Entry #001 - Gorn Psychological Profiles

Posted on 11 Jul 2015 @ 6:47pm by Lieutenant Elas Vonti & Ensign Karrak
Edited on on 11 Jul 2015 @ 6:48pm

3,261 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: M13-B: The Big Goodbye
Location: The Spa, Counselors Office

-On-

Elas had only begun to sort the mountain of new crew profiles he had to review and sign off on. The process was very slow, his staff had not yet been created, so after several hours when he slid one particular profile under his nose as he had a hundred times before, he stopped and took notice.

>>Karrak - 60 Y (Fed Std.)
>>Species- Gorn...
Height 7'3"
Weight 345
Hair Color n/a
Eye Color Silver

Elas strained to think if he had studied anything on the Gorn past mission briefings and reports. There was nothing he could recall. Even Karrak's academy notes were sparse, nobody had thought to do a psychological profile on the lad. Though it was likely since the Federation saw him as a link to the opening of peaceful trade with them. It was time, Elas might actually get some positive press for once.

=/\= Ensign Karrak, have your reported in yet? This is Elas Vonti, CCO Achilles.

Karrak had just arrived on the Achilles from DS9, and was unpacking. He hadn't had time to report in yet, and he dreaded it, due to his blunder in hanging up on the Commodore. He would probably kill him for it. But this was something new.

=/\= Karrak to Vonti, no I haven't, not yet. What can I do for you? =/\=

Vonti had to smile at how the computer relayed upbeat tones in the absence of true emotive understanding. It made the Gorn sound like he was playing with the input levels on an audio mixer. The UT would need to be upgraded to understand Gorn nuance better, he made a note of this in case miscommunication ever was an issue in this officers career.

"I would like a chance to meet with you whenever you have time for a discussion. Purely scientific, nothing to worry about, but I do not have a basis for any psychological comparisons or profiles to be able to work as your Counselor as effectively as I would prefer. There are a few tests we can administer, I promise to make them as entertaining and brief as I can, but it would help build my understanding of you and your species."

"I will be there directly." said Karrak. He had little patience for psych profiles, but it was a necessary evil of being part of Starfleet. But he wondered what his Tra'nark guide would say about all this. They had come a long way to get here. He left for Sickbay, and after a while entered where Vonti was. "I am here." he said.

Elas watched the Gorn walk into the pastel colored and softly illuminated room and the stark contrast of Starfleet and Gorn could be more readily apparent. Though he hated this Spa he was assigned to, he smiled at the image of the Gorn on horseback (albeit a holographic horse capable of carrying a Gorn) riding through the old west. He stood to welcome Karrak into the office, offering him the far corner where a slanted boulder lay next to a steaming vent. Gorn didnt really sit on standard Chairs, but the designers had installed a large boulder in a corner of the room, almost hot to the touch. He hoped the Gorn could recline against it comfortably, the Cardassians on board certainly loved it.

"Karrak, I promise not to waste your time. I simply need a few of the blanks filled in where Starfleet Medical feels they are written in. Plus it will help if we actually get to know one another over this long journey. Please recline or sit as you please, is there anything I can get you while we're here. A drink?"

"Whatever you have, Sir." he said. He wished he had his cowboy hat so he could tip it. He sat at the boulder. It was fitting for him, and he wondered what it would involve. The doctor at the Academy was too frightened of him to attempt it. This one had great courage.

"There is water on the table, help yourself. Karrak there is an old game, its a surprisingly telling one I like to use it to sort of get a feeling for a new personality. All it involves is me asking you to create mental images to match prompts I supply you. Then, you will tell me what you think they mean afterwards. It will take ten minutes and be done, but I have a whole hour if you find any interest in the process and wish to discuss the results."

"I undersstand." said Karrak. "I am ready."

Elas had taken a seat in comfortable reclined pose with one elbow on his desk, the padd on his lap. He took the stylus and smiled, it was rare to chart new territory in his field. The lights were set to lower by 1.5% every fifteen seconds, and the rock was baking hot, something he knew reptilians found soporific.

"Karrak... I'd like you to clear out a space in you mind, imagine a clean empty space however natural or synthetic, it can be glowing white fog or endless desert.., anything that to you allows you space to expand as freely as you please. Write it down or speak it aloud, tell me."

Karrak thought for a moment, then thought of the place he felt best at the moment. "I am thinking of a place on Earth called Jacksson Hole, a place that is wide and open with mountainss coming up abruptly on one sside."

Elas took careful measure of everything Karrak was doing. Twitches, inflections, all of it was data to be considered. Biometric sensors recorded everything, but there was an in person element to learning sensors couldn't quite do on their own.

"Okay good, tell me about this space. What's the weather like? What is there with you?"

Karrak thought for a moment. "There are a few cloudss drifting through the ssky, there is a breeze blowing through from the mountaniss, the ssmell of the grass and the water around me, and there iss my horsse that I am riding."

