taxonomites | [Holo] Arrival

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[Holo] Arrival

Christine walked back and forth between the supply cabinet and the crate she was working on. It was a boring day and she was doing a monotonous job: restocking. Her soft-soled boots were quiet as she moved, the only sound in the area was her soft humming and the clink of the glass vials as she placed them in their respective holders.

Doing this part of her job was easy. The shelves had been set up according to Starfleet regulation and she knew the filing system blindfolded. So, of course her mind was anywhere but on her current job. As she hummed and stocked, she thought about the party that was going on after shift tonight. Uhura and Sulu had told her about it. It was to start at one of the random bars outside of the Academy and end up...wherever. It promised to be a fun night, really.

Turning, her head down as she finished the tune, she took a step before something happened. Everything seemed to shift and for a split second she felt dizzy. Looking up, she noticed she wasn't in the medical bay of the Enterprise any longer. Confusion lined her features as she stood, frozen, trying to get her bearings.

“Alright, Scotty. If this is some kinda joke it isn't funny,” she finally managed, the smile on her face returning.

She waited a few seconds and nothing happened. “Scotty? Guys? Someone...? This isn't funny!” She was more determined now, but still nothing.

Frowning, she looked down at her uniform, her hands brushing against the front of the blue science officer's dress. Everything seemed to be intact...her fingers traced the silver bracelet around her wrist. That was new. Inhaling deeply, she looked up again. She felt fine, so her curiosity got the better of her and she hopped off the platform she was on. Immediately, she noticed the tablet on the pedestal. Picking it up, she smiled.

“Hey...uhm...hello?” she started, biting her bottom lip as she tried to figure out what to say. She could read the controls, so they must be able to understand her some how. “Is anyone there?”

Okay, so maybe not such a great way to get someone's attention, but Christine was a science officer, not on a trained search and rescue unit. The total randomness of this got to her and she started giggling as she went back to looking around, waiting for a response or for her to figure a way out of here.

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Alerted immediately to Christine's arrival by a flashing light on his tablet, Spock's attention was secured when he noted not only the familiar design of her uniform but also the manner in which she spoke. She had attempted to address a 'Scotty', and logical deduction dictated that she was referring to Montgomery Scott, the Enterprise's erstwhile engineer.

"This is Commander Spock," he said, flicking a switch on his own tablet in order to communicate with her more effectively. "You are no longer aboard the Enterprise. You have been transported to a planet known as 'Taxon' by a currently unidentified alien force."

His explanation was clear and abrupt. It did not occur to him to 'cushion the blow'. The sooner the new arrival came to understand her situation, the sooner she would be able to begin the adjustment process.

Chris looked at the tablet. She held it out with both hands from her face, then brought it back. "Mr. Spock?" she questioned, not quite understanding what he was talking about. "What do you mean, I'm no longer on the Enterprise? I coulda told you that."

Pausing, Chris looked around again in thought. She'd never heard of this planet before. "Taxon? Where's that?" she said absently, her focus now on a door and not on him.

He nodded his head in assent. Although Spock was not familiar with every member of personnel on the Enterprise - it had not been practical or feasible to attempt to learn such a large number of names and personal details in the time allotted - he recognised the head nurse by sight. If memory served him correctly, this was to be their first conversation. It was a pity that the circumstances were so unfavourable.

"In many cases, clarification is required. People are often unwilling to believe the evidence of their own eyes, despite all logical verification."

He followed the direction of her gaze.

"You are able to leave the chamber and explore the city, if you wish," he said, before answering her absent question. "Taxon is not a planet in any known quadrant."

"Oh," Christine said simply, making her way to the door and walking out of the room. "How'd we get here, then?"

Everything was so weird. It almost looked like she was still on a spaceship, but Spock wasn't the type to lie. Well, that's what she'd heard, anyway.

"So, where is everyone, then? Or did only certain people come?" she asked quietly as she walked down the hallway. "Are there native inhabitants? Or any kinda life here?" Cue Christine's ramblings. When she got nervous she tended to ramble.

"That has yet to be determined."

Although Spock had spent the majority of his time in Taxon endeavouring to work out where they were - and, perhaps more importantly, how to leave - he had been unable to produce significant results. It was something that troubled him more than his implacable expression indicated.

"Currently, only myself, the Captain, Doctor McCoy and Lieutenant Uhura are being held here. There are constructs, colloquially referred to as 'extras', that could be considered the native population of the city, but they have not provided us with any useful information."

"Huh," she mumbled, walking down the hall. It almost sounded like although they knew some things, it wasn't enough to get a grasp on what was going on. Great, just great.

