Hey’xet drifted out of Science Lab 1, where the slow stream of data from their probe array trickled up the ship’s tractor beam even without scrutinizing eyes to urge it along. Simmons had left to report to the captain, which left coordinating with the other vital party in Hey’xet’s figurative hands.

The doors to sickbay swung wide open, and Hey’xet crept cautiously across the threshold into the most alien part of the ship. They surveyed the room and took in the anatomical models filled with rigid calcium scaffolding, the hyposprays designed to permeate dry, water-tight skin, and the scans of nervous systems that seemed so inefficiently centralized.

No doctor, though.

“Doctor?” called Hey’xet, gliding further into the room. “Have you received the telemetry from the probe array?”

“It’s just coming up.”  River said, perhaps a bit absentmindedly. Her day had been a flurry of data and strange readings, and both were giving her a minor headache. “Take a look.”

Hey’xet pored over the incoming data. “Fascinating insight into the chemical make-up of the dome’s biomass, but still insufficient to properly interpret its potential impact on our crew. Or at least…”

They turned back to River. “On the ones not already wearing environmental suits. But the data should finish compiling momentarily. I hope.”

Hey’xet bobbed in an indecisive movement, and a stippling pattern flashed over their tentacles. “Would it be alright with you if I flushed the filters on my suit while we wait?” they asked with some hesitation.

“Not at all.” River replied.

Hey’xet glided over to a panel in a nearby wall and opened it to reveal a set of hoses and nozzles. Hey’xet attached them to the inputs on his suit, hidden away under the folds of their uniform, and again felt appreciative that the engineers of Starfleet had taken the time to install this station for the benefit of but a single crew member. It was a pleasant thought to accompany the odd but not unpleasant sensation of the tiny bubbles that rushed through their suit during the process.

Doing her best to give Hey’xet next to her some privacy, River returned her focus to the readout. “The atmosphere should be breathable, but we don’t know enough about the ship itself for me to recommend not wearing environmental suits – or breathers as the very least, if we are expecting to make contact with… something.”

A ripple traveled across the length of Hey’xet’s tentacles that had nothing to do with the flushing system. “Has any of the data given you insight into possible extant lifeforms within the dome?”

She turned to them. “Mostly… trees. Whether they are the intended inhabitants, I cannot tell you. But there doesn’t seem to be anything else.”

“An abundance of precaution, then?”

The light on the panel flashed green, and Hey’xet disconnected the hoses. As water jetted fresh from the filters and washed their body in oxygen, they imagined that even the world outside of their suit grew a little more brighter and felt a little more real.

“I shall make certain that my suit is appropriately oxygenated before we go, and I will make sure that the crew’s breathers are all in proper working order,” said Hey’xet, with a grateful nod to River. “In engineering as well as medicine, precaution is worth more than cure.”