Wanderers, a Monkey, and an EMH

Posted on 19 Mar 2018 @ 11:44am by Commodore Harvey Geisler & Commander Jayla Kij & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Lieutenant Reginald Hawthorn & Lieutenant JG Jazmin Parks

2,987 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Crossing Over
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD35 || 1013 hours

===[Elsewhere]===

Jazmin still had no idea who she was, where she was, or anything else. She DID have an overwhelming sense that there were people who needed her, but had no idea how to or why she should feel this way. She brushed her hair out of her eyes for the hundredth time and looked around at the same small space she had been confined in for who knew how long.

The place was barely tall enough for her to sit up in, it was twice as long as she was tall and there were two doors at either end. She could only surmise that this was some sort of maintenance area. She had no idea how she got here or why she was here in the first place. There was a panel across from her, but it was inactive, scorch marks prominent.

She had tried to fiddle with it when it overloaded. Not only that but the strange medallion on her chest arced electricity as well and when she had come to after the blast knocked her out, found scorch marks across her chest as well.

Neither door would open, no one knew she was here, but she was alive, there was air and she knew (although she didn't know how) that she'd be fine for days. Others would come, she knew it. She didn't know how, but she did know it.

So to pass the time she began humming a tune that was in her head. Someone would come.

THUNK!...THUNK!...THUNK-THUNK!

The sound came from the end of the maintenance crawlspace, from one of the sealed hatches. What also came from it was a muffled one-sided conversation that didn't seem to be going the speaker's way. The sound of heavy impacts returned for a moment before the hatch let out a resounded tone and popped open an inch. An exuberant cry of triumphant came through the small gap, followed by fingers that wedged themselves in and pulled to open one side of the door. And then a face appeared, looking through the door at Jazmin. The face was blocky, a little red around the cheeks from exertion, and had the sort of manic grin a...a...well the particular something didn't come to mind. It was probably in the same lockbox of mysteries as everyone's name.

"You!" The man, who didn't know he was called Reggie yet, pointed a finger at her before returning to trying to force the door wider the door. "Y'all stay yourself right there! I got me questions in need of answerin'. And these doors are a might fussy in the act of opening."

Jazmin couldn't believe her good fortune. She had figured there wouldn't be anyone for quite some time. How long WAS she here? She tried to remember, but couldn't. She hurried over and grabbed one side of the door helping the strange man to open it.

"I think we both have questions. Do you know who I am? I sure don't!"

Reggie squinted at her from between the now wide open doors, and then slowly shook his head.

“Given you ain’t callin’ me by name, I’m getting the feeling it’s mutual,” Reggie grumbled and crawled into the section of crawl space Jasmin had been renting by her lonesome. “I’d not go that way if I was you. Big old shaft that goes down a ways. Nearly fell a few times, boy that would have been a long fall-“

He paused, his eyes focusing on the burned out panel that filled the air with an acrid chemical smell. The sight of the ruined pieces of equipment made him feel...angry. Furious, even.

“I’m feelin’ something here that ain’t dinner related,” Reggie growled, gesturing with his still bound hands at the panel. “I think this was mine? I feel like someone stabbed me or some such when I look at this mess,” his brow furrowed. “Why do I own shafts and tunnels?”

Jazmin immediately saw the look of anguish on the other's face at the sight of the panel. "I don't know why you feel that way. I get that same kind of feeling when I look at you, like I want to protect you." She paused knowing how that may have sounded. "I mean, not in a romantic kind of way, but in a responsibility kind of way."

She gestured to the panel. "I think I did that. I was trying to figure out just what was going on and it kind of overloaded. Sorry."

Reggie’s right eye suddenly, and almost painfully, began to twitch at the admission of guilt. And now that stabbing pain of guilt at the damaged console was replaced by an emotion Reggie, or the man who did not know that he was Reggie, could only call ‘Happinesses Mortal Enemy’.

“I don’t think staying here is the best thing for us. No offence but I don’t think we all just woke up in our natural habitat.” He turned his head away from the console, and with both his hands pointed at the hatch behind her. “I find beating the control pad next to it works best. Intimidates the machinery. But, er, if you can do something about these metal things on my wrists, might make the work a little faster.”

He held up his hands to her, giving them a little insulting rattle...now that action felt down right familiar to him.

Jazmin looked the man over, he was obviously impatient to get those...handcuffs (that's the word!) off. She couldn't blame him, she wouldn't want to have those things on her either. But, she had an uneasy feeling about it when she considered removing them. There must have been a reason for him to have them on in the first place. Wasn't there?

"No offense, but I just don't feel comfortable taking those off. Besides," she patted down her uniform, "I don't know how to do that anyway." Something inside her said that she DID know how. However, she wasn't about to let him know that.

