Episode 151 : Part B

On the Dinaal hospital ship the Doctor is busy doing his job. Dr Voje: "That was the most impressive cortical bypass I've ever seen." Doctor: "It's just a question of possessing the basic skills." Dr Voje: "If I had basic skills like yours they'd move me up to Level Blue." To an orderly: "Take this patient to Yellow." Doctor: "You seem a little low on resources here. If I could contact my medical staff I might be able to get you some additional supplies." Dr Voje: "Communication is usually restricted but the Allocator might give you clearance." Doctor: "Where can I find him?" Dr Voje: "The Allocator isn't a him, it's our main computer." Doctor: "Well, perhaps you could establish a datalink with Voyager's main computer." Dr Voje: "You'll have to submit a formal request to Chellick and support it with form A3W in triplicate."

The Doctor scans one patient. "Why hasn't this patient been treated yet?"

Tebbis, a patient also in the queue for treatment: "He's waiting for proton imaging. There are a lot of other people ahead of him." Doctor: "It's nice to see someone knows what's going on. What's your name?" Tebbis: "Tebbis." The Doctor scans him. "Well, Tebbis, this doesn't look too serious."

Tebbis coughs. To the Doctor's concern: "It's just a little osteal extravasation." Doctor: "Excellent diagnosis." Tebbis: "I hope to be a doctor someday." Doctor: "Really? Well, I hope your working conditions are better than these." Tebbis: "It wouldn't be so bad if they'd let us listen to music." Doctor: "It would certainly improve my mood." Tebbis: "It's not just that. Music has great healing power." Doctor: "I couldn't agree with you more."

But then Tebbis coughs and holds himself in pain. Concerned, the Doctor and Dr Voje bend over him. Dr Voje to Tebbis: "Exhale slowly." Doctor to Dr Voje: "Can't you give him a neural blocker?" Dr Voje: "He's already had his allocation." On scanning him further the Doctor becomes most concerned and takes Dr Voje aside to talk to him about Tebbis. Doctor: "The leg injury isn't all I'm picking up. He's got some kind of systemic disease." Dr Voje: "It's a chromoviral infection. We have 12 cases down here. He's in the final stage." Doctor: "Is there an established treatment?" Dr Voje: "Cytoglobin injections." Doctor: "These scans don't show any cytoglobin in his bloodstream." Dr Voje: "He hasn't been given any." Doctor: "Why not?" Dr Voje: "He doesn't have a high enough TC." Doctor: "TC? What's that?" Chellick arrives and speaks to the Doctor: "Ah, there you are. I'm happy to report that I've acquired your program from Gar." Doctor: "I will not. May I remind you that I'm being illegally detained or hasn't the rule of law reached this society yet?" Chellick: "We follow the Allocator's rules and it's determined that your services are required on level blue." Dr Voje: "Please, Doctor, the Allocator knows which patients need help the most."

In the lift from Level Red up to Level Blue. Doctor: "Level Blue is your critical care area, I presume." Chellick: "Level Blue is the area where it's most critical that we provide excellent care."

Level Blue. Click image to enlarge, full-size 56Kb, 1015x270 pixels. I spliced parts of 5 VHS screenshots to make this extra-wide screenshot.

Chellick: "These patients will be your chief responsibility from now on. Do whatever you can to make them well." Looking round at the clean, well-lit, spacious and plush environment of level blue, which contains only a handful of patients, the Doctor is appalled at the sharp contrast with the badly-lit, hardly hygienic, overcrowded and under-resourced conditions of level red.

Dr Dysek and the Doctor.

Doctor: "Why are these patients getting preferential treatment?" Chellick: "They have a higher TC than the others." Doctor: "Indulge me. What's TC?" Chellick: "Treatment Co-efficient. The Allocator assigns one to every patient. It determines the level of care they receive." Doctor: "How is this co-efficient derived?" Chellick: "Through a complex formula that involves professional skills, accomplishments." Doctor: "How is any of that relevant to medical treatment?!" Chellick: "An agricultural engineer is obviously more important than a waste processor." Doctor: "Important to whom?!" Chellick: "Society. When your resources are limited you have to prioritise." Doctor: "So you base treatment on whether patients have particular abilities." Chellick: "It's much more complicated than that. The Allocator assesses the entire individual." Doctor: "And reduces his life to a number." Chellick: "It may seem impersonal but it's what the Dinaali have contracted us to do." Dr Dysek enters and overhears the last part of the conversation. "Chellick's people are known throughout the sector for their administrative skills. Before they came here we were a dying race, eco-disasters, famine." Chellick to the Doctor: "Dr Dysek, chief of medicine." To Dr Dysek: "The medical hologram I told you about." Doctor: "Are you in charge of what passes for medical care on level red? Because those people are suffering." Dr Dysek to Chellick: "Intriguing technology. Can we use him to treat patients yet?" Chellick to Dr Dysek: "That's what he's here for." Doctor: "In some societies it's considered rude to refer to someone in the third person while he's standing in front of you." Chellick to Dr Dysek: "I'm sure you'll make good use of him."

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