Ensign Lyra Voss - Quiet My Heart
Sarah Terry
((Deck 1 – Main Bridge – USS Narendra))
Voss: ~You feel it too, don’t you?~
He had to. Didn’t he? Lyra could feel his shock at her intrusion into his thoughts - she hadn’t even considered that he might not have much experience with telepathic communication. He stared back at her with wide eyes, and for a moment, her heart started to sink. If he couldn’t understand –
Kel: ::blinking, caught off guard:: ~I… yes, I feel it.~
She could have deflated in relief. It was all she could do to hold back the full torrent of her thoughts - she concentrated on the feeling, the strange reverberation and rhythm that was haunting her steps. They had to figure out what this was.
Kel: I… yes, I feel it. It’s faint, but it’s there... like a vibration pressing against thought more than sound.
Yes! Yes, he felt it too. He could feel it humming! But they needed to hear the words.
Voss: ::with sudden determination:: I need to get to the lab. I can hear it better in the lab.
She started immediately for the turbolift, but now Taylor was whispering too. So many voices! So much buzzing. She almost felt dizzy.
Taylor: ::barely a whisper:: You’re not here. You can’t be.
McLaren: Everyone breathe... what are you all seeing?
The commander moved toward the conn, her voice layering into the discordant harmony swirling in Lyra’s mind. She tried to take another step toward the turbolift, but she suddenly wasn’t sure if she would be able to stay on her feet. How could she even answer that question?
Kel: Commander, I’m picking up elevated stress markers across multiple stations. Pupillary dilation, shallow breathing... early signs of sensory dissonance. We need to assume hallucinations are manifesting across the crew.
She braced her back against the wall next to the lift.
Voss: ::whispering:: It’s singing to us.
Taylor: I am... experiencing hallucinations as well. Something that cannot be.
McLaren: Other than what you’re seeing, how does everything else look?
McLaren spoke clearly and slowly, trying to keep her crew steady.
Kel: Ship systems appear stable for now. Whatever’s affecting perception isn’t interfering with life support or neural interface readings yet. But if this continues, cognitive function could degrade quickly.
Four preserve, how was he speaking so clearly? She closed her eyes tightly - anything to reduce the level of sensory information that was washing over her.
Voss: It doesn’t need to affect ship systems if it can do this.
Taylor: Everything else looks normal to me, but... I am not sure if I can trust what I see.
What was he seeing? He didn’t want to believe it. Or did he? She could hear his heart beating, trying desperately not to look at that woman with her quiet eyes. McLaren remained the steadiest presence on the bridge.
McLaren: I understand, Ensign.
Kel: Commander, I’m detecting subtle fluctuations in our brainwave patterns... across everyone on the bridge. The nebula’s emissions might be stimulating mirror neurons, triggering vivid emotional projections.
She needed to focus, to pull herself back together. She tried to cast her mind back to her training. The mantra that had been drilled into her for so many years.
Voss: Altara e’ver ovathra imahd ii, altara e’ver ovathra imahd ii…
Quiet, my heart. My thoughts, settle softly. Again and again, blocking out the hum. The ship started moving away from the nebula.
McLaren: Ryden... can you scan us... see how this nebula could be affecting us? Physically, I mean. Maybe Lyra can help you?
She heard her name as if through water, and let it pull her like an anchor.
Kel: Aye, Commander. ::he nodded toward Voss:: Ensign, if you’re still in control, I could use your sensor expertise. We’ll compare physiological and harmonic data... see if there’s a frequency correlation.
Quiet, my heart. She tested her ability to stand away from the wall.
Voss: ::nodding slowly:: Yes, I… there’s some kind of resonance…
McLaren: Once we have some idea of how it’s affecting us... we can fight it.
Kel: Understood. But I’d advise we maintain minimal exposure.... if we push closer before isolating the cause, the symptoms could intensify.
She was finally able to take a solid step away from the turbolift. The hum was still there, nestled and waiting, but it didn’t dominate her senses as it had before.
Voss: The more we’re able to determine about the cause, the better sense we’ll have of the… the intention.
Because it did feel intentional. She was sure of that.
McLaren moved behind Taylor, keeping her voice measured and calm.
McLaren: Breathe, Ensign. Whatever... or whoever you’re seeing... isn’t there.
Taylor: Response?
The commander nodded, continuing to access the ship from the console.
McLaren: Ensign... what is the status of... ::she glanced at the screen:: our shields? I see them at full power.
Taylor: Response?
Whatever this was, it had slid easily past their shields, and at a far greater distance than anticipated. Her mind started running through possibilities for the variation. Could they have accidentally triggered a more powerful reaction? Could whatever was causing this have grown in power since the last recorded contact? Was it reaching out to them specifically?
McLaren: Does anyone else think this has come on entirely too quickly? Like something doesn’t want us here?
Kel: It’s possible, Commander. Whatever this field is, it may be reactive... aware, in some form. I’d suggest we treat it as a living system until we know otherwise.
Voss: It’s possible it does want us here. I agree with Kel - this is… I felt a presence behind… whatever we just experienced. It could be trying to keep us away, but it could also be trying to communicate. Reaching out to us. It felt… I know it could have just been part of the hallucination - if there is malicious intent behind it, it could also be luring us in - but… I can’t shake the feeling that it was trying to tell me something.
