Processing

Ensign Demarco and Bridie left the front office and stepped into a side room. The room was not very large and all that was in the room was a single small desk, with a console and several panels imbedded in it. On ether side of the desk were two chairs and Demarco ushered Bridie into the seat on the far side.

Demarco sat in the other chair and activated the console.

“What did Logan mean by processing ?” Bridie asked. “Will it hurt ?”

“All that I’ll be doing is taking several scans and bio-metric readings.” Demarco replied. “Without them, you wouldn’t be able to have clearance to enter the field office.”

“Oh.” Bridie stated.

“Would you place both hands on the panels in front of you.” Demarco requested.

Bridie placed her hands on the two illuminated panels and felt a small tingling passing through her hands as they were scanned. She suddenly pulled her hands away as she felt a sharp pain pass through them.

“What was that ?” She asked.

“The top layer of your skin was vaporised.” Demarco explained. “It does sting a little and your reaction is typical. Here rub some of this on your palms.”

Demarco passed Bridie a small bottle and Bridie sprayed some of the fluid that it contained onto her hands. As soon as she did, the pain in her palms subsided.

“An antiseptic lotion to aid the healing process, plus a mild anaesthetic to ease the pain.” Demarco explained. “Hold still for a moment.”

Demarco pressed a button on the console and a device rose from the middle of the table right in front of Bridie.

“Lean forward into the viewfinder and please don’t blink.” Demarco requested.

“Retinal scan !” Bridie suggested.

“You are correct.” Demarco acknowledged. “Now hold perfectly still.”

The lights in the room dimmed and then there was a bright red light from the machine and then it disappeared back into the table, leaving Bridie with spots before her eyes.

“The spots will disappear in a few minutes.” Demarco said as the lights came back up. “Now I see from your medical records that you have already been ‘chipped’, so we’re done.”

“Chipped ?” Bridie asked. “What do you mean ?”

“All Starfleet personnel and their families have been ‘chipped’ since the start of the Dominion\Cardassian war.” Demarco stated. “From your medical records, you had a chip implanted soon after you were born, so all we need to do is record its id and we’ll get you up to your quarters.”

“What does this chip do ?” Bridie enquired.

“It’s a personnel id.” Demarco replied. “Several high-ranking officers of Starfleet, the Klingon Empire and the Bajorian council were replaced with Dominion duplicates. The chips were designed to compensate for this; each one is unique to the recipients DNA, they can’t be replicated or removed. After the war was over, the practise continued. Personally I don’t like the idea of the chips, but Starfleet Command sees it as a necessary security measure.”

“So where is this chip ?” Bridie asked.

“It could be anywhere.” Demarco admitted. “The device is injected into the blood stream and eventually attaches itself to one of the major organs, makes detection a little harder. My own chip is attached to the left ventricle of my heart. Yours we’ll have to find with this.”

Demarco picked up a tricorder off the desk and started to scan Bridie. Eventually the device beeped twice and after entering a sequence of numbers into the console, she closed the tricorder and placed it back on the desk.

“So where is mine ?” Bridie asked.

“It’s attached to the optic nerve of your left eye.” Demarco replied.

“You know I’ve always had this itch behind my left eye.” Bridie remarked. “I guess we now know why.”

“We’d better get you up to the living quarters.” Demarco stated.

They walked out of the small room and back into the front office. Heading for the door to the rear of the office, Demarco motioned for Bridie to place her right hand on the panel set into the wall beside the door. The door opened and they both walked through into the main field office.

“This place is bigger than I thought.” Bridie remarked.

They stopped at a darkened console on the wall and Demarco activated it. The console came to life, showing a schematic of the entire complex.

“Your security clearance will give you access to the main doors, the living quarters, main mess and the medical centre, all other areas are either off-limits or you will have to request access.” Demarco explained. “You’ll also have limited access to the computer systems, planetary communications network and the replicators.”

“So where’s home ?” Bridie asked.

“Computer locate the quarters of Lieutenant Commander Logan McQueen.” Demarco stated.

The console beeped twice and one area of the first floor lit up. A row of lights also appeared moving towards the turbolift. Following the lights, they entered the lift and soon found themselves on the first floor, heading for the living quarters.

Demarco pressed the door chime, but after a few moments there was no reply. She accessed the door controls and within moments, the door opened, flooding the darkened room beyond with light. In the shadows she could just make out two bodies on the floor attempting to get up.

“Lights.” A female voice said and the room was illuminated once more. Both Logan and Rahel were in a state of semi-undress, their clothing hanging out. Demarco attempted to use her Vulcan training to keep her composure, but the situation was so amusing that she could only just stop herself. Bride had no such control and was giggling at the situation.

“Thank you Ensign.” Logan stated.

Demarco turned and left the three of them. As she walked back to the turbolift, her Vulcan resolve finally broke and she too was in a fit of giggles. By the time the turbolift had arrived back on the ground floor, she had regained her self-control and returned to her duties on the front desk.