Fear and Loathing in the Florida Keys

Posted on 19 Feb 2014 @ 11:33am by Lieutenant Teth Miir & Lieutenant Olsam Mott

5,827 words; about a 29 minute read

Mission: Episode 05 - Solstice
Location: Florida Keys, North America, Earth
Timeline: MD 23 1500

ON:

Teth stared down at his watch. He dressed in what he felt would be appropriate attire for the southern portion of the continent. Military style cargo pants, leftover from his field medic training some years before, and a mauve colored, heat resistant tshirt. No shoes. Like most Caitians he rarely wore shoes off duty unless it was cold or rainy.

He was at the transporter station five minutes early. He was still feeling rather tense from the morning's conversation, but stopped by sickbay before leaving. There he recieved his new weekly injection of psychotropic drugs designed and specially tailored to make him feel sane, calm, and comfortable. For the most part, it was effective. He still hoped that there would be a plentiful supply of alcohol to go along with the authentic key-lime pie he and the good doctor were seeking.

Olsam showed up looking ridiculous, of course. His research had revealed the Florida Keys had a climate not unlike tropical portions of his home planet, so he'd chosen traditional clothing from those coastal regions: a wide-brimmed hat woven out of some seaweed-like material; a loose-fitting cloth shirt in a loud blue/green pattern; and slightly translucent pants that seemed to be made out of some sea creature's skin and bunched at the top of the calf like bloomers.

"Hi, Teth!" he waved. "Are you ready? I'm so hungry for pie. I thought about it pretty much all day."

"As ready as ever." Teth said, sniffing at Olsam's hat. "What is that thing made of? It smells like dead crabs."

"Dead crabs," Olsam said, grinning. He stepped up on to the transporter pad, provided some instructions to the technician and suddenly found himself in a completely different environment. He inhaled deeply, looking very satisfied. "It smells like the sea...and dead crabs."

"So I suppose that the odor of dead crabs is... nice smelling to bolians?"

Teth asked as he stepped off the transporter pad into the humid Florida air.

"Or is that just a personal preference of yours?"

"What, you don't like dead crabs?" Olsam asked, looking puzzled.

Who didn't like dead crabs? They were delicious, and the smell of them just conjured up the delicious taste for him. Giant crab legs, cracked open and just dripping with butter... The sound of a hovercar's horn snapped him back to reality, and he realized he'd wandered into the street.

"Sorry!" he called out, but the car was of course way down the road. "So, I think the restaurant is..." He turned around in circles, conferring with his PADD, before finally pointing down the main thoroughfare. "That way. It's called Hermit's. I think. Kermit's? No... Hermit's. Yeah, Hermit's."

"Hermits? What an odd name." the Caitian wondered aloud, "Is it run by some crazy old man with a long beard and a wooden leg?"

Olsam walked along beside his much taller friend, thankful for the shade his tall frame cast. Even with his dead crab hat, the sun was insufferable. The intermittent breeze blowing from the ocean was pleasant, though, and he liked the sound it made in the trees growing in the park lining the sidewalk. It seemed to contain an odd variety of flowering and fruit-bearing trees and plants. None of them looked like they had limes in the shape of keys, though, which was a great disappointment to him.

"Yes, I thought it was odd, too. Is it a restaurant only for hermits? Is it owned by a hermit?" Olsam asked. "It seems so contradictory...a place for people to gather to eat either owned by a hermit or catering to hermits. I hope they don't just let one person in at a time. I don't like to eat pie alone. It makes me sad. I came to eat pie with you."

"I came to eat pie with you too." the caitian replied sternly, "So hopefully there is some form of communal seating arrangement."

Teth squinted in the harsh sunlight. He was never suited for bright lighting conditions, and he regretted not replicating some kind of protective eyewear before making a trip to a sub-tropical region.

"You know, I've always sort of avoided this region of the world."

"Me, too," Olsam said, sounding a little whiny. "It's always so hot and humid. It's sticky. You just sweat and sweat. And I bet it's worse for you with all your fur! When we get there, I'll buy something nice and cool for you from the hermits."

