nexus_sages | (no subject)

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Of all the things Jim Kirk wishes he could do right now, getting good and drunk to drown his sorrows is certainly towards the top of the list. But his doctor says no, absolutely not, and never in his life has he wanted to go against doctor's orders less than he does lately.

So the captain finds himself in the Forum, unsure even what the hell to do with himself, and he gingerly eases himself down onto one of the couches, moving with the careful patience of the recently physically injured, before he notices the date on a nearby calendar.

Father's Day. Huh. How... stupidly appropriate.

"For those who've lost a parent... how the hell do you honor their memory? Even if you haven't, do you bother doing holidays like this?"

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He finds no fault with that advice. "And listen to my crew when they're all telling me they see something I don't."

*She smiles, giving a light laugh.*

And that, yes.

He smiles slightly in response. He's still not entirely okay, but he's getting there. And having an unrelated third party look at the whole mess with a more impartial eye has helped, both as a sounding board and as someone with her own perspective and philosophy to contribute. "You know, if this bounty hunter thing ever doesn't work out for you, you'd make a fortune as a counselor."

*She laughs again.*

Maybe. I've become a bit of one, staying here for so long. I'm not sure your government would appreciate my idea of therapy, though.

Jim gives her a considering look. "Depends on how badly you wipe the floor with your clients, I guess."

Hmm. Well, I can see you're going to be a little while getting back to fighting trim. What's your recovery plan?

A little while is right, and while Jim isn't the biggest fan of having to take a slower path to recovery, he knows he should be grateful that he's breathing. "I've got outpatient PT three times a week to build my strength back up, and there's some simple exercises I'm supposed to do at home every day. Once my back can take it, I want to start running, too."

Hmm.

*She gives him an evaluating look.*

I run with a friend in the mornings. Let me know when you're up to it, you might join us sometime.

She's definitely caught his interest. Running's always more fun - and productive, thanks to human psychology - when you're not doing it alone. "I might take you up on that. How's the scenery?"

We run in the Nexus, and a variety of adjacent Facets.

*She gives Jim another assessing look.*

I don't think I'll take you to any of those until you've had all your shots, though. Wouldn't want you to catch something nasty, defeat the whole purpose. Still, scenery in the Nexus tends to be interesting.

He grimaces a little, but nods in agreement. "Good idea. My immune system hasn't been stress-tested since Bones got it working again anyway. And I'm sure most of the sights here are going to be more interesting than just endless cornfields in Iowa."

How much of a boost to your immune system are you going to want? The course I recommend is very effective, but, well, your doctor might notice some of the changes.

Jim wasn't exactly expecting to seek out any kind of medical care outside what he's gotten back home, but he knows better now than to just reject an idea before he's even heard it out. "What kind of course are you talking about?"

A vaccine cocktail and a gut flora booster. My immune system is about as effective as it's possible to be without it leaving my body and attacking things preemptively. And I can eat food raised in eras that haven't discovered proper sanitation yet--I wouldn't recommend traveling more than, oh, two hundred years into your own planet's history if you're planning on stopping for lunch.

He's pretty impressed by that, truth be told. But he does have a particular item of concern. "That does sound useful as hell, but I've had allergic reactions to vaccines before. Does your medical tech have a way of predicting whether I'll have a problem with it?"

*It's a fair concern.*

Probably, but I'm not going to give you anything without being certain. If you don't mind donating a tissue sample, I can get someone a little more familiar with the field than myself to build a version tailored to your physiology.

Jim hesitates. McCoy's told him that there's no trace of Khan's transfused platelets in his bloodwork anymore, but he's still wary of accidentally handing over something like that, especially if he doesn't know who's going to be looking at it. And what they might be able to do with it. "Is that typical?" he asks instead. "Custom-creating vaccines, I mean."

Fairly. Parents gene-tailoring their children, species reassignment surgeries, gene- and bio-grafts, there are plenty of ways people in my Facet might diverge from their species' baseline enough to need their own special medicines.

*For all that she's describing things not too different from the processes that created Khan and his ilk, she discusses them with the casual air of someone explaining the ubiquity of shirts.*

He won't deny, it's a little shocking to hear such things being discussed so casually. At the very least, it speaks of a past where nothing like the Eugenics Wars ever happened. But his Federation's laws have no bearing on hers, nor would he want them to.

"This isn't a one-time offer, right?" he asks. "I'd like to research it a bit before I decide, if that's okay."

It's not a one-time offer, no, but it is a gate. I'm not taking you places until you get it, or something equivalent.

*Her tone on that point brooks absolutely no argument.*

He hadn't planned on giving her one. "Fine by me. I'd just rather know more about it before getting shot up with mystery drugs." Which leads to another question. "Just how noticeable is it going to be?" She did say that Bones would take note, after all.

Well, it's going to be filling you with a bunch of new antibodies, teaching your leukocytes to diverge into several specialties, and you're going to shrug off most of the diseases you're exposed to--at least that the makers of the vaccine were aware of, and it's worked very well for me in a variety of Facets over the years. Then there's the gut flora: you'd have several aggressive new species in you, and they're a fair bit better at breaking things down than your current set. You might lose some gastric intolerances that were based on a lack of the right enzyme to break something down, and you'll find it harder to get drunk.

*She pauses half a beat, reflective.*

I find that an asset, you might feel otherwise. In any case, you'll be able to pull at least some nutrition out of a wider array of things, and you'll be able to comfortably survive a much lower threshold of sanitation in the raising and preparation of your food than most contemporary humans could.

Not getting drunk as easily sounds like a step back, at least until Jim thinks about how useful that would've been during his misspent youth, winning drinking contests. You never know when the ability to hold your liquor might come in handy, anyway, even as an adult. Besides, 'more difficult' doesn't necessarily mean 'impossible.'

The part about getting more out of atypical food sources is a strong lure for him, he's not gonna deny. As unlikely as it is that he'll ever be in a similar situation as the famine on Tarsus IV again, he's always aware that it's still possible. "I'm not sure if Bones would be more freaked about me letting some other doctor mess around with my body or if he'd just be happy that he probably wouldn't have to treat me for random space diseases."

Edited 2017-06-28 05:05 (UTC)

Have you told Bones about the Nexus?

Jim shakes his head. "Not yet. I was debating how to bring it up without sounding crazy, but then all this happened and it just wasn't a good time. Later this week, probably."