Insane Asylum

Posted on Thu Apr 11th, 2019 @ 8:59am by

Mission: Episode 1: Hell is a four letter word
Location: Estelle's Cabin
643 words - 1.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Estelle got everything perfect for her call home. Which in this case meant she wore something halway presentable and had a mug of tea sitting on her desk before placing the call. "Hey mum", she greeted.

"Estelle, you're back from Cortic? How did it go?"

"Not so great", Estelle said, quickly narrating the events, though leaving out the part about the escaped criminal. "But it looks like that's all behind us now."

"How's your Liorga doing?"

"Fine, I think", Estelle said. "At least on the outside. She's not been sleeping too well, but I can't blame her. On the bright side, we've moved in together. Might be getting a bigger cabin some time soon but it's great. Say, is Dad around? I wanted to ask him something."

"No, he's travelled to Earth", her mother said. "He's developed a new technique to restore structural integrity to old buildings without actually having to take them apart. He's helping to restore the Houses of Parliament in London in time for the annual 'Reject Theresa May's Deal' ceremony."

"What's that?" Estelle wondered.

"Oh, something to do with ancient history", her mother explained. "I'm not sure. A politician who stubbornly presented the same idea just to be voted down every time. I think they turned it into an annual event because that's funny, in a weird way."

Estelle laughed. "It is, so good on them. I've felt returned to a past century myself. You won't believe how primitive some of the conditions were in which I had to operate. I've actually had to hold arteries shut manually, with clamps. I'm going to see if I can pick up a copy of McCoy's Surgical Masterpieces, and recreate them in the holodeck."

"You're expecting to be thrust into similar situations again?"

"You never know", Estelle said, taking a sip of her tea. "I mean, with sensor and equipment failure, it's always posssible. There are lots of places in the known universe that mess with the accuracy of medical scanners. Besides, I've got several new body parts to grow in the lab, for members of this crew. An ear, most of a leg, a uterus... I might grow two or three each and experiment."

"Remember, they're patients, not test subjects, dear."

"Oh, it's not like they'd feel anything, and the additional parts will never be used", Estelle shrugged. "It's certainly better than cutting up an animal just to see if I can work the old tools." She paused, then asked, "So, is Fanny back from the insane asylum?"

Her mother sighed. "It's a mon-as-ter-y!"

"Isn't that what I said?" Estelle grinned.

"No, she's due back in about a month", her mother explained. "But I think she's about ready to strangle some of those vedeks. They want security for their orb but nobody's supposed to know it's there, but they're not allowing her to place emitters inside the old walls either."

"Wait, she's on Bajor now?"

"Yes, that assignment on P'Jem ended about a month ago."

"That's great!" Estelle exclaimed. "Liorga and I were going to try and catch a few days of R&R on Bajor. I'll call her and let her know we're coming! Well, provided Liorga's okay with meeting her, but I'm sure she will be."

"She's at the Paraldek monastery. Call there, I'm not sure she's got an active comm link with her."

"Yes, probably not", Estelle nodded. Her sister enjoyed the peace and quiet of not being available for everyone to call at all times. That was something Estelle could appreciate, mostly because her job never afforded her the luxury. "I better cut this short, I've got to get her a gift for when we go. Was great talking to you, mum!" She waved at the camera, her mother waved back and she cut the connection.

Now for the hardest bit, finding something her sister would like.