Anyone for Velocity " (Part 2 of 2)

Lieutenant Commander Tyra and Junora Loris stepped out of the turbolift together and headed towards the holodeck to play their match of Velocity. Tyra was dressed in a skin-tight, figure hugging 'catsuit'. Junora had a much more conservative outfit on, consisting of a pair of dark blue trousers and a pale blue top. Junora's outfit was also not as tight against her body as the outfit that Tyra was wearing.

As they walked down the corridor, it was Tyra who was getting the looks from all the men as they passed by them and a few of the women as well.

"Who does she think she is ?" One female officer said in a low voice to her friend as the two Velocity players passed by. Tyra didn't hear the comment, but Junora with her more acute hearing did. Junora was about to tell Tyra what she had just heard when they reached the holodeck.

"Computer, run Velocity court program Alpha One, Level one, Seven game match." Tyra asked the computer.

<Enter when ready> The computer replied.

"Shall we get started ?" Tyra asked as the doors opened.

"Sure." Junora replied.

An hour later they had played six games of Velocity and the scores were tied, three each.

"OK, that's three games each. You're quite a good player for a beginner." Tyra remarked.

"As are you, I thought you said you'd never played before." Junora replied, taking a drink from the bottle that she had brought with her.

"I have honestly never played Velocity before in my life, the game is new to me. However, I must confess that back on the Valandran home world, we do have a game called Disc-ball. The skills needed to play are very similar to those for Velocity, good hand-eye co-ordination, physical agility, fast reflexes." Tyra explained.

"Sounds like an interesting game." Junora replied. "Recovered enough to start the final game." She enquired.

"Whenever you're ready." Tyra replied.

Tyra had been three games up after the third game and had been amazed at Junora's rallying skills to level the match at three all. Admittedly Tyra had had the early advantage, but Junora had been getting better and better as each game was being played. The first four matches had been played at level one, the easiest level as both girls had agreed. The next two had been played at the second level and the final game was also to be played at this level, until Tyra had an idea of how she could win.

"Computer, start Velocity match level three" Tyra announced looking at Junora. "Not scared of raising the stakes a level are you." She said with a half-smile on her face.

"Not at all." Junora replied, smiling back.

She may have been a complete novice when the two of them had walked onto the Velocity court, but she was a quick learner and had soon started to master the subtleties of the game. She had also remembered Brayden's commentary on the matches that they had been watching over the past day. She'd even started to use some of the moves that Brayden had tried to teach her. She wasn't scared of the Velocity match going up a gear at all. Ten minutes later, the Velocity disc hit Tyra again for the final time in the match.

"Game, set and match to me I think." Junora said triumphantly, remembering something she had seen on the Velocity replays.

"You play a good game." Tyra acknowledged.

Junora didn't reply.

Tyra looked behind her to see the body of Junora slumped on the floor, her face as white as a sheet.

"Medical emergency in holodeck four. Lieutenant Commander Tyra to Doctor Katts, Lieutenant Commander Loris has collapsed." Tyra said.

[Tyra, this is Doctor Katts. What happened ?]

"No time to explain, I think you should transport Junora to sickbay immediately. I don't think she's breathing very well." Tyra replied.

[We're beaming you both to sickbay now.]

The two officers disappeared from the holodeck and re-appeared within sickbay.

Sickbay

Doctor Fyrelyn Katts was already standing beside one of the medi-bed, as four medical orderlies carefully lifted the body of Junora off the floor and onto the bed.

"Exactly what happened ?" Doctor Katts asked again as she started to work on the unconscious Junora.

"We'd been playing Velocity, Junora had just won the deciding game. I turned around and there she was just lying on the floor unconscious." Tyra replied.

"Her body seems to have gone into some sort of physical disarray. Her heart rate has become erratic and her brainwave patterns have slowed down considerable. I just wish we knew more about her physiology. Did she show any signs of fatigue or illness ?" Doctor Katts asked.

"Not that I am aware of, we were both getting tired I guess. Playing six games of Velocity will do that, but she didn't claim to be tired and she certainly didn't look ill." Tyra answered. "Will she be alright Doctor, I'd hate to lose my first new friend on our first Velocity outing. It's been kind of hard since Teryek was murdered and I've not had much chance since to make friends."

"How are you coping with the injections ?" Doctor Katts enquired at the mention of Tyra's now dead 'partner'.

"Are they suppressing your 'appetite' ?." She asked.

"I'm not feeling the 'urge' at the moment, but there are times when I do get the 'hunger pains'. But I'm beginning to learn how to control them more, as I know that my position aboard ship depends upon my keeping myself sane." Tyra replied.

"I've been looking at your last set of test results and it seems that when your body starts to break down the supplement, it is having a toxic effect on your system. Some of your hormone levels have risen by as much as 10% since the previous set of tests. That's probably what is causing your 'hunger pains', your hormones are affecting your brain and making you feel hungry." Fyrelyn explained. "I've run some simulations of the supplement and I think I've been able to isolate the section that is causing the problem. If you were willing, I'd like to try a refined version of the supplement that I've been working on. Hopefully, this will remove the symptoms that you have been feeling."

"If you think it will help, then let's do it." Tyra replied "Although I'm curious as to what you think the cause is. Our race had been manufacturing the supplement for over two centuries now and as far as I am aware no-one has suffered any ill side-effects."

"There are none recorded in the medical database either." Doctor Katts replied. "The only explanation I can think of is that there's a problem with either the medical replicators or with the supplement analysis in the database. I've asked Engineering to come take a look at the replicators, but they still have more urgent matters to attend to. Until then, I've started to replicate the supplement using the mess hall replicators. If there was a problem with those, we'd soon know about it."

"So we'll try the new supplement tomorrow. I'm not working until 17:00 hours, so I can spend the day here in sickbay, whilst you monitor my progress. Tyra remarked. "How's Junora doing ? She seems to be breathing more regularly now."

"Well we've got her stabilized for now. We'll run some more tests to see if we can find some cause for her collapse. Best thing you can do for now is go get a shower and get changed." Doctor Katts "Nice outfit by the way." She remarked sarcastically.

"And you'll let me know if there is any change ?" Tyra requested.

"Yes Commander, I will. Go get that shower now and maybe something light to eat." The Doctor replied. "And I'll see you here 09:00 hours tomorrow for your next injection."

Tyra walked out of sickbay and headed towards her quarters.

Doctor Fyrelyn continued to monitor the young Nuan's vital signs, puzzling over the cause of her sudden illness.