Scene 9.12 - Ecclectic Dreams Of A Dying Woman
ANIMATION STYLE 2
EST: INT. Sickbay, U.S.S.S. Enrapture - Enroute to Zeta
(LILY monitors LEAH'S life signs. She notices a peculiar blip and does a double-take. She punches a few squelchy-sounding buttons and calls-up an odd hologram. The hologram shows various overlapping images of JYNX, Pohl University, a colorful Vegas cityscape and a modest 23rd-Century apartment covered with leftovers from lovers; particularly an art-school girlfriend with collages influenced by strong, man-hating chromosomes.)
LILY
(Taps insignia, a small beep is heard.) Lo to bridge.
CLARK
Clark here. What is it, Ensign?
LILY
I think you and the captain should come down here. I'm seeing something concerning the patient that I think you both should see for yourselves.
VERNE
Is she okay? How's her life signs?
LILY
(At console. The hologram shows overlapping scenes of Las Vegas, puppy dogs, Christmas celebrations, nightclubs, race cars, hang-gliding and a lacivious library of lesbian erotica.) She's stable, Captain. Perhaps it's nothing to be alarmed about... It's just- I think you both should come down here, on the double. I really don't know what to make of this.
CLARK
We're on our way.
CUT TO:
INT. Bridge/Turbolift
(The viewscreen gives the illusion of swift movement across the stars. CLARK and VERNE walk to the aft turbolift.)
CLARK (Cont'd)
Sickbay.
VERNE
What do you think the problem is, Mr. Clark?
CLARK
I'm not sure, Captain. Her condition is problematic, indeed. Earlier today, Ensign Lo shared with me her speculation that although there are no physical signs of injury, she believes the reason for the patient's continued state of unconsciousness may actually stem from some sort of brain trauma, though no evidence of this has been detected.
VERNE
Brain trauma? (Nemo variant; perhaps a re-hashed prequel.) What kind of trauma does the Ensign believe the patient has suffered?
CLARK
I am not aware of the particulars of her theory. Perhaps she could explain it better to us in person.
VERNE
But surely you have a theory... Is this turbolift broken? Sickbay's only a fart away...
CLARK
Not on this ship. I've only had a cusory look at the patient; I'll reserve all hypothetical theories for those who have had a chance to fully examine her.
VERNE
Yeah, but certainly you've had a chance to look at the gal; naked-and-up-close, I mean.
CLARK
Hmmm. I haven't really had much time to-
VERNE
My patootie you haven't. I'm sure you've made the time. The very notion of your observant and quizzical mind at the helm of a hot chick's physiology certainly has piqued some sort of purious scientific interest. Certainly your voyeurism. Tell me you didn't go over her triple-X-rays with a fine-toothed-
CLARK
Perhaps only in the name of broadening my scientific understanding-
VERNE
Thought so- (Pause. Chummy:) She shore got nice ones, don't she?
(Ding! Swish!)
COMPUTER
Deck Two. Sickbay.
(The men step from the portal and cross the room. Both immediately regard the large holographic display of random, overlapping images. Specifically, the images are of JYNX; ROMEO; a childhood reflection in a mirror of a pre-pubescent, younger self 'stuffing' a B-cup bra; abstract art at a marvelous gallery; wild holographic horses galloping and LEAH'S own hands playing a xylophone, apparently from her own POV.)
CLARK
Fascinating.
LO
Captain? What do you make of this? What are these images? Internally or externally created?
VERNE
Perhaps both. Her brain is repairing itself; creating new, neural pathways. These must be echoes from her neurons. I've seen the results of several Army experiments that tried to tap into these nodes for interrogation purposes, but those images were never this good. It's like we're looking at her brain's diary. (Pause.) Computer: Can you pin-point the source of these emanations?
COMPUTER
Affirmative.
VERNE
Just where in her brain are these images coming from?
COMPUTER
The location cannot be expressed. It does not exist within the confines of this dimension.
VERNE
(???) ...I see. May I look at a graphic display of the neurological repairs being exercised?
(A transparent image of LEAH'S head fills the screen. A bisecting, diagonal line from her temple to her jawbone shows small sparks of light across the cranial portion of the line.)
CU: VERNE
VERNE (Cont'd)
Of course... I had a theory that we're not as interdimensionally seperate as we might believe. Rather, I think we're almost interlocked. Nature's laws are curious, but they certainly explain truth without bias, through its unique fixed law, an unalterable ethic that has existed since consciousness could perceive it -- perhaps before The Universe itself.
CLARK
Are you all right, Captain? You're speaking strangely again.
VERNE
I feel perfect. (Pause.) Computer. Activate the sickbay's quantum generator.