The walk from the transporter station to the center of Key West was relatively short, essentially just the length of the green space with the fruit trees. Olsam thought this was supposed to be an island, but thus far he hadn't seen a speck of water, which was very disappointing. He did spot an enormous flashy sign labelled "Hermit's" ahead, and that caused him to clap his hands in excitement.

"There it is!" he pointed, increasing the pace of his walking. "I'm so excited. I bet it's going to be delicious and fresh. Maybe they'll give me extra limes. Do you want extra limes, too? I'll share!"

"I don't care much for actual limes." Teth answered, "The texture is disagreeable. I prefer them in custard form. I just hope they have the variety with meringue on top. And perhaps a pina colada."

They neared the restaurant, which Teth noted, did not posses any specifically hermit-like attributes. It did, however, have a sandy walkway lined with sailing-rope railings leading to it's glass front door.

Olsam nearly knocked the caitian over in his headlong rush to get inside. He was pretty sure he could smell the pies. The hostess was gracious enough not to pay too much mind to the Bolian's attire and led them up a winding set of stairs cramped enough to probably make Teth uncomfortable. The stairs finally terminated in a smaller dining area that seemed to be housed in a kind of miniature lighthouse, affording them a view of the blue ocean surrounding them.

"Ooo," Olsam gushed. He grabbed Teth's arm and pointed, sounding nothing short of an eight year old child. "Look! A sailboat!"

The Caitian peered out into the ocean, mesmerized by the waves and the sinking sky. It reminded him of a former patient who had drowned himself in the San Francisco bay during a family picnic. He shuddered and remembered what he was there for.

"The pie." Teth remarked to himself as he picked up the menu.

"Oh, right, the pie," Olsam said, turning his attention to the menu, too. He finally put it down, having already decided on a whole key lime pie with extra limes on the side. They did, indeed, seem to have the meringue variety, and he was bouncing in his seat with the excitement and anticipation of eating it. "Isn't the ocean pretty? There are huge oceans on Bolarus IX, but they're somehow different. Darker, I think. Like ink."

"Do the oceans there have a lot of cephalopods? Some of the ones here on earth shoot ink out as a defensive mechanism. If there's enough of them, they can change the color of the water entirely."

"Oh, octopi! I know those. They're delicious; I eat their tentacles in pasta," Olsam said, smiling. Shortly after, he shook his head and frowned a bit. "But there's nothing similar on Bolarus IX. The oceans are teeming with life, of course, but I don't think any of them shoot ink. There's one that looks like an octopus, sort of... It has a big head and three tentacles with these razor sharp scythe-like thi-... Oh, hello."

The server had finally cleared his throat to interrupt the Bolian's diatribe about the deadly sea creatures of his homeworld. Thankfully, because it was about to get morbid. "Can I take your order, gentlemen?"

"A slice of keylime-meringue pie and a double shot of coconut rum, please." Teth said, folding his menu down on the table before looking expectantly at Olsam.

"I'll have a whole keylime-meringue pie and the same to drink," Olsam said, smiling. His eyebrows shot up suddenly. "Ooo, can you put one of those little umbrellas in the drink? I love those things. Put one in his drink, too."

Olsam smiled at his friend as the server shuffled away, evidently acquainted with Bolian eating habits.

"Can you swim?" Olsam asked, looking from the ocean water to Teth. "Maybe we can go swimming. A little bit. Just a few feet in the water, cuz you get drunk really fast. I wouldn't want you to drown. Your sister probably would get really mad, and then even more mad when she found out I was involved. I don't think she likes me very much."

"She likes you fine." he said, convincing not even himself.

"I can swim. I don't do it often." Teth said, pausing to down the entire shot, suddenly feeling more relaxed. "It takes a long time for my fur to dry after. But we can go if you want. I'll try to not drown."

Olsam thanked the server and drank his own a little more slowly. He eyed Teth with no small amount of worry, but he couldn't really get everything R'lara had said out of his head. He was afraid everything he said or did now would be subject to romantic interpretation, especially now that they were alone. Olsam, ordinarily awkward, was suddenly awkwardly awkward.

