Lieutenant Jacin - We're Explorers

[Emma Banin]

((Interior. Odyssey Station, Corridor Control Waystation 19.))

Gareth-6: The Wayfarers Code governs the actions of travelers who visit here. There is no violence permitted, no weapons. Life cannot be taken. Damage cannot be perpetuated to the station or those who visit. 

Ayemet  noticed that Gareth-6 had answered the questions without actually answering the question. Was this ‘greeter’ trying to deceive them?  It was a strange answer apparently designed to placate the questioner without actually divulging any information.  She made a mental note and glanced at there others to see if anyone else had noticed the meaning behind the words.

Collins: Yes, yes, we've heard that part! What does that have to do with getting us back to where we started from?

Dewitt: Preferably in one piece, the Arrow was almost ripped apart by the voilence of the slipstream field forming without a proper activation sequence.

Gareth-6: Violence is that which may cause harm to another. Weapons are not permitted. Violence remains outside the ways. All travelers must abide by the code.
Ar’Gorvalei nodded slightly, feeling that he had confirmation for his second theory. Gareth-6 was only programmed to provide certain answers. He wasn’t an independently sentient being. In which case, who was controlling him, and this station? Was anyone in control, or had it been functioning on automation for millennia?

Jacin: We require further information, so as to ensure that the protocols are followed.

Gareth-6:  Response.

Collins: Right. Yes. What about controls? Gateway arches of some kind? How exactly do you open the Way Corridors and keep them stable?

Dewitt: There are huge energy emissions from inside the station's core. It exceeds the power levels of anything I have seen on Federation ships and stations. It could be what keeps the corridors open on our end. But I doubt that it is enough to form them across the Galaxy.

Any: RESPONSE

If it were possible for an artificial lifeform( if that is what this ‘greeter’ was ) to feel contempt, Ayemet got the strong sense that Gareth 6 was feeling it now. That in itself proved both scientifically interesting and dangerous. If Gareth 6 could feel contempt then presumably he could feel anger. However Ayemet realised that any hypothesis built purely on superstition was of no intrinsic value. Still, she stored the thought away for future reference.

Gareth-6: You will find the information you need to work out your desires around you. Feel free to explore the station. Once a destination is decided, the appropriate corridor will be made present.

Gareth-6 then simply faded away. Ar’Gorvalei checked his tricorder to make sure he had been recording. The data could be useful later.

Collins: Come on. Before he comes back and bores us to tears then death...

She heard Connor laughing and smiled to herself, pleased that the Ensign still had a more than healthy attitude to theAway Team mission. 

Jacin shrugging:  I like him. He seemed friendly.

She gave a sheepish smile.

Dewitt: But still a little odd... We could have him over for a movie night some time to get to know him better. ::smiling::

Jacin: I would love to hear his go to karaoke song.

Any: RESPONSE 

Jacin: Commander Collins introduced me to the human custom  of karoke. We doing have an equivalent on Bajor, but I kind of liked it!

She looked around the cavernous room like a child in a sweet shop. Although the majority of the room seemed lifeless, although experience had taught her that appearances could be deceptive,  the pulsating centre console drew her attention as a flame to a moth and she wandered towards it, running her scanner over it to see if any information could be gleamed from it/

Collins: Gentlemen, we need scans of that center console. Both its mechanical control scheme and its power output sources. I'm not letting any of us "interface" with any of this until we know something about how it works.

Dewitt: ::nodding:: Aye, Commander. We will see what we can figure out
from there.

She walked over to Quentin a strange look on her face. She felt a pull from the machine as if it were beckoning her towards it, Calling her..Calling her.

Jacin: Sir at some point we are going to have to. It makes sense for me to the be one. If this station is in some way telepathic we want as secure a connection as possible. :looking at him pointedly: and that needs to be with someone who is able to control anything that this machine throws at them without it overwhelming them.

Collins: Response.

Jacin :Taking a step back: Sir :beat: Are you okay?

Collins: Response.

Jacin: Aye Sir, but the situation demands that  should you feel :beat: that you are not ‘alright”. You need to inform us.

