Autopsy

Posted on Fri 21st Nov, 2025 @ 7:53pm by Lieutenant Commander Lanis Dhuro MD & Commander Heriah Rex & Commander Mindo & Lieutenant JG Antoinette Breidinger & Sundae & Renato Solis

3,293 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: From The Ashes
Location: Morgue, Deck 88
Timeline: After "Greater Expectations"

ON

-Morgue, Deck 88-

After finding a map of the station and finding the right turbolifts to get him there, Commander Mindo walked into the morgue and was hit by the heavy stench of formaldehyde and decay. Finding a mask dispenser mounted on the wall, Mindo quickly grabbed one (labeled 'rose scented') and quickly put one on before yakking up the scrambled eggs he'd eaten that morning. After asking an orderly for the morgue, Mindo rounded the corner on the left and walked through the doors to the autopsy room. Inside were two men looking over a man-shaped something on a table. He activated his thruster boots and hovered to regular height.

"I'm Commander Mindo, Chief of Security," Mindo said. "I was told to find Dr. Lanis and Renaldo Solis, something about a dead body."

Lanis blinked at the child-sized adult who had addressed him and Renato. Fesarian, he decided after a moment. "I'm Dr. Dhuro. This is Mr. Solis," he said with a glance at Renato. "Thanks for coming. These remains were found in a freezer unit down near the Garden District. Initial scans and the condition of the corpse suggest it was treated with some form of molecular camouflage perimortem to destroy the DNA. It's been out of cryo-stasis about an hour--long enough for that to have taken effect quite rapidly. The body being in stasis makes it nearly impossible to tell how long the post-mortem interval has been. A week, a day--who knows? If we're to get any useful DNA, it will have to come from the bone marrow, as we need the teeth for identification."

Mindo looked at the mysterious blob on the table. "You're telling me whatever killed it was capable of destroying its DNA?" Mindo asked. "That tech sounds impossible."

"You'd think so, but bleach can do it. The byproduct of a common artificial sweetener can do it. But you can't ingest bleach, and the amount of artificial sweetener needed to cause this much damage this fast would be impossible to eat in the quantity needed," Lanis said.

"Meow," said something below their feet. Mindo looked down and saw a calico cat looking up at them, waving a paw. Mindo was positive the cat had not been there before, but he hovered down and held out his arms. The cat cuddled into his chest and Mindo laughed.

"Who belongs to the cat?" Mindo asked, smiling as the cat purred when he pet her.

Renato was amused by the Fesarian, and took this opportunity to answer him. “The cat belongs to a man named Gary, though who belongs to whom is still a question we ask. The DNA destruction actually gives us a clue, the methods are rare and high tech."

"Yes, they are," Lanis said. He shot a look at the cat. "Sundae, out. Or at least stay away from the sterile field." He glanced at the two men. "Normally, I would chase a cat out of here, but I always get the sense that she understands me, and she always behaves well." He sighed at the remains. "Shall we begin?"

From the door, they could all hear someone, from the outside, inputting an access code. The door slid open and LT JG Breidinger entered. She carried, with her, a PADD. She shot eyes to everyone else but stepped upon Dr. Dhuro. "Doctor," she said, "here is the PADD Mr. Solis requested; missing persons, both civilian and Starfleet, as well as non-Federation members, uses of chemicals, and who recently acquired such items. Everything he asked for. I kept the PADD unsynched from the Main Computer, just as he requested." She handed the PADD to Dr. Dhuro.

"Thank you, Nurse," Lanis said and handed the PADD to Renato. "Will you be serving as my tech for this autopsy?" he asked Breidinger.

The LT looked among everyone else. Clearly there was higher brass present, much higher. She smiled and nodded. "Yes, Sir. I would like that very much."

"Excellent," Lanis said. "Once you scrub in, I'll need you to collect a bone marrow sample from the right posterior iliac crest and send it for DNA analysis."

"Yes, Sir," she said then turned to prep herself.

Lanis tapped a microphone set into the bioscanner. "Stardate 74828, Lt. Commander Dhuro Lanis recording at Main Infirmary morgue, Starbase 109. The decedent is an unidentified adult humanoid male of indeterminate age, dark haired and pale complected. Height was measured as 182.88cm tall. Weight is 81.64kg. Case number is SB109-2397-0012." He went on to name all who were present and who had authorized the autopsy.

