[snip]

During the the next few hours in Sickbay, Glen was in and out of consciousness. He was often rambling, and he once sat bolt upright to say, “I’ll never get involved with an older woman again, she was a spoilt brat whose father always let her have her own way,” before lying back down again. Once he mumbled, “He’s enjoying the company of the Pink Rabbit!” whatever that meant. Another time he was observed crying, and he said to the nurse “Your grandmother showed me your bedroom. You have a model of a Mariner Class starship. I am the captain of one of those. I expect you know that?” When he saw Miriam Cross, he seemed to recognise her and he told her, “You stole those Star Charts from that merchant and hid them under your blouse!” This wasn’t a question, but more an accusation. Then he asked her, “Does the Elder one reward you? Have you seen the Elder one?” Most of the rest of the time he was incoherent, and nothing he said could be parsed. However, it did appear that these outpourings were not random, but more that he was re-living real events from his past.

The male doctor present in the cubicle was observing the Captain ,in his state he saw Kate as Cross ,what was more clear to him was what he told ‘Cross ’ . Hunter had no knowledge of what had happened in the past ,the only thing he was told was about the worm around the Captain’s neck and head ,the CMO had told him due to the fact that it somehow was still having an effect on what the worm could have done and even that was just speculation, an assumption and just a leap in the dark.

Hunter turned to the nursing officer ‘’You where on the ship back then what had transpired Kate I need to know ‘’ but she simple shook her head ‘’I was just a junior nurse back then and the crew that was involved kept silent ,now most of them have been transferred , all the D’H’s are new with the exception of Cross ‘’ she clasped her hands together ,a bit distraught by the Captain’s state and the fact that she could not help ‘’I have never heard the word ’ Elder ‘and do not know if she had stolen a map…maybe the poor Captain is hallucinating ‘’ was all Kate could offer .

The male doctor nodded ‘’Its okay dear just keep an eye on the Captain, as expected the blood results are normal and please alternate between saline and ringer lactate ,I shall be in the office ‘’ and with that he was about to depart.

Glen sat up and told Hunter, “Like you, I am also distant and apart, and need to get back to my ship, my home, and my crew… to get back ‘together’ with them.” Then he collapsed back on the bio-bed, and was still once again.

This really took Hunter by surprise especially the part of ‘’Like you, I am also distant and apart ‘’ for the Captain came to really know him was the hours they spend together down with the people at the mines .

He decided right then and there to check the scan of the different types of Glen’s brain waves and their associated frequencies:

Beta Waves (12-30 Hz)– These brain waves are associated with alertness and wakefulness. They are most commonly observed in the frontal lobe of the brain and they were present ,not only when the Captain sat up and spoke but also when he looked like he was again sleeping .

Alpha Waves (8-12 Hz) – These brain waves are associated with relaxation and calmness. They are most commonly observed in the occipital lobe of the brain and again it showed there was next to nothing .

Theta Waves (4-8 Hz) – These brain waves are associated with meditation, creativity, and dreaming. They are most commonly observed in the temporal lobe of the brain. Theta waves have been shown to improve memory consolidation and recall, stimulate the imagination, REM sleep associated with beta waves make the brain more active and generate vivid dreams Theta waves ,in particular are believed to help memory consolidation and recall and it was here that the waves spiked out of control ,it was more evident when Glen spoke about the ‘maps’ and the ’ Leader’.

Delta Waves (0.5-4 Hz) – These brain waves are associated with deep sleep and unconsciousness. They are most commonly observed in the parietal and frontal lobes of the brain and yet there was hardly any ,so that meant that the Captain was not actually resting or even less unconscious.

Hunter realized that the brain complex as it is was even more so in this scan ,certain waves that were suppose to be present where not , he came to the conclusion that memories from the past and the present where being mixed thus Glen at certain times was seen as speaking incoherently. Yet he could not help but wonder if certain memories did actually came from Glen or from something else?

Now alone in Cross’s office, Hunter knew that only Cross could verify what the Captain had said about her ,especially about the word ‘Elder’ but for now he thought it was best not to disturb Cross. The doctor was also concerned about the long term implications if the Captain would keep on having these episodes.

The scan results showed a complex picture of neuron activity in almost every region of his brain; Glen might appear to be resting, but he was anything but, and his overall metabolic activity was high too. He was also recruiting classical networks such as his hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex to access old memories. His brain was reorganising these memories within his cerebral networks, but not in the usual way. Unlike during dreaming, there was no progressive transfer of recollection burden from hippocampal to neocortical areas. This was much a more complicated and widespread activity and transfer, more akin to a computer drive that was being optimised and defragged.

The briefing over, Faith came down to check on her uncle. She saw that he was sleeping and didn’t want to disturb him. “How is the Captain doing, Doctor?”

Hunter knew Glen was her uncle and did not want to worry her ‘’He’s resting though at times he does wake up and mumble something incoherently, I figure its memories from different parts of his life which he mix into one sentence ‘’.

Faith nodded her agreement, though that would really depend on whatever he had said.

He asked Faith to take a seat. ‘’You have been on the ship for a long time and I know you and Cross are friends, at one point the Captain mistook Kate for the CMO and told her that she had once stolen a map, do you by any chance know if she really did? I’m only inquiring to get a better understanding about you’re uncle’s memory , he also asked whom he thought was Cross …something on the lines of does the Elder one reward you? Have you seen the Elder one? ‘’.

“I came aboard the Merrimack at the same time that the Captain did,” replied Faith, “so yes, quite a long time ago!” She had almost forgotten some of these things he’d mentioned.

Cross had arrived from the briefing ,as she was about to turn the corner to her office the doctor heard what Hunter was asking Faith .So decided to listen to their conversation out of sight for now.

Faith remembered that merchant’s map because she had been shopping with Cross at the time. For a while that was all going to turn nasty for Cross, until the map became valuable, then she was quickly forgiven. “The map… I think you should ask Cross about that. It’s really not my place… and not because she is a friend… Understand me, that has nothing to do with it! But yes, there was a map, he isn’t making that part up… And the Elders existed too, but that’s all part of the classified stuff. If you don’t know about the classified stuff, then you aren’t supposed to know. Look, I’m only a yeoman and I need to keep this job… for the moment anyway. You’ll need to ask someone else.” Faith thought about it for a while. “…You don’t get along with Joe, do you? Only he was the XO at the time. He might tell you as he isn’t in Starfleet any longer?”

“Anyhow, I think you are right that he is mixing up memories from different parts of his life,” Faith said, but there was more, and she wasn’t sure if she could tell Hunter this or not. The worm thing that took over the Captain’s brain had had access to a hive mind, and it had the thoughts of other people too. Some of what Glen had stored inside his head possibly wasn’t even his own memory. It would be much better if Doctor Cross were here, because she knew all about this already. The worm thing had also read her memories, and then there was all the despicable things done to her, which Faith couldn’t understand how she had got over. “That’s all I can tell you!”

• Faith, Yeoman