Lt Vylaa zh'Tisav: I Always Feel Like Somebodies Watchin' Me
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Andrew B
May 9, 2026, 11:46:20 AM (4 days ago) May 9
to Gorkon IC
((Moss Fields, Gateside Dimension))
The field of moss had become a grove of saplings. Not because the three officers had moved into a new biome, The biome had changed around them, leading Vylaa to posit that it might be in their heads.
Sevo: Well, it looks real enough.
zh'Tisav: Since when does that matter with our ship?
Sevo: What do your own tricorders say? Can they detect everyone?
Thea scrutinized her tricorder.
Kairis: It's having trouble resolving the geography, but I can see all of you and the marker you placed.
The Tyrellian held the device out to one of the saplings. It promptly lashed out towards her, eliciting a small yelp from her.
Kairis: Oh. ::She swallowed.:: Apparently they're as patient with direct scans on this side of the gate as they were back in the facility.
Sevo: OK, so there's definitely physicality to this place. It's not ethereal or simulated, as far as we can tell. Not holograms either.
zh'Tisav: Agreed. That still doesn’t answer what’s going on...
Sevo: I have a couple of fringe theories, but they're almost too outlandish to consider.
Kairis: Sir? ::She looked toward the Andorian.:: What made you think the trees might not be there?
zh’Tisav: Because I can hear them. I can’t fully block them on this side, either they’re too strong, or too numerous. Or maybe it’s the environment, but I hear… I guess I’d call them whispers. That, and the way things keep changing, it gives me the sense that this is a show, or a display.
Sevo: Huh. Hadn’t considered that possibility. You think the place is responding to our thoughts?
Kairis: Unless we all imagined everything that came through the gate on Gibaria, I think we can be certain it's real. ::She paused.:: But... that doesn't mean our minds can't have something to do with what's going on.
zh'Tisav: Interesting. So would that mean we could affect it as well?
Thea had given Vylaa an idea. Aenar had a level of telepathy called Thalzi. Much like a mental holodeck, participants created a world to communicate in, in which thought became as tangible as the real world. She wondered if the concept might work here.
Sevo: How? Is it just as simple as thinking “gate” and it appears?
Kairis: Response
Vylaa looked at one of the saplings. Almost as if on instinct, she imagined the mountains near home, and imagined the plant in the middle of the scene, then added one of Andoria’s famous winter gales for good measure. She knew it was working when the spot behind her right eye throbbed in protest. In response the tree’s branches recoiled, twisting back on themselves before they seemed to recover and return to their original state.
zh’Tisav: Interesting…
Sevo: What did you do?!
Kairis: Response
zh’Tisav: I introduced it to what winter feels like back home. It looked like a plant that doesn’t like the cold.
Sevo: Huh. Cool. Beats my prior theories.
Vylaa watched Sevo look down, and she didn’t need to be a telepath to know what she was doing. The child-like curiosity of a scientist was on full display here, and it was saying “Oooh, let me try!” And the evidence of her attempt was soon made known when a tiny shoot burst from the ground for a few moments before retreating.
Sevo: Whoo. :: Pant. :: Looks like there’s something to it.
Kairis: Response
Sevo: It took all my concentration to do that. The place may be reacting to our subconscious thoughts.
zh’Tisav: Yeah, I wouldn’t try that much. It gave me a mild headache, you might burst a capillary.
Kairis: Response
Sevo: Maybe there’s an overarching intelligence controlling the place, and it is far too strong to overcome, even locally.
That made sense to Vylaa, sort of. It would explain why she couldn’t fully block the mental intrusions, just like when she visited her Grandshreya’s city under the ice as a child. The first visit had been spent in tears; gradually her control had improved but never as well as a full-blooded Aenar.
Kairis: Response
Ayiana addressed Vylaa.
Sevo: I wonder if your stronger mental powers made it easier for you to affect that sapling? I wonder what would happen if a Vulcan or Betazoid tried.
zh’Tisav: Aren’t Vulcans touch telepaths? It’d be hard to do that with these things on.
She held up a hand encased in it’s clunky, radiation resistant glove.
Kairis: Response
zh’Tisav: I imagine a mind meld would end like what happened to those scientists back at the station. Dead, and very puppet-like.
Kairis / Sevo: Response
Something glinted on the nearest sapling, catching the Andorian’s eye. A small cluster of berries, tiny and black, caught the dim ruddy light. She leaned a bit closer, and the cluster seemed to follow her movement. A wider inspection told Vylaa this wasn’t the only tree with them.
zh’Tisav: Hey, you see these berries?
Kairis / Sevo: Response
zh’Tisav: I don’t think they’re berries. I think they’re some sort of eye. Watch.
