Convergence

Posted on 14 Jan 2013 @ 6:00am by Lieutenant Jared Nicholas

1,721 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: Science Lab 2
Timeline: MD-1 1500

JON:

Finally, he could think. The morning's dose had worn off, and he wouldn't need to take anymore of the Tarinol until evening. It was a window, maybe. Of peace, for him. His movements regained their more confident stride. His eyes were more alive. He was focused. He could breathe, in his mind, of course this was an irrational thought. He did not care. All he cared about was that he could look at the streams of numbers in front of him and connect to them again. This time, there were neurological and synaptic pattern engrams flowing around the room.

The second fereikek reh in existence wasn't an instrument. It was a mathematical device, a three dimensional whiteboard of sorts, and he was in the center of it, drawing numbers and equations and diagrams, completely lost in his own world, transposing one to the other, the mesiofrontal cortex, the temporal lobe, everything. He knew there had to be some way to make these numbers match up, some component he could create, a compound that could bypass the... gap, he settled on in his mind. The gap between their two species. After all, Terrans and Vulcans could bond. That must mean something. He failed, of course, to note the presence of Jared Nicholas yet again, caught up in his own work in the laboratory.

Jared had come to the language labs, his talk with the cook had set him on a quest to learn Ferengi. He had never learned more than two languages at time. Now he was learning three. Chinese, Mandarin to be specific he was fairly adept at, at least the spoken part. Japanese he'd just started the week before and had barely scratched the surface. Ferengi added a whole new complexity to things. He had heard the commotion from Liyar and went to investigate. "Are you okay?" he asked trying to get the other's attention.

Liyar looked up from his calculations, tilting his head in Nicholas's direction without breaking the stride in his movements, writing fluently while he contemplated the question. Rather than answer, he simply moved toward Nicholas and eyed the terminal with the various Ferenginar translations on it. "This is incorrect. Your sentence is missing the individualistic-subject. You must take into account the culture of the Ferengi, which is primarily individualistic objectivism. This indicates that you-are, but it is not offering the proper modifier. Your sentence states, 'we are' - not 'I am' - as a result." He wrote down a character and transposed it in front of the character Nicholas had down for 'I'. Without breaking stride, he returned to his calculations, eyes tracking the numbers calmly.

Jared rolled his eyes, "Thanks, but that is not what I meant. It looks like you are still working on the same project. Would you like some help with it?"

The Vulcan drew his fingertip over the remaining equation. "You have already provided me with the assistance I require from you," he answered succinctly. He switched screens on the fereikek reh, using a finger to draw down the other portion of his stored data, which dealt exclusively in star maps, solar systems, and trade reports. "Is there a reason you are here?" Liyar finally asked a reasonable question, mentally calculating the impact of Tharin II's increase of interplanetary export taxes on the strain the Tharin system was currently undergoing and the ripples outward.

"This is a lab," Jared replied in kind, his voice monotone, "I am a scientist, a social scientist at any rate. Is it not logical to assume that business and study would bring me here? Should I question you in the same way that you have questioned me?"

Liyar looked pointedly at the wall, indicating the laboratory's information, including its occupants. "It is not logical to assume that you would continuously require an occupied laboratory," he pointed out, eyebrows arched.

"Terrans prefer company when they work, at least this Terran does. It actually helps me to focus and concentrate."

"You do not appear focused." Liyar's eyes swept over Jared's terminal, which had went neglected in the face of their conversation. He then looked up at the system notes he'd been taking and stepped forward, enshrouding himself in the three dimensional hologrid, drawing out the beginning outlines of his graph and projection statistics.

"That," he continued the discussion, Is because I don't have to be focused on a machine to be focused on what I'm doing."

Liyar found whatever it was to be elusive. "Which is what, precisely?" he asked, eying Nicholas skeptically.

Jared made the eye roll obvious. "My language study of course. Multi-tasking actually helps me focus on each task more than if I were just performing one."

"And you are capable of both focusing on learning a language and speaking with me simultaneously?" Liyar pointed out, in what he thought was a perfectly reasonable question. "Do you have something wrong with your eyes?" he noticed the man kept making very strange movements. Perhaps he needed a doctor.