She grimaced a bit, hating how un-scientific it sounded, but it was true nonetheless.
Taylor: Response?
Kel nodded to her, and she could feel his reassurance. His understanding. Without a word, they moved to one of the stations on the perimeter of the Narendra’s bridge and started working side by side. Even as the ship moved farther from the nebula, the displays flickered subtly under their hands. It was like the nebula didn’t want to let go.
Kel: Let’s cross-reference your sensor readings with the crew biofeedback. If there’s a correlation, we may be able to identify the frequency causing the hallucinations.
She brought up the full sweep of sensor scans. The dosimeters were still all at baseline, but it was obvious by now that they weren’t dealing with any kind of standard nebula emissions. Instead of looking for ionizing or electromagnetic radiation, she started looking at the harmonic data that had been recorded during their approach.
Voss: Oh this is fascinating… ::bringing up the oscilloscope images to show Kel:: Look at how many different waveforms are present. It was sending out so many frequencies concurrently that our brains just couldn’t properly process what we were experiencing - most of them were outside the range of humanoid hearing. There’s also a… well, a pulse to it, for lack of a better term. ::pointing to the most prominent wave peaks:: Here, here, and here again - that rise and fall.
Kel: Noted. ::He adjusts his tricorder:: Heart rates, pupil dilation, minor respiratory shifts… all correlate with your spikes. The bridge crew is registering these effects subtly, but consistently.
Voss: ::looking at the patterns side by side:: Well. ::laughing weakly:: It definitely feels better to see the correlation. I was worried for a minute there that I was just truly losing it.
Kel: No. It’s real... and manageable if we can identify the source. Keep tracking the intensity and duration of the oscillations. I’ll record the physiological readings in parallel.
Voss: Will do. It’s more subtle at this distance, but we’re definitely still picking up data.
She continued analyzing the frequencies being picked up by the multimeter. If whatever this was was… alive… on some level, was this just the end of its range? Was it calling it to them? Screaming at them to stay away?
Kel: ::after a pause:: ~ Look here. Overlaying your data with the crew’s biofeedback… see this pattern? Every spike in oscillation lines up with minor neural responses across multiple stations.~
Lyra found a small smile appearing on her face. Telepathic communication had a fluidity and immediacy that she had missed since leaving Betazed. It felt like getting to speak again in her native language.
Voss: ::nodding:: ~The brain can’t handle all the information at once, so it improvises. Creates ghosts to account for what it can’t understand.~
Kel: ~Focus on the rhythm with me. Let’s see if we can anticipate the peaks.~
If she quieted her mind, she could still feel that rhythm - the way you still felt the ocean’s waves when you laid down to rest after a long day at the beach.
Voss: ~The greatest confluences occur in this range. ::she pointed, but their minds were so linked that she hardly needed to:: Some kind of harmonic modulator – ~
She didn’t need to finish the thought.
Kel: ~Exactly. If we can isolate this frequency, we might be able to shield the crew... or at least anticipate the worst of the effects before they manifest.~
Lyra could still feel some hesitance from Kel. He was thinking about his upbringing, about growing up on Trill, and how strange it was to connect like this. Because it was so much more than just speaking. Thoughts could slide together, images and feelings could converge. There was an expansive freedom to it, but sometimes it did feel painfully vulnerable. Like you’d torn yourself open for all to see. The most helpful thing she could do was stay focused - let their minds settle into a pattern together.
McLaren/Taylor: Response?
Ah, right. To everyone else on the bridge, they’d just gone silent and started working in tandem. Non-telepaths generally found that somewhat disturbing.
Voss: Sorry, we were just… ::shaking her head:: The nebula is emitting… well, really, you could call it acoustic radiation. But we’ve isolated the range that seems to be causing the greatest physiological effects. If we can create a harmonic modulator to cancel out those frequencies, that should greatly reduce the hallucinatory effects. Taylor, do you think we could make one with a large enough range to cover the whole ship, or are we looking at something we’d all have to carry individually? ::she was already so preoccupied with potential solutions that she’d almost forgotten what they’d all just experienced:: And… are you okay?
Not the most elegant way to ask, but she did mean it sincerely.
Taylor: Response?
Voss: Was she… ::she thought better of it and stopped herself from asking:: I uh… anyway, the other possibility - sound can’t travel in a vacuum. The nebula is shooting out all kinds of particulate matter, even at this range. If we could find a way to… well, to clean up the matter in our path, that might also clear a way in closer.
Taylor/McLaren: Response?
She turned her attention to Commander McLaren.
Voss: I also… Commander, I know we need to approach with every caution, but… if there’s a creature or some kind of entity within the nebula that’s trying to communicate with us… maybe the hallucinations aren’t necessarily a bad thing. Or rather, they may be the only avenue we have to speak to it. Once we get closer and have a better understanding of what we’re dealing with, maybe some of us drop the safeguards. Intentionally. ::looking back at Kel:: Do you think we could pull that off safely?
Kel: Response?
McLaren/Taylor: Response?