"The Unpredictable Effects Of Anger On A Shillian"
(Previous Post: "Common Ground")
---
Stardate: 60322.2235
Setting: NEW ALEXANDRIA, Section F, Level 6, Zoology Lab
With the door to the Zoology Lab in sight, all that
the Shillian scientist could think about had been what
Ensign Doratheva had said when they had first met in
the umbilical corridor linking the USS ANUBIS to the
NEW ALEXANDRIA.
**I believe he said that these were to evaluate their
responses to pain,** was all that repeated in the head
of the Chief Science Officer which only made the
Shillian shining the last leg of her journey in a
sprint that almost made her run into the door as it
opened. It made sense that the designers of the Intel
base had not expected anyone to go rushing into the
Zoology Lab, but nevertheless they could have given
the sensors controlling the doors a more rapid
response time. As important as this problem with the
speed of the doors might have seemed to the woman, the
Shillian scientist had much more important things on
her mind at that moment.
"Crewman Barrington!" The Chief Science Officer said
in a completely untypical manner, causing the named
scientist to drop the small furry primate he had been
holding allowing it to run and hide.
"Get back here you little pest," the Zoologist expert
called out to the small monkey which had escaped from
his grasp thanks to the unexpected arrival of the
Shilian woman. After seeing that the small mammal had
vanished from sight, Barrington turned to greet his
former superior. "Lieutenant Maya, how have you
been?"
The Shillian bridged the distance between her and
Crewman Barrington in just a few rapid steps before
stopping almost nose-to-nose with him, a completely
alien expression of anger and indignation coming from
the Chief Science Officer.
"Actually I am a Lieutenant Commander now," the
Shillian said pointing to her collar before turning
the same finger against the crewman, forcefully
pressing it against his chest as the scientist
continued. "Now I want you to tell me exactly what
kind of experiment you have been conducting on that
poor little thing, and I do not want to hear the
general objective either, I want you to give me the
complete experimental breakdown including all
objectives and processes to achieve them. Once you
have given me this I want to review all of your notes,
logs and files pertaining to any and all research
performed on *every single* creature in this lab."
Barrington looked positively stunned by the request
made by the Chief Science Officer of the USS ANUBIS.
While he served on the AVALON and under the Shillian,
he had never known her to raise her voice or become so
demanding about anything, so it had been
understandable that the Zoology Lab Technician had
found it hard to comply with the request without
asking any questions despite the much higher rank of
the woman in question.
"I understand that you have a certain affection for
many of the creatures here," the crewman began,
wondering what this had been all about. "I mean many
of these little critters came from the AVALON, but I
fail to see the relevance in your requesting to see
the data on *all* of the research performed here."
It quickly became clear to the Shillian scientist that
she would not be able to get all of the answers she
had wanted in a short period of time, so instead of
continuing along the path that she had started on, the
Chief Science Officer decided to narrow the focus on
her investigation. "Tell me what you have been doing
with that monkey."
Since the question had gone from a global encompassing
of everything taking place in the Zoology Lab to the
particulars surrounding the work being done with a
single of the creatures contained in the limits of the
room, Crewman Barrington saw no harm in giving the
scientist the information that she had requested.
Even if someone from the base were to inquired as to
why the Zoology Lab Technician had complied, he could
always claim that the animal in question had been the
property of the scientist before her transfer to the
USS ANUBIS, which had been completely accurate.
"Specimen number 1-77-012, the Capuchin monkey,"
Barrington began, "has been one of the primary subject
in a sequence of experiment testing the responsiveness
to humanoid speech patterns and the ability for them
to respond back with hand patterns."
This far the Shillian woman saw nothing wrong with the
experiment and even thought that the idea had some
very promising potential, enough to make the Chief
Science Officer wish to be included in the research
whenever possible. Based on what Crewman Barrington
had said so far, the scientist wondered if maybe
Ensign Doratheva had maybe misunderstood what the
experiments had been all about, or had just said what
she had to play a joke on the Chief Science Officer, a
cruel joke to say the least.
After a short pause, the Zoology Lab Technician
continued his report on specimen 1-77-012. "Initial
testing pointed to the subject possessing a higher
than expected potential, but the problem was that the
subject proved to be very uncooperative. Because of
that, it was decided that the next set of experiments
would use a new approach, that of stimulating the pain
receptors to trigger a more compliant response."
Suddenly everything changed and whatever the Shillian
had believed about the new Ensign having been possibly
mistaken went out the closest airlock and once again
the Chief Science Officer of the USS ANUBIS found
herself on the offensive. "Her name is *Capi*, and
you are using *torture* to make her more compliant?"