"So, where are ya'll? I'm not seein' anyone right now, cept on this PADD thingy," she said a bit louder, glancing down at the screen then back up again. Her knowledge of non-medical technical stuff was limited and usually devolved into vague placeholder names to get her point across.

That would have been an adequate summary of the situation if voiced, yes.

"I am currently located in the Bridge of the Enterprise," he answered, "A number of key locations on the ship have been accurately replicated and brought to Taxon." It could only be a replication of the Bridge, after all. The idea of the ship being separated in such a manner was highly illogical, to say the least.

"Really?" she questioned, trying to sound not as surprised as she felt. It took her a few seconds to process what he said, though. She had to sort out what she thought he said and what he actually said. "Oh...oh. A reproduction. Huh. Well, where is this reproduction of the Enterprise?"

She felt that, aside from anything else, the sooner she was around people she knew the sooner she could help, or attempt to help, with figuring how to get back home.

"The tablet - the device you are currently using to communicate with me - can be used to produce a map of the city. It will allow you to locate the Enterprise and, if you select the appropriate setting, any individual that has been fitted with a bracelet."

The technology employed by the people of Taxon - or, more accurately, by the people who had transported them to Taxon - was highly advanced. Though that made life in the city somewhat more simple, it also made formulating an escape more challenging.

"If you require assistance," he added, as an extremely formal afterthought, "I will proceed to your current location and escort you back to the ship."

Good to know this thing was that useful. Chris clicked a few buttons on the screen to see what they brought up.

"I-e-uhm..." she started, a bit distracted by playing with the tablet, "that might be wise. Do you think you should check with Captain Kirk, first? I might possibly be able to make my way there, if it's not to far," she said.

Spock raised an eyebrow. It hadn't occurred to him to ask permission. Not because he did not respect the Captain or the authority his rank afforded him, but because she was a member of the crew. Though she did not, as far as he was aware, have Bridge clearance on the Enterprise, it would be illogical to deny her access to the Bridge in Taxon. It was one of the few areas of the ship that they currently had.

Or perhaps she was attempting to inquire as to whether he needed permission to leave the ship?

"It is located in Speares, a district in the northern sector of the city."

While the captain had spent a little over two months on board his vessel before he'd been brought to Taxon, it hadn't been nearly enough time for him to memorize all the names and faces of everyone on board. Any progress he'd made with that, of course, was negated by the months he'd spent here away from the people who were supposed to be serving under him -- even if the crew roster was still accessible on the parts of the Enterprise that was here with him, it hadn't crossed his mind to use the free time he'd been presented with to nail that down. He'd been too obsessed with trying to find a way out of here, nevermind being distracted by an array of other things.

It was the name Scotty that made him pause at this particular entry as he skimmed through the ones made recently to the tablet, eyes going wide as he recognized one of his uniforms -- as Starfleet uniform. From his ship? The face looked vaguely familiar, but a name to go along with it just wasn't coming to him.

"Kirk here," he responded to the inquiry. "Welcome to Taxon."

"Kirk? As in, Captain Kirk?" she asked, looking back down at the screen a bit excited. Did this mean the whole crew was here or something? "This is uhm..." Chris paused, her face contorting into a confused expression for a moment as she wondered if she needed to address herself by her proper title, "Head Nurse Christine Chapel?" Her voice was tentative as she spoke.

"....what's going on, sir?" The last line was quieter. The uncertainty of the situation now catching up to her.

Edited 2009-10-13 17:57 (UTC)

Chapel. That name registered somewhere in the back of his mind and he took a moment to shuffle through the fuzzy memories surrounding the one-track thoughts in his mind, which had been directed at Chekov's talk of a lightning storm, from when he'd woken up in sickbay after Bones had knocked him out. That's right, Chapel was the name of the nurse Bones had shouted at to bring him a hypo of -- oh, something. He couldn't be relied on to remember the name of whatever the hell it was Bones kept injecting him with.

"Nurse Chapel," he said with a grin, "I don't think we got a chance to meet properly before. We'll have to remedy that."

At her question, he sighed. "I'm afraid that's a little difficult to answer. We don't know why we're here or who brought us here, what planet and system this is, only that this place is called Taxon and it's located in a massive cave without any apparent exit, complete with an artificial sky."

Edited 2009-10-15 13:14 (UTC)

Oh, the infamous James Kirk. Christine resisted the urge to roll her eyes, but couldn't keep the amused expression off her face. She remembered the incident in sick bay quite well.

"Sure, sir. I guess while we're stuck here, it won't hurt to get to know everyone," she said, smiling a bit. At least she wasn't alone and was with people she could relate to...if only she could find them. Being the curious sort, she was already heading out of the door and looking around the hall she just entered. Her fingers tapped on the back of the tablet as she looked around and listened to him talk.

