Not As We Know It

 Episode Name:  Not As We Know It

   Written By:  Belgarath

         Cast:  Edwards, Clough, Raxil, Leah, Nal and Belgarath.

  Produced By:  Starfleet

  Directed By:  Belgarath

     Aired On:  Sat Feb 02 09:00:00 2002

     Stardate:  52172

Nal drops the second of her soggy jumja-less sticks on the counter and moves to the third one.

Jolvan glances at Nal,"Hungry ?"

Raxil arrives from the mall, the entrance's double doors sliding silently closed behind him.

Raxil has arrived.

A light mist begins to form on the ground, no more than an inch thick and barely noticeable to those not paying attention to the floor.

Nal looks up, with an expression in her eyes almost like that of a wild dog when someone approaches him too closely while he's gnawing a bone. "Yes," she says around a sloppy mouthful. Attention so focussed on her food, she is oblivious to the forming mist.

Clough notices no mist, but she does catch the entrance of the fellow doctor from her position along the side of the bar. She smiles pleasantly to him and waves.

Blutox looks on the assembled crowd with a stoic expression.

Raxil smiles faintly at Callie, returning the wave and walking over in her direction.

Clough's smile stays put at the approach. "Tobin," she greets pleasantly. "How's the evening going?"

Jolvan stands, "I think the holodeck is calling me."

Jolvan stands and leaves The bar.

The mist condenses a bit more, turning into white fog now.

Raxil smiles weakly. "It's been going fairly well..." he says, taking a seat at the bar. "Mostly been keeping an eye on our two charges."

Raxil sits down at The bar.

Nal is onto her fourth straight jumja stick, pausing only briefly to chug from her glass of ice water. Juice is starting to brown her lips and dribble down her chin.

The layer of fog grows at a rapid pace now, reaching up to waist level. Several patrons begin to murmur about the fog.

Raxil looks down at the floor. "Don't tell me. The environmental system?"

Clough nods and sighs. "They're progressing well, but no doubt the interviews will be tough on them both. I hope, though, that in your attention to the two Ensigns, you have not let Lt. Havaris be forgotten. I'm afraid I'd have to send you to the brig for that." She smiles again, teasing ... mostly. The fog is most certainly noticeable now, and Callie turns her attention to it, forgetting her threat entirely. "Environmental system malfunction?" she suggests almost hopefully, engineering being nowhere near her forte.

Jolvan askes Milara," Trying something new for the bar?"

Milara looks confused as she stares at the fog, then turns to the Romulan. "This isn't /our/ idea."

Raxil sighs, looking to Clough. "You want to call Engineering, or should I?"

Nal still hasn't noticed the foggy conditions, or anyone speaking. Her sole attention belongs to satisfying her craving. Four down, on to five.

A small maintenance drone drifts by the window.

Tait stands up from the bar and backs into the window, looking down.

Clough looks around at the growing fog again, then raises her hand dutifully to her pin, tapping it to life. "Lieutenant Clough to Engineering." She glances back at Raxil. "Can't we just get /one/ day off? Somewhere?" She smirks wryly, accepting her fate, overall.

A group of people stand up from their table, looking at the fog all around them, and walk out of the NZ.

"Ensign Liu here," answers a voice over Clough's combadge.

Raxil looks at the fog enveloping his midsection, dipping a hand in it while listening to Clough's discourse.

The fog expands again, quickly reaching average shoulder level.

Jolvan says "I think we should leave."

Clough speaks at her pin absently. "We seem to be having a problem with environmental controls in the Neutral Zone, Ensign. A heavy fog has formed here. Could you see if you can track down the cause and correct it?"

Nal finally notices, as the wafting fogs grows high enough to begin to obscure her rack of jumja sticks. Looking around even as she gnaws the sixth one, she listens to some Starfleet Officers attending to the problem.

"I'll get right on it, Lieutenant Clough," says Liu's voice. "Liu out."

Edwards arrives from the mall, the entrance's double doors sliding silently closed behind him.

Edwards has arrived.

Nal fumbles around and finds another of the Bajoran sweets to snack upon, onto the seventh. Apparently, she is wolfing them down with incredible speed.

Clough purses her lips together at the response, but shrugs, looking over toward Raxil. "I suppose it's the best we can do for now. At least it isn't raining acid and fire, or something equally pleasant, for a change." The week's been a good one. Really.