Instead of saying anything, he just flicked the umbrella away with a finger and downed the rest of the drink with a shaky hand. He wished the pie would hurry up and arrive. Eating always made him feel better. Usually.

"Are you alright? You seem... preoccupied." Teth said as he broke off tiny bites of pie with his fork, careful to have a perfect ratio of crust, custard, and marshmallowy topping.

"I was thinking about what your sister said. I think she was making fun of us. It was very confusing, but it didn't make me feel good about myself," Olsam said simply, staring at his pie. He seemed either too dejected to eat or unsure how to approach it; finally, he picked up his knife to cut equal slices.

"I don't know if she was making fun of us." Teth said, motioning the waiter for another drink.

"R'lara is not a tactful person and she has difficulty empathizing with others. Even if she's well meaning, she ends up being a blunt instrument."

The waiter handed Teth and Olsam both new glasses and Teth downed his second one.

"That's why she is a police officer and I am a therapist. She's good of forcing information out of people and beating them into submission. I... pretty much do the same thing, but without the patient realizing it."

Teth held his empty glass up to the light, studying the rainbow refraction on the rim.

"As for her suggestions. She has been convinced I am a homosexual since the whole incident from the academy. It probably didn't help that I told her at the time that I was and that I was in a relationship with another cadet and that we had broken up and she need not worry. She was in the entry criminal justice training at the time and thought she was a super hero or something. She probably would have done something very stupid if she knew. So ever since, every time I see her, she tries to set me up with her friends or tries to get me to talk to men at bars."

The caitian stopped to sigh heavily and roll his eyes.

"No matter how often I tell her otherwise, she doesn't believe me."

"I think it's because you don't seem very convincing when you say it," Olsam offered, oddly using the alcohol to wash down a piece of pie. He seemed to have regained some of his joviality, and he was eating the pie with aplomb. "Are you sure?"

"What?" Teth asked incredulously, "Yes! Of course I'm sure."

The alcohol was making the normally monotone caitian seem excited and overly demonstrative in his speech.

"I'm a grown man, of course I would at least know that by now."

"See?" Olsam said, waving a hand sloppily. Even with a substantial digestive system, he'd never been able to hold his liquor well. As the third double-shot went down, he was in danger of falling out of the chair. "You answered too quick!" He jabbed a finger toward Teth accusingly, missing altogether. "Sometimes people don't know for a long time. Or ever! Sexuality is very confusing. Verrruh...veery confoosing."

The Bolian gave a toothy grin and then ate another piece of the pie, knowing somewhere in the back of his mind that he'd had a little too much to drink. He could feel himself getting sillier than usual. Thankfully he managed to work up the self-awareness to wave off the server when he tried to deliver another drink.

Teth frowned and attempted to redirect conversation.

"Why is it that I am the psychologist, yet you are the one who is inordinately interested in sexual psychology? You certainly chose the wrong discipline."

"I don't know, why is it that you're the psychologist but you're not inordinately interested in sexual psychology?" Olsam asked annoyingly, stopping just short of sticking his tongue out at him. "I'm in the right discipline! I'm a great doctor, just like you're a great psychologist for other people just not yourself. I guess I'm a bad doctor for myself, too. I once broke my toe and refused to have it fixed, see?"

He held his sandaled foot up high in the air and gestured wildly at all of his toes, making it unclear which one had been broken.

Teth gave Olsam a truely feline annoyed squint.

"Why are you so concerned anyway?" he asked, ignoring the doctors posturing, "My sister? Me? Am I making you uncomfortable because of what she said?"

Olsam's foot hit the floor with a heavy thud. He looked grumpy. "I'm always concerned about you. It's my job, and there's a lot to be concerned about." He gave a little huff and pushed sullenly at a piece of the pie, inexplicably losing his appetite. His voice dropped to a whisper, like it was a secret. "You never make me uncomfortable."

