Hallucinations in Time
Posted on 07 Jan 2026 @ 2:05pm by Lieutenant JG Ryan Collingway & Lieutenant Commander Riah Amberlyn XMD & Lieutenant JG Mira Quinn
1,163 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
The Displaced
Location: Science Department: Astrophysics
///Science Lab////
Ryan entered the science lab a few minutes later, still looking white as a sheet. He looked for either Sorvak or Mira.
Mira was working on one of the consoles. When Ryan approached her, she was about to tell him to wait, but then she saw how he looked.
"What happened?"
Ryan held up the data chip from Engineering. "Statistical analysis," he said. "We need to pacify the creature in the rift first. Make sure it doesn't harm the Eirian ship as it passes through. Harmonic communications. We have a few ideas." He leaned heavily on the console, her question going unanswered.
"Ryan, you look like you need to sit down." Mira got up and suddenly felt a wave of nausea. She grabbed at her console and slowly sat down. She waited for a moment till the feeling passed.
"What is going on?" she asked.
"I'm not sure," Ryan admitted. "Earlier I saw...something." He shook his head, not wanting to get into it. "Are you okay?"
Mira nodded. She could see a few more people were affected, by whatever it was. Pulling a chair closer for Ryan, she motioned him to sit. "So, um, what ideas did you have?"
Ryan did so, gratefully. "Well, the creature inside the rift could still be a threat to the Eirian ship returning, even if we brought back its child. We don't know how much of this creature is driven by intelligence versus emotion. It seems to be able to understand harmonics at least. We think we can send a message-"
He was interrupted by the sound of something crashing in one of the other labs.
Mira hurried to get up. She saw that others were already running to check it out.
She turned to look at them, then back to Ryan. "First, we need to understand what's happening."
Ryan nodded. He fought a wave of dizziness as they scrambled to investigate the noise.
/// Astrophysics Lab ///
They pushed their way through the little crowd that stood at the entrance to the lab. Only to find that one of the science officers standing inside was throwing anything he could find at the doorway.
"Don't get any closer!" he shouted.
Mira raised her hands in a placating gesture. "We're not going to hurt you."
That did not seem to convince him. "Stay away!" he yelled again, and this time threw PADDs that landed at Mira's feet.
A medical team pushed their way next to them.
Mira put a hand on the medic's arm. "We need to understand what's triggering the hallucinations. If you sedate him, we might lose important data.”
Another PaDD crashed against the wall as the crewman continued to holler at the top of his lungs. “Stay away. I said stay away from me.” He began to wave his arms as though he were being attacked by flying insects. Help me! They’re here. They’re here!!!!”
“You gonna tackle him to find out what’s wrong?” the Medic asked Mira. “We have orders to administer meds for his own protection, as well as yours. He’s a sentient being in significant distress. It’s our job to help him."
The astrophysicist fell to the floor, screaming and whimpering, flailing at something only his imagination could conceive. The medic and his companion took the opportunity to step forward. As the first medic was preparing to press the hypospray against the man’s neck, the flailing stopped abruptly. The scientist blinked a few times, sitting very still, and then threw up on the floor. Suddenly the crowd's great interest seemed to wane and people turned away. The medical crew were prepared, offering him a damp towelette and a package of tissues, which the man put to good use.
“Damn, that was awful. What the hell was that?” he struggled to say.
“Hallucinations. It’s happening all over the ship. We’ve also got meds for everyone to take to prevent it,” the Medic explained. He nodded to a third medical attendant who began the process of distributing the little bubble packets, recording the name of everyone who received a wafer.
He handed held out a packet to Mira and a second to Ryan.
Ryan eyed it a little suspiciously. "What's inside it?”
“Nardonidol. A mild anti-psychotic to prevent the hallucinations. You’re not on my list of people who can’t take it because of other med interactions or past allergies. You can refuse it, but you’ll have to answer to the doctor, and you may experience hallucinations in the meantime,” the medic explained.
Unknown to the medic, a bloody Lieutenant Mendon was holding the packet, with a mocking expression on his face. The entire ground was stained with blood. Ryan did his best to ignore it as he took the Nardonidol, then took a deep breath. He put it under his tongue, and let it dissolve. "This didn't start happening until we modified the shields," he pointed out.
"Exactly. " Mira nodded, looking thoughtfully at the wafer she's been handed. "We changed the ship's modulation so now we're in phase with the harmonics emanating from the rift."
She had not acted fast enough before. She had missed the actual moments of hallucination. She knew it was distressing and tough on the person being affected, but this had to be tied to the rift. They just needed to find the connection.
Mira knelt beside the crewman. "Do you remember what your hallucinations were about?"
"Yes, ma'am," he shuddered, "Not anything I'd like to relive again."
He said it with such finality, and yet Mira said, "Try."
He hesitated, but after a moment relented. "My Ensign back on the Resolute - he lost his mind. He was standing there with a phaser."
"This is something that actually happened?" Mira asked.
"Yeah." He got up with some help from the medical crew.
Mira stood up too. "Maybe our bodies can't deal with being in alignment... it's causing the brain to become temporally misaligned."
"That's possible ... I think we should look deeper into that," replied the lead Medic.
"I saw something bad from my past too," Ryan said, but something was gnawing at him. "Wait, the Borg!"
He went to the nearest console. "The Borg travel through transwarp conduits using chroniton fields, and that can have temporal effects as well. They bypass this using anyons. Subatomic fields. If we flood the rift with high-density anyon particles, we might be able to negate the effects happening to us."
Mira joined him at the console. “So the anyons would act as a stabilizer—keeping us in phase with the rift without throwing our perception out of temporal sync.”
"Yes. It's harmless otherwise. At the very least, we can try it and see if there are any more hallucinations reported," Ryan said.
Mira nodded. "Good idea, let's update the Bridge."
~~~
Ensign Ryan Collingway
Engineering Officer
USS Arawyn
Ensign Mira Quinn
Science Officer
USS Arawyn
Various NPC Medics
apb Kate
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