Logs to Date
Map So Far
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There was nothing to disturb her, just a quiet peaceful darkness that blanketed her beyond her eyelids. The heat from her breath giving her some warmth, as she laid there under a thin blanket spread over her whole body. Right above her head was a single light that flickered noiselessly, but was near unnoticeable through the sheet and the closed eyelids.
It was the eyelids that moved first, flicking open as Tasha's breath caught in her throat. The security chief, disoriented and very confused, felt as though she had woken from a bad dream, and the darkness and stifling warmth of the sheet over her head felt as though it had followed her right out of the suffocating black...
She forced herself to remain calm, although instinct told her to rip the blanket down. 'I'm not in my room,' she immediately asserted, 'and this isn't sick bay'. Not when the gurney was cold and hard beneath her, and the light above (as her eyes adjusted, she could see the flickering through the cloth) was so inconsistent.
So where was she?
Tasha shifted, breath catching to keep quiet as she carefully pulled a sheet down and tried to gain her bearings. She wouldn't allow herself to succumb to the confusion and even panic that was struggling to overcome her.
It looked like a very, VERY old version of a medical bay, with the walls lined with sturdy metal tables that didn't take up much space. The slab she had been laying on in the center of the room, with several old curtains resting on wheels.
Not a bad place, at one time...
Now there was signs of rust eating away on the metal desks here and there. Papers had been scattered as though someone had left in a panic. Forgetting the papers and various medical equipment in their haste. Some papers rested on the floor, scattered about, others on the table. The curtains were deeply stained in a rust color only a few faint splotches of what could only be it's original color for show. The ceiling above held row upon row of molded slabs of material ready to fall seemingly at a moment's notice. Against the wall there rested a series of screens meant for showing X-Rays. In the four corners of the room, the deepest stains of rust seemed to grow like fungus upwards and downwards. Like two skeletal hands reaching for each other.
The woman sat upright, further pulling the old and unpleasant away from her; compared to the state of decay of the room, Tasha's crisp uniform almost seemed a mockery. As she took stock of her surroundings, the senior officer attempted to assess her own health -- why was she here? The last thing that she remembered was going toe to toe with something absolutely alien. Now... she didn't feel in pain so much as weak all over. A little faint, maybe.
"Hello?" she called, her voice a little hoarse. She put a hand to her temple to forestall dizziness as she swung her feet over the side of the slab, allowing her glossy boots to hang over the dirty floor. "Doctor Crusher? Deanna?" Nothing. Tasha reached for her chest to tap the communicator pinned to her uniform, but the device had been removed altogether, meaning... what? Had she removed it herself? Had it been taken from her?
Tasha, wondering if maybe she'd been left to rest alone (When and why had she come to rest in the first place?) finally shifted from the bed to the floor. She took her time to stand, gaining a sense of balance as she supported herself against the slab. When she felt that she was able to move freely, she rifled about the room. The papers contained nothing of interest, nor the other beds. There was nothing here to show where she was, nor when or why.
Frustrating.
The senior officer made for the door. She paused before it, expecting it to open, and then realized that though it was rusted beyond redemption, the knob upon it was meant to be turned; it seemed to fit that there was nothing automatic here. She attempted to open the door, pushing it open a crack if it would allow her to peer outside. Barging through strange rooms had never brought good fortune before, so she wasn't about to start now!
The air was stale, the hallway looked old with wallpaper rotted with waterstains that seemed to pull the pictures off the paper. While paint flecked the ground giving it specks of brighter colors amid a vile rust red/near black mold like substance. That form of disgust seemed to be seeping from the floor cracks and corners. A disgusting carpeting attempting to be laid out by some unpleasant form of life. Across from the door, barely visible by the light in the examination room, was two doors, one reading 'Visiting Room' and the other 'Store Room'.
Frustration banked more thoroughly into unease as Tasha took in the state of the room. The place was a dump; it wasn't just have that abandoned the way that some buildings she'd taken shelter in in her youth had. The place almost felt... well, sick.
