Darrin nodded.  It only took him moments to walk to the station where he kept the majority of his instruments. "First,"  He began, "The largest clusters of bugs so far have been in the endocrine system, so that's where we will begin our harvest."  His deep voice rumbled low as he again spoke more to himself than anyone else as he worked.<br/><br/>He picked up what looking like a small baton with an even more slender stem that glowed when he activated it. Punching a sequence of mathematical formulas into the tube' s numeric keypad, he programmed the desired amount of cells he wanted the needle to harvest and the depth and angle of entry.   With a curt nod, he placed the wide bore needle onto the sterile tray to his left.<br/><br/>Pulling a hyposray next, he filled it with dyoxintriptolate, a mild anesthetic, and placed that beside the scalpel. Finally, he added a petri dish.   Grabbing up the tray, he made his way over to the first biobed still open.  Hopping up on the bed, he activated the steri-field around him and set a portable containment field to his right; the petri dish was its only occupant.<br/><br/>The hypospray hissed softly against his skin at the side of his neck.  It felt cool then nothing.  He waited a moment then, activating the holographic image of himself projected by the biobed, began.  Steady hands guided the needle to an appropriate spot on his thyroid, and a quick flick of his finger had the cells removed and just as quickly settled in the petri dish in the containment field.<br/><br/>"OK, Commander.  All yours."  He called, as he ran the dermal stimulator over the spot where the needle entered his skin.  In a matter of moments, the puncture at the CMO’s neck was completely healed by the dermal stimulator’s ability to enhance skin growth combined with his own rapid aging.<br/><br/>“Damn.”  He shook his head as he realized how quickly it had healed.  “If this works Commander, Drinks are on me.”  He promised the lines in his forehead a reminder of the strain they all had been under due to the latest crisis,  as he released himself from the steri-field. Hopping down, turned to gather the instruments he'd used and put them in the sterilizer before running the bed's isotonic sterilizer.   Finished with what he needed to do for the moment, he strode over to where Maka was beginning to start his experiments.  "Anything I can do to help?"  He asked, trying very hard not to look over his Commander's shoulder.<br/>