A Matter of Second Opinion

[Vek Vek]

"Inhale."

Vek's patient, a young Cizeri man from Madame Maillanaarro's Tea House took in his breath. The Durwi physician's eyes half-lidded, scrutinizing the sound as he pressed the stethoscope's padded tips close to his tympanic membranes.

"Hm. Exhale."

The patient complied. Vek's normally nonplussed expression turned a degree more disapproving.

"Breathing labored, possibly by presence of sputum. Experiencing discolored discharge?"

The felinoid's ears skewed in confusion. Vek's ocular membranes flicked in tempered annoyance.

"When you cough, is it green?"

He nodded. Vek set aside his stethoscope.

"Pleasant news first. Ailment not acquired through venereal vector. Checkup, ahem, remarkably upbeat given circumstances of employment."

The Cizerack stared at him blankly. Vek sighed.

"Exhaustive clarification. Not sick due to mass fornicating in a heated pool, however statistically unlikely. Sick because of a mild airborne pathogen - likely Arconian Rouge. Gram test will be necessary. Will prescribe antibiotic."

The young man showed visible relief with perked ears and a grin.

"Oh that'ss grreat, thank jyou Doctorr!"

As if allergic to the positivity, the Durwi held up a long finger to temper the full flush of enthusiasm.

"Patient not cleared for work. Require confinement to quarters for three days. Additional days if symptoms do not abate. Will be prescribed aggressive medical regimen. Vitally important to take all doses."

The relief on the patient's face turned to worry.

"But the Madame, sshe needss me to worrk the floorr, jI need the monejy forr thjiss week..."

"The Madame needs continued customers in house of ill repute. May be upset. Alternative would upset her more. Sick customers stay home."

The pool boy didn't look enthused by the news, but he at least looked like he understood. That was adequate. To ameliorate the experience, Vek reached for a stand-by: a jar of lollipops. He pulled out a purple one, extending it to the felinoid.

"Come by tomorrow."

[Lorna DeLaTour]

One could think that after years as a doctor, with experience with so many species, Lorna would be able to handle about everything. One type of patient still rattled her and made her feel utterly inadequate: wailing babies. Those were still her nemesis, regardless of how much she liked children. She always thought she must be lacking some box to tick in her brain makeup, because it always rattled her nerves to no end and required all her her strength and professionalism to offer a stoic and sometimes even friendly demeanor to whoever she was dealing with at the time.

She had just finished examining the two young children of a communication officer, who would soon move to another part of the galaxy, where her life partner had already been deployed. As such, she required medical paperwork, as well as extra shots for her and her little ones. The two year old was getting antsy, but Lorna didn't mind it, having offered soothing words and made the toddler laugh. The six months old on the other hand had been upset most of the time, regardless of what her mother and the doctor had done.

Lorna couldn't explain why it got on her nerves that much. She loved children, although she was happy just with her two Jaxes. After all the idea of being in an actual relationship made her skin crawl, and she had enough on her plate and too much ambition to consider having a child by herself.

She eventually finished to handle her three patients, leaving them all oblivious to what had gone on inside her head, and she escorted them back to the main infirmary. After bidding them goodbye, she walked to the small cafeteria station past a nearby hallway, and went straight to make herself some strong caf. She wished she had a flask of liquor on her because really she might just put some of it in her large mug. Smirking to herself, she soon left the small room, and headed straight back to the information station to see who required attention next.

[Vek Vek]

"Ah. Doctor DeLaTour."

Vek's independent eyes split duty - one looking at the Lorrdian doctor, the other remained fixed on the chart he was fastidiously completing.

"Stimulant acquired. Will need."

An efficient swipe of a hand dealt a file from the bottom of of a small bundle of flimsis. Only now did Vek stop reading his own work with his second eye, allowing both to focus on his colleague.

"Rodian. Male. Middle aged adult. Reported dermatological lesions consistent with dry-sale hives. Histamine response, ahem, negative."

Vek's nictating membranes flicked over his eyes as he frowned.

"Lab work, inconclusive. Autoimmune response massive. Pathogen detection negative. Require insight."

[Lorna DeLaTour]

Lorna heard the recognizable voice of one of her colleagues, Dr. Vek. His accent and speech mannerism made him hard to forget, besides being an effective medical professional, which always earned others her respect.

"Dr. Vek," she greeted him with a nod.

She smirked at his comment on the large mug of caf she was sipping from while reviewing certain case files.

"Very much so," she confirmed.

While she wouldn't get into details about the main reason behind needed the beverage at this point, and would certainly not share with anyone her issues around wailing children, she had no problem being among the caffeinated bunch of medical personnel around the infirmary. That was one of the perks of relying on a legal and widespread substance, she mused.

When her colleague told her about a baffling case, she put the file she had been reviewing aside, and gave him her full attention. Pursing her lips, she considered what he explained and what other explanations there might be.

"Does he currently undergo treatment for other conditions?"

While severe skin lesions were rare, it could happen as secondary effects, especially given that the lab work was inconclusive.

"Is there any family history of skin conditions?"

[Vek Vek]

The responses Vek got to his tee-up were initially boilerplate. That's how the process worked. You framed the dilemma, served it to colleagues to throw the most logical solutions forward, and tackled them as they arrived. It was a call and response ritual the Durwi physician thrived on, forcing possibilities through the crucible as rapidly as possible. The amphibious alien's large eyes flicked left and right as he twirled a stylus in one hand, again splitting his eyes between looking at the pad and at Lorna.

"Current treatments and medications negative. Topical kolto for unrelated abrasion; not near lesion site. No data of hereditary dermal illness or genetic defect. Rodian dermal physiology suspect to adverse reaction through multiple vectors and reagents."

