Follow Up

Posted on Fri Mar 31st, 2023 @ 2:47pm by Lieutenant Jayla Kij MD & Ensign Archer Logan VI
Edited on on Sat Apr 1st, 2023 @ 1:07pm

1,431 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: The Icarus Files
Location: Sick Bay

"Good morning Jupiter!"

"Good morning, Doctor."

Since their first meeting, Jayla had grown used to the FELINE assigned to Sick Bay and had even learned how to utilize her properly. This included as a replacement for the monotone computer voice that usually droned at her when she asked a question. Plus, the FELINE was technically AI and could make suggestions.

"What's on the roster today?" she asked as the FELINE padded along after her.

"First is a follow-up appointment with Engisn Logan, Archer, about his visit to Sick Bay several days ago," replied Jupiter.

"What was the visit about?" asked Jayla.

"Nausea and emesis," replied Jupiter.

"Was a cause determined?" asked Jayla, entering an exam room and beginning to prep it.

”Cause was listed as unknown,” was the reply. "Dr. Gamze was the attending physician."

Ah. Yes. Dr. Gamze was Phylosian. Phylosians commonly misunderstood humanoid nature. Therefore, if the cause was nerves or stress, it could have been missed. Jayla would have to research that.

"Send a reminder to Ensign Logan to report for his appointment," Jayla instructed.

There was a pause and then, "done."

In approximately 400 seconds, Archer came trotting through the main doors of Sickbay. When he came to a stop, he put his hands on his knees and bent over to catch his breath.

"I... came... as... fast as... I... could..."

The words were no sooner out of his mouth than his cheeks turned beet red from embarrassment. "I don't mean that I have ejaculatio praecox! Took me forever to get that taken off my Academy medical profile..." He sighed deeply. "I just mean I responded immediately... I don't remember having an appointment today."

The nurse at reception couldn’t stop the grin coming to her face. “I knew what you meant,” she reassured him, already checking the schedule. “You must be Ensign Logan?” she guessed, seeing only one appointment in the next half hour.

"Correct..." Archer did his best to smooth over the creases in his uniform and his grimacing face before standing at attention. "I'll just go to the examination room now..."

Archer followed the direction indicated and hoped that Dr. Kij would be as understanding as the charge nurse was. It was a funny name. Kij. Probably not human. Maybe Rigelian? Or Denobulian? Or Bolian? As Archer walked into the examination room, he braced himself for a chief medical officer with either no hair at all or entirely too much.

“Good morning, Mr. Archer,” said Jayla cheerfully as the patient entered the exam room. “How are you feeling today?”

"Fine..." Archer said with cautious mistrust over the doctor's intentions. "I didn't know I had an appointment today. Is something wrong?"

“Just a follow up from an incident a few days ago,” replied Jayla. “Hop up on the biobed, please.”

Incident? A few days ago? Archer broke into a nervous sweat as he did as instructed. "It was an accident! I swear to granite it was!" His breathing accelerated and made his voice raise an octave. "Wh-wha-what are you gonna do to me?"

“Just an examination,” Jayla reassured him. “Nothing to worry about. It’s just that Dr. Gamze’s report was incomplete. I’m simply trying to complete it.”

That did nothing but cause Archer even more anxiety. What was left out? What did the doctor wish to know? What would the doctor discover? It was all potentially very scandalous. "Yeah... yeah, yeah, yeah... go on, then. I'm, uh, I'm ready." He couldn't help but close his eyes and flinch as he waited for the other shoe to drop.

Geez, this guy had more nervous energy than a chihuahua in heat. “Try to relax, Mr. Archer,” she said as soothingly as she could, beginning her scans. “Nobody gets in trouble for vomiting.”

Archer peeked one eye open. "Vomiting? Oh, right... that's all that happened and nothing else." He visibly heaved a sigh of relief.

Jayla gave him a friendly- if cheeky- grin. “Yes, that’s what the report says,” she replied. “What happened right before that, though? Is there something that may have caused it? Like did you eat something that didn’t agree with you? Or, I see you were brought in from hull work? Maybe it was space sick?”

There were words to explain it, but Archer's mouth couldn't form any of them. He had mistaken the generic thumbs up from Ensign Richards as a solicitation for intimate relations, as that hand sign often led his Academy roommate into multiple incidents of sexual congress. So, he had yakked inside his suit, been beamed to Sickbay, and made an even bigger fool of himself inside the decon chamber.

"Just... just nerves, I guess," Archer managed to squeak out. "Though I've been turned off by beef stew ever since." Once again, the sound of his voice set him into damage control mode. "Not that beef stew ever turned me on. I don't have food kinks. Okay, that was a weird thing to say. I just don't get turned on by food or objects. Just attractive people." As the words were coming out of his mouth, Archer could not help but observe that Jayla was quite attractive. Ipso facto, he had just stated that she turned him on. "Oh, shale..." His breathing turned rapid and shallow in the makings of a panic attack.

“I understand,” replied Jayla, successfully suppressing a giggle. The two phrases translated entirely differently in Trill, so of course her universal translator has supplied the correct meaning. She was aware of the alternate meaning, though, so his explanation was not lost on her. Still, she suspected that telling him so would just make him more nervous. “Is that something that happens often?” she asked.

"No, I don't throw up often," Archer said. "I... I had someone congratulate me and I mistook it for a romantic overture. From there, I did what I always seem to do." He dry-swallowed the gulp in his throat. "Humiliate myself."

She smiled gently. “I’ve had nine lifetimes,” she told him. “I’ll bet I’ve wracked up more humiliation than you could even think of. There was one time when Aldur Kij attempted to impress a girl by cliff diving and lost his shorts. Or when I- Jayla, that is- thought a kid was hitting on me and shouted at him in front of the whole class. Turns out he only wanted to borrow a stylus.”

"That happened in secondary school back on Terra Nova." Archer winced at the embarrassing recollections. "Things got even worse at the Academy. So... so many genders..." The look he gave Jayla was beyond bashful. "I... I don't do my best around other genders."

“Well, you’re in luck,” replied Jayla. “Kij has had more male hosts than female, so I’m practically a guy.” She grinned. “Seriously, though. We’re just people. Try to just think of everybody as just another person. Well, I think we’re done here. You seem to be in perfect health. Physically, anyway.”

Archer looked at her in horror at the thought of more than one set of female eyes staring at him in Jayla's ebmuased expression. "You... mean... there's..." And then his eyes rolled back in his head as he fainted.

It was so sudden that for about two seconds, all Jayla could do was blink at his prone body. Finally, though, her medical instincts kicked in and she pulled out her tricorder again. Low blood pressure, but otherwise he was fine. His blood pressure had been fine a moment ago. A sudden drop pointed to shock. “Was it something I said?” she asked the otherwise empty room. “Mr. Logan,” she said, gently shaking his shoulder. “Ensign. Are you awake. Can you hear me?”

"No, I don't wanna go skinny dipping," Archer moaned. When his eyes opened, he saw a beautiful woman touching his shoulder and shaking him rigorously. "OH MY GRANITE!" He immediately blushed and did his best to scramble away despite the tent pitching in his pants. "Can... can I go now?!" he squealed with his back turned to Jayla.

“Yes, I suppose so,” sighed Jayla. She would probably never understand what had caused him to faint.

"Thank you." His words were spoken in a falsetto as he made a penguin-like waddle toward the door, thanking his lucky stars Jayla couldn't see him from the front.

Poor guy, thought Jayla as he headed out the door. He really needs to get laid. “what’s next, Jupiter,” she asked the FELINE, who had perched in a corner, surveying the room.

 

RSS Feed