"The decedent was found in a freezer unit on Deck 2448 by Operations personnel who were conducting a routine inspection prior to cleaning the unit. The body was found naked, seated in a fetal position, with no obvious defense wounds. When the body was first seen it appeared to be normal, healthy and well cared for. No immediate cause of death could be determined on initial inspection."

Renato was reviewing the witness statements listening with one ear. The medical jargon and cadence was unfamiliar but he wanted to get practiced with it anyway. He saw no obvious culprit in the logs, all the activity fell within the patterns with any outliers easily accounted for. That had given him an idea though, no rotating body of employees ever kept such meticulous records. SB 109 had so much civilian industry going on, estimates and hunches ruled the decisions with final touches including things like “measuring.” Going back several years the sudden falloff of meticulous standards matched up to an enlisted crewman, who clearly took his supervisor's job seriously and kept a tight book.

An interview with the crewman and his supervisor would reveal if they had that kind of relationship, and it was more tangible than the poor fella's DNA turning to goop on the table. He started a list of people to consult, “Grandin Klatch” now at the top. He returned his full attention to the autopsy.

Commander Mindo, on the other hand, felt pretty much done in that room. The jell-o body was now making him sick, as was the stench.

"Is there a corner where I can go and barf?" Mindo finally asked. "I'm an Engineer, not a Doctor."

As Nurse Toni Breidinger was collecting samples as was requested, she looked to Commander Mindo curiously. She thought he was an Intelligence officer, Security at the least. That was what was on the roster. She made no comment, save for, "There is an empty and sterile Biohazard bin in the cabinet, Sir."

Lanis glanced up from his external survey of the remains. "Commander, unless you need to be personally present to observe the gory details, you're welcome to observe virtually and comment to us in here by audio if you like," Lanis said. "Ask someone to show you the way to the observation room. It's only going to get worse from here." He glanced at Renato. "The same goes for you, too."

Renato smiled back at him, "I've slept in worse. There is more to this smell than rotting flesh and it might be important."

Lanis too had slept in worse. He simply nodded at Renato. "Good nose. Let me know if you figure out what you're smelling."

Toni had her specimen collection. It did not look like bone marrow in the least. It appeared more like the rest of the gelatinous goop slowly spreading about the table. But her medical tricorder recognized it, all the same, as bone marrow. With the sample collected, she removed the vial from the collection compartment of her tricorder to the analysis compartment, closed it, and pressed a few buttons. It started synching with the medical department's database. "Specimen analysis commencing, Doctor."

"Thank you," Lanis said to her. "If we actually get any usable DNA from that sample, begin PCR on it immediately." He eyed the body. "Get several more samples, just in case."

He continued with the autopsy narration. "Upon discovery, the livor patterns observed suggested that the body was moved post mortem and prior to its placement in the freezer unit. Livor was evident on the right side of the body, from feet to head. The remains were found in an upright fetal position. It is now one hour since the remains were discovered, and the body has deteriorated rapidly. There is breakdown of the skin, which appears almost jelly-like, and it is pulling away from the skeleton and sinking to the examination table. The underlying muscles and connective tissue also appear too delicate to obtain samples from by dissection. They will have to be removed by transporter. The eyes are already liquefied," Lanis added, "and the globes are sunken in under the eyelids. The rest of the body is in a similar condition. In hopes of providing another means of identification, I will take images of the backs of the fingers and hands." He did so, paying careful attention to the pattern of wrinkles on the backs of the knuckles and to the vein pattern on the backs of the hands.

"No scars, marks, or tattoos are evident by magnifier," Lanis said, "but the skin is so severely deteriorated that I may have missed small marks, even under magnification." He looked at Toni. "Do you see any?"

