This Way Up

Posted on Fri Jan 14th, 2022 @ 1:13am by Jerant van Rijn & Lieutenant Xavier Leiko

Mission: With Gleaming Eyes
Location: Shuttle, triage site
Timeline: MD3 - 1000 hours
2061 words - 4.1 OF Standard Post Measure

It was long since light, before Jerant finally stirred and found he couldn't really move much due to all the sheets he'd been wrapped into for warmth. And everything was oh so quiet! It took him a few seconds before he remembered that he was actually blind, or deaf, depending on how one looked at it. "Xav?" he called, though his voice was muffled by the respirator that was strapped across his face. "Xav, you awake?"

Xavier had been awake for a few hours, he hadn't slept very well and his missing senses had made it much more difficult to relax than he would have guessed. He was sitting in the pilot's seat, PADD in hand when he heard Jerant's voice. "Hey," Xavier said softly as he made his way to the side of the man. "How are you feeling?"

"Trapped," Jerant answered, "I don't remember much of last night...except..I feel very alone." He cast his friend an apologetic look. "I'm really glad I'm not and that you're here, but I think you know what I mean." He tried to wiggle inside the cocoon he was wrapped in. "Help me out of this trap?" He paused. "How do you feel? Any better?"

Xavier smiled at the man's words as he placed his hand on the side of Jerant's face, brushing a stray hair out of his eyes. "I know what you mean," Xavier said. He slowly pulled the covers off of Jerant, one layer at a time. "I still feel ... I dunno, I think lost is possibly the best way to describe it. But I'm going to use that and focus, today is about getting answers and hopefully solutions."

Nodding, Jerant wiggled himself free from the last layer, feeling his cheeks warm up at the briefest touch just then. "I know what you mean. Have you always been telepathic too? My sisters didn't get any of it until their teenage years, whereas I've always had it." He paused, biting his lower lip. "Until now. In a way...I feel kinda...deaf and blind?" He struggled himself up into a sitting position, grabbing the edge of the bed as a wave of vertigo washed over him. "I guess.. we're the first of the crew to get sick? If the big bosses are smart, they'll keep any others of mixed blood right up there on the ship, and quarantine any that are already on the surface."

He paused again. "Once I find some spare energy here.. mine I mean .. physically speaking.. maybe I can pore over older documents to see if it mentions anything?"

Xavier stepped back, giving Jerant room to manoeuvre himself, he still didn't look right. "No, my brothers got their abilities early, I was a late bloomer. They used to mock me about it all the time. I had the last laugh though, my sense was also much stronger than theirs, I have better control too." Xavier wondered why this sickness only seemed to be affecting the dual-species members of the crew? He was no doctor or scientist but he was an engineer, maybe that was the way to approach this?

"Well you aren't doing anything until the doctors check you over, and you have some food," Xavier said sternly. "And that's an order," he added for good measure.

"Yes sir," Jerant muttered around an amused chuckle. "I don't think I should move too much, and neither should you. You're as white as a sheet you know..." He paused, his mind drifing back to the conversation at hand. "I didn't have any control as a child...which is why I was sent to Vulcan to help this deaf kid. I wasn't amused, being this upstart kid with gifts he couldn't control. But it was the best thing my parents could've done for me, and I gained a brother. And it sparked my interest in languages too... I'm very proficient at sign, in various languages. Pretty good at reading body language too...mostly anyway." He paused again, as if searching his memory, feeling as though he was missing something. "Those doctors will come to bug us anyway, regardless of how we feel. Which is good... I mean why did we get sick but not any of the others?"

Xavier wiped his head with the back of his hand, "I'm fine," he said stubbornly. He listened to Jerant until something caught his attention. "It's like you said earlier, it's because we are dual-species, mixed blood. For some reason, this thing is affecting us more. Maybe the doctors should check you out again," he added in a concerned tone as he activated the comline and signalled that they were both awake and ready for an examination.

"I did?" The older hybrid frowned in confusion. "I don't remember saying that...." He caught the concerned tone and looked up. "And you're far from fine..." He reached out, putting the back of his hand against Xavier's forehead, much like his mother did when he was sick as a child. "You're burning up, you need to sit down, or lie down..." He faltered as the suited medics walked in and sighed miserably. He held still as he was scanned, lying back down when suggested to do so. "I got added symptoms," he reported dutifully, when asked. "I lost my telepathy and I seem to have memory issues." He offered a half-hearted smile. "On the plus I'm no longer freezing?"

The suited medic gave a curt nod, then turned to Xavier. "Are you having similar issues?" he asked as he waved the scanner across the younger patient's body, then pressed a hypospray against his shoulder. "Take this every other hour, it should help in bringing your fever down. We will program the replicator to issue proper medications for you two, and we'll check in this afternoon. If anything changes, alert us immediately, but otherwise we'll monitor you from the site."

