Ensign Bryce Tagren-Quinn - Verbose Edition
Bryce Tagren-Quinn
((Clearing, Floating Island, Rogue Planet))
A sudden surge of chronitons reshaped the world around the group of four, sending them seemingly into another point in time where the buildings were in their full glory, the surrounding flora a crisp and healthy shade of red. To gather their bearings, and to avoid any contact with the locals, they pulled away into a hidden clearing and collected scans and their thoughts.
Stoyer: XO, do we want to be here when they get here or be gone?
zh’Tisav: If we keep avoiding them, we might not find out how we’re supposed to fix things even when we find the fracture…
That was definitely a good point. While they had engaged with Kjara and Janoch, he wasn’t sure what the repercussions would be in conversing with others outside of the pair that had provided the map and veiled instructions. They hadn’t been warned about encountering others, only that they couldn’t have harmed things more than what had already been done.
Tagren-Quinn: Another course of action might be avoiding them– ::He pointed in the general direction::-- finding that bubble, and seeing if we can step back out and see what scans can be gained from that position. Though I hate the idea of potentially jumping in and out of time.
The idea behind it was to get back to their original position, hopefully, though his mind was still a little clouded.
zh’Tisav: Whatever we choose better make it quick. The voices are getting closer. They’ll hear us before long.
Stoyer: Let's move. They may not be friendly.
He nodded.
Tagren-Quinn: Maybe if we do, we’ll be able to find the fracture again and find more clues.
Since time, even if they were immersed, it was ticking away.
But, was it really? If they had to do a repair of the veil, and it didn’t matter what time, would they just emerge on the other side of things as if time hadn’t passed?
It made his head hurt.
Neathler: That or we follow the original map, and explore the area where the fracture is supposed to be. That way, if we reach it in the correct time frame, we’ll have a clue of what awaits us.
zh’Tisav: Maybe we’re making this too complicated. Didn’t one of you mention something about a lake? Why don’t we just look for water?
Cory consulted the tricorder in his hands, no doubt calling upon the map generated from the scans he recently collected.
Stoyer: I am not seeing a lake, but that doesn’t say much. The scans do not go much past the trees.
Tagren-Quinn: My tricorder is still detecting chronitons though…
Neathler: So we might experience other jumps.
Stoyer: Well…let's be careful.
Neathler: We’re taking the original map as guide, going towards the point that had the fracture on it. If we reach the border of the bubble, we can test Bryce’s theory. If not, we move forward.
It was a good plan, the very best they could conjure under the circumstances and limited knowledge they had at that juncture. And regardless of where in time, it was still ticking. Inaction or chasing tails was not an option.
Stoyer: I am ready to go.
Tagren-Quinn: Let’s do it.
He nodded, welcoming the fresh air as the searing, painful rage continued to cool away into a tentative easiness.
zh’Tisav: It’s probably the best plan. Right now that’s the clearest information we have.
Neathler: Is there something we should know before we leave? Do or give you something in case it hits you and you’re… ::She shrugged.:: unable to move or something?
The fear of becoming a liability once again reared its head, being a hindrance to the brave efforts of the three officers, impeding their work to save billions.
Tagren-Quinn: To be completely transparent…
He breathed again, chest rising and falling with the sharp intake, before meeting each of their expectant gazes. He tapped the side of the medkit.
Tagren-Quinn: …the physical sickness was in response to the close proximity of chronitons. When we experienced the shift to this– ::He opened his arms to indicate the clearing around them, before pointing towards the direction they traveled.:: –it wasn’t sickness I was experiencing. The exposure to the chronitons themselves, the sudden surge, made my body react differently, violently. In the event I should just drop, I have more already preloaded towards the front of the kit, but I don’t imagine we’ll get to that point. If we do, though…
It was left out there, unsaid but it really didn’t need to be.
Neathler: I’m sure we can do that.
Stoyer: I can help if needed.
zh’Tisav: We can.
Smiling to them in appreciation, he did hope it wouldn’t come to that but it was prudent to plan for it. And, with that, they were off back into the trees, with its disconcerting silence and presence reminding them painfully of the enormous weight on their collective shoulders.
Neathler: Something tells me these folks are vegetarians.
A beat or two of silence.
zh’Tisav: Oh, no animals...
Stoyer: Yeah, I was wondering about that. No animal trails or sounds.
Thinking back to the scans they collected when they first arrived and journeyed on that dirt path to meet with Kjara and Janoch, it was of some comfort to know that there wasn’t deviation in that. If there had been populations, perhaps the Starfleet officers left stranded there didn’t drive the local fauna into a mass extinction event?