COMPUTER
I do not know the term: Quantum Generator.
VERNE
Uh, a quantum matrix through a prismatic energy dispersion system.
CLARK
Computer: Activate the prismatic array. (To VERNE:) I hope you know this; this is new science to me.
(A black doorway appears ten feet from the group at the end of the room.)
COMPUTER
Setting?
VERNE
White Room.
COMPUTER
I do not understand that command, sir.
CLARK
(Familiar, sotto:) Try a mathematical expression, Captain.
VERNE
Clear the buffers; Pi over Zero, setting thirty-four degrees... Northward?
COMPUTER
Orders received. Computing. (Beat.) Executing now.
(The doorway glows with an eerie, blood-stained, reddish hue.)
CLARK
Captain?
VERNE
I've seen this pattern before -- on the concubine. This patient is somehow interconnected with my patient from my world -- The Azalea that I know. Perhaps we all are interconnected in this way, I sure don't have a clue. (Sparks one.) All I do know is that within that abyss somewhere, I'm operating on a dead girl's brain, and that somehow that operation is affecting this woman, and has everything to do with why there's a paradox on this ship. (Passes to LILY.) The answer is in there. Clark, we need to go there and find it.
LO
I'm prepared to assist. (Passes to CLARK.) Shall I also accompany you, Captain?
VERNE
Negative. Keep to your post, Ensign. We'll need you and the rest of the remaining crew here, keeping the ship afloat. And, by the way, you're officially promoted to Lieutenant, starting now. We can't have an Ensign running the sickbay. I know I ain't the Acting Captain, but I'm sure a promotion was coming your way sooner or later.
CLARK
I concur. Your performance has been exemplary, Lieutenant. (Gestures toward the interdimensional doorway-) What will we find in there, Jules?
VERNE
(Smiles at being called "Jules" correctly with a distinct "L" sound in it's proper place with proper enunciation. Most people lazily say "Jewels" rather than "Jules". Not Clark, however. Certainly not Clark; no, never... Tokes.) Clark, I have a feeling that once we rush into that doorway, we're gonna see our crewmen -- both ships' crewmen, and my gut feeling tells me that neither of us is gonna like what we find in there.
CLARK
Really?
VERNE
Yes.
CLARK
Our crew is in this... Oblivion?
VERNE
Your crew, and perhaps mine as well. I prefer to look at it differently. Red room, maroon room, oblivion, never mind the particulars, Clark, you're bogging this thing down as usual. Trust me, I know what I'm doing -- I think. (Tokes.) Lieutenant Lo, standby to receive personnel. And keep this heading toward Earth. If I'm right about this, this ship won't be completely out of the woods until I get back home and you'll need some quantum guidance. I won't be here to help. With any luck, Clark, your captain will return to you.
CLARK
Luck?
VERNE
If things go the way they should, you will return here with the rest of your crew and I'll be returned to my own ship -- in my own time. Perhaps it's not the result of the conundrum, but rather the source... depends if this goes my way or not.
CLARK
(???) I see... And if things don't go your way?
VERNE
Then we're about to be assaulted by a score of homicidal crazies from the country of cosmic bedlam who will be so desperate for sensation that they're willing to scratch out our eyes, or their own.
CLARK
Captain?
VERNE
Talkin' 'bout The Devil's Dementia. I have some faith, tho. Doc's the best shrink I've seen, and believe me, I've seen a lot of 'em.
CLARK
The Devil's Dem-? I'm afraid I am still unclear on the particulars of this situation, Captain.
VERNE
Something is out of alignment in the cosmos, and we're gonna go fix it once and for all.
CLARK
(Tokes. Passes.) What shall we do when we arrive?
VERNE
Clark, everything should be hunky-dorey pretty soon if we keep our heads and keep trying our best. (Roach toke, blazes one out of thin air off the roach for himself, clones it and passes one of the joints to LILY as he steps on the roach that he dropped as CLARKE hungrily reached for it.) Still, keep that weird blaster phaser thing of yours ready. If something wicked this way comes, be prepared to knock it out and restrain it -- crazed maniacs with the Devil's Dementia do not go gentle into this good night.
CLARK
(Quasi-sour:) Affirmative. (Tokes. Smiles.) It's... interesting to know you, Captain.
VERNE
Likewise, Clark.
CLARK
Do we need to hold hands when we enter?
VERNE
No... (Smiles.) We don't even have to enter together. Going in is all that matters.
(He enters.)
CU: CLARKE
CLARKE
You have the com, Lieutenant, er, Acting Captain.
LILY
(Salutes. Beaming:) Aye, aye, sir!
(He returns the salute, steps into the black-and-red portal.)
MUSIC UP
FTB