Toni looked at the readout intently, squinting even. "I do doctor. Nothing identifying but something that could narrow the search." She pointed at an area where the skin was deteriorating slightly slower than the rest. "That is scar tissue. Dermal regeneration scar tissue to be exact. See the hatch marks?" She held up her hands and extended only her index and middle fingers, crossing them over each other creating a pound sign. "We medical engineers call that 'hashmark dermal regeneration.' Federation standard dermal regenerators do not do that. They go back and forth in a quick zigzag.. This one," she looked back at the slimy victim. "This one had a cut on his arm. Right about here," she touched the doctor's upper arm. "He was seen by someone who utilized a dermal regenerator that scans and reproduces dermis in this hashmark fashion. Because of the increased toughness of their skin, Vulcans and Romulans manufacture dermal regenerators of this fashion. Any non-Vulcan / non-Romulan patients who receive treatment from this type of regenerator would have this kind of scar tissue." She looked to the investigator. "This man is neither Vulcan or Romulan, but was treated by one or by someone with a Vulcan/Romulan-made dermal regenerator." She looked between the two and the Commander. "Sorry, but that is the best I have at the moment."

"That was an excellent observation," Lanis told her. He glanced at Cmdr. Mindo and Renato Solis. "I know of two Romulan physicians working on this base--Dr. Khellian s'Siedhri, who has clinics in Tivoli Gardens and the Garden District, and Dr. Makila i'Hartelhai, who's doing a residency here in the Main Infirmary. Either one of them could have treated this patient, but the two civilian clinics are where you'd be most likely to find a Romulan-designed medical instrument."

With the external survey completed, it was time to move to the internal. Lanis glanced at the bioscan screen. "Computer, scan for sucralose-6-acetate." It was a long shot, and the body had been damaged so severely and so quickly, that Lanis doubted that particular chemical was the cause. He was startled, therefore, when what remained of the body's intestines glowed a diffuse pink on the scan image. "Well, I was not expecting that," Lanis said. He turned to Renato. "You're the analysis fellow, aren't you?"

Renato hesitated, "Yes, I suppose that fits. I am still learning what to do with the patterns I see but analysis is a big part of it."

"The victim may have been suffering from these symptoms in the weeks or days just before death: noticeable flatulence, diarrhea, constipation or abdominal pain, and feeling fatigued. Skin issues and autoimmune flare-ups are additional possibilities, but nothing like that was evident in the initial crime scene scans. Sucralose-6-acetate, however, is not what's destroying his DNA right now. Whatever's doing that works much, much faster." He turned to the body. "Computer, now scan for guanine radicals."

A new 'page' of scan results appeared, showing the entire remains lit up in bright yellow. Lanis winced. "There's your true molecular camouflage--some kind of powerful phenol compound that causes the guanine base in DNA to oxidate." He hastily switched the microphone off. "What I'm about to say is conjecture and isn't admissible as evidence in court unless it can be proved. I suspect the phenol compound was used in conjunction with the acetate, though I have no way of proving that--yet."

Renato took the details down, "Thank you, this is a start for witness statements. So you feel this person was exposed to one phenol agent, then an acetate agent was introduced separately, and moved post-mortem... so they dosed the victim first a poison perhaps, and when they died, introduced the second agent to begin the decomposition once it was in place. Only we find the body before the process begins, stasis keeps it intact until now as it dissolves... We are not looking at ordinary criminal behavior, this is organized and highly skilled. Had we not removed the body, the flames would have dealt with it and we'd have no idea... We should expand our criteria then to include people who came in with the symptoms you mentioned."

Lanis shook his head. "I suspect the acetate was introduced to the victim over several weeks just prior to death, gradually causing a condition known as leaky gut, which makes the intestinal walls permeable, allowing toxins to gradually enter the bloodstream, causing the symptoms I mentioned. His intestines are saturated with the acetate over their entire length."

Renato made a face, “I’ll take your word for it, the second compound administered while alive, then.”

"Then, I think, minutes before he was murdered, the phenol compound was introduced while the circulatory system was still functioning. That enabled the phenol compound to spread throughout the body in about 60 seconds. To cause this kind of damage, it must be extremely powerful. Normally, when DNA breaks down, you don't get immediate goop like this; the body simply stops repairing itself. Putrefaction happens more rapidly than expected, but the body doesn't turn to goo. Whoever administered this compound clearly did not want the body to be identified."

Renato asked, “…so we aren’t smelling just rotting or putrefaction but the chemical breakdown into separate components. Not rotting, just dissolving.”

"Yes," Lanis said. "Well, rotting, too, since the person is dead--but yes, mainly dissolving."

