MEDICAL LOGS

MACROCOSM
Season 3 : Episode 54

 

MEDICAL REPORT:

Janeway ruptures her dorsal extensor muscle and bruises two ribs, for which the Doctor performs minor surgery, afterwards informing her that her bones have healed but the surrounding tissue will be sensitive for a few days.

At that time the Doctor reports to her that the ship is infected by an unknown alien macrovirus. He explains that while Janeway and Neelix were away from the ship, Voyager responded to a medical distress call from the Garan mining colony. The Doctor, who has been studying Starfleet guidelines for away team members, went on his first real away mission, thanks to his recently acquired mobile (holo-)emitter (obtained in  [#51 Future's End, Part 2]). He visited the colony and discovered the miners stricken by a virus.

the Doctor with an infected miner

When he returned to Voyager, the virus migrated to the ship along with him and were not neutralised by the transporter's biofilters. One of the bio-neural gel packs in the Messhall ruptured due to the virus and the virus spread to Torres. Chakotay initiated a level-4 quarantine on deck 2 (where the Messhall is). The macrocosm virus emanates a bio-electric field. Since then, the virus has spread throughout the ship's systems to all the crew. At the microscopic level, the virus uses a needlelike projection to penetrate a cell membrane. On the larger scale, it impales its victim in much the same way, infusing her/him with its own genetic code. Each virus emits a mucilaginous compound with high concentrations of amino acids, proteins and fragments of non-humanoid DNA. The virus absorbs growth hormones into its protein structure, and uses them to increase its own mass and dimensions which it achieves at phenomenal speed. The larger macroviruses assemble their host population - in this case, the crew - into groups for unknown reasons but it is reasonable to speculate that it is a hoarding of a "food" supply.

the Doctor scans Torres when she feels unwell	the Doctor collects a sample of the mucilaginous compound and he and Kes study it
a macrovirus under the microscope, but it grows quickly and leaves the slide	meanwhile, small macroviruses exit through Torres' neck
the Doctor tackles the fully-grown macrovirus	one dead macrovirus - see DOCTOR'S QUOTE below

The Doctor has developed an antigen but had the chance to test it on the crew because the macroviruses drove him from the Messhall and are preventing him from leaving Sickbay.

the Doctor is attacked by macroviruses in the Messhall, and the stinger of one hits his mobile emitter

Janeway has the virus, from being bitten on the Bridge - her glandular system's already being infected and she has a high fever. She volunteers to test the antigen and is cured. She decides to distribute the antigen cure in gaseous form through the ship's environmental system.

the Doctor injects Janeway with the antigen which cures her

the Doctor makes up a batch of the tested antigen

She and the Doctor try to reach environmental control on deck 12 by crawling through the Jefferies tubes, but after they split up the Doctor is attacked and forced to take refuge in a shuttlecraft on the hangar deck. Janeway sets a tricorder to emit a thermal scattering signal to throw off the viruses and, using the arsenal she obtained from Engineering, blasts any macrovirus she encounters until she reaches environmental control. But before she can disperse the antigen, Voyager is fired upon by the Tak Tak who want to eliminate the virus by destroying the ship; they have already destroyed the Garan mining colony for the same reason. The Tak Tak assault takes the environmental controls offline. Janeway obtains a reprieve from destruction of an hour. With the environmental controls damaged by the attack, Janeway revises her plan. Since the virus is attracted to infrared radiation, she calls up Neelix's Paxau Resort program in Holodeck 2 to set up the holocharacters as bait. The macroviruses are attracted to the holocharacters and attack them. In the meantime, Janeway puts together a makeshift antigen bomb and lobs it into the holodeck and destroys the macroviruses.

DOCTOR'S LOG:

The Doctor has been studying Starfleet guidelines for away team members and goes on his first real away mission, wearing the mobile emitter, to the Garan mining colony. He refers to the mobile emitter as both the autonomous emitter and the portable emitter. When he first arrives at the colony his enthusiasm leads him to give a continual commentary until Chakotay stops him, but his commentary includes the observations that in the colony the ambient temperature is 16 degrees Celsius, cavern illumination is minimal, and the cave walls are composed of granite, with a mixture of pyroclastic inclusions.

the Doctor provides continuous commentary as he starts his away mission at the colony

The Doctor jocularly expressses criticism of the intricate layout of Voyager's Jefferies tubes with: "Who designed this ship anyway?" upon setting out along for environmental control on deck 12 - to get from the Jefferies tube by Sickbay to deck 12, the Doctor has to use Jefferies tube 11, take a left at Section 31, and straight down past the tractor beam emitter until he reaches deck 10, then he must leave the Jefferies tube at Section 3 and follow the corridor all the way around until he hits the Shuttlebay, then crawl through Access Port 9, past three airlocks, and then two decks down, and the environmental control is at the end of the hall (however, the Doctor does not manage to get beyond the Shuttlebay on deck 10 as he is attacked by macroviruses). The Doctor comments: "Who designed this ship anyway?"

Janeway and the Doctor crawl through the Jefferies tubes

OTHER MEDICAL DATA:

The Doctor notes that according to Starfleet guidelines for an away team if there could be a "Medical Emergency on Alien Terrain" it is recommended that the away team keep an open com. channel at all times. Away team guidelines also specifically forbid the transport of unknown infectious agents onto a Federation Starship without establishing containment and eradication protocols.

DOCTOR'S QUOTE:

On testing the antigen successfully on a macrovirus: "Well, one down, ten billion to go."