Grey As Tall As The Sky

Posted on Wed May 6th, 2015 @ 10:10pm by Lieutenant Commander Ophelia Payne & Lieutenant Commander Nicolao & Lieutenant Commander Earl Crane

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Piper Medical Center

* * * Piper Medical Center - Psychiatric Wing * * *

Ophelia passed along the hall, pausing to look into Nico’s window. He was still curled in the corner, as motionless as he’d been since his arrival. She opened her thoughts for a moment, sensing….nothing...and frowned. Turning from the window, she hurried back along the corridor and on to Earl’s office. She tapped on the frame of the open door, then peeked in.

“Dr. Crane?”

"Hrmph?" Earl grumpily grunted back at Ophelia as he bent to retrieve a small white ball from his floor.

“Counselor Swift had asked that I check in on Nico on the half hour. He’s still where he was but by his chart, it’s time for the follow-up to the antidote for tropolisine. Do you want to come do a check while I take care of that?” Ophelia watched as he straightened back up, the small ball in hand. “What’s that?”

"A pain in my ass. Also known as a good way to spoil a long walk." He spied the start of a wrinkle between her eyes and clarified: "A golf ball." He set it on his desk and turned toward her, "Right, then Nicolao needs another dose. I'll check on him while you do that."

Ophelia stepped back into the corridor and once Earl joined her, they began the trip to the psychiatric wing. “So tell me about this...golf?”

"Ah, sport of kings! And fools. Mostly fools." They went down the corridor and into the psych ward as he talked, obviously enraptured by his subject. "Mark Twain, he's an ancient author from Earth, called golf a pleasant walk spoiled by a little white ball. Some days I agree with that description. Other days, the ball goes in the hole just like it should and...Holy gods, who did this?" He stopped, staring at their patient.

A muscle twitched in Ophelia's jaw. “An admiral hell-bent on getting to something buried in his head. Well, something she thinks is in there.” Ophelia entered a code in the keypad and the door slid open. “He won’t talk Earl, but you can listen in if I give you a boost, can’t you?”

"Yeah. I'm good at receiving. Not very good at sending." He entered the cell and went to Nico's side. "This is criminal."

“I could not agree more.” Ophelia’s voice was soft and as they moved closer to Nico. He sat silent arms wrapped around his legs, his head leaned back against the wall, eyes closed. She knelt down closer and shifted to mental communication.

”Nico, Dr. Crane is here to check on you. It’s also time for the other dose of the antidote.” She paused a moment, then continued. “Are you in there?”

From far away, a voice seemed to penetrate the fog that covered the grey landscape in Nico’s mind. The clouds shifted with the voice but the fog remained. ...are you in there….

“Yes...Ophelia. Dr. Crane?”

"We're here. Ophelia is going to give you the antidote. I'm just here to check your stats." Something the computer could have done, but Earl liked being a hands-on kind of doctor at times. This was one of those.

“Alright….” The one word from Nico sounded exhausted. How long have I been here? Feels like….years….”

“Just a day,” Ophelia responded. She pulled out a hypospray and pressed it to his neck. Then she spoke aloud to Earl. “Counselor Swift left orders for another sedative if you thought it needed. Can you see what’s going on in him?”

Earl probed at Nick a little, but saw mostly grayness. "Let's," he nodded, "if only to keep anyone from trying to do this again, from afar."

Ophelia changed the vial in the hypospray and pressed to Nico’s neck again. This should help a little Nico. I’m checking in every half hour though, so rest easy. No one but us and the Counselor can get into this room. And Dru. Robin’s gone to get her.”

“Alright….Dr. Crane? Will I get out of here?”

"Sure thing, kiddo. We'll fix you up right. Physical and mental." Earl knew it was unlikely to be soon, but he would be able to leave at some point.

Ophelia shot him a grateful look. Try not to worry. I’ll be back in thirty minutes. She pulled out of his thoughts gently and shook her head to try and clear the fog from her own mind. Finally, she stood and moved out with Earl behind her. Once out of earshot, and with the room locked behind them, she leaned back against the wall.

“That’s tiring.”

Earl put an arm around her. "I'm sure it is, dear. Come along, we'll get you some tea and crumpets."

