Chapter Text
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 6: Perpetual Change
Scene 4: Astrophysics and Stellar Cartography Lab
6.4
Astrophysics and Stellar Cartography Lab
Assistant Director T’Kusytt and Planetary Systems Science Director Tetri Phynyx from the Denobulan Planetary Society had aged well over the past 20 years. Both had been quite old when the U.S.S. Beagle had passed through the inside-out (a term that Falok had received from the meditating Astrophysics and Stellar Cartography Director, T’Eln, at the moment that it happened.
Tetri Phynyx was a frequent visitor in the ASC lab, as were her staff. For 20 years now she, T’Kusytt, Falok, and two of Falok’s astrophysicists, a married couple, Amar Kalil and Isa Miller, had been isolated in the ASC lab.
T’Kusytt and Falok were both quite telepathically sensitive and while they could not hear the thoughts of others (unless performing a mind meld), they were aware of the presence of their fellow crew members. But the telepathic presence of anyone outside of the ASC lab had gradually faded during the first five years of isolation.
For the denobulan and the vulcans, 20 years was a considerable period of time, but for the two humans, it was devastating. Amar and Isa had gone from middle-aged to quite old. Falok, now age 50, seemed entirely unchanged.
But the real aging miracle was the still-meditating T’Eln. T’Kusytt and Falok had taken turns to share physical contact with the ancient woman, now 237 years old, making her the oldest vulcan on record. Her companions had been keeping her alive with intravenous feeding. There were very few precedents for a vulcan living to such an age - and none for one living 20 years in a meditative state.
The isolation had been maddening for the humans, and both T’Kusytt and Falok had used mind-melds to help give their human companions the mental discipline necessary for surviving this total isolation.
And it was total. The clear window between the ASC lab and the Probe Control Center had become opaque - nothing could be seen through it, nor could it be broken.
And while everyone else accepted the change in their surroundings, T’Kusytt knew it was wrong. The ASC lab was not located in a sanctuary within Mt. Langon. There were no statues of the ancient priests on the U.S.S. Beagle. Nor was the roof of the lab open to provide (at night) an unobstructed view of the stars gone mad.
Yet there were the statues. And there were the stone walls. And there was the open skylight. And there were the insane stars.
And no one other than T’Kusytt thought their presence the least bit odd.
6.4