The Hungry Caterpillar

Posted on 26 Mar 2013 @ 4:46pm by Lieutenant Kiri Cho
Edited on on 26 Mar 2013 @ 4:49pm

3,341 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: LTjg Liyar's Office
Timeline: MD4 1400

Hover over Latin for translations.

ON:

Kiri was trying. She had an entire sense of self to find and little real guidance on how to do that other than doing it. What would help her, what would be a mistake? How could she mitigate the risks? What kind of person would she end up being? Did she had a choice in that? But Athlen said she had to take risks, being completely open was something she couldn't do. More open than before. Accepting that right now. Maybe nobody liked her, then at least it couldn't get worse right? The idea of that made her chin wobble though, she should focus on the mission. The data that had come in from the first away mission that was, she was outside Liyar's office.

She hadn't spoken to him since she had ran away, before everyone had started saying the same things to her. Dawn had said he wouldn't have meant to hurt her and she agreed. What she had done was rude and that wasn't the type of person she wanted to be. Coming to a dead stop she thought about it for a moment, everything else could wait for a moment. With a breath she moved to the side and pressed the door chime, it was a start.

Facilis descensus Averni: noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis; sed revocare gradium superasque evadere ad auras. Hoc opus, hic labor est... Down and down, through the pits, into the protruding skewers, bodies immobile. Instruments of pain. Yank the spines out, shrivel them into ashes. Water and blood fell to the floor. Flectere si nqueo superos Acheronta movebo. Screams reverberated to the white noise of beating drums. It thundered in his chest, wailing high-pitched Horresco referens. Horresco referens. Liyar opened his eyes calmly and took a breath. The light streamed over his desk from the overhead lamp, his computer terminal was blinking. Non ignara mali mseris succrrere disco, whispered Kestra's voices as they receded. He didn't know how to soothe. Wails soon turned into doorchimes. He lifted his head from the desk and pulled a PADD off of his forehead.

Our snakes have shed their lightning, our apes their flights of fancy, our peacocks have renounced their plumes. The bats flew out of our hair long ago. / We fall silent in mid-sentence, all smiles, past help. / Our humans / don't know how to talk to one another. Vaikreyan rustled in her pot.

Liyar stood and straightened himself up, smoothing down his hair, fixing the wrinkles in his uniform. "Come," he said finally and the door opened to reveal Kiri Cho. Liyar gave her a once-over before he took to watering his plant, spritzing it gently with the bottle retrieved from atop his shelf. Vaikreyan sang idly in the background of his mind. "Lieutenant Cho," he greeted her as perfunctorily as ever. No one would ever know that he'd spent the past hour and a half conked out on his desk.

Kiri smiled slightly that he didn't seem annoyed with her, "Good Afternoon Lieutenant Liyar." This was the first time she had been in his office since they had last trained together. It looked different, or felt different. Clasping her hands together she bowed her head slightly, "I wanted to say sorry, for last time." Ever since she entered there had been a slight ringing in her ears, was that because she was nervous?

Liyar stilled. Last time? He continued spraying his plant. Oh. The last time. "Ah. I believe the phrase is, apology accepted?" He didn't look very certain. In his culture, apologies were not typically done. Either one was right and therefore no apology was necessary or one was wrong and one would make restitution in the customary way, by doing. But he had attempted to adopt the custom after being posted to Galileo. He didn't really know what to say when someone apologized to him. Usually he was the one doing the apologizing. "You are feeling Vaikreyan's presence," he answered her unspoken thoughts as usual. He rubbed a giant leaf between his fingers. "It is a telepathic vessel."

"Okay?" He was reading her mind without asking again, right? And there was a plant, a telepathic one? Those existed, well why not but it still struck her as strange. Didn't that mean it was capable of thought? What about other plants she ate? Confused she remained quiet and regarded the Vaikreyan, not sure of the way to react to it.

He could continue to feel her emotions and perceive her thoughts, but since she appeared to only want others to react to what she said, he only had one word to go on. "Okay," Liyar repeated her phrase with a tilt of his head and moved to the other side of the plant.

"Can I ask, what does a Telepathic Vessel do?" The name implied some sort of storage device but that alone didn't make much sense. Generally she was rather cautious about touching leafy plants, being worried about damaging them. They didn't heal the same way as people did, wounded lasted forever or at least a long time. So she didn't move any closer, just watched as Liyar moved around.

"You recall the psi-stone I gave you earlier," Liyar brought up the comparison easily and pressed his finger into the soil. He'd told Lirha Saalm that he didn't have much of what Terrans would call a green thumb. This was true, but ever since the past few months, he'd found himself more connected to plant life, nature, living things. They told him what they needed. He removed the cap from the bottle and gently poured some of the water into the soil before continuing. "Vaikreyan is a living telepathic vessel. Because of the properties of its structure," he said, resisting the urge as always to refer to it as she or her, "it functions similarly to artificial intelligence. Its sentience however is debatable. It does not appear to possess true sentience, merely mimicking and repeating the different telepathic auras it absorbs."