"An artificial sky?" she questioned, feeling her heart sink just a bit at his description of the place.

She was determined to keep a positive outlook about this, though. As long as no one was in danger there was no reason to panic.

So far, there hadn't been any real danger...if one ignored Cassie Hack going on on a glitched rampage and the vampires of Eric Northman's universe stirring up trouble with the vampires and vampire slayers of Buffy Summers' universe that Kirk had somehow managed to get himself involved in. Starfleet caught up in the middle of a vampire war. Starfleet and vampire in the same sentence was enough to get him tossed into an insane asylum.

He nodded. "Artificial sky. It acts just like a real one, sunburns and all, but it's just an illusion. Go high enough and you'll slam into the ceiling of the cave. You also can't go outside the city limits. There's an invisible barrier that's impossible to penetrate."

"You mean they have the technology to create artificial UV rays? That's good news, as humans need the rays to promote vitamin D as part of a healthy immune system," she left out the part that on Earth she was a sun worshiper in the warmer months and was somewhat excited that she could do so again.

"And plants? Are there live plants on Taxon, too?"

It seemed like a valid question. If there was artificial sun light that could effect humans, then it would be able to affect plants as well. And having plants meant oxygen production. Oxygen production, under the right circumstances (and this alien race seemed to know what they were doing) that could last indefinitely. Indefinitely. Forever. On and on. And that meant...okay, her brain was working waaaaay overtime now. Calm down, Chapel, calm down. She didn't know the whole picture yet. Apparently, no one did. They could just be science experiments and released...whenever. The rush of emotions that crossed her face again mirrored her inner turmoil from a few seconds ago.

Taking a deep, calming breath, she finally settled on a very serious expression towards the captain. One that, if he'd ever seen her work in the sick bay, he'd figure was her work face. "Can you direct me to...wherever you, and apparently the others, are? Or in the general vicinity?" Being in a strange place all alone was one thing, knowing you had somewhat of a safe place to be? Completely another. "I'd like to join up with the rest of the crew."

"Apparently. I honestly haven't looked too much into it." Though, now that she'd questioned it, the inkling to do so was starting to manifest itself. "There's plants. Lots of plants. From grass to trees to seaweed."

Kirk was already standing up and making his way out of his ready room and off the bridge when she completed her request. "Actually, if you make your way out of the building you're in, I can get a lock on you and beam you here. One of the quirks of this place is that people tend to...bring things with them. Pieces of home. Several members of the crew are here and we've all brought parts of the Enterprise that have stuck themselves together like a puzzle that's ignoring the picture on the box. So far, we've got the bridge, sickbay, and the transporter room."

((OOC: Well, someone is gonna probably notice the science lab soon, then. ;) ))

Nodding, Chris turned a corner and then made her way down another hallway. "I'm makin' my way out as we speak," she said, then added more quietly, "if I can figure that out."

[ OOC → yay for more parts! ]

"Getting out's simple enough," he said with a smile, speaking from experience. Now in the transporter room, he instructed, "Just tell me when."

"Alright sir, just..." she frowned as her tablet did something and she wasn't quite sure how to fix it. "Ah, shit," she grumbled, losing his image and not knowing how to get it back or anything.

"Damn. Oh well, I'm gonna get my ass outside...eventually," she mumbled to herself, "and then I'll try to figure this out."

He couldn't help but chuckle at her misfortune. He'd had a bit of difficulty himself with the tablets when he'd first arrived, too. They were horribly primitive in comparison to the level of technology they were used to dealing with, after all, and took some time to get used to.

"Makes me realize why we stopped using these centuries ago," he said. "I'll be waiting."

"... Nurse?"

Her holographic presence was enough to make McCoy drop whatever he was doing when he heard the voice of the woman whose assistance he would have to grow used to for the next five years or so. If they ever managed to get out of Taxon one day, that was.

But after two months in this hellhole, he could not decide whether her voice was music to his ears, or something that would cause another headache and much grumbling.

Edited 2009-10-17 14:47 (UTC)

Chris was trying to figure out this tablet-thingy when the image of her boss, or former boss?, appeared. It scared and startled her, almost causing her to drop the damn thing. It wasn't that it was McCoy - she never had any real problems back talking him when he needed it - but because this stupid PADD/Tablet/whateveritwas seemed way more advanced than most anything she'd worked with before. It was like it could do everything and every time something happened it was new and confusing. Especially since most of it seemed out of her control.

Taking a deep breath, a small smile spreading across her face, she looked down at the video feed. "Dr. McCoy? Uhm, hi," her tone sounding a bit guilty. Why did he always make her feel like she was the one at fault? The look on her face was a mixture of confusion and relief mixed with her usual smile she wore.