Collins: Response.

Ayemet nodded and backed away, returning her attention to the console. She wanted to reach out and touch it. To feel the power flowing through it 

o0 Think of the power you’d have. Think of the places you could go to. 0o

Dewitt: Commander, all the consoles are in Standard. The layouts are very similar to Starfleet consoles. It seems that we can access a lot of Station information on these consoles. But there are no command functions to be found. Judging from the central position, I'd guess that they are not missing, but just not accessible to us.

Then she felt something; anger! No that wasn’t it. Something wasn’t right though. 

A realisation.

She turned her head slowly towards Quentin so as to minimise the chance of discovery. He looked; coiled, as if he was preparing , or at least ready, to strike. 

Jacin :whispering out the side of her mouth to Collins: Don't. Whatever you’re planning don’t..

Quentin looked surprised, shocked.

Collins: Planning? I'm not planning anything...

Jacin: Your weapon.

Collins: But I didn't bring a weap-

Too late Ayemet realised who the feeling was coming from and whirled round to see  Hitchcock raising a kendo stick and barrelling towards them. She instinctively raised her left arm to shield her face. 

Collins: Doctor! A sedative, if you please?!

Ar'Gorvalei: On it. 

 

But the blow never came. Ayemet lowered her arm to see the Security Officer encased in what appeared to be some  of giant transparent globe . He looked like a surprised goldfish. His eyes bulging slightly as they moved from side to side, his burly chest  moving up and down as he breathed the only sign that he was alive. It was both comical and horrific at the same time. 

Jacin: Mister Ar’Gorvalei is he; err alright? 

 

Ar’Gorvalei took his tricorder and began to scan the globe that held Hitchcock.

Ar'Gorvalei: There’s some sort of interference, but life signs appear normal.

Collins: Well, that's that tested, I suppose. 

 

Jacin: At least we know he is unharmed. A Human blowing ball perhaps, but unharmed. How do we free him? How do we get him back to the ship? We could roll him there I guess. 

Ayemet felt a bizarre mixture of humour and horror.  The look on Hitchcock’s face as if he new something was wrong, but didn’t quite have the4 intelligence to work out what it was combined with the fact that he looked like a human snow globe could not help but put a slightly ridiculous spin on what was a member of the team trapped by beings, or at least the machine e of beings, that they knew little to nothing about.

Dewitt: Before we free him, we should maybe find out why he wanted to attack? It does not seem like it was the station's doing, was it?

Ar’Gorvalei: I concur. We need to know what prompted the attack before we can release him.

She returned her attention to the console walking over as the Engineering team inhaled their  work.

Jacin:  Gentlemen, how goes it?

Dewitt: Hm? Ah, yes... There seems... There is some information on Hitchcock. Doctor, you might want to have a look at the medical data.

Connor stepped to one side, making way for Atr’Gortvalei who  began to check the data that resulted from Connor’s scans.

Dewitt: There also is some kind of charge against Mr. Hitchcock. It looks like he might have to face some kind of hearing. Maybe that is a chance for us to get in contact with whatever beings created this? The location of the trial is given here, but it does not seem to start for another 3 and a half hours.

Any: Response

Connor bent down and picked up his tricorder as Ayemet ran her hand along the console, feeling the pulsating energy that emanated from it hypnotically. Whoever, or whatever built this had created something with immense power. She wondered what exactly this station was capable, and were they like cave people  trying to understand temporal mechanics , only able to scratch the surface of what was before them, like children drawing crayons on they parents expensive bedroom walls. All of it meaningless scribbles. 

Dewitt: Regarding the station itself, there is a lot of energy being redirected to some kind of emitters on the station's hull. It generates a lot more than anything I have seen before. A tremendous amount is also diverted through this console. I am not sure what its purpose is, maybe
it is redirected upwards? ::pointing to the roof:: There are more generators that could generate additional energy. If we find a way to access command functions we might be able to create another corridor.