"So it can read minds and store them?" Kiri wasn't quite sure he had answered her question but he had clarified it considerably. There might well be plants that were intelligent though they couldn't live in quite the same way as humanoids. Did he keep it so he could talk to it? Like a parrot?

"More experiences, memories, of each person who bonds to it as its handler," Liyar explained. "And those who are linked by proximity. It was a gift."

"I see," Mostly, "Are there many plants like this, and wouldn't it mean those things aren't private any more?"

"It is a selective process," Liyar said. "Vaikreyan does not directly expose me to the memories of its past handlers, nor do I expose it to memories I would not wish to be stored. Again, the process is very selective. One who is facile in telepathic bonds can easily manipulate the stream and flow of energy. Because it has had so many handlers, it is able to sort through them and develop its own sense of character and voice. This interprets the memories in randomized ways, depending on the person who is linked to it now."

No other sense can make up for your missing sense of taking part. Even sight heightened to become all-seeing will do you no good without a sense of taking part. / In Heraclitus' river / a fish has imagined the fish of all fish, / a fish kneels to the fish, a fish sings to the fish, / a fish begs the fish to ease its fishy lot, Vaikreyan agreed resolutely.

"Okay," That sounded terribly convenient, "What function does that provide it with in the wild?" The scientist in her was taking over and this was a brand new discovery as she saw it. Overall it seemed a strange conversation, but she wasn't really sure what else to talk about. Unless this was something to do with the training they had been trying. Should she ask about that?

Even sight heightened to become all-seeing / will do you no good without a sense of taking part, Vaikreyan whistled astutely as Liyar regarded Kiri. He couldn't fault her perception. "These plants are linked together in the same way that Terran aspen trees form complex root systems throughout Terra," he said. "The trees themselves can die and form anew, but the roots remain. So it is with the Ansvar plant. The telepathic function allows them to communicate their needs with handlers and primitively amongst themselves." Vaikreyan was, in his opinion, an intelligent being, even if she wasn't what one would commonly refer to as sentient.

"That's interesting, is it fair to remove one from the community though?" It was a little far from the topic but she actually was worried about the plants well being. If it was capable of communicating with others of its kind then wouldn't being in isolation change it? Maybe that was why he had it though, to provide it with a community?

"This one has been removed from its community for over sixty years," Liyar said. "I do not know if it was wise to remove it initially, but its return at this time is implausible. Ansvar IX has been in a border dispute with its neighboring planet for the past decade. Outsiders have not been welcome in their space for some time. Vaikreyan has had to adjust to living among us. From what I can tell, it has been able to thrive."

"I see," Kiri nodded but didn't know what else to say. It might be nice to have a plant to talk to that talked back. It might be useful to practice with if Liyar was busy, which brought her back to the matter at hand, the painful one. With reluctance she added after a pause, "About what you said before, if I try and change, can I still make progress?"

Liyar finished watering Vaikreyan and placed the mist bottle back onto the shelf. As a plant, Vaikreyan looked well cared-for, if one could judge an alien plant. It's leaves were big and furled over at the edges, alternating green and dark purple. They were white underneath with black heavy veins. "With your psionic abilities," Liyar asked. "It is possible, yes. Tapping into your full potential as a telepath is not about changing or not changing. It is about self-awareness. Your rate of progress will be up to you, Kiri. I can teach you, if you still wish it."

"I would like that," Kiri swallowed hard, it was about taking risks, "I'm not sure when there would be time but I will do my best to make some."

"Indeed. I shall leave that to your discretion."

There was so much work that was going on, between planning and reviewing their findings she wasn't sure when she'd get time to do anything other than work and sleep. Then looking around the room a little more, "Are you still going to be attached to the science department during our survey?"

"I will, yes. If you require my assistance," Liyar nodded. He didn't expect that they would.

"I think we will," Kiri felt that really they needed an entire fleet for the work they were doing or years of exploring and checking data to really make headway on such an amazing system. So everyone that she could get to help, Liyar was experienced in a range of fields so was more useful than some. He was also a Vulcan with meant he had a different perspective, "Do you think we might find anywhere like Vulcan?"

"It is possible," Liyar granted. "In the same way that any class-M world would resemble Terra, I imagine. Do you anticipate encountering any class-H worlds?"

"There were some scans that showed there might be moons with atmospheres that lacked significant water. I'm not sure I would want to visit them though, unless I had to." Going to Vulcan and being inside a city was something she could cope with, wandering around on the surface was liable to make her very sick very fast.

"Desert worlds are not very forgiving environments," Liyar agreed with her. If he were ever asked, he was similar in most respects to every other Vulcan. He had a strong sense of loyalty to his homeworld. He would not have wanted to be born or raised anywhere but Vulcan. That being said, it was not easy to live there. "Most Vulcan children are given extensive desert survival training."

"I was only able to do two of the three days of field training at the Academy," Kiri didn't like talking about failure but it wasn't really her fault, "I became too dehydrated, even moving at night and finding water sources," Drinking sandy water and digging holes in the sand were hardly things she wanted to experience again. Let alone finding she managed to get sand everywhere for days afterwards. She needed more than most races and she was much less able to cope with higher temperatures.