The Bolian wanted to offer that he'd never really had a best friend before. He was immensely popular everywhere he went, and he enjoyed socializing with others to an almost irrational extent. But for some reason he'd never actually formed any sort of close bond with another person, not like with Teth. His largely unexplored sexuality, especially at his age, was not only embarrassing but apparently also confusing on top of that. Or at least it was after R'lara's teasing.

"Then what? Why are we talking about this and not the pie or the ocean or three legged Bolian octopuses? What are you so concerned about?"

Olsam frowned at Teth, furrowing his brow. He looked frustrated and upset, and finally he just stabbed his fork into the remnants of the pie. "I don't know! What if your sister was right, huh? Then what? Sometimes other people see things better than the people see them themselves in the thing that's happening but they don't see it because they're in it except other people can see it because they're not in it. What then, Teth, huh?"

Teth just blinked, suddenly feeling very exposed. Olsam had just exclaimed the culmination of building anxiety that Teth had felt the moment he exchanged a friend gesture with the Bolian. Neatly laid out, tactile, and clear.

He swallowed hard and hoped that the doctor couldn't see his panic.

"Well, it doesn't matter because that isn't the case." the counselor said, trying to reassure both himself and Olsam.

The Bolian seemed to teeter on the edge, one moment looking like he was going to press the issue or say something ground shaking before looking like he was going to relax. Then the anxiety was back, the obvious pressure and tension filling the air over the empty pie plates. Eventually he seemed to reach a breaking point and relaxed, slumping down a bit in the chair and even smiling.

"Well, okay then," he said plainly, as if that was the ultimate and final answer to the question at hand. Back to sticking his head in the sand. "Do you wanna pick up seashells on the beach? I always wanted one of those spiky lookin' ones, you know the ones you can make into a horn. Are we allowed to just take them like that? Doesn't seem sustainable..."

"Well I think they create more... Damn it, Mott." Teth interrupted himself, "How am I supposed to know? Any of that? How any of that should feel or work?"

"Huh? What, the seashells? I don't know, I just thought maybe you might know... My mom is an oceanographer! Maybe we can call and ask her. I bet there's a public communication terminal around here somewhere."

"No you idiot child. Stop deflecting my meaning." the counselor demanded, in a serious tone of anger. "We go all the way to Florida to have this damned pie- now this."

He was rubbing the bridge of his nose and cursing to himself.

"So." the caitian finally said, leaning in drunkenly, "You are projecting onto me. You are preoccupied with what's happening in my head because you can't make sense of what is happening in your own?"

"Well of course! I thought you knew that, you're the psychologist!" Olsam said, throwing his hands in the air in frustration. Some of the patrons on the upper deck of the restaurant had started to take note of the feuding pair, and they shifted uncomfortably in their chairs. He huffed, turning a darker color of blue and looking like he was about to burst into tears. "And don't call me an idiot! Don't you think I get that enough from other people without having to hear it come out of your mouth? I am an accomplished, published, and well-respected physician, and I'm not half as stupid as people think I am."

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that, I was upset." he said through gritted teeth as he tried to calm himself down. "I know you are a brilliant and respected doctor. That being said, why not just tell me you felt this way instead of just trying to convince me that I do?"

"I don't know how I feel any more than you do," Olsam admitted. "I don't like to talk about things I'm not certain about. It's...unscientific. So I thought maybe you felt more certain." He looked from side to side and then down into his lap. "I don't know."

"Well I'm uncertain too. I suppose we are at an empass." Teth said, crossing his arms with marked irritation.

"Have you ever even tried being in a relationship with someone, Olsam?"

"I haven't had the time," Olsam said defensively. Dropping the pretense, he muttered, "No."

"So, if you could have some kind of romantic or sexual encounter, I don't know, a date, sex, some kind of Klingon pain ritual, with any one person, who would you pick?"

"Someone I felt comfortable with, someone whose company I enjoy, someone who is kind to me. Someone I could have a meaningful experience with," he replied, not sure if he was deflecting the question. "I'm just a busy person, that's all."

"So am I. I just got very caught up with school. You know I'm doing correspondence courses for my PhD? Life is crazy enough when it's just me. I couldn't imaging adding someone else to all of that drama."