The bar is covered in a layer of fog that reaches up to average shoulder height.

Raxil looks down. "Ahh... Callie. I'm going to get started moving people out of here... we don't want someone to fall or something."

The clink of glasses can be heard from a far corner.

Clough arches a brow. "I'd suggest letting them stay where they are. It's fog. It isn't going to do any damage to them other than make them a little chilly and damp. And if they stay in one place, they're that much less likely to trip and fall."

Edwards strolls through the entrance and glances about. And again. Usually things don't look this odd until after he's had a few drinks. "The hell?"

Jolvan heads to the door.

Leah comes through an exit requiring an @odrop.

Leah has arrived.

Fog about a meter and a half high hangs in the NZ.

The fog shrinks now, but not to the ground. Instead, the fog seems to be gathering into a spot near one of the corners of the room.

Raxil nods. "I suppose you have a point." He turns to look at Edwards. "We're thinking environmental malfunction... Engineering's looking into it."

Clough stays put on her stool at the bar, sipping her drink calmly. Like she said, it's fog, big deal. She spots Edwards. "Environmental system malfunction--- or not." she cuts herself off, watching the fog.

Jolvan heads out and into the Mall.

Jolvan has left.

Raxil frowns, following Callie's gaze and twisting awkwardly. "What the?"

Nal continues to eat, oblivious. Nine, now.

Edwards uhs and looks toward the corner where the fog seems to be congregating. Or something like that. As he does so, he steps away from the entrance. Wouldn't want to be rude and block it. "Did anyone call engineering?" he asks.

Tait runs for the door in extreme uneccessary fear!

Tait heads out and into the Mall.

Tait has left.

Leah enters at her normal pace, stopping near the entrance as she spots Edwards. Straightening to attention, she watches as Tait speeds past her, then looks at what Edwards is staring at.

"They're working on it," is Callie's reply. "No word back yet, however." Her attention is entirely on the fog now, watching it rather like one would watch a movie. Absently, she pops another piece of fruit into her mouth.

A tellarite makes his way past. The exit parts for him and he disappears into the mall.

As the fog converges itself around a Klingon, two other Klingons sitting at the table stand up and watch it wearily. The first Klingon looks a little bewildered, as he does not see the fog wrapping around him at such close range.

Edwards blinks a few times and shakes his head. Slowly, he wanders toward the bar, and raises an eyebrow at Clough, "You think we might all just be hallucinating?"

Clough sighs, still watching the show. "There's a case of pneumonia waiting to happen," she muses. But really, what can you do to chase away a fog? "You know, if this is just standard mist, bright light should be able to burn it off." She shakes her head, smiling. "With what I've seen lately, I wouldn't be surprised, but no. I think we're really seeing what's there."

Leah stares at the fog for a few more moments, never having seen anything like it. Shaking her head she walks towards the bar, taking the nearest open seat.

A female engineer walks in with a small engineering kit in one hand. She seems rather surprised when she sees the fog.

Clough catches the engineer out of the corner of her eye and turns her attention to her briefly. "Any indication of a malfunction in engineering, Ensign (or whatever her rank is)?" From the sound of her voice, she thinks it unlikely.

Raxil turns, watching the ensign as he leans against the bar.

Edwards turns and regards the engineer. Hey, it's a lady. He decides to watch quietly for now and see what's going on.

The engineer shakes her head, still watching the fog, "No... Nothing like this is registering in Engineering." She frowns, then heads over to a console.

Blutox looks on the assembled crowd with a stoic expression.

The fog thickens to the point where the Klingon it is surrounding nearly disappears behind a sheet of white. The Klingon sees it now, and is swiping his hands about. "What is this!?" he growls.

Nal finally polishes off the last of her dozen jumja sticks, and sits back.

Leah frowns and stands, then looks to Edwards, addressing him, "Sir... Should we move the civilians away from that stuff?"

Clough nods, "I thought that might be the case. Let us know if you find anything, Ensign." She then turns her attention onto the fog-shrouded Klingon and slides off her stool to head in his direction. "Don't be alarmed. It is, as far as we can determine, fog. How do you feel? A bit chilled, I would expect, but beyond that?" For the time being, she forgets the rest of the patrons at her back.

