JL| Cmdr. th'Zarath & Cmdr Merlin | "Of Pods and Perils..."

Posted on Sun Jun 7th, 2020 @ 12:47am by Commander Thelin th'Zarath & Commander Evan Merlin

The situation with the small ship which came drifting out of the nebula brought back memories to the station's CO. Years ago he had arrived in a similar manner, but unlike the badly wounded woman who was now in the medical bay, he had come out of his escape pod unhurt… but with no memory of how he got there whatsoever. None at all. His first actual memory was of looking up at a ring of faces which looked down at him in turn.

There had been some flashes since then, here and there. Not enough to be actual memories, just… echoes, ghosts, here and there. A fleeting sensation that he had once cared very much for someone, and that this someone had been lost to him. A lover? A wife? A child? No idea.

He had visited the escape pod again a few times, since then. His only real posession from the mysterious 'before', together with a necklace with a pendant consisting of interlocking circles. Similar patterns were edged on the outside of the pod. Decoration? Or did they have actual meaning? Another mystery that would probably be never answered.

The last time he had visited it, awhile ago, something odd had happened. And now, as he was thinking back about his own past and lack thereof, he remembered that he had taken the station's Chief Engineer to see it, a short time later….

-/\- Some months back -/\-

During a quiet hour, Cold Station Theta's XO made his way to Engineering. There was something about this place which he loved: the quiet atmosphere of people working and tinkering on stuff – though on occasion that quiet atmosphere was disturbed when a frustrated engineer started swearing at a hapless machine.

This was one of the quiet times, though. There was always plenty to do on a station this size and age, so 'quiet' in Engineering was a relative term. The XO spotted the person he needed right away: a tall, strong Andorian. "Ah, Commander," he said as he walked over. "I wonder if you have a moment? I have a riddle which might interest you."

Thelin placed the PADD down as he heard the voice behind him and turned to his right to cast a glance over the XO as he approached, the Andorian's hair is ruffled and slightly unkempt and his uniform is less pristine than it usually is, the skin on his face is sunken and gives the impression of a man who is exhausted. "Ah, Commander Merlin, riddles I have time for, I believe," he replied as he turned fully, revealing his left side and an empty cybernetic socket where an arm should be.

The XO frowned slightly at Thelin's appearance. His first thought was: This man belongs in a sick bay. Knowing the stubbornness of engineers in general and this man's issue with the CMO of in particular, he doubted his suggestion would be welcome, though. "Are you sure, Commander?" he asked. "It's nothing urgent. It can wait… until after you've rested, or something."

A slight chuckle passed the tired Andorian's lips as he coughed for a moment and used his remaining hand to smooth his hair back over his head, a shake of his head loosened a couple of strands and took them to hang over his left eye, "Rest is a commodity I have very little of, yet crave more with each passing day," he replied as his antennae reached out towards the XO with interest, "Doctor Valeese has me restricted to light duties and sedated at night, while... this is investigated and repaired." he punctuated the pause with a gesture at his empty socket and a cocked smile, "What is this riddle you speak of?"

"I'm sorry to hear about your troubles," the XO said lightly. Knowing the Chief Engineer, he had little patience for sympathy. It wasn't as if there was much he could do about it, other than offer a distraction. "It's probably easier to show you. Somehow something suddenly became bigger on the inside and I can't figure out how. Care to follow me?"

Laughing slightly, Thelin moved to follow behind the XO towards this interesting development, he reached up and scratched at his temple a few times, "Don't tell me someone in the science labs has decided to break the laws of physics again? Really I have no idea how Humans do it, everything we think we know about the universe is so much more... malleable when put in the hands of a Human."

"I don't think so," the XO said as they left Engineering and walked to the nearest turbolift. "It wasn't done in a science lab. And apart from me, I don't think anyone has been there for years. Though," he mused aloud, "the last time before now that I was down there I did show it to a human Engineer with a great knack for both machinery and mischief, so maybe she did something…" He shook his head, making the few dark curls which had escaped dance around. "The pod ought to have been locked, though. Nope, still can't figure it out."

They entered the turbolift and he gave a brisk order for the correct desk – but still couldn't really help touching the side of the 'lift and murmuring something under his breath. The doors slid close and the turbolift moved down, smoothly and rapidly.

"So this is another of the rather... abandoned sections of the original station?" Thelin asked as he tightened his grip on the railing in the lift, despite the artificial gravity he was feeling the effects of losing a part of himself and the associated balance issues, his knuckles whitened and he gritted his teeth slightly as he felt the lift shift.

