"Door Wide Shut"
Previous Post: "Getting in Deeper" by Brian
-=/\=-
Stardate: 60331.2015
Talia awoke from her short nap to the sound of frustrated banging against what sounded like a wall panel. Curious, the girl sat up from her place in bed, just narrowly avoiding hitting her head on the ceiling. Crawling down the ladder to the top bunk, the four year old walked up behind her mother and observed her futile attempts at opening their door for a few moments before speaking.
"Bina, what you doing?" the girl finally interrupted, unsure of the current mental capacity of her caregiver.
"Trying to open this stupid door!" Sabrina announced in anger, "It's stuck!"
The child's brow furrowed. "Bina calls Reena for help?"
The woman sighed, and took a moment to calm herself down. "Yeah baby, I already called Serenna, the Bridge isn't responding."
Talia cocked her head to one side, a rather serious look on her face, "Ah's not good…"
"No, it's not," the mother reaffirmed, "But whatcha going to do?" she added, trying to lighten the situation before smiling artificially and turning her attention back to the unresponsive door and trying in vain to open it yet again.
Shrugging, Talia turned back to the room, apparently uninterested in her mother's antics, and walked to the end of the bed. Bending down only slightly, the girl stretched to dislodge the wall panel there. It was much lighter than the panels on the ANUBIS, so she easily placed it down on the floor without strain. Looking back at the woman who was now pleading with the door's control panel, the girl rolled her eyes before turning to the new hole in the wall and crawling inside.
The fit was tight, even for a child of her size. She was used to the access corridors of the ANUBIS, ones where she could almost stand, but here she was forced to stay on her hands and knees. It was uncomfortable, but not enough so to be terribly unpleasant. Moving slowly down the tunnel, she quickly came to the panel she was looking for. Squishing her knees up into her chest, the child removed a small tool from an unseen pouch on her belt. Using it, the cover on the circuit access panel in front of her easily slid from it's home on the tunnel's wall.
Taking a moment, the girl carefully studied the wires revealed before her, she knew one wire, placed on an alternate circuit, should open the door to their chambers, but deciding on which one wasn't as easy as she had anticipated. Scratching her shoulder, and squinting her eyes, she finally narrowed down the choice to two possibilities. Unfortunately, she couldn't find any reason that one was more likely than the other.
Sighing, she pointed at the white wire before moving her finger to the blue one and back again to the white one. "Eeny Meeny Miney Moe. Catch a Klingon by his toe. If he's angry, let him go! Oh no! You're too late Jane Doe!"
Smiling as her finger landed on the blue wire, the girl carefully pulled it from it's port and placed it in the empty one on her left side, instantly causing a shower of sparks and a distinct shock to pass through her arm. "SOME BICKS!" she exclaimed quietly, mimicking an _expression she'd heard David Dawson use on more than one similar occasion. Placing the wire back in it's former home, Talia sighed. "Guess it the white one…"
With a quick movement of her wrist, the child pulled on the white wire and used it to complete the alternate circuit. A soothing whoosh from the other room told her that her actions had proven successful. Suddenly feeling very claustrophobic, Talia rushed out of the access tunnel and quickly replaced the wall panel before turning to her mother expecting a rush of praise. Instead, she saw that Sabrina had not even noticed her adventure at all, instead the woman was celebrating as though she'd accomplished the task herself.
"You see now Talia," the mother announced with pride, "Your Bina isn't as helpless as some people think she is!" The child looked sceptically at the woman, if she knew anything, she knew that her mother was incapable of performing even the most routine engineering feats without injury or disaster. "There's a lesson for you," she continued, "If at first you don't succeed, try and try again!"
The girl looked down at the woman's one bare foot, before locating the missing footware in the woman's hand. "…And then hit it wif your shoe???" the girl added, lifting an eyebrow.
Sabrina flushed, "Yeah well, sometimes unconventional methods work best…" The Anubis' Captain turned from the room, as she whispered, "Just wait until I tell David about this!"
Talia, completely convinced her Nan'ha would be angry if she heard that the girl had let her delusional mother wander around in a potentially hostile environment alone, quickly grabbed a pouch she had left beside the doorway earlier in the evening and strapped it firmly to her belt before running down the hallway after her mother.
-=/\=-
For one split second she almost turned around 2005 post #571
Setting: USS HATHOR - Rikar Quarters
Lisa Mac Isaac {lisa_mac_isaac@hotmail.com}
But that would be like pouring raindrops back into a cloud
So she took another step, said I see the way out
And I'm gonna take it
~ Wasted Lyrics, Carrie Underwood
