A Theory Without Substance - Part 2

Posted on Fri Oct 31st, 2014 @ 7:34pm by Commander Rylie Cattmor & Lieutenant Jensen Foster & Lieutenant JG Heather Quinn

1,338 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: What Dreams May Come
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Right after "Do You See What I See (Part 3)"

Excerpt from "A Theory Without Substance"

Once the connection was over, Jensen turned to Cattmor and responded, "I have a hunch, Commander, but I need another set of eyes and another head to be sure."


And now the continuation:

Cattmor closed her eyes briefly, if only to hide the momentary rolling of them. She was hoping to avoid this, this being several things. Much like Counsellor's, she didn't have a particularly good feeling about doctors, save from those in her late father's employ, and the less people that were around to figuratively poke and prod her, the better. The other part was that the less people that knew there was an actual problem, the better right now, as she certainly didn't want to be causing ship-wide panic at a critical time on a mission. All of this though, was somewhat immaterial. She needed answers, and Jensen needed help, or at the very least corroboration.

Sensing Cattmor's apprehension, Jensen looked at her and said, "I'm sorry Commander, I just need to get a second opinion about the data I've found and what my tricorder results gave me."

Rylie just made a tight smile - a small attempt to make herself, and Jensen feel a bit better.

Just shy of five minutes later, Quinn walked into sickbay, looking slightly more dressed than the CMO and XO, the only difference was she didn't have her hair up in a typical African hairstyle, it was just pulled back into a sloppy ponytail. Stopping short, upon seeing Cattmor, she gazed at Jensen and inquired, "Sir...?"

"No time to explain, but I have to ask: have you been experiencing any hallucinations recently? Or have you had anyone talking about having hallucinations?"

Chewing on her lip for a second, Quinn said, "I have had, shall we say, a few disturbing incidents. And even had a few members of the crew coming to me about hallucinations, why do you ask?"

Picking up his tricorder, he said, "Hold on, I'll get to that; let me do this first." He then scanned Quinn's brain and after looking at the results, was more than positive that what he'd found might yield some answers. Walking back to the main console he said, "Come take a look at this on the main console. And tell me if what I've found makes any sense." He motioned his colleague over and then looked at Cattmor saying, "You too, Commander."

Rylie slipped down from the biobed and approached the other two standing by the diagnostics monitor. What she saw on the screen was hardly surprising...

Once they were all standing around the console, staring at the screen, he voiced, "I found some data taken from Voyager's time in the Delta Quadrant that seems to correlate with what is happening here." As the two women had looked over the data, Jensen intoned, "As you can see, what's happening seems to be caused by a neurogenic field, like the ones Voyager came into contact with. But here's where it doesn't make sense, to me at least. As far as I can tell, there are no lifeforms within range that could cause this. I mean unless that damn cloud is a lifeform, but based on the scientific data taken during our entering it, it's just a gas cloud. Have any thoughts?"

Cattmor continued looking at the information for a few seconds, but in the end, "Doc, if this was a screen showing diagnostics of a warp plasma manifold, I'd be able to get more from it. All I see are graphs and numbers. I know what both of you are thinking but I don't have the background to decipher it, to know exactly what it means." she said, her brow crinkling slightly with frustration.

"Basically what all these graphs and numbers represent is the effect of a neurogenic field on humanoids. Hallucinations, dreams, etc. The only difference between the data here and the scans on my tricorder is that we're not being affected by humanoids, but seemingly by a gas cloud. It just doesn't make sense!" Jensen sighed and put a hand over his eyes. With all that'd he'd been experiencing since he'd come back from the Edmorn his brain just didn't seem to want to do any more, not to mention that he was still getting nightmares. And seeing Cal'n in his quarters didn't help.

Piping up, Quinn said, "We could run tests down in the labs on deck seven, just to make sure we're not jumping the gun, sir."

"All right, sounds good to me. See if Sito and Edwards will help. Once you've gotten enough scans, send the data to me, I'll look it over and then compile a report. If that's okay with you, Commander?" Jensen looked from Quinn to Cattmor, waiting for the XO's response.

The question caught Rylie off-guard somewhat, in the midst of staring at the data thinking that some personal research should probably be on the cards, to sensing the theories and processes leaking out of both the other officer's heads, she seemed almost distracted. "Whatever the two of you feel is necessary, but try to keep things as quiet as you can. I know the effect is widespread already, but as for the theory of cause goes, I don't want to start a widespread panic."

Responding, Quinn said, "I'll make sure this doesn't leak out to the rest of the ship. I'll make sure the ensigns know that as well." Turning, she walked off, tapping her com badge as she left. "Ensigns Sito and Edwards, meet me down on deck seven at the labs. I'll explain..."

After Doctor Quinn had left, Rylie watched the door close and made doubly sure that it wasn't just tricking her and going to open again. This subject was very much out of the purview of anyone else on board this ship, and the surface thoughts radiating from Jensen only reinforced that fact. "Mister Foster," she started as she turned to face the doctor still pouring over the data on the screen, and then took a breath; time passed did not make the situation any less awkward, "A while ago, we agreed that we might be able to help each other, with our respective curse."

She paused a moment, not quite sure if this was the right thing to be doing or not. She'd always been independent and asking for help almost felt like cheating, something she had always had an extreme aversion to, but "Given the current circumstance on the ship, perhaps we should attempt... something?"

Turning his gaze from the data he looked at Cattmor, while he'd felt confident during that discussion, after what had transpired the evening following, Jensen was wary. He trusted himself, but if something were go off target, well he didn't want to even think about that...

Shaking his head, ridding himself of his inner monologue, Jensen responded, "If you're referring to the empathic link or any other exercise, I would suggest we move to one of the holodecks like you suggested last time. Either that or we can do it tomorrow morning before our duty shifts." Pausing, he mulled it over for a few moments. "On second thought, maybe we should make the attempt tonight. If something were to go," he paused, choosing his words carefully, "not as planned, we will have time to recuperate."

"Agreed." Rylie said after getting over her initial disappointment about having to wait again. "Maybe before we do, we, or I should change. Meet you at holodeck two in about ten minutes?"

"Sounds good, Commander. I'll meet you there after I've changed as well," Jensen replied. He quickly saved all the data to his personal work file and then exited with Cattmor. He did, however, share Cattmor's feelings on changing into something else. He liked his blue PJ’s, but, now that he wasn't in work-mode, realized that they were a little too personal attire for traipsing about the ship.


...to be continued.

 

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