While Nurse Chapel almost dropped her tablet in surprise, he winced as she fumbled with the loathsome piece of technology and squeaked out a greeting to him. He had wanted to smash his own tablet in all honesty after he arrived if it had not been for Jim giving him an informal reprimand about the tablets. Best not to piss off someone who was looking for an opening to take his revenge after the inflatable hands and space syphilis routine. One of which was not his fault, really.

"Hi yourself." He replied awkwardly as his face contorted into another cantankerous line, although his aversion was not directed at her but rather the situation that had plucked another one of their crewmates and dropped them into Taxon. "Are you all right?"

"Peachy, just confused, sir," she mumbled as she shrugged and smiled down at him.

Sighing, Christine pushed some hair behind her ear. "I've spoken to the captain and Spock already, so I'm not gonna bother you with questions. Kirk said if I could get outside he'd be able to beam me to where ya'll are?"

Pausing, she thought for a moment. If there were so many people there from the Enterprise, then were the aliens looking for specifics? "At least it wasn't the transporter," she laughed, only then realizing she'd said that out loud.

Edited 2009-10-19 14:32 (UTC)

Nurse Chapel had said the magic word; only it served as the mirrored effect in the world of Leonard McCoy, where he was simply a doctor and not a babysitter or any other profession people assumed he had a field in, and he twitched visibly over the visual feed.

His appearance in Taxon had been after his feet reluctantly fallen onto those loathsome pads in the transporter and he squeezed the tablet with much unhappiness at the memory. The offer of Jim using the transporters and grinning like a Cheshire Cat in his mind's eye and that set off their delightful Chief Medical Officer.

"Good God, can no one walk in this city anymore?" McCoy snapped irritably. "I swear he'd beam a chicken and a carton of eggs if he didn't have someone to pander to his beaming fetish."

"Beaming fetish?" Christine snorted and broke down into a fit of giggles, dropping the tablet onto the floor as she doubled over from laughing so hard. Oh god, it had been a while since she laughed this hard and even though what he said clearly wasn't a joke, she just couldn't stop laughing.

After a few more seconds she wiped her eyes and leaned over to pick up the tablet. A few giggles still bubbled their way to the surface. "Sorry, sir. I don't think there are any psychological exams to figure out of one has a," cue another small fit of snickers, "beaming fetish."

"But, oh lord. Alright. When I figure out this damn tablet thing I can make my way there on foot. Does that appease you?" another sly grin at him where she's obviously not hiding her amusement, "But, it's not like I feel any safer walkin'. I was stockin' when I got transported here in'tha first place, sir."

Part of her worried about getting a whole month of being stuck reorganizing the shelves. The other part? Well, when you had a personality like Christine's and a boss like McCoy, it was only natural that she took a lot of his temper in good humor. Otherwise she might knock him out...which still wasn't out of the realm of possibilities on some days.

[since getting attacked when cassie had glitched, uhura had made it a point to check every transmission that got sent out. the blonde woman on her screen looked familiar, though uhura was pretty sure she hadn't had any classes with her - medical training required much different academy courses than xenolinguistics did, after all.

but uhura was still certain she was part of the crew, especially after she mentioned the name 'scotty'.]

Hello?

Hello?

[Chris looked down at the screen, confused as to why she didn't see anyone new on the screen. She looked around to check and see if anyone had walked up. Nope, she was still alone. Mentally, she added this newest thing to the list she was trying to remember in her head of everything this tablet did.]

You're a member of Starfleet, correct? Has someone around here explained the situation to you yet?

[Biiiiig siiiiigh. She's a tad sleepy, but not upset or anything.]

Yeah. I'm Christine Chapel, Head Nurse to the USS Enterprise. I've spoken with Commander Spock, Captain Kirk, as well as Dr. McCoy already. They know I'm here. Who is this?

Edited 2009-10-19 19:15 (UTC)

Oh, hello Nurse Chapel. This is Lieutenant Uhura. I'd say it's good to see you here, but the circumstances aren't exactly ideal.

Hi, Uhura. I agree with you, yeah...but look on the bright side. At least it's not freezing outside!

This is true. I haven't seen the weather change since I arrived here, in fact.

Oh, huh. Have you seen any beaches?

Edited 2009-10-19 21:53 (UTC)

I haven't seen any, but I know there's one on the map.

[That was a happy squeal that was heard over the line.]

Oh, really?

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[Holo] Arrival

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[ visual ] -love- your take on xi!chapel, btw. :)

Ah...Thanks! :) That means a lot to me.

you're very welcome! :)

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[Visual fading to voice - oopsie, she needs to learn to work this thing!]

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[voice - sorry this took me so long!]

[voice] No problem! :D

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