Posted by Lieutenant Commander Sharah Fayth (Chief Star Fleet Medical Officer) in The Flora Symphony

Posted by Civilian Kenzo B’tren-Hyrushi (Governor) in The Flora Symphony

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Sharah Fayth (Chief Star Fleet Medical Officer) in The Flora Symphony
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
“You will never know until you try, Sharah.” Kenzo said softly. “And even if it doesn’t work… is not the simple chance it might be worth the simple act of trying it?” He banked the craft towards the sunset and began to slowly descend towards a towering line of massive cliffs that seemed to be thousands of feet high.

Hyrushi, Governor

His use of her name tugged at her attention. She turned her head to look at him. She smiled, but it was hesitant. “I know…and it is worth it. I just…the possibility is overwhelming.” She stared out the window. Her breath moved out on a soft exclamation. The sunset colors on the cliff edges were magnificent, and the cliffs seemed to go on forever. “It’s beautiful despite the starkness.”

She breathed in slowly and counted as she let it out. She lifted the band out of the box and set it against her head, adjusting it back just to the edge of the hairline. She silently rolled her eyes at herself as her hands shook a little. She pressed both the gold studs but didn’t hear the droning at first. It took a couple of minutes before she could distinguish the physical droning from the telepathic buzz she always heard.

Once she recognized that, she reached for the right hand stud and began to turn it. Different pitches seemed to fade or get louder, but the droning never went away. The instructions didn’t say what to do about that. Her head itched though. Annoyingly so. She pushed both the studs again, turning it off. She lifted it off and set it back in the box.

Fayth, SFCMO

Kenzo sighed slightly. “I expect you actually try it when we land. If it doesn’t help, we will bury it in the cliff face.”

“I may not be doing something right.” Sharah closed the lid for the time being, but her hands rested over the top of the box keeping it secure in her lap. “Thank you, Kenzo. Words are a paltry offering for what you’ve done. Even if it doesn’t work, I’ll never forget it.” Several people had, over the years, promised to help, and Sharah knew they were sincere, but very few had actually tried to follow through. And here, man she hardly knew had procured a tangible possibility…no, Sharah would never forget.

The ship banked and then landed about a hundred meters from the edge of the cliff, actually the continental shelf of the old ocean. The sun was low on the horizon, and as far as they could see was the former ocean floor many thousands of feet below. It was a… humbling view.

Hyrushi, Governor

Sharah stared out at the view. It was massive and giant and very humbling. She got out of her seat and stepped out of the shuttle. She turned looking back to where the beach would be seeing where the tides would rise and fall and then backbat the edge of the cliff. Where the waves would arc and foam and crash as the tide suddenly hit the shallow land. She was standing right in the middle of it.

Kenzo followed her out of the shuttle and walked with her, but slightly behind.

Sharah felt like laughing. “Growing up, my mother was extremely cautious. I had a hard time controlling my reactions and maintaining my concentration amidst the tides of noise. There was a lot she wouldn’t let me do. She was afraid I would get hurt if I got distracted. I have never waded in the ocean and now I am standing in the middle of it.” Her onyx eyes stared at him for a long moment. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

Fayth, SFCMO

Kenzo gave her a slow half-bow. “It is my pleasure. I am glad that you find enjoyment in it. Perhaps one day you will be able to wade in this ocean when its waters return to us.”

Hyrushi, Governor

“If we are both here to see it, I should like to share that with you.” Sharah stared out at what seemed, with out the water, to be a vast, immeasurable valley. She felt small standing at the edge of such a loss, such devastation, but it held such promise of what once was and would be again. Hyrushi was right, it was humbling but it was also a balm to her soul. That no matter what the historical machinations of her people that created her or not, it was small in comparison to the happenings of the cosmos. “Maybe,” she glanced down at the box that she had kept hold of, “I might even learn to swim?”

Fayth, SFCMO

Kenzo stepped to her side and lifted up her hands holding the box. “You cannot swim unless you are willing to get wet first.” and he looked from her to the box and back again.

Hyrushi, Governor

Sharah stared back at him. There were all kinds of excuses, precautions, concerns she could give. Those didn’t change the fact he was right. “Sit with me?” She didn’t know what the device would do, but she knew she didn’t want to do this alone if something went wrong.

Sharah sank, crossed legged onto the hard ground and opened the box. She watched as the lights turned from red to green and then tapped the icon for the instructions. She lifted the band, slid it into place, “It says there will be a droning noise in the background then to turn this stud until I can’t hear it,” and then she pressed the two gold studs.

It was easier to recognize that time, and Sharah reached up and slowly turned the right stud. The middle pitch went away but was replaced by a higher one that made her ear feel like a bee was buzzing too close. She scratched and wiggled her ear to stop the sensation. The more she turned it, the more noticeable the new pitch. She turned it the other way and the higher pitch receded followed by the middle and then a lower pitch that felt like a deep drum. She shook her head. “I can get the first sound to disappear, but then another replaces it. The instructions just say to turn the knob until I can’t hear it, but doesn’t say if I should hear something else.” Sharah kept turning it back and forth, listening to the telepathic noise rather than droning to see if she could tell a difference.

Fayth, SFCMO

“Dr. Kane created this after he made a prototype for someone. Their abilities, I gathered, were similar to yours in the control arena… but of course nothing on the scale you face. Try increasing the power, slowly, when the first sound dissappears.”

Hyrushi, Governor

Sharah gave a slight nod, closed her eyes and slowly turned the frequency knob until the first sound was gone. The sound stayed on the lower end and so she turned it back until it disappeared, but was left with that intense itchy feeling. Then very slowly she began to turn the power up. There was no change at all, at first, and every so often she snatched at her head until she noticed she was doing it, but it didn’t help the feeling. She turned it up several times when she suddenly cocked her head to the side. “Oh…that’s weird. It’s like…like an old vinyl record player and the needle keeps skipping or…an AM radio signal. It’s full of static.”

Sharah slowly kept turning the power stud slowly until part of the noise was suddenly gone. She stayed still, focusing on what she was and was not sensing. “It’s like audio filtration. Fiktering out a frequency so you can hear the others more clearly.” She was still as she sorted out what she could still sense and what was gone. Then suddenly pain flinched across her face. In the absence of one the others became that much louder. She pressed her hands firmly into the rock, her jaw clenched, and she forced steady but harsh breaths. Pain, she could deal with pain, she dealt with that every day. It had just changed some. If they had had a tricorder, they would see her heart rate go up and then the longer she left it her blood pressure.

Fayth, SFCMO

“Do you want me to call Dr. Kane?” Hyrushi asked, reflexively grabbing her hand. There was a suddense of connection, and then her pain faded Not all the way, but noticeably. And when it did, Hyrushi’s hand grew very warm just before he released hers.

Hyrushi, Governor