Nal looks around and, like a person emerging from a haze, finally begins to see what's going on. Too full to really move, she sits and observes for now.

Edwards comments to himself, "I think it likes him." With a glance toward Leah, he states, "It's just fog."

"On a space station, sir?" Leah asks, perking an eyebrow.

"Bah!" the Klingon shouts. "This isn't fog. Fog doesn't do this!" He takes out a dagger and begins swinging it around himself. The other two Klingons distance themselves from their companion.

Raxil shrugs, looking over at Leah. "You can get fog on a space station... it's nicer than the alternative things that can happen when Environmental goes screwy."

Edwards remarks, "I heard that there was a cold front moving up from the Dream Factory. Nothing to worry about."

Clough sighs, shaking her head and trying again. "Sir, what are you going to do? Whatever it is, it is not a /physical/ entity. Your blade won't hurt it, so why try and take the chance of hurting yourself or one of your companions?"

The Klingon growls again and jams his dagger into the table. "Then get it off me your way, Starfleet!"

A Bajoran starts arguing about the Cardassian occupation with the man he is sitting near.

Shaking her head, the engineer says, "Not registering here either. Nothing is wrong according to these readings." She then reaches into her kit and takes out a tricorder.

"Could we do a site to site beam out?" Leah asks, moving towards the klingon to lend him whatever assistance she can.

Raxil grins slightly, standing. "What about a vacuum?"

Clough nods, at least satisfied that the Klingon has put down his weapon. She turns to look over at Edwards. "Ideas?" She cuts her eyes over at Raxil with a smirk.

Edwards takes a wild stab in the dark, "Why doesn't he just move to a different table?"

Leah glances to the fog-wrapped klingon. "Try moving a short distance, sir... Let's see if it'll let loose."

Nal watches with interest from her perch at the bar, contented and full, lacking most of her typical Bajoran intensity.

As the Klingon stomps away from where he was standing, the thick fog condenses and forms a layer of water around him. His eyes go wide as his air supply is cut off.

"It's fog alright," says the engineer as she stares at her tricorder with furrowed eyebrows. "Wait, no, it's liquid water now."

"Most water /is/ liquid," Callie comments before she can stop herself. "But whatever it is, we have to get him out of there. He's got roughly three minutes, and that's if he took a breath before he lost the chance."

Raxil's brow furrows. "What about a partial containment field? Get it sweeping down from oh... two meters?"

Several Starfleet Ensigns make their way out, heading back on duty.

Edwards erks at the change, "I think it likes him a little too much." He glances at the assembled officers quickly, "Just evaporate it. We need a phaser or something."

Clough shakes her head, "Most likely, that would serve only to electrocute the Klingon inside even if it /did/ evaporate the water. Pity there's no scuba gear lying around. It's like a virus, I think. We need to find a way to remove or destroy it without harming the host."

The Klingon doubles over and begins struggling with little results.

Raxil glances at Edwards, then at Clough. "What about scavengers? Hyper-absorbent materials?"

The other two Klingons reach for their holsters, only to remember that they were not allowed to carry energy weapons around and thus did not have their disruptors.

Edwards suggests, "Maybe we ought to do something before he suffocates to death. Scavengers?"

Raxil thinks a moment, before shaking his head. "No... they'd take too long to get. But I think we can get some scuba gear..."

Nal is becoming concerned by the Klingon's distress, and hops off the stool, coming over and commenting, "It went liquid when he moved. What happens if he goes back to his former spot?"

Leah shakes her head at the sight of the klingon, reaching for a phaser that isn't at her waist currently. She frowns, then nods in agreement with Nal as she speaks. "If he stabalizes it'll give us more time to get him out of it."

Clough purses her lips, but nods, "It's worth a try. He needs air, and if he doesn't get it soon..." She shrugs.

Edwards mutters, "We'll look like idiots." He moves to approach the Klingon, "Help me out here..." With a little hesitation, he reaches out to grab an arm and pull him back to his former spot.

"Unfortunately, I don't think he'll be able to get back on his own." Leah says, then starts forward to help Edwards.

Raxil hastens forward as well.

The Klingon's motions are starting to get weaker, though he is still struggling on the ground to get the layer of water off of him. As Leah and Edwards get a hold of the Klingon, the water slides up Edwards' arms.