Elas smiled at his mention of the horse. It was an inadvertent jump in the game, but one that revealed much about the Gorn.

"Now, once you have an image of your setting firmly in place... I mean really strongly, the feeling of wind, the taste of the air... we will place a new element into your vision. I want you place a cube into this scene. let it happen organically don't just stamp any image of a cube and leave it. Really consider it. And tell me what you see."

"A cube." said Karrak. "It arisses from the lake and takes form. It iss dripping with water and iss soft but I can touch it." He wondered why the cube.

Driving the point on, Elas pressed inwards on the image.
"Tell me more about the cube. What is it made of, how does it react to the setting? color? mass? size?

"The cube iss transsparent, but ssparkling with different colors." said Karrak. It is one meter ssquare. I can touch it and my hand goes into it.

"Very Good, keep developing these details, let them blend together and mature in your mind. We are nearing halfway now, only a few more tasks. Next... I would like you to imagine a ladder, you know what I am referring to when I say that? Tell me about where the ladder is, what it is made of, how you feel about it."

"The ladder iss out in the middle of the field, made of wood, I don't know what kind. There iss a light on top, no, it iss becoming ssolid. There iss a tra'nark, a large red bird of my homeworld with a long red tail looking down on me." He didn't tell her that this was his animal guide.

The Bird was an interesting twist as well, it was too early to delve into that further, but he held onto ti. The Gorn mental dream-scape was capable of every nuance any others were, another important discovery from this session. This was going to revolutionize Federation interaction with the Gorn, the species had enjoyed tense but stable relations for too long.

"Okay, just three more elements to add and we will be complete. We have our wide open spaces, and the cube, and ladder, now let's add plant life. Tell me about the plant life, and specifically, what plants does your mind create, where are they, which ones are significant to you?"

"There are pine trees, I think they are called Ponderossa pines, and there is a forest of them. A few are on either sside of the ladder with the tra'nark on top of it. He jusst winked at me."

"Quite interesting, this will make for a delightful debrief. This one is tricky, as you have already introduced it... I'd like you to tell me about your horse. The first impressions that you see and feel, what it looks like, color, whatever you think is important to describe it well."

"My horsse is a brown Arabian horsse, and he iss a friend of mine, we go everywhere together. He looks back at me and ssnorts at me, wondering when we will be going riding. He has a dark black mane and tail. The sscent goes to my head as I am mounted on top of it, or sshould I say him, he iss a stallion."

"Here we are at the end Karrak. And I thank you for indulging me. The last thing we are adding, to complete the landscape... is a storm. Add a storm to your scene. Describe the storm and how it affects your mental world."

"There iss a sstorm coming down from the mountainss, with lightning sstriking the peak of the Grand Teton." said Karrak. "It iss coming across the lake and it iss getting dark. It iss the usual afternoon thundersstorm in these parts. I am trying to calm my horsse, as he is used to these sstorms. The wind iss picking up and the rain iss starting to fall."

Elas took the information with great comfort. Karrak was a delightfully complex and very emotional soul. This would make for a ground-breaking paper on Gorn psychology. The results were apocryphal at best but self-analysis always revealed truths, a lesson Elas felt comfortable teaching, but not applying to himself.

"So, now that we have created our mental landscape I want to go back through and attach significance to your creations. What's important to remember is that what I say is only a little bit relevant to what you think. If I say that your mental landscape represents the ideal home that you would build for yourself your interpretation of that fact doesn't have to be literal. You mentioned Jasckson Hole I believe? Though you said nothing about a house, nothing about possessions, just the space around you. This first element is understood to be your idea of Home."

Karrak sighed. "There iss no home here. At the moment, I have no home. I ran away when I was young. I miss the rain forests of my homeworld on the outskirtss of the place where I lived."

Elas nodded, the test was so obscure as to be useless but here it had just highlighted a strong sentiment in this creatures mind. He felt he had no home, but still created a place of beauty to be a placeholder. That he didn't imagine a place native to his home-world was also an indication.

"You also mentioned you were riding a horse, this is an interesting twist on the game rules, as this is usually one of the last elements we create. As you presented in this order, so shall I answer. The horse is a representation of the qualities you seek in a companion. You said, "he is a friend of mine, we go everywhere together... and wondering when we will be going riding..." I find these to be endearing traits in a companion too." Elas smiled hoping he was building common ground, trying to make a connection. He was careful not show his teeth, reptilian species often construed that as a sign of open aggression.

"He iss the companion I have on my journey." said Karrak. "He goess wherever I go and we haven't been there yet, but we are on our way." said Karrak. He wasn't expressing himself very well. but that was what came to mind.

"The weather is an indication of your present state of mind, in yours you recall pleasant sensations, gently wafting clouds, overall a serene image."

"That iss right for now." said Karrak.

Elas nodded slightly, taking mental notes, glad this was being recorded to the molecule for review later on.

