Messenger in a Bottle Part II
Episode Name: Messenger In A Bottle Part 2
Written By: Journey
Cast: Blair, Clough, Golden, Idrani, Journey, Klaer, Leah, P'Trell,
Rivers, Semok and Zian.
Produced By: Starfleet
Directed By: Journey
Aired On: Wed Jun 12 01:59:19 2002
Stardate: 52406.1
Time: Tue Jun 11 22:48:18 2002
Stardate: 52405.8
We fade from black into the Cargo Bay, a bustle with activity. Sitting on the transporter pad is a a cylindrical hexagon, 2 feet long and half a foot in diameter at the top. This strange device which was brought on board 18 hours ago is sitting on the Cargo Transport Padd surrounded by a shimmering quarantinte force field. Junior security officers stand guard around the field at the cardinal points, nervously watching as junior science officers are taking readings with their tricorders and conferring their few findings. The onl thing they can agree to is that the power fluctuations within the artifact has stabelized since being brought on board.
Blair steps through the doors from the corridor, and the doors loudly clang shut behind him.
Blair has arrived.
Zian reveals her Tricorder.
Leah reveals her Tricorder.
Leah reveals her Type I Phaser.
Idrani isn't far from the science officers, likewise scanning with a tricorder.
Leah crosses the cargo bay hurriedly, her relatively short hair curling haphazardly in every direction. She gives one of the junior security officers an apologetic look, "I'm sorry... I know what time it is." The officer doesn't wait around but hurries out of the bay.
Zian enters the cargo bay, pulling out her tricorder as she makes her way toward the contained pod. "Any news?" she asks the crowd at large, her dark gaze moving from her tricorder, to the pod itself, to the other Starfleet officers nearby.
Golden quietly consults with some the junior security personnel, giving the item the occassional suspicious look.
Semok stands near the science officers with his hands laying at his sides. The Vulcan quietly observes the container and remains silent.
P'Trell strolls in tricorder in hand, he looks over the object then asks the room in general, "If I understand we just got this thing a few hours ago?"
Rivers, having been on duty with Golden, strolls in slightly behind him. She takes in the assembled group silently, paying special attention to the junior security officers guarding the object and making sure all is well there.
Blair remains off towards the side of the room and watches the proceedings quietly. His own hand palms his tricorder but does not begin taking readings. "Affirmative, sir."
one of the junior science officers, a Bolian ensign named Gorm, steps back from teh field and the thing it contains, letting out an explosive sigh. He looks over at P'trell and nods. "Aye, sir. About 18 hours ago. She was drifting in a debris field trailing an extrasolar cometary fragment. Damndest thing I have ever seen.. perdon my language sir."
Golden motions for Leah to join himself and Rivers with a curling pinky gesture.
P'Trell arches a snowy eyebrow at Gorm. "Nifty. Any idea what she is?"
Leah nods to Rivers and Golden, then realizes she's left her collar undone. Fixing that, she moves closer to them, giving the senior security officers a look. "What is this thing we're guarding, sir... ma'am?"
Gorm sighs and shakes his head. "None, sir. She seems to be a container of somesort.. We can pick up power fluctiations from inside and what appears to be a matter stream of some sort, containing orgainic particulates.. but thats about it."
Idrani comments to P'trell, "The material composite of this casing is rather odd. I could not estimate its age with any accuracy, but it appears to be a few hundred years old, at least. We could take samples to the Social Sciences lab and come up with something more conclusive."
P'Trell says "Any idea as to what sort of organic material we're dealing with? Plant, animal, Laco?"
Rivers glances to Leah with a nod. "Some kind of probe, I believe." She falls silent, listening to the scientists talk.
Golden looking to Leah, he says, "Something they picked up in passage... Ops made the call. Apprently it came from the direction of the Neutral Zone 300 years ago... 2075ish... hmmmm. Your thoughts?" He says to Rivers.
Zian lowers her tricorder, squinting slightly as she gazes at the pod through the shimmering forcefield. "Has anyone been able to detect any sort of markings or anything on the hull? Anything at all that might identify where the thing came from, who made it?" She frowns faintly. "That soot it's covered in may be concealing them..."
P'Trell begins taking tricorder readings of his own.
Gorm shakes his head. "Not that I can safely conjecture, sure. The matter isn't in any constituted state.. It's existing in phase between plasmatic matter and energy." He then looks over at Zian. "If you want to take a security detail in the field and clean it, be my guest."
Idrani glances at Zian, "I do not know if it has been cleared for close contact. If it is, I will take a closer look at it with you."
Leah seems content with Golden's brief explanation and returns to checking her uniform and her gear, making sure her phaser isn't set to kill, that kind of stuff.
Zian looks over to P'Trell, one brow arched questioningly.
Rivers appears rather lost in thought, watching people pour over the 'thing'.
P'Trell says "Well Zian I don't know about officially but I intend to
have close contact with the thing until we figure out what it is so I don't see
why you and a security cleaning type team shouldn't as well."