Olsam was thankful R'lara wasn't in the restaurant. She probably would have shouted from across the restaurant, "YOU MEAN SOMEONE LIKE TETH?" Instead, Teth seemed to have provided an outlet for both of them to maybe steer the conversation to something slightly less awkward now that some of the tension had been relieved.

"I didn't know you were pursuing your PhD, that's very good, I'm so proud of you," Olsam said, giving a genuinely big smile. He started to reach over to pat Teth on the arm but stopped short. His hand hovered in the air while he panicked; finally, he picked up a knife from the table and set about cutting up the remaining piece of pie. As he spoke, he was about to cut through the plate, but he wanted to tell the truth. "I don't think your life is so crazy that someone wouldn't want to be part of it; there's nothing wrong with the things that have happened to you, or the experiences that you've had. They shouldn't impact whether or not someone would want to share their life with you. I think the point of a relationship is that you share your lives with one another regardless of how those lives turn out, right? I mean... You know, just, sometimes people are really busy. Like, medical stuff. Doctor...things. Surgery and pharmaceutical research and...things..."

He fell off into further muttering before finally stuffing pie into his mouth to shut himself up.

"So do you still want to go swimming?" Teth asked, staring out to the ocean. "I hope there is a public changing area, they usually have full body driers. It takes around six hours for me to fully air dry."

He ate the last morsel of his pie and finished the last of his many alcoholic drinks.

"But I suppose as a Bolian, you don't have any issue with that at all."

"Nope," Olsam said, almost proudly. He gave his thumbprint to the bill and stood up, running a finger along the pie tin to gather up the last bit of meringue. "I think the beach will be relaxing. We could probably use some relaxation."

=-=-=-=-=

Olsam had insisted on keeping his dead crab hat on while he waddled down to the shore, though he'd at least parted with the hideous shirt. The bloomers, he'd said, doubled as swimming gear. They looked completely impractical for the purpose, but sometimes it was better to just not say anything to Olsam. If only to save yourself the trouble.

"It looks clean," the Bolian said to Teth, looking over and up at him; he always forgot how much taller he was. Olsam looked a little steadier on his feet - fast metabolism dealing quickly with the alcohol - but he was still weaving a bit. "Are you sure you're going to be okay? I didn't even think maybe Caitians don't like water. We can just lay down on the beach if you want. I'll even be quiet for a little bit."

"I feel fine. We don't have to go too deep. It's just so hot out here."

Teth pulled off his cargo pants but kept his shirt and what appeared to be a pair of silvery colored, star fleet athletic shorts he had worn in anticipation of possibly swimming.

The water was cool and clear and bright blue as they waded into the waves. Surprisingly cool for Florida in the spring.

"Are you sure you can swim in all that?" Teth motioned to the Bolian's clothing.

"I'm a champion swimmer," Olsam asserted, proudly placing his hands on his hips and completely oblivious to the extra weight around his midsection. "I can swim in anything."

Olsam high-stepped into the water at first and then at a depth of around four feet promptly tripped and disappeared into the water. His dead crab hat bobbed along the surface, obviously separated from its owner who popped up beside it. The Bolian laughed and shook his head fiercely, sending water droplets flying in all directions from his hairless head. He grabbed the hat, aimed and then let loose of it like a frisbee. Surprisingly it sailed through the air and landed safely on the beach.

"Do you swim a lot?" Olsam asked, keeping everything but his head submerged as he bobbed over to Teth. His bald blue head looked like some sort of fishing float/bobber.

"No. Just occasionally." he said, feeling cold shivers run through his body. Without another word, he ducked and curled into a ball under the water, sinking to the sandy bottom and just sitting there. Motionless. For what seemed like an unnaturally long time.

Olsam planted his feet apart to keep the waves from moving him aside and watched, wondering what Teth was doing. Soon, he got worried. Then even more worried. Why wasn't he moving? How long could caitians hold their breath? He didn't feel like wasting the time calculating lung capacity and blood-oxygen levels in his head, so he just tentatively reached over with a foot and poked Teth with his toe.

Startled, Teth jumped from the water with an unearthly screech.

