goo the chief medical officer was covered in after returning from a mission. I'm not having much luck though." He grinned brightly. "You haven't told me what your specialty is."

"Well general science with a dash of Alien Archaeologist/Anthropologist." Anja responded. "How did the chief medical officer get covered in that and wait what happened on the last mission. I had been told I was assigned here and then boom here I am."

"Something happened on a planet we sent away missions to." Adrian peered through his microscope a second, before looking up again. "The Captain and the counselor were somehow hooked to a device of some kind, and creepy goo-ey crawlies started to move around. Apparently the goo is from one of those critters. I'm not sure what to make of it though, I've never seen anything like it."

Agapov shuddered, "Okay that sounds really horrid. And you've not seen anything like that before. May I take a look at it as well? And what magnification have you looked at it, under?"

"Oh by all means!" Adrian scooted over and gestured to the microscope. "I could use a fresh perspective. HPLC hasn't turned up much yet, and I've yet to conduct spectrophotometry experiments. I sure could use a hand."

"That sounds like a great plan." Agapov replied as she moved closer to Sage. "Let's get to work."

As the spectrophotometry was being conducted, Agapov took careful look at the details, what was being ascertained. It didn't seem that light was going through it, it had a strange viscosity to it, as if there had been a combination of several substances. Much like something that she'd read about in different books.

"This is so weird," Adrian remarked, "results are coming back negative...like it's not getting any light through. And chemical composition is a mystery too... If you have any suggestions I'm all ears because I'm running out of ideas."

"Well shall we test for other sorts of DNA, they may have added different DNA to this. Who knows." Agapov shrugging her shoulders. "lets scan for that."

"DNA?" Both of Adrian's eyebrows lifted in sheer surprise. "You think there's genetic material in this goo?" He looked down at his microscope, then back up at the woman. "Well whattayeknow, I hadn't thought of that one." He gestured at his equipment. "This might not be sufficient to do that though... I'm no biologist."

"I think we can go to another lab and do more tests. How does that sound. both of us working to solve this mystery." Agapov giving a smile

Adrian led her towards an adjacent lab, where a sequencer was set up. "Well.. let's see what comes up when we run the genetic markers of most known species." He chuckled. "At least in modern times that's a quick test, several centuries ago, a simple PCR took hours to run." He dropped a small sample into the device's receptor, then glanced at the monitor. "Only a few minutes now and we'll see if this goop has any DNA to begin with."

Agapov watched closely as the machine did its work, then she gasped when the results came up. "What is this? Insectoid DNA, Humanoid DNA and.. something else. This is horrifying as well as fascinating to find this out!"

"Adding to their own collective are they?" Adrian mused. "I wonder if it's all individual or if it spreads to others like a sort of hive mind kind of idea. What if one creature encounters something new, is that restricted to the one, or will it spread to the others?"

"That is a very good question there. We are going to have to dig up more information on this. I seem to read a part of a report that there was something of a hive mind with the captain, being like the main computer so he had control over the... beings?" Agapov queried.

"Gossip has it the counselor did too. Compelled him to release one of those critters and it cost him dearly, but the captain had more control somehow..." Adrian shrugged. "I don't know either very well, I can't even remember having met either to be honest. Have you?"

"No I haven't met either of them either. I completely forgot to do so, I've not even met the XO. Have you? Are we going to get into trouble for not doing so?" her eyes widening. "I just got right to work." giving a nervous chuckle.

"Eh I think they'd rather have us put straight to work instead of bother with senseless report-ins," Adrian chuckled back, "and I think I sort of met the XO, but in all honesty I'm actually not sure. to be fair, I'm not even sure I met our boss at that! Have you?"

"I ran in to him, almost literally. He seems like a nice enough guy, He had spoken about getting the science team together to do a get to know all of us. Also I think that what happened on the planet threw him off. I think it put the fear in him, and sadly I can see why it would." Agapov stated.

Adrian nodded. "So can I. Based in what we've heard, and what we've discovered here, I'm not sure I fancy an encounter with these critters." He shuddered. "What do you say about a little break and get us some coffee? Or something stronger and we continue later?"

Agapov nodded, "Sounds like a good plan. Lets do so." closing down the machine and placing the goo in a safe spot. "That will definitely need to be looked at even more. However lets get a very strong drink. I think it would be termed doctor's orders?" giving a chuckle.

"Right," Adrian grinned, shutting off the monitor as well. "Irish Coffee? With some rich kind of pie?"

"Oh you are talking my sort of language. Sounds great to me!" giving an answering grin. "Let's go." heading towards the door. "Wonder what sort of pie.. would go well with the Irish coffee."

"I have absolutely no idea!" Adrian followed her close on her heels. "Chocolate? Or maybe we can sample things... I'm all for sampling." He grinned at her.

"Okay that sounds like a plan, sampler plates!" Agapov said in delight. Sage was certainly making her feel like a part of the crew. This made her happy indeed.

 

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