From: MGOTO@indiana.edu (Masako Goto) Date: Tue, 25 Feb 1997 12:46:50 -0500 (EST) Subject: USS CHESAPEAKE Main Science Laboratory: Checking on the Staaff
SD 90225.1650 ----------------------- Main Science Laboratory ----------------------- Anne marched into her new headquarters, stern expression on her face. Her meeting with the CO had gone reasonably well... though she still couldn't figure out why the Captain had laughed so suddenly. Was it something she said...? If there were problems, Anne concluded, she would discover them soon enough. For now, sizing up her staff was the first order of business, and business would start now. Looking around her, Anne mused that the ship designers became more and more daring with each new vessel. What other explanation was there for the fact that there was nothing in the area to indicate the presence of a science laboratory? Well, except for the computer consoles... but those were everywhere. "Welcome to the Mathematics and Logic Division, Sir," Anne looked at the Vulcan man and nodded shortly. "Thank you, Lieutenant. I didn't realize that they were implementing the section so soon." The MLD had been a proposed subdivision for years, as Anne knew from her discussions with her former CSciO; but she hadn't expected to head up one of them herself in her first senior officer position. "The need for application of logic," said the Vulcan, "is always present. The intricacies of relationships between the unknown and the known must be studied systematically. The need has increased much over the past year." He paused, about to make a most Vulcan-like statement. "Since this is a new ship, it is only logical that the division should be implemented here." "You seem to know your arguments well, Lieutenant," remarked Anne, quite impressed by the young man's verbal ability. She sensed that he would be able to talk himself out of anything; if he didn't make sense, at least he would be able to convince his opponent that he was by sheer verbal volume. "Are you in charge here?" she asked now, afraid that they had made officer assignments before she had come on board. "I am the highest ranking officer assigned to this division," answered the man, "so I have been overseeing activities here. However, I was not officially assigned a specific position." "Good, good." Anne nodded. "Then we can take care of that at our first Departmentwide meeting." She began to walk around the large open space that called itself a laboratory. No machinery stood around, however; no spectrograms in process, no centrifugal read-outs, not even experimental robots which made beep-beep noises and turned somersaults. "Let's see who's here, anyway," she said to the Vulcan, who was tagging along behind her like an obedient puppy (though an obedient puppy with things to say, she was sure). He nodded and disappeared. A few minutes later, seven individuals materialized around her. At first, she couldn't quite figure out what was making her feel so strange, as if she were seeing a ghost of some kind. Then, after a minute of uncomfortable silence, she realized what it was. Every single person in front of her, from the Lieutenant (jg) who had greeted her to the young man and woman dressed in non-Starfleet uniform, was Vulcan. "Well!" Anne was, for the moment, speechless. In this age of integrated working conditions, finding an entire division staffed by one species was quite unusual. "Forgive me," she said, realizing that she was staring. "Would you please... tell me where you got your prior training and education?" The Vulcans looked at each other, obviously unsure how to follow that order. "Let's start with you," said Anne, motioning to the Lt (jg), "then go left." The young man's name, she learned, was Serak. He had trained at the Vulcan Science Academy before attending Starfleet Academy. The others, too, had all attended the VSA; the two students were currently on Field Experience Leave of Absence, studying under Serak. "Now, isn't that a coincidence," said Anne, "your winding up all in the same division." "In this case, sir," said Serak, respectfully but excriciatingly logically, "we volunteered." "Volunteered?" echoed Anne, aghast. If every single division were to be made up of *volunteers*, what kind of work could she possibly expect from them? Re-disproving Aristotle's model of the atom? Developing an adding machine??? "Yes, sir," said Serak, his facial expression as impassive as before. He was even better at playing the Vulcan game than Anne was; he had the home turf advantage. "Since it is, as you pointed out, a new division, the officer in charge of our assignments decided that assignment to this division should be on a voluntary basis." "So what you're saying is that the *other* divisions aren't staffed by -- er -- volunteers?" "No, of course not, sir!" Serak looked quite non-plussed. "Ah. Well." Anne couldn't stop a smile from coming across from her face. Serak wasn't nearly as emotionless and logical and... *Vulcan* as he pretended to be. Though she had admired Vulcans all her life, Anne found that facing seven of them wasn't an easy proposition, especially when they were her only companions at the moment. They were content to stand around her, staring straight at her with an intensity that would have been insulting from another species. "Yes. Well." Anne thought that her MLD staff would have a ready-made nickname for her by the time this was all over: the Well-Sayer. "I think we should get some interesting work done in this division. Lieutenant Serak, I'd like to speak with you for a few minutes, please. The rest of you, dismissed until the Departmentwide meeting later today." The six Vulcans dispersed, miraculously disappearing as quickly as they had appeared. Serak alone remained, his hands clasped almost infuriatingly behind his back. "Look," said Anne, her formal tones wearing away after the rather stressful meeting, "what exactly do you *do* in this division? I mean, I know what the theory was, but..." "We operate in exactly the way prescribed by the 'theory' you mention, sir," said Serak calmly. "You mean... you actually have a specialist for analyzing the logical systems of sentient life-forms and another one studying how the theories of logic could be applied to everyday living and so forth?" "Yes, sir." Serak looked as though it were the most natural thing in the world. "You mean they weren't kidding about those wild things..." Anne leaned against a nearby table. She couldn't believe that Starfleet would allow such a... a... *useless* division to actually begin operation... and in *her* department! "No, sir, they most certainly were not," agreed Serak, pointedly ignoring Anne's expression of dismay. "Starfleet does not 'kid.'" Somehow, he managed to make it sound like an insult. Suddenly, Anne smiled. She had a feeling about Serak. They should get along just fine, she decided, just as soon as she broke him of his more annoying habits. Respectfully submitted, Masako Goto Lt. Anne Murray, Ph.D. CSciO USS CHESAPEAKE NCC-31813 mgoto@indiana.edu *NRPG* Amy: I know you haven't responded yet about number of people, etc., but I figured that introducing seven of them wouldn't hurt. I have their names, by the way, if you want them. If you want to wait for the final list, that's fine, too. All: I don't know if an equivalent division (i.e., a division based mostly on mathematical and logical theory) exists in a science department. If it does, then we can assume that Murray, buried in a single ship's system for well over four years, is a bit behind the times; otherwise, well, we'll see if it really is as useless as it sounds.
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