Jhalib Ekal, "Temporal dysphoria."

[Deliera Jay]

((Sickbay))

Ekal: Single time exposures are generally fine, but serious repeat exposures seem to cause complications for any person . . . ::He trailed off, glancing at Blake.:: Do you need to be here?

::The woman looked surprised by him addressing her, suddenly taken out of her thoughts. If she was here, if she heard exactly what he was experiencing, the chance was she'd recognize it straight away. He didn't remember how bad his situation was when he was a child, but the less of a risk he had of exposing *himself*, the better.

::And he *really* needed medical support right now, the man thankful he was still conscious.::

::Blake hesitated, but spoke to his comfort.::

Blake: For security's sake, Ensign G'var must remain.

::Better than nothing. G'var wasn't as knowledgeable about his kid self as his mother, that was for certain.::

Ekal: Fair enough.

G'var: I will be happy to keep our guest company Commander Blake, and see to his comfort.

::With a nod to the others, she circled out of Sickbay, leaving attention back to Ekal, who had let his chin hit his chest in relief.::

DeVeau: I’m...a little concerned about some of these other readings.

Ekal: I'm a hybrid. I've had medical complications since I was a kid - but the CRI has made my condition worse with repeat uses. Generally I start suffering from oxygen deprivation that I manage with an O2 breather - it's not as effective as what it used to be.

DeVeau: Which means that it’s going to continue to lesson in effectiveness.

::Exactly as Merce had warned months ago. The breather was never meant to be a treatment in itself - just temporary relief until they hauled him back to a medical centre. Whether the Veritas Sickbay would be equipped with a complex problem such as himself was another story - it'd never had the chance to deal with him.

::It'd never made it into his adulthood.::

del Vedova: And who is Commander Blake to you?

::Jhalib gave the man another look, an eyebrow raising as he rested rolling his eyes at the inquiry.::

Ekal: I can't answer that question.

::Even though technically the question had already been answered. It wouldn't be hard to put the dots together - it wasn't as if he'd undergone a surgery to change his DNA. What a disaster that might be.

::DeVeau pressed a hypospray (*a hypospray*!) against his neck - del Vedova must have put the dots together.::

del Vedova: I can see why you might ask to be examined without her present. ::beat:: What are you doing here? Or is it more appropriate to ask what you're doing here now?

::Here it comes. The "I can't answer that" phase - the moment he was both simultaniously looking forward to and *dreading*.::

G'var: Sir with all do respect I must ask you to stop this line of questioning. If this man did come from another time and the Federation still exists there then we are still upholden to their Directives. Your questions my be in violation of the this "Temporal Prime Directive".

del Vedova: Response?

G'var: The Captain's orders were clear, see to Mr Ekal's medical needs and make him comfortable, clearly these questions are not making him Comfortable.

DeVeau: Nic, she’s right.  Right now, our primary directive is to treat his medical condition.  These questions can wait.

::He couldn't help the sigh of relief, wiping a cold sweat from his brow. Noree he needed a shower.::

del Vedova: Response?

::DeVeau turned to the replicator, having put in some commands and bringing out a glass that materialized.::

DeVeau: I want you to drink this.

G'var: A little taste of Kentucky Doctor Alora?

::He pursed his lips, not only confused at the reference G'var made (what was a Kentucky?) but his eyes narrowing at the idea, hesitating before finally jumping onto an answer.::

Ekal: Let's just get this out of the way - are you trying to poison me or something?

del Vedova: Response?

::She giggled a little and held it up.::

DeVeau: It’s just water.  You’re dehydrated, among other things.  While intravenous liquids will do you good, so will just drinking some.  First thing I’m prescribing is eight to ten ounces every hour.

::The vulcanoid took the glass from her, bringing it to his lips and finally - after admittedly, at least a day - had a proper mouthful of water.

::Water which tasted nothing like it did back home, but he drank it regardless. Maybe it was a time dilation thing. All water from everywhere tasted different for some ridiculous reason, he was sure.::

G'var: Pity, a shot of Bourbon would have been my choice.

oO A shot of *what*? Oo

::Foreign words he either hadn't heard of or wasn't overall familiar with were starting to confuse him a little - not usual, given that he'd at least *tried* to educate himself two ways to Sunday about this particular year.::

del Vedova: Response?

DeVeau: Your heart rate is slow.  Definitely not enough oxygen getting to your system.  We need to take care of that.

del Vedova: Response?

DeVeau: And you’re definitely stressed.

::He gave DeVeau a look that mirrored the one he'd given del Vedova earlier for what he considered to be a mildly obselete question. He said nothing to DeVeau's comment, but the look was response enough.::

del Vedova: Response?

G'var: I could take Mr. Ekal to the Gymnasium for game of parrises squares.

DeVeau: Do you like cats?

::He choked on his drink, the glass disappearing from his hands as he forced himself to remain upright.

::There were two sides to this question DeVeau had no way of knowing, which for him, added to the minor hilarity of it. The first was, the Blakes had a . . . thing against animals with claws, no matter how small or "cute". He imagined this was from either he or his sister having a less than pleasant interaction with a household pet or something they were were infants, thus they were essentially barred from being near them until well into their own adult-hoods - and even as an adult, the damage was done. Ayden's own daughter didn't get the luxury of a pet for purely "health and safety" reasons that, strangely enough, Merce supported him on.

