Lt. Cmdr Thelan Valeris - Pasta Immunity
tas9303
((Bridge, Deck One, USS Khitomer))
With a location picked, and a frequency decided, Thelan started the program in that area. Music began to play, and the sensors watched.
Valeris: No noticeable reaction yet. Maybe we need to try a different song.
Dewitt: ::quietly:: Let’s not reach for something new yet, Commander. The mass on the bridge took a beat, too. Give the corridor the same time before we change something up.
Thelan continued to watch the sensor data as it streamed through.
Valeris: Maybe the reaction is more visual. Putting that area on the viewscreen.
Dewitt: ::nodding:: Do it.
With a swipe of his hand, the viewscreen lit up with a video feed of the chosen area. The corridor appeared, the blue lines of the “do not tread” lines glistening on the deck plating.
Morda: Let’s make sure whatever is piping through includes harmonics beyond normal humanoid range. Vorta, Kerelian, Romulan, Cetacian - their music covers a board spectrum, sometimes even beyond the range of their own native hearing.
Maybe it was time to put Thelan’s remix skills together. A quick flash from his time at the academy went through his mind. Combining different musics from different cultures - often with very poor results - was something that he tended to enjoy. It was a funny concept, given his drive to escape unrelenting noise. But it had been his idea at the time, so it wasn’t all that bad.
Valeris: Now we can watch the show in action.
Morda: Applying some visual overlays to put numbers to the optics.
The image on the viewscreen changed again as the overlay was applied. Thelan wasn’t quite sure what he was looking at, but if the others understood it, that’s all that mattered.
Dewitt: Good, Mr Morda. Keep it on screen.
Morda: Looks like at least a moderate downtick, but still a bit chaotic.
A downtick was a good sign. At least they knew the idea was working.
Dewitt: ::beat:: Then let#s stay with that song. Don’t change anything until it… ::sigh:: has fallen asleep. Chaotic on the way down is still on the way down.
Morda: Seeing another node like one on the bridge … I wonder whether they are either the source of the filaments, or whether they emerge when enough filaments converge. Either way, now that we can map the filaments in most areas, we should be able to map back and identify any of these visible clusters.
Being able to map and see the filaments felt like half the battle. The other half was getting them off the ship.
Dewitt: That’s a good question, Ensign. One that we hopefully can answer later.
Suddenly, Commander Dewitt’s combadge chirped with an incoming signal.
Semara: =/\= Semara to communications assistant Dewitt. =/\=
Communications assistant? Thelan felt like there was a story there that he wasn’t aware of.
Dewitt: =/\= Communications assistant Dewitt here, Ma’am. Go ahead. =/\=
Oh yeah, definitely a story there somewhere.
Semara: =/\= I need you to pass along a message to the Cap’n. The Velithari nebula is full a’ livin’ organisms we can’t detect. If I understand Cap’n Rana, I believe the life-forms to be allergic to subspace bubbles and waves, in a manner a’ speakin’. That reaction would be what makes ‘em able to stop us from goin’ to warp, but it also means if we do manage a stable bubble it’ll likely be toxic. We could endanger the nebula’s stability over very long distances. =/\=
So the nebula was alive? Now that was a twist that Thelan wasn’t expecting. He took a deep breath and focused his mind, reaching out to see if he could feel the organisms. Something he’d seen done a few times by other Betazoids, but he never really had any interest in trying. What he got back could be compared to a stable hum. Almost white noise. Nothing that would have lead him to believe there were organisms surrounding the ship. But he was out of practice with making telepathic connections with anyone - or anything for that matter - so he quickly abandoned the attempt.
But something gave him pause. Perhaps it had been a feeling that he had felt from the mass at the center of the bridge. Was the entity on the bridge a collection of those organisms? Or something of the like?
Dewitt: =/\=Understood, Ma’am. I’ll get this to the Captain the moment we close. =/\=
Semara: =/\= The Velithari are real protective, and I understand ‘em to be real worried about infection or contamination of themselves and the nebula. So tell the cap’n that, too. I don’t know much more than that yet. If I were to guess, I’d say odds are low of a true sapient intelligence. Too diffuse. ::Beat, then thoughtfully:: And colonies are capable a’ complex problem solvin’, but don’t ‘think’ per se. Maybe an analogue? ::Another beat:: I’ll call back when we know more - ‘bout anythin’. Either way, we can’t go to warp until we’re fully clear a’ the nebula, or confidently understand the mechanism. =/\=
So they were stuck in a sort of soup that didn’t handle warp systems very well. Did that make all of the pasta references that much more relevant?
Dewitt: =/\= Yes, Ma’am. No warp, Ma’am. I’ll let the Captain know. ::beat:: A note from the Captian, Ma’am. Concerning the pasta party you were supposed to attend before you left… Turns out the guests had cousins in every cupboard. We’re playing slow records, most of the are snoring. We ain’t sweeping any of them outdoors, yet. Just letting the family sleep. =/\=
Pasta confirmed.
Semara/Rana: Response
Dewitt: =/\= Understood. Communications Assistant Dewitt out. =/\=
There was a moment of silence after the Commander closed the comm. The desire for pasta slowly returned to Thelan as he began to think of the filaments as noodles again.
Dewitt: Remind me to invite you all to a pasta party.
Valeris: I’ll be sure to hold you to that, Commander. Feeling pretty hungry right now, If i’m honest.
Morda: Response
For now, Thelan needed to push the hungry thoughts aside. Again. His attention turning back to the filaments they were serenading on deck 5.
Dewitt: Continue the experiment on deck 5 and monitor the central mass.
oO One step ahead of you, sir. Oo
Dewitt: =/\= Bridge to Captain Naxell =/\=
Naxell: =/\= Response =/\=
Dewitt: =/\= Sir, Lieutenant Semara just came through from the Alien ship. She has reason to believe that the nebula itself is alive. A diffuse, possibly non-sapient organism. Maybe the crystalline structures we see is the answer of the nebula’s immune system. She suggested the nebula might be allergic to subspace fields. =/\=
An immune response? Like white blood cells reaching out to destroy an infection?
Valeris: =/\= Maybe the filaments are searching through the structure to identify certain proteins or markers that would help them better combat future infections. Like white blood cells. =/\=
Naxell/Morda/Any: Response
It made sense to Thelan. He wasn’t a doctor, but if he understood it right, an organic body with an immune system breaks down any form of infection and learns from what is there to build a tolerance or immunity to the same infection if it ever comes up again. His head began to hurt slightly as he tried to wrap his brain around it. It all sounded like gibberish even though his brain was the one putting it out there. He had barely passed his medical requirements at the academy, so he couldn’t trust anything he was thinking on the subject.
Dewitt: =/\= Yes, Sir. I think we were able to lie the central mass on the bridge dormant. Ensign Morda raised the question of the masses are the origin of the filaments or the result of their intersection. Either way, I think we have the bridge contained for now and we are trying to apply a similar frequency strategy on Deck 5 currently. =/\=
Valeris: =/\= With promising results. =/\=
Naxell/Morda/Any: =/\= Response =/\=
Thelan looked over the data appearing on the screen with furrowed eyebrows. More out of trying to understand the numbers and other data it displayed.
Valeris: =/\= If the data is correct, we should be able to subdue the rest of the filaments and masses fairly effectively. It will just take time. =/\=
Dewitt/Naxell/Morda/Any: =/\= Response =/\=
TAGS/TBC…
Lieutenant Commander Thelan Valeris
Engineering Officer
USS Khitomer
A239905NR1