Invisible Man.

Posted on Fri Jul 1st, 2022 @ 4:42am by

Mission: The Lost Brother
Location: the Arboretum

Soran sat on a bench in the Arboretum playing his harmonica, it was one of the few ways he felt comfortable expressing what he was feeling. Today he was playing an old earth tune he'd learned at the Academy.

Each water sample from the Arboretums various districts clinked in a small holder next to Paige's left hand. The sudden music as she'd set a lifesign proximity alarm on her tricorder startled Paige, and she muttered to herself under her breath. "Did the damn thing malfunction?"

The Angosian looked up to see a beautiful face he recognized as 'the civilian science officer. His finished tune and offered her smile, "Hello Bryant."

A curse escaped her lips at the sudden speech, as she'd been entirely focused on her tricorder. Paige looked up to see the man who had stolen the PADD from the counselor. "Good morning commander...Wagnor wasn't it?"

"Yes Ma'am, I didn’t mean to startle you." He smiled. "Call Soran, I'm not on duty.What do you prefer to be addressed? I tend to fall into my people's habit of civilians by their surnames, but I've been informed that some people find that rude."

"Paige" she answered a moment later, eyes warming with her smile. "I don't mind being called by my surname, but ma'am is right out. I'm not in Starfleet and I don't require the ma'am"

"That's fine, Paige," Soran eyed the tricorder in her hand. "You look puzzled, can I help with something?"

"I set a proximity alert into my tricorder, to announce life signs when they approach. Some of my experiments are sensitive.....and I'm prone to clumsiness when I am focused on something and interrupted." Her cheeks pinkened a bit at the admission. "What puzzles me is why it shows me alone in the chamber."

Soran smiled, "I'm an Angosian, I was part of my people's army. They altered my biology is way that masks my life signs. This is why you never volunteer."

"If what I've read is true, you didn't volunteer" she countered her smile never fading for a moment as she caught his joke. It was at his own expence but she recognized the deflection. "So you're the invisible man, and I should get used to you surprising me eh?"

"Something like that," Soran laughed. "The harmonica is a dead give away though."

"It is rather. I can't say that I've ever seen someone play one before." A curl of white blonde hair escaped from the loose tail and she toyed with it absently.

"Really? I thought the harmonica was a fairly common Earth instrument." Soran shrugged. "My people have similar instruments that I learned as a boy."

"I didn't grow up on Earth, so while I am sure it is, I've not seen one before. It has an interesting sound to it.". It was appealing in an odd way too, sad but inviting at the same time.

"Where are you from then?" The Angosian said quietly,he was enjoying this conversation. It was nice speaking to a civilian there were fewer expectations.

"Little farm colony in the Gliese system. It was one of the first terraforming projects of the Human Expansion. Not really all that exciting, as far as colony life goes I guess. "

"Sounds very peaceful," Soran said. "An exciting life makes for great stories and excellent reading, but it's always so fun to live through."

"I wouldn't go right to peaceful, farm work is hard. Sun up to sun down, while not as backbreaking as it used to be, it's still not an easy life." She smiled fondly at the memories that conjured.

"Did you deal with agriculture or livestock?" Soran sincerely inquired. He had grown up in large metropolitan areas and had no practical knowledge of farm life.

"Both actually. We had a working farm to feed the family, but the product that we sold came from the trees. My family farm is actually an orchard, fruit and nut trees from many cultures."

"I suppose it was your family's work in husbandry and agriculture that fueled you passion for the sciences?" Soran inquired.

"Partially. My parents are traditionalists, I was the first born girl but not the firstborn. They expected me to find a farm boy and pop out a dozen babies for them to be doting grandparents for. I'm not against the idea of children, but I'm not going to have them just because it's expected of me. Besides, I'd like to have a man who can have more of a conversation than just farm and family." Her smile faltered as she remembered how single-mindedly focused a lot of the boys had been on her colony world. They had to be, to bear the strain of expanding a colony, but that wasn't the life for her.

"So you have the heart of an Explorer?" Soran smiled. "I've always found the motivations for sentient beings to leave their planets and voyage to the stars fascinating. I left in service to my people. If I hadn't been accepted into the Defense Academy I'd have probably ended up on one of my people's colony worlds. Most likely doing manual labor on a farm. Why did you choose Starfleet?"

"I didn't. I am not an officer in Starfleet."

"I know, but of all the jobs you could have chosen you came to work on a Starfleet vessel. Soran smiled.

"I was requested by name, and my ego couldn't resist." she grinned back at him, good humor in her hazel eyes as she continued to speak "No, I was on a dig for six months in a swamp, I was wet all the time, more than half the time freezing near to death and it was terrible. I wasn't expecting that when I accepted the request for an anthropologist that I would end up as chief of Science aboard a starship."

Soran laughed at her joke and found her story entertaining. "I'm not a big fan trudging through swamp land ether."

"Every day for six months. I would have killed for a hot bath."

"We used a portable sonic shower that was set so high it would rattle your teeth," Soran laughed. "You'd come out clean with a case of Vertigo."

Laughing she settled down beside him with her water samples "That almost sounds worse."

"No worse was having my mates hide my clothes and trying to explain that to a female commander." He shook his head. "They really were bastards sometimes."

He didn't know why he was telling her this story, He hadn't thought about that years.

A chuckle escaped her and she gave him an appraising look "I'd wager that the female commander might have enjoyed that one."

"Hard to say," Soran looked away as he began to blush. "My battle buddy was was pissed when she found out why we had to march six extra clicks through the swamp. I had the talk her of making things worse."

"Noone is ever happy to do extra physical work I have found." again, she chuckled. The lake in the arboretum was now being lit by a few tiny floating lights.

He smiled at the memories, he was glad he'd come to the Arboretum nature and good company were soothing to his soul.

"You almost forgot your on a starship when you're in here." Soran said quietly.

"That's part of the appeal of the place I think. I might add a waterfall in the back." Paige agreed easily "make it even nicer "

"Sounds lovely," Soran stood up. "I have to get the to the office, it was a pleasure speaking with you Paige."

Soran exited and headed back to the security office.