round 9 PNPC Ferentis: What Did I Drink Last Night?

[Ren Rennyn]

((Deep Space 26, Deck 6, near Xenobiology Labs))

Ferentis: Gree-sa-sa... gree-sa-sa...

::With his face still firmly embedded into the deck, Ferentis snored his gentle, reptilian snore, perfectly unaware of the events that were occurring inside and out of the station. Firefights, diplomatic struggles, mechanical wizardry, medical miracles- it all played out around him, unrecognized and ignored. His internal workings, however, had his full attention. Memories and imagination, interwoven so one could not be told from the other, plagued his thoughts. Synapses and dendrites processed barely understandable information at 110% percent, and he found himself equal parts exhilarated and exhausted. Terrified of looking over the edge but unable to resist the temptation, he continued to spiral downwards into the murky, rusted depths of his subconscious...::

((Somewhere, somewhen, somehow...))

::He'd never been afraid of the night.::

::One couldn't have light without darkness, and he'd always found the solitude of poorly lit areas to be comforting. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he enjoyed relatively excellent eyesight, even in dark conditions, or maybe it was the fact that few people would follow a dinosaur into an unlit corner, but the enveloping loveliness of the black had never caused him to feel fear.::

::So imagine his surprise when he looked  out, saw darkness, and was more afraid than anyone had ever been.::

::The reason he knew the thing before him was large was because it blotted out the stars. Planets that orbited the monstrosity, planets that he knew had a mass far exceeding his native Dupwa'thuv, appeared as pointless pin[...]s against the all-consuming, hungry, eternal, hateful mass of hellish emptiness. In his hearts of hearts, he knew that one day, those pointless planets would drift into the maw of that beast and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.::

::He stared for a second, he stared for an eon. And then everything sped up considerably. One by one, the planets came closer and closer to the singularity, and in turn, each was consumed without so much as a scream. Entire civilizations, whole solar systems, complete galaxies were torn asunder, and enveloped by the darkness. And though it was already the darkest thing in the pseudo-universe of Ferentis' mind, with each dead world, each stomached galaxy, the surrounding light dimmed a little further...a little further...::

::He had to get out, had to escape! He clawed against the thick nothingness, knowing neither where he was, or how he was kept alive- knowing only that he needed to get away. He dragged his front paws against the fabric of reality, but reality wasn't as strong as it used to be. He sliced through it like a bat'leth through paper. And something latched onto his leg, and he was slowly pulled backward...::

::No. No! Nothing had ever gotten him so desperate, and it had been a long time since anything, within his mind, or in the real world, had approached that level of terror. He bit, he screamed, he sold his soul. And just when it seemed that nothing would help, nothing would save him from his downward plunge into what could only be described as hell, those same forces let go, and he was able to escape. He...swam?...walked?.. as fast as his limbs would carry him, and only when he was certain that he had left the beast far behind did he turn and observe.::

::And that's when the real disaster hit him.::

::Because he'd done it. He'd gotten away from the singularity that was sucking in anything and everything.::

::But nothing else had.::

::The universe was so completely, perfectly silent. Empty. Pointless. And untarnished.::

::And he realized that he'd been handed something that could never be replaced. The chance to define the laws of physics in this new reality of one. The chance to bend and shape and coerce the fabric of truth to his will, to his perception.::

::The beast still waited, quiet, ready to strike and absorb anything that came near it. But it had already taken everything. Everything! And it could never die...::

((Reality.))

Ferentis: Gree...sa-hmm?

::Rarely had anything looked quite so comically stupid. His elongated snout was buried into the floor. It seemed impossible, but through no fault of his own, a Pakhwa'thanh had managed to face plant.::

::His arms, legs,,,and neck (oh, his neck!) ached with a fire that would have set a Klingon crying. How long had he been here? And why? Now that he was awake, he faculties began to return to him. Wisps of consciousness teased him, telling him that he had been thinking something dreadfully important, something that mustn't be forgotten, but nothing was forthcoming. He sat for several seconds, straining his brain, before coming up totally empty. He knew he'd see those thoughts again, sometime. Until then, he had a situation to ascertain.::

::Wiping the considerable amount of drool from his chin disgustedly, he gathered his strength.::

Ferentis: ::Staggering to his feet.:: Hello?

::No reply. Though the station appeared fine, and nothing particularly strange drew his attention, he hardly trusted it.::

Ferentis: ::Under his breath.:: If you are unconscious, please report immediately.

::Again, nothing. Perhaps he should go hunting himself. No- bad term. When it came to his people, the word "hunting" meant something far more literal than most species were generally prepared for. He would investigate on his own. Doing his best to keep his balance, he set off, tail wagging.::

Ensign Ferentis
Engineer
USS El Corazon
NCC 74220

=========As simmed by=========

Lieutenant Randal Shayne
Helmsman
USS Darwin
NCC 99312-A
G239202RS0