Vek's thin lips pursed slightly as he paused, both eyes swiveling to the Doctor as the nictating membranes snapped.

"They have a thin skin."

It was the kind of comment that Vek delivered in his usual rapid monotonous meter where one couldn't be quite certain if he was serious or if he was joking.

[Lorna DeLaTour]

In such discussions, Lorna knew that it would take a few questions and answers, before they eventually got somewhere; but as much as Dr. Vek had originally provided, it still left so many options open, especially with inconclusive lab work.

She frowned at the Durwi's response, and mentally reviewed what she knew so far. She nodded in agreement to what he said about Rodian's physiology. For sure, their skin had a way to react, often badly, to so many things, it could be a challenge to figure out what. Whether Dr. Vek was joking or being serious about the thin skin, it made her think of another question to ask.

"Was the skin issues specifically located, or was it generalized?"

She paused for a brief moment, and realized she didn't know yet what his line of work was.

"What does your patient do for a living? What are his working conditions?"

[Vek Vek]

A mildly exasperated sigh escaped the Durwi's lips as his large eyes blinked closed and slowly opened.

"Observation. Observation. Rounds, Doctor. Could explain." He sniffed. "Would take too long."

Already moving on, Vek transferred the patient file information to Lorna's datapad with a few deft keystrokes as he moved into the infirmary proper.

"Patient is Gibrat Albor. Thirty eight cycles. Dock worker."

Rounding a corner, they arrived at a bed which was occupied by the Rodian in question. The alien's normally blue-green skin was mottled with a subtle patchwork of yellow-green, which didn't comport with normal Rodian skin patterns. He appeared swollen and uncomfortable, shifting frequently as Vek applied a fresh set of gloves.

"Affliction site widespread, no obvious point of transferrence. Subdermal swelling evident. Skin taut, warm to touch."

He laid a hand on Gibrat's forearm, causing the Rodian to suck in a breath.

"Thoughts, Doctor?"

[Lorna DeLaTour]

Lorna stood imperturbably as the Durwi exhibited obvious annoyance. She waited for him to provide a useful response to what she had asked him. She was all for second opinions but when working with only fragments of the information, however inconclusive it could be, there was only so much she could come up with from the get-go.

"Thank you," she replied with a smile when he transferred the patient's file to her datapad. She began reviewing it at once, while listening to what her colleague explained.

She followed him to the Rodian's bed, and finished reading before putting on a clean set of gloves.

The blonde approached the patient and was musing over various possibilities. It wasn't a pathogen, and lab work had been of little help.

"Do we know when he fell ill? If so, could we have the manifesto of the cargo he was working with at that time? This could clue us into possible causes for his reaction."

[Vek Vek]

The Durwi's spindly fingers were already flicking authoritatively down his datapad. He swiped right, transferring information to holographic feed which materialized next to the patient's bed alongside measured vitals such as pulse, body temperature, and blood pressure.

"Patient self-reported symptoms approximately 08.30. Checked in at 11.22."

More data filled the air.

"Cargo manifest. Machine parts. Pressurized inert gases. Tetraclydine. Senbutriol. Binary reagents in atmospheric control systems. Refined coaxium in nonreactive gel strata."

Vek pursed his lips, shaking his head.

"Could expect toxicity in refined coaxium exposure, but exposure would be localized chemical burns. Inconclusive. Does not explain elevated hematophage genesis and immune response. Theory. Exposure to unknown mutagenic compound."

The Doctor queued another holographic image.

"Blood sample drawn. Note hematophage count 700% elevated. Why?"

Everything pointed to a foreign element like an infection. But for all of the white cell activity, no signs of infection such as bacteria, viruses, or cellular parasites could be seen.

[Lorna DeLaTour]

Lorna took in all the information and mulled over it. It definitely wasn't the coaxium, because the skin issue was widespread.

"Rodians have a much higher tolerance to gas, unless this patient couldn't filter it properly."

Now that might be something. She carefully inspected the Rodian's arm, and then looked closely at a patch on his chest where the discoloration was a little more pronounced, but once again it was fairly inconclusive.

"I don't see imagery of his lungs. A med droid should take care of that."

She kept thinking about the hematophage count. Every new thing about this case kept proving more baffling. She liked a good mystery, but she also liked being able to provide actual help to patients.

"Species who have reactions to Tetraclydine can exhibit them as tooth discoloration. It might have moved to skin issues for this Rodian. If flesh cells are altered too deeply that might have led to blood repercussions."

[Vek Vek]

The Durwi's rapid twirling of the stylus slowed.

"Hm. Clever."

He hadn't made the link to Tetraclydine, precisely because the lack of reaction mentioned.

"Rodian physiology absent dental anatomy. Discoloration could be reaction in epidermal keratin."

A hovering droid waited for orders, and Vek hurriedly pecked at a wrist control with a slender finger, ordering it into action.

"Will modify search accordingly."

Vek stiffened his posture, drawing in a deep breath, which he expelled in reassurance.

"Unorthodox analysis. Impressive. Remains to see if search bears fruit, but explanation is logical."

[Lorna DeLaTour]

Lorna nodded to Dr. Vek's comment, though she wouldn't feel they had made solid progress until they had a solution for this patient's situation.

She looked at the Rodian again, before her eyes returned to the current file. She hoped something would show up.

The blonde was hoping the med droid would provide them with new details, useful ones at that,

"We like to put everything in neat categories; but nature can be a prankster."

She had seen her share of weird situations and reactions over the years.

"I don't see mention of any implants or cybernetic parts in the file. I take it, he was already checked for such things? So, we know we're not facing a rejection of sorts."