LtCmdr Jovenan – Not magic
Jovenan
((Geology lab, Deck 9, USS Artemis))
The conversation had quickly shifted towards more personal topics. Jovenan didn’t mind sharing the broad strokes of her personal history, at least not in principle, although the more details she told, the more she felt like oversharing or risking having to explain herself and her decisions. It was easy – well, not easy, just uncomplicated – to say that she found the culture of her old homeworld stagnated and that she instead wished to go out and see strange new worlds… but why? What made almost every other Edo satisfied with life Jovenan had found uninteresting; what had made Jovenan seek escape from the paradise? She couldn’t answer. It wasn’t her place to answer, either, or at least not her duty. Luckily, Doctor Jaran didn’t push for it either, instead satisfied with the explanation of anything pushing or pulling her fellow Edo to the wider galaxy. She was ready to continue the discussion, but luckily, again, their little experiment was running, allowing her to pause their conversation and redirect it towards direction she hoped was comfortable for both of them.
Jovenan: Okay, we have a nice picture of the sample, but I’d like to observe what you said about the lightnings. We can try different set-ups, but it would help if you happened to remember something about when that happened. Was it like the thunderstorms on Bajor, for example? What happened to the rocks after the lightning hit them?
Jaran: A purple sky with spikes of red lightning. The wind was intense. Most of the lightning was landing on the points of the larger yellow stone formations, but it also struck among the trees in the forested area. Maybe 300 metres away? I didn't count how long between strikes, but it wasn't long. The stone would crack and shatter when it was struck, and small pieces would fly out of larger chunks pretty easily.
Jovenan nodded. Fascinating. She and her team had observed a storm on the first day on Callis I, perhaps even the same storm – figuring out their exact location and distance from each other on the planet hadn’t been any of their priority – but unlike the Doctor’s team, Jovenan and the others had rushed to the caves when the wind had started blowing, so they hadn’t witnessed the lightnings. However, based on the minimal readings they got of the planet, added to observations with naked eye and some guesswork, Jovenan believed they might be able to replicate the effect the Doctor described. She took the samples to another setup in the laboratory and began recreating the conditions. Inputting everything took a moment but didn’t require her undivided attention, so she continued where they had left off.
Jovenan: I am like most Edo. I like running. I eat vegetarian most of the time. I pray to our God occasionally, even if they can’t hear me from this far. And Starfleet’s order is a decent replacement for our rule-based society, even if there are differences. I just… didn’t find my people’s version of instant gratification something I wanted. ::shrugs, smiles:: Not special, just different. The culture shock after leaving was just as debilitating. I would imagine the switch from a monastery to stopping someone from pulling off a coup and running away from predators was a drastic change for you too, am I right?
Jaran: It was a slow shift from there to here, but you're not wrong. You may be one of the few here who understands that level of change, now that I think of it.
That was… something to think about. Jovenan raised her eyebrows and tilted her head from side to side. Comparing Rubicun III, with its notoriously open attitudes towards, um, interpersonal relations, to a monastery was quite a stretch. Still, there was a level of truth to that, she had needed to overcome some cultural differences that she hadn’t noticed her friends and colleagues to ever struggle with. But claiming to be “one of the few” to understand the level of change Doctor Jaran – or anyone else on the ship – had faced seemed pretentious or self-indulgent to her. She wished to understand, but the lived experiences were too different for her to pretend she could ever feel the exact same.
Jovenan: I don’t know if I am or if I do. But I’ll try.
… what did that even mean? There had to be a better way to get the message across, if only she knew how to speak.
Jaran: You said you still pray to your god, even if they can't hear you. What makes you so sure of that?
Jovenan pressed her lips together. It was a topic that could easily go wrong if she happened to select her words poorly. More than her personal choices, the status of the aliens inhabiting (multiple points in the multiverse, but among them) the partially-phased-in space station in the orbit of her homeworld as god was something that she could see invited debate; to some, it must be difficult to accept such imperfect creatures as holding a similar position to the perfect beings of their mythologies, or at all. She hadn’t had poor experiences in that regard, unlike when it came to some other Edo stereotypes, but she credited it to as much to her reservedness as to the religious tolerance among the people around her.
Jovenan: Well, um, what we consider our god is undeniably just another species or a group who have taken the responsibility to observe, guide and protect the Edo. I don’t deny that, but that doesn’t change their role as, well, god. Their technology or innate properties are advanced, and we don’t know everything about them anyway, but their knowledge of everything outside their claimed area of space was limited when Starfleet made first contact with them. So, it’s only logical to conclude they can’t sense what happens outside their sphere of influence.
Jaran: This deserves further discussion, but it looks like something is happening?
Hm? Jovenan turned back towards the display. The experiment had been loaded into the system, and the computer begged for her attention with a blinking light. She turned fully towards the screen and activated some of the first steps towards completing the experiment, such as erecting the forcefield around the test area and activating the scanners.
Jovenan: Good, we’re just about ready to start smiting the rocks with lightnings! ::pulls out protective equipment, hands to Jaran:: Goggles.
Jaran: Response
Adequately prepared for the experiment, Jovenan activated the following steps in succession. The air in the test area on the other side of the forcefields turned noticeably more towards purple, with the aerosol of droplets suspended in the air gathered above the samples, forming a thin layer of clouds. As the clouds grew more and more opaque, Jovenan raised her palm so that Jaran could see it. Slowly, she lowered each of her finger, until only the index finger remained up, and she waved her hand like she had on the bridge giving the order to go to warp. Just as she did so, the test area was engulfed in bright light, and an electric discharge briefly wormed its way from the clouds to the samples. Jovenan smiled.
Jovenan: Looks like we were successful! Or do you agree, was it like what you saw on the planet?
Jaran: Response
Jovenan: We got some great data too. It might help to explain why the rocks attract lightnings, but further exploration is needed for how they are formed and why haven’t they disappeared over time. ::pause, smile:: Do you think the locals associated the rocks with the divi–
Her sentence was cut off by a loud noise and a flash of light. Another lightning had hit the rock in its test chamber. Jovenan blinked, surprised by the unexpected repetition of the experiment’s result, when yet another lightning stroke the sample. The goggles automatically filtered the otherwise uncomfortably bright flashes. The lightnings kept repeating, forcing Jovenan to raise her voice so that the Doctor could hear her over the sound it made.
Jovenan: Sorry! It shouldn’t do that! I think. ::looks around:: Please take this station, I might need to exhaust the chamber!
Jaran: Response
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11