Grotto Exploring and Mishap

Posted on Wed Jul 19th, 2023 @ 4:25pm by Nollel Livaam (*) & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein
Edited on on Wed Jul 19th, 2023 @ 4:43pm

Mission: Fractures
Location: Grotto
Timeline: MD -10 19:00
1125 words - 2.3 OF Standard Post Measure

The compartment was relatively large compared to what Nollel had been expecting when she had been requested to assist in tracking down a power surge. Its walls were made of metallic panels that she had not seen anywhere else on the ship, giving it a futuristic and sleek appearance despite all the items that were stuffed in there. Soft, ambient lighting illuminated the space, casting a gentle glow on the contents within making it all look a little less harmless than she was led to believe.

Nollel glanced along a shelf filled with artefacts before looking over coloured potions and labelled powders that were neatly arranged on tables while large contraptions and machines she could never begin to guess the purposes of covered the other tables. The walls nearest to the entrance were covered in a mélange of posters of bands, old-world newspaper clippings, handwritten notations, and photographs. She did not want to pry, but she could not help herself though in black and white, remained crisp and unaltered showing an animal she didn’t recognize but was connected by a thread to another and so on.

“This… this is… well.” Nollel started as she looked at Michael confused and amazed.

"This is amazing!" he replied, spinning around with a manic smile. "Mom would love this - she'd totally geek out over all this memorabilia. I should start taking pictures. I bet she could appraise most of this, or point us to someone who could."

"I thought you had been in here before?" Nollel wondered pulling out the tricorder to figure out where the power issue was coming from. The contents hinted at the history and purpose of the spaceship, offering glimpses into the ship's past and the intentions of its previous occupant - The Collector. She had never believed in the legend before but now staring at the collection of intriguing artefacts, ranging from small handheld devices to larger objects of unknown origin she was very much a believer.

"Yeah..." he ducked his head, running a hand over unruly hair. "But I was, um, a little preoccupied with finding a device, so I wasn't really looking at the poster and memorabilia."

Nollel grinned over at him and shook her head. “Well you look I will see if I can work out what is creating a power surge in the local electric relays.” Nollel told him as she stepped over a box to go further into the compartment.

Burnie shook his head, pulling out a tricorder. "I'll come back later with a video glasses so I can send a look around to Mom. Dealing with power surges should really be my job."

“You could go back and get them now. Most likely not going to get a chance for a little bit. I can make a start.” Nollel offered with a grin as she stepped out the a cabinet and glanced inside looking over several canister trying to work out what the label was.

"Huh. These look like ancient tape reels," Burnie said, picking one up. "Real museum pieces - they kept records and programs on these centuries ago. Imagine having to deal with that." He shook his head. "Now you could put the whole thing on a isolinear chip and hardly fill but a couple percent of it."

Nollel looked at the item intrigued. It made sense that they were that Ardana had something similar but it had been using crystals and chips for a long longer than earth but for a lot different reasons. Any idea what is in them?” She wondered not able to read the label.

He examined the labels, then shook his head. "The label isn't in Standard. Looks like it might be Spanish or some other..." he rotated the case slightly, squinting at it. His mind didn't seem to want to come up with the word for related languages, "...some... some similar language." Handing the tape back, he pulled out his tricorder. "Back to task at hand."

Nollel smiled at the man as she noticed him squinting but said nothing. It had been a long day and she was almost sorry that she had gotten holodeck time that night for them to have a date night. "Yes, we better do if we want to get to bed before midnight as I have a surprise for you for tonight." Nollel took the film case and put it back on the table and carried on further back into the grotto using her own tricorder trying to find what what causing the power surges.

Threading his way through the crates, shelves, and general stacks of varied objects, Burnie did his best to keep on task, despite the urge to examine each device that caught his eyes. "There's a..." he paused, the word frustratingly on the tip of his tongue but somehow just beyond his reach. It was a familiar feeling, though one he hadn't dealt with in a awhile. Frakking aphasia - he'd gotten good at keeping it in check (though not good enough for Starfleet to keep him) but that took awareness that he was facing a triggering situation. Hadn't thought this would be one, but must've gotten over stimulated from all the cool stuff in here "...it's stronger here."

He circled a mound of clutter that looked like a shelf had toppled and gotten buried when stacks piled against stacks near it had come down on top of it. Just seeing all those rare gadgets in a heap like that was making him almost physically ill. Following the readings, he found a point to start digging and began to lift a box when the bottom burst, dropping a load of rough cut ore samples. The pile shifted with the impact.

"Aargh!" Burnie went down clutching his head.

Nollel turned in alarm at noise of first the shift of whatever the man had been doing and then the cry. She through the heaps to him and knelt down. “Michael?” She asked trying to get his hands away from his head to look at him.

He curled in on himself as perception fractured kaleidoscope of images/memories/sounds. Everywhere he looked was disjointed, like standing in a funhouse hall of mirrors, except that each held different images, all moving, twisting, shifting... this had happened before, or something like it, if only he could recall, piece even two thoughts together...

His name didn't register, but he felt hands - someone was there. He struggled for words, explanation, but could manage only the simplest plea. "...help..."

“Come on.” She said dragging him to hit feet wrapping an arm around him to support his weight. Whatever was wrong it had happened there and she needed to get him away from there urgently.