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The xenobiological survey team had beamed down to Enah’au about six hours ago now, and each of the four scientists had immediately gone their separate ways to make observations on the local flora and fauna. Enah’au was the third planet from the twin suns, with a warm, wet climate, and long, sunny days. Its ecosystem was biologically diverse, allowing the wildlife to evolve highly specialized capabilities. Nihvas practically skips through the jungle, inhaling the sweet scent of the lavender-colored tree blossoms and feeling the humidity drape across her skin like a blanket.
She settles down next to a thick growth of lime-green stalky plants with lush, dripping leaves as large as her head. The purpose of today is to study the relationships between this plant, Evicus Alphinus, and the forest floor. It’s evident that the wide leaves play an important role in concentrating rainfall and collecting moisture. Nihvas pulls out her padd, begins to draw the leaves, and scribbles out a messy concept map of theories.
Within a few hours of her observations, Nihvas has accumulated several pages of notes of the microbes surrounding the plant and its soil. It’s more biologically diverse than anything she has ever seen, just concentrating on the micro level. She peers into her field microscope again to take a third count of the single-celled organisms in the sample. She corroborates the numbers. They all match. Satisfied, she seals the sample for further study and grabs a sterilized knife to take a cut off the stem of the Evicus Alphinus.
Nihvas reaches for the stem of the leafy plant with her right hand, knife in the left ready to cut her sample, when she feels a sudden, sharp prick on the top of her hand in between her index finger and thumb. She yanks her hand backwards in surprise and sees a little blue and pink striped lizard scampering away through the underbrush. It was only as long as her tricorder. She hadn’t even seen it there. It must have been hiding behind the leaves.
Examining the bite, she sees two little pin pricks beginning to ooze little droplets of dark blood. She stares at the bite in fascination. It begins to burn, radiating from the bite marks outward. Nihvas narrows her eyebrows in concern. What an unfortunate development.
Gathering up her mess of notes and supplies on the ground, she cannot help but start to feel anxious about the bite. The burning is getting more intense by the second, and now an uncomfortable, static-y feeling of pins and needles has begun as well. She rummages around in her bag to find the tiny first aid field kit that Dr. Tu’Pari had insisted everyone carry on survey missions. Inside the kit is a sparkly compression bandage. Nihvas rips open the packaging with her teeth and winds the bandage around her hand a few times. She takes a steadying breath. No need to freak out. Such a tiny lizard probably couldn’t do much damage anyway.
“Li to Lt. Hodson,” Nihvas says, tapping her commbadge, “I got bit by one of the local lizards. It doesn’t look too bad but I think I should get it checked out by medical. Just to be safe.” Nihvas is positive, at this point, that her little lizard friend was venomous. She doesn’t want to tear her colleagues away from their own observations if this turns out to be nothing, and she definitely doesn’t want to worry anyone. But Starfleet regulations on scientific away missions without senior officers are clear. Beam down as a complete group and beam up as a complete group. And Nihvas isn’t stupid. The pins and needles are not a good sign, she thinks, eyeing her bandaged hand.
“Hodson to Li: Can you give me twenty minutes or so to pack up? I’ll inform the others and we’ll meet at the beam up point,” Hodson’s disembodied voice says through the commbadge. The beam up point is just over a kilometer away from Nihvas’s location. The rest of the away team shouldn’t be too much further than that either. The area surrounding the beam up point is too biodiverse to get a reliable transporter lock, and Nihvas knows that she’ll need to get herself back to that clearing. She bites her lip. The pain radiating from her hand was working its way up her arm now, pulsing along with her thudding heart.
“Understood. Li out.” Twenty minutes seems like a long time, and walking back to the beam out point alone might not be the smartest choice. But what other option does she have? She really hopes she’s being dramatic.
She clenches and unclenches her injured hand, trying to dispel the discomfort. It’s not working. She quickly shoves everything into her shoulder bag and double checks to make sure nothing got left behind, and then begins to walk back to the beam up point. She focuses on her breathing, using the meditation that T’Vana taught her months ago, the first time they meditated together. In, two, three, four. Hold, two, three, four. Release, two, three, four, five, six.