Dewitt: But if I am being honest, what the greeter talked about... Finding all the information we need to work out our desires. And to decide on a destination for the corridor to show. I have no clue if he wanted us to rig his command console. ::nodding at Hitchcock:: I don't want to be the second defendant at that trail.

Jacin still staring at the machine: : We need to interface with it. 

No one appeared to hear her. She glanced at them as they debated over what to do with their now encased Security Officer. Gorva and Connor both knew more about the particular predicament that Hitchcock faced than she did, and as they  discussed whether to freee him, or determine his irrational attack before doing so Ayemet  continued to examine the console, noting what appeared to be to blank sections on one side of it that were accessible by going up a few steps. She climbed the stars and examined them closer, seeing that they were i9n fact on some kind of mechanical arm that needed to ben opened up and then closed, so that it would be possible to touch each section with the then closed arm running behind them.

Any: Response 

 

Ar’Gorvalei: ::Looking up from the terminal:: Mr. … Hitchcock is it? … appears to be uninjured. ::Pauses:: This is odd. According to this data, he is showing heightened stimulation of the amygdala – that’s the part of the brain in humans that controls the ‘fight or flight’ reflex, and decreased activity in the frontal lobes. 

 

Any: Response 

 

Ar’Gorvalei: His confinement could be partially responsible, but given his hormone levels, this appears to have begun when we entered the station, if not before. I’m not detecting any external cause, however. 

At that, Gareth-6 moved up into the group and looked over the tall one's shoulder at the readings. 

Gareth-6: We could allow transport back to your ship if the confinement is harmful in some manner. Usually we would wait until your destination has been chosen, but if you allow such behavior on your ship, we will not judge nor argue.

 Any: Response 

Gareth-6: The station will show you what you want, you will have to work out where to go. 

Jacin: Gareth 6, is this the interface?

Gareth 6/Dewitt/Ar'Gorvalei/Collins: Response?

Ayemet nodded. The interface appeared to be built for a being that  was bibrachial in nature, or at least had two manipulation mechanisms of some kind. It was entirely ;possible that there were different interfaces for different races elsewhere in the station, or that this was something that had been constructed in the moment by Gareth 6 or the station itself. It appeared that even if the station was not sentient, and that Gareth 6 was a kind of advanced AI, a degree of telepathy was involved. Had they (whoever ‘they’ were) read their minds and produced a solution for them?

Jacin: So in theory someone would put a hand  :indicating the blank sections: here and here and that would enable a connection to the machine?

Gareth 6/Dewitt/Ar'Gorvalei/Collins: Response

Ayemet  nodded as if the answer meant little to her, and was of no more importance than anything else. The truth was that it thrilled her. She was worried about Quentin. He seemed damaged  in some way, and the thought ion having connect him to something that would drain him of the self control he had concerned her, not because she thought it would make him into any kind of thereat, but simply because she cared for him, and given the past experiences on the other mission, whether it be Amanda’s death, or Connor’s injury, or Gorva coming seriously close to death, she simply did not want anyone else to suffer in her place

Turning to address who seemed to be the leader, the Greeter bowed ever so slightly.

Gareth-6: We understand the Ways have been forgotten. We have been forgotten. How can I assist you in remembering how to use this station?

Jacin: Commander Collins, we need to explore this station more. I can that is literally what we are isn’t it? Explorers. This is an incredible opportunity. We should be making the most of it.

Dewitt/Ar'Gorvalei/Collins: Response

She could barely contain her excitement, but keeping a steady tone continued looking directly at the others.

Jacin: I interface with the station here. I can download any information whilst you all explore the Station and by the time you return Ill have the information  and we can return to Earth, or wherever we think Captain Shayne and Commander Mackenzie are.

Dewitt/Ar'Gorvalei/Collins: Response

Jacin: Okay So Ensign Dewitt or Lieutenant Ar’Gorvalei can remain with me an monitor me. You know this makes sense Commander. Its what the very purpose of Starfleet is.

Dewitt/Ar'Gorvalei/Collins: Response

 

TAG, TBC 

Lieutenant Jg Jacin Ayemet

Science Officer

USS Arrow

A239810JA2