Jared shook his head slowly unable to keep from smirking. "There is nothing wrong with my eyes, I just find your actions, or perhaps reactions would be more accurate, to be amusing. And no I am not capable of learning a language and speaking to you at the same time, that would be some trick. I am able however to watch you, or listen to your music, and learn a new language."

"I see." Liyar looked back up toward the graph he had been drawing. He wrote something out in Miri'kahr gotavlu characters, and then seemed to change his mind and switch to Standard. He would have to be submitting these in Standard, anyway. Understanding the effects, he began at the top, pausing and frowning at it unconsciously. Writing in Standard was not his forte, of hyperinflation, he translated the word in his head, on Tharin star system, outlier colonies. He began drawing several new graphs, including words such as Initial cost, best estimate of expected life, length of shutdown for emergency repair, cost of planned maintenance during scheduled shutdowns, effect of failure on total plant operation... and then devolved into numbers, graphs, supply and demand cycles with food, medical supplies near the top. It was his task to study the current state of events, and his circling 400% over in one of the corners didn't look good. 96.9%, of... what did Standard call the ek'ka'kelik satorvu? he paused there for a while before nodding to himself, all GDP. Lack of experience lead to furnishing excessive sponsored currency, leading to hyperinflation, he wrote beside the next series of graphs and numbers.

State regulation remains, he paused in that and continued working on a completely separate graph detailing the labor portion of his work (unemployment 64%, his final graph indicated) and then went back, to greater expense than its citizens are capable of maintaining. Businesses cannot open, nor close. Citizens cannot work, nor be fired. As the process is too lengthy, this leads to catastrophic economic conditions. He turned the fereikek reh to the side, reciting from memory several incidents of riots and fighting over food. These people were nomads, he knew that. The Exodus had ensured that, the generation ships. They were not stupid people, and they were used to building and forging anew again. But the economic projections he was spewing out clearly showed a different story. He pulled out the lab notes area and began writing in an area entitled speculation. Romulans drastically affected by Hobus event. Likely psionic resonance, the Consciousness, motivating factor for reckless and impulsive behavior in this outlier colony. He moved along and devolved into a random series of star charts, projections and calculations, moving quickly and completely ignoring Jared's presence.

Jared merely shrugged his shoulders. He studied Liyar for several long minutes while the man worked. Then he went back to his own study. He wondered for a bit why he was trying to pick up a new language. Then he remembered the night before in the kitchen with Ansen. A time that had begun quite innocently, but hadn't ended that way. He wondered if there were cameras in the mess hall kitchen. If so, the security people would get an eyeful.

After a while, and after several more streams of economic data, interspersed with Federation reports, when Jared's thoughts directed toward Ansen Pawlak, Liyar turned, arching an eyebrow at the mental image he'd inadvertently ferreted, even with the psi-clamps.

Jared looked up as Liyar peered at him and though he didn't like the odd look the other man gave him, he didn't try to probe for the reason. Instead, he decided to raise his shields even higher to prevent any inadvertent eavesdropping.

Liyar merely turned back, blinked and shook his head, deciding his economic calculations were much more fascinating than that particular exploit. He recalled the fereikek reh and opened it to another program, showcasing a map of the Alpha and Beta quadrants, and began mapping trade lines through to Tharin. After a while, he seemed to finish, and turned around to offer one simple tidbit of advice. "There are," he confirmed Jared's silent musings. "Security feeds within the kitchen. I would advise discretion. This is not the Nen-shu-pal." With that, he sauntered away toward the door.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Jared called out, then made a move to intercept the Vulcan. "You know it's really not polite to listen to other people's private thoughts. And just what did you see anyway?"

Liyar blinked, holding up the psi-clamps on his wrists. "It was unintentional. You are broadcasting. I witnessed the majority of your thoughts. Furthermore, I suggest you cease discussing my mother immediately, as you are certainly an unqualified judge of character." He gave a last, slow, condescending blink, before continuing on his way.

Jared muttered under his breath a physically impossible trick for Liyar to perform unless he was especially limber.

OFF:

Lieutenant (JG) Liyar
Diplomatic Officer, VDF/SDD
USS Galileo

Ensign Jared Nicholas
Language Specialist, SCC
USS Galileo

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