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 Civilian Kenzo B’tren-Hyrushi (Governor) in The Flora Symphony
Posted by… suppressed (14) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Kane yelled into the screen “DAMMIT!!!! JUST CRANK THE FU<%!NG THING!!!” Kenzo glared daggers at the man but he reached over and simply grasped the knob and turned it up as far as it would go, watching Sharah’s face for any excuse to rip the device off her head.

Kenzo / The Marquis de Kane

No…nononono. Sharah didn’t want to crank it more, she wanted it off. Sharah did not want to find out how much more she could stand. There was a sudden massive explosion of pain, she went rigid and gasped, her breath catching in her lungs, and then everything went silent. The noise, the storms, the pain, Sharah - all utterly, suddenly silent. There was an eerie euphoric feeling as the adrenaline and endorphins caught up with the pain her nerves were screaming about and her brain tried to process. Her head felt hot and then cold as everything seemed to expand, contract, and her head swam and thudded. Her blood pressure was dropping rapidly, and Sharah whispered a curse right before she passed out.

Sharah

Hyrushi grabbed her as she started to fall back, and he yelled “What do-” and Kane’s voice cut him off. “Shut up! For f#<ks sake, calm down. She just passed out. Give her a minute. Oh, but do check her pulse. Make sure it wasn’t a full cardiac episode.” and he lifted an orange drink to his lips and took a sip while he watched what happened.

Kenzo was livid. He pressed his fingers to Fayth’s neck and felt for a pulse. “If anything has happened to her, I swear I will-” and he stopped. Her pulse was strong. Fast, but steady. He glared at the screen. Kane grinned back and ate a pretzel. “Pretty cool, huh? Man… her input receptors must be exponentially dense. That’s enough power to block out most directed sonic disruption devices. Impressive.” and he ate another pretzel.

Hyrushi / Kane

A feminine voice come from somewhere behind Kane, “If he has a medical tricorder, he should really take a full physical scan, especially of her brain.” A woman with exceptionally long blonde hair, and slightly built walked into the screen frame. She leaned forward staring hard at the black haired woman who was passed out cold. “Fascinating. You probably want to a high sugar juice and add an electrolyte infusion to it. She just burned through a massive amount of blood sugar. Don’t let her try to stand up either, unless you want to deal with a concussion.” She stared at her a moment longer, “Mouth is still pinched. Residual pain. An anti-inflammatory will help.” Then the woman walked out of the screen, twirling a stylus in her fingers and reading a PaDD.

The first thing Sharah was aware of was a very hot touch against her neck, but there was no context. Then sometime after a dull ache, mostly in her head and her throat. Everything felt shaky…like she hadn’t eaten in far too long. It felt better to just stay there and not move, so she did. Until it registered for her that she was hearing people talk, but there was no sense of their presence, thoughts, or emotions. That woke her up fully and she took a deep breath, trying to get a sense of herself before she tried to move.

Sharah

Kenzo looked down and said “Don’t move, Doctor. You passed out. Be calm. I’m right here, I’m just going to get you something to drink. Lay still.” He went to the replicator and got a juice with electrolytes as directed, and then a bucket of ice. He put his hands in the ice and the heat began to melt it almost immediately. He gritted his teeth, but kept silent as the ice turned to water. He looked at his hands. No blisters, but they hurt. He took the juice to Sharah and sat down next to her. “Here. Drink.”

Sharah opened her eyes and looked up at him. “Won’t move, promise.” She had no intention of moving. She knew better. Her BP should level out soon enough as long as she didn’t move too fast. It was disorienting, it always was, having no sense of the people around her. But it was always such a welcome reprieve. She breathed slowly, in and out, feeling her lungs expand and then release. When he returned, she slowly raised herself up enough to sip at the juice. She stared at him, some detail itching at her, amidst the memory of all the pain.

From the screen, the crazy-looking doctor said =/\Well? How’s the head? You hearing anything? =/\=

Hyrushi / Kane

Sharah blinked and turned her head. Oh! He was still there. Right. “My head is sore, but that doesn’t surprise me. When I tried it before we called you, there was this really intense itching, but I don’t feel that now. I,” she closed her eyes and listened. She shook her head slowly as she looked at Kane again. “I don’t hear or feel anything.” It was…massive, what he had done. In a matter of, what? A few months, he had managed to do what Sharah had spent her life trying to figure out. She propped herself up a little more, slowly testing her equilibrium. “For whatever it is worth, Dr Kane, thank you.” Two simple words that held a lifetime of meaning and healing and gratitude.

Fayth

=/\= Yeah yeah… listen. The battery at full power will only last around twelve to sixteen hours. It will gradually run down, so you’ll have time to adjust. BUT… try and dial back the power level a bit to extend the battery life. Fiddle with it, and just… you know… do what works best. Any problems, let me know. The case will send data during charging. That’ll let me see how we can make it better. Ok? Alright. =/\= and the vomms went dark.

Hyrushi looked at her and said “How are you feeling?”

Hyrushi / Kane

Sharah blew out a breath, pushed herself fully to sitting and leaned back against a console. “Battered I think is a good word.” She reached for the glass of juice and continued to sip it. “It’s disorienting. I can tell the ability is still there, but there is just nothing. It’s not unpleasant, but it’s…it feels surreal.” She looked at him, studying him for a moment and then at his hands. She realized it was the extreme heat in his hand that had roused her. He’d done it again. Pulling the pain out of her. She’d grabbed his hand and he hadn’t let her go. Onyx eyes stared into his obsidian ones, “Thank you for helping me.”

Fayth

Hyrushi looked at her for a moment and then said very simply “You are welcome. I am glad the device works… although I am sorry for the intensity of the initial effort.”

