Weightless, part I of II

Posted on 28 Oct 2017 @ 4:54pm by Petty Officer 3rd Class Constantin Vansen & Ensign Miraj Derani

1,747 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Star Fleet Medical, San Francisco
Timeline: MD 40 1130

ON:

Constantin Vansen didn't really mind being a test tribble. It was the sort of thing that happened now and then, especially when a doctor, a scientist and a nurse put their heads together to find new and wonderful ways to test his medication. Or more, how his body and mind would cope with sudden changes of gravity. Which had led him to where he now was standing, outside a shuttle, wearing a flight suit and underneath a whole bodysuit that would monitor even the slightest change in him. Good thing he had gone to the bathroom beforehand, because there was little chance of him getting out of this for the next three hours.

He ran a hand through his brown hair, his blue eyes glancing around with the quick movements of someone who was always watching for something to go wrong. He had avoided looking up. Looking up at blue skies was a sensory overload for him. It reminded him of the first time he had set foot on Earth. He had panicked. He had spent two weeks drugged up to his eyeballs before his brain made the necessary adjustments to deal with it. Funny. At least funny now, at the time he had been convinced he was going to die. Oddly, even now, there was that nagging feeling in his gut.

You are outside without a suit. You can't breathe. You will freeze. Your heart rate will increase. You will die.

A spacesuit offered protection against it. Of course, Earth was where his family, his species, had originated. His body should in theory be able to cope with it, thrive in it.

Shame his mind never did.

Exhaling, he glanced around again, waiting with the patience of an enlisted man in Starfleet. Unless surrounded by other enlisted, which he wasn't, mouth remained shut and you kept your thoughts to yourself. He wondered if the bodysuit would pick that up as well. Wouldn't surprise him if it did, he never underestimated the medical professionals.

Doctor Kohn, a gregarious benzite, came through the office door, and gave Constantin in his suit a professional look over. "I hope you've been to the bathroom?"

Constantin chuckled softly at the words, giving a small nod. "Yes," he said, because he knew nothing else except one word would be expected from him. After all, he thought they'd prefer it if he had been mute.

"Excellent." Kohn beamed, "Shall we?" he led the petty officer to the turbo lift and took it to the roof. On one of the landing pads sat a small ,sleek,v-shaped craft, quite unlike the more boxy shuttle craft that populated most of Starfleet. It was named USS Beauforte. Standing next to the small ship was a girl in the red trim of flight control. A girl was the word, she barely looked old enough to be out of the academy. She had bright pink hair in bunches, and heavy sunken eyes and a feint depression in the shape of a trident running up the centre of her forehead. "Constantin, this is Miraj. She'll be our pilot today."

Miraj patted the side of the ship, "and this is Beaufort, she'll take good care of you."

Constantin's eyes went to the ship, running a critical eye over it. He didn't mean to, it was just second nature to take in the state of the hull, look for weak points. He finally blinked and looked back at the Ensign, giving a small nod. She was young. Or more, she looked young. Given the markings, he wasn't sure if it was just that her species looked young rather than her being young. "Thank you, ma'am," he said, giving her a weak smile before he let out a breath. "This is going to be interesting." And he suspected it would be. A part of him hoped for microgravity at some point. He enjoyed that.

She opened the hatch and went in. "Say hello to Beau. She's a fourth generation waverider, only been in service a year. She can go to maximum impulse but isnt warp capable. But thats irrelevant, because Waveriders, unlike most vessels are designed for atmosphere." She spun a jump seat around and indicated the two men should sit.

Constantin nodded weakly, both to her words and her hand gestures. Without any further ado he sat down, his hands strapping himself in. His heart rate was speeding up. High gravity exercises were painful for him. But it was good to know what his body could take before he had a stroke and the doctor was there if it got really bad. So he knew it would be fine.

Didn't exactly make that annoying heart slow down though.

