Ensign Lyra Voss: Steady Neurological Baseline
Sarah Terry
((Deck 1 – Main Bridge – USS Narendra))
Kel: Commander, I’d agree with Ensign Taylor’s assessment. If the nebula affects emotional regulation, maintaining a steady neurological baseline might prevent symptoms before they escalate.
Lyra couldn’t help shaking her head. Was “staying calm” a mission requirement? Because nothing made her anxiety spike like someone telling her to stay calm.
Voss: It’s possible the power fluctuations most crews experienced unnerved them as they approached the nebula, which then made them more susceptible to whatever is causing the hallucinations.
Taylor: The opposite of calm is stressed, right? Stress is also a cause for an epileptic attack, which is what the neuromodulator we talked about was used for. It worked by counteracting effects on the visual cortex, which is what it was mainly used for, and what I mainly looked at, as the visual cortex is what causes hallucinations. But, it also, for lack of a better word, blocks off the signals from the amygdala, the part of the brain that triggers the stress response. A lot of stress hormones can cause very... weird... effects.
Stress-induced psychosis. She sighed heavily. Not a fun flavor of hallucinations. Not that she imagined she’d find any kind of them fun - it was far too much like losing control. The thought alone raised her heart rate. She could see Lieutenant Kel carefully considering Taylor’s explanation. Commander McLaren nodded.
McLaren: I think I understand what you’re getting at.
Kel: If we could mimic the neuromodulator’s effect pharmacologically, it might stabilize affected crew without invasive measures. A mild serotonin reuptake inhibitor, for instance, could dampen amygdala activity without compromising awareness.
She bit the inside of her lip. Psychopharmacology certainly wasn’t her particular area of expertise, but she knew the basics from her biology classes at the Academy. Truth be told, she had tried to stay as far away from any kind of psychology as was possible as a science major. Something about the presumption that, as a Betazoid, she should be good at it. The thought still made her roll her eyes. She could tell what people were feeling and thinking, but she sure as hell didn’t know what to do about it. She looked over at Kel.
Voss: An SSRI makes sense, although they work better when they’ve had time to build up in your system. We might want to pair it with a mild benzodiazepine? Obviously we don’t want people getting loopy, but a little sleepy is better than actively hallucinating.
Taylor: I’m an engineer, not a neurosurgeon, but it looks very relevant to me. I’m sending the details over to your stations. Perhaps we can replicate that effect somehow, without putting a chip in our brains? Maybe worth a shot?
Maybe not a neurosurgeon, but still an impressive amount of medical knowledge for an engineer. Commander McLaren moved to one of the nearby stations, scanning the data as it appeared across the display.
McLaren: Well, Ryden? What do you think? Is this worth looking into?
Kel: Definitely. If this data checks out, we might adapt the neuromodulator’s principle into an environmental safeguard... perhaps through a neurostabilizing frequency in the ship’s EM field. That would minimize biological disruption without direct intervention.
Voss: It shouldn’t be too difficult to introduce into the field harmonics. My only concern would be that we’re coming up on what’s likely some kind of unknown radiation from the nebula, and we don’t know how that will interact with our EM field. We may end up needing pharmacological backup.
McLaren nodded and returned to the center chair.
McLaren: We have some time to work on that theory...
Kel: Agreed. I’ll coordinate with Medical and Engineering to see if we can simulate the neuromodulator’s stabilizing effect. If this radiation influences emotional centers, we’ll need preventive measures ready before we enter the densest region.
Taylor: Response?
McLaren: Well, perhaps we can— ::McLaren’s words halted as the lights flickered across the bridge, a brief stutter of shadow and static:: We all saw that right?
Lyra felt the nerves of the bridge crew jump up a notch, her own included. She immediately started bringing up sensor readings on her console.
Kel: I saw it too, Commander. It wasn’t just the displays—environmental lighting dipped across the deck.
Voss: I… huh. That’s odd. The dosimeters aren’t picking up anything unusual at this distance. ::tapping quickly at her console:: It wasn’t an energy surge - it was a disruption. Like everything cut out for a moment. Let me just…
Her voice trailed off as she started analyzing the data, and for a moment, the rest of the bridge fell away. If the dosimeters didn’t pick anything up, then they weren’t dealing with ionizing radiation. Could the dosimeters be malfunctioning? It was possible, of course, but there was a network of them - nearly a thousand - scattered across the entirety of the Narendra’s hull. A malfunction would very likely give a partial reading - not nothing. But if it wasn’t ionizing radiation, then what was it? Regular electromagnetic interference usually caused surges, not disruptions. Her mind started racing with possibilities.
Taylor: Response?
McLaren frowned slightly, her eyes narrowing on the console.
McLaren: I guess the effects reach further out than we thought.
Kel: Then we’d better assume the crew is already within range of exposure. I’ll start passive scans on neural activity shipwide... just in case we’re seeing the first signs of interaction.
Taylor: Response?
Lyra was barely listening. There was something at the edge of her senses. It set her teeth on edge, like standing too close to a subwoofer. Like swallowing bees. No, like the second act duet in qul tuq, The House of Fire, when Ko’lek had insisted on singing almost directly into her ear and the bass of his voice made it feel like the whole world was buzzing. She shook her head, trying to focus on the console in front of her.
Kel: Initial scans show no anomalies, but I’d like to keep monitoring for early indicators—fatigue, sensory distortion, or emotional irregularities. If this field is already interacting with our systems, it could just as easily be affecting us on a subtler level.
Voss: I want to… there’s something else at work here. We’re close enough that we’re getting accurate telemetry from the perimeter of the nebula on scans - density, temperature, particle composition, but… I’m not reading any radiation surges, no storm effects. That power fluctuation isn’t registering as it should. Taylor, what does it look like on your end?
Taylor: Response?
McLaren: Response?
Kel: I recommend advising the crew to minimize stimulant intake until we know more. Caffeine, even chocolate, could amplify neurological responses under the wrong conditions. Best to err on the side of caution.
Ha! A stimulant. Who needed a stimulant? Stay calm. The hairs were standing on the back of her neck. Steady neurological baseline. The wind was murmuring in her ear. It was flickering. Fluttering. She should say something.
Voss: I think it’s humming. ::no, that wasn’t quite right:: I mean, it… it’s oscillating. It’s acoustic but it’s deeper. Like a stone skipping on the water.
They were looking at her, but they weren’t understanding. She wasn’t explaining it properly. Why wasn’t she explaining it properly?
Voss: It’s another kind of wave! Dancing and buffeting and… ::no, these were not encouraging expressions on their faces:: Not ionizing, not electromagnetic, not alpha, or beta, or…
McLaren/Taylor: Response?
She locked eyes with Kel.
Voss: ~You feel it too, don’t you?~
She didn’t intentionally reach out psychically, but her mind was suddenly pinging wildly around the round.
Kel: Response?
Voss: ::with sudden determination:: I need to get to the lab. I can hear it better in the lab.
She turned on her heel and immediately started toward the turbolift door.
McLaren/Taylor/Kel: Response?