Ensign Yinn/Loq: But Doc, I am Pagliacci, and also a Klingon
Mike Vago
The person who had once been two separate people mentally shook their heads. Science was messy, and that's what made it endlessly fascinating. It wasn't something to be overcome with brute force, and while Vulcans' highly disciplined minds made them ideal in some ways for science duty, sometimes more could be learned from the journey than a hasty conclusion.
Brzezinski: Assessing previous data for anything that might show a propensity for interlock-ation.
Yinn: "Interlockation" is not a scientific term I'm familiar with.
Fer’at: I will contact Commander Katsim. Perhaps it is best if you both first bring up older scans for a comparison. Even if you believe this is on a subatomic level, the molecular scan could provide valuable information, and in this matter, it is best to consider every possibility.
Rivka sent the information from her console to a large display nearby.
Brzezinski: Here’s the “before” on both their brain scans.
The two images displayed looked standard enough for each officer, with the expected differences between their species. Nothing particularly neurodivergent nor anything that would immediately indicate a propensity for synchronization.
Loq: For what it's worth, I did scan my brain—
They reminded themself to try and make things less confusing for their colleagues.
Yinn: My brain. This brain, ::a blue hand pointed to a smooth blue head:: while I was studying the Antari leaves as a safety protocol. If contact with them had an effect, I would have stopped, but it wasn't noticeable. If only we had scanned...
Loq: ::a brown hand pointed to a ridged head:: ...this brain after I ate all the Antari leaves. I got a medical scan, but Dr. Toz was mostly concerned with my stomach lining. Not sure if she even looked at the brain.
As they pored over the data, the Vulcan stepped aside, apparently to contact their boss, the chief scientist of the vessel.
Fer’at: Commander Katsim is currently indisposed, but has impressed upon me that we should use any and all resources to search for a solution. She offered to return, but I suggested she allow us to explore options first and allow her to finish the task she is currently on.
Brzezinski: Such a great boss.
Yinn: She is not here, you don't have to suck up!
The doors slid open and while the new officer joining them was clad in departmental blue, Rivka recognized the Klingon-hybrid as their medical officer. While not a scientist per se, the doctor’s experiences with her patients’ physiology as well as some potentially related events from previous missions could prove invaluable.
Toz: Hello, everyone. What’s happening?
Brzezinski: (succinctly, pointing at Yinn and Loq) Two brains, one mind. The two seem to have become one.
Toz: There’s no such thing.
They were surprised Toz was so quick to jump to conclusions before assessing the situation. Then again, they probably would have said the same thing a month ago.
Loq: We're just causing you so many headaches today, doc.
Toz: I am telling you there’s no such thing as two people in one body - when there are clearly two bodies here. ::beat:: Have you notified Lieutenant Commander Peri?
Brzezinski: He did.
Yinn: Just to clear something up, there's one person in two bodies. But that one person is both of us.
Loq: I can see through both sets of eyes, I can move both bodies ::both sets of limbs flailed awkwardly::
Yinn: Not terribly well. And I can talk—
Loq/Yinn (in unison): Through either mouth.
Loq: What I can't do, is make any distinction between my past selves. I remember being Yinn, and I remember being Loq, right up until the moment we beamed down to New Bajor. Since then, I've been both.
Yinn: I don't feel like I'm both of those people, sharing thoughts back and forth. I just feel like one person, who has to learn how to control two bodies at once, and reconcile two sets of memories.
Fer'at: response
Brzezinski: (to Toz) You’re just in time, we were about to run an in-depth molecular scan.
Rivka moved over to the machine and began the initial start-up. Brzezinski could be focused on her own work to the point of being oblivious to those around her, but Yinn had quickly come to respect how well she did know the area of her focus.
Loq: If you don't mind, I'd like to try this without assistance.
They had managed to move their Yinn body around the lab by keeping Loq perfectly still. Now they tried to alternate, trying not to tip forwards while taking a few wobbly Yinn steps, and then adjusting to Loq's heavier stride. The more they alternated, the easier both got, until both bodies were lined up next to Brzezinski.
Fer'at/Toz: responses
Brzezinski: OK, we’re ready for the first pass.
They kept still, which was about the easiest thing you could coax two bodies into doing. Their heads spun with the scientific possibilities. If you could entangle two minds accidentally, surely you could do so deliberately. And if you could disentangle them at will... any two beings could share a mind-meld more complete than any Vulcan had experienced.
Humans had some odd metaphor about borrowing someone's shoes and truly understanding them, but there was no metaphor here. Two adversaries, two utterly foreign species, could share a mind and understand each other completely.
They were getting ahead of themself, they knew. But it was hard not to get excited. They tried their best to stay still as the machine whirred next to them.
Loq: So, what does it say? Has anything changed?
Fer'at/Toz/Brzezinski: responses
Loq: I should have thought of this earlier. Do we have any Antari refugees on board? If their leaves were in fact the catalyst here, maybe their brains work the same way mine apparently do. Just on a temporary basis.
Fer'at/Toz/Brzezinski: responses
Yinn: The question is, can we separate safely?
Fer'at/Toz/Brzezinski: responses
Tags/TBC
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Ensign Yinn/Ensign Qurgh'Loq
Science Officer/Diplomatic Corps
USS Octavia E Butler
O240011Y12