Ensign Lyra Voss: Don't Rain on My Parade
Sarah Terry
(( San Francisco District - StarBase 118 ))
The four of them stood dripping in the access conduit, a chorus of tiny echoing plonks falling steadily from their hair and clothing. They were trying to explain the situation to the confused Rekarian who had just joined them from the storm.
Voss: ::to Wethern and Drex:: We should run the ferroniobium scan while we have access to the terminal, but after that, maybe we should try to track down where... ::to the Rekarian:: sorry, what’s your name?
Anethra: Anethra.
Voss: Right, hi. I’m Lyra. ::back to Wethern and Drex:: Maybe we can track down where Anethra was when this started? It’ll be useful information for the heat map, at the very least.
Drex: My name is Drex ::To Anethra::
Drex was distracted by the conversation when he went up to the terminal and entered an access code that let him into the system. He looked down at his own hands with surprise, and then to Dr. Wethern.
Drex: There’s any medical explanation to this?
Wethern: I'm Corey, I'm one of the medical officers. might be muscle memory or plugging into something in your subconscious.
Anethra nodded a greeting to Dr. Wethern as the conversation continued.
Drex: Not immediately. But we can start by scanning the local ferroniobium flux. It should give us a preliminary map of signal intensity across the station.
Wethern: We should be able to start narrow down at least the location.
Anethra: You'll really be able to do that?
Voss: ::with a shrug:: Hopefully!
She peered over Drex’s shoulder as he put in the parameters to search for ferroniobium.
Drex: Scan initiated. It will take a few minutes to render a full heat map. In the meantime, we can begin cross-referencing the memory disruption reports with station layout data. Every data point we collect will improve our probability of isolating the source.
Wethern: So anyone seen any good holonovels recently?
Anethra: No. Not that I remember anyway.
Voss: Yes! Oh man, I just finished this really wild one that’s set in a future where there are these two, like, empires that rule over all of space and time, and one of the empires is super techy, kind of Borg-ish, with all these machines, and the other is like… all bioengineering and communication through plants, and each empire has an agent who just goes by a code name and they’ve been chasing each other through these different timelines, and they… ::stopping short, embarrassed:: Well, you don’t want the whole… but it was really good…
She trailed off and leaned against the alcove wall. Just a casual question to pass the time - not an invitation to start monologing.
It didn’t take long for Drex’s heat map to begin to fill with flickering points of light.
Drex: The scan’s picking up a few irregularities... These could be interference nodes or at least areas where the signal is strongest.
Wethern: That under carrier wave there.
They all crowded around the terminal screen.
Voss: The sharp wiggly guy?
It was the strangest feeling - recognizing something you couldn’t name. Lyra knew the wave that Dr. Wethern was talking about, but she couldn’t remember why it was significant.
Drex: ?
Wethern: That looks like the same signal from a neural stimulator for a Vulcan.
Again that almost tantalizing moment where it seemed her thoughts were on the verge of finally clicking together, only to hang there like an unresolved chord. She crossed her arms tightly across her damp, cold uniform.
Anethra: Is that why you arent affected?
Drex: ?
Voss: If it’s a signal like a stimulator, then… maybe it’s not that the memories are *blocked* so much as they’re being drowned out? Like we’re just getting too much interference to consciously remember. Which might also explain why my telepathy is a little out of control. But do those neural stimulators work on humans?
Wethern: No human brains don't have any area that responds to it. It's similar to a gallbladder for us. We can easily live without it and it isn't in use much.
She couldn’t pretend she remembered all much about human anatomy, but presumably Dr. Wethern was an expert. Was it possible that no humans had been affected by this memory loss? Or perhaps they were merely more resistant, but still potentially susceptible under certain conditions? But those felt like questions for later as Drex’s ferroniobium map finished processing. Lyra tried vainly to wipe her PADD on her soaked uniform - even if it didn’t make it drier, at least it pushed some of the water out of the way.
Voss: Look at this compared to the heat map we were generating in sickbay! There’s definitely some areas of correlation between the presence of ferroniobium and memory loss incidents.
Drex: ?
Wethern: Where is it coming from?
Anethra stepped up to the terminal screen to take a good look.
Anethra: Ive never been too good at directions... but that looks like the way I came from.
Voss: ::excitedly:: Awesome! Let’s go and see if we can find where you were!
Drex: ?
Oh right… that meant going back out in the rain. Lyra pushed her hair back one more time to try to prevent its inevitable toppling, tucked her PADD under her arm, and walked back into the curtain of rain with Drex and Dr. Wethern. Anethra seemed reluctant to leave the shelter of the alcove, but she joined them after a few steps and they formed a little parade line pushing through the storm.
Anethra: Does this happen often on this station?
Voss: ::laughing darkly:: Four, I hope not.
Wethern/Drex: Response?
Anethra nodded, but she was not put even mildly at ease. How could she be? They were basically forcing their way through a hurricane to an unknown destination where some kind of memory-altering device might be lying in wait for them. And that was the outcome they were *hoping* for. This whole Starfleet business was wild.
Anethra: Thats... good to know. I think.
Voss: So when you… ::she wasn’t sure how to phrase it:: …came to? woke up? do you remember what was around you? Like any mysterious metal artifacts?
Wethern/Drex: Response?
Anethra: I wish I could tell you more... maybe Ill recognize something when we get closer...
Voss: I’m sure you will. The good thing is this is just cutting off our access to previous memory - it doesn’t seem to be affecting our current recall or short-term memory.
Wethern/Drex: Response?
Lyra tried to look at the names on the buildings they were passing, but the rain and wind made it difficult to see anything clearly. She clutched her PADD tightly in both hands as they followed the overlaid maps of sickbay reports and ferroniobium. Several minutes of walking felt like an eternity in this weather, but they were getting closer and closer to what seemed to be their destination. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a dislodged tree branch covered in bright green leaves whipped past them and they all had to dodge out of the way. The wind was reaching a fevered pitch. She had to duck down and put her back to it to even make out the surface of her PADD.
Voss: ::yelling over the wind:: It’s around here somewhere! ::trying to look at the buildings on either side of the street:: So… either Cosmos Canvas or Brew Continuum?
Wethern/Drex/Anethra: ?
Another tree branch went hurtling by and Lyra jumped out of the way just in time to see a swirling tower of wind down the block. Her eyes went wide.
Voss: We better make a choice real quick!
Wethern/Drex/Anethra: ?