Tea in the White Room

Posted on Sat 8th Mar, 2025 @ 5:43pm by Commander Geraldine "Geri" Severide & Captain Gordon Francis

889 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: The Phoenix Gamble
Location: The White Room
Timeline: Concurrent with "No Bush No Beating"

In a white room with black curtains in the station....

-Start-

{IBEX- White Room}

Breath came with conscious thought, but the ticking of a circadian clock didn't exist here. Time wasn't passing, stubble wouldn't grow, hunger would never mount. The space was pristine white, the color of light for one approaching from death, the light of the world as seen in an infants first terrifying embrace of life. This place was vast and infinite, yet occupied no space at all. Between dimensions, below subspace, where even the Q can find themselves lost from time to time, there was this expanse, a place where thought and willpower manifested into reality. Where matter was immaterial to the will which recombined it, and the world could be made in ones desires.

Within this milky white mist, the IBEX had a small dwelling built here, a landmark in the sea of pallid foggy nothing. Here, there was a small house, with a half acre lawn, grass which would never grow or whither and devoid of bugs or bacteria. Seeing ground provided a sense of direction, oriented the mind into where the "ground" was. A thinking being could walk if they simply wanted to, or float even. Flying wasn't a problem either in this dreamy place, except if you lost sight of where you came in.

Alex stood on the green grass, in front of the bespoke log cabin in a place devoid of forests. Waving at Captain Francis who has teleported there at the same time but was still gaining cognizance of their locale.

"This way, it helps to stand on something real, takes less mental effort, come!"

Francis was quite a bit disoriented, but he did his best not to show it. It was like beaming into a spinning room.

"Goodness me!" the Captain exclaimed. "Have we transported into a holodeck?"

Captain Richardson laughed, "Of sorts, it's real, but outside of physics as we know them."

Francis began appearing more solid as his cognizance and understanding completed, and the details of the cabin and tree in its front lawn became apparent. The backyard had a lawn, a porch from the cabin that wrapped around to the front, a bbq pit, a hammock strung from the house to the tree. Then the finer details revealed dozens of strings, different colors, vibrant and new had been nailed to the tree. Their lines leading to their spools stretched in different directions out into the barren void. This place had been built one log at a time, over hundreds of years but it all still looked so fresh.

Alex extended is hand, hoping to actualize Francis into the space faster, "We call it the White Place, I've gotten unconfirmed intel its officially know as the "White Room" but until I get any kind of dispute i stick with what I know. Just being here proves you are the right man for the job,oh and Full disclosure... you've had a scan done. We will send you the results of the scan tonight. I'm happy to help before I leave- "

"A scan?" Francis inquired, not quite comprehending.

Alex nodded, "You did great. Flying colors, we are all super impressed. It's how I know you'll respond favorably to what I'm going to say next..."

"Gimme a second," Francis said, trying to catch his bearings. "I'm not entirely sure where, or what..." He shook his head a bit to alleviate the dizziness. "Where are we?"

Finally on level ground, Alex gestured all around them, "A hidden deck inside the IBEX. It is a folded space pocket of reality as far as I know of such things and it is your space now. I cant guess how big it is, but there are other locales in here. This and other wonders are why we fly a three hundred year old ship with modern parts bolted in."

He pointed to the tree with dozens of strings tied to it and arrayed like a maypole over their heads trailing into the milky white haze.

He continued softly, "These strings belong to intrepid souls of IBEX past who determined at one point or another to make their life in here finding out. We have a few confirmed lines actually, the WREN, the HARE, the BULL are all connected to us but I've never gone on the hike to see them. One of the crew in our past was an explorer. She's probably still out there, hunger doesn't happen physically... time is not the same here.

He saw Francis begin to fade away, it was a natural resistance to this place it took time to feel at home here. Everyone had the same questions, so he gently answered before they were asked,

"When you leave here it will be to the split second after you left ... there. I'll be here when you're ready to come back. We have much to discuss."

Though they had winked off of the face of the station, the time which passed was so minuscule as to be not worth mentioning at all. In the blink of an eye Francis could reappear anywhere he chose on the station.

When he appeared back in the loading bay, at the exact moment he left, Captain Francis looked around and said quietly to himself, "What the Sam Hill just happened?"

-End-

 

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