"Why would you do that! You kicked me!" he said, soaking wet and resembling some kind of cross between a drowned cat and a Reman with his fur wet and matted. It made his already slender frame seem impossibly lithe.

Olsam tried to answer but he couldn't stop snickering. Every time he tried to say something, he just degenerated into a fit of giggling. It went on for long moments until finally he reached out, grabbed Teth's arm and held it up. "I was just afraid you were trying to drown yourself! Anyway, look." He put his arm next to Teth's, emphasizing the difference in their sizes. He laughed again for a long while before finally catching his breath. "I think we look so funny! I'm like a big, short bobbing blueberry..." Olsam puffed out his cheeks and waddled in place for effect. "...and you're so tiny and tall!"

Teth frowned. "I'm not that small. I know it's been a while since I've had a chance to get any real exercise. But I certainly wouldn't say I'm tiny."

Olsam gave a playful grin. "Oh, I didn't mean small like that! You're very tall and strong and all that. Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you... Were you meditating underwater? I'm horrible at meditating. I just can't quiet my mind no matter how much I try!"

"I wasn't meditating. I was just seeing how long I could hold my breath. I used to do that a lot when I was a kid and I hadn't tried in a while."

"Oh, I could beat you at that," Olsam said flatly, waving his hand to dismiss the very idea that Teth could even challenge him. "I can hold my breath for a long time. Longer than you, definitely. You were probably about to give up when I poked you!"

"I don't know." Teth said suspiciously, "Caitians are renowned for having a high lung capacity."

Olsam scoffed. "How do you think I get all the oxygen to talk as much as I do? I'll bet you I can hold my breath longer."

"Ok, if you're so sure of yourself. What to do I get when I win?"

"Oh. I don't know, I didn't think that far ahead... What do you want?"

Teth crossed his arms and stared into the distance, considering the question carefully. What could he ask for from the doctor?

"One liter of bio-mimetic gel."

Olsam frowned; that stuff was hard to get. "Okay, fine! And if I win I get... Uh. One liter of bio-mimetic gel."

Teth was stunned that Olsam agreed to his wager and doubted he had the means to pay up. None the less, he decided to go on with the bet.

Olsam actually stuck his tongue out at Teth; it was only slightly pink and covered in a very bizarre looking cartilage. "Okay, one...two...three...go!"

The Bolian squeezed his eyes shut and sank down into the ocean, trying not to grin. Oh, there were so many things he could do with another liter of bio-mimetic gel. He couldn't wait to get his hands on it. Sort of. He should have asked for pie or something. You couldn't really eat the gel, and another pie sounded delicious. Oh, stop thinking, Olsam! he thought. You're using oxygen.

Teth kept his eyes open, or at least, the outer eyelids. He closed the convenient translucent protective inner ones. He wondered how so many of the aquatic ape humanoids evolved without them. He folded into a fetal position, his tail curled around him. The water current was currently quite calm and he could see Olsam several feet away, bright blue in an already brilliantly blue ocean. He could make out a lumpy mass of a man bobbing under the water.

Of course, like with most things, Olsam was all talk. He lasted for slightly more than one minute before he burst through the surface of the later like some kind of blue sea mammal, sending a spray of water around him. His lungs demanded air and he inhaled sharply. Once he'd caught his breath, he slapped the water in frustration.

Teth just stayed where he was, feeling very relaxed in the cool, muffled ocean. Still quite comfortable with his air supply.

The longer Teth stayed submerged, the more it irritated Olsam. Was he just showing off now? He'd already won the gel! A few more moments and he'd have to surface. Or not... He tried to amuse himself by looking at the people on the ocean, but he kept looking back at Teth just sitting down there on the bottom. The doctor watched a seagull fly over, pretending he wasn't getting incredibly annoyed until finally he got tired of waiting and dove at Teth, seeking to wrestle him to the surface.

Teth saw Olsam coming at him and immediately sprung upward in an effort to avoid him.

"So where does one get a liter of bio-mimetic gel?"

