In My Head

 Episode Name:  In My Head

   Written By:  Starfleet

         Cast:  Laco and Tyler.

  Produced By:  Starfleet

  Directed By:  Starfleet

     Aired On:  Fri Sep 15 11:34:34 2002

     Stardate:  52714.3

Time: Sun Sep 15 16:41:35 2002

Stardate: 52635.6

The sickbay on the USS Aegis is dimly lit, as most of the systems are powered down due to the ship being in dock mode. When Laco enters, he spots Tyler near a biobed, the only bed illuminated. She looks up as the door open and she straightens up. "Sir," she says, giving him a nod. "Everything is prepared, if you are ready."

Laco says, "Yeah, I guess I am."

Tyler nods, the relief showing in her eyes. "Alright, then." She pats the biobed. "We've got a table reserved for you right here."

Laco grimaces at what he presumes is a joke, then heads to the table and lays down on it.

Tyler bites her lower lip as Laco gets onto the biobed. When he lays back she places her hand on his shoulder and gives him a gentle smile. She turns his head slightly away from her so she can study the crystalline structure embedded in his cheek. She asks, "Is there any pain?"

Laco says, "There is a object embedded in my face, as deep as my brain. Of course there is."

Tyler nods. "All the time? Intermittent? Where does it hurt?" she asks him.

Laco says, "All the time, like a constant splitting headache."

Tyler asks, "Are you taking anything for the pain?" She visually examines where his skin meets the crystal and pokes at it gently with her fingertip.

Laco says, "No."

"Good," replies Tyler. "Though I'd like you to talk to the infirmary about it, and perhaps get some medication if the pain becomes too intense." She taps the crystal part with her fingernail. "Do you feel that?" While he can feel the vibration of the tap, he doesn't specifically feel the nail as it touches the silicate.

Laco says, "Not really."

Tyler hmms softly and straightens up over him. "Lie back and relax," she says. She walks away from the lit bed and into the gloom, and returns pushing a cart which she starts setting up at the head of the biobed. "Any... visions?" Tyler asks.

Laco says, "Visions? My vision is fine."

"No, not your vision. Visions. Hallucinations? Nightmares? Strange dreams?" Tyler asks.

Laco says, "I had a few nightmares a while ago."

Tyler pauses in her setup of the machine. "Mind if I ask what they were about?" she asks.

Laco says, "Borg, people eating my pet beetle, my parents dissolving...stuff like that."

Tyler asks, "Did you make any logs pertaining to the dreams?"

Laco says, "No, I don't keep a personal log, only a professional one."

Tyler says, "If you have more, will you document them? It could be.. Important."

"Yes, fine." Laco says shortly.

"When I showed you the artifact.. Did you experience anything then?" Tyler asks. "Voices? Visions? Maybe an image from your past?"

Laco says, "No."

Tyler hmms thoughtfully, then goes back to setting up the machine. "I honestly didn't expect that answer. I was hoping the artifact showed you something."

Laco says, "Well, it didn't."

Tyler flips on the machine. It hums softly near Laco's head. Tyler disappears from view, then reappears by the bed a few moments later. "Well, you'll be pleased to know that the crystal is unchanged. It's not growing. But there does appear to be a subspace harmonic associated to it," she says.

Laco says, "Meaning?"

"With Lithian crystal, we've noticed a subspace harmonic. A broadcast wavelength. We're not sure sure what it's for," she says. "The crystal in your face appears to have the same subspace harmonic." Tyler hands Laco a PADD displaying a strange, circle-like image that seems to shift and change as he looks at it. "This is a two-dimensional representation. Which doesn't really do it justice. The three dimensional ones in the holodeck are more accurate. And a little more frightening."

Laco props himself up with one of his elbows, and looks at the PADD, "You find this frightning, Ensign?"

"Consider we don't know specifically what it's for, a little bit. It's hard to look a the three dimensional one," Tyler says. She asks, "Do you find it frightening?"

Laco says, "Not really. Should I?"

Tyler regards Phil and nods. "I would be. Considering we don't know what it does, what it's used for. Why it exists." She asks, "Have you seen this image? In your dreams or nightmares?"

Laco shakes his head, "No, this is the first time I've seen it."

Tyler hmms again, and frowns. "That's kind of disappointing, truth be told. I was hoping you could tell me more about it." She sighs and takes PADD back. "Oh well. Time will tell." She pauses and asks, "Phil.. How do you.. /feel/. I mean, do you feel different in any way after this? Noticed anything strange about yourself beyond the crystal?"

Laco pauses, "Well...my memory seems to be a little better..."

Tyler regards him, and asks, "Your memory? Curious. How has it improved?"

Laco shrugs, "I don't know, better. I can remember stuff much more easily. When I read something, or see something, I can recall it, exactly.

Tyler looks intrigued. She turns the PADD over in her hand and taps into it several times. She turns it around for him to look at. "Read over that. We'll test your retention skills." The PADD displays to Laco a page of complex physics formulas.

Laco reads over the formulas for half a minute, then says, "Done."

Wendy turns the PADD back over, clears it, then hands it to him. "Write out the seventh formulae, please." She continues to watch him as he works, studies him.

Laco narrows his eyes, as if scanning his thoughts, then writes out a fomula.

Tyler remains quiet until he's finished.

Laco finishes.

Tyler takes the PADD back and eyes it. "Perfect," she says. "I'd like to run some controlled tests on this when we have more time, sir. I'd like to see what your success rate is based on speed. And you say that this has happened only since the encounter?"

Laco says, "Its not something that I think I'd have overlooked until then, Ensign."

Tyler regards him for a long moment, then asks, "Would you be willing to undergo a mind meld?"

Laco shakes his head, answering immediately. "No, I would not."

Tyler protests, "Sir, we'd be able to find out so much through it."

Laco repeats himself, firmer this time, "No."

"Why not?" Tyler asks.

Laco says, "My thoughts are just that, *my* thoughts."

Tyler frowns. "Frankly, sir, I'm worried about just that. That they're not your thoughts. What if you've got some Lithian riding around inside of your head and you don't know?"

Laco says, "There are no lithians inside my head."

Tyler asks, "And how can you be so sure?"

Laco says, "Wouldn't it have done something by now if there were?"

Tyler shakes her head. "I don't know for sure. Do you?"

Laco repeats himself, "No mind melds."

Tyler asks, "As a scientist, Lt, would you not ask the same of me, if our roles were reversed?"

Laco makes no reply.

Wendy whispers quietly, "You know you would." She frowns and turns to turn off the scanner at Laco's head. "We're done for today," she says. "I'll work up a schedule of memory batteries and we'll proceed that way."

Laco slides off the table, and heads for the door silently.

Tyler watches his back as he leaves. She doesn't say anything either.

Laco steps out of the room and into the corridor.

Laco has left.