From: Masako Goto
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 1997 18:55:38 -0500 (EST)
Subject: USS CHESAPEAKE: (Backpost) Murray's Messages
*NRPG*
I've taken the opportunity (provided by the beginning of Melvin's post)
to have Murray sitting in front of the computer terminal writing even
more messages. If you are Easily Bored, this may be a good time to go
look for excitement elsewhere. :)
SD 90313.2241
-----------------
Murray's quarters
-----------------
MD 2.2130
Anne looked over the messages in her inbox. Thankfully, the
program had allowed her to delete the message from the Counselor once she
had sent her a message several hours earlier. The one from the Science
department could wait... she had sent it herself. Updates from Fielding
on the computer restoration... a message from Serak concerning the
satisfactory resolution of yet another daily problem by applying the laws
of logic... more messages...
Anne sighed, shutting off the display. She had been hoping for a
message from Ensign Keyrin, but there was none. Perhaps she had been too
forward in her message earlier; or perhaps she had better things to do.
She couldn't help feeling just a little disappointed.
The fatigue that she had felt earlier descended on her again.
She would need to get some good sleep tonight. Anne tapped some random
commands on the keyboard, blankly watching the console as its display
panel lit up once again.
She decided that she would write a letter... but to whom? She
had already written to everyone in her family. Who else was there? She
supposed that she could write to Jon...
Yes, that was it. She would compose a letter to him.
"Dear Jon," she typed, deciding not to take the risk of
dictating. "It's been far too long already, being away from our
wonderful department. I know that two hundred hours haven't elapsed
since our parting, but it seems like forever.
"We have the Mathematics and Logic Division here. They're all
Vulcans, the lot of them. They're very respectful, and very competent,
but they are rather trying at times. They seem so logical and capable
and... *superior*.
"The students here are as atrocious as those on the BELLEROPHON,
possibly even more so. I ran our emergency procedure drill today -- you
know, the one with the computer access fallout -- and the kids just went
to pieces... except the MLD; they held tight. The Comp Sci group
actually unplugged the entire system in their labs! Not to mention the
students turning on the fire extinguisher in the Physical Sciences and the
Bio kids calling sickbay... They're absolutely clueless, Jon... but they seem
to want to work hard. I think they have some hope.
"It certainly isn't the same being here without you, Jon. You
ran the whole show... you knew exactly what to do or say in any given
situation. I don't; I just blunder along, hoping that they'll manage to
pick up *something* or other. I gave them the GPA like you used to do
for us, and I think some of them are actually taking them seriously.
Thanks so much for them, Jon, and thanks for caring..."
She stopped a moment, gathering her thoughts.
"I guess I owe you an apology," she wrote. "All those times when
you saw me with Mallory and didn't say anything, I thought you didn't
care. I've been thinking, Jon, and I am starting to see that maybe I
misunderstood. Commander Brennan, the Executive Officer here, was
telling me last night that personal problems are outside of his
jurisdiction. (Yes, I *was* running battery III, need you ask?) I never
looked at it that way before; you know how my teachers used to involve
themselves in *everything*.
"Thank you for doing as much as you could, Jon. You got me out
of there, and though I miss you and our department very much, I think I
have a better chance at a normal life here. Please give my regards to
the department, and I hope that your next aCSciO isn't a fruitcake.
"Thinking of you always,
"Anne S. Murray, Ph.D."
After she had sent the message, Anne brooded for a moment. Jon
Dameon was a good friend, but he was a lot more than that as well. He
had protected her from the consequences of Mallory's campaign against
her, allowing her to perform duties that she was officially not supposed
to be doing. He had treated her as an equal, asking her for advice and
listening intently to what she had to say. They had been through many
brilliant successes and abject failures together, each supporting the
other. They had been a team, a force to be reckoned with, on the ship.
Dameon was one of the few people on the ship who knew when her birthday
was, and he had managed to slip a little something in her office desk
every year, knowing that any overt congratulations would only embarrass her.
He was always ready to talk, ready to listen... though he had not done
anything about the situation, Anne realized that he had listened to her
brief accounts of her experiences with Mallory because he had *cared*.
He wasn't required to listen to her talk about her problems, especially
when they didn't impact on her work. Yet Dameon had listened, eyes fixed
on hers, full of sympathy.
"But you never made him go away," whispered Anne. She sighed.
She realized that Dameon was probably following ethical guidelines; he
wouldn't interfere unless she asked him to do so... and she never had.
Anne sat up and began anther message, filled with a dread of what
she was going to have to write now and the relief of knowing that she was
going through with it.
"Jon," she wrote, "Thank you. For everything. You were there
when I needed to talk, you were there to share in my joys and sorrows. I
shall miss you dearly, and you will never leave my heart or my mind. But
I must put the BELLEROPHON behind me. I cannot allow myself to dwell in
the past. If our paths should cross again, always remember that I'll
know who you are. Peace and long life. Goodbye, Jon." She signed the
message, sending it with trembling fingers.
She lay down on her bed, exhausted. She had done the right
thing, she knew, and she wasn't going to cry about it. She was *not*.
Respectfully submitted,
Masako Goto
Lt. Anne Murray, Ph.D.
CSciO
USS CHESAPEAKE NCC-31813
*NRPG*
Well... she doesn't completely succeed in her quest to leave BELLEROPHON
behind, of course, as already seen in "Murray's Murky Past"... but then,
that's a normal human reaction, don't you think? Right? *Right*?
Chris: No, I'm not out to steal the lost-love scenes. :) As already
noted, Anne never had a romantic relationship... she just lost
(or forced herself to lose contact with) a very good friend.
Melvin: Thanks for the beginning snippet of your post... that's what made
this all possible! :) I also figured that she might as well be
toussled up emotionally before she goes to see the 2O; that would
somehow seem to be in character.
James: So... what's up, doc? Or is Tats-Marush a doctor?
Lynnaea: I took my own advice and did a backpost! :)
Amy, Takako: Should I have included the "Backpost" at the top? If not,
please let me know for future reference. Thanks!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thought for the Day: If a mainframe computer of a large university
crashes, with irrevocable destruction of all data, who is to blame?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Go to messages for
March 1997 or Main Archive Page