Under Watchful Eyes
Posted on Mon Apr 7th, 2025 by Charlotte Preston & Captain James Cohen
Edited on on Mon Apr 7th, 2025
1,262 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
M02 - The Sixteenth Rule
Location: Science Lab, USS Hooke
Timeline: Present
It had taken some convincing, but eventually Charlotte had been able to get some alone time in the science lab in order to work on her science fair project. When she first got inside the science lab, Charlotte found everything exactly the way she needed it and there was a science officer in one of the offices nearby if anything were to happen. The preteen was excited to get to do this, the nanites were in a small container behind a forcefield. There was a separate container with the common cold virus provided to her by medical.
"Now if I can do this without getting sick, I'll be doing real good." Charlotte said to herself with a nervous laugh.
Charlotte wanted to record all of her vocal notes for later, "Computer please begin recording my voice." She said while looking at the small containers inside the separate force fields. The chime told the young girl that the computer had begun to record her and from there she began to work on her project. "Charlotte Preston nanite science project day one." She spoke calmly though her heart was racing.
Charlotte took a step forward and found the necessary safety equipment. She put it on after wrapping herself in the science coat that had been replicated for her by her mother. A soft sigh escaped her lips, "First I'll setup my control group which will be the uninfected virus." Satisfied that it sounded okay she nodded once and placed some of the contents from the vial into a separate vial that had been properly labeled.
"The control group will remain uninfected by the nanites for the duration of this experiment." Charlotte said. She turned her attention to the small PADD and looked it over for a moment. Charlotte had several theories about what would happen, "My theory is that the virus and nanite combination will result in..." She stopped speaking suddenly and looked at the bulkhead across from her.
Charlotte tilted her head slightly as the hairs stuck up on the back of her head. It felt as if something or someone was watching her, however, she never heard the door open behind her. She turned and looked just to make certain one of her friends hadn't snuck into the lab. It was supposed to be secure, there was nobody there. "Computer check the status of the security seal on the lab."
=/\="It remains active nothing has breached it."=/\=
Charlotte sighed, "It feels like I'm not alone." She mumbled then returned to what she was doing. The sense that someone or something was watching her closely didn't go away either. Every few seconds she'd turn around unable to focus on what she'd been doing. "My theory is that the nanites will infect the common cold virus and be able to control it." She finally managed to breathe.
==The entity watched over the girl as it squirmed around nearby. She was an interesting specimen to observe for the entity, uncertain what to make of these creature. She was much smaller than the rest of the mortal beings that were scattered across the ship. This being was one of four that were on board, and this one seemed to enjoy being alone which gave the entity the perfect opportunity to watch her. Its curiosity seemed to be peaked for the moment, wondering if she had sensed its presence.
From what the entity could tell, it had remained well hidden and this girl simply had an intuition that the other three didn't have. Though, to be fair the entity hadn't really watched any of them until most recently. It had been drawn to this ship because of its size. Sentience was a strange thing, the entity reasoned, it provided comfort to these fragile creatures. And these creatures seemed to make copies of themselves. The entity watched this girl, what was her name? Paige? No, that wasn't right. Her name was Charlotte...
The entity had made a point to keep itself better hidden, the girl had somehow been alerted to its presence and it would have to study that further. The entity was certain it was still not within the same plane of existence as this interestingly small creature nestled inside the lab. It only wanted to observe, not quite sure what the purpose of something so small and fragile really was. This was not the first time the entity had been around these creatures as it had helped create life albeit not as interesting as this little thing. For now it would keep its distance...==
Charlotte took one last look around the room still feeling like something was watching her closely. She sighed, "Computer I would like to begin by combining the nanites with the virus. Please begin recording the results of the combination." She ordered then she used the instruments that Rhys had explained to her in order to combine the two. The reaction wasn't immediate.
Charlotte slowly became concerned that her experiment would fail, and her thoughts shifted to that. She'd forgotten the sensation that something or someone was watching her closely. Just when Charlotte thought the experiment would completely fail the nanites began attaching themselves to the virus and the computer beeped indicating the result. Charlotte could see through the instrument designed to see things as small as this, smaller than what a microscope could see.
Excitement had started to bubble up, "I believe my theory may be correct." Charlotte hadn't expected one thing though, and the results were reversed to what she thought they'd be. The virus began fighting back against the nanites and a very tiny war began to brew behind the forcefield. The computer seemed to indicate an impending disaster for the moment and Charlotte became worried.
Then without warning the nanites seemed to win their battle and began to fully integrate themselves to the microbes they had come into contact with. Slowly gaining control over them piece by piece though some of the nanites and viral bodies had been lost. Charlotte took several notes as she witnessed what was transpiring, before telling the computer she'd seen enough. It had recorded the reaction anyway, "Computer terminate the experiment."
Behind the forcefield the computer used a micro-laser to eliminate the virus and the nanites before confirming they were both clean. "Confirm there is no risk of contamination then let science know I'm ready for the seal to be removed."
==The entity continued to watch, noticing this young girl had stopped concerning herself with its presence. Perhaps it hadn't revealed itself as it had feared, but rather this girl had an intuition unlike other humans. It would have to study this further, however, its curiosity remained intact. Whatever this girl had been doing, it had excited her. The entity could feel the excitement as it coursed through her body. It wondered what other sensations this girl could feel and would have to explore that at a later time. For now, it wanted to watch the other three and as such slithered its way out of the science lab...==
Charlotte heard the chime from the computer and waited for the science officer, an Ensign Brennan, to come by and let her out of the room. She had her data pads and all the recordings now she just had to watch them and work on the next part of her project which included the recordings. Part of the agreement had been that she destroy her experiment and use a recording instead.
Space Entity Written by: James Cohen
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