From: Live Long and Prosper
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 15:32:34 -0500 (EST)
Subject: USS CHESAPEAKE: Morning before the Mission, Lunch before the Launch
SD 90417.0250
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CSciO's Quarters
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MD 5.0645
Anne had decided to sleep in today; it was likely to be a busy
day, and she didn't want to spend the entire afternoon asleep, as she had
done the day before.
Quickly showering and dressing, Anne skipped her breakfast. She
could have it later, she decided. Right now, she had to get to her
department on time.
***** ***** *****
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CSciO's Office
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MD 5.0705
"I want you to take those kids far, far away," said Anne, slowly,
patiently. She fixed Decker with a Look. "And I mean FAR AWAY. I don't
want to see them, hear them, smell them, or even know that hey are on
board this ship."
"But..."
"I'm not done yet, Lieutenant Decker."
Decker sighed. Anne was apparently in a lecturing mood; she *had*
heard about such a tendency from Lieutenant Serak, but she hadn't taken
him seriously until this moment.
"It's for their own protection. We're going to be *moving*. We
are *going places*. I just don't want them to get hurt. We can't afford
to have any more disasters like the ones they've been causing in this
department... that's not a slam against you, against them, against
anyone... it's just a fact. I want them to be *out* of the department,
*period*. Classes can be held someplace else. *I don't want them here
at all*. Understood?"
"But... where will we *have* the classes, then, sir?" asked
Decker helplessly. "Besides, what possible harm could they do in the
classroom, anyway?"
"They can have their classes in one of the instructors' quarters,
I'm sure," said Anne, fixing Decker with a meaningful look. "And as for
causing trouble... I know science students. I was one myself. They have
an irresistible urge to go to the laboratory and to *touch* things, to
*look* at things and *do* things to them. It's almost second nature.
I'm just trying to help them not cause trouble."
Decker sighed. She got the message. Keep them out. And...
teach them in... her quarters???
"You got it," said Anne, noticing her look. "You're the Resource
Manager, aren't you? If you can't trust them to take care of your own
things, how can you trust them to handle dangerous scientific equipment?"
Decker had no answer to that, and she stomped out of the room.
"Dismissed," said Anne with an ironic shrug.
***** ***** *****
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Officer's Mess
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MD 5.1200
Freshly showered and dressed, Anne was feeling a lot better. The
counseling session had caused more injury than she had anticipated, and
Catherine hadn't been able to keep her own appointment... but the special
bond between them that had sprung up that second day in Sickbay, and
which had been strengthened just the night before, had become, as far as
Anne was concerned, permanent this morning... and that made up for all
the pain she had suffered that morning. She only hoped that Catherine would
keep her word and go for her appointment sometime soon.
"Anne? You sitting alone?" asked Fielding, approaching the
table. When she nodded, he hesitated for a moment before asking ,"mind
if I join you?"
Anne shook her head and moved her plate of peaches so that he could
put his tray down on the table across from her.
"What happened to you this morning, Anne?" asked Fielding,
concerned. "I thought you said you'd be back around 1130 or so... and
you never showed up."
"I'm sorry, Derek. Things didn't go the way I expected them to."
"But where *were* you, Anne? I called sickbay, and they said you
hadn't been there... I called your quarters, and you weren't there; I
called every place I could think of to find you, and nobody knew where
you were."
"I don't want to discuss it, Derek."
"Anne!"
"Derek," said Anne carefully, keeping her thoughts as clear as
she could, "you'll have to accept that there are some things I'd rather
not discuss with you. They're... personal matters, and I'd appreciate
your keeping out of it. Okay?"
Fielding seemed somewhat stunned; Anne realized that her tone had
been rathe sharp.
"Look... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you... it's been a
stressful morning. I don't want to get into it, but I'll just tell you
it was very hard on me. I'm okay now, so long as you don't ask too many
questions. I'm trying to forget about it."
"All right, Anne," said Fielding, trying to hide his worry. He
tried to think of something that would cheer her up... and thought of
one. "Guess what? Karen took her first class in her quarters this
morning. The biology kids."
"And..?"
"They decided that they would run some tests on the rabbit that
she has. You know, fertility and all that kind of thing... and to test
for physiological changes and all that in different g's."
Anne had groaned at the "fertility" bit, but she positively
growled at the "different g's."
"Isn't there some kind of law about using animals in experiments
like that, Derek?" she asked cautiously.
"There *are*," he said, "but this isn't going to hurt the rabbit
all that much. Just minor fluctuations in force. Also, they decided
that they were going to see if it could be taught to talk."
"You have *got* to be kidding!"
"Hey... these are our kids, remember? They could've done far worse."
Unfortunately, Anne had to agree with that.
"So now we have a bunny in our biological sciences lab," she said
pensively, spearing some fruit with her fork. She popped it into her
mouth and chewed thoughtfully. Swallowing, she added, "just peachy."
Respectfully submitted,
Masako Goto
Lt. Anne Murray, Ph.D.
CSciO
USS CHESAPEAKE
<>
Chris: I hope you didn't mind that I made some temporal assumptions; mmy
guess is that Catherine would have left Anne sometime between 1115
and 1130 and that Anne got herself presentable after that time.
Also added the permanent bond thing here, since I forgot to mention
it in the last post.
Takako: You *knew* I had to get my finger in the rabbit pie sooner or
later... Well, at least now everybody knows *where* the rabbit
came from in the first place. :) Also... please let me know
if/when you hear about the JAG thing.
All: Thanks to all of you for putting up with my Gratuitous Character
Development. Once the mission starts hopping, she will begin to boldly
collect information and analyze it to little teeny bits.
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Thought for the day:
First Pseudointellectual Club Entrance Exam Question:
"Compare and contrast Shakespeare's Tragedies to John Milton's
Paradise Lost."
Question 2:
"How is your analysis affected by the fact that you've not read either
one of them?"
-Courtesy of James Bowman
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