Nihvas’s entire arm is encapsulated by pins and needles by the half kilometer mark, and she’s starting to feel like her bag weighs a lot more than it used to. It’s dragging her down. Her body feels heavy, and her feet are getting clumsy. She plods onward through the brush, caring less and less about avoiding low hanging branches. They scratch at her face and snag her uniform. She feels like she’s been walking for a very long time.
Suddenly, Nihvas’s foot catches on a tree root and she stumbles, pushing her hands out to catch her fall and grabbing at a nearby vine to steady herself. She clings to the vine, heart thudding with adrenaline. It wakes her up enough to realize that this is very wrong. The lizard’s venom was stronger than she anticipated. Her xenobiologist brain supplies the words “neurotoxic venom,” and she begins to feel very aware of her breathing. Is it placebo effect or the climate that’s causing her to pant slightly?
Fear wins out over Nihvas’s desire to keep everyone from worrying about her. She taps her commbadge again. “Li to Hodson: I think this thing was venomous,” she says in an oddly calm voice. “I don’t feel good.” She can’t remember if she needed to say anything else. She’s too tired.
“Hodson to Li: Send me your location. Don’t move; we’ll come to you.” Nihvas pulls up the positioning system on her tricorder and sends her coordinates. She takes a deep breath and tries to snap herself out of the drowsy fog that has settled over her brain. Shakes out her arm again. It only makes the pins and needles worse.
“Please hurry, Lieutenant.” And in a rare moment of vulnerability, Nihvas quietly adds, “I’m scared.” Her voice trembles just a little.
“We’re going to get you back on the ship as soon as possible, okay Li? I’ll see you soon. Hodson out.”
Nihvas promptly plops herself on the ground. Her breaths feel like they’re not deep enough and her head is starting to ache, like she hasn’t drank enough water, even though she knows she has. She puts her head between her knees while she waits. The oppressive humidity is no longer comforting. It seems too thick, and Nihvas feels like she’s struggling to get oxygen out of the breaths that she’s taking. I might die out here, Nihvas thinks suddenly. That’s not rational, she argues with herself. It’s going to be fine. She’s not sure if it’s the truth.
Nihvas isn’t sure how much time has passed. Her head hurts and she wants to be back on the ship, curled up in her warm bed. She begins to recite an old prayer. Shavast proiya, the song of rebirth. It’s a long prayer. Her parents told her that it was commonly recited in the labor camps during the occupation, late at night, when they weren’t sure they would survive until tomorrow. Nihvas gets it now. The ancient words feel soft, warm, and powerful.
It only takes Hodson seven minutes to appear in the clearing. Bialetto and Karim are following close behind, crashing through the underbrush, lugging their stupid-large suitcases of equipment. Nihvas looks up at the noise and blinks sluggishly.
Hodson rushes over and kneels next to Nihvas, shrugging off his shoulder bag. “How are you doing?” He taps a few buttons on his tricorder, probably to reconfigure it to read humanoid lifesigns, and begins to scan her.
“Just peachy, Hodson,” she slurs a little. Bialetto hovers over Hodson’s shoulder unhelpfully, while Karim is bouncing on his toes, not trying very hard to hide his scientific interest. Karim is human, and Nihvas remembers him telling her that he did his thesis on the evolution of venom in animals on Earth. Apparently it had evolved on that planet, separately, at least five different times.
“Damn Li, you look like shit! What do you feel?” Karim asks excitedly, pulling out his padd to jot down notes. Hodson’s tricorder beeps incessantly near her ear.
“Burning, pins and needles all up my arm.” She gestures towards her useless arm with her left. “Head hurts. Breathing isn’t so good either.” Nihvas puts her head between her knees again.
“Cool!” Karim exclaims, then immediately backtracks after a sharp glare from Hodson. “I mean not cool - that doesn’t sound fun - I mean - it’s scientifically cool,”
“Shut up Karim!” Bialetto hisses. Nihvas just laughs a little in between labored breaths.
Hodson turns off his tricorder and shoves it into his bag. “Alright Li, we need to get you back to the ship quickly, okay?” he says calmly. She appreciates his tone. But she knows the situation isn’t great. “Bialetto - I need you to take my bag. I’m going to carry Li. Karim - I need you to take the lead and handle the GPS. Let’s move quickly, people,” he commands, getting ready to pick Nihvas up off the ground as carefully as he can.
