Dreams, fears and ... company? (part 1)

Posted on Tue May 28th, 2013 @ 9:07am by Commodore Samantha York & Commander Alexandra Vance & Lieutenant Khalpek & Gaia

1,207 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: What Dreams May Come?
Location: Various

ON

It was late Gamma Shift and Sam couldn't sleep. She'd talked to Damon again, which helped, but her nightmares were getting more bizarre. So she decided to take a walk through the ship.

She found a quiet deck and walked, enjoying the quiet. After a while she began to get the feeling that someone was watching her. Her pace didn't slow but she listened for any thoughts to give her an idea of what was going on.

She didn't get words or surface thoughts as she normally would, but images began to flash through her mind. Images of creatures she'd never seen before and half-eaten corpses. Accompanying them was a feeling of immense hunger. She'd been around many species in her several careers but nothing in what she was experiencing was familiar.

She had an idea that whatever she'd sensed was responsible for the nightmares. Sam turned a corner and walked to the nearest turbolift. "Bridge."

When the doors opened she headed straight for the science station. "Run a full internal scan. I think we may have an intruder on board. Search for any type of energy readings that differ from normal even if only slightly. Also search for any changes since the crew started having nightmares."

[FREDDY's GOT YOU SAM]

The officer at science turned and smiled at her. His face was badly burned leaving no detail of his original complexion. His teeth were jagged and yellowed show signs of years of neglect. "Oh, I'm sure it's nothing." he replied softly.

Sam shook her head and looked again. She had to be dreaming. "Wake up, Sam," she ordered herself.

"What? Do I smell that bad?" the man asked rising from the seat and approaching her.

Sam pinched herself and felt nothing. Dreaming. Definitely dreaming. "No, but I want you to report to sickbay." She stepped out of his way and pinched herself again. "Wake up!"

She woke up and found that she was still in the turbolift. "Snap out of it," she told herself as the doors opened.

She looked at the science officer, who gratefully looked normal. "I think we have an intruder on board. Search the ship for any anomalous readings since we started having sleep problems."

"Yes ma'am." she replied, and turned to run the scan. It took several minutes, but when the reading did return, they were disconcerting. "You're right ma'am. Something is definitely not right. I can't find a source, but something is making its way through the ship leaving a trail of Carpathian radiation in its wake. There are trails all over the ship and large concentrations in the areas where the crew is housed."

Sam looked at the readings, surprised it hadn't been discovered before. "How did we miss this?"

"It's not something traditionally checked for. I am a believer in things that science has yet to explain some times and Carpathian radiation is a controversial subject among my peers."

Sam nodded. "Okay. Do some research and see what you can find that would cause Carpathian radiation. At least now we know that something is definitely going on. Now we need to isolate it and get rid of it. Good work."

Sam left her to do her job and went into her ready room to contact Leanne.

[Gaia's Quarters = Bazinga's]

Gaia woke up in the middle of the night and she never woke up. The funny thing was she felt as if she was starving. She got up and dressed herself in a simple pair of pants and a sleeveless shirt. She headed out the door as she wrapped an apron around her waist.

She brewed some coffee first thing as was her customary to do in the morning and regardless of what time it was she would want some.

Gaia entered the back kitchen and pulled out pan after pan and went into the refrigerator and pulled out fresh ingredients for a favorite of hers. A berry filled crepe with blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and blueberries.

The chef took out her berries rinsed them off and and then took the stems off and sliced them ever so thin and set them aside in a bowl sprinkled lightly with sugar to bring out the flavor of the berries.

Gaia set a pan on the stove to heat up then Gaia started with eggs, blended in milk, flour, sugar and vanilla in a bowl. Gaia applied a light layer of butter to the pan and added the mixture to cook. The length of time it took heat the egg mixture she took out a plate and set it down. She took the pan and slid the crepe off onto the plate added the berries and then added some fresh whipped cream and berries to it.

She grabbed a mug poured coffee and picked up a fork and took her plate and went to sit in the empty lounge. "Mmmmm" was often heard as she ate. When Gaia finished she went back and made another.

====

Lizzie fell asleep on the small futon in her office, which wasn't out of the ordinary, except that she'd tried very hard not to do that of late.

She woke to her stomach rumbling, so she sat up and made herself some muffins and herb tea. But after she'd eaten she was still hungry. "Must be the tired talking," she assured herself and headed out to check on the arboretum.

It looked much the same as usual -- well as usual before she started dreaming about the trees eating her. Feed us!

She turned around in a circle. Not again! Feed us!

She didn't wait for another tree to eat her. She ran out of the arboretum and into the closest public area, which happened to be Bazinga's several decks below.

"Hi," she said, a little wide-eyed and out of breath.

Gaia paused with her fork mid-way to her mouth and set it down a guilty expression was on her face. "Hello, care to have a seat?"

"Sure!" Lizzie said, plopping down beside Gaia. "Don't let me interrupt your breakfast. I just needed some .. people."

"I'm not really hungry any more." Gaia's own light eyes looked tired as if she had not slept well. She crossed her legs under the table and picked up her coffee. One of the staff stepped up and offered her more and handed her a PADD. Gaia straightened her spine a bit as duty of the day started. She set the PADD aside though for a moment and handed her plate to the staff and held out her mug for the coffee "Thank You. We'll talk about this later." She tapped her finger on the PADD lightly.

"Would you like anything?" The staff member asked Lizzie as she picked up Gaia's plate and prepared to take everything away.

"Chocolate chip cookies and cow milk, whole."

"Just a moment."

Gaia then focused on Lizzie and smiled softly "So you needed people and your first thought was to come here?" Gaia's eyes lit up as she laughed.

(To be continued...)

Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer

Frederick Krewger
Nightmare

Gaia
Lounge Manager

Lieutenant Khalpek
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant Elizabeth "Lizzie" Jackson
Botanist

 

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