Switch to Catch a Killer

Posted on Wed Jul 10th, 2019 @ 4:17am by Lieutenant JG Jeff Butler & Chief Petty Officer Adriana Keen & EMH (EMMA)

3,236 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Ripples
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Backlog

ON:

With the last senior officers' examination done, Doctor Butler called the computer to request the EMH to come out. The Southern lady, Emma he remembered.

"Pl--ease State the Medical Attention You'all need?" EMMA stated as she came into assistance and look around. "W-h-y Hello Doctor; how can I be of service to-day?" She had her southern drawl and the skirted uniform with that polte grin that added a sparkle to her eyes.

He gave a lop-sided grin. "I'm going to have to ask a favor of you and I'm trying to catch a killer. I need you to be me in appearance and to treat non-senior crewmembers for a checkup as the ship as been sent into the future, making sure they aren't displaying any temporal problems. Who do I call that knows how to fix your programming?"

"My p-r- o-gramming is very deli-cate and safeguards under high security." EMMA said. "I would have to get the Captain to open my programming to alteration. The best technician for Replicators and Holo matrix is Adriana Keen; currently on Maternity leave.

Jeff became very nervous when it came to someone that works or has worked with holograms. This one he doesn't know. "I have spoken to the Captain earlier and she approves the program. Adriana Keen? Is she someone I can trust?" His stomach was getting uneasy. He went to pull out a chair and sat down.

"I can verify Adriana is allowed to work on my systems; she is married to the counselor and no security incidents. Using my probability program gives a positive rating for her being trustworthy." EMMA replied as her eye went back and forth while processing. "I have a registered approval from the Captain to have my Matrix altered to your parameters." She continued. "All data points to her being quite capable and the Counselor Keen is a Emergency Medical Technician as a Secondary Role, I have interacted with the Keen family and my personality sub-routine has categorized her as trustworthy and genuine."

"If you say so." He touched his combadge. =^= Adriana Keen, please report to sickbay. Doctor Butler out. =^=

Adriana started when the computer commsystem in her quarters squawked at her. She generally wasn't wearing her commbadge while she was on maternity leave. Anthony was crying- and Adriana wasn't far behind right now- but she shook herself as the comm came through and shifted the baby to the other shoulder to reach for the wall unit. "Acknowledged, on my way," she said as she slipped into the bedroom to change her top- Anthony had spit up on the one she was wearing. She was careful to lay Anthony down in the meddle of the bed so he couldn't roll off while she changed and she was halfway through getting the new shirt on when she suddenly thought... Why does the doctor want me to go to sickbay? She was healthy enough- Anthony though. Was it something about Anthony?

She threw on the shirt and scooped up Anthony, then started running.

Only a few minutes later, she was bursting through the doors of sickbay.

"Doctor? Doctor, is everything alright? Is it Anthony? Did you find something in his latest tests or scans?" she almost cried as she clutched her son, still screaming, her her chest.

"Adriana...." EMMA began to access her sub-routines to get the best 'bedside' response to calm the New Mother. "My scans have narrowed through testing that Little Nicolas is not sick as you had cautiously brought to our attention. He is merely in a common percentage of children who in the "Threes." EMMA said with a soft smile to help ease the message. "At about three weeks a percentage of the Infants get a little symptom called Colic; it is harmless and the child is not sick. I can assure you it is a common little bit of infant development and though it seems like it might last for a long time he will grow out of it."

"Colic?" Adriana echoed quietly. She knew what colic was. It was the specter that haunted new parents and no one wanted to talk about it. She swayed and bounced automatically, but she knew it wouldn't necessarily do any good. Colic didn't respond to the normal soothing techniques.

"In the future you might try cuddling, swaddling, and walking with your baby, all of which provide motion and body contact. A white-noise machine or fan in the room can help, too." EMMA suggested. "These treatments are proven to aid in the care of Children with Colic."

Adriana nodded mutely as she continued to bounce. "But- but if Anthony's fine- why did you call me? Is Morai here? Is he hurt?"

"Actually there is a specialized change to my personality program that is needed; my holographic system must be changed and your skills with Holo emitters and the transporter system are rated highest on the USS Ranger. The Doctor and I require you to modify my technology for a counter intelligence type of programmed holographic form."

"Your holoprogram? You just need me to tweak your program?" Adriana clarified, shifting her crying child to her other hip. Relief washed over her. "Thank God. You scared me to death!" she directed at the doctor. "Why didn't you say so when you called me to sickbay?"

The doctor has forgotten about the child as he assumed that she was on duty. He was going to say something but the EMH beat him to it. "Um, I just needed you for the holoprogram and it had to be hush-hush about it over the transmission." He wasn't sure if she should know about the holodeck incident.

"Hush-hush? What for? If it's been a while since a full diagnostic, I can see why some things might need a little cleaning up, but that's hardly something that needs to be kept a secret. Every tech on the ship knows that a little preventative maintenance is the best way to avoid a catastrophic failure of any system- EMHs are no exception to that. For that matter, if that's all you need, there are plenty of people on duty who can do it."