"More or less," the XO said. "This is the long-term storage section. There are a few docking bays out here too, for smaller craft. They usually belong to civilians who have mande the station their home. It's never very busy, but it still gets used once in a bit." The lift came to a rest and he stepped out, into the clean and barren corridors of the deep station. Some of the doors they passed, he knew, hadn't been opened in years. He sometimes wondered if the owners of those rooms were still around and made a mental note to look that up at one point. Or better yet, ask someone from Ops. It wasn't as if they would run out of storage room soon, but still, it was always a good idea to keep things up to date.

He touched the sensor plate to open a door no different than any other on this deck. The room contained only one object. "This is the life pod I was found in," he said, and his hand involuntarily reached up to touch the small pendant tucked away under his shirt. Together with the pod, it was the only evidence that he had once lived a life before he came here, a life which he couldn't remember. "So, it's alien tech, and as far as I know nobody has been able to identify where it came from. That's not even the most remarkable thing about it now, though."

Now that the pod was standing on end, the round indentation to open it was at chest height. He touched it and again the front – which used to be the top – irised open. He looked inside: nothing had changed since his last visit. The inside was still twice as big as it ought to be.

Then he stepped aside and gestured for Thelin to take a look. "See if you can explain."

Taking a few moments to look around the external surfaces of the pod, Thelin was intrigued and poked his head inside the opening with curiosity causing his antennae to reach out into the space, "This..." he bought his head back outside and looked around at the side of the pod again before thrusting his head inside again, "This should... I mean the holodecks can create the illusion of space... but this appears to be very much real, it's certainly not big enough... on the outside... for that kind of equipment."

"That's what I thought," the wild-haired man said with a nod. "There simply isn't enough space in here for either holographic equipment or a space folder. Unless it's a holographic masking field, or the equipment itself is space-folded."

"And you say you were found inside this... thing?" Thelin asked as he started running his single hand over the external surface, feeling for hidden panels or controls, any slight imperfections which could indicate a control mechanism other than the obvious ones, possibilities thrust themselves through his mind, cutting through the fog and confusion caused by the pain and lack of sleep, "The computers have been unable to quantify this so far?"

"Pretty much." He ran a hand through his hair, which didn't improve it. "It's an unknown alloy. Maybe something indigenous to the nebula, maybe it comes from even further away… I'm not a scientist, I don't know. All I know is that it wasn't this big on the inside when I was found. It was just… well, pretty much the same way as it is now, only the proper size. I mean, the size you expect looking from outside. So, either someone is pulling a joke on me or something really weird is happening. Beats me."

"Well, weird is kind of our wheelhouse out here on the ragged edge." The Andorian chuckled as he circled the pod and stuck his head inside for a moment again, his antennae flattened slightly as he pulled his head out again, "Are the internal sensors active in this section or is this one of the small number of sections that is technically off the grid? I don't recall seeing it on the internal schematics when we were doing the full retrofit, but that's not a surprise on a facility this old."

"Not active, no." As usual, he had that information ready. There had been no need to look it up. He just tended to absorb stuff, useless facts as well as useful-but-rarely-used data, which was then stored somewhere deep in the recesses of his mind until needed. All that, but not a clue about his past – though, he sometimes thought, maybe it was just because he held so few memories of the time before his arrival that there was room in his mind for all this clutter. "There are supposed to be sensors in the corridor to record people walking there, but since they're so rarely activated, at some point in the past they've been taken off-line or they just quit of their own accord. And inside these rooms and berths, no sensors at all." He sighed. "It's on the list to have them repaired and reactivated, but you know it better than I do… it's a long list."

"And getting longer with each passing day." Thelin replied with a slight sigh and a gesture towards his missing arm, "If its not the station falling apart, it's the crew, quite literally in my case." he added with another chuckle before placing his hand on the shell of the pod and looking over the First Officer, "Well, I'll schedule a couple of crews to come through and triple check the systems in this section, if we're going to do any kind of investigation, hand held equipment won't do, there's only so much a tricorder can do, we'll need the full weight of modern internal sensor suites and the computer to even begin formulating any kind of theory."

He made a sweeping motion with his arm. "Go for it. At worst it's going to be an interesting exercise for some engineers and maybe science officers, at best you come up with actual answers." He stared at the probe again and shook his head. "It would be nice to get some actual answers for a change, instead of more questions. Want me to leave it open or shall I close it again?"

"I think, close it up for now, I'd rather not have any surprises." Thelin replied with a slight smile as he ran his hand down the exterior of the pod, "I'll have the computer begin recording the internal sensor data for this section once we get them online, at least we can keep an eye on things while we get everything else fully operational."

"To prevent any more surprises, hopefully." He pressed his hand against the outside of the pod and it closed again. "Anyway. Let me know what your findings are." They left the room together and he locked the door behind him. "Good luck."

-/\- Now -/\-

And now, he wondered if Thelin had made any progress since then.

To Be Continued...

Commander Thelin th'Zarath
Chief Engineering Officer

&

Commander Evan Merlin
Commanding Officer

Cold Station Theta