[Last post: Francois' "An Observation of Life"]
=/\=
Setting: USS NILE, Holodeck – Gymnasium
Stardate: 60318.1600
There were a great many holoprograms that one could use if they were
so inclined to train. As Eva had nothing else to do, and knew only a
handful of people on the ship, that is what she spent most of her day
doing. While not an orderly person by nature, she appreciated order,
so drew up a schedule for herself. She'd get up early, eat a bit of
breakfast, and then use the starship training modules. After some
lunch, she'd spend a little bit of time digesting the food while
studying schematics and tactical theories. Starting late afternoon
into her evenings she did physical training.
In the evenings she gave herself a bit of a break, sometimes doing
some sculpting or just sitting in the crew lounge talking with some of
the other officers. Nothing much, but the usual banter to pass the time.
Right now, it was mid-afternoon, and she was still on physical
training. She clearly liked tennis, and her martial arts, but there
was one area that Eva felt she could never train enough in.
Falling.
The holoprogram was simple – it was a typical gymnasium. Along the
wall was a tall staircase ascending upwards, with platforms at various
heights. The platforms had small computers that allowed you to create
a beam of your length and design. You then walked onto the beam, and
assuming you could keep your balance, then had to find a spot to fall
in. To make it interesting, Eva had a small pool off to one end of
the program, a sandpit in the middle, and mats on the far end.
She wasn't suicidal; after all, she didn't want to fall straight onto
hardwood floors. So the mats made a nice compromise.
"You still here?"
Eva smothered a grin at that as she climbed the stairs. The small
Klingon child, the son of the Captain no less, had taken to finding
her out every afternoon she was here. She wondered if his father knew
how he spent his afternoons. Well she wasn't going to tell the
Captain.
"Yes," the Edo/Betazoid sighed melodramatically, "unfortunately for
you I am still here."
"You're using my holodeck."
"Sucks to be you," she shrugged. She kept her head bent as she kept
climbing, it wouldn't do to have him see her grinning.
Korras, all of 7, studied the woman as she climbed up. "I'm going to
be a warrior someday."
"So you've said," Eva nodded. She settled for the second highest
platform. "You know I'm a warrior."
"Noooo," he replied shaking his head. She couldn't be much of a
warrior, he reasoned, she didn't look like one. "You're too scared to
go up to the top!"
Eva rolled her eyes. This was the game they played for the last few
days. Leaning over she said, "You say this every day."
Korras gave a grin. "I know."
Eva shook her head at him but indulged the boy by going to the top
platform. She remembered all too well what it was like to be a
Starfleet brat. Often there weren't other kids your age, so either
your parents hid you in their room or they threw you to the crew.
Archie threw her to the crew, she remembered, and she wasn't all that
different from Korras at his age, thinking she owned the ship.
Finally on the top platform she yelled down, "Well do you have a
preference of beam? Or can I actually decide what I'm going to fall
off of?"
Korras wasn't going to give up control this quickly. "Metal and slippery."
"Of course," Eva muttered as she programmed that in. "It will hurt
more when I smack into it."
Within moments the beam was extended and Eva began her slow walk
across it. Her goal was to make it 2/3 of the way across, then she
could fall into the water.
The trick with walking on something slippery was to go slowly, for
sure, but firmly. It wouldn't do to hesitate – that only caused shaky
movements thus calling you to fall earlier.
Within moments she made it past the area where she would have fallen
into the mats. This was the problem, she knew the sandpit was under
her now, just as her body was becoming heavy with exhaustion. Closing
her eyes Eva remembered her meditations, focusing her energies on her
body. And so she continued to walk.
"What's that?"
The hybrid's eyes snapped open at that and jerked her body.
With in a millisecond she started to fall. And it wasn't planned.
First she twisted her right ankle and knocked it slightly into the
metal beam. As she went tumbling off she banged her wrist on the
beam, which also caused a nice bit of pain.
The stars in her eyes would have to wait, Eva realized, as she twisted
her body. She had only a few moments at most to get her body right.
Doing the best she could, the hybrid twisted her body so that she was
at least positioned correctly and not doing a cannonball or worse yet
a bellyflop into the water.
Once in the pool, Eva went right for the bottom, due to the momentum
she went going in she would up scraping her hands along the concrete
bottom of the pool. She barely acknowledged the little droplets of
blood as she pushed off the floor and went swimming for the top.
Finally she broke surface and took a great gulp of air as she coughed
a bit at the water she swallowed. Gingerly she swam towards the side
and lifted herself out. Seeing Korras there she glared at him. "What
did you see?"
"I thought I saw the arch opening. But it didn't," he told her.
Fascinated with the fall he asked, "Did it hurt?"
"Yeah, kinda," she sighed. Pulling herself up she inspected her
hands, wrist and ankle.
"You hurt yourself?"
"Yeah but it's not—"
"The safety protocols were off?" he asked stunned.
"Yeah," the Edo/Betazoid replied, moving her foot around in circles to
see how bad it was. Ah she knocked it and twisted it—she'd done
worse. "There aren't safety protocols in real life so I thought I'd
take them off now. Of course then you get hurt."
"That's so cool! That's the coolest thing you've done this week."
Eva looked at the sheer delight on the boy's face. Smiling she
inspected the hands. "Thanks."
"So can we kill some targ now?" That was their MO – he watched her
train for a bit and she turned on a targ hunting program.
"Yeah but safety protocols on," she told him. "I'm pretty sure where
I'm going I don't need to hunt targ."
"It can't be a very good assignment then," Korras sighed.
=/\= 2005 post #221
Cady O'Brien {cadyob@gmail.com}
Ensign Dorotheva
Assistant Chief of Security
USS ANUBIS, NCC 18501
