First Non-Contact

[Nijil tr'Korjata 0]

First Non-Contact

(Charikis, Coleridge, Tarisa and loveable Nijil)

Nijil had kept his distance from the fog entity, or at least what he believed to be a step back. A mist that could appear and disappear at will was not so easy to track. In fact, the dispersal of mist could be so thin that Tarisa, Coleridge, and Nijil could be breathing it in right now. The Rihan coughed at this possibility.

"Are au there?" Nijil called out towards the far end of the reactor room. "There's na need to be shy, or apprehensive. I am not planning to leave this room, so if au wish to talk." He turned to the others.

"I'm an engineer, not a first contact specialist. I can't even get a name out of...it."

Within seconds, the entity appeared as a formless mist and slowly pulled together to form almost a mirror image of Nijil, but what would have been his feet did not touch the deck, and its transparency showed everything behind it: the bulkhead, the consoles, other engineers who were wandering through and had not noticed anything different. It floated there for several minutes, regarding him with a curious expression before speaking its first phrase.

“Secondary positive. What is talk?”

"A method of communication we are using now by means of different sounds to form words, in turn forming ideas, requests, and passing information."

“Sound,” it repeated, then paused several seconds. “Sound. Compressed. Energy. Vibrates. Waves. Sound. Words.”

"Right, right," Nijil agreed. "It's not particularly fast, or efficient. The expressions of one's body play a large role in it as well." He moved a bit closer to the entity. "Remarkable likeness, how do au know how to take the form of others so well?"

The entity backed away to its original distance. It seemed puzzled. “Words. Why words. Use energy.” A tendril pointed to Nijil’s head. “Waves. There.”

"Energy? I don't have the ability to manipulation energy in that manner, unless...au mean electrical impulses in the brain." He pointed at his own head. "I'm not telepathic, but I could get someone that is."

The entity stared for a minute. “Use energy. Energy.” It paused a while and seemed to fade. “Easy. Words no.”

The engineer stood silently for a moment pondering what the entity meant. His people, the Romulans, use whatever force is necessary to gather this kind of information. If it is energy it seeks, others of his species would oblige. Turning to Coleridge. "I don't know exactly what energy communication it wishes to use, but I think it's worth a try."

Coleridge seemed to be as lost as the rest of them and simply shrugged. "It's your funeral, but Jylliene would kill you...then she'd come after me."

Nijil sighed. "Au are right, but how important is communication with," he pointed at the entity, "him."

As the entity faded, its sounds became hollow and the tone terrified. “Kill. Negative. Kill. No. No. Kill.” And it was gone.

"Aww," clearly disappointed, "I forgot to teach it sarcasm." He spoke louder. "Entity, what he said was not what would actually happen. It's a...figure of speech understood not to be true. Come back please."

Tarisa had quietly been watching the exchange between the engineers and entity. She finally spoke up as the being faded. “It is alright,” she called out. “No one is literally going to be killed. Sometimes I get confused by their speech as well,” she pouted.

Nijil spoke as he took to a chair along the wall opposite the reactor. "I have paperwork to catch up on," he said reluctantly, waving his worn PADD in the air. "Tarisa...Coleridge, if au like I'll wait here for the entities return, no need for all of us to wait around. Any information on the particularities of the energy generation would be helpful. Perhaps a source apart from the station exists if we can accommodate our guest.

The two nodded in agreement and said their goodbyes, "let us know if anything...," and "don't do anything unwise" comments for Nijil. Less than an hour later Nijil had succumbed to the long hours of his shift, the hum of the reactor definitely assisting in creating a pleasant sound in th-

Zzzzzzz.