Stuck on You, Part 4

Posted on Wed Jan 31st, 2024 @ 5:38am by Captain Daniel Jackson PhD & Captain Remy Johansen & Lieutenant JG T'lenn

2,146 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Artifact or Artifiction
Location: Jupiter Station, Science Lab 3
Timeline: MD: -6 Days to Launch, After Part 2, 1500 hours

[Part 4]

Jupiter Station's Science Lab 3 was vast. Parts of it were sectioned off with a typical lab set up with tables and equipment for experiments. Most of it was open space, room for larger pieces of equipment to be brought in for larger scale types of experiments.

Dr. Jackson, a human in his early forties with light brown hair walked toward the group when they beamed in - Remy and Vila a good distance apart, proximity alarms strapped to their biceps. "I'm Daniel Jackson," he stated, the Captain's pips clearly visible on his teal science uniform. "I'm hoping that we have what we need to get those bracelets off in one of these crates somewhere. There is a lot to look through. And there is a possibility that it was never recovered. Lieutenant T'lenn can you describe what you know about what the switch may look like?"

T'lenn glanced sideways at Dr. Jackson before beginning. "It could look like anything. However, after cross referencing the hieroglyphics on the artifacts, and the energy readings that the artifacts are emitting, I believe it is likely that the control device will be encased in a metallic cover of the same color, and with similar characters engraved into the material. Furthermore, it is likely powered by a dakeon crystal, meaning it will likely be approximately this size, though it could be larger."

T'lenn held up a PADD showing a sketch of a possible model approximately 5.25 cm wide and 12 cm long.

Vila put a smile on her face. "Soooo...how do you know Remy?" she said, ignoring the rest. "You remind me of someone I knew once....but I can't place who...." Hmm. Her brain was still foggy, though. It would come to her eventually.

Daniel smiled at Remy. "Oh, we met at a life sciences conference on Earth, seven - was it seven? or so years ago on Earth. She was still the Assistant Chief Science Officer on the Excelsior, and involved in quite a few special operations missions - research related of course. I think we really got to talking after she accused me of being 'Starfleet desk-jockey yes-man who wouldn't know how to prioritize research projects even if the right one came along and bit me on the ass.' - That is what you said, isn't it?" Daniel asked Remy, the light he had for her obvious in his eyes.

Remy offered the room a sheepish look. "I may have said something along those lines... yes maybe. But in my defense, he did come to see my point of view," she added putting a finger in the air to make a point.

"Yeah, well a lot of good that did us," Daniel said dismissively. "Anyway, you must be Dr. Lorut. Pleasure to meet you. While they start looking for the other device, would you want to come over and let me run some more scans. There is a chance we won't have the missing piece, so I want to work on devising a way to replicating our own if it comes to that."

"I see," she said. "That's probably where I recognize you from. I was also at that conference. That's how I met Remy originally," Vila said. "I was on SB450 then," she said. "You can scan me anytime you like, Doc," she said, with a smirk. "He's cute, Remy. No wonder you've kept him to yourself," she said. She made herself still so that Daniel could work.

Remy gave a subtle nod as she turned her back on Vila and Daniel. She smiled sadly as she pulled open a box and began looking through the items for anything that looked like it could be connected to the bracelets in any way.

Daniel smiled somewhat awkwardly as he looked across the table at Vila. He busied himself preparing a machine that had a platform for Vila to rest her arm on, and a swinging bar above that would take various scans. "I take it you don't know much about our history. It doesn't surprise me. Remy can seem so outgoing, but there is a lot about her that she plays close to the chest," he said with a sigh. A reading perked his interest, and he rushed to take down the information briefly, then went back to casually watching the readouts again.

"I'm going to have you sit under this one for a while, it reads on the lower end of the energy spectrum, we're getting inconsistent readings. I'd like to see if we can make out a pattern," he explained.

Vila chuckled a bit. "I know," she said. "Remy is a bit elusive. As we all are," she said. "But we will have 18 months to spend together, figuring each other out." She said. "What's going on?" She asked, as he scribbled some notes. "Is everything ok?" She asked. She idly picked up some items, running her hands over them. "What on EARTH do you think this is?" She asked Remy, holding up what looked like a rock.

Daniel barely looked up, "Everything is fine, just trying to find that pattern."

Remy didn't want to get too close. "A rock? I don't know. Lieutenant Ghiram, maybe you can go see what she's looking at. Find out what Dr. Jackson is doing for me will ya?" Remy asked. She shook her arm that had the bracelet latched on to it before moving to the next box.

Ghiram snapped out of his distracted demeanor, and rolled his eyes. " Spirits guide me, this is a mess." Ghiram stomped off, not knowing where Dr. Jackson was, but not wanting to get blamed for whatever new mistakes were being made in the lab.

Dr. Jackson and Dr. Lorut were both within earshot of Remy and Ghiram at a table in the back of the lab. "I can show you the equipment I'm working with and the kind of readings I'm getting if you want to take a look," Daniel offered. "You're the Assistant Chief Science Officer right? Lieutenant Giram? My original thought was if we needed to replicate some sort of duplicate, but I'm wondering now if we could figure out how to scan for a similar energy reading in the storage. If we do have the control switch, we may find it faster."