“I don’t want you to walk anymore Lieutenant. I’m going to pick you up now, okay?” Hodson tells her softly. Nihvas nods tiredly. He pulls her uninjured arm around his shoulders and picks her up, one arm underneath her knees and the other around her back.
As soon Hodson gets her off the ground, Nihvas’s stomach lurches. She violently twists her head to the side just in time to avoid vomiting on Hodson’s uniform. Hodson just freezes and until Nihvas is finished. Her eyes water and she doesn’t really feel any better.
“Mm sorry Hodson,” she groans, squeezing her eyes shut.
“Don’t apologize. If you need to throw up again, just do it. I don’t care, okay? My priority is getting you back on the ship,” he replies. Turning to face Bialetto and Karim, he nods. “Let’s go.” Nihvas leans into his chest, trying to think about anything other than how sick she feels.
The science team makes their way through the brush and back to the beam up point as fast as they can. Nihvas vomits three more times, not quite managing to avoid herself or Hodson’s boots after the second time. She watches green and aqua tree leaves become a endless, dizzying blur above her. She can’t see the sky, and it suddenly makes her afraid. Her breathing speeds up. She still can’t get enough oxygen.
“Nihvas! Hey, I need you to try to calm down,” Hodson says, eyes on the improvised trail that Karim was cutting through the brush with his laser machete. “I’m going to count breaths with you, okay?” Nihvas whimpers.
“In, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four.” Hodson watches Nihvas try her best to follow the rhythm as he counts it, over and over. It seems to help, he thinks. Her face is flushed and tears have been sliding down her cheeks. Her pupils are blown wide, and she doesn’t look like she’s fully coherent anymore. He doesn’t stop counting until they finally reach the clearing. It couldn’t have been more than a ten minute walk, but Nihvas’s rapid decline is frightening him.
“Call the ship for beam out, Karim. Tell them to have medical standing by,” he commands.
Nihvas keeps counting her breathing in her head after Hodson stops. She thinks she hears Karim talking. She looses count. Everything hurts. She can’t think, she can’t breath, and she doesn’t want to be on this damn planet anymore. Then she feels the weird shimmery, floaty feeling of the transporter enveloping her body.
The transporter room is too bright. She is barely aware of herself being passed from Hodson’s arms to a medical gurney. She feels her stomach continue to lurch as she’s lain down horizontally. Someone is pulling her eyelids open, and she tries to shrink away, twisting her head to the side.
“What happened?”
“Said she got bit by something -”
“Did any of you see it?”
“And you let her walk like that? Of all the stupid, stupid things -”
Nihvas can’t make any sense out of the chaos surrounding her. There are a lot of people saying a lot of things very quickly, and it’s making her head spin. She retches, but there’s nothing left to throw up. She thinks that a hypospray gets pressed to her neck - she’s not really sure, but she feels less nauseous now. Someone presses an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth. Her breathing becomes easier with the cool flow of oxygen.
“Can you tell me what bit you Li?” Is that Sindari? Nihvas blinks lazily; her eyelids not fully cooperating. She must have faded out for too long, because Sindari taps her cheek lightly to get her attention. “Come on Nihvas, I need you to tell me if you know what bit you.”
“Lizard… thing,” Nihvas slurs from under the portable mask. “Bright colored.” She hopes she’s being helpful because she’s really trying - but she just feels so sick and her brain isn’t working and her head hurts and everyone is saying so many things.
“I need her notes, Hodson. Beam back down with your team and see if you can capture one of the lizards,” Sindari commands. “Comm Dr. Inn and inform him of the situation.”
Lights blur overhead. They’re moving through the corridors. Nihvas thinks that she must really be a mess if they’re not using the transporter. She fades in and out of consciousness, not catching anything that Sindari is saying to the other nurses.
Suddenly they’re transferring her to a biobed. Alarms beep shrilly and she tries to cover her ears. Someone grabs her injured arm to stop her from moving it. Her head is pounding and the sound is so loud.
“I’m removing the bandage, okay Nihvas? You might feel sick again,” Dr. Inn says, appearing her field of vision. Nihvas tries to nod, but she’s not sure if she accomplished it. She doesn’t feel her arm anymore. Someone is flicking a penlight in her face again and she tries to screw her eyes shut against it. She feels another pinch at her neck.