"So what is the plan, ma'am?" he asked the Ensign, his words easy and the accent a bit of a mix of various Terran ones. He smiled easily though and it made his eyes crinkle up a bit. Without even realising it, he was positioning his body carefully, making sure that if the gravity was high enough he wouldn't break or dislocate anything. It was a subconscious movement, the sort that came from experience. He also knew that in the collar of the bodysuit he wore, there was a hypo with his medication, in case the dosage needed to be upped. The suit would trigger it based on his readings. If his blood vessels started to degrade, the medication would make them more supple, but also strengthening it. The bones it couldn't do anything with, not in such a short of time. But he had taken medication to strengthen his bone density since he was 15 and there was a decent build up there. He should get away without any broken bones if everything was good. Or so he hoped. Not that a broken bone did much, it was quick to treat and he had a freakin' doctor with him to be his own personal lifesaver.

Kohn smiled. "Well, its going to be a series of sudden changes in gravity, to see how your medication copes."

Miraj nodded. "We won't go that fast mach two ish probably. just enough to pop three or 4 Gs. Nothing major."

Constantin looked over ar Miraj, an eyebrow raising in question before he glanced at the doctor. "Hm. Let's not try pushing beyond that. Last time I did this my knee popped," he said lightly. Still. It would be some flying to do that. The girl was more than just a pretty set of pink hair.

Kohn put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Miraj is a bit of a g-monster. Her frame of reference is different. But whilst ii sounds a lot, it will only be for a few seconds. Like a rollercoaster. Your suit should compensate without issue."

"That's what is always said. Thing is, in real life, out there...there ain't no suit for me," he said with a slight drawl. "Just a Starfleet uniform and those aren't exactly great. Especially for boys in mustard."

Kohn looked startled. "I don't see why not." He began ashe strapped himself in. "A monitoring sheath suit is hardly new technology. Its well proven. Once we have fine tuned it will be able to pass on the replicator patterns without any issues."

Constantin sat back, looking ahead as he tried not to tense up again. Truth was, he was always nervous. It was one of those things he couldn't help. Four Gs was not something he enjoyed the sound of. With medication, he could handle the standard 1 G perfectly fine once the hypo had taken effect. It got a bit more difficult when he went beyond that though.

Miraj checked his safety harness, then moved on to Doctor Kohn. "We'll start slow. A couple of parabolics to get the blood pumping." Satisfied her passengers were safely secured, she moved into the pilots seat, put on her own harness, and then engaged a force field, cutting her little cockpit area off from the passenger part. "Everyone ready to go?"

"Would it matter if I wasn't, ma'am?" Constantin said lightly and shifted, closing his eyes. Because he doubted it would have mattered. It was happening and he, being him, just had to deal with it.

"No," Miraj said cheerily from behind her forcefield. "Hold tight." She kept the artificial gravity and inertial dampners on so they could get quickly to the starting point without puling hard Gs straight away. It felt smooth going, and a steady 1G, giving a false sense of security that this was going to be easy. "We've reached seven thousand 300 meters. Disabling artificial gravity and inertial dampeners," she flicked a switch on her panel. "Prepare for ascent." She pulled the nose up so they rose up in a sharp, forty-five degree climb. Twenty seconds later the weightlessness began.

Constantin exhaled as he felt the change in gravity. Without realising it, he was adjusting his position, his body recognising the changes. His heart rate changed and his lungs expanded more, increasing the oxygen level in his blood. He looked around, taking in what was going on around him. But he did not get out of his jumpseat. He wanted to though. he wanted to feel this properly.

And then the nose dropped, and they dived hard, pointing at the ground at a forty five degree angle, the sudden change in direction sending everyones inside into a metaphorical, possibly literal, spin.

For another 30 seconds anything not nailed or strapped down floated up. Miraj's bunches stuck out at right angles to her head without anything to weigh them down.

Constantin smiled at the sensation, relaxing, his hands floating slightly. He could breathe easily. Nothing was holding him down. The sensation of his hair, not tied back, floating...it was a feeling he missed.

And just as suddenly as it began it was over, and normal gravity dropped back in. Kohn leaned forward in his straps. "Are you okay Constantin? How do you feel?"

Constantin breathed hard at the return of gravity, frowning slightly as his body slowly settled back. That brief moment of relief made being in normal gravity harder. But instead of complaining he suddenly smiled. "I feel like we should do that again," he said and met Kohn's eyes. "Isn't it liberating? The sensation of floating, the way the world slows down around you. How graceful it is?"

To be Continued

Ensign Miraj Derani

Petty Officer 3rd Class Constantin Vansen

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