Well, until now. These people, the people out there. Unless they fixed this.
Before he could respond, commotion behind them grabbed their attention sending terror down their spines. Voices. Rocks.
Vie’kethra!
Neathler: Run.
And they were off, stones being tossed in their direction – a thought, fleeting, that at least it wasn’t something more advanced, thankful for the primitive. Then, a realization that they probably caught them off-guard. They were likely pulling from whatever means they had available. All the more reason why they shouldn’t be interacting with the individuals.
As their legs carried them, the foliage around started to decline in its vibrancy. The red color dulled, edges tinted with brown.
Stoyer: Are we moving back to our normal timeline?
Tagren-Quinn: I– I don’t know.
And he didn’t, breathing out the response to the taller man.
zh’Tisav: I’ll take my chances on the other side. I am not being captured twice in one day.
More running. Not getting captured was something they all could get behind.
zh’Tisav: Only problem is if we can cross, so can they.
A sobering realization. Great.
Stoyer: We have to ditch these guys.
Tagren-Quinn: ::With ragged, desperate breaths.:: We’re nearing the bubble. We don’t have any choice but to break back through.
He winced, legs cramping a little but pushing through it.
Neathler: Response
And they continued to run, dodging the eyes of those that might be behind them, hell bent on evading capture or anything else that might prevent them from completing the task before them with their lives intact.
Stoyer: Is there any place we can hide to lose these guys?
Neathler: Response
And through the invisible barrier, the ‘time bubble,’ they went. Bryce felt a subtle shudder –nothing compared to the bricks slamming into him before– the frenzied footsteps behind them dissipating into the breeze. Frantic gazes drifted behind them, while bodies still in forward momentum, seeing nothing but…
Stoyer: XO, I think we may have lost them.
Neathler / zh’Tisav: response
Stoyer: I don’t hear anything behind us. Not sure if they gave up or what.
Panting slightly, pace slowing (though still moving quickly), the doctor brought out his tricorder.
Tagren-Quinn: Not detecting any lifesigns outside of our own. Not that we were picking up anything before but… not seeing anything visually.
Neathler / zh’Tisav: response
Tagren-Quinn: I think– I think we’re back where we started. Our normal time. Yes. ::He looked around at the brown foliage, the surroundings, before…:: Wait a minute. Cory, would you be able to send me the map that you were able to construct while we were in the clearing?
Neathler / zh’Tisav / Stoyer: Response
Green eyes danced over the information as he compared the two maps; the original, to the one collected while they were in what they assumed was the past.
Tagren-Quinn: Our position… we’re still… still in the general vicinity, thankfully. However, when comparing where we just were to our original map, it looks like we crossed over this rough line. A… blinking fracture line. Not the larger space but this. There are fissures all along its roughly etched border. It’s like we walked this distance but had to travel through, well, ::A breathy laugh.:: two different time periods to do it.
Neathler / zh’Tisav / Stoyer: Response
Words then came slamming back to him.
Tagren-Quinn: Janoch had said that they could reach the fractures, but that they couldn’t venture into them. He also said that when this planet travels, that it shields itself to protect herself, the people and that it can no longer do that. And that’s what caused the fractures, rips and tears in time –the ones I was sensing– and that we’d have to travel through one. Perhaps we’re meant to go back into that… temporal distortion, to fix it there or reach a point where we need to traverse through one to reach a point where they can’t presently to fix it. I mean, we passed a lake on our way here and the map…
He sent the details on where they were before and where they were in that moment.
Again, he spoke his thoughts out loud to process them, searching the faces of Cory, Sami and Vylaa (the astute and competent trio that they were) and hoping he wasn't inundating them with Bryce's Ted Talk - the heavily medicated, verbose edition.
They didn't have time for that, but he was curious about their thoughts.
Tagren-Quinn: The odd sensation of no fauna - then or now. The perfect looking plants that are turning brown. The planet moves through space, with a shield. One that is broken, and we just experienced a distortion. Maybe…
Were they having similar thoughts as him or was he overthinking things again? A sound from off in the distance caught their attention; it was an island floating just beyond theirs, rocks and boulders tumbling with a deadly roar into the yellow waters below.
Neathler / zh’Tisav / Stoyer: Response
--Ensign Bryce Tagren-Quinn, M.D.
Medical Officer
USS Gorkon (NCC-82293)
T238909AT0