Idrani comments, "Sometimes, you need to get your hands dirty. Do you
want me to assist, sir?"
Golden extracts his tricorder and flips it open, beginning to scan the
"probe" for indicators that would match what he might expect from a
weapon from the 21st century, back when Romulans and Feds used nuclear missiles.
P'Trell looks at his tricorder, "Now there's something you don't see
every day."
Zian quirks a grin at P'Trell. "Understood, sir. Do you want me to run
down to the lab and get some archaeology equipment? I want to clean the thing
off... but carefully. I don't want to damage whatever's underneath that
soot."
P'Trell says "Brilliant idea Zian, it's almost as though you're a mind
reader. Better yet, have somebody run it up to you."
Zian laughs softly. "They don't call me 'that Betazoid woman' for
nothing, sir." she responds, withdrawing somewhat from the crowd to hail
someone from the social sciences lab, requesting the appropriate equipment.
Golden looks a bit excited at the indicators then realizes he's just picking
up the containment field and closes his tricorder.
A few minutes later, two junior science officers from teh Archeology
department enter teh Bay, wheeling in a few boxes of equipment on an anti-grav
pallet. They spot Zian and bring it to her. "Your equipment, ensign."
P'Trell says "This thing has some sort of memory core and a really
sophisticated quantum imager."
Moving closer to P'Trell, Golden asks him, "Like some sort of
communications system? Like those new holographic projection communicators they
have on the PDD vessels?"
Leah finishes with her self-inspection and decides to speak up, looking to
Zian, "I'll volunteer to go in there with you."
P'Trell says "Somethng like that but it also has this wierd looped
matter stream that I can't figure out just yet."
Idrani begins looking over the archaeology equipment brought up from social
sciences. She glances up, hearing P'trell. "Sir, you think we should call
in a Demolitions specialist, just in case?"
GAME: P'Trell spends a courage point.
Zian smiles at the pair as they drop off the equipment. "Thanks,
fellas." she acknowledges them with a wave. "Idrani, want to give me a
hand with this?" she calls out to her Andorian friend, before looking over
at the security officer who spoke up. "Sure thing."
still talking with P'Trell he says, "Looped Matter Stream? Like a
Transporter Buffer?" Hearing Idrani's question he looks at Dana ands says,
"Who's doing E.O.D.?"
P'Trell looks to Golden, "Couldn't tell you just yet." he grins.
"But I'm sure I'll be able to in a bit. I'm clever like that."
Idrani nods to Zian, "Certainly, Ensign."
Golden crosses his arms to await what develops for now.
P'Trell continues to scan and cross reference data from the object with
existing data of probes used by various cultures.
Zian nods at Idrani, and begins pushing the antigrav with the archaeological
equipment toward the forcefield. After a few steps, she pauses, looking to
P'Trell and asking, "Sir, are you detecting any sort of
radiation...anything that would necessitate protective environmental suits or
anything like that, before we go in there?"
Idrani steps up next to Zian, prepared to enter the containment field with
her.
P'Trell shakes his head,"Nothing too interesting ensign."
One of the junior Security officers stands by at the controll consoole for
teh transporter, hand poised over the quarantine field console. "I can drop
the field whenever any of you order." he states.
Zian's lips pull down in a faint frown. "Is there any way to make the
field...ahh...semipermeable, I suppose is the word I'm looking for. Like the
forcefield that keeps the air in, when shuttles leave the shuttle bay? I think
I'd prefer it if we could walk through the field to get to it to do our work,
and still keep it encased in the forcefield while we're in there, just in
case... no need to put the rest of you, or the rest of the station, at risk. We
still don't know what we're dealing with, here."
Golden "I believe I can help with that Ensign, you would just need to
convert the field from the current containment vector to that used for surgical
field containment...if you would like?
Moving over a bit to get a better view, Rivers sidesteps just as her compin
chirps. "Ensign Davis to Lt jg Rivers." Dana sighs and taps the badge,
answering, "Rivers here." Davis's voice comes quickly in reply.
"Lieutenant, we need you down here on the mall level, Sir." Dana
answers that she's on her way, nods to Leah and the others before turning to
leave the cargo bay. "Make sure that thing doesn't bite," she says to
Leah before heading out.
Rivers heads out, and the doors slide shut with a heavy clang.
Rivers has left.
Leah moves towards Zian and Idrani, lining up to the side of them. She waits
for the forcefield preparations to be made.
. o O Idrani thinks "Maybe I should go get my hrisal. (with humor)"
P'Trell says "Be careful."
The Field's shimmering and audible oscillation change as the new parameters
are set into it's matrix so it is permeable from the outside by phyisical
matter. The status light on Golden's console bleeps green, indicating teh
transition is a success."
Golden says "You may now enter the field."
Zian nods briefly at Golden, smiling slightly. "Please do,
Lieutenant." Her dark eyes turn to P'Trell with a smile. "We will,
sir. Let's go." With that, she takes ahold of the antigrav sled and begins
to move toward the pod once more.