"Indeed. Fortunately, most established planets such as Vulcan or Vega IX have adapted technology to assist offworlders with these problems," Liyar informed her.

"Yes, but if we have away missions to bodies of a similar nature, they aren't likely to be inhabited," What he said was true but didn't really apply to their possible experiences. They were unlikely to be in a situation when they were there for more than a few hours, let alone days.

Liyar studied her sideways. "Nevertheless, this technology is easily known to our medical science. If you wished to participate in an away mission to such a world, I am certain you could request an inoculation from Dr. Ni Dhuinn."

Kiri paused for a moment, he had said technology. That had lead her to assume that he meant buildings, air coolers, water reclamation, not something medical. What could he mean that it was medical? Something that made the filaments of her kidneys more efficient? Vulcans had copper blood, so would any of that apply? "What do you mean exactly?"

"It is for offworlders," Liyar reminded her. "It functions by using nanite technology to assist in lowering an individual's body temperature to a more acceptable margin." Considering that Terrans began needing ice suits in 115F environments before they started dying, it wasn't exactly a leap.

Kiri wasn't exactly sure how it would work, the heat would still need to leave her body. Forcing out more water, or forcing her blood closer to the skin, both sounded painful. The idea of having nanites inside her again, that didn't sound very nice either. Coughing slightly she blinked, "I hope it won't be necessary."

Liyar blinked and shrugged. He wasn't a doctor, but he thought that it was naturally understood that the nanites worked because they were introducing systemic outside cold. In such arid climates, the change had a normalizing effect, although most still found the temperatures very hot, it prevented the need for EVA or ice suits. "Indeed," he agreed with a nod. He didn't think Kiri was the desert type. "Have you been on many away missions in the past?" he asked.

"A few training ones," Kiri was a little more uncertain now, "The ones I'm part of here," The ones she might be leading here, "Will be the first real ones on planets and moons." Away missions to starbases didn't really count but that had been her first. Exploring Vega didn't really count but it was sort of similar, "Have you been on many?"

"Some," Liyar said. He could name the precise amount, but he didn't. "I served at P'Jem and on three previous vessels. Before that I was attached to units on Vulcan and within Eridani."

"I see," Kiri forced a small smile, "I'll keep that in mind during the mission, if you are interested in joining me." Things didn't seem to be bad between them but it was always a little hard to tell with Vulcans. When someone annoyed them they normally wouldn't show it.

"I am at your disposal," Liyar replied, bowing his head.

"Thank you," Kiri looked back to the plant for a moment, "My shifts have been changed to cover most of Alpha, do you know when you would be free for another session?" Since it had been rather abrupt a few hours ago Kiri didn't have any plans other than her dinner with Maenad, then, maybe one with Dawn.

"I am uncertain. I have been assigned for the twelve-hour away mission tomorrow," Liyar said. "I will let you know at my earliest convenience," he assured her.

"I will be on three different away missions, I don't think I will have time tomorrow either," Kiri's schedule was crammed full, "I will make sure everything is recorded on my personal plan though, if you want to have access."

"Affirmative." The data would be useful, if she found anything relevant to his work.

"Thank you for giving me some time, would you like to have tea if there is a small amount of time?" There was more chance of her finding ten minutes of time than the hour or so their sessions would take.

Liyar didn't understand the purpose of tea. He gathered it was a social endeavor, an event of some kind. Regardless, if Kiri were going to be continuing their lessons, as her instructor, it was logical to continue interacting with her. "Affirmative. At this moment I am on duty. Once my work is complete, I will contact you. I assume that you also have duties to attend to."

"I have a meal with Lieutenant JG Panne at eighteen hundred hours, maybe after that?" Kiri took the hints and started to slip towards the door, it was true that both of them had things to do rather than talk about personal matters.

Liyar watched her move away. Hints? At what? "I do not know if I will be able to until after tomorrow's away mission," he clarified. He had several hours of lab work scheduled to work on the plaintexts from Zaren. After that was the away mission, which was at least twelve hours. "I will contact you as soon as time permits, I assure you."

Despite the fact he was a Vulcan, people talking about having work to do always came down as a fair chance of being asked to leave politely to Kiri. Nodding her head she stopped by the door, "Thank you, good luck with your away missions."

Unlike her, he rarely dealt in the realm of hints. Subtlety was not cultural mannerism for him. He was oblivious to the fact that the the conversation was done until she was nearly out the door. You couldn't win them all. He pulled out a PADD from his shelf and sat back down behind his desk. He met her eyes and blinked in acknowledgment. "Safe journey, Lieutenant Cho."

"And you," Bowing her head slightly Kiri took a step back and let the door open as she turned. After a last glance she walked back into the corridor, she had to focus on work for a while, before she did her rounds of the labs and had time to worry about dinner.

OFF:

Lieutenant (JG) Liyar
Diplomatic Officer, VDF/SDD
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Kiri Cho
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

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