“Get this to the lab -”
“Might want to cross-reference for enzymatic peptides -”
“Increase her oxygen saturation,”
“…Need to counteract the central nervous system effects -”
Everything becomes very fuzzy. Nihvas is so tired. She blacks out to the incoherent sounds of wailing alarms and frantic yelling.
Her mouth is dry. She opens heavy eyelids to an unfamiliar room. Looks around. Her mind feels foggy, her head aches behind her eyes. It’s quiet and dim, nondescript. One of sickbay’s private rooms.
She traces her fingers across soft, grey blankets. Her right hand is stiff and heavy, less responsive than the left. Wrapped in a clean bandage from wrist to elbow. How bad does it look underneath?
She tries to move her legs. Everything feels sluggish, like trying to move through viscous goo. It makes her anxious. She breathes in shallow gasps, feels her heart pump against her ribs. How badly is she injured? How permanent is it?
The door opens and Dr. Inn strides towards her bed, tail swishing. “Lieutenant, please try to slow your breathing. You are safe.” He looks at the readings above her head and taps at it, likely silencing the alert that summoned him.
She tries to suck in deeper, exhales quickly, feels hot tears rise in her eyes. “How bad? He cocks his head and blinks large eyes.
“You did not sustain permanent injury.” A small sob of relief. Her tears begin to fall.
“You are safe,” he repeats, and then pulls a chair over. She tries to wipe at her eyes with the uninjured arm. It feels heavy and rubbery, not quite like her own limb. She succeeds only in smacking herself in the face. Dr. Inn’s mouth twitches at her attempt.
“How do you feel?” he asks her.
“Head hurts, ‘m tired. Everything feels heavy.”
“That is to be expected. The lizard’s venom was mainly neurotoxic. I would like to run a cognitive assessment soon, but no paralysis has occurred and the damaged skeletal muscle has been fully regenerated. You might experience limited mobility or stiffness in the joints of your hand, however.” He stands and taps at the readout above her head once again.
Nihvas just breathes, foggy brain processing that she’s okay.
The next time she wakes, Karim is sitting in the chair next to her bed. She watches him scroll on his padd for a little while before she clears her throat. He looks up.
“Hey!” He sets the padd down on his lap and reaches for her uninjured hand.
“Hi,” she whispers back. His hand is warm.
“We were really worried about you. Hodson and Bialetto were here earlier,” he nods towards a tiny potted succulent on the table in the corner.
“What time is it?” Her mind feels clearer. She shifts her legs under the blankets. They are less heavy. Flexes her bandaged fingers. Still a little stiff.
He glances at the chrono on the readout above her. “Almost sixteen hundred.” Nihvas furrows her eyebrows. But they beamed down at 12:00. And she definitely spent several hours down there. So that must mean -
“You’ve been out for two days now, I synthesized antivenin for four shifts straight until they said you were going to make it,” he says.
“I’m sorry,” she groans. The weight of the situation sits heavy on her chest. Two whole days, damaged skeletal muscle, near paralysis… “I should have told you all to come get me as soon as it happened.”
“Nah, it probably wouldn’t have made any difference. Besides, it was exciting - not exciting that you almost died!” He bites his lip. “I just haven’t had to flex my specialty yet on this mission. So thanks, I guess,” he takes his hand from hers, pushes back his hair.
Nihvas’s lips curve up into a little smile. “Did you have to catch one of the lizards?”
Karim huffs and crosses his arms. “No, but we sent down a team. They came back with seventeen different species and not a singe one of them were venomous. But that emergency bandage probably saved your life - I got enough of a sample off of it to figure out the main proteins. From there, my team was able to modify an antivenin. Then we cranked out about two hundred milliliters of it.” He looks smug.
“Prophets, two hundred milliliters? No wonder I felt like shit.”
“Yeah, that lizard packed a punch. It’s a shame we couldn’t find one. It would have been cool to study,” he sighs.
“Tell me about the venom,” she requests. Karim grins and launches into a passionate explanation of the chemistry. When he talks about how pretty the enzymes in calliotoxin look under a microscope, she begins to dose off . And once she falls asleep completely, he brushes the hair off her forehead and then makes his way out of the room. She’ll be okay.