Surprised by the renewed forcefulness of the Shillian
scientist, Crewman Baring thought it safer to only nod
instead of actually responding verbally.
"HOW DARE YOU! She is a living, breathing creature
with feelings and a natural ability to display
affection to those around her or have you forgotten
that? Back on the AVALON she used to stick to you
like glue, so what happened? Why did you decide to
forget about that friendship you had with her and turn
to *torturing* that poor defenceless animal who had
done you or anyone else any harm?" It was easy to see
that the Shillian had been very upset about this, and
although the Zoology Lab Technician had thought it
safer to remain quiet, Barrington still found it
necessary to defend his actions to his former boss.
"Commander," the Crewman said in an almost apologetic
way, "Capi is only a monkey? She was very sweet, but
during my time here I was shown the importance of our
work and that there are times when more direct
measures are required to achieve our objectives."
"What?" The Chief Science Officer asked, wondering if
this had all been a bad dream, "Are you trying to
tell me that inflicting pain on another living
creature is acceptable simply because they are deemed
to be of an inferior level? If I took on the shape of
a monkey, would you consider me a valid subject for
your testing?"
The Zoology Lab Technician tried his best to defuse
the situation, but not being a Counsellor, his efforts
had been lacking in many ways and proved completely
ineffective against the over boiling rage of the
Shillian woman. "You have it all wrong," the Crewman
began as he watched the scientist change before his
eyes, her humanoid form giving way to that of a much
smaller creature which he quickly recognised to be a
Trusa, or better known as a Shillian Tree Dweller, a
creature that the scientist had often described has
being one of the few animal forms she had been able to
master with her shape shifting abilities.
The transformation had not been intentional, making
the Shillian wonder if the Intelligence Liaison
Officer of the ANUBIS had not been all along correct
about the weakness of the transformation skills of the
scientist. As she saw a hand coming towards her, the
Chief Science Officer felt another change taking place
within her already transformed body. Never before had
she been able to take on an animal form while already
being in the shape of something other than her normal
humanoid self. It was clear to the Shillian that the
anger she felt had taken control of her thoughts and
actions, allowing her to lounge out at the hand of the
crewman not with the small jaws of a Trusa, but rather
with the sharp fangs of a "Gralo", a Shillian creature
resembling a muscular wolf with long, shaggy fur and
small horns down its back making it look more
ferocious than its true nature.
Of all the creatures the Shillian could take on the
form of, the Shillian Night Howler was by far the most
dangerous, which when compared to some of the
creatures encountered in the wild by the crew of the
ANUBIS had not been saying much, many of the alien
animal met having been more than capable of
dispatching the small furry predator with a single
bite or swat.
Against Crewman Barrington though, the Gralo proved to
be most effective causing him to run away as fast as
his leg would carry him. Once the initial rage
subsided, the Shillian scientist found herself
regaining her humanoid form minus her clothes which
had been in a neat pile at her feet. Not wanting to
be discovered in such a vulnerable situation, the
Shillian woman quickly got dressed and picked up as
much of the research PADDs as she could carry before
making a hasty retreat out of the Zoology Lab.
---
Never looking back, the Shillian woman ran back to the
sanctity and protection of her ship so that she could
rest and read about the research that Crewman
Barrington had been part of. As the Chief Science
Officer turned a corner while still sprinting, the
Shillian came to an abrupt stop as she collided with
the Enaran Marine Officer.
Better trained and possessing a much higher muscular
mass than the Shillian, it had not been difficult to
guess who had come out of the impact standing. Not
looking at all shocked or disturbed by the collision,
Pravat reached down and offered a hand to the
scientist to help her back onto her feet.
"A little late for running in the corridors like
that," the Enaran joked before seeing a look of
seriousness on the face of the scientist like he had
never before seen.
"I was just heading back to my quarters," the Chief
Science Officer said. As much as she trusted Prav
with her life, the Shillian had wanted to return to
the seclusion of her quarters to see just how far
these experiments had been going, so quickly picking
up the PADDs that she had lost during the collision,
the scientist apologized and resumed her course down
the corridor.
The Enaran watched with some puzzlement the Shillian
vanish around a corner before he noticed that she had
missed picking up one of the PADDs that she had been
carrying. Like the gentleman that he was, Pravat
reached down and scooped the small device with the
intention of return it to its rightful owner.
---
"To see the world in a grain of sand, 2005 post #242
Stardate: 60322.2250
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Corridor
Jessica Solarik { maya_992003@yahoo.com }
Lieutenant Commander Maya
Chief Science Officer
USS ANUBIS
and a heaven in a wild flower.
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
and eternity in an hour."
- William Blake (British, 1757-1827)
