Mysteries wrapped in enigmas part 4
Posted on Mon 15th Sep, 2014 @ 6:24am by Colonel Marcus DeSalle & Lieutenant Colonel Tallus Karikkar & Lieutenant Zhara Rynn
883 words; about a 4 minute read
Mission: http://sb109.sim-station.net/index.php/sim/missions/id/6
[CONTINUED from part 3]
[OLD]
The pain was barely controllable. He felt the parasites inside him, irritating his delicately balanced systems. They were getting closer. He shouted at them. "Get out!" the pain multiplied with his efforts. then he begged, "Please, make it stop!" He was beside himself, and didn't know what to do. He knew they were trying to get inside his head. Would that be a good thing, or would that hurt even more. Everything was happening so fast! The chatter and the noise from all the outside voices was deafening! So, he stopped listening. The outside was quiet. But the inside was twice as loud! The parasites said they wanted to help, but how could they? They were not him. But he was so lonely! He thought back, back, to a time before... numbers, he loved numbers, they made it quiet.
He thought to himself, "The square root of 906.01 equals…" He waited for the answer. It always came from the other. "The square root of 906.01 equals…" Where was the answer? He shouted, "The square root of 906.01 equals…"
[NEW]
Zhara felt increasing pain in her head. "Make it stop!" was immediately followed by "Go away!" How could she help make it stop if she went away? But the pain was so great it was hard to think at all.
Then it stopped. The pain, the cries. There was still the ever-present entity, but no thought. Then numbers. She began to follow them, or as much as she could due to the rapid speed of them. Math? What it doing math?
"What is the square root of 906.01?"
Zhara had to think for a moment as she puzzled it out. The square root of 906.01... What an odd number. "30.1," she said aloud and telepathically. "The answer is 30.1."
An overwhelming wave of relief swept over her, and Tallus felt it, too. There was a hissing sound, and the impression came to them to breathe deeply. The latch on the panel she was examining opened enough to get fingers around it. "Please, make it stop." The plea was gentle and tired feeling.
Zhara took a deep breath and slipped her fingers into the opening and pulled the panel open. What she saw both surprised and dismayed her. A man was reclining on some sort of chair. Dozens of wires went from his head and body to the varous cables and from there to the computer core. "Hello," Zhara said gently. "My name is Zhara."
The tube prevented everything but his eyes from moving. His skin had a sickly pale color, and was almost translucent in its alabaster whiteness. Tears began streaming down his face. He could not speak, because a large tube obstructed the opening of his mouth, but she heard a timid, "hullo" in the back of her mind. "Can you make it quiet? It's been so long. Where is the...other?"
"Hullo," she smiled at him, not sure if he could see her or not. "I have not seen the other. What is the noise you wish to stop?"
"everything," the silent misty eyes pleaded. "It was quiet for so long, but then everything sang: The stars, the others, the whole... everything. I tried making it quiet, but... It didn't work. Wait..."
A loud electronic approximation of a voice came through the PA system. "Can you... HEAR me?"
"Yes, we can," Zhara said aloud. Now that she was near the youth -- for he couldn't be more than eighteen -- she could practically hear the noise he was talking about. It seemed to come from everywhere and yet nowhere. The noise was familiar, but strange at the same time.
She went over to the computer and looked at the monitors to see if she could find something that matched what she felt. It didn't take her too long to see something that looked like it might be the cause of the noise. The external sensors were reading what could only be described as "star song."
In a moment the external sensors were off. "Is that better?" she asked.
The tears began to stream from eyes held open by metal clamps as they focused on the first being they had seen in centuries. "Thank you." came the voice over the PA system. The tube coming out of his mouth prevented him from speaking. The lights on the console she has just visited changed in color and intensity. "You can sing to the others, again, if you like."
Less than a second later, Tallus' Comm badge chirped. "Protector to away team! Come in!"
=A= This is Karikkar. We are here sir. =A= Tallus said over the COMM line.
"Thank you," Zhara said. "But right now, I want to see if we can get you more help." She looked up to Tallus. "Can you ask him to send us a doctor?"
=A= Lieutenant Rynn asks that you please send a doctor over. =A= Tallus said as he got lightheaded. =A= Make that two doctors Colonel. =A= Tallus said as he fell over losing consciousness. The injury that he had suffered earlier was worse than Tallus was letting on.
____
OFF
The Entity
Lieutenant Zhara Rynn
Chief Counselor
Lieutenant Colonel Tallus Karikkar
Executive Officer and Marine Commanding Officer
Starbase Protector
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