Stardate: 61008:1540
Title: The Curtain
Author: Lieutenant Vaebn Kehn
Time: After "A Well-Earned Rest, Part 2"
Scene: Kah'Leel - Som'Nya Homeworld


Vaebn had cordially enjoyed the feast, making sure to try everything once and to comment politely on each one (no matter his personal reaction to it). He found the planet's natural atmosphere refreshing and relaxing after all that had happened to him in the last few weeks.

When the dream chamber was presented, his Romulan training, or sensibilities, whatever you want to call it, picked up immediately. On one hand he was excited by the prospect of a new technology he'd never heard of before and admittedly he needed to relax but he had a terrible sinking feeling that something was going to go wrong. 

After a few moments of hesitation, he dismissed his apprehension as discomfort and volunteered to go, but only after Matthews and Autumn.

Watching carefully as their expressions changed to calm and pleasant he stepped into the chamber. 

Vaebn was immediately swept off on a rolling, amorphous cloud. Shapes faded in and out of the cloud, substantial but indefinable. 

*My Romulan telepathy must be enhancing the wave transfer. Its amazing that I am retaining this level of awareness* he marveled, swirling in the vivid cloud of dreams.

Slowly it settled into a solid black curtain, well out of reach, and he noticed that his Guardian was there beside him too.

"Your presence here is 'real' right? An externally induced experience that allows you to share in my dream and communicate with me."

"Correct"

"So you can also control the content?" 

"Not as such. While we can observe and communicate with your dream self, we only amplify the dream, not control it. Please relax now and let your mind wander where it will"

He willed himself to relax and after a while he realized that the guardian had been replaced with a dimly lit room typical of any Romulan house. There were about nine Romulan men standing around a table, which contained the only source of light. Vaebn stood in a small alcove with a stranger. The stranger asked him for 'it'. 

Confused for only a second, Vaebn with drew a small silvery gadget from his pocket, and set a small dial on it for 'radius 4m'. Handing it to the stranger he suddenly felt sick to his stomach. The stranger fiddled with more controls, then lightly rolled it under the table.

After several tortured seconds, there was a blinding flash of light, and a light ringing. The room began to spin and fade out, the screams of two small children echoing through his head, and the brief flash of a Som-Nyan he didn't recognize turning, stepping beyond the curtain. The curtain that was slowly descending to envelope him.


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Lieutenant Vaebn Kehn
Science Officer
USS Horizon
NCC-72400
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