Star Trek: Oblivion

15 || The Oblivion

The creature that stood before Uhura watched her with its empty eyes. Its skin was like faded paper, thin layers curling at the edges of its long arms. Its breath hissed through its short, pointed teeth into the hollow husk of its lungs. A large bulbous, greenish pulp sat deep in its skull just where its forehead would be.

The creature held out a hand and Uhura stepped back, instinctively flinching as the sandpaper-like skin brushed her hair away. When she opened her eyes less than a second later, the creature had vanished. In its place stood a seemingly normal man. He was much shorter than the creature. He was bald and wearing orange colored robes. A glowing green gem sat embedded in his forehead. He smiled, holding out a pudgy hand.

"I apologize for my earlier appearance. Merely needed to recalibrate things." He said, tapping his head near the gem. When Uhura did not take his hand, he awkwardly folded it across his chest. "And you are?"

Uhura cleared her throat, standing straight. "I am Lieutenant Uhura." She told him, trying to find confidence in the fact that she was much taller than the man in front of her.

"Lieutenant!" He exclaimed. "Ah, military. Of course." He gestured to her Starfleet insignia. "Just as I suspected."

"What is this place?" Uhura asked.

"An energy transference machine, of course. Now, if you would come with me, there is much that needs to be done." He turned and headed across the transporter platform.

Uhura reluctantly followed, squinting her eyes as she walked past the bright beams of light. Faaren stood by the door, waiting for her with arms crossed. The air in the room was thick and the temperature was sweltering hot. Maybe it was just because she had been in the frozen shuttle only moments before, but either way she was mentally debating which was worse. Freezing to death, or melting in the oven like interior of the ship? At that moment she couldn't decide.

"Come along! There is much that needs to be done!" The short man told them as he exited the room, prattling on quietly to himself as he walked.

"You're not one of them, right?" Uhura asked Faaren.

"I'm human, if that's what you're asking."

She nodded. "Just so long as your not that."

They followed the short man through the door and into the wide hallway. The roof stretched high above them and streams of green and orange light ran across the walls and roof like blood vessels through a some massive organism. Uhura did not recognize any of the strange markings that decorated the empty black walls of the ship However, the markings were repeating in a particular pattern, indicating that it must be a logographic type writing system.

The markings were somewhat of a recent addition to the to ship, something added a long while after the vessel was made. This ship itself, or at least a the interior, was highly modified, but it didn't seem that old. There were many places where displays had obviously been removed from the walls and certain markers had been carved out.

Uhura was no expert on this subject, Spock would definitely know a great deal more than her, but she couldn't seem to shake the feeling of the familiarity that the interior of the ship held. She had never seen one like this before, and yet, it seemed oddly familiar.

"We do not have long!" The short man shouted over his shoulder.

Uhura half thought of turning back and trying to escape. She knew it probably wasn't the smartest thing to do at the moment, but her heart pounded in her chest and she felt the strong desire to just start running. A strong hand wrapped around her arm. She jerked away, but didn't move far. Faaren looked down at her, his expression blank.