Stauch had been exiting sickbay when the lights were extinguished. He reached up and depressed the internal switch in his temple, activating the infrared ocular implants.
The corridor was darker than he'd expected, and he could see the heat slipping into the walls, presumably escaping into space. What could have possibly gone wrong, he asked himself.
He turned his eyes back toward the medical department, and noted that it was significantly brighter. Edging his way inside, he tried to recall whether sickbay had it's own emergency power source, and followed
the wisps of heat back to their source. As he drew near the rear of the area, he spotted a brilliant light behind a drawn curtain. He became aware of a noxious stench as he moved closer, and felt the
smoke hit his eyes as they began to water.
Deactivating his implants, he threw aside the curtain, and saw to his horror, a small fire burning in the room which contained numerous unrecognizable chemicals. Reaching for a nearby flame inhibitor that
hung on the wall, he readied to unleash it's suppressive liquid, when Dr. Egan entered through a door on the opposite side of the compartment.
"What are you doing here?", the physician asked with undisguised agitation.
"Putting out this fire", Stauch replied, taking aim at the combustive material.
"No, no, no", Egan chided. "This is my fire."
"Your fire", the commando asked incredulously. "Don't you realize how dangerous fire is to a ship?!?"
"Damn it, Corporal", Egan exclaimed, "I'm a doctor, not a....", He searched for the correct term. "...you know, one of those people that fights fires."
"A firefighter, sir", Stauch offered.
"Exactly", Egan confirmed. "However, I do know from several unsuccessful experiments, that death by freezing is untreatable."
"What type of experiments, sir", Stauch queried, suddenly curious.
"Well, back in World War Eight, I froze a couple of my corpsmen", he explained, "just to see, ya know, what would happen." His eyes took on a vacant stare. "Then there was the time
I was forced to freeze my dog when one of the neighborhood hooligans set him on fire..."
"You froze Space Fleet personnel!!", Stauch interrupted, shocked by the news.
"Oh, yes", Egan acknowledged proudly, "and my dog, Barky. He's in a cooler in the back. Do you want to see him?"