"Emma said you were the best person to change her matrix. Do you know why there is a security guard standing outside the door to sickbay? I hate to remind myself but I was framed to be killed. Someone is trying to kill me and the killer is lurking someone on this ship. It has been awhile and he or she hasn't been caught. I came up with an idea that the Captain has approved. It was to change Emma's appearance to me. She is going to be the 'Dr. Butler' and continue doing the examination for any time travel radiation sickness. So, doing this is a hush-hush, chief." He placed the last word as a strong emphasis to make a point that this was serious. "You will need your exam, too. All senior officers has been done except yours."

"I'm not a senior officer," was Adriana's first instinctive response, however off-topic it might be. "I'm just a CPO- just a tech- I'm not a department head or anything." And truth be told, she hadn't even noticed a security guard outside sickbay. He certainly hadn't tried to stop her- of course, a woman running into sickbay with a screaming infant isn't likely to be stopped. It would actually be a pretty good cover- crying babies made people want to help, not hinder. "It wasn't me- I didn't even know- I haven't been around other people much lately- There's some maniac loose on the ship?" She turned a little, pulling her shoulder back and standing so that Anthony was shielded slightly from all the other people in the room, the maternal instincts to protect against an unknown threat making her put herself in the way of everyone else she could see.

"I understand that. My bad." Seeing her reaction of protecting her child, "You are fine here with the guard outside the door. The maniac is after me for some reason I don't understand so you are not in harm's way." He looked around, "Only two patients in here that have been cleared. If you can fix Emma up, we can get your examination out of the way and get you back to your quarters. I can get the nurse to hold Anthony for you while you work with Emma..."

Adriana glanced between EMMA and the Doctor. "Maybe you should take him- you said this is on the quiet, the fewer people who know I've helped the better, right? So let's leave the nurses out of it and we'll take care of it, just us three." She glanced back over her shoulder. "I don't suppose you can send them to break or something? If they see two of you standing around, it's going to cause questions."

"I have not been able to cuddle Little Anthony of late, may I?" EMMA asked. "It would also make more of a purpose for me being here and on while the Doctor and you converse?"

"Hang on just a minute," Doctor Butler left to tell the two nurses to leave and came back. "It's done. The two patients are comatose so don't worry about them. Shall we get started?"

Adriana nodded and handed Anthony over to the EMH, then turned to the Doctor. "Alright, go ahead and start the exam on me while we talk about what you need- how extensive a change are we talking here? Just appearance? Or are we going to add to the personality subroutines? If she's supposed to be impersonating you, we might need to add something like your personality profile from your medical and counseling file."

The doctor handed her a PADD with his info on profile as he picked up a medical tricorder. He pointed to a biobed for her to sit on. "It has to be the whole impersonating me," he said.

"Hello, Little Antony." EMMA cooed to the baby and moved away towards a small Biobed in the size of a crib. "You are getting so much bigger each time I see you. " Her subroutine knew her words were more for the comfort of Mrs. Keen and the tone is for the baby who does not yet understand language but the hearing of a pleasant tone helps to calm the baby.

Adriana's eyes flicked over to the EMH and the baby every so often, just keeping an eye on them, even as she chatted with Doctor Butler.

Her feet kicked idly as she tapped at the PADD she'd been handed, nibbling her lower lip. There was a good potential when dealing with a complex program like an EMH that making too many changes could collapse the whole program. So... "I can do this... it's not going to be perfect, though. It'll hold up, but this will not take over her primary programming- it will be a sub-program that she will have to access at need. And I'll need to "quarantine" a copy of her original program in a the main computer, just it case- well- just in case we need a back up and have to go back to the original. If we have to do that, she will lose any and all memories or experiences she gained while in 'Butler-mode'," Adriana explained. "You'll both need to keep even more than normally meticulous records of anything she does while being you to make sure nothing medical gets 'forgotten' if that happens."

"I just need the 'Butler-mode' for a short period of time, but I don't want to lose her original program," he said, scanning her body with the tricorder. "So, it will work?"

Adriana thought for a moment as she went over everything in her head. "Yes," she finally said. "I can do it."

"Oh wonderful!" He closed the instrument and set it on a nearby tray. "Your physical examination was clear from any space time anomalies." He glanced over at Emma who appears to be talking to her child and gave a small smile.

"Let's get started then," Adriana said and slid off the biobed, going to the Doctor's computer console. "Emma!" she called over the sound of Anthony still crying inconsolably.

"How may I be of service?" EMMA asked as she came back over, carrying and rocking the baby. "I am at your disposal."

"I need access to your image matrix and personality subroutines, but before I do any of that, I want to save a back-up copy of you right now," Adriana explained, having to raise her voice a little to be heard over Anthony.

"I think you are right about Little Anthony, he is delightful and for a baby with Colic he is quieter than some babies in my Memory matrix." She Smiled.

"As I work, you might... flicker... a little. Doctor, can you hold Anthony? I can't hold him and work," Adriana directed at Butler.