Xavier nodded at the medic's question but stayed quiet throughout the examination. He had nothing against doctors, in fact, he thought they did a terrific job, one that he couldn't do in a million years. However, he didn't have time right now. They obviously didn't have a cure for this, otherwise, why would the two Betazoids still be here. At this point, it was all guesswork, much like when he was trying to work through an engineering problem. All they were going to tell him to do was take it easy and get plenty of rest. He didn't have time to rest, he needed to solve something, he needed to keep his brain active, otherwise what use was he?

"Do you want some food?" Xavier asked Jerant politely.

"Please..." Jerant watched the medics leave then turned back to his companion, while slowly sliding off the bed. "Something light, I guess... maybe some tea?" He wrapped the bedsheet around his shoulders just in case as he inched forward. "I don't need my telepathy to know something's bugging you... what is it, and how can I help?"

Xavier made his way to the replicator and ordered a tea for Jerant and an ice-cold apple juice for himself. He turned to face the older man and handed him his beverage. "Everything," Xavier said with a sigh. "The loss of our telepathy, this illness, being sidelined, it's all just a bit much, you know?"

"Thank you." Jerant accepted the tea and sipped it carefully. "Come sit with me..." He gestured toward one of the other vacant cots. "It could be worse," he offered, "you could be here alone. I'm glad I'm here with you, someone I know, and trust." He sipped the tea again. "As for sidelined, surely there's something we can do without expending too much energy?"

Xavier was about to say he had too much work to do, decided against it, and sat down next to Jerant. He took a gulp of his drink and placed the half-full glass down on the floor by his feet. "Like what?" He asked, not having the energy to come up with a witty retort.

"I have no idea... we could read things? See if anything is missed?" Jerant had no real idea either, nor really the energy to think much about it. "I suppose reading will keep us from going out of our uhm...." He faltered, realizing that 'minds' might be a too painful a term to use. "Before we go nuts," he amended.

Xavier smiled sadly, he had caught the correction made by Jerant, and was reminded that he had no idea what the man was thinking. How did other species navigate their day-to-day lives, not knowing what was happening inside the heads of others? It was frustrating, he wanted that intimacy back, he needed it back. "I'm sure we can think of better ways to spend our free time," he suggested, as he moved closer to Jerant, their arms now touching.

"We'll find a way, between sleep and rest and recovery," Jerant promised, shivering at the light touch. "The important part is that we are not alone, we got each other in this." He nodded towards the cockpit. "We got access to the ship's computer right? Maybe we can ask to be kept updated, at least where medical progress is concerned." He paused, unconsciously leaning in a little. "Meanwhile... maybe we can play a game just to keep ourselves a little occupied, without moving around too much?"

Xavier also moved in a little closer. "I can't read your mind so you're going to have to spell this out for me," he said slowly and deliberately.

"Do you know this game, where one person spots something, and the other has to guess what it is? There's various ways to play it, I've learned. You can either start by giving a way a letter, or it's something ado with colour." Jerant smiled, now wrapping his arm around the other man, enjoying his proximity. "It's not that difficult to play, and it'll keep us occupied for a while." He grinned a little, trying to be encouraging. "At least until we've spotted every object here in the shuttle."

"I'm sorry," Xavier said, stunned. "You actually want to play a game? A kid's game?"

"Why not? It's not like we can do much else right now... we might as well play a game as working is probably too exhausting anyways and I don't really fancy the doctors getting mad at me for not resting. Do you?" Jerant shrugged indifferently. "I understand the both of us would rather be useful, but how useful are we in our current condition, where we can just pass out any second for lord knows what reason this time?" He looked up, blushing a little. "I'd rather spend what time I have with you..."

"You make it sound like we're going to die," Xavier said as he shrugged the man's arm off of him. He stood up abruptly, knocking over the glass of half-full apple juice. "I'm not like you, I haven't given up yet, I can't give up. So I'm going to make myself useful and do something, enjoy your game." He made his way towards the cockpit and stopped. "And you shouldn't leave drinks lying around on the floor, it's not safe."

"Uhm Xav?" Feeling flustered, Jerant first glanced at the tea in his hand, then down at the spilled drink by leaning forward a little, and then finally up at his friend. "That wasn't my drink..." He paused, licking his lips. "I'm not giving up, I'm just saying while we're stuck here, recovering, I'd rather spend that time with you. We are very sick, and we shouldn't exert energy we simply don't have by trying to do our jobs. We only have one job right now, and that's getting better... and..." He faltered, looking down at his tea again. "I don't think I can do that alone..."

Xavier looked at the cup in Jerant's hand and then back at the knocked over glass on the floor. If it wasn't Jerant's then it must be his, but he had no recollection of placing the drink there at all. He placed his head in his hands for a moment as he thought about the words that he knew made sense. He looked up at the man slowly, his expression softer. "Tell me how this game works then."