Entry Check Up

Posted on Sat Oct 31st, 2020 @ 9:14am by Lieutenant Commander James Trallos MD & Lieutenant JG Vespa Kale

Mission: Survival of the fittest
Location: Medical

Navigating the corridors of the Pennsylvania was a bit of a challenge. It felt so... so cramped really. Just another thing she'd have to get used to, really. Just another piece of the culture of Single Instance Life. She wore a pair of smiles as she made her way through the doors of the Medbay, turning to address whoever was present at the welcoming station.

She expected a drone, still. She missed those little guys, despite really only being deprived of their company for, at this point, maybe a handful of hours. "Good welcome." she greeted, "I'm Vespa Kale. I'd like to arrange an entrance medical check please. I just transferred aboard and want..." and the conversation stopped.

Picked up instantly by her twin, not too far away, "... to get it out of the way. The Captain requested that I meet with the medical chief, so if they're available, that'd be perfect."

The doctor was organizing one of the supply cabinets. They had finished Major repairs, but after that, his extra help left, leaving him and his staff to put the supplies back in order. They had used a significant amount and as such, restocking was a longer process than it normally took. The doctor overheard the conversation.

"Yes, I'm available. These supplies aren't going anywhere. Hop on the main bio bed and I'll..."he paused as he turned and looked over his shoulder. He thought it was just a single crewmember and then realized that was not the case. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize we were getting any Dalacari as new crew." He save them a smile. "Go ahead and take biobeds 1 and 2 while I pull up your information."

The pair kept their smiles wide, but were careful not to show teeth. "It's alright, it was something of a last minute ambition. Lucky for me all parties agreed and, well, here I am." she was cheerful as the pair of them moved to Biobed 1. There was a bit of hesitation when it came for her to split up the relatively short distance to have her twin sit on bed 2.

"Is there a reason I'm being split up?" she asked, honestly curious. "Oh, OH I think I know why. It's alright, now that I think I know, I'm less nervous." a pause, then her sister form on Bed 2 spoke up.

"My medical records should be in the system by now. Medical history, vaccinations and check ups, blood type and composition. I'm Type K, lucky me." she sounded pleased. Maybe it was a good thing.

The doctor walked over with his padd and made his way to bed two, his nurse moved to bed one. "Well, in answer to your question, the reason is because unless you wanted to lay on top of each other, the main biobed would not fit both of you, hence the two beds." He said and kicked a peddle on the bottom of the bed and slowly pushed bed two until it was adjacent to bed one and smiled at them. "I may not be familiar with your species yet, but I understand the basics of binary life forms."

He turned on the monitors and began doing a preliminary scan to match against the baseline he had been sent. "You'll also have to forgive me if I ask some questions that may seem like basic knowledge to you. I just like to make sure my understanding of medical biology matches your biology and I am not missing something basic to you but foreign to me. That, and I don't want to appear rude. Is that ok?"

His manner put her at ease. At least he was familiar with the concept of forms of life outside his own worldview. She appreciated that. At his comment about the beds, though, the pair shook their heads. "No thank you. It's kinda taboo in Dalacari society to come into prolonged contact with, well, yourself."

The scans showed each form as an individual being, biologically. No shared physical systems or anything of that naturel. Neurologically, though, was the interesting part. There were parts of the brain that seemed to be constantly active for both bodies, and as the conversation moved from one form to the other and back, they would react accordingly. Like watching the tide ebb and flow.

"Oh no, please don't even give it a second thought. If you have a question, I'd be bothered if you *didn't* ask me." her twin sister commented. "I'm certain you'll get around to reading the medical records and all whenever you can but..." and the display showed the hand-off of neural dominance, as it were. One body becoming less active in the speech centers, while the other body picked up.

"... if you have questions now, please ask. I've been a Dalacari my whole life, almost got the hang of it." the pair giggled.

"Then you're ahead of me. I've been human all my life and I still have no idea how to act half the time." He said watching the scans fascinated at the brain stimulations. "Well, my first two questions are mostly for your own comfort if I have to treat you for anything. How far can the two of you be separated before it starts causing negative effects and if one of you feels pain, does the other react to the same pain as well?"

"I'd suggest to just put one foot in front of the other and take your own lead, but I don't know how well that advise works outside of being a Dalacari." she offered with a pair of smiles.

"Though, to answer your questions." her twin piped up, "My ghosting index is pretty good, I've been measured comfortably at what you'd consider ten meters..."

"... but physical obstructions cut that down greatly. Not good with walls, I'm afraid, but as long as I can see myself, ten meters is my limit." she said, sounding proud of the distance. "Though, as for..."

"... pain and sensation in general, it's all shared. Touch, Smell, Sight, all the senses are shared. What one experiences, so does the other. Which is why, as you've probably..."

"... figured out, prolonged tactile contact with one self is weird. It's hard to describe, a mild case of sensory overload."

The doctor nodded. "That makes sense, although does cause this doctor a little confusion for treatment as a non-bianary being. For example, let's say this..."he paused and read his notes for correct terminology "sister sprained her ankle. I could ask where it hurts and both would indicate their ankles but only one sister is injured."

