Break On Through I

Posted on 30 Apr 2013 @ 3:46pm by Crewman Neo

1,126 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: Mess Hall
Timeline: MD7 0700

ON:

"You are Maenad Panne." A young looking Vulcan came to stop in front of Maenad's table, wearing a green T-shirt and a beige jacket made of alien fabric with the sleeves rolled up. He had a single earbud in his left ear and discordant noise leaked out of it. The right one rested across his shoulder and down his chest. One hand was in his pocket and one held a tray of spicy vegetables and rice. Aside from the casual attire, he had the same bearing as any other Vulcan Maenad might have known, except for the fact that he pulled out opposite chair and unceremoniously sat down, setting his tray on the table.

Maenad was sitting alone at a table by the window, stirring a bowl of honey nut oats and raisins with a spoon. There was no milk. A sliced banana was on a plate next to it. The fingers of her free hand traced the sides of a glass of pulp-free orange juice. She was white, raccoon-eyed, and tired. It was hard to tell whether she had makeup on. Her legs were crossed beneath the table, the shoe hung from the toes of her dangling foot, her nyloned black heel exposed to the air. The unfamiliar voice of an all too familiar alien made her look up from the bowl. Her eyes were green and brighter than they were usually. Her hair was sharp today, her forehead cropped and the hair rolled into a bun behind her. She looked more Vulcan than the towering man in front of her.

"I am," she said quietly, setting the spoon in the cereal. She straightened her back. Her hands withdrew from the table and found themselves on top of each other in her lap, but her legs stayed crossed. "And you are?"

"Neo," the Vulcan answered promptly. "Crewman." He picked up the two slender chopsticks beside his plate and began methodically shoveling food into his mouth. Beside the vegetables were three other plates with sizable helpings of prusah kisan, pok tar and savas dukal-yel-travek. Neo didn't believe in a light breakfast. Beside his plate was a large replicated soda. He stuck the straw in his mouth, swallowed and ate in total silence.

Maenad watched him, expecting something more. She was so used to Liyar that she had almost forgotten how unforthcoming Vulcans could be. "How do you know me?"

"I don't. I saw your personnel file," Neo answered dispassionately. He piled some of the bright pink globefruit onto his custard-like pie and unwrapped the wooden three-pronged fork to use as a spear.

"Why were you looking at my file?" Maenad asked him, still statuesque, her hands still in her lap. Why was he sitting with her? He was Liyar's brother, she reminded herself. There was a strangeness to his family that she should have expected. If she was patient, she would find out soon enough what he wanted. She ate a slice of banana, ignoring him.

"Why not? Chief science officer, science ship. You're very suspicious," Neo observed blithely.

She gave him a sly grin. "You're the one checking my file."

He shoveled another slice of pie between his lips and moved the fork up and down with his teeth before yanking it out. "Gives me something to do. What is it you're eating?"

Maenad grimaced. This man was disgusting. "You need to slow down," she said to him. "You're grossing me out." To answer his question, she told him it was cereal.

Neo arched his eyebrows. "I apologize, I did not realize how utterly offensive my actions were. I shall be certain never to gross you out in the future," he bowed over the table, holding her eyes. "What is cereal?"

From behind closed lips, Maenad pushed out her jaw as her eyes rested on him. It was her way of preventing herself from saying what she really wanted to. Liyar's brother was terrible. "There are many different kinds," she said after a pause. "These are oats with honey nuts and raisins."

"Is it any good?" Neo asked.

"It's not bad," she said, looking at it. "But it's not great, either."

"Good enough," Neo determined with the practiced ease of a breakfast veteran. He stood and went to the replicator behind her. With a few swipes of his fingers over the control panel he recalled the last order given by Maenad Panne and it appeared in the buffer. Cereal, and a banana. He traipsed back over and added them to his collection, picking up his newfound spoon.

Maenad smiled at him. She blinked. "You've never had cereal?"

"No," Neo shook his head and began eliminating the bowl in front of him. He took very little time and set his spoon down before speaking again, focusing on the pie-thing in the interim. "In P'Tar they have something similar; ektresh. I've never tried it." He placed a piece of the pie on his spoon, and then dipped it into the bowl of cereal, capturing several dry pieces on its sides.

She very subtly shook her head. "You're going to give yourself indigestion," she told him. "Slow down."

"Indigestion," Neo repeated the word as if it were a foreign bacteria. "No," he disagreed after swallowing his cereal-pie. His eating habits had long been ingrained from years of V'Ket service to compensate for the exertion on his body. By now, he was used to operating at a higher level. "This is barely first meal."

"I don't care what meal it is," she insisted. "It's how fast you eat it."

"Well," was Neo's brilliant rebuttal. "I'm hungry."

Maenad shook her head to herself, touching her temple above closed eyes. The sight of him shovelling food into his mouth as fast as he was continued to play behind her eyelids. He was like Kiwosk, she thought. "If you're going to continue eating like that, I'm going to move," she warned.

"You're very laid back," Neo said after he swallowed and reached for his glass.

"It's irritating," she said, opening her eyes. "And it's distracting. And most of all," she held up a finger, "it's impolite."

"From the bastion of politeness herself," Neo said gravely after taking a long drink. "I would not want to gross you out any further."

"Don't worry," she said, uncrossing her legs. Maenad moved her drink onto the tray. "It's been lovely meeting you," she impatiently smiled. She stood and went to the free table behind her, sitting with her back to him.

OFF:

Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer, SSC
USS Galileo

Crewman Neo
Support Craft Pilot, FCON
USS Galileo

RSS Feed