Commander Lia Rouiancet: Like a Beacon

[Tony Colella]

(( Sickbay, Deck 5, USS Octavia E. Butler ))

Rouiancet: Any relation to our Lhandon, do you think?

The first person they'd recovered -- sort of, since they were now phased themselves, though Una had no trouble navigating the Butler they'd left behind (again, sort of) -- was a Nilsen, and though Lia meant the question rhetorically, a bit of chatter as they carried him to Sickbay, Una turned out to have the answer.

Una: Lhandon has a rather large family, several brothers and sisters. The brothers are: Marcus, Madison, Key’ran. His father's name is Harold and he has a dog named Uno; nice name, don't you think? Yes, but excuse me, I took a look at his public file and I have a photographic memory...I don't remember any Barney. Could he be a cousin? Or maybe her husband?

Both Toz and Lia stared at Una for a moment. Lia considered Lhandon a friend, but even she couldn't have named his siblings' names off the top of her head. Una certainly knew her stuff.

Toz: You looked at his… oh, yes, public file. (shaking her head)

Before Lia could add anything, a voice crept through the badge. It was shot through with static, but still distinct.

Voice: How much longer will it be?! How much longer must I suffer alone?!

They all froze, and almost dropped the unconscious Barney Nilsen.

Rouiancet: Um. Hello?

Toz: (looking around) If you’re able, tell us where you are.

Toz focused on Una, who had the recurring benefit of having been phased since the mission had begun. Had she perhaps encountered something like this before.

Rouiancet: Una? I don't suppose you had any discussions with disembodied voices while you were phased before, did you?

Una: I can't explain why from a theoretical standpoint, but something about the data seemed off.

It was too much to hope for -- but never mind, because they'd gotten the elder Nilsen where he needed to be, and Toz took command of the situation. The creepy voice, whatever it had been, could wait.

Toz: Here! Get Nilsen onto the bed, while I flip on the monitors then we’ll figure out the rest. (nodding toward Una’s tricorder) Any information there?

Una: I have a theory... I'm detecting a variance in certain tetra-micron particles. Based on the data we collected during the previous banana, uh, teleportation incident. We've teleported out of phase. But, our safety protocols prevent unstable quantum teleportation. It's as if their phase, besides being out of sync with our natural phase, is continuing to shift slightly. I don't think this is exactly healthy for their integrity.

That might well be an understatement, since Lia was well aware of the physical difficulties that beings outside of their time, space, and/or reality could suffer. El-Aurians were a particularly interesting example, though Lia suspected that if this sort of phasing was at all the norm for Starfleet crews, they'd know about more serious consequences in short order.

Toz: I don’t understand most of that. If we’re out of phase, then what we’re seeing may not be real.

Una: We could attempt to individually lock onto their signal and try teleporting them back again into this phase, stabilizing them in the process. Subsequently, we can teleport them back to the normal phase using the negative energy sequence we employed to return to phase initially. Am I making sense?

Toz: No. 

This was delivered so immediately that Lia couldn't help a laugh. It wasn't at Una's expense, and in fact Lia thought she could see (if only dimly) where Una was going. Toz, too, seemed to be puzzling it out.

Toz: Do you mean we can teleport… like switching a non-responsive computer off then on to… kind of reset everything?

Una: It’s not as simple as that. It’s not like just restarting a system.

Rouiancet: But we could use the transporter systems to stabilize their patterns and then rephase them? (glancing between Toz and Una) Like (beat) like filling in the details for a buggy holoprogram that's lost most of its data, and then reinitializing it.

This comparison might not help much, either, Lia thought. But it'd been a while since Lia had practiced medicine, and though she tried to keep up to date as best she could, she'd been in operations more recently and strategic operations most recently, and the systems metaphor had just dropped into her mind.

Toz: Response

Una: Based on these readings, we’re currently operating at a significantly lower energy level than usual. Think of it as being out of phase at -5 on a scale. The others, however, aren’t stable. They fluctuate between -4 and -6. This explains why they seem to vanish or appear intangible at times.

Rouiancet: I see, I think.

It was almost like there were different flavors of being out of phase, and they happened to taste the same as the elder Nilsen for a little while. If they spent more time out of phase, their flavors might start changing as well.

Toz: Response

Una: I'll try again. We’re at, say, -5 compared to our normal phase. They’re not exactly at -5, but they keep oscillating between -4 and -6. That’s why sometimes they disappear, sometimes we can see them but not touch them, or only feel them.

Rouiancet: But we can interact with Nilsen.

And therein lay an opportunity.

Toz: Response

Una: So if we manage to hook up to their signal using the computer and this modified PADD, maybe we can stabilize our phase at -5, our own.

After the merest of shrugs, Lia nodded to Una.

Rouiancet: It sounds to me like you have a better idea of what might help, and I think I followed the explanation, so: Do it. See what you can do.

She nodded to the PADD Una had indicated, again not taking for granted that Una was the only one of the three with direct experience of having been phased.

Toz/Una: Responses

Rouiancet: Well, I wonder if there's something we can do, physically, to help the transporter systems lock on to Nilsen. And us, potentially. An unusual radioisotope, maybe. Or a chroniton admixture. What do you think?

This question was aimed more at Toz, who would probably have a clearer idea of what to inject (or otherwise alter -- there was no reason it had to come from a hypo) into Nilsen to make him light up like a beacon across the phases. In combination with Una's idea, Lia hoped to make it extraordinarily simple for the Butler's scanners to locate Nilsen. And, if it worked, the whole Dow crew.

Toz/Una: Responses

Then, again, Lia's comm badge chirped. She was immediately wary of the sinister voice that had come through minutes ago, but then a moment later Toz's and Una's badges chirped, too. Like, she thought, someone was trying to contact them. She tapped her badge immediately.

Rouiancet: =/\= This is Rouiancet. =/\=

Maybe Bridge?: =/\= Responses =/\=

Toz/Una: Responses

Tags! and TBC!

--

Commander Lia Rouiancet

Commanding Officer

USS Octavia E. Butler

V238208LV0

she/her/hers (this character)