The din of the bar gets strangely quiet. Then someone laughs, and the silence is broken, returning the Zone to a counterpoint chorus of voices.

Edwards freezes as the water takes a liking to him. "Oh crap." he remarks. "Someone get me a blowtorch!"

Raxil brings himself up short. "Callie... could we do a site-to-site to the Dream Factory?"

As the watery substance slips off of the Klingon, it climbs higher and higher up Edwards' arm. It is now nearly at his shoulder.

Clough inclines her head, "I would assume so. What program are you thinking of?" She cuts herself off again and shakes her head, "Nevermind. We'll try it."

"Lieutenant! Try letting go, sir...." Leah says, a tinge of worry in her voice. She keeps her grip on the klingon, despite the response of the liquid fog.

Edwards releases his grip on the Klingon and waves his arms around frantically. The last thing he wants is to be slowly suffocated by a watery parasite. "Let's not panic now, people1" he comments.

The water does not shake loose even after Edwards has released the Klingon. A bridge of water connects the Klingon to Edwards as it continues transferring itself from one to the other.

Clough smirks at Edwards' flailing while calling for calm. She taps her pin once more. "Lieutenant Clough to Transporter room."

The din of the bar gets strangely quiet. Then someone laughs, and the silence is broken, returning the Zone to a counterpoint chorus of voices.

"Transporter Room 1 here," a male voice says over Clough's combadge.

Clough does a quick headcount of those directly involved before responding, "We need to transport eight from the Neutral Zone to Holosuite 2. Lt. Edwards, Leah, Raxil, and myself as well as three Klingon males and a Bajoran female." They're all involved, after all, who knows if they'd come running in if they got left out, anyway.

"Uh...sir?" asks the voice over the combadge.

Edwards stops flailing about, since it isn't help him, and is hurting his manly reputation. Damnit. "I'm never going to drink a glass of water ever again." he mutters.

Nal contributes, "And shouldn't the Neutral Zone be sealed off so nothing else stumbles upon this entity, or it drifts into some other part of the station?" A little brazen, giving suggestions to Starfleet officers, but Nal doesn't seem to mind.

The water envelopes itself around Edwards' body, but not around his head - not yet, at least.

"It doesn't have to make sense. Just do it." She looks over toward Raxil, commenting quietly enough that it won't be picked up by the badge, "And I hope like hell you have a plan once we get there, Tobin."

Raxil looks a little uncertain. "Uhh... sort of."

Leah let's go of the klingon, not giving up on him, but needing to do something rather than nothing. She starts ordering the civilians out, "Every one out, now."

Edwards looks mildly relieved when the water decides to not suffocate him for now. "Um... crazy idea here. Might this be some sort of lifeform?" he inquires.

Blutox looks on the assembled crowd with a stoic expression.

"Um, okay, sir," says the voice over the combadge. "Locking on."

Nal looks at Leah, as if wondering whether that pertains to her, when she's been scheduled for transport now by Clough.

Edwards' arms move around again, erractically. His legs begin to take a step forward...both of them at the same time, which only served to make him fall on his back.

The selected eight are surrounded by a beam of blue light.

All eight rematerialize in Holodeck 2. The water is still on Edwards, who is in turn lying on his back.

"Ow." Edwards mutters. "Okay, now this is seriously disturbing. I can't move."

Raxil looks around, finally asking "Computer: create a basic underwater breathing apparatus, then place it on Lieutenant Edwards.

The downed Klingon is still a bit weak, with his two companions standing over him.

The light around Edwards bends for half a second before a suit appears over his entire body. The water cannot be seen any longer, but the suit bulges every now and then in the body section.

Edwards' arms and legs wave around awkwardly.

Edwards sighs. This isn't his idea of a good time. "Computer, get rid of the suit." he orders. "People, this isn't time for fun and games. Why the hell are my limbs moving?"

Raxil looks baffled. "You... aren't doing it?"

Edwards' holographic suit phases out and the water can, once again, be seen surrounding his body. After the arms and legs wave around a bit more, Edwards finally gets back on his feet and slowly, awkwardly, walks toward Raxil.

Nal stands back, out of her element and not wanting to be next to be infected, er... affected.

Leah looks down with a grimace at Edwards, then starts to back up as he stands. "Uh oh..."

Edwards grunts and attempts to exert control over his own body, "I'm not the only one who's thinking lifeform here, people, am I?"