He began walking around both sisters with his tricorder, gathering additional data. "I will make sure to keep you all together and close. You are two halves of a whole and I treat the whole person." He stopped for a moment. "And just to be clear, while I am very fascinated to learn more about you and Dalacari, I am not one of those crazy doctors. No probes or sharp things from me unless I'm treating you for somthing." He smiled at them. "Now for my own question to understand politeness, when I'm talking to you now, is there a Dalacari preference to which sister is addressed in a general question?" He asked taking hold of one of the sisters arms and feeling a pulse physically and noting the adjustment in mental activity to touch was literally bilateral in both sisters.

One of her forms held up a hand, "Actually, sensation works that way, but I know where I'm hurt. Just expect me to complain twice as much." she said, still smiling.

"And I certainly appreciate the non-invasiveness." at that, the pair giggled. "Now, as for the rest of your..."

"... questions, for addressing me, just address me. Look in my direction, or address either of my forms. Trust me, I'm not going to start getting HALF jealous..."

"... of you talking to just one particular form." she paused, letting him find a pulse before she continued, "And sister is a weird way to describe it, but I don't think we..."

"... ever really came up with anything better aside from just noting our form, our instance, or even just pointing to the other half and saying 'Me'." she sounded amused.

"And I mean, sister and brother are the weirdest terms to use for it, but from an outside perspective I can see why those would be the terms chosen."

The doctor smiled. "Well, human births sometimes can contain identical twins. They can look, talk and sound exactly the same. While they are two separate and individual lifeforms, they are completely identical to those that do not know them. Probably why they had me use that Earth term. I can address you however you want, my guess it was a way to simplify binary to those that have not been exposed to any before." He started to match up his tricorder to the baselines and examine them. "To your knowledge, are you allergic to anything?" He chuckled a moment. "Im also glad you don't get even half jealous. I know enough not to make a woman jealous."

"See, that fascinated us for a while too. When we first made contact with single instance life, we noticed that sometimes a birth is twins. We honestly thought it was a ..."

"... return or a step towards binary instance life. Turns out no, sometimes you get two." she giggled, "Honestly, I think calling my forms Sisters works nicely if a reference..."

"... is ever needed." she paused for a moment, and then realized what he had said and gave a giggle, "Oh no no no, ummm, cultural expression. When a Dalacari is Half something..."

"... it's a sign of an imbalance. If I'm half asleep, it means one of my forms is more fatigued than the other. Half Drunk is no fun. Half sick even worse. So yeah, being half...

"... jealous because only one of my forms is getting attention."

She thought on his final question for a moment, "I used to be allergic to a certain brand of food flavorant when I was a kid, but I grew out of it. Doctors confirmed and everything so No. I'm not allergic to anything."

She paused, "I might develop an allergy to something here, since this is all foods I haven't been exposed to, but if I notice anything odd I'll mark what I ate and give you a call."

"Good, don't be a stranger here. Your people sent me a small sampling of your pharmaceutical inventory. I will build these into our replicator and just hope I never use them." He gave her a smile. "Well, everything looks good. You match baseline to the number. If anything changes, don't hesitate to let me know something is off. I'll check you out." As he stepped back so she could sit up or stand up.

The pair hopped off their respective biobeds with practiced ease. "I appreciate your manner, Doctor. Health Care is one of the most important industries and practices on Dalacar. We even have drones who are programmed to administer..."

"... everything from basic check ups to assisting in complex surgical procedures. From the first breath to the last, they say, a healthy Dalacari is a happy Dalacari." she offered with a set of smiles.

"I can ask for a further set of medical primers from the homeworld if you'd like. I can't promise that there won't be a child's book or two in there, but even the most..."

"... basic information can help Books explaining to young Dalacari about their double sensations, ghosting, and other basic concepts." she offered. "I'll also try to make sure..."

"... to get you an updated copy of "The Definitive Dalacari: From Predator to Present Day" and "Anatomus Dalicarix". The second one is a bit gruesome for my taste, since it has..."

"... detailed pictures of our internal anatomy. Trust me, I respect the work, but I never want to know exactly what my liver looks like."

The doctor smiled at her. "In general, most species I have come across have that same opinion about knowing how the insides look and work.That would be good though, thank you. They sent me over a general atlas, but I wouldn't mind a detailed anatomy and physiology textbook." He tapped a few keys on his padd and offered it to Vespa. "All cleared and authorized. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

She accepted the offered PaDD and gave a pair of nods, "Thank you very much. I do believe that's everything. I'll be in touch with those references once I get them, but aside from that I think we're good."

"Thank you again, for your manner and attention. Health care is incredibly important to my people. so you'll be seeing enough of me through the tour." she stated with a pair of smirks, before the two of them padded their way back to the front desk. She couldn't schedule a six-month follow up here, but she'd be setting a reminder as soon as she got to her quarters.


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Lt. JG Vespa Kale
Assistant Science Officer

Lieutenant James Trallos MD
Chief Medical Officer