She opened the door fully, stepping out into the hallway. Looking up and down the breadth of the hall, Tasha intended to pass into the visiting room in hopes that it contained somebody to help her... or at least some answers. Like on the difficult to read papers, the writing on both doors seemed archaic, but not unreadable.
The mess from the examination room took a new turn in this one. Rotting tissues and tissue boxes littered the floor. Magazines advertising a new slim you among other things were ripped up and scattered all over the floor. The air in the room was filled with such a terrible sadness. A sad forlorn wall light cast a pitiful bit of light in the room. It was as though even the light 'itself' was afraid of upsetting the finally attained peace of the room.
Or maybe it was afraid of the current room's occupant. It lacked a face, looking more like a bloody pale mass of clay that had been given a rough once over. Maybe one day it's creator would come back and afix a face with features upon it? Until then the head was a little more then the neck could handle. Causing the head to wabble and droop from time to time, revealing a nurses' cap that seemed to have melted into the head. Down from the helpless neck, a more female form was revealed in a very low cut Nurse's dress. With a low cut 'v' neck line, a dress that reached mid thigh, it made one wonder if the idea was to be appealing to someone. Because upon closer, if one dared, inspection, one would note that the clothes seemed melded to the skin itself. All in all it seemed like an unfinished clay version of a human nurse. Save that there was only flesh and cloth, not clay, stains all over it in careless smears. And the lead pipe in it's hands as it turned around slowly. It's 'head' seemingly trying to focus on the sound of the door opening.
Tasha paused on the threshold of the room, her attention immediately arrested by the not-quite-human. "Good God," she murmured, voice low and obviously repulsed. She didn't discount that led pipe, not with her training and her predisposition to assume the worst... but she couldn't help but wonder. "What... who are you?" Her hand on the faintly slimy texture of the door, Tasha didn't give ground, nor did she quite enter. She'd never seen a humanoid like this before, but despite her words to Captain Picard earlier, she didn't really think that she wanted to learn more about this particular species.
The Nurse thing didn't seem to notice intent, with the lethargic movements of an unfinished doll. It's joints unfinished and having more trouble to move, the Being began to slowly walk towards the Star Fleet officer, dragging it's pipe along. The 'muscles' showing effort as the Being started to try and lift up the pipe in an aggressive manner.
The gesture was duly noted, and the officer settled into a defensive position. "Now hold it right there," she warned, the authority in her voice dredged from training and experience despite her own uncertainty. "I don't want to fight, I just need to know where I am!"
She couldn't get over that unfinished look, the doll-like body. The creature (woman? Nurse?) was disgusting and Tasha's gut told her that the thing wasn't going to be reasoned with... but long-standing training with Starfleet had ground into her that first contact was to be conducted genially, if at all possible! "Put down the pipe, I mean no harm," she didn't sound entirely convinced.
The nurse finally managed to make a swing with it's pipe, lacking eyes it could only focus on the voice. Though lacking ears, how it was heard could always raise a question. The Pipe was swung aiming for Tasha's head, but being whatever it was, it had to take an exaggerated step forward to counter balance. There was no other sound save the shuffling of the monster, and Tasha's only voice.
And with that exaggerated step and the relatively huge arc of the swing, Tasha could see the attack coming from a mile away. The officer lunged forward, inside of the intended arc of the blow, intending to push the nurse-creature off balance and to seize her (its?) wrist to drop the pipe. She grunted with the effort of the counter-attack, but had nothing else to say; she'd given the creature warning and the creature had ignored her. Failing a peaceful first meeting, Tasha intended to disable the aggressive being. The thought hadn't even crossed her mind to run away; she didn't think like that anymore.
The monster hit the ground, more like a ragdoll, the force of the weight of it's own body cracking a wrist. After a few quiet moments it slowly began trying to drag itself back up. Which was a rather awkward sight considering it made no attempt to right it self 'properly'.
Though she'd failed to make the thing drop its pipe, Tasha was surprised at how easily it went down, enough so that she nearly tripped and fell across it. Cursing, the officer stumbled and righted herself a foot or so away, then turned, hand going to her hip automatically only to realize that not only was her communicator missing, but her phaser as well. She gave another, quieter curse.