Clough is studious as she watches the water around Edwards. "It doesn't seem to think - not on any level I can understand, but I would have to agree with your earlier suggestion, Lieutenant. It's life of some type. And if I had to guess, I'd say it's learning." She sighs, "Not that that gives us any indication of how to stop it."

Raxil backs up, eyeing Edwards. "Waait... this is just water... right? Water's inanimate!"

Edwards stumbles a few times, but he continues to get back up and inch his way toward Raxil.

Nal backs up as Edwards advances. "Perhaps... I'd better go," she says, to nobody in particular.

Raxil continues backing up, glancing behind him at the nearing wall. "Ideas? Anyone? I'm really not in the mood for a swim..."

The Klingon gets back on his feet. After staring at the watery form around Edwards with angry eyes, he and the other two Klingons head over to the exit.

Edwards gives up, since it seems to be hopelessly futile, "We need to try and communicate with it somehow. Clough?"

Clough continues to watch. "Create a holographic clone of yourself and see if it's as interested in that as it is you?" This is said to Raxil, then she replies to Edwards. "Thus far, there has been nothing to communicate /with/."

Nal starts to follow the Klingons unobtrusively. Let Starfleet handle Starfleet, her demeanor seems to suggest. Brave she may be, but possessing water spirits aren't exactly something one encounters every day.

Edwards' outreached arm is just a couple of meters from the Trill and the gap is continuing to close.

"If it's an organism, perhaps there is a way to poison it... or at least weaken it, so it can be removed." Leah frowns and closes the gap between her and Edwards, placing herself between him and Raxil.

Raxil glances to Clough. "Nice idea." he says wryly. "Computer, create a duplicate of me about three meters to my left."

A holographic replica of Raxil appears not far from her, but by that time Edwards' outreached hand has clasped onto Leah's shoulder.

"Starfleet's mission is not to seek new life and poison it, Leah." Edwards replies. He still pronounces it 'le-ah'. "We need to think outside the box. It can't be that hard. Maybe it's a parasite or something. Shouldn't that help us?"

Nal steps out of the holodeck.

Nal has left.

"I didn't mean poison to kill, Lt.... just to weaken. All lifeforms have a weakness." Leah replies, frowning at his mis-pronunciation of her name.

The water begins to transfer from Edwards to Leah.

Clough's eyes slit as Leah steps between Raxil and Edwards. "I would say this one's is its inability to think and communicate." She shakes her head, "It reminds me almost of an amoeba. Single-celled and unthinking. It is phagocytic. All it can do is eat. Maybe it's looking for food?" She looks around the group. "It apparently hasn't found anything it likes yet."

Leah quips, a bit nervously now, "Try chocolate."

Edwards glowers at the water-like thing, even if it extracting itself. "There must be something about us that attracts it." he observes. "Heat?"

As the water leaves Edwards' body, not a trace of it is left behind. His clothes are completely dry.

Raxil shrugs. "Water, even." He looks at Edwards. "Does your skin feel any different?"

Clough takes note of Edwards' state when the thing leaves him. She frowns lightly, musing. "It's... water surrounded by a semi-permeable membrane. That is exactly what we are, though we have more inner components than this thing does, I'd suspect. Maybe it's the likeness that draws it to us. I wonder how it would feel about a Cardassian..."

Edwards flexes his muscles and shakes his head, "I feel as normal as I usually do." He watches the water thing move over Leah warily, "Make one, Doctor."

The water envelopes Leah's body below the neck, and her arms begin to move around and her legs being to walk around the room, a little faster and more steady than before.

Raxil nods, pursing his lips. "That's a pretty fast learning curve."

"My suspicion is that it might be somewhat repelled by a Cardassian. Their water content is considerably less than any of ours. If we want to get it off of her, I don't know that that's the best way to go about it." Callie nods to herself. "But that /is/ what's happening. If we could teach it communication, this would all go much more smoothly."

Leah has reconnected.

Leah has partially disconnected.

Edwards comments, "It must have realized that it was hurting the Klingon, and how. That's why it didn't cover my face or hers." He stands back and continues to watch it, "Maybe we should just let it learn? It hasn't done anything remotely hostile since."

Clough arches a brow. "Do you plan to keep the holodeck staffed constantly so that it always has a subject to learn from? We need a way to transfer information into it - in a form it understands - in large quantities."