::The second side was that, for nearly ten, maybe fifteen years now, his permanent residence was on Cait - the Caitian homeworld.::

::Both of these elements, strangely enough, precluded him from actually legitimately answering this question, lest it adds fuel to the "oh you're definitely Ayden Blake" fire.::

G'var: Ah, basketball a phenomenal idea. That will get your blood pumping and respiration up Mr. Ekal.

del Vedova: Response?

Ekal: Well done, Commander. You've found a question I didn't think I'd have been restricted from answering.

::Quite a feat, in his opinion.::

del Vedova: Response?

::Alora tilted her head back and laughed, then shook it.::

DeVeau: No, she’s sweet.  And if you need something to help you relieve stress, petting her is just the thing.

::In this case, it'd be more likely to *ramp up* the stress. Like being in the same room as a snake that was about to eat you alive. He shook his head.::

Ekal: I'm good.

::A shower, blanket and a board for working out what had changed from his own time would do just fine, but he was in no position to ask for any of these things.::

G'var: The Feline will need to wait Dr. Alora, we need to Mr. Ekal to the Captain.

del Vedova: Response?

DeVeau: What’s so grievous?

::He sighed.::

G'var: You requested "Temporal Asylum" from the Captain. Is there something or someone in the future here is our present that means to cause you harm?

del Vedova: Response?

Ekal: I'd rather not alarm the entire crew before Captain Rahman knows first.

DeVeau: Important?  For the Captain? ::beat:: How important?

::There was a pause as he considered his answer. They were all currently sitting on a ticking timebomb, which could go off at any minute in any way.::

G'var: Important enough to risk his Future and our present Doctor, to somehow preserve what will occur, because to him it has occurred.

::In this case, he shook his head.::

Ekal: No, it hasn't occurred yet. That's why I'm here. But it *is* life or death important. In more ways than one.

del Vedova: Response?

::DeVeau sunk the heels of her hands against the biobed, leaning forward for her eyes to meet his in an eerie silence, as if she were deliberating on whether to take him seriously. Which, now that he thought about it, was a reasonable thing to ask ones self. A man with conveniently similar biology to a kid that was currently on board was saying that there was a matter of life or death situation that he needed to speak to her CO about, and they'd just been told about the threat of Tholians. Coincidences, especially of this case, were . . . not quite right.

::And the fact of the matter was, Ayden was actually here for selfish reasons. It wasn't the 200+ lives that were about to be taken that he cared about - it was himself. It was how Narm'ei's decision would alter *his* life, his daughter's, his partner's. Everyone else came second.::

::Finally, the officer straightened, and tapped her combadge.::

DeVeau: =/\= Alora to Captain Rahman.=/\=

Rahman: =/\= Response?=/\=

DeVeau: =/\= Please come down to sickbay immediately.=/\=

Rahman: =/\= Response?=/\=

DeVeau: =/\= You need to hear this in person.=/\=

Rahman: =/\= Response?=/\=

::Despite them having given him an anti-nausea shot, he still felt confused and whoozy - not helped that the ship was now in red alert. He huffed, rubbing his chest to ease what he hoped was a phantom ache.::

del Vedova: Response?

G'var: Is there a Security Locker in Sick bay? We need to arm ourselves. The Ship is accelerating and we may be engaging the Tholians or other unknown aggressors. We must be prepared.

DeVeau/del Vedova: Response?

Rahman: =/\= Response? =/\=

G'var: Tholians!  Honorless targs! Three on one, time to even the odds.

::No, something was definitely wrong, but he couldn't place it. Even just *thinking* was giving him a headache, pressing against his temples. Even more unpleasant was the sudden words directly in his ear.::

G'var: What's out there my friend, what awaits us, what troubles you so much?

::If he wasn't spooked before, he definitely was now.::

::Without thinking, Jhalib's entire body shuddered out from under G'var's hand, standing up right and having stepped a few steps away, taking in the scene. No, something was 100% incorrect.::

del Vedova/DeVeau: Response?

Ekal: I need a PADD. I don't care if it's restricted, I just need access to the FNS.

G'var/del Vedova/DeVeau: Response?

Ekal: Something is *very wrong* with this picture. G'var, yours being here makes sense - that's fine. ::He pointed at del Vedova.:: You're Commander Niccolò del Vedova, you have a medical background, so *yours* being here makes sense. But . . . DeVeau? That's not making sense to me. Where is Lieutenant Commander Skyfire?

del Vedova/DeVeau: Response?

::His eyes widened, and he took another step back, his hands looking for something to balance against. He finally found one, being the back of the medical console.::

::Skyfire wasn't there. That made no sense - that was *false*! He *knew* it to be false! Skyfire was responsible for parts of the evacuation! Why would he in particular no longer be on the Veritas? What change could cause that!?

::But if that was the case, then his confusion was simple - musing the only possible diagnosis (aside from his obviously obvious bad health to begin with) as the ship rocked under his feet from a Tholian firefight. Nausea and headache despite attempts to correct? Temporal dysphoria. Or something akin to it. There'd been a major change under his feet, and he had a limited window to get it back to normal.::

::Oh boy he needed that PADD. And a board to string events together.::

G'var/del Vedova/DeVeau: Response?


Tbc . . .

Jhalib Ekal
C238803SB0