Cmdr. Katsim Peri - "What Do You Do For A Tree?"
Amanda Nordstrom
(( Arboretum Lower Level, Deck 9, USS Octavia E. Butler ))
In the Arboretum, there was a tree, and her name was Vala. Peri knew her, though not well, but she was still one of them. An officer. A scientist. She was Starfleet. As she arrived at the Arboretum, she, along with Doctor Nis and others aboard the Butler, were determined to bring her back to normal. Even Peri’s little dragon joined them,winging her way through the Arboretum, her interest in the tree quite visible.
Above them, Echo’s flight came to an end when she landed upon one of Morton’s branches. She made no attempts to nibble at her leaves or scratch at the bark. Instead, she padded along the length of the branch and came to where it met the trunk. Throwing herself against it, she rubbed her head and neck on the rough wood and crooned softly. From the creature came soothing, gentle emotions, projected to the tree itself, for she was quite an empathic being.
Almost in sync, Peri stepped forward and pressed a hand against Morton’s trunk. Beneath her, the lines of the bark snagged upon her skin, and her gaze drifted upward, following it as it curled around in a mathematical precision found so consistently among nature - the Fibonacci sequence. Every run of the bark, every arch of the branches, every deviation of the limbs all fell into that pattern. To anyone looking at her, there was no indication that this was a person, not a plant.
Katsim: We need to review the information gathered thus far. Run tests. We’ll explain everything every step of the way.
Was it a job for a doctor or a botanist? Peri suspected it would be a job for both.
Morton: ~ Ooh, I heard that. ~
Nijah: We can collect a blood sample if you’d like, sir.
Morton: ~ And that! Though, I am not sure I… ~
Nis: It’s not exactly blood the way we think of it, but a sample would be helpful. About five milliliters of fluid should be sufficient, and a piece of bark about the size of a pinky.
As people talked, Morton only through the mouth of Nijah, she listened, nodding in affirmation of the blood sample, and again to agree with the doctor’s description of what it would actually be, as well as the wisdom in taking a piece of bark. It would be like scraping skin off the bottom of the foot, flakes would come off, but there would be no pain.
Even though she knew she had to get more scans, Peri remained in her position, her hand pressed against the bark. She didn’t know if Morton could feel her, and if she did, the tree woman didn’t mention it, but it didn’t matter. Her hands spread wide, her skin gently scraping over the surface of the trunk, then shrank back together again, as if trying to feel the Haliian soul beneath it.
Saa: I am going to advise us to reach out to Starfleet to collaborate. ::She frowns:: Gwen’ora Tasen and Rivka Brzezinski are both out of commission on DS14 now.
Nis: Gwen too? Terrible.
At the mention of the other two officers, Peri withdrew her hand. That was two other scientists she had lost from her department, and while that stung on a professional level, it greatly disturbed her on an emotional one. Tasen was not well known to her, but like Morton, she was one of them. Rivka hit closer to home, for while they weren’t necessarily close friends, Peri had silently liked the brilliant scientist and found her ideas fascinating and creative. Her lips thinned at the thought of taking her off life support, a very possible scenario if the doctors had their way.
She didn’t like it.
Not one bit.
Morton: ~ I can help too. ~
Saa: Vala, you are already an expert on xenobotany, but you shouldn’t have to be stressed by running the experiments on yourself.
Rubbing her fingers together, as if she could still feel the bark beneath them, Peri slid her gaze over to the other doctor who had joined them.
Saa: We have the Botanical Task Force on the ship, but we’re down Gwen’ora. ::She pauses:: Which is why I think it would be prudent to reach out to Commander Alora DeVeau, she’s one of the Fleet’s foremost experts on Xenobotany.
Saa would not be there for long. Word travelled quickly, and several people were called to staff the Thor, which would relaunch as part of the Gamma Quadrant Flotilla. That also hit close to home. The Thor had been her original post. It was there she had met Wes and Alieth. It was where everything had started. Not only that, Avander would not return with them, but would remain behind on Deep Space 14.
She didn’t know Alora DeVeau personally, but Peri knew she’d published a number of papers, including one on a species of flower called Saintpaulia ionantha. Evidently it had a unique response when exposed to tachyons, but that didn’t really help them there.
Nis: It’s a fabulous idea. Does anyone know her well enough to contact her?
Katsim: I can reach out.
Even if Peri wasn’t acquainted, they were fellow scientists, and if it would help Morton, she would call the woman.
