Calibrations

Posted on 20 Nov 2022 @ 5:31pm by Lieutenant Callisi Veera & Lieutenant Commander Thex sh'Zoarhi

1,379 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: A New Frontier
Location: Medical

It was the waiting that Callisi hated the most. At least she was allowed to preserve her dignity once Harva handed her back her eyepatch. Her shame covered, she sat and waited while machines around her beeped and worked, monitoring her and her condition for signs of improvement or deterioration. She hated being sidelined, hated being told to sit still and wait.

But she had no choice. Now she laid down and waited for the technician to arrive. Her optic was bothering her, it hurt along the edges and sometimes the displayed image was just.. off. That wasn't what really bothered her, though. What truly bothered her was it was going to be on display, again, and someone was going to be mucking about in there.

She trusted Starfleet's discretion. She didn't trust their curiosity.

Thex had a cheerful smile on her face as she stepped through the doors to medbay. Despite what had happened recently she was trying to keep a positive attitude. Seeing the lieutenant she walked over giving her the most confident smile she could. " Hello, Callisi I hear you have a spot of bother with your cybernetics?"

A nod was given as payment for the smile. "Yes, my prosthetic." she motioned towards the eyepatch she sported, before reaching up slowly to remove it, to expose the mechanism beneath. Anodized blue steel, a dim blue pinpoint for the optic, a beautiful piece of engineering and design. Definitely not Federation aesthetics. Probably not her own, either. Shame for her to hide it. The thick scar that went through the top of her orbital and finished over her cheek told a story no words could cover.

the optic moved silently in sync with her living eye, though the socket it rested in had suffered a bit of trauma. Swelling along the outside, and what could be seen of the orbital was slightly red and swollen.

" I see." Thex said as she reached for her belt. " It's an impressive little thing. Who made it may I ask?" She inquired.

"It's a Dalacari model, a Thirty Six Delta. It's used in drones that need reliable optics. Military drones and aeronaut units mostly." she replied, "The field medic unit that did the operation to install it assured me it was top of the line, even better than the one it currently had installed."

" Can it be fully removed or is it completely fixed?" the andorian inquired as she began running her scanner over it.

"It's healed in place. Removing it now isn't possible without surgery." She replied, "...I think." she added. It probably wasn't something she gave a lot of thought. "There's a lot of connections in the back." She gave a soft smile, "You'll understand if I'm not precise. I've never actually seen the connection." She said in good humor, a gleam of good spirits in the dark mood.

" I see." Thex replied as she looked through the data she was gathering. " Are you keeping it update? " she said as she brought up the data stream it was putting out.

"I don't have a connection to the Republic, so no. The last update it actually received from there was some time ago so, I don't know what the latest updates would be." the data stream, however, was a sight to see. Wherever she got the eye from, their concept of code and programming was next level. Everything was documented, everything had comments. This was a godsend. The code structure on this was almost too precise, almost beyond what an actual programmer would be able to construct. This almost looked like a digital data construct, designed by a computer. The faults were buried deep, born of the shock to the system generated by the actual jarring of the optic, but the faults were there. This prosthetic, much like its owner, came from across the gulf of the quadrants, minds and aesthetics and concepts never encountered before.

Yet, with a simple language of math, and a few proofs to establish the universal truths of basic math, a common language was formed between two beings that never met. And likely never would.

"How bad is it?" Callisi asked, curious and slightly worried.

" I can work with this though it is going to take a while." The said calmly. " Let's start by getting rid of the junk code it's been gathering. That should help with optimization."

She gave some kind of gesture with a free hand. Open palm, vertical motion. Like a chopping motion. She was silent for a moment, "Oh. You probably don't have that here. It's a quick motion to go ahead. I don't want to nod and mess up the scan." She considered for a moment. "Proceed. I'll let you know if anything changes, good or otherwise."

Thex nodded as she looked at the screen and began typing. At least removing the junk code was easy enough.

Callisi was silent for a while, waiting for the results of whatever they were up to. "No change so far. It's a little sore but I don't think that's your line of problem solving." she remarked. "I.. tell me about it? From your perspective." Now she was curious. "I've never... I'm not a programmer. I'm a pilot."

" It's a fascinating piece of kit. " Thex replied as she worked. " Could do with the ability to remove it it would make maintenance easier." She said having purged the junk code. " Okay, I'm going to do a reboot see if that has done anything."

"Everyone I've seen about it says the same thing: Removing it would do more harm than good. Everything fused, or healed, or whatever." she closed her one good eye, the other eye lacked the lid to seal. "I hate it, but I need it." she allowed herself to complain. "it's so.... n, nevermind, just me being ungrateful. Standing by for the reboot."

The sensation of NOT being able to see out of the prosthetic was a bit of a surprise to her. How many nights had she gone without being able to close both eyes? Did she just cover it with the eyepatch and consider that the best option? Those few moments of peace during the reboot were present on her face, such a relief, until the optic booted back up. Thex's screen could watch the internal OS going through the POST testings, applying settings and beginning its operation. Not unlike any other computer system, really. Just such an alien design. Elegance and form and function. The blue optic lit up, and Thex's display could see what she was seeing though it. Just a standard eye, no bells or whistles. No enhanced vision, no heads up display. Just an eye.

"It's up." she commented, and started to look around the room. The optic flawlessly copied the motions her living eye was making, silent and smooth. "It feels better, less pain now. Looks clearer too, about as clear as before the incident that landed me in sick bay." she looked back up at the Engineer. "Thank you. I... I don't really know how to keep it running smooth on my own. I'm relieved I know someone here who seems to pick it up quickly."

" Give me the armour of the gods and I'll have Starfleet clad in them within a week." Thex joked as she continued her work. Reaching for some cleaning fluid she offered it to the Lieutenant. " Try putting a few drops on your eye. Don't worry it's harmless against your skin.

Ballisi snickered at the silly quote. "Never thought I'd need eyedrops again." she joked dryly before claiming the drops. There was a motion, an instinct, to hold the eye open to administer the drops. This was a pointless gesture in her case, as all the parts of her ocular anatomy that would get in the way of the task were long since gone. "Okay, no irritation but it feels... weird. I guess that's better than pain, and I get some sort of hint that it's in." she looked around, just using her eyes rather than any other range of motion. "Okay, that's a lot better. Clean motion, clear image."

"Now I know who to call." a pause, "Thank you."

" Call me anytime you have issues with it." the andorian replied.

 

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