From: "Live Long and Prosper" <mgoto@indiana.edu>
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 20:45:09 -0500
Subject: USS CHESAPEAKE: Deal with It the Best You Can
SD 90717.0140
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CSciO's Office
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MD 10.1405
"Just take a couple more deep breaths, all
right?" said Derek. He sat down on Anne Murray's desk.
"Get off my desk, Derek!"
"Sorry." Derek jumped off quickly. "Look, she
didn't mean anything by it... and it's not as if she
said it to you *personally*..."
"Drop it, Derek."
"You're just upsetting yourself, Anne. There's
no need for you to get..."
"I SAID DROP IT!!!"
Anne threw the nearest PADD she could find at
her assistant CSciO.
"Ow," said Derek mildly, picking up the PADD.
Anne had amazingly good aim. "Is this how you handle
all your problems?"
"Leave me alone, why can't you!" Anne cried,
bursting into tears.
Derek was, to put it mildly, a bit stunned.
He'd seen her get upset and throw things... yes, he
had seen her cry... but never like this.
"Hey, I'm sorry..." Derek put a calming hand
on her shoulder and realixed, too late, his mistake
when Anne slammed him into the wall and disappeared.
"Sheesh, she's out for blood or something..."
Derek rubbed his head ruefully; he was hearing vague
ringing sounds. He would stop by Sickbay for something
to make them go away... after he found Anne.
He stepped out into the corridor. No Anne.
He went to the main lab. No Anne. He went to all the
department labs, but couldn't find her anywhere. He
began to worry. She'd never actually abandoned the
Science Department before...
"Computer, locate Lieutenant Anne Murray."
[Lieutenant Murray is in Holodeck A.]
"What the pulsating nebula is she doing in a
Holodeck?" wondered Derek. He shrugged and went to
find the holodeck. He'd be waiting for her when she
decided it was time to get back to work.
***** ***** *****
----------
Holodeck A
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MD 10.1408
Anne sat at the desk, looking up at the young
man in the business suit. She was feeling only
slightly better now, but she *was* better.
"But you're not *real*," she said now, sighing.
"You're only a simulation."
"Just because I'm a sim doesn't mean I can't
help, Anne," said the hologram cheerfully. "You, of
all people, should know that very well."
Some of the flush returned to Anne's cheeks as
she demanded to know what *exactly* he had meant by it.
"I just mean that you're familiar with the use
of simulated environments in counseling," said the
hologram. "You've done a lot of study in the
relathionship between technology and psychology..."
Anne got up. It wasn't helping after all.
Nothing could bring him back, not even simulated
computer programs. Besides, this program seemed to
press buttons she had forgotten were there in the
first place. Her programming skills must be
diminishing, thought Anne with a bit of a panic.
She needed someone to talk to, though... what
about Catherine? She still wasn't sure about her.
She had seemed so friendly, but after what had happened
nearly a week ago? Not a chance. Anyone in her class
at Cochrane would have called it treason of the
highest degree.
So what about Stavay? NO. It was nothing
against the Counselor, but even *looking* at her
would remind her of that appalling little green
Ensign. Besides... that wasn't the kind of help
she needed now, anyway.
She didn't need someone who was *paid* to
be nice to her.
She headed out. She'd been in the middle
of her shift, she recalled.
It was a completely flabbergasted Derek
Fielding who caught her before she collapsed in
the corridor.
***** ***** *****
---------------
aCSciO's Office
---------------
MD 10.1500
It hadn't been an easy hour for Derek Fielding
at all... first trying to locate Anne, then trying to
convince her to go to the Counselor or at *least* to
Sickbay (he had failed miserably on both counts), then
seeing to it that she didn't inflict any damage on the
department while she was still upset.
Now, finally, he could rest... for a bit. Anne
was apparently busy looking over research reports, not
likely to step out of her office for a while yet. He
decided to check in with Karen Decker and asked that
she report to his office.
"Have you seen the latest?" demanded Decker,
blowing into his office like a large tornado. It was
what some called a "bad hair day" for Decker; her
blue hair were puffed out all around her head, giving
her rather the look of someone who had been caught
in an electomagnetic field.
"What latest?" asked Derek apprehensively.
"Anne apparently passed out near Holodeck A."
"What!" Derek stood up, then realized what he
had just heard. "Oh, that." He sat down again,
calmness emanating from his very being.
"Well? What're we going to do about it?"
demanded Decker, her blue hair seeming to grow just a
bit brighter.
"What do you mean, Karen?"
"This is disgraceful, Derek! Do you know what
this is doing to my social reputation?! Every time I
open my mouth and say I'm in Science, everybody looks
at me, and someone *always* says, 'isn't that the
department with that fruit cake at the top?' That's bad
enough. *Now* they'll say, 'isn't that the department
with that fainting flake at the top?'"
"Karen," said Derek, "you are a shallow person
indeed if all you ever care about is what Anne's
problems are doing to your social reputation."
"Are you suggesting," said Decker, leaning
close to him, "that my problems aren't *legitimate*?!"
Decker was leaning so close to him, in fact,
that her hair brushed his cheek. Derek pushed it away
rather impatiently.
"Well, I concede that your problems may be
significant," said Derek judiciously. "Especially for
you. But, seeing as it doesn't really have anything
to do with your work..."
"Ane you're implying that Anne has major
problems that *do* impact on her work? Are you,
perhaps, not considering the fact that I just happen
to have better control of keeping my working and
personal lives apart?"
"I don't think it's that simple, Karen," said
Derek. "I mean, I think Anne *wants* to do a good
job in Science... I just don't know if she *can*."
"What are you saying, that she isn't
competent? But the Counselor said she'd be fine! Or
are you suggesting that..."
"Oh, I'm sure Mr. Tats-Marush was correct,"
said Derek solemnly. "She *will* be fine... if we
give her time. We just don't happen to have the kind
of time she needs to pull herself together completely,
so we're running the department with..."
"...a stress fracture?" asked Decker.
"You could say that," said Derek. He stood up
and held out his arm. It was going-home time. "Yes,
Karen," he said, not pushing away the blue hair this
time, "you've got it exactly right."
Respectfully submitted,
Masako Goto
LT Anne Murray, Ph.D.
CSciO
USS CHESAPEAKE NCC-31813
MFielding@aol.com and mgoto@indiana.edu
<<NRPG>>
All: Sorry for long silence! :( Yes, rampant GCD, but
at least it's a post, right? :)
Amy: Hope you're doing well! Sorry to see you go :'(
Takako: Sorry this is just GCD stuff... figured I
should hold off on mission stuff until the
Parties have begun Talking... :)
Takako, Chris: Please see NRPG message wrt Derek.
BTW, am I breaking some kind of rule
here??? I seem to be doing more Dereks
than anything else recently...
Melvin: If Anne leaves, do you still want Sereh as
head of Biological Sciences?
Lynnaea: How goes with you? And I just worked up a
different-format bio for Melissa... would
you like a copy?
Fabian: Hope you're having a good week... and I hope
Oz isn't *too* upset about seeing the Delta
Corellians... :)
Chris: Hmm, another reason Derek might get together
with Catherine? ;) Also, I just realized that
this might well account for Anne's Mood on
MD 11... did you want to do an Anne/Catherine
sometime, btw?
James: Well, I had to figure out why Anne didn't send
the message until two hours after the meeting...
and this might well "set the stage," as it
were... how's Stavay? And the LGE?
Naomi: Hope you're enjoying/enjoyed your trip!
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Thought for the day: If you were travelling down a road at 70 km/h and a
brick wall was approaching at 40 km/h, what should
you do?
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