Hyrushi, Governor

Her head tipped to the side and she smiled slightly. “I didn’t mean the device, but for that too.” She held her hand over his, an inch away, remembering the extreme heat. “I hope I didn’t harm you.” She was curious what it was going to be like to not have to avoid touching people. To not get that cruel extra painful clarity of their thoughts that physical connection brought. She finished the glass and set it down. “The intensity was not your fault. Though I admit I’m hesitant to go through the experience again.”

Fayth

Kenzo shook his head. “I assure I am fine. And Dr. Kane-for all of his abhorrent lack of bedside manner or seeming concern- was confident that the pain would subside in time as you become accustomed to the device. I am assuming he is correct, and I liken it to the pain one my have during physical therapy. Painful at first, but increasingly easier.” He stood up and took a seat in the pilot’s chair. “Would you like to see if the effectiveness is hampered by proximity, Doctor? Or the sun is almost set, we could take in the final light of the day before heading back.”

Hyrushi, Governor

“I’m glad to hear it.” Sharah turned contemplative, “He is most likely correct. That would be what usually happens. I am sure I will adjust as I learn to use it.” Sharah carefully stood, keeping a hand on the console, just in case, and moved into the co-pilot’s seat. “Sharah. Please call me Sharah.” There was a slight swirl of dizziness as she stood, but it was weak and quickly gone. “I am curious about the proximity, but I would like to watch the view first, please.”

Fayth, SFCMO

“Of course.” he said evenly. He reined his seat back slightly and kept his eyes on the front. The sun, what wasn’t of it, was far off on the horizon and sinking quickly down. Long, deep shadows crept towards them. “I find it very… surreal… that we are sitting here watching the sun set as its icht fls on a surface that hadn’t seen sunlight in millenia.”

Hyrushi, Governor

Sharah was curious about his statement until she realized the ocean floor would have been so deep the light wouldn’t have reached the depths through the water. His words gave her a new perspective of the view as she watched the shadows lengthen and the myriad of colors fill the sky. It really was surreal. “I imagine if there had been sentient species that survived, this time, the arrival of light, would become part of their mythology.”

Sharah pulled her feet up, curling into the chair and watched quietly. The view was stunning but also peaceful and soothing. She could understand why this spot was a favorite of the Governor. The quiet and stillness seeped into and lulled her, until she was aware of how battered and tired she felt. That was okay though, she didn’t want to be anywhere else. The sun slipped lower and the sky behind them grew heavy and dark. The tip of the sun touched the edge of the horizon and there was a flash of dazzling color and light. Then blackness before the stars and moons began to peek through the darkened sky. She breathed out softly, “Beautiful.”

Fayth, SFCMO

“It absolutely is.” Kenzo said quietly. It was almost half an an hour in silence before he leaned forward. He looked at her and said “Are you feeling any better Sharah?”

Hyrushi, Governor

Sharah was quiet for a long moment watching the slivers of moonlight play across the cliffs. “Physically yes. Mentally…it’s foreign. Not bad really, but it just feels different, unfamiliar.” She turned to look at him. “Well not completely unfamiliar. It was like this in the cave. Being all alone in my head, with only my own thoughts. Except when you were in the cave with me, I could still feel your presence, but nothing else. Now…you are here with me, but could be no more than a holodeck projection. It’s strange.”

Fayth, SFCMO

He nodded in understanding and then said “Come. Let us see what happens when we get closer to the city.” He began tapping the controls and soon they lifted off and were headed back towards the city… sort of. “I will circle the city, going closer as we go. But it should make the change more gradual. Perhaps that will help.” he said as he slowly circled the city, the lights far off in the distance.

Hyrushi, Governor

There was absolutely no change, not at first. Sharah stared out the window watching the city come closer. She felt anxious, trepidatious, resigned. It was a quiet but sudden realization that those were her own emotions, and only hers. There was no undercurrent of the ebb and flow of the people of Oed, there were no sudden bursts of strong emotion as they happened to pass near. It was just her, waiting to see of the device failed. Sharah chose to accept the nervousness even as she accepted that she could do nothing about it if the device failed. She would still have these few moments if silence.

The shuttle banked around the city. In the distance she could see buildings dotted with lights, ground and hover vehicles and their lights streaking past and then large patches of leafy darkness, lined in mystical swaths of moonlight. She took it all in with the only sense that could perceive it all - her eyes. Sharah leaned forward slightly in her seat, watching it all as they circled again and again. Slowly moving closer. She gasped softly. The view, it was stunning. She wondered if Hyrushi would think her simple or childish for being moved by sight of the colony at night. “I…never realized how much my telepathy, my empathy, influenced how my physical senses perceived the world.”

Then slowly the closer they got there was a change. It was gradual and Sharah didn’t notice at first. But her head throbbed dully. At first it was just little twinges, then it progressed to a dull persistent ache, but despite that she still could not hear or feel anything.

Fayrh, SFCMO

“You are feeling some discomfort. Are you alright?” Hyrushi asked softly, trying not to interrupt her reverie. “Is the device not working as it should?”

Hyrushi, Governor

Sharah leaned back into her seat. She continued to watch the city but her attention turned inwards. “No, I think it is working correctly. I do not hear or feel anything. Perhaps as we get closer to the sources of the frequencies, to the people, the band is working harder to block them. What I am feeling might be a reaction to fluctuations in the band as it adapts and adjusts. It could also be the sheer amount of power running through the band. Or maybe it is like ghost pains that amputees experience. My body expects pain and therefore responds as if it is there.” She turned her head to look at him. The cabin was dark so as not the obstruct the view; his profile only lit by the console. “But, I’m alright. It’s not debilitating or distracting.” Her eyes returned to the view, “Really, it’s a small price to pay.”

Fayth, SFCMO