She gave him her best reassuring smile. "How about we just get out of this place and find someone else that might be able to help."

"That's just super," Reggie said with a little huff of air. "That was sarcasm, by the by. MIght not know who I am, or who you are, but I know that when I say I enjoy getting cuffed I'm not being that honest. 'Don't feel comfortable taking them off', blue fire if that ain't the most backwards things I've ever heard."

He wormed his way past her, crawling oddly as he did so in a halting motion.

"We find another shaft to nowhere and I fall down it 'cause of these," he rapped them against the metal of the deck. "Last words outta my lips on the way down will be your name. So listen good."

Jazmin rolled her eyes. "Being just a bit on the dramatic side, aren't you. Besides you fall, I'll grab the back of your uniform and keep you from falling." She giggled, which seemed a tad out of place, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. "Whether I let go if you do start to fall depends on just how much of a pain in the ass you become."


===[Sickbay]===

After getting help from the computer on finding its location, Joey made her way into sickbay with two dogs (one of which was limping pretty good now) and a monkey on her shoulder. She took a moment to scan her surroundings, hoping to spot a familiar face, and as luck would have it, she did. Without further hesitation or distractions, the tall woman made her way toward Jayla. "I hope you can help. I went in search of my identity and found these three in the process. This one," Joey said, nodding her head down to Rico. "Seems to be hurt. It's gotten worse on our way here. Can you or someone else take a look at him maybe?"

"Of course," replied the EMH. "Put him up on this table." He indicated the nearest bio bed. "I take it you have also lost your memories?

"Yes. I was going to see if I could discover more about who I am when I found them," she said, carefully lifting Rico and placing him onto the biobed. Joey didn't know how she knew, but she began running the canine's head in an effort to keep him calm while the man looked him over. "This not knowing anything is really starting to bother me, and I suspect, these three don't have their memories, either."

"Mhm," replied the EMH as he scanned the offending leg. "Just as I suspected. A simple sprain. It is easy to fix. You there," he said to the man formerly known as Tallman- who, in one of those coincidences only found in fiction, was actually called Dr. Steve Tallman in real life. "Take this device, press this button and shine the light on the dog's leg here, sweeping back and forth slowly. Slowly! Yes, that's better."

"We were trying to figure out how to restore our memories," Jayla told Joey. "But, the Captain says our priority is to stay on the ship. I think we can try a few of the Emergency Medical Hologram's ideas. Like the ones that don't take very long, just with a few people. What do you think?"

"If you're looking for volunteers, I'm willing," the taller woman said, keeping a calming hand in Rico while he was being fixed up. Though Joey couldn't remember it, she'd had worse things done to her mind before. "Could we try on them, too?" She gestured to the two dogs and the Capuchin.

"It would probably be a good idea," answered the EMH almost sourly. "I don't think two dogs and a monkey running about without their memories is a good idea."

THUNK! The maintenance hatch leading into sickbay rebounded off its hinges as it slammed into the wall, and Reggie's boot's quickly worked to scrabble his way free of the Jefferies tube and into sickbay propr.

"First try!" he crowed, turning back to offer his bound hands to the woman who had joined him on the impromptu tour of tunnels and shafts. "Told'ya I had a good feelin' about this door. All them other ones leading to this was just leading up to success."

Jazmin helped him down, following suit. She looked around expectantly. Now maybe she'd get some answers.

Joey's head whipped around at the sound of more people arriving, but what really got her attention was the furry black Chow Chow giving a low, warning growl in their direction. The woman, trying to diffuse the situation before it could get bad, scolded the dog. He seemed to listen to her as he sat down, but his eyes remained glued on Reggie and Jazmin.

Reggie unfroze from where he had stood rooted to the deck by the growling...og? Do? Those syllables seemed to be flying around his head when he looked at it. That was odd.

"Er, hi," Reggie said with as wide a smile as possible, holding up his cuffed hands and pointing with one hand at himself, and the other at Jazz. "Real quick, either one of us look familar to you?"

Jayla blinked, surprised at the entrance. She probably shouldn't have been, but she was all the same. "No, sorry," she said. "None of us remember who we are, either. There's a personnel list over there on that screen. You can see if you can find yourselves."

Jazmin looked around the room, trying to pull up some memory of anyone here. She had small nagging sensations, but nothing jumped out at her. At least until she saw one of the consoles displaying pictures of what she assumed were the crew. She approached and tapped at the console, sliding her finger across it, finding the images scrolling along with it.

Hmm, all the pictures here were crewmen in blue-collared uniforms. She read the headings...ENGINEERING....OPERATIONS...SECURITY.....