Leah's knees bend right before her body flies into the air with a jump.

Leah 's nose crinkles as the water covers her. "I really hope it doesn't get too........ ooo...." that last bit gets cut off as she finds herself jumping.

Raxil frowns. "Problem?"

Edwards gives Clough a look, "It seems to be learning quickly. I didn't mean let's leave it alone indefinitely. But we can give it some time now."

"And if it, for instance, decides to see why Ensign Leah's knees don't bend in the /other/ direction?" She looks over at Raxil's clone. "Well, it /would/ be helpful if we knew what it was about us that attracted it so." She frowns, then speaks up, "Computer, raise body temperature of Lieutenant Raxil's hologram seven degrees above normal."

The holographic image looks unchanged as energy is added to it to make it warmer.

After moving around in various other fashions, Leah's legs being to run across the room, heading towards the opposite wall. She crashes into the wall at a fast pace and the water splashes everywhere.

Edwards winces, "Okay, maybe you have a point."

Leah hits the wall with a thud, then falls to the floor. A moment later she raises her head, groaning before giving it a good shake to make sure it's still attached.

Clough steps automatically towards Leah, ignoring the puddles around the Ensign. She's a doctor first, and scientist second. "Ensign Leah? Are you alright?"

Water streams down the wall and is pooling along the ground. Stray drops of water along the floor move of their own accord toward the growing pool.

Raxil scurries after her, doing his best to keep from getting his boots wet. "If this keeps going on, maybe we should put some padding up..."

"Fine... I think..." Leah rubs her head once before starting to stand and take a few steps away from the gathering puddle.

Edwards turns his attention to water, since he can't do much to help Leah.

Most of the water has collected itself back into a pool on the ground, which starts to head toward the door.

Clough does a quick field examination of Leah as she stands, checking her pupils and balance. "You'll live, anyway." With her attention on the Ensign, she doesn't notice where the water is headed.

Clough says this to Leah in a light-hearted tone.

Edwards uhs, "It's getting away. Computer, place a level ten containment field over the entrance."

Raxil has been paying enough attention to avoiding the water that he does notice where it's headed. "And I sure hope it doesn't get angry about not going out to play."

A flash and a buzz over the door signifies that a containment field has been erected. The water continues to move toward the door until stopped by the field. It then starts to push itself against it, making the field crackle a bit.

Leah watches where the water's gone and decides that she's better off staying away from it for a moment, since it did just run her into a wall.

A thin layer of fog forms over the water.

Raxil eyes it. "It doesn't seem to be going for the duplicate... interesting."

Clough turns her head to watch, offering Leah a hand should she require it for stability. She frowns and looks around the room again. "Now do you see why we need to communicate? If it runs free through the ship, who knows what will happen." She narrows her eyes at the fog.

"Perhaps we should leave this thing in here and communicate with it from outside?" Leah suggests, "It was hurtling me around like I was a puppet."

Edwards comments, "I think it was just trying to figure out how to work you, Le-ah."

The fog becomes thick and large as the pool of water diminishes in size.

"Perhaps I didn't like it doing that, sir. I felt violated." Leah replies before eyeing the fog.

Clough sighs, "I'm certain it was unpleasant, Ensign. I don't doubt that you didn't like it. But I believe what Lieutenant Edwards is trying to express is that it's unfair to blame it. You wouldn't blame a toddler for pulling your hair, would you? It doesn't know any better. And essentially, neither does this 'thing'."

The water has completely turned into gas. The containment field again crackles.

Raxil nods, musing.

The fog seems incapable of pushing past the containment field, and again condenses into water - this time is the form of a four-legged animal.

"A toddler wouldn't run me into a wall." Leah says camly before shrugging her shoulders. "But, if you don't think it meant to..."

Raxil whistles. "Now, where'd it pick that up?"

Edwards raises an eyebrow, "Curiouser and curiouser." He glances toward the others and inquires, "Think it wants to play fetch?"

Raxil squats on his heels, eyeing the water-quadruped. "I'm more interested in -how- it thought of using four legs..."

The form, resembling something like a large, predatory cat, lops to the far side of the room, then charges the door.

Leah takes a step or two away from the 'cat,' and suggests, "Perhaps it's a Changeling?... A Founder?"