"I'm going to resume recording now," Lanis said. He waited to see that the others acknowledged his announcement and then turned the recorder back on. "Computer, organize a Letulle organ extraction by site-to-site transport. Scan for each individual organ and place the organs in sterile, sealed specimen containers appropriate to contain the given organs. Scan the skeleton in three dimensions and send a scan of the skull to Forensics in Security for three-dimensional facial reconstruction. Alert Toxicology that I have work for them."

Even the transporter seemed to have difficulty distinguishing between what was an internal organ and what was skin, muscle, or bone. It gave a disconcerting whine, and the sparkle wavered in and out before finally taking hold of the body's internal organs in one large and one small mass and beaming them to the lab.

Across the room, Mindo had climbed onto a chair next to the Hazardous Waste bin, wondering if he'd catch something sitting so close. Fortunately, he hadn't retched yet, and his nausea was dissipating as his nostrils got used to the room's awful aroma.

Seeing a free lap, Sundae crossed the room and hopped onto Mindo. The cat was about half his size, so by comparison she looked like a full-grown calico tiger. Nevertheless, she had finally found a comfortable spot. She settled down on Mindo's legs and purred gently. Mindo was caught a little off guard, but for the moment the cat was a nice distraction from his woozy stomach. He looked at the cat's green collar.

"Sundae," he said, reading the name on her emerald tag. "Who do you belong to?"

"Meow," Sundae replied, as if the answer was obvious.

"Was that sarcasm, Sundae?" Mindo asked in the usual childlike tone saved for little kids and pets.

"Meow," was Sundae's response.

"Yeah, sarcasm." Mindo said with a nod, and started gently stroking her back. Sundae didn't seem to mind.

The spell was broken when Renato spotted something on the readouts, “Doctor… I once was given a case to find an item with a quantum oscillation, that matches that waveform readout precisely. What is that panel measuring?”

Lanis arched an eyebrow and went to look at the panel. "It's a feed from the specimen scans of the internal organs. This scan is being done of the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and pineal gland, all found in the brain. I'm amazed they're still intact enough to scan. I wonder if the blood-brain barrier blocked some of the phenol compound? Anyway, the oscillation you're seeing is--Hm." Lanis paused and frowned at the screen. "Computer, how accurate is this scan? Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?"

Accuracy of the scan is 99.726 percent, the computer reported. The waveform shown correlates to tachyon radiation.

"Computer could that just be background tachyon radiation?" Lanis asked.

The computer chimed. Negative. The amount of tachyon rads present indicates frequent exposure.

Lanis frowned to himself. "Computer, list methods a person could be exposed to the amount of tachyon radiation scanned in descending order of likelihood."

Methods of tachyon radiation exposure in descending order of likelihood include 1. Being in the path of active tachyon beams used to detect cloaked ships, 2. Warp core or transporter malfunctions, 3. Encountering a natural tachyon field, or 4. Exposure to devices that alter spacetime.

Lanis gave Renato and Mindo a wry look. "None of those possibilities seem very likely."

Mindo scooted off the chair, and Sundae jumped from his lap.

"So number one would make no sense," Mindo said. "Number two means someone has recently been near a leaky core, which also seems unlikely because they'd be dead if they... oh, well, I guess they are dead. Third would have to be someone whose ship inhabited some spacial anomaly for some time. Fourth would have to be someone who does a lot of time traveling."

"Meow," Sundae added, and she rubbed against Renato's leg.

Lanis sighed. "I was really hoping to find some other answer than number four."

"Alternate or mirror universe, as well," Toni said, then followed that up with, "sir. The few cases that have been reported all showed elevated tachyon emissions." Toni then regretted making that theory known as they could very well be looking for a victim whose doppelganger was very much alive and well already.

Sundae was what sealed it for Renato. Though they all acknowledged the cat was more than met the eye, that "more" hadn't really manifested. All of his senses practically screamed the answer, Gary Thirteen. The quantum oscillations were a perfect match as best as he could recall, though he'd need to recount this with Gary.

He wanted to talk to the doctors but Gary had given a warning on this before, that his displacement in time meant he had to go unnoticed, and his name out of people's mouths.

He wanted to say something, they were all here for this purpose but Renato stayed silent, knowing the autopsy had done its job after all.

The body was Gary Thirteen.

END

 

RSS Feed