Day 03 [0430 hrs.] While We Sleep

December 07, 2018, 03:24:30 PM

[ PO1 Morgan Song | Personal Quarters | Deck 20 | USS Theurgy ]

He really had tried to sleep. He’d tossed and turned for what felt like hours, only to check the time to see barely ten minutes had passed. Feeling each second tick by, willing himself to sleep. He’d even been tired, was the worst thing -- he’d been knackered, right up until his head hit the pillow. He was too cold, or too hot; the room was too quiet, or his breathing was too loud; the bed too soft, or too hard. And as time passed, slow as it was, Morgan couldn’t help the feeling of restlessness that coiled in his gut.

Maybe he’d just slept too long recently. He’d only just left stasis, was only now starting to feel like he was coming back to himself. The first day or so it’d felt like he’d just woken up after a nap that lasted much longer than intended; groggy and disorientated, he’d blundered around the ship like a new recruit. And while the results had been fun, they’d certainly been more than a little influenced by the fact that apparently his brain had been replaced with cotton wool for a full 48 hours after he woke.

But that had started to wear off by now, leaving only a strange kind of exhaustion. Maybe it was a hangover from the operation, the one that replaced his heart and a good deal of his respiratory system. Which was still a fact that brought him up short, even as he could feel it; the heaviness of the dull beating in his chest, the slight solidness in his throat every time he swallowed. A mass of biosynthetic tubes and valves that were just part of his body now. Because of a freak accident he could barely remember. Because of… plants? Apparently.

It was surreal.

Of course, he’d signed up to Starfleet knowing the kinds of crazy stories you heard. But there was a big difference between hearing and experiencing, he was coming to realise. And besides, he’d managed to miss out on all the craziness up until now. He’d managed to miss out on a lot of things during his career, it seemed; that is, until he got himself caught up in whatever all this was meant to be. Even if he’d managed to miss the majority of this too.

With his luck he’d be back in stasis within a week. Or in a cell somewhere, or maybe just locked in the latrine. He’d honestly be more surprised if he actually managed to participate in something important for once.

Alright, time to get up. He clearly wasn’t going to get any sleep, and the restlessness was getting unbearable. It was nearly 0500 hours, it was technically morning. He could get a proper workout in and still get down to Engineering early. Fixing things always made him feel better. And if he couldn’t do that, at least he would be able to whack something with a wrench.

He rose and padded across the room to an open patch of floor. No need for the lights; he never turned the lights all the way off, just dimmed them to a faint glow in the darkness. He started his workout gently, testing the boundaries of what his new heart could handle. The last thing he needed was to land himself in the medbay again so soon. So he eased himself into it, checking his heart-rate and breathing every step of the way. It felt like he got short of breath faster than before, the air whistling through his new windpipe, but that might have just been a result of his recent lack of exercise. He hoped so, in any case.

He quickly fell into a familiar rhythm of exercise, taking his usual pleasure in the mindlessness of it. He’d always found it relaxing, losing himself in something purely physical. Between them, exercise and meditation had probably saved his life, once, and even now they perhaps weren’t as necessary as they once had been, he still found comfort in the familiarity of it all.

His resolve strengthened as he worked. He had never wanted to be a hero or have crazy adventures, he’d only really signed up to Starfleet because it seemed the obvious choice. But he was here now, and the Theurgy’s mission was important, the most important thing he had ever been a part of. And he certainly didn’t join Starfleet to watch from the sidelines while other people risked their lives, while other people died. He was here, and he was awake, and he was going to do what he was here for -- his job, his duty, his mission.

Who knew what the future would hold. He only knew that he meant to be here for it, whatever it was.