Idrani walks in beside Zian, keeping the equipment between them. She attempts
to get another tricorder reading from inside the containment field.
P'Trell watches the events unfold with an look of rapt fascination on his
face.
Leah slips through the field, hand absently shifting to her phaser. She gives
the thing a curious look, "Where should we start?"
Zian lets go of the antigrav once they're through the field, and begins
slowly circling the pod, getting a good, up close look at it. "Idrani,
please make sure you get a complete scan of the outer hull... gotta have some
good before-and-after shots to show off, once we clean up this baby. Leah, you
start on that other end and look over the pod very carefully... see if you can
spot any likely areas where we should start cleaning. Look for possible control
panels, markings... anything you can find."
P'Trell says "Are your tricorders picking up anything different inside
the field then we are outside of it?"
Leah nods to Zian and starts searching the artifact carefully, lips pursing
in concentration as she does so.
Idrani peers at her tricorder. "And please, Ensign Leah, do not touch
the item, at this point." She answers P'Trell, then "I am picking up
the memory core you had mentioned earlier, sir. It does have power and is rather
dense."
P'Trell nods to Idrani. "Very good ensign."
Leah looks over to Zian with a slight grin, "And that was just what I
was going to do...." After another few moments of looking, she says,
"There's nothing... just some superficial pockmarks."
Golden whispers to P'Trell, ""Don't worry sir, there is still a
chance something will go horribly wrong and our atoms will be spread across
creation, an explosive footnote to your flamboyant career.""
As if words carry any portents of future doom, or lack thereof, Tricorders
start beepiong alerts.. There is a slight powerbuildup in the artifact's memory
core as long dormant systems automatically go online... as if the team's new
closeness to teh object has triggered something.
Clough directs the nurses ahead of her, following as she continues her
assessment of the hovering group. Eventually, she gives a single nod and
retrieves her tricorder, essentially dismissing everything except the
"patient" now in her care.
. o O Klaer thinks "Doctor... Clough.. a healer? Help me!"
Zian moves back to let the medics work, but she still remains somewhat
nearby, her gaze intent upon the alien.
Idrani keeps out of the way of the medical staff, prepared to follow them
when they take the patient to sickbay.
P'Trell lurks nearby but is silent as the med team gets to business.
Golden goes back to the console to try and see what went wrong, and how those
bracers were able to penetrate the containment grid in the first place.
. o O Zian projects "Yes, she can help you. And she is one of my
people...she can communicate with you mind-to-mind, as we are, if need be... if
it is too taxing for you to attempt to speak aloud. Do others of your race share
this ability, Klaer?"
Semok takes his leave and lets the medical team handle Klaer's health.
. o O Klaer thinks "We speak in song... think in song. In
patterns."
Klaer opens his eyes once more and takes a deep breath. "Find my
family.. please. Let our song survice.." and with that he passes out.
P'Trell says "Doc, is there anything we can do to help or would we be
more useful getting out of your way?"
Golden pauses in his work at those words, looking at the alien with empathy
for a moment before looking back at the console.
Zian sighs softly, looking down at Klaer. "I wish I could make that
promise." Her eyes raise to look at Clough. "Please, cousin... tell me
you weren't shielding. Did you get all of that?"
. o O Golden feels sorry for the ancient warrior.
Clough kneels beside the creature and watches her tricorder's screen flash
information at her. Hardly looking up, she nods at Zian. "What are your
people called?" she asks, apparently of the alien, her voice tuned gentle
and soft, melodious after a fashion.
Idrani remains silent, watching the alien and the medical team work. It is
going to be a long night in sickbay.
. o O Projecting, Clough's response is directed solely at her cousin, "I
am not blocking, but I would hear this song he has lost. Do we know what he is?
All I can determine for certain at this time is that he is both male, and
injured."
P'Trell says "Dr. CLough?"
Clough's head turns slightly toward the science chief, though her eyes vary
no farther than her tricorder and the alien it is scanning. "Yes?" To
her nurses, she directs, "Transfer him to the gurney. He is stable enough
that he does not require transport, but we can assess him better in the
Infirmary than here."
P'Trell says "Do you need any assistance or shall I have my team clear
out and let your people get him to sickbay?"
"According to the data his stasis pod uploaded into the language banks,
his people are known as the Zuuphronians." Zian answers. "If I
understood correctly... he, his mate, and his child were the last of his kind...
and he is the only one that we found, so there's no telling if the others
survived or not."
Idrani comments, "He said that there were more of his species than just
the family group."
P'Trell says "There were initially 36 pods and they were in some sort of
conflict with another race but we have no details on that as of yet."
Golden says "Yes, they were the first and the last... I think he meant
they were last survivors but some sort of ruling caste."
Zian says "I stand corrected."
And As the medics come to ease the alien into the gurney, we pull away to the
faint, subtle murmurings of a song.. one not of rage, or loss, but of something
deeper. A song crying for a better future, where one won't be alone.
