round 2 Lieutenant Didrik Stennes: Fun with memory fragments

[+ Whale]

((OOC: This sim establishes that the cozmozoa can communicate with "us" through our memories, and we can communicate by similarly recalling our own relevant memories. So, in the absence of an accepted nomenclature for speaking via memory fragment, examples of such in the sim below are denoted by "dialogue in quotes."))

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(( Somewhere inside the Cozmozoan ))

STENNES: Hello?

HARALD STENNES: "Not like that, Didrik. Like this."

::The memory of Didrik's father teaching him to ski flashed before Didrik's mind.::

STENNES: Hello, is anyone there?

ACADEMY PROFESSOR: "Cadet Stennes, you must first listen to my instructions before you can succeed at this assignment."

::Another memory. Fleeting, just like the last. Just long enough to place his mind in the moment, hearing the words, feeling the intent. Didrik felt strength in his limbs return enough to stand. His boots sunk slightly into the organic-looking pinkish surface on which he stood. He spoke again, to no one in particular.::

STENNES: My name is Didrik Stennes. I'm an officer in the Federation Starfleet.

HERA GULDBRANDSEN: "I can't talk to you when you're like this, Didrik."

STARFLEET BETAZOID COUNSELOR: "I can sense your uncertainty. Your confusion. I don't want to make this difficult for you, Cadet."

::How disorienting. Memories overlapping onto each other. He was at home in Tromsø, a hysterical child who'd just been injured by an older sibling, before being ripped away to a memory of Earth, and a psychological evaluation he underwent upon his readmission into the Academy. Given the context of the memories he was experiencing, Didrik assumed someone, or something, was attempting to contact him.::

STENNES: What are you trying to tell me?

ELREM TIRO: "Our language is so unlike yours."

ACADEMY TRAINING COMMANDANT: "You must try harder."

::Again, Didrik felt super-present in the moments of the memories that passed. Bajor, Tiro, the first man he'd ever loved warmly instructing him in the finer points of speaking Bajoran. The Academy, struggling to barely pass yet another tactical exam under the constant threat of being tossed out. Clearly, whoever was trying to contact him didn't use vocalisations.::

STENNES: oO Can you understand me now? Are you telepathic? Oo

PIANO TEACHER: "You're getting closer."

KATARINE STENNES: "The thought was--"

ELREM TIRO: "Not genuine."

KATARINE STENNES: "The thought was--"

SCIENCE FAIR JUDGE: "Not authentic."

KATARINE STENNES: "The thought was--"

CLEANING LADY: "Too tidy."

::Didrik gripped his head and dropped back down to the spongy floor, his mind at its breaking point with memories forced into the forefront. Stringing the words together from the clips from his past, an understanding started to blossom.::

STENNES: Closer. Thoughts aren't genuine. Thoughts aren't authentic. Thoughts are too tidy? How is that any different from--

::Projecting thoughts was getting closer, but still wasn't close enough. The thought wasn't authentic, but what could be more authentic than his own thoughts? As an experiment, Didrik conjured up a memory of his own from his childhood. He'd been dared to walk into a centuries old barn at night with nothing but a palm beacon.::

STENNES (MEMORY): "Hello, is anyone there?"

ARON KELLS: "I'm here."

SAKORRA REED: "Ensign, I'm reading you."

ELREM TIRO: "Do you understand now?"

::The inclusion of Aron Kells in the onslaught of memory sentence fragments hit a little close to home. Undaunted, Didrik continued to "remember" bits and pieces to continue a conversation. He thought back to Null Space, when his shuttlecraft had crash landed on the surface of a planet.::

STENNES (MEMORY): "Where are we?"

NORWEGIAN SEA CAPTAIN: "Far from home, are ya?"

INTERVIEW WITH ADMIRAL JANEWAY: "In an uncharted part of the galaxy."

CHURCH OF NORWAY PASTOR: "Inside the beast--"

BABYSITTER: "--that lives in the sky!"

::To his credit, Didrik was handling the rapid shifts with increasing steadiness and comprehension. The pieces fit together well enough that he understood; he was inside the whale. Inside the cozmozoan.::

Lieutenant Didrik Stennes

Helm Officer

USS Drake