" Ghi-ram , not Gi-ram." He made his way across the room and stared down the captain. "Replica- that's the stupidest idea I've ever heard. Just because you can replicate something doesn't mean the duplicate works properly, or at all. People tried replicating Commander Data's positronic brain for years, and all it spit out was a bunch of inactive wires and circuits. It's a copy machine, not a miracle worker. We have a bracelet already, we don't need a copy to get scans of it."

Daniel started to open his mouth to speak, then shut it, furrowing his brow as he pressed his lips together in concentration trying to make out whether he'd be able to bridge the communication gap with the science officer in the short time they had at the moment. "Right," was all he said.

"Lieutenant," Vila said, her tone a bit tense. "Please remember that the Commander is your XO." She said. "It's not just a ROCK. It has a hole right here," she said, showing Remy the hole. She resisted the urge to blow into the hole, as if it were an Ocarina or something. "Dr. Jackson, does a hole in a rock mean anything to you?" She asked. She placed it aside, and picked up the next item. It was a long piece of metal that, at blush, seemed to just be a metal stick. It was engraved, also, with hieroglyphs.

"I'm not coming over there. Remember last time?" Remy said keeping a careful distance as she stood back up and looked over to where she was sitting with Daniel. The lab itself was more the size of a concert hall, and they were against one of the back walls while Remy took a brief break from sifting through boxes to look over at them.

Dr. Jackson had been focused on the pattern he was seeing in the energy fluctuation that he hadn't paid attention to the chatter. When Vila stated his name he finally looked up. "Oh," he said, signs of recognition on his face. "That is a musical instrument. It's a more primitive version of the one still used by the Sandri people of today. The inscription is actually musical notes and lyrics. The Sandri aren't warp capable yet. If they ever achieve it will like be a couple of hundred years, so naturally we haven't made first contact..."

"Daniel," Remy projected from across the room. If someone didn't stop him they'd hear about the Sandri for the next hour and a half instead of making progress on their problem.

Daniel smiled sheepishly at himself. "Right. Anyway, I think we've made some headway here. I'd like to start scanning these boxes for these energy frequencies. It should speed up the search."

"Cool," she said. She set it aside. "That'll be fun to archive," she said. She grabbed her tricorder. "Alright, I can start helping, too," she said. "I will stay over here, Remy," she said. "Bring me one, please, Captain?" She asked. She was itching to get her hands on these artifacts.

T'lenn walked over Dr. Jackson to see what readings he was talking about, and programmed them in to her tricorder, and began her scans from the opposite side of the room."

"Alright," Remy acquiesced walking over toward the table. Daniel handed her a tricorder, his hand brushing hers momentarily as they shared a look. Remy was about to start her own scans when Vila/Ghiram said he/she found something.

Vila held up a shiny piece of metal, shaped like an old Earth skeleton key. "Dr. Jackson. Lt. Ghiram. Remy....I think...I found something useful!" She announced. She handed it off to Ghiram. "Give that a looksee, will you?" She asked him.

Daniel took the key out of her hand and gave it a curious look. "Yeah, I think this actually unlocks a Pandora's Box of sorts. I don't know what it's doing in here. The scientists here really do need to be a better job of cataloging and returning items to their proper location."

"I am picking up faint energy readings matching the ones that Dr. Jackson recorded emanating from the artifacts," T'lenn stated. She had her tricorder poised in front of a large bin. With the ease of her superior Vulcan strength she pulled it off of the shelf and placed it on the floor to make the container easier to sort through.

"Perhaps the item we are looking for will be in this storage container," T'lenn suggested.

Remy let out a sort of half-sigh/half-groan in relief as she trudged over to help T'lenn sort through the bin. Her hand rested on something that had the same cool feel as the metallic bracelet. She pulled it out, a bronze colored cylindrical item that fit in her hand. No obvious buttons, but there were inscriptions.

"Please tell me this is it," Remy stated holding it up for everyone to see.

Vila brightened. "Yes, look," she said, moving closer, holding up her arm. "The tiny incision here?" She pointed. "I bet that's a keyhole! Dr Jackson, Lt. T'Lenn, one of you want to do the honors?" She asked.

T'lenn took the cylinder from Remy and looked carefully at the inscriptions, narrowing her eyes as she scrutinized the writings. T'lenn walked out from behind the bin and toward the center of the room. She ran her thumb over the inscriptions in a pattern and both bracelets fell off of Remy's and Vila's arms.

"This device has the potential be extremely dangerous," T'lenn stated looking at her superior officers. "I believe if functioning properly, the right entry into this control device could kill the persons wearing the artifacts. It should be studied further, with the proper safety protocols in place." T'lenn placed the device carefully on the table, avoiding the inscriptions with her hands.

Vila smiled and sighed with relief. "Thank you," she said. "Yeah, no kidding. What do you think triggers it?" She asked, curiously. "I wonder if..." she said, turning back to the other table, and retrieving forceps and her lab glasses. "Using forceps will be better," she said, picking them up with the metal tweezers.

Remy tapped the bracelet that had fallen off of her wrist with her toes, nudging it across the floor until it was closer to the table. Daniel walked up behind her with Level 3 laboratory gloves and picked the bracelet up and placed it on the table. "Yes, I'm definitely curious about these," he said to himself as he took a closer look at the inactive bracelet.

[END]

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