She paused, rubbing her chin. She still had the overriding feeling that she should be watching out for the other here. She tapped the word SECURITY. She was rewarded with a selection of personnel photos.

There she was! "I found me! Lieutenant Junior Grade Jazmin Parks!" She tried on the name, and it felt comfortable to her. "Let's see, Assistant Chief of Security. Quarters Deck 5...Room 05/02." She grinned, excited to know who she was, even though she had no idea beyond her name, rank and where her quarters were.

Reggie gave a polite hip check to Jazmin, who had a name and a fancy title, and with an eye still cast towards the pet show he studied the images flicking by on the screen. Red, red, red, blue, blue, green...ah ha! Gold!...More gold...lot more gold. At this rate, he imagined the Gold Shirts like himself and Jazmin might outnumber-

"Lieutenant Reginald Madison Hawthorn!" he said with a whoop, tapping the screen to freeze the image over his handsome mug. "Look at that! Says here I'm a Chief Engineer....huh. You'd have reckoned with us both having the same coloured shirt we'd be in the same line of business. But look at that! Always knew I was ruggedly handsome. Now, someone know what a Chief Engineer is?"

The white faced Capuchin that had been sitting on the tall woman's shoulder gave a screech at the newcomer and leapt from the shoulder to someone else's, then landed in front of the man that was busy staring at himself. He gave a creel and made a popping sound with his lips, then rubbed his stomach.

"I...er...I mean if you're telling me you know what a Chief Engineer is I don't speak your..." Reggie frowned, before mimicing the popping sound. "You understand? 'Pop'!"

Chow had no idea what the man was saying, but he chattered and jumped up and down when he heard the pop and unleashed a stream of creels, hoots, pops and other sounds.

"Reckon that means Chief Engineer's pretty important," Reggie said with a chuff, before slyly offering his cuffed hands to the same creature. Wasn't wearing a uniform, but given some of the strange face's he'd seen on the screen as Jazz had been looking for herself, who knew. "Hey, you wouldn't help a fella out with these things? Be a pal."

The little monkey stepped over the restraints the man had placed in front of him and rifled through the mans pockets. When he came up empty, he gave a disgruntled hoot, then slapped the man across the face before leaping to his shoulder and bounding off.

"That....reaction seems mighty familar to me for some reason," Reggie said in a voice simmering just above rage. "But I'm in a forgiving mood given I don't know if your important or not!"

"All this can wait," Jayla interjected. "We're running out of time. Some of the others are helping the hologram test some methods to restore our memories and the rest of us are going to help figure out how to keep us on this ship- long story. What about you two?"

Jazmin stepped forward. "I'm in. I don't like this one bit. I can't protect anyone if I don't know anything!"

"Sign me up! Anything to remember if I get to wear that as a hat," Reggie said darkly, rubbing his cheek.

Jazmin eyed the newly discovered Chief Engineer. The fact that she had no idea why he was in handcuffs bugged her to no end. She toyed with the idea of letting him go, after all it wasn't like he had anyplace to run to. She turned him by the shoulder to face her. Then placing her thumb on a sensor pad, waited for the restraints to open.

"Chief Hawthorne, don't make me regret this." She tucked the cuffs away and turned to Jayla.

"Scouts honour," Reggie said, wondering what a scout was and rubbing some feeling into his wrists.

"Okay, Doctor," said Jayla, turning to the EMH. "I've three guinea pigs for you."

"Oi!" said Abbey. "Four. We're gonna need a doctor who knows what she's doing."

"All right, four," answered Jayla.

"Very well," replied the EMH curtly. "Since it seems to have been a spontaneous mass memory loss, my best guess is damage to the limbic system, in part or in whole. If we can repair the damage, your memories should come back. You four, come with me," he added, leading them over to four biobeds along one wall.

With Rico, Pequeno and Chow in tow, Joey made her way over to one of the indicated biobeds and settled down. If this helped get her memories back, she was willing to try. "I'm ready when you are, Doc. And so are they." She indicated the animals who were settled down with her.

Reggie just got onto the bed, laid back down and put his hands behind his head.

"Lets get this show on the road, I am some what eager to remember who I am other than what a screen told me."

Jazmin made her way to the biobed and lay down on it. She was supremely anxious but refused to let it show, instead giving the EMH a warm smile. "I'm ready whenever you are."

The little simian meanwhile had parked himself on top of a biobed and was hooting and creeling at anyone that tried to get too close to him, but so far he hadn't attacked anyone.

"I hope, after I get my noggin' back in one peice, I remember you slapped me. I wanna make sure that after this is all said and done I'm still thinking of hat sizes," Reggie groused.

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