"Turn your head and cough."
"What?"
"Just kidding. Have a seat."
Rich's momentary panic dissipated upon seeing Doctor Maruu motioning him to sit on the bobed. He complied.
"Good. Now lie back."
Again, Rich complied. Despite her little joke, Dana's kindly smile put him at ease.
Just then, the door to sickbay hissed open and a bunch more people walked in. Four of them were Steve Condrey and Krystina Stressman and her two kids. -- Rich recognized them from their pictures on the rpg web site. The third was Francesca. Rich recognized her because he'd "borrowed" her likeness and personality from one of his favorite TV shows when he created her character for his stories.
Francesca led Steve and Krys over to a couple of chairs and told them, "Wait here. The doc will be with you in a sec." They sat, the kids already fidgeting, and they noticed Rich reclining on the biobed. They waved a friendly hello to him.
Rich moved to respond, but Doctor Maruu intercepted his rising arm and planted it firmly back on the biobed. "Hold still," she said, "or we'll never get this finished."
Rich complied, but it took only a few seconds before his curiosity beat back the doctor's order and forced his mouth into action again. "So, you're gonna scan me, huh?" He craned his neck to look around the exam room at all the fantastically incomprehensible equipment. "What does it feel like to get scanned?"
Dana smiled and looked up from her tricorder long enough to answer, "You ought to know, Mr. Merk. You've been scanned at least a dozen times already since you came aboard."
"Really?" was Rich's surprised reaction. "Cool. How does it work?"
"Hm? Oh, I don't know exactly. It's complicated," said Doctor Maruu, trying to keep her attention focused on her work. "The scanning beams propagate through subspace and pick up all the little twists and warps that all matter and energy exert on the continuum, and translate that into information we can interpret. That answer your question?"
"Uhh.... Sure," lied Rich.
Never one to pass up an opportunity, from over at the other side of the room behind a pile of kids, Steve quipped, "And some people warp and twist space more than others!"
"Oh yeah?" Rich raised his head from the cushion and turned toward Steve in preparation to deliver a witty rejoinder, but Doctor Maruu's firm hand on the top of his head pressed it back onto the biobed.
"Hold still."
Rich complied.
His wandering eyes came across Francesca, who had parked herself behind a desk and was busy pretending to be hard at work, though in reality she was watching the new arrivals from Earth. He caught a fleeting look of amusement on Francesca's face, but she quickly turned her head away when she noticed Rich looking at her, as though she didn't want him to know she'd been staring at him.
Was it just 'amusement' that Rich had seen in her face, or was there something more? Had he seen a fleeting glimpse of curiosity? Desire? He couldn't be sure. Naw, he chided himself silently. That's just silly.
Meanwhile, Doctor Maruu had finished her examination of his health and general well-being, and now indicated that he could sit up.
Rich complied, asking as he rose, "So, what's the verdict, Doc? Will I live?"
"Your lungs are coated with hydrocarbons and other particulate residue from airborne industrial pollutants, your digestive tract is damaged, probably by too much spicy food and carbonated beverages, your muscles are atrophied, probably from sitting at a desk job for the last ten years, and your innards are a veritable zoo-full of microorganisms. In other words, you're a perfectly normal specimen of early 21st-century human, and will most likely live to a ripe old age of 75 or 80 years," she finished wryly.
"Ah. Well, in that case, me and my microorganisms thank you for your kind and expert ministrations," said Rich gallantly as he hopped off the biobed, smiling his most charming smile.
Oblivious to Rich's magnetism, Dana said, still all business, "Now, if you'll just wait a moment while I summon someone to escort you back to your quarters...," but before the words were completely out of her mouth a voice from behind them spoke up.
"I'll take care of that, Doc. No prob." Somehow Francesca had snuck up behind them, and now she wiggled her way in to stand between Dana and Rich. She smiled sweetly, and taking Rich's arm, led him toward the door. "We'll take the long way back," she said. They last thing heard before the sickbay door slid shut behind them was, "So Rich, you married?"
Dana smiled to herself. She hoped Rich would be all right. She figured he would. But enough levity; there were still two patients waiting their turn. She motioned for Steve to come over to the exam table.
"Okay. Turn your head and cough."