"So the cube is where it get very unscientific, I apologize. However you choose to believe, the reason I am conducting this exercise is that personal choices reflect the machine that generates them. Your Cube... consider your creation, the nature of how you described it. How does it make you feel? More importantly do you agree?

"I am really confused as to what the cube meanss, and it doesn't make me feel much of anything. I am ssorry about that."

Elas shook his head sharply, "No, do not feel that way, if you feel nothing it may be that the symbol for how you see yourself is just too different from the command and you arent seeing something that is relevant. No matter. let's press on."

Going back to his notes, he points to the present spot in the dialogue.

""The Ladder is an indication of your present course in life, how you feel about the path you're on, or how you view the ambitions and goals ahead of you. You mention that you do not know what the wood is, but that could also mean you don't care about that detail, it only matters that it is sturdy. At the top of your ladder you seem to have placed an item of spiritual significance to you, why is the Tr'Nark there at the top of your ladder? Things like this are worth the consideration.

He was looking at the top of the ladder, and the Tra'nark winked at him. He turned to Elas and said "He iss my guide, who leads me on my journey. It is hard to explain" said Karrak.

"I would imagine so, now the Plant life, specifically what is prescient and important in your minds eye, represents a persons desire for family, or community, a desire to extend life around them. What significance can you glean from what you described?

Karrak sighed. "It iss one I left behind, my betrothed, her name iss Z'larki. I don't know if sshe even remembers me or would welcome me if we ssaw each other."

Elas let a moment pass as such a profound and serious statement was made. Deciding that to press the question would likely alienate and confuse Karrak he decided to press on.

"Well, time makes fools of us all, may it do so for your dearly betrothed. We discussed the Horse already, but this is usually where it would be discussed normally. Tell me what you think of your decisions for how it looks, is your horse an ideal representation of the qualities you appreciate in others? And while we are discussing the animals in our visions, tell me more about the Tra'Nark you see?

"I never thought of that about the horsse." said Karrak. "He iss a companion, but one who iss loyal. As for the Tra'nark, the name means bird of k'nar, or desstiny, fate, fortune. Its shadow fell on me when I was brought out of the hatching chamber, and a feather dropped down to me. It marked me as one at a crossroads. This one was introduced to me when I met with Admiral Chakotay, who introduced me to my animal guide, and the Tra'nark appeared to me." He looked up at the top of the ladder, and was relieved that he wasn't offended, but nodded to him.

Elas did his best to not show disdain over Admiral Chakotay's vision quests. There were legends of Starfleet who had all undergone a vision quest and come out the better for it so he set his reservations aside.

"Thank you Karrak, I know telling me is a move of great trust. You would not have told me if you didnt feel it was okay with your guide and I appreciate the openness. Let's finish this up, we are nearly done.

So we have the weather which reveals your present state of mind... but the Storm... it represents your whole life, and most of us stare into the future. Though I don't wish to limit your interpretations, the storm represents your life, and how you see it. For some they are in the midst of a terrible squall, life beating them down to their primal elements, for other, the storm is a distant concern, problems on the horizon or anxieties made manifest. The level of threats is in the eye of the beholder, a storm can be mighty, but if a man is a castle then of what concerns are storms?

"I am in what you call the eye of the sstorm right now." said Karrak. "I have been in the midst of the sstorm all my life, and was running from it for mosst of my life until it caught up with me."

Taking in his words with great reverence Elas made a final note on his padd.

"You know Karrak, most of us are privileged to have our lives handed to us, or to know what it is that we like to do. I hope you find your passion, I think you have started down a good path to finding it. These answers are silly answers to silly questions, but I hope you do take the time to reflect on the images you created, why did you use those images, what could the deeper meaning be to a splash of red, or a whirling windy storm."

Elas stood, stretching his legs as he did so. "That's all I have for you, and I thank you for your patience. Before we go back to our various duties, was there anything you wanted to discuss, any ideas or reservations about our mission maybe?

Karrak thought for a moment. "At the moment, I know nothing about our mission." he said. "But that is the way of the Gorn, to face the challenge and conquer it. And thank you for your patience."

"I'll look for you in the lounge, be sure to get out and socialize some, doctors orders. This is home for a while. Good day Ensign."

As Karrak left Elas looked over the volumes of data he had just collected. The word game had been intriguing but the bio-spectral analysis revealed so much about the Gorn physiology. For the first time since his disastrous encounter with Alorha and Ayren, Elas felt a genuine, innocent thrill run trhough him. This little step forward was his, this foot note in all future Gorn texts would bear his name, it felt good.

"Computer update telemetry logs for Gorn Psychological profiles with session notes. Send to Mora Pol of Bajor, Seenak of Vulcan, Presidents Council for Wartime Recovery." The Gorn were a little less of a mystery today, Elas found himself enthralled as he read the results a third time...

-Off-

Elas Vonti
CCO

Karrak
Security Officer

 

RSS Feed