07-03-2026, 12:25 AM
“What? Of course not. Why synthesize a virus when you can can accomplish the same thing with photonic tricks?” Cassidy replied automatically. He squinted over his reading glasses, examining the wound skeptically. It had been clean, at least in terms of bacteria. That was the upside of a laceration caused by hard light. Still, a viral infection might take hours or days to show up on scans, depending on the disease’s incubation cycle.
He continued to think as he ran the protoplaser over the damaged muscle. Cassidy enjoyed stitching up wounds. He was fast enough in a pinch, but situations like this gave him a chance to show off his technique. It wasn’t just for show — skillful work meant faster healing and reduced scarring. This was usually a meditative process, repetitive enough that he often found himself falling into a trance.
A screaming howl of pain rung in his mind. Bones crunched as they twisted and reshaped. Matted fur burst from the exposed skin beneath the unlucky crewman’s shredded costume. Now that Beinn had mentioned the possibility, the image was hard to shake. He sighed and pinched his nose, deciding to do a microcellular scan, just to be safe. If this theoretical virus was particularly fast-acting, there might already be some damage to the surrounding area. If not… well, they would wait and see.
He pulled the arc-shaped scanning apparatus over the injured leg and hammered a few buttons, initiating a scan at the highest possible resolution. This would take a few minutes.
“Witcher and Werewolf, eh? I can’t say I’ve ever tried that one. To be honest, I prefer a more relaxing holodeck program. If you don’t mind me asking, what role were you meant to play in this horror story?”
== Tag Beinn ==
He continued to think as he ran the protoplaser over the damaged muscle. Cassidy enjoyed stitching up wounds. He was fast enough in a pinch, but situations like this gave him a chance to show off his technique. It wasn’t just for show — skillful work meant faster healing and reduced scarring. This was usually a meditative process, repetitive enough that he often found himself falling into a trance.
A screaming howl of pain rung in his mind. Bones crunched as they twisted and reshaped. Matted fur burst from the exposed skin beneath the unlucky crewman’s shredded costume. Now that Beinn had mentioned the possibility, the image was hard to shake. He sighed and pinched his nose, deciding to do a microcellular scan, just to be safe. If this theoretical virus was particularly fast-acting, there might already be some damage to the surrounding area. If not… well, they would wait and see.
He pulled the arc-shaped scanning apparatus over the injured leg and hammered a few buttons, initiating a scan at the highest possible resolution. This would take a few minutes.
“Witcher and Werewolf, eh? I can’t say I’ve ever tried that one. To be honest, I prefer a more relaxing holodeck program. If you don’t mind me asking, what role were you meant to play in this horror story?”
== Tag Beinn ==