From: MGOTO@indiana.edu (Masako Goto)
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 00:04:48 -0500 (EST)
Subject: USS CHESAPEAKE: How *Not* to be a Chief Science Officer

SD 90228.0320
-----------------
Murray's Quarters
-----------------
MD 1.1500
	Anne allowed her distaste to show through the minute she saw 
the blue carpet on the floor.  Whoever had designed this ship must have 
had a private conversation with Kevin the Terrible, she decided.  
Mallory was going to have his way after all.  He had imprinted himself 
on her psyche the way she thought he hadn't.  She kicked her boxes 
aside irritably. The carpet was the exact same shade of blue as that of 
Mallory's office.
	She was just about to put through a request for a new carpet 
when her comm badge beeped.  Her hand tapped the badge automatically, 
but she was too startled to say anything.
	 Fielding sounded worried.
	"I'm sorry, Derek.  Yes, I'm here."
	
	"All right, I'll be right up.  Murray out."
	Anne breathed deeply, then set off for the Physics Lab.
---------------------------
Physical Science Laboratory
---------------------------
MD 1.1510
	Fielding was waiting by the door when Anne arrived.  She was
a lot paler than she had been earlier, Fielding noticed.  He remembered
how odd she had sounded when he had spoken with her just a few minutes
earlier, and he glanced at her as she approached.
	"The students are inside," he told her.  "They're having a
bit of a problem figuring out what they're supposed to do."
	"I see." Anne nodded and walked into the lab.
	All was chaos.  A loud hissing sound was coming from a machine
in the corner, some students were runnning around aimlessly, alarms
were sounding, consoles were beeping, and a large model of the 
dilithium molecular structure was tipping over on its side.
	"What," said Anne, her voice a calm steel, "is going on here?"
The shock had cured her of any and all thoughts of Kevin Mallory, at
least for the moment.  There was silence.  "I asked a question," she
said, only slightly louder.  "I'd appreciate an answer."
	Anne looked directly at the student in front of her.  He was
about to start rushing around again; she leaned over and grasped him
by the shoulders and spun him around.
	"Mr. Ben Kirko," she said, remembering his name from the
personnel files she had updated earlier.  "What is going on here?"
	"Uh... I'm not sure, sir." Kirko looked very uncomfortable.
He looked around him, he looked at his feet, he looked at the ceiling.
In fact, he looked everywhere but straight ahead.  "I mean, some of
the others were doing this test, see, and the machine in the corner
there, it started to make that weird sound..."
	"Mr. Kirko," said Anne, her voice sounding like liquid
nitrogen, "that 'machine in the corner' happens to be the oxygen..."
Suddenly, she pushed him aside and ran toward it.
	Kirko, startled by the sudden release, fell against the table,
painfully cracking his elbow on its edge.  He yelped and slithered
down to the floor, clutching his injured arm.
	Anne had turned off the oxygen diispenser, and she hurried
over to Kirko.
	"Oh, no..." she knelt down beside him.  "I am so sorry, Mr.
Kirko... I didn't mean to shove you into the table."
	"It's all right, sir..." Kirko grimaced as pain shot through
his arm.  "I should've been better prepared..."
	"Can you move it?" Anne asked.  Kirko was about to comply,
but she stopped him quickly.  "No, don't try.  I can see it better
now.  You'd better go to sickbay.  It might be broken."
	Kirko stood up slowly.
	"Will you go there now?" asked Anne.  "Do you know where
it is?" She looked at him with concern.
	"I'll find it, sir," said Kirko.  "Don't worry about me, sir."
	Kirko left the lab, still clutching his arm.  The other 
students had quieted and settled down.  The stood silently at various 
stations in the laboratory, waiting for their chief to speak.
	What they were not expecting was the loud wail that issued
forth from the Chief Science Officer.
	"All dismissed!" said Fielding instinctively.  His facial
expression said it all to the students: get out *now*, and you're not
seeing any of this.
	After the lab had cleared, Fielding tried to approach Anne, who
was standing with her head buried in her hands.
	"Come on, sir, we'll go talk someplace quiet," he suggested.
"I know they're a rowdy bunch..."
	Anne merely shook her head and squeaked something at him.
	Fielding knew that the researchers would be coming any minute,
and he didn't want them to see Anne like this.  He bit his lip.
	"Sir, we'd better..."
	"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" shrieked Anne, jerking away from 
Fielding, who had taken her arm to give her the hint to hurry.
	"I just thought we'd better..."
	"Don't you *dare* touch me again!"
	"I'm sorry, sir, I won't..."
	"Oh NO!" Anne burst into tears yet again.  
	Fielding sighed to himself.  He was a physicist, not a 
psychologist. He wasn't qualified to handle touchy officers.
	"Let's just go to your office, sir," he said finally.  "The
researchers will be here any minute, and you won't want them to see
you like this."
	Anne merely nodded, and they went to her office, which was,
mercifully, located on the same deck.
--------------
CSciO's Office
--------------
MD 1.1530
	Anne looked at her assistant, her gaze steady.  She had told
him what had been going through her mind in the Physical Science
Lab, and he had listened carefully.
	She hadn't wanted to, of course, but she owed him an 
explanation for yelling at him the way she had.  She told him as few 
details as possible, simply telling him that she had felt like a 
criminal when she fully understood what she had done to Kirko, that her 
actions had been illogical to the extreme, and that perhaps someone had 
better lock her up in a padded cell in a psychiatric hospital 
somewhere.
	"You're not the first person to unintentionally hurt someone,"
Fielding pointed out, "and you most certainly will not be the last.
Besides, the boy knew combat skills.  He should've known how to avoid
the table by conditioned reflex."
	"But I *pushed* him, Derek," said Anne.  "You don't just go
around pushing people."
	"You didn't 'just go around pushing' Kirko, you were trying
to shut off the oxygen dispenser at the first opportunity.  Look,
maybe we'll go report what happened to Security.  That'll ease your
conscience.  Then we'll just forget about it, all right?"
	"I don't know, Derek..."
	"Anne, listen, the kids know you weren't... yourself.  I mean,
with the dispenser spewing out oxygen and the molecule displays
falling over and everything else... if you had to lose your cool,
then was probably a good time."
	"I guess..."
	"Come on." Derek stood up.  "Let's go see the Chief Security
Officer and see what she has to say."
	"All right, Derek," said Anne.  "Just remember not to
touch me." She was only half-joking.
Respectfully submitted,
Masako Goto
Lt. Anne Murray, Ph.D.
CSciO
USS CHESAPEAKE NCC-31813
mgoto@indiana.edu
*NRPG*
Chris: A good performance always begets cheap imitation... I submit
the above with my apologies.  :)  Glad you're finally inching close
to boardedness...
Lynnaea: As is my wont, I just decided that Murray would like to meet
Keyrin (she doesn't realize this yet, of course... ).  Please feel
free to take this where you want to take it.  She should be heading
for your office with her aCSciO even as we speak.
Takako: I just got your post after I wrote all of this post... once
she settles down somewhat, Murray will gladly contact Brennan with
the status report (just a little bit longer... I'm ALMOST finished
with the NPC list... )
All: another semi-hysterical (I don't mean the funny-hysterical,
either) post from your semi-stressed CSciO, who is doing everything
she can to put off studying.  :)