Ensign Qurgh'Loq Yinn: It Is the Mind That Makes the Body Rich

[Karen Stendhal]

Quote

((Deck 5, USS Octavia E. Butler))

 Loq tensed and instinctively dropped back into a fighting stance, before realizing he was looking at two fellow officers.

  

Kovacs: Loq? Is that really you?

 

Loq: Sorry! I was startled. I didn't think anyone was on the ship.

 

Una: Who are you? Why did you scream? You scared me half to death! I'm almost dead, out of phase and dead.

 

Kovacs: (with a smirk) Una, this is Loq. Loq, this is Una. We’re all friends oO as long as you aren’t some evil clone Oo. How did you end up here?

 

Loq: I was working in the science lab and on the bridge, and I abruptly couldn't feel my other body. I looked up and the lab was empty. I had searched the ship deck by deck and found no signs of life. Even the computer won't respond. I thought I was losing my minds.

 

Una: Wait, hold on a minute... your other body? How many bodies do you have?

By the way, we had an accident while teleporting a banana.

 

Kovacs: That’s right, you and Yinn are… ::struggling to find the right word:: together… combined? ::looking to Una:: Of one mind and two bodies. It was another transporter accident, but not like the test that we just ran back there.

 

Loq: The transporter? Is that why the room was covered in fruit?

 

Una: (with a curious monkey face) Well, yes, the banana unfortunately didn't make it... Am I smelling like bananas by the way?

 

Loq: I don't really know many human fruits. They're too bland for Klingons and too alkaline for Bolians. But the banana's not what's important here. Did you say you're out of phase? And that you also had a transporter accident?

 

Was that what had happened to Loq? Just their luck that they'd be caught in two separate transporter accidents.

 

Loq: I don't think the transporter is responsible. I was in the transporter lab, how would I be affected by a transporter several decks away?

 

Una: Any ideas? Speaking of which, I have a bad feeling about this. What do we eat or drink when we're out of phase? I'm starting to get thirsty. We've been in this state for hours now...

 

Loq: I can go for some time without food, but that is certainly an issue. I suspect whatever is happening to us also happened to the Unity Dow's crew. If we can't find a way to get back into phase, the Butler will end up as a ghost ship too. As it is, I can't get the computer to respond.

 

Kovacs: We have the same issue; those panels don’t react to our touches either. Have you found the emergency ration packs?

 

Loq: I have not looked. I have been searching decks for signs of life, and the officer's mess was sealed.

 

Kovacs: (nodding) That makes sense, you need a way to get in.

 

Una: So, what do we have? I still have the tools I had in my shoulder bag when we touched the teleportation pad.

 

Kovacs: Just my tricorder. You? ::looking to Loq::

 

Loq: I left the lab in a hurry. I have all kinds of tools there, but who knows if any of them will respond.

 

Una: Response

 

Kovacs: Where’s Yinn by the way?

 

Loq: I am Yinn!

 

Loq was taken aback by the question, before remembering they hadn't spoken with Kovacs since the incident, and while he clearly new the basics, he was having as much trouble getting his mind around their predicament as most of the crew were.

 

Loq: Sorry, I should explain. My other body — Yinn's body — was working on the bridge, and things abruptly went black. I can't see through her eyes or feel anything. But up here? ((They tapped their forehead ridges)) I'm still just as much Yinn as Qurgh'Loq. I don't know if my mind is working in my other body and my brains can't communicate, or if this brain is working ((they tapped their head again)) and the other one shut down. If you're out of phase, I assume that means my two bodies — and my brains — are out of phase with each other.

 

Loq hadn't given much thought to their other body, apart from it being nonresponsive. Was their Yinn body braindead? Would they be able to resync brains if they got back into phase? Or were they now a joint consciousness in one body? Was the part of them that had been Yinn... dead? They tried to put the thought out of their head. They had been on the bridge, the bridge crew would take care of their body. Unless it was out of phase with both their Klingon body and the bridge crew. What if they never found their other body again?

 

They rubbed the back of their head. (They were still Bolian enough to find their hair unpleasant. They had intended to get it cut before shaving it off but there hadn't been time.) Deep breath. A warrior's first battle is to conquer fear. When the outcome is uncertain, a warrior trusts his instincts to find the path to victory. And every problem has a solution if you look hard enough.

 

Una: Response

  

Kovacs: I vote that we get supplies first, since that’ll be enough to get us in hopefully. Then we find a way outta here. We’re not going to be any good if we’re on our last legs. What do you two think?

 

Loq: As someone who's gotten used to being in two places at once, I was going to suggest splitting up and doing both. But I'm a little worried one of us could phase further and disappear. We should stay within eyesight of each other.

 

Una: Response

 

Loq would not be hungry for some time, but they understood the other crewmen weren't working on two full stomachs. So they followed along, trying to work the problem in their head as they went.

 

Until they heard a loud groaning noise. It didn't seem to have any source, it just emanated from the walls. Their Grandma Kekk used to frighten them with stories of the Truhela, that hid under the waves and night and slid its tentacles onto land to catch children who didn't go to bed on time. It didn't take them long to realize the Truhela wasn't real, but they believed in it long enough to imagine the sound it made, and that was the sound they were hearing now, like all the souls denied entry to Stovo'kor crying out at once.

 

Loq: Do you both hear that?

 

Loq instinctively reached for their belt for their tricorder, but it was on their other belt, on their other body. Their instruments were in the lab. There was no way to tell what was going on, whether it was someone else out of phase trying to reach them, an alien presence, or a hallucination.

 

Kovacs/Una: response

 

Loq: It's possible. There must be some way to try and make contact, whether they're our crew or something else. But I think our priority still has to be getting back into phase. I suspect if we do, everything else will sort itself out.

 

Kovacs/Una: response

 

Tags/TBC

I really enjoyed this sim by @Yinn , very creative about the two mind in one body and funny to read too! 

 

Edited July 26 by Karen Stendhal