That got a smile from Ophelia and she nudged him gently in the ribs with her elbow. “I’ll take you up on that old man.” As they started back towards his office, she gave voice to her worry. “This was a huge setback. And he seems...lost in there. What if we can’t get him out?”

"It was, yes. I hear that he's friends, as much as anyone can be, with the little creature that runs that weird knicknack shop on the Promenade."

“I’ve been there and a friend works for her. I got a lovely bracelet there, actually. Just like one my grandmother had. What’s she got to do with this?” Ophelia looked up at him curiously as they re-entered Earl’s office.

"You never know with Mama B, that might really have been your grandmother's bracelet," Earl grumbled as he helped her to a chair then moved to the replicator for tea. "She might be able to help Nico. Never know. Can't hurt to ask her."

“It might not at that.” Ophelia took her tea and had a sip. “Thank you. I hear that old lady is...interesting. Falasin has shared some odd stories. How do you know her?”

He chuckled. "Interesting is a word for her. She was my housekeeper." He went around his desk, twirled the golf ball in place and took a sip from his tea.

Ophelia looked at him for a long moment, then shook her head. “I’m afraid to ask when that was.”

"Long, long time ago. I was quite young. She was already old. Terrible housekeeper," he shook his head, "but a wonderful cook. Ah, she helped me romance my... ah, a young woman I loved. Anyway, she's a pretty powerful telepath."

“She was old and you were young…” Ophelia repeated. “And where is this young woman now?”

"Ah,... She's... You know I am really old, right?" He emphasized the "really old" part.

“I am aware, yes.” Ophelia smiled at the understatement, even in using the word ‘really’.

"Are you feeling better?" He changed the subject.

She nodded. "Enough that I can get back to rounds and check on him again in twenty.” She finished her tea and stood. “Thanks, Doc.”

"Yup. Keep up the good works, Ophelia," Earl winked as she headed out of his office. Soon as she was gone, he opened a comm to a dear friend.

* * * Back In Nico’s Room * * *

"Nicky, dear, wake up."

The voice drifted into his mind, into the grey, and after a time, he could see her black eyes as the fog swirled around him. He leaned back against the dead tree in the barren landscape where he’d been for...how long? Ophelia said just a day. Where was Dru? That question was uppermost in his mind and it drifted out, borne on wings of thought.

Where?

"She is safe. So are you." The eyes came out of the fog, drifting down and becoming smaller until they fit into a wrinkled face.

“How did you get here? You shouldn’t be here, it’s dangerous.” He felt his heartbeat speed up and his breathing came faster. “You have to get out!”

"Stop it, boy. We're in your head. There's nothing here that can hurt me. Except, maybe that corner over there," she gestured with a walking stick she held. "Looks like some steamy memories over there."

Nico only shook his head. “I’m afraid to say her name here. She’s seen it in her own dreams because of me.”

"The color scheme is rather drab. Why do you fear saying her name?"

“I don’t want her in this place.” He sighed softly. “There’s something here, Mamu, something I need to get to but I can’t. And someone doesn’t want me to.”

"Do you know who?" She approached him slowly.

“The Admiral wants it. I don’t know who wants to keep it hidden. It’s all dark.” Nico shrugged as the thread of that thought drifted away. “Ophelia says I’m safe here.”

"You are, dear. Believe her. Here I am, too. Like before, for you, I am here." Mamu lightly brushed Nico's hair from his forehead. "Wegener wants this information?"

“Azoulay. I met her...San Francisco...she has something to do with this quadrant I think. She seemed excited to meet an Enaran. This time she seemed not so pleased.” Nico sighed aloud and the sound slipped out into the real world, quickly absorbed by the padded walls of his room.

"Likely she will be less pleased in the coming days," Mamu's voice had a steely edge. "Sleep now, be at ease, you're safe."

“Yeah...maybe just a little while. Robin said no dreams….” With those words, the image of Mamu faded. The grey, desolate landscape opened and swallowed Nico, dragging him down into black, dreamless sleep.

*************************
Lt. Commander Earl D. Crane
Baller

Mamu B'yaga
Septuagenarian Several Times Over

Lt. Ophelia Payne
Watcher

Nicolao
Lost In No Man’s Land