From: Masako Goto
Date: Sun, 23 Mar 1997 19:31:31 -0500 (EST)
Subject: USS CHESAPEAKE: When in Doubt, Press 7
SD 90323.2309
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Murray's quarters
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MD 3.1515
Enough was enough. Anne was tired, and she wasn't in the mood to
take on the Computer Science students at present. The effects of the
sugar and caffeine in the chocolate samples were already fading, and she
grouched her way to the communicator.
"Murray to Fielding," she snapped.
[Fielding here,] said the aCSciO, no doubt sensing danger. He
sounded a bit cautious.
"Take care of the rest of the review sessions tonight, will you?"
she asked, trying to make her voice sound a lot nicer than she felt. "I
have some business I have to take care of right now."
[Uh, sir? Anything I should know about?]
"Probably not, Mr. Fielding, probably not at all." Anne threw a
crumpled ball of paper into the waste disposal unit across the room.
"Ha. Two points."
[Sir???]
"Sorry, just practicing... something. Never mind. Just make
sure everyone understands the emergency procedures. I'll be sending you
the question list in a sec."
[Question list, sir?]
"The review sessions, Mr. Fielding, the review sessions. I'm not
going to have you ask them all the same questions. Now, you be sure to
memorize these questions. I don't want you reading them off a PADD or
something worse, all right?"
[How much work is this going to entail, sir?]
"A lot. You owe me big time for what you did to me this morning,
Mr. Fielding."
[This morning... *ANNE*! You're not still upset about that
little juke I played on you with the science consoles on the bridge are you?]
"You'd better believe it." Anne smiled serenely. "Now, I must go
take care of that which cannot wait. Ignorance is most definitely not
bliss, Mr. Fielding." With that cryptic remark, she flipped off the link.
She quickly changed into her off-duty attire of white blouse and
navy blue skirt. She had never really liked pants or slacks (I do a
disagreeable thing for Starfleet every *day*, Counselor, she thought), and
she always wore a skirt whenever she got the chance.
Balancing some PADDs on top of each other, Anne surveyed the
computer terminal. She had been intending to write a note to the
Counselor, to explain... but her resolve was fading fast and, in any
case, she needed to leave soon to go to dinner. She watched impassively
as the impossibly stacked PADDs, four of them standing on end, toppled
over, yielding to the ship's conception of gravity.
Anne shrugged. She couldn't waste time now, anyway... she had to
send those questions to Derek Fielding before he met with his first group.
As she bent over the keyboard to key in the commands, Anne's
attention shifted to the number pad. She smiled briefly, recalling a
multiple-choice option she had seen once. It was on an automated food
selection panel in a restaurant near her home, a Japanese restaurant serving a
largely European population.
"When you don't know what an item on the menu is," it had read, "there
are several ways to deal with the problem. Press one of the following
buttons to process your order.
1. Ask your friendly online computer (who speaks perfect Standard,
thank you) what the item is
2. Order the item anyway and see if you like it
3. Order the item and give it to the friendly folks at the next table
4. Wait until someone else orders it and take a look at it
5. See a real-size replica of the item in question
6. Get a detailed listing of all ingredients and what we do to it
7. Don't
Well... Anne had ordered a hamburger then (from the Other Cuisines
menu), not willing to risk finding out what in the world a tonkatsu was. It
had been, all in all, a nice dinner.
Dinner! The last word brought her back to the present with
startling efficiency. Anne hurriedly keyed in the command to send the
question list, then rushed out to meet Ensign Keyrin for dinner.
Respectfully submitted,
Masako Goto
Lt. Anne Murray, Ph.D.
CSciO
USS CHESAPEAKE NCC-31813
All: Well, I needed *some* kind of justification for my post title. :)
Lynnaea: Don't worry, Anne won't be late.
James: Sorry... I *was* thinking of having Anne send Stavay a message ---
had, in fact, written half of it -- when I realized that she'd rather
die than do that at this stage. :< Don't you just love it when your
character turns on you?
Chris: You might be able to help me out here, being a fellow music-lover
and all... is it allowable to have a piano on a spaceship?
Amy: Hope Captain Bell is doing well... and I hope you are, too!
Takako: You and Chris are turning me into a Culturally Aware person!
OUCH! :) Just kidding... I'm actually looking forward to reading
_A Midsummer Night's Dream_... BTW, sorry if you happen to like
tonkatsu and are offended by my use of it...
Melvin: Ummm, is Anne supposed to be sick of Sereh or what? I wasn't too
sure... especially after your last post.
Naomi: I hope David is having a good time settling in and all that...
again, welcome aboard.
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Thought for the day: Which is better, to see where you are going or to
know what's going on?
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