Mental Therapy

Posted on 06 Sep 2016 @ 3:35am by Ensign Elisha Cherno & Lieutenant JG Charles Carmichael

1,480 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Click Three Times
Location: Sick Bay
Timeline: MD 6 || 2200 hours

Elisha was already sick of being unable to do things she previously could and it had only been a few hours. Dr. Road had made her get up and walk, which gave her little trouble (she got dizzy frequently, but Dr. Road insisted that was just from the concussion) but she had been unable to throw a ball into a target, type on a PaDD or tie a knot.

Never mind that the doctors felt that she could easily relearn these things. She couldn't do then now and that was enough to frustrate her.

They had given her a PaDD with a game that required her to connect colored dots to one another that they felt would help to relearn fine motor skills and because Elisha was a determined sort of girl, she had been working on it for 20 minutes straight. She had only managed to complete 13 levels (and they were ridiculously easy levels) but she somehow felt as if she had accomplished something.

She chewed her lip as she studied level 14.

Charles Carmichael entered sickbay, PADD in hand. He'd been in the Stellar Cartography lab when the power went out, trying to study static-y readings of the nebula, trying to figure out its exact composition. Since then, he'd been working on getting the sensors back online to no avail.

With the Chief Science tending to other matters, Charles took it upon himself to check in on the missing science officers, including those who had been admitted to sickbay. Imagine his surprise when he'd shown up and found that all of them had been dismissed.

Well, all of them but one.

Charles was directed to one of the bio beds in the second ward where he found one Cadet Cherno. He'd been briefed on what happened to her. There was no guarantee that she would know him from Adam. Still, he had to check on her. "Cadet Cherno?" he asked, cautiously approaching the biobed.

Elisha looked up and blinked. For one wild second her mind searched around before latching onto a name. "Carmichael," she said a bit slowly as she grinned. "How's Stellar Cart-cart... ography," she finished, brow furrowing in concentration.

He vowed that he'd remain expressionless as he saw her, but his left eyebrow betrayed him instantly by performing a shallow arch. Charles had never known her to stammer, but at least she remembered him. "It's... not working at the moment. The computer's down, so are sensors. They say we'll have it back sometime tomorrow. So, we'll see." He stood next to her and lowered his PADD. "How's Elisha?"

"I'm all right," she replied, still in the same slow, slurred speech. "Doctor Road says I have to relearn some fine motor skills, but she's sure my speech will come back on its own. She says it's already better. Still feels slow, though."

"You don't want to push it," warned Charles. He was no medic, but he knew that something that was already stressed shouldn't be pushed past limitations. Only further damage awaited, and it was often irreparable.

"Yeah, I know," answered Elisha. "She gave me this to work on my hand/eye coordination," she added, showing him the game. "You have to connect all the dots and fill all the squares." She demonstrated by connecting the two red dots, but she ran over the blue line and it disconnected. "Oh, yeah, and you can't cross the streams. I'm getting the hang of it."

He smiled at the 20th century reference. He hadn't told anyone on board how much he enjoyed the pop culture from that era, but it wouldn't stop him from enjoying it. "That's good."

She beamed. "I didn't have much luck tying a knot, though," she confessed. "But walking seems okay."

"So," he said, looking at down at her PADD again before looking back up to her face. "They say your... memory... isn't exactly... well, complete."

"Yeah," she answered. "I've lost three and a half months, ac-according to Doctor Road. I hope nothing life-altering happened. I mean, in three and a half months, I could have gotten married. Mind, my mother would kill me," she added with a grin.

Charles chuckled nervously at that last remark. "Well, I can guarantee you that you didn't get married," he replied with a smile. "If you had, I'm sure most of the ship would have heard it by now."

"Well, that's good," Elisha said. "I'd hate for my mother to be imprisoned for murder." She gave him a sparkling grin. "Anyway, I'm gonna have a lot of stuff to relearn. I hope the Captain will give me an extension for my exams. I guess they're supposed to be pretty soon."

"In a couple weeks actually," he told her. "With the Consortium still controlling the wormhole, I'm not even sure anyone would make graduation anyway."

"Just because we can't make graduation doesn't mean we won't graduate," she said. "Well, I mean, I don't have a hope of passing my exams anyway, but the others still will. We all knew coming out here that we might not be able to get back for comen- com... the ceremony," she finished with a look of annoyance. "Anyway, the rest of them can still get field promotions. Is it just me or is my speech getting better?"

He smiled gently, unable... or unwilling to voice a negative report. Of course, he'd only seen her for a couple minutes so he didn't have enough information to give an informed report. "There's always next year," he offered.

"I don't think I need a whole year," she replied. "Just a couple of months. Especially if I have a tutor. Hey!" she said, an idea suddenly coming to her. "Would you be willing to tutor me? I wouldn't ask, only... you're the smartest person I know."

His eyes widened in surprise. She really didn't remember any of the crew, did she? "I'll... I'll do my best," he told her with a weak smile. "Just as soon as we get out of this mess, and you get out of here."

Elisha grinned. That had been easier than she'd expected. "Yeah," she said. "I should be out soon. The doctors just want to make sure I'm not gonna fall. And I'm gonna have to come to physical therapy for awhile."

"I'm sure it's nothing you can't handle," Charles assured her.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," she replied with a bright smile. "It's a little frustrating that I can't do things that I did yesterday. Or at least the last day I remember. Anyway, I'll be back on duty as soon as the doctor thinks I can handle it."

"That's good," Charles replied. "As soon as we get the computer back, there will be a lot to do, and I'm going to need your help. I think you'll find the scans I've managed to take of this nebula fascinating. We might even have a whole new Mutara subclass on our hands."

Her eyes brightened at that. At least she remembered enough to know what that meant, which she felt was a good sign. "I didn't even know we were studying a nebula," she said. "They haven't really told me much. Is the nebula why we've lost power?"

"Kind of." Charles gripped his PADD with both hands. "We... we were following a couple Consortium ships who were looking for a pretty nasty weapon. We found them, but they hurt us pretty bad. We won, but we still have wounds to lick." That was the simplest version of what they'd been through the last few days.

"Oh, I see," said Elisha. "That makes much more sense. They said I must have fallen out of the bunk when we hit some gravimetric disturbances," she said slowly, wrinkling her brow in frustration. "Was that before we found the... whatsit ships? What was the word?"

"Consortium," Charles repeated. "Yeah. Part of me is upset for not seeing them coming. The nebula's Mutara class though, so we're lucky to see much of anything."

"Yeah, we're probably pretty blind," she replied. "But, they were the same way. What's the Consortium?" she asked, brow wrinkled again. She couldn't remember hearing the term before.

That's right, he thought. She wouldn't have remembered them. "A group that's trying to tear Starfleet apart from the inside out. They were our colleagues, and now... now they're not."

She considered that for a moment. It sounded confusing. She was sure glad she wasn't in charge. "I do not envy the captain," she said simply.

Charles grunted. "No one does," he replied. "Well, I should let you rest, I have a few more to check on tonight. Get well soon, Elisha."

"I will," Elisha promised. "Thanks for stopping by. It relieved the boredom."

The lieutenant nodded, wishing her well before leading her bedside. "Get well soon," he told her.

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