"Um, yeah-yeah." The doctor picked up the child and laid him in his arms and rocked him. "Hey little one," he said in a calming voice.

"I will try not to giggle as you make adjustments, Adriana." EMMA confirmed.

The child continued crying in the doctor's arms as he continued to rock him by swaying his hips side by side.

Adriana tapped the console, accessing the EMH's filed and creating a current copy, locking it away as a "fail-safe" in case something went wrong. She was good at her job, yes, but holo-programs were not her specialty. Messing with an EMH was a highly specialized task, and the very last thing she wanted to do was mess it up and destroy the program. Not only would that "kill" Emma, of course, but it would also leave the ship with no EMH- which could be disastrous for them all.

She needed to concentrate and she frowned through the noise, taking a deep breath to try to block out the crying.

She bit her lip.

She shook her head.

She flexed her hands as she worked.

She snapped.

"Doctor!" Adriana shouted and then reigned herself in. "Could you please take Anthony into another room and shut the door?" she asked in a forced calm voice.

"Sure, no problem," the doctor said.

"Thank you," Adriana said. She shut her eyes as the door slid shut and cut of the sounds of her son crying. A guilty flush rose in her cheeks and she opened her eyes again to look up at the EMH.

"It is okay, Adriana." EMMA gave the warm smile that was her most heart-warming. "There are biological reactions to the crying as well as the emotional pull upon you. You have done an exceedingly fine job with Anthony; my past interactions with him show he is growing well. It is a certain sparkle in the way his eyes catch the light when he giggles that assures me he is well cared for." She nodded. "But concentration is needed and your choice is natural and any good mother would do the same so do not worry, he will calm soon." She assured. "I will be quiet so not to distract you any further and allow you to get back with Anthony sooner."

Flushing deeper, Adriana didn't answer, just went back to her work. The visual was the easy part and she soon had that finished so that a picture-perfect replica of Dr. Butler stood in front of her, exactly as she had last seen him a minute ago- minus baby in his arms. Adding a personality was harder. The computer took the doctor's psych profile and medical history and most recent medical records and compiled it all into a facsimile of Butler. Adriana then worked it into the EMH program alongside the official on-file personality, allowing the Emma personality to access it at will. She didn't want to integrate it any fuller than that because she didn't want any 'bleeding' between the two. When this was done she wanted to be sure that the Butler personality could be deleted entirely and without leaving any remnants behind.

It took several minutes before she was happy with the job and then she looked up at Emma- at Butler- the EMH. It looked perfect.... "How is it?" she asked the EMH.

"I have integrated it." Emma said in the Doctor's voice; though will I keep any of this to affect my future operations as I admit while being someone else might seem fun I would not like to have these memories as a possible database for my personality to access in my dealings with patents." SHe/He smiled. "Aside from that I have adapted to the changes accordingly." Looking to Adriana. "Do I pass Muster?"

Adriana shrugged, but there was a little bit of pride behind the gesture. "Looks like it will do" she said nonchalantly, then got up and went to the door to call the doctor back in.

He walked out of his office. As soon as he looked up at Adriana working at a computer console, Emma's physical outlook that was only a holo projection switched to what looked like a mirror of himself. It was an eerie feeling of seeing himself. He remind himself that it was going to be used to catch a killer. "Feels like stepping into a mirror or a twin just came out of me...", he said in almost a whisper.

EMMA was concentrating as she tilt her head while the Doctor looked at her new parameters; the personality subroutine was calculating the possible reactions by a probability for the best answer, several nanoseconds wasted with a conflict between her Base persona and the new personality being put into her working programs. Her eyes blinked twice while the answer to her inquiry came.

"Do I have something on my face?" He wiped her/ his face.

"No. It appears to be me in you talking to me," Jeff shook his head. He shifted Anthony to his other arm.

Adriana scanned the program, making sure everything looked like it was working fine. "Emma, any glitches? Everything feel smooth?" she asked.

The new subroutines were calculating the best responses to the question posed EMMA. The system wide diagnostic showed the newly entered data was conforming to operational parameters.

"No anomalies detected so I would say a clean bill of health." EMMA smiled as the doctor's personality input ordained.

The doctor had to put away his surprised face but it was hard seeing a twin of himself. "Well, I certainly hope we catch the killer. I need to get my things and leave for my quarters." He said, walking up to Adriana to hand over her child. "I will contact you if Emma needs to be changed back to her normal parameters." He looked over at himself with the hidden Emma. "You are now Doctor Butler and you will be me and get everybody's physicals done. Before I forget, the security guy is going with me. Need anything, contact...," he took his combadge off and attached it to Emma/Butler's uniform. "Just contact me to my quarters."

Guess I will go and see how comforting the chair in ... My Office' really is?" EMMA calculated the response.

OFF

Jeff Butler, M.D.
Lieutenant J.G.
Medical Officer

&

EMMA
EMH adapted to CMO

&

Ariana Keen
Chief Petty Officer
Operations

&

Anthony Keen
Colicky Baby

 

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