[END ACT II] Lieutenant JG Ollie Bergmen - The Things We Do For Love
CPT Arianus
(( Faraday room, Garden Cave, inside the cliffs, Callis I ))
Ollie watched as a series of signs and pictograms was displayed on the screen. He tried to navigate back by tapping the screen at various spots to speed things up or return to the tiles or the menu, but nothing worked. The screen continued to show different signs, culminating in a series of flashing pictograms that ended with the same one.
But the longer he watched the strings in the first three columns, he started to notice a change in the middle of the fourth: the signs began to repeat, and the pictogram flashed only once, settling on an upward crossed-out triangle.
Ollie pointed to the signs at the end.
Bergmen: I think I can quite surely read this as “that’s us”, and that ::points to the upward crossed-out triangle:: as pictogram for “alive”.
Bancroft: ::low, dry:: Well. That’s reassuring. According to the ancient alien computer… we’re still among the living. ::beat:: Nice to have it confirmed.
Jovenan: So, it monitors the lifesigns of the people in here? ::pause:: Maybe it’s a medical device.
Bancroft: If those symbols really do mean ‘that’s us’ and ‘alive,’ there must be some sort of rudimentary sensor suite built into this room. And if there are sensors in here…
Ollie lifted his head from the monitor, his gaze sweeping across the dimly lit room, where the flickering torchlight danced against the walls, casting elongated shadows that curled into the dark corners.
It felt unsettling…
Jovenan: Right. Um. Let’s assume the operator of this machine is able to tell that the people in this room and in the other rooms are alive. Why?
Bergmen shrugged his shoulders.
Bergmen: Some form of personnel management?
Which was the most reassuring and safest thought he could have about why someone would ever want to have a list like this.
Bancroft: Is there some way we can leverage this? Use it to find out if there are… others?
Jovenan: If they happen to step into one of these rooms and close the door. I don’t think we can scan outside the Faraday Cages. ::pause:: Now that the machine has determined we’re alive, can we get back to the menu?
K’Wara: No handy back-arrow, I’m afraid. ::sighs:: And I’m not sure I want to risk the whole ‘turning it off and back on again’ with machinery this old.
Bosses comment earned another shrug from young Gideon. Did they have other options?
He again tried to push the screen in various directions—left, right, up, down—once, twice, and even three times. And something seemed to happen because the fan beneath the display roared to life, sounding like a decopressing airlock - and after a short while, the image flickered and returned to the tiles.
Bancroft: I suppose randomly pushing buttons was only ever going to get us so far. I’d trade a month’s worth of brown mush for a translation matrix right now…
Jovenan: We don’t have that much brown mush, so the trade is off. Well, I’m not sure if we can accomplish anything else by playing the guessing game. I’d say we get back outside and rest, I’m not going to be sleeping with these loud… ::pause, look on the console:: Was that icon always blue?
Ollie glanced back at the display.
oO Did that tile look blue before? Oo
And glanced back. Was? Wasn’t?
oO Blue was good, right? Oo
Ollie clicked the blue tile, and the console went through its full cycle of sounds and flicker before the display showed the other room.
Bancroft: Response
K’Wara: Jo, it’s-
Jovenan: It’s them! Can we talk to them? Do we have…
Bergmen quickly assessed the main screen, searching for an answer or a button to press to contact the other room. But the answer came on its own, as from behind the display, the voice of Commander Munro spoke to them.
Munro: =/\= Jovenan! Is that you?! =/\=
Commander stepped closer, and Ollie gave her space.
Jovenan: =/\= Yes! Yes, Commander, I am! It’s so good to see you! Can you hear me? =/\=
Munro: =/\= :: elated :: We can hear you?! I think we're in some kind of … =/\=
Jovenan: =/\= We can see you. The room you’re in is quite similar to the one we have here. ::pause, looks to the console:: We also have several symbols on the screen. We’ve figured the triangles reference to your health status, but there are also some prominent semicircles. No idea what they mean. =/\=
As much discussion sounded interesting, Ollie could only be a silent listener, so he took a closer look at the side display and the people who were with Commander Munro in the room. He would recognize that long hair anywhere. A smile spread across his face watching that display, his thumb gently gliding over its screen.
Imril.
He was unaware that a childish, excited smile had formed on his face as he gazed at the image. After letting his thumb slide off the side of the screen, he shortly moved a hand, waved those golden eyes, though he doubted Imril could even see him.
But it didn't matter. They were alive. They both were alive...
Munro: =/\= I think I know what they mean… if I'm right this is some kind of crude transportation network. =/\=
Jovenan: Do you have any idea what she is talking about?
K’Wara: Rudimentary transporters. ::looks down at the console:: Not free transporters, but curated travel between point A and B. That may be why the sensors are registering lifesigns… ::looks at them:: It may be a way to differentiate between those that shouldn’t be transported, and those that should.
Ollie nodded his head in agreement with the lieutenant’s words.
K’Wara: We have no clue how to work it though. And considering that we don’t know how it’s powered-
And Bergmen continued nodding. He definitely didn’t know…
Bergmen: We are Starfleet. We'll figure it out.
Bancroft: Response
Imril was alive. Just one transport away. They needed to transport them. They needed…
Jovenan: =/\= You might be right, Commander. But we can’t take the risk using it on people, the probability of incomplete or corrupted transportation is too great. We could try it out with objects, first… is everything alright in there? =/\=
On the other side of the display, XO turned to her team, and without her voice, other sounds started to be hearable from the reproductor. Scratching. Howl. Immediate danger.
Munro: =/\= Commander, we're ready. Do what you need to do. =/\=
Ollie glanced at Jovenan, expecting her orders, even though he knew deep down what would come.
Jovenan: Okay. Let’s push some buttons and hope something happens.
K’Wara: Right. Roy, help me: we need to find the actual transporter technology. It must be physically present here somewhere, if Ava was able to reach that conclusion, just hidden. We need to make sure they don’t appear fused with a gardening shovel kept in a wrong place. Ollie, you’ve had the best luck with these pictograms, get on that interface and find the correct button.
Olliver Kimmi Bergmen nodded firmly to his superior and took his place at the console, where he immediately began exploring the interface.
Bergmen: ::whispers:: Ok, Ollie… This one did lead to nothing… What this one… ::loud:: Yes, yes… YES!
Bancroft: Response
He shortly glanced at Commander Jovenan and tried to smile and conjure up a professional demeanor to give her some peace of mind. Then nodded, glanced shortly back to K’Wara and Bancroft to check if everything was ready… and turned back to press the button he hoped would work…
The fan beneath the display whirred, and after a short while, the pictograms on the display changed... A light started to shine from behind his back, accompanied by noise, and then both went out again, as the pictogram reverted to the original one. They made it! They…
Ollie turned and looked toward the place he thought the light came from, glanced at the other team, and…
TAG/END TO ACT II
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Lieutenant JG Ollie Bergmen
Operations Officer
U.S.S. Artemis-A
A240009JC1