This all felt so... wrong. Like a test. Tasha's temper momentarily flared as she remembered the ugly game that the Q had put her and her crew through, the despicable assertions that humans were nothing but barbarians that had been tossed at her like a personal stab on more than one occasion. The worst part was that Tasha was more than willing to finish this fight and she had a feeling that in doing so, she'd be making the wrong move.
Or maybe not. She remained in a ready position, half-expecting Q or something just as bad to flash into existence to chide or punish her for taking the creature into the ground. She didn't know if this was an orchestrated scheme or not, and in not knowing she was left in the dark. Tasha scanned the room, looking for any clues, ears and half an eye on the nurse-creatures struggles.
Nothing stuck out in the room... nothing but that sad air of waiting that came from some long ago past. Oh and the Nurse that finally apparently had enough of being on the ground. A rip appeared along where a mouth belonged before the creature gave a rather shrill scream. Not so much in pain, rather as it was trying to call out... Maybe to others? Maybe it was time to shut the door and leave?
That was definitely on Tasha's mind! The woman's gaze was locked on the Nurse as its face ripped open and let out that scream... and then she was backing out of the room and indeed closing the door. What in the world...?
Tasha looked up and down the hall, more troubled and confused than she had been when she woke. Only darkness met her down down either wing. "Well, this is going to be interesting..." she murmured to herself.
Turning back towards the Visitor Room, she remembered a second door... and, pushing down the paranoia that something else would pop out of Storage, she tried the handle to see if there were any supplies, hoping to find something -- anything -- to shed light on her situation or to help her to defend herself.
Tasha looked up and down the hall, more troubled and confused than she had been when she woke. Only darkness met her down down either wing. "Well, this is going to be interesting..." she murmured to herself.
Turning back towards the Visitor Room, she remembered a second door... and, pushing down the paranoia that something else would pop out of Storage, she tried the handle to see if there were any supplies, hoping to find something -- anything -- to shed light on her situation or to help her to defend herself.
It wasn't as bad as the previous pairs of rooms, not to say it was meticulous or anything. Mold and rust ran rampent in this room as well. Rows of medical supplies rested in their containers, ruined with age. Bottles once carrying liquids no longer held the fluid, only stains of what once was. Mold seeped into the bandages, stained boxes, save for one lone item. Resting under a failing light, a rich brown colored bottle rested. The label read: Health Drink! Nothing makes you feel better! When you're DEAD tired!
Beside it rested a single new nurses uniform, longer and less revealing then the one worn by the other being. Modest though clearly meant for a lady. Like the bottle, the dress seemed untouched by the state of decay the rest of most recent parts of the hospital seemed to display.
Tasha rummaged as best she could, but when she couldn't find anything aside from the uniform and the bottle that wasn't touched by mold or rust, she gave another noise of dissatisfaction. Why was the uniform so clean? Had it been placed there recently? And what the hell was with the 'health drink'? The woman uncapped the bottle and sniffed the bottle's contents, but could find nothing wrong by smell alone. Dabbing her pinky into the bottle, she touched finger to the tip of her tongue. Waited...
Well, whatever it was, it wasn't burning or making her feel otherwise uncomfortable. And maybe if she found somebody else who wasn't out to bash her head in, she could ask about it?
Speaking about head-bashing, the officer thought back on the Nurse-creature as her eyes wandered back to the folded uniform. She didn't take long to decide to wrap the garment around her waist, tying it in a knot. The proper bandages here might be moldy, but this was the first clean piece of cloth that the woman had seen aside from her own uniform, and she had a feeling that cleanliness was rare around here. Tucking the re-capped bottle under her arm, fastening the garment in place, she backed away from the storage room and, picking an arbitrary direction, headed into the darkness on high alert.
Amid the darkness there was one last break in the wall, another door it seemed rested on her left it's use lost to the darkness of the hallway.