She waved a hand in front of the nearest cluster. The tiny stem they hung from twisted, following her movement.
The field of moss had become a grove of saplings. Not because the three officers had moved into a new biome, The biome had changed around them, leading Vylaa to posit that it might be in their heads.
Sevo: Well, it looks real enough.
zh'Tisav: Since when does that matter with our ship?
Sevo: What do your own tricorders say? Can they detect everyone?
Thea scrutinized her tricorder.
Kairis: It's having trouble resolving the geography, but I can see all of you and the marker you placed.
The Tyrellian held the device out to one of the saplings. It promptly lashed out towards her, eliciting a small yelp from her.
Kairis: Oh. ::She swallowed.:: Apparently they're as patient with direct scans on this side of the gate as they were back in the facility.
Sevo: OK, so there's definitely physicality to this place. It's not ethereal or simulated, as far as we can tell. Not holograms either.
zh'Tisav: Agreed. That still doesn’t answer what’s going on...
Sevo: I have a couple of fringe theories, but they're almost too outlandish to consider.
Kairis: Sir? ::She looked toward the Andorian.:: What made you think the trees might not be there?
zh’Tisav: Because I can hear them. I can’t fully block them on this side, either they’re too strong, or too numerous. Or maybe it’s the environment, but I hear… I guess I’d call them whispers. That, and the way things keep changing, it gives me the sense that this is a show, or a display.
Sevo: Huh. Hadn’t considered that possibility. You think the place is responding to our thoughts?
Kairis: Unless we all imagined everything that came through the gate on Gibaria, I think we can be certain it's real. ::She paused.:: But... that doesn't mean our minds can't have something to do with what's going on.
zh'Tisav: Interesting. So would that mean we could affect it as well?
Thea had given Vylaa an idea. Aenar had a level of telepathy called Thalzi. Much like a mental holodeck, participants created a world to communicate in, in which thought became as tangible as the real world. She wondered if the concept might work here.
Sevo: How? Is it just as simple as thinking “gate” and it appears?
Kairis: Response
Vylaa looked at one of the saplings. Almost as if on instinct, she imagined the mountains near home, and imagined the plant in the middle of the scene, then added one of Andoria’s famous winter gales for good measure. She knew it was working when the spot behind her right eye throbbed in protest. In response the tree’s branches recoiled, twisting back on themselves before they seemed to recover and return to their original state.
zh’Tisav: Interesting…
Sevo: What did you do?!
Kairis: Response
zh’Tisav: I introduced it to what winter feels like back home. It looked like a plant that doesn’t like the cold.
Sevo: Huh. Cool. Beats my prior theories.
Vylaa watched Sevo look down, and she didn’t need to be a telepath to know what she was doing. The child-like curiosity of a scientist was on full display here, and it was saying “Oooh, let me try!” And the evidence of her attempt was soon made known when a tiny shoot burst from the ground for a few moments before retreating.
Sevo: Whoo. :: Pant. :: Looks like there’s something to it.
Kairis: Response
Sevo: It took all my concentration to do that. The place may be reacting to our subconscious thoughts.
zh’Tisav: Yeah, I wouldn’t try that much. It gave me a mild headache, you might burst a capillary.
Kairis: Response
Sevo: Maybe there’s an overarching intelligence controlling the place, and it is far too strong to overcome, even locally.
That made sense to Vylaa, sort of. It would explain why she couldn’t fully block the mental intrusions, just like when she visited her Grandshreya’s city under the ice as a child. The first visit had been spent in tears; gradually her control had improved but never as well as a full-blooded Aenar.
Kairis: Response
Ayiana addressed Vylaa.
Sevo: I wonder if your stronger mental powers made it easier for you to affect that sapling? I wonder what would happen if a Vulcan or Betazoid tried.
zh’Tisav: Aren’t Vulcans touch telepaths? It’d be hard to do that with these things on.
She held up a hand encased in it’s clunky, radiation resistant glove.
Kairis: Response
zh’Tisav: I imagine a mind meld would end like what happened to those scientists back at the station. Dead, and very puppet-like.
Kairis / Sevo: Response
Something glinted on the nearest sapling, catching the Andorian’s eye. A small cluster of berries, tiny and black, caught the dim ruddy light. She leaned a bit closer, and the cluster seemed to follow her movement. A wider inspection told Vylaa this wasn’t the only tree with them.
zh’Tisav: Hey, you see these berries?
Kairis / Sevo: Response
zh’Tisav: I don’t think they’re berries. I think they’re some sort of eye. Watch.
She waved a hand in front of the nearest cluster. The tiny stem they hung from twisted, following her movement.
Lt Vylaa zh'Tisav
Engineering Specialist
USS Gorkon
C238601TB0
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