((USS Darwin, Deck 6: Captain’s Quarters))
::Greir looked at the picture, immediately noting the finishing touches, such as
the frame. The picture itself though was magnificent and quite unlike anything
he’d expected to see. ::
Reinard: Ah, now this is very special indeed. The Darwin, how appropriate!
:: Of course the real masterpiece, at least in Aigle’s jaded eyes was the
painting itself. It was the first time she had painted something from
imagination, with very little visual information, but she was confident that she
had captured the Darwin well. The curve of the sphere, the glow of the nacelles,
the myriad fields thrown out by a ship at warp... ::
Phos: ::smiling:: What do you think, Sir?
Reinard: It’s truly magnificent! I love it.
::Chen was still taking in the colours in the painting, which seemed to have a
regular kind of a flow, all around the ship. He was aware that a Laudean had
painted it, though. He’d spoken with Greir about it a bit before, and was
aware that it was an extra sense, but did it have some kind of a visual
representation?::
Chen: Is that how you see energy fields?
:: Aigle smiled, this is what she wanted from her art. People to look at it and
wonder about how people can see the world just a little differently. ::
Phos: More-or-less, the colors are pretty close to what I see but it’s hard to
mix them exact.
::The Andorian looked to his partner for a moment.::
Chen: Do you see them too? Is it different for everyone?
::He was pretty sure that Greir didn’t see energy fields. He could just feel
them, or sense them, or, well, field them. It was as difficult to comprehend for
an Andorian as having antennae would be for a Laudean, but completely
fascinating.::
Reinard:No. I don’t see them. Not like this. If I was to visualise the energy
fields, the colours might be different, but otherwise it would be quite similar,
maybe not as refined.
:: Aigle realised, of course they didn’t know about her special ability. She
had never mentioned it before to them… She had never felt the need, she
sometimes forgot that everyone didn’t see things quite like her. ::
Phos: Ah yea, there is a reason for that. I don’t suppose either of you know
what ::mumbled:: umm… What is it in Standard… Umm… synaesthesia is?
::Greir was aware of the ability and had deduced that she had it upon seeing her
work. Something she’d said when they’d talked at the café about her art
initially had got him thinking and this really confirmed it. He could have asked
her about it but didn’t really see it as a big deal. ::
Reinard: I’m familiar with it.
:: Aigle nodded, of course he was a former counselor so he would have to know
about that kind of thing, she guessed. ::
Phos: Yes, but instead of it reacting with numbers or patterns, it reacted to my
fielding ability. For instance, Andorians always seem a bit warmer than humans,
so instead of their skin being blue it seems red-ish to me.
Chen: I’m red to you?
::That was such a weird thing to take in; Andorians probably seemed warmer
because at ‘normal’ room temperature on a starship they probably lost heat
more rapidly than some other species because they were built to exist in colder
temperatures. Their redundant circulatory system had evolved thanks to their
species’ dependence on underground hot springs as heat sources, so they were
never uncomfortable on starships, really. In fact, based on what he’d seen so
far during his Starfleet career, variation in temperature seemed to be less of a
bother to Andorians than it did to quite a number of other species.::
:: Aigle nodded. Well not totally red, there was a sort of core red glow fading
to blue. It looked really cool, actually. She would have to try painting a
portrait of an Andorian model some day. ::
Chen: ::Curiously:: What about my eyes? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.
It’s just really interesting!
:: Aigle smiled, this was just the kind of reaction she loved! If everyone could
consider the world in the ways that someone else did, then the universe would be
a better place. She looked at him squarely, focusing on that little area. ::
Phos: Well, the sclera is the only bit that really changes. It’s been heated
up quite a bit by your body so it’s gone sort-of pink-y instead of the usual
white. You don’t tend to get too much variance from the visible colours with
people as the only major field the emit is a Infra-Red one, so things just turn
pinky. I can tell though that your pulse is quite strong. Every now and then a
sharp yellow line spikes through you.
::It was a bit weird that she could see that! He wondered what it was.::
Chen: Yellow? Woah, what does that do?
Phos: Yea, it’s quite hard to see though compared to the infra-red. It’s
much less than a volt, so the field barely extends out of the body. I have to be
really close to see it.
Chen: What is it? Do you know?
:: Sort of… She wasn’t really a doctor or much of a biologist. But she did
get the general gist of a few concepts. ::
Phos: Yea, it’s umm… When your heart beats it gives off a little electricity
or something? Its part of the pulse, I think. Yellow is high frequency for me,
so it includes all electrical impulses.
Chen: ::Looking at Greir again:: Can you pick up on it too?
::If he could then Chen knew it wouldn’t be in the form of colours. Either
way, though, it was absolutely fascinating to be learning about fielding like
this, and Phos’s way of interpreting it seemed to be acting as a kind of
bridge for him. He imagined her world had to be very colourful, just like her
painting of the Darwin.::
::Greir could visualise it but first he would need to tune in with his senses
and field it. Something like that was the equivalent of background noise and he
was so used to it that he tended not to notice any more. ::
Reinard: I can but I don’t see it. The closest way to describe it is like
feeling the vibration of it. Once I’ve fielded it I could visualise it,
that’s as close to seeing it as it gets for me.
Phos: That’s so strange! I feel a sort of a vibration still, but I kinda
learned by the colors. ::Smiling:: I can remember when I was young, they thought
that I had some difficulty learning colours as while I could correctly identify
printed ones, they would ask me what color the sun was and I would say something
like Brown!
::Chen found that quite amusing; his antennae twisted together and his eyes
sparkled in the light.::
Chen: ::Pleasantly:: That’s not a colour I’d usually associate with a sun. I
guess people had a few things to say about that?
Phos: Yea, most suns give off a whole mess of radiation, mostly red Infra-Red by
the time it get to the surface, but there is a bit of green Gamma and pin UV
thrown in. Browny-Red, overall. But yea, it wasn’t until I was a little older
and could show them exactly what I meant that people got it. I guess it’s why
I studied physics, it’s nice to map your colors to the actual wave.
::Chen could understand how that might have led her into studying physics. It
was kind of interesting that they had been talking a lot about sensing heat as
well. It was one kind of energy field that he actually could sense. Maybe
antennae and fielding weren’t so different after all. He still thought
fielding was incredible, though. He got a major kick out of the idea that Greir
kind of had a super power, and it was really interesting to see how Aigle
interpreted things.::
Chen: Well, I think the painting is very cool. It’s not something I’d ever
imagined I’d see, and the reception was very thoughtful!
Reinard: I agree. I love that it is a visual representation of what we sense –
even if we do interpret it internally slightly differently. It’s a good way
for people to start to understand fielding and appreciate the energy around us.
Wondrous. It will look fine in my ready room. All I need now are some VIPs to
show this off to!
:: Aigle smiled, pleased to see her work get this kind of reaction! It had been
worth the effort, as she knew it would be, however the Captain seemed to like it
even more than she could have hoped. She raised her glass, holding it towards
the sky. ::
Phos: To the Darwin!
::Chen followed suit, more than happy to toast a fine ship.::
Chen: To the Darwin!
Reinard: To the Darwin!
::The evening progressed with them sharing a nice drink and discussing Aigle’s
talent for art some more. Greir still wanted her to put on an exhibition, but
for that she was going to need to decide how many pictures she wanted to feature
- and which ones. There was some discussion about a theme and eventually
conversation turned to more social things. It was nice for Greir to have the
company of another Laudean and he couldn’t wish for anyone more pleasant and
easy to get along with. ::
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