Tasha considered, then gently tried the handle to open the door. She didn't like either option, really; if something hostile lurked behind this door as with the Nurse, she wasn't sure that she wanted to call down its wrath, but then again she didn't want anything coming up behind her... and she wondered why the Nurse-creature hadn't gotten out of the visitors room to follow her? Was it even able to?
Better to know what was behind doors if she could. The officer hated being surprised!
A few more lights were flickering poorly in the room. Beside Tasha was a window that led to the hall outside rather then outside the building. A small table rested below the window and behind it rested a series of shelves with what looked to be large pill containers. Occasionally a faint flicker of light would come from something below chest level, as though a lone spark glinting off of metal.
It wasn't so much the pill containers that caught Tasha's eye as that flickering glint of metal. She briefly wished it was her supplies, simply tucked away in an odd place... but she knew that wasn't likely the case. Bending to examine the area where the glint had come from, Tasha gave the source a brief look. Was the metal anything useful or was it simply an odd reflection?
Under a few bottles of unused pills rested Tasha's Starfleet communicator, useless now, but apparently well taken care of. It rested on a small piece of cloth, as though to perserve and protect it from the mold around it.
"What in the...?" The officer set the brown bottle aside for a moment and snagged the communicator, giving it a try just to be sure. No communication, of course, but the fact that she had found something familiar in all of this grunge... it was vaguely comforting if not eerie. She fastened the badge back above her breast, hand resting over it for a moment and worrying it as a child might with a safety blanket. Just for a moment.
Now she searched more closely, unfolding the cloth as if it might contain a note, looking around the pill-bottles. "Come on," she urged, as if by speaking to the room it might cough up some kind of clue. "Where am I?"
Silence filled the room, the only stable sound was of Tasha breathing, a constant sound that signified her life. The silence of the place was so deep it became a type of white noise unto itself, until very faintly a soft crackling sound could be heard. No words could be made out, it was too distant, muffled by the door it seemed.
Tasha, having looked around the room already, was feeling a little pressed upon by that silence. The crackling wasn't startling, but it was a welcoming (or so she assumed at the moment!) distraction from the eerie quiet. She returned to the door and eased it open, ear cocked to catch that faint noise.
It came in choppy, inconsistant as it drifted down the hallway from some unknown source. No other sound interuptted that static save perhaps the occasional noisy flicker of a shorting light.
The lights were enough to keep Tasha on edge; as it was, she turned the corner of the hall, brown bottle grasped tightly in one slightly raised hand.
It was a testimony to how dark it was outside, when Tasha found herself with the front doors of the hospital to her left. A thick heavy chain was wrapped around the handles of the double doors. Outside nothing more then a mass of fog, it almost looked like there was nothing 'outside' BUT fog in fact. While to the right of her, was an shut window with letters under it, reading 'Receptionist desk'.
"P..ing Doc... Crush..."
Was painted in what looked to be black, until the lights flickered on. Then proved to be a dark red upon closer inspection. Further ahead was more darkness as the hospital carried on.
'Closer inspection' the letters got! The lieutenant was quick enough to pick up 'Doctor Crusher'... though 'p..ing'? 'Paging'? Tasha attempted to look in the window, confusion sliding back to worry. She was in a completely alien place and yet there were elements here and there that she felt she recognized.
There was another blur of static louder then before as Tasha studied the wall.
Turning back to the noise, the officer clenched her free fist, an almost-grimace tightening her lips. Someone was watching her, she had no doubt of it now. She trusted her gut and when the presence of looming presented itself, the woman accepted it for fact. She couldn't see anything now, but she wasn't going to dismiss that sensation as sheer paranoia.
Tasha considered the crackling of static, wondering if perhaps it was a communicator more like the kind they'd had on Turkana IV than what she possessed now.
Moving away from the window, towards the noise once more, she searched for the source. Something like the futuristic walky-talky she might recognize.
The feeling faded as she left the Receptionist area, before her was a Door the name plate having been damaged. It looked like someone had taken a blunt object and banged it in several times before scratching through it repeatedly. The name was unreadable the title held the word 'Captain' on it. The hall stretched into another hallway to her right.