Saa: Now for the readings I was taking…Vala’s brain waves are only slightly different from her Haliian neurobiology, but there is a reduction in hormone production, which… is similar to a species known as the Dokkaran. ::She mulls over:: A species born of the Vizinyian Tree of Cetea… I wonder if we could use what we understand of their physiology to help change Vala’s shape from tree to mobile and bipedal as a starter step back to fully Haliian.
Nis: We suspect the first thing we need to do is provide her an alternative nutrient source. Any nutrients she’s currently getting from her roots. After that, the roots will be redundant and we can shrink them or remove them. Can you mix up a nutrient solution that might replace the nutrients she's bringing in through her roots, Nurse Nijah?
Eyes slid over to the nurse, including Peri’s, and her dark gaze settled upon the woman. She appreciated the positive outlook that Saa took, as well as Nis, and hoped that it would not be in vain. How the creature had used sound specifically was difficult to ascertain, only that it did, and that by utilising its own frequency against it, they had been able to ultimately defeat it. However, turning it around and manipulating matter with sound, at least to that extent, wasn’t as easy as one might think.
Morton: ~ This all seems pretty reasonable so far. ~
Nijah: You know, there’s still an … echo sometimes. I listen to music at nights.
Morton: ~ I haven’t slept at all, yet. It’s like having at least two dozen different strains of tinnitus nagging me at various volumes in the back of my brain. Just… a lot of sensory input all the time. And. ~
Music, tinnitus, but sounds, in a sense. Frowning slightly, Peri lifted her fingers to her chin and tapped against it lightly. Did it have anything to do with the transformation? Nijah hadn’t been transformed to a tree, but she had previously been a grinner.
Katsim: Something to look into.
She murmured almost to herself.
Saa: Response
Morton: ~ And… I’m afraid that if I fall asleep, something. Something will happen. I don’t know what, I just have this sense of dread. ~
Nis: It was literal sound that caused the change in the first place. Sound therapy might be beneficial.
Peri nodded,for she agreed with Nis in that assessment as well. Sounds might have started it all, but sounds could have more than negative affects, it could have positive ones as well. They just had to find the right kind of sounds to cultivate healing.
Nijah: That Bajoran transfer plays an instrument, maybe he’d be willing to help.
Morton: ~ Define ‘help’ ~
Katsim: You mean music therapy.
Which was definitely a type of sound therapy. Peri played no instruments. While she could sing and keep a tune, her voice was nothing particularly special. Obviously, that was one area where she would not be much help.
Saa/Nijah/Nis: Response
Morton: ~ On the one hand, I like the idea. I’m torn. ::Fearfully:: What if he plays a wrong note and I lose even more of myself? ~
As Nijah communicated Morton’s concern, Peri shook her head, knowing she could at least ease some concerns in that regard. What Morton expected of music wasn't the same thing as what that creature did. While sound was a form of energy that travelled through some sort of medium, and most people usually thought of air as that medium, she knew that there was more to Morton’s change and what happened than singing some notes in a sequence.
Katsim: The way the creature emitted sound and the way we emitted sound was far beyond the capability of a normal person both in frequency and intensity. No one will be able to readily reproduce it.
The creature could, and had, and did so at a frequency that no one could hear because it was beyond the spectrum of normal hearing, but that wasn’t ‘normal’.
Saa/Nijah/Nis: Response
Morton: ~ ::Calmer and more soothed:: Yes, that makes sense. In that case, I’m for trying it. ~
Nodding, Peri was glad Morton was willing to try. She had not been on the Butler for long, but already she suffered more trauma than most. Stepping back, the Bardassian adjusted her tricorder, though she did cast a glance at Echo who continued to crown and rub against the tree, turning over on her back on the branch, then chittering at Morton. Perhaps she was trying to communicate with the changed scientist.
Katsim: I’m going to run some more scans now, and am going to request some specialised equipment.
Morton/Nijah/Nis/Saa: Response
Katsim: The Arboretum will remain off limits for now.
For how long? Well, that could only be determined by how long it took to help Morton. While the Arboretum was important for scientific research, she would not risk the tree woman’s health or possible recovery by allowing people to gawk and stare.
Katsim: I can try and contact Commander DeVeau.
Morton/Nijah/Nis/Saa: Response
Oh that was even better. Of course Peri would certainly contact the commander if she had to, but if Saa had ties to her, it made more sense for her to make the call. Nodding, Peri turned to the tree and regarded her silently again while her tricorder continued to whirr, gathering more information. She only hoped it would help.
Katsim: In the meantime, constant monitoring. And…we’ll do what we can.
Morton/Nijah/Nis/Saa: Response
-- Commander Katsim Peri Chief Science Officer USS Octavia E. Butler M239008AD0