"The same place someone gains an almost freakish ability to hold their breath!" Olsam huffed, splashing some water in Teth's direction. "I don't know, I'll probably have to do some sort of favor for the quartermaster. Or just be heavily indebted to him. What are you even gonna do with it anyway?"

"Probably not a bad idea." Teth said with a chortle, having recently met the quartermaster himself.

Olsam looked like he was pouting a little bit. He hated losing. "Anyway, I'll get it. It might take a little bit, but I'm good for it." He idly splashed his hands in the water and then turned to go stomping up toward the beach. He called over his shoulder, "It was unnatural! Are you sure you weren't cheating?"

Teth shrugged.

"Caitians have better lung capacities than most races of their stature. I am better than most Caitians. I don't really know why. I can hold my breath for five minutes easily. It was noted in my medical record. Maybe one of these lovely Borg implants instructed my body to extend my lung capacity."

Olsam blew out a gust of air like that was the most preposterous thing he'd ever heard. He seated himself on the beach just out of the reach of the surf and sat about digging in the sand to construct...something. Teth was still in earshot, so he spoke. "What are you going to do? About...everything?"

Teth smiled and looked at Olsam.

"I'm thinking about taking a trip."

"What?" Olsam asked, stopping his sand construction to stare at Teth. He grabbed for his dead crab hat and put it back on to block out some of the sun. He wasn't sure if Teth hadn't heard him or if he'd misunderstood the response. "Taking a trip? Why? Where?"

"I need some time alone to work things out. Maybe Vulcan? Feresa? I haven't been there in a while."

'Alone' almost seemed like a foreign concept to Olsam. Why would someone want to take a trip anywhere alone? That was just boring. Nothing fun ever happened when you were alone. Especially not while traveling. "Uh, so... I can't come?"

Teth shook his head. "No, I need to go alone. I doubt you would have much fun anyway."

"You're right, Vulcan is very boring," Olsam said, going back to piling up sand in front of him. He used his hands to shape the wetter portions, building something that was already looking quite misshapen. He squirmed a little and tried to work out his nervous energy on the construction, but eventually blurted out, "Are you going to be okay? I'm so worried about you I could cry!"

Teth blinked.

"I'm fine." he said, locking eye contact with the Bolian, "My medication is working, I'm feeling better. I'll be fine. I promise."

"Medication? What medication? I didn't prescribe any medication for you. Did I? I don't remember doing that..."

"No, I saw a doctor at Medical, the records should have been forwarded to Dr. Warraquim. It's just a mood stabilizing compound."

"Oh. Well. Okay." Olsam seemed somewhat unconvinced, but focused his attention on the construct in front of him. Eventually he seemed to finish to his satisfaction, although it really just looked like a misshapen lump of sand. "When are you gonna leave? Soon?"

"I don't know. Whenever. I can't promise I will warn anyone, so if I am gone for a few days don't worry. I'll submit my shuttle flight plans to the operations like I'm supposed to."

"Okay," Olsam said, nodding and smiling like he knew he was supposed to do. He didn't understand it, although he definitely wasn't in Teth's position. The poor caitian seemed to have endured three lifetime's worth of trauma, whereas Olsam had lived a relatively well-adjusted life. "Maybe you can bring me back a souvenir. They probably don't have them on Vulcan, but if you go somewhere else, I mean."

Teth smiled again, wider this time. "I will. I'll find something special."

Olsam mumbled to himself, obviously a bit sullen about his friend's impending solitary trip, "I hope it's a pie."

"I'll see what I can do." Teth made his way back to the shore, searching for where he left his pants on the beech. Hoping they hadn't disappeared.

"I probably should be heading back now. I am supposed to help R'lara assemble the stacking cribs."

Olsam stood up and dusted the sand off his hands. "Okay! That's pretty important stuff. I need to go back to San Francisco and...uh, do some medical thing." He smiled, not wanting the caitian to feel like the burden of departure was all on him. He motioned up the beach. "I think I saw the drying station up there."

OFF:

Lt. JG Olsam Mott M.D.
Assistant Chief of Medicine
USS Galileo

&

Lt. JG Teth Miir
Counselor
USS Galileo

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