Personal Log Stardate 510809.28

[Cmdr JFarrington 0]

Personal Log Stardate 510809.28

Cmdr JFarrington, MD

USS Manticore NCC 5852-A

Andromeda Galaxy

 

Something in the trees had made its presence known. At the camp’s perimeter about five meters above ground, sat a strange hominid in plain sight, staring back at them. At the exact same time their tricorders, previously inoperable, started working. Strange.

 

“Sir, it may have wanted us to see it. It may not be hostile.” Engineer Hilee had been watching the creature creep from branch to branch. It glanced back at the gawking crew as though beckoning them into the dense undergrowth. Jami’s first thought was that following it blindly was not a good idea. She had reported the sighting to Captain Sovak, who had agreed that the creature should be investigated.

 

“If it is intelligent, standard First Contact Protocol,” said Captain Sovak over the comm.

 

Intelligent? “How are we to determine if it is intelligent, Mr. Hilee?”

 

“Well, Sir, it did appear to let us see it, and that suggest rational thinking to me. And whatever we do we’d better do it quick. It’s leaving us.”

 

Indeed it was, but Jami wanted a closer look before sending anyone out for first contact. With nothing else handy, she accepted an offered phaser rifle, hoping the weapon didn’t seem threatening to the creature in the trees.

 

Bad move. As she raised the rifle to use its scope, a sharp pain cut through her head like an ice-pick. She dropped the rifle and covered her ears. The ping was short-lived but it hurt like….

 

“Ok. One more time,” said Jami as she recovered. “Everyone brace.” Once more she raised the rifle and scope. This time the pain came as an intense wave unlike any thing she had ever experienced. Her last thought was that the creature was intelligent and it had some kind of defense mechanism that caused intense pain to immobilize its attackers.

 

Jami dropped the phaser rifle and fell to her knees, her arms wrapped around her head in futile protection. When the pain subsided she took a deep breath and opened her eyes.

 

A white mist billowed around her from horizon to horizon. It seemed at once both there and not there.

 

“Hello?” She called out, waving her hands to clear her line of vision. It was like a fog, yet not like a fog. Though it seemed to have no substance, eddies swirled with the movement of her hands.

 

She felt alone, but not alone. Still, as she pulled herself to a stand and turned to continue her visual recon, she called out, “Hello!! Someone?? Anyone!!”

 

She received no response, and yet in that void and solitude she felt strangely comforted as though she were in a womb. The feeling was at once strange, familiar, and natural.

 

After what seemed a few minutes, Jami scouted the horizon for a reference point, for anything that would give her an indication of where she was and how far it was back to where she had been.

 

Where had she been? She had no idea.

 

She sat in the chair to think.

 

Chair?

 

In half a second she was up and staring at the chair that had not been there a second before. It was plain, cushioned, solid and supportive, like the ones used for overflow seating in the Academy auditorium. It was white, like the mist, the floor – or ground or deck or whatever it was. Again she felt everything was normal, which, in itself, should have been abnormal.

 

Sensory inventory. She could feel herself, the chair, the surface beneath her feet, the clothes on her body. She seemed uninjured. There was no blood. She was in no pain.

 

Could she hear? Yes. The mist had a soothing melodic quality – not really a song, but not far from it. In the distance she heard someone calling her name. She spun in that direction and shouted a response. Whoever it was didn’t seem to hear her. The call continued, but this time it was closer and more intense. She called out again. Again they didn’t seem to hear. Then came a touch on her arm, the feeling of her body being pulled somewhere, but she didn’t actually move.

 

What? Wait. That didn’t make sense. How could she feel herself being pulled or lifted and moved without her body actually moving? Jami continued to swirl her arms and peer through the mist to see who was calling. She walked towards the voice, and immediately the voice came from another direction. She changed direction and immediately the voice came from somewhere else. Then the voice changed to many voices and they came from all directions, yet no one was there.

 

What in name of all things was happening? This mist, this endless expanse of nothing that was something comfortable and yet uncomfortable – what was it? Where was she? More importantly, where had she been and how did she get here?

 

She sat in the chair and leaned her elbows on the table. This time the sudden presence of the table did not surprise her. For what seemed a long time she sat staring into the mist, gathering her wits, trying to remember something – anything – that would help her understand.

 

She remembered Negen Prime. Yes. And Runa deNeren. And Narek. Beautiful Narek, with her golden curls, the doll, and the crumpled piece of paper on the deck in the cargo bay. Good. At least she remembered something.

 

What happened after Negen Prime? The ship was called to patrol on the edge of the Alpha Quadrant. Someone was probing from unknown space. The Manticore had passed several ships, all black, all bearing the Psi of Black Ops. She remembered waiting at the designated coordinates and then the ship had been pulled into… what? A conduit, a black hole, a worm hole? Then….

 

Beyond that she had no memories.

 

A sudden realization brought her attention back to the mist. Is this death? In the same instant of wondering, Jami somehow knew she wasn’t dead. She also knew she wasn’t fully alive.

 

Not dead. Not alive. Strangely enough the conundrum that was this place folded in on itself and everything began to make sense. The chair, the table, her thoughts, the presence that was no presence….

 

A blinding flash seared her eyes. She cringed, screaming in pain. She felt the chair dissolve beneath her. She covered her eyes trying in vain to stop the light, the pain. Within seconds she began to convulse….