Is He Crazy
Posted on Mon Feb 10th, 2025 @ 2:01pm by Lieutenant Narin Valen & Lieutenant Commander Hermia O'Rourke & Lieutenant Vura
Edited on on Mon Feb 10th, 2025 @ 6:28pm
1,040 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Episode 16 - Silent Cries
Location: Sickbay - Deck 5 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD003 1030 hrs
It had been too long since Vura and Hermia had spent some time together. With everything that had been going on with Edmund, she completely ignored one of her best friends. Yet, here she was coming to her asking for a favor.
With a whimsical voice, Vura called out to her friend, "Hermia, dear. I could use your help with my friend here. Do you think that you could assist us?"
Hermia left her office at the sound of a familiar voice. "Ah, Vura, Narin, nice to see you. What can I do for you?"
Vura explained the situation to Hermia, "Hermia, I am concerned about Narin here. He is expressing that he is having nightmares and he believes them to be caused by an external source. So, I was hoping you could run some scans and see if you can detect any unusual activity or evidence of these things."
The Counselor turned to Narin and asked, "Did I express everything correctly? If not, please correct what I said. I want to make certain that the Doctor has everything correct before she does anything."
Narin offered a small nod. "That’s about right," he confirmed.
"They started off as your normal nightmares." Narin paused, then frowned. What exactly was a normal nightmare? Did most people even have them regularly? The thought lingered for a moment before he refocused on Hermia.
"But on the third night," he continued, his voice edged with unease, "this entity… communicated with me."
"I've received word of an uptake in nightmares, most people, including myself, have no memory of what occurred in the nightmares, but had lasting feelings of fear and loss." Hermia said.
"Narin, how much of these nightmares to you remember?" The CMO asked.
Narin met the Chief Medical Officer's gaze. "All of it," he said plainly.
"Okay, I'd like to do some scans. Okay?" Hermia said pulling out a medical tri-corder."
Narin gave a small nod. "Go ahead." He said, though he didn’t expect her to find anything of consequence. He knew for certain that he wasn’t the only one experiencing these dreams, and this wasn’t just in his head. An entity was reaching out, trying to communicate, seeking help. But the moment he mentioned it to Vura, he knew this was inevitable.
"Just sit still, this won't take long." Hermia said. She took out the portable scanner and programed the tri-corder for a Betazoid. She then began the scan, concentration first on the paracortex, the part of the Betazoid brain that made their psionic powers possible. She then moved to other parts of the brain.
When she was done, she checked the results.
"Your concentration of Psilosynine is raised, meaning that you've recently, within the last 12 to 24 hours, experienced prolonged use of your psionic powers. Increased concentrations of other neurotransmitters, Dopamine and Acetylcholine explain the clarity of your memories of the nightmare. byproducts in your blood show previously raised Epinephrine levels, so you experienced fear." Hermia said. "None of this points to outside interference with your mind, but along with certain other markers in your brain's blood stream, someone is definitely trying to contact you, Narin."
Narin absorbed her words, everything clicking into place. It all made sense, and more importantly, it was proof that he wasn’t imagining things."Thank you, Doc." He said, then glaced at Vura. He didn’t say a word, but the look he gave her said it all—I told you so.
The Counselor was ecstatic and told Narin, "This is so fascinating. Now we have to figure out who and why! Perhaps some dream interpretation is necessary. And why they want to contact you as opposed to me, or Hermia, or anyone else. So much to potentially discover here!"
She looked at Hermia and said, "Thank you, Hermia! You're the best!"
"I have a theory about why I remember these communications." Narin said, looking between the doctor and Vura. "I believe this entity is trying to reach everyone aboard the ship, but only certain individuals can perceive the messages. And I suspect those individuals are full-blooded Betazoids or other species with similar abilities. Our telepathic abilities and natural sensitivity to dream communication make us ideal receptors for this kind of contact."
"That would make sense, my human DNA and neurotransmitters could be disrupting the signal for me and others like myself." Hermia said.
Vura looked at Narin wondrously. "You know others who are experiencing the same issue?" Her voice turned slightly more accusatory, "Why did you not tell me that before?"
Narin glanced at Vura. "I have a hypothesis, but I need to do more research before I can be certain."
"Don't you think that researching your own issue could potentially be tainted due to bias or wishful thinking?" Vura asked.
Narin shot her a look, his expression tightening. He didn’t appreciate her choice of words. "Don't worry, Lieutenant." Narin replied. "I'll make sure my findings are verified."
Vura wondered what she had done to upset Narin. "I'm sorry to have upset you, though I am not certain what it was. Is there a reason my question upset you?"
Narin sighed, rubbing his temples. Under normal circumstances, he would have responded differently, but the lack of sleep was wearing on him, and in that moment, it showed. "I apologize for the way I reacted." he said, looking at Vura before glancing over at the doctor, then back again. "I'm going to go take a nap."
The Counselor nodded, though she wanted to bring this up again soon. "I would imagine that having your sleep interrupted would be difficult. Go get some sleep. Hermia and I can discuss this further."
Narin nodded. "Thank you, I'll talk to you both later." He said before turning and making his way out of sickbay.
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Commander Hermia O'Rourke
Chief Medical Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Vura
Chief Counselor, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Narin Valen
Assistant Chief Science Officer, USS Pioneer
RSS Feed