With a few meters left before reaching the door, the racing form jumps up with its forepaws extended as if catching a prey, and splashes everywhere once again as it crashes into the field.

Raxil frowns. "Never heard of them taking gaseous form." He winces as the kitty splashes against the door.

Clough frowns, "It... could be possible, perhaps. But why is it... trying to break free in such a manner? It clearly doesn't understand the containment field. I would think the Founders would have more understanding than that."

The water pulls itself back together into a puddle.

"It could be a baby... a child wouldn't understand either." Leah says, making sure to keep well clear of the water puddle.

Edwards observes, "Could be something akin to a Founder, but not the same thing."

The puddle rises up and takes the form of a Klingon with a dagger.

The form slashes at the containment field with its water dagger to little effect. It looks at the four of you and waves its arms wildly about.

Clough suggests, "The four-legged creature could, perhaps, be something it encountered before it encountered us? That is almost certainly the first creature it encountered after we first noticed it."

Raxil looks at the other three before stepping forward towards the water-Klingon, tentatively raising an open hand.

Edwards arches an eyebrow at Raxil, "Yes, step forward and make yourself a target."

The watery form of a Klingon is still waving its arms about, stabbing at the containment field every once in a while.

Raxil glances back. "Better than just standing around and talking..." he comments.

Clough smirks, "The alternative is to stand and watch it until it decides to turn its attacks on us, as Tobin suggests."

Leah shakes her head, and speaks to Raxil, "No, really... it isn't, Doctor. We could all beam out of here and leave this thing in here, we can study it in safety at least."

When Raxil does not do anything other than raise his palm up, the watery form jumps and swipes at the Trill.

Raxil contests his Dodge skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Fails!

Edwards grunts, "You just like to be contrary, Doctor."

Raxil grunts as the water-thing's arm smashes into his side; he's thrown to the ground about a half-meter away with a muffled grunt, arm pressed against his side.

Leah clearly doesn't want to stick around, but she knows her duties... she won't leave while the others stay. She moves into a position to cover Raxil, using a defensive posture from her Starfleet Martial Arts training (tm).

Clough smirks, "It's what I live for, Lieutenant." She then, again, heads toward her felled comrade to check him over for anything more serious than a bruised abdomen. "I take it the thing isn't friendly anymore." she comments with a sigh.

As Leah approaches, the being loses its Klingon form, looking simply as a nondescript humanoid without a head. It swings its arms back, then push them forward as a powerful rush of water surges toward the security officer.

Edwards moves toward Raxil and glances over him as Clough checks him out. "Doesn't look like it." he remarks... And now it's doing something else. "Leah!"

Leah contests her Dodge skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!

Leah gets pushed back and into the wall, hitting it once more..... She sees stars for a few moments, shaking her head furiously to try to break out of the daze.

The water immediately draws itself back together.

Raxil slowly and painfully gets to his feet, heading over to check on Leah. "Callie... can we go now?"

Clough looks up from Raxil and sighs, catching Edwards' eye, "Alright, Ensign Leah and Tobin are right. We need to decide what we're going to do and do it, or else get out of here. We can't keep this up forever."

Edwards frowns slightly, "I'm no scientist. I haven't a clue as to what we should do. So let's go." He slaps his commbadge, "Edwards to Transporter Room One."

"Transporter Room One here," a male voice answers over Edwards' combadge.

The water creature moves toward the group.

Edwards orders quickly, "Site-to-site transport myself, Ensign Leah and Doctors Clough and Raxil to the Dream Factory's main room. Now."

Leah slumps against the wall, then pushes off and starts to move forward to defend Clough and Raxil again, blinking her eyes a few times. "Packs quite a punch for some H, two, O."

Raxil grabs Leah's shoulder. "And I don't think you want a rematch."

"Yes, sir," a male voice says over Edwards' combadge.

"They question me, but not you. How's that fair?" she asks under her breath of Edwards while waiting for the beaming to commence.

The form enlarges and the exterior crystallizes. It quickly transforms in a giant ape-like creature made out of ice.

The ice ape raises both fists over its head, ready to bring it crashing down on Clough.

Raxil looks up. "Callie!" he yells.

As it begins its swing, a blue light surrounds each of the Starfleet officers. The doctor dematerializes right before the fists of ice come down and damage the holodeck floor.