An Unwelcome Intrusion

Posted on 05 Nov 2014 @ 9:04pm by Petty Officer 1st Class Pieter Van Zyl Ph.D. & Lieutenant JG Cyrin Xanth

1,954 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Multi-purpose lab
Timeline: MD25 - 1100hrs

[ON]

Pieter Van Zyl was a man dedicated to his work. He knew that some people would call that being a workaholic, but he'd never seen any negative fallout due to always doing his job right. In fact, keeping his record as spotless as his lab was, in his opinion, the key to his successful career, both in Engineering and, now, in Science. In order to keep it that way, Pieter made a habit to check in on his lab regularly (read, daily), to make sure everything was in working order. You could never be certain those Ops officers knew what they were doing when it came to scientific equipment.

Today, it was regular check-in day and, as with the previous few times, Pieter found himself bent over his desk, scanning the leaves of a delicate orange bloom, making sure they were getting all of the appropriate nutrients from the replicated soil.

The doors to the lab slid open with a quiet hiss, and Cyrin poked a hesitant head inside first before the rest of him followed. It had been his goal the last few days to get the layout of the Galileo down finally so he wouldn't have any more embarrassing mishaps like how he'd met the ship's geologist the other day. He'd been surprised to find out just how big the ship was, which would probably have gotten him laughed at by the majority of the crew. Most of those hadn't just come off a year and half of duty on a twelve-man Vulcan science vessel though.

Careful not to touch anything, with his hands laced behind his back, Cyrin began to look at and study the various plants and readouts in the lab. Botany was not his speciality at all, but he figured a little look so he could get caught up on what experiments his peers were engaged in wouldn't hurt. He'd glanced briefly at the man in the laboratory already, a little surprised anyone but himself would be stalking around the ship during shore leave, but otherwise was content to let him be and stay quiet. The fern-like plant Cyrin stopped at seemed to have some sort of red fur on it's leaves, and his hands twitched to touch though he was able to control himself.

Satisfied with the readout on his tricorder, Pieter made a few notes on his paDD before deciding to replicate a new batch of soil for his Kratom plants. They were looking a little under the weather lately and he figured an early soil swap would make them feel better. As he stood straight once more, Pieter made a move towards the replicator only to stop suddenly at the sight of another man in his lab. The tall Human stood in slight shock, wondering how he could've snuck past him. Absently, he remembered he'd left his proximity detector on the base and made a mental note to rig his VOICE with one. If it had been a more dangerous situation, he could've been dead right now!

Crossing his arms over his chest, Pieter gave the man in the teal uniform a once over. He was as tall as Pieter, but lacked the Botanist's bulk, making him look smaller by comparison. His hair was cut short, which earned him a point in Pieter's book, since he's noticed a rising trend with young officers of letting their hair flap around, even on duty.

The Trill had leaned in very close the plant, fascinated that it seemed to have more and more of those strange follicles the closer he got. He had the odd idea that if he were to put a frond under a microscope, he'd see even more. Cyrin was fascinated, and looked over his shoulder with the idle sort of speculation as to whether he was being observed or not should he choose to test the hypothesis.

Seeing the other man staring right at him gave Cyrin a shock, and he even let out a bit of a yelp as he jumped in surprise. Given his nearness to the table the fern rested on, he shook the whole thing and barely managed to turn around and grasp the plastic base to keep the plant from tipping over. Cyrin carefully made sure everything was balanced before he turned around one more time to face the one who'd startled him so bad.

"S-s-sorry," came the meek voice, along with eyes that wouldn't meet the other's gaze.

The only movement Pieter made was to raise his eyebrow at the man. That said, he was sure he could actually feel his blood pressure spike when the table wobbled. Once again, he eyed the man head to toe, his green eyes fell on the pips at his collar. Another one. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Pieter unfolded his arms and signed,"Ensign," acknowledging his presence and rank. Glancing at the viewscreen on his VOICE, he saw the slight hesitation in translation and wondered if it was time for a maintenance check.

"Can I help you?" he asked, moving his hands with practiced ease.

Cyrin's embarrassment faded some as he was presented with a new curiosity and experience. Though he'd never actually met someone who needed the assistance of a system like the one this man used, it reminded him immediately of the Universal Translator. Cyrin watched with interest as the man gestured and the machine voice spoke. He even forgot to notice the lack of proper address, but then Cyrin tended to be more informal with non-comms himself.

"I w-was just l-looking," he started to explain, but as he went on Cyrin's struggling grew worse. There was something about the way the man had been staring at him that didn't make him feel welcome. "D-didn't m-mean to d-dis-disturb anything. I j-j-just w-wanted to s-s-see wh-what ex-expe-experi-argh!" By this point, Cyrin looked about as ashamed as a child getting caught sneaking sweets. His eyes were firmly rooted to the floor and his shoulders had hunched inwards.

As Cyrin's struggle increased, so did Pieter's confusion. If it wasn't for the twitching that seemed to follow the Trill's stutter, Pieter wouldn't be able to ascertain why his VOICE seemed to be unable to process his speech. Tapping the screen, Pieter tried to somehow alter the system to compensate for Xanth's stutter, but failed. Glancing up, annoyed at the Trill, Pieter suddenly held out a hand to stop him from talking.

"I can't understand you," he told him. "Please, talk more clearly, sir."

Cyrin felt like his symbiont had dropped down to his feet. He glanced a the man once, briefly, with a mixture of shame and anger in stormy grey eyes, but then averted his gaze again. There was some backbone there apparently, but it was under layers of social awkwardness. The Trill closed his eyes for a long time, and almost seemed like he was trying to meditate perhaps with the very controlled way he managed his breathing.

"I w-was looking at w-what experiments were underway," Cyrin said finally, and though he still wouldn't look the human in the eyes there was a touch of defiance in his tone. His words were a good deal clearer, though the occasional slight stutter came through. "I'm s-sorry if I've damaged your plant." Though I get the feeling you'd been glaring at the back of my head for a while before I turned around, came the thought he wasn't bold enough to say.

Not saying anything to the man, Pieter moved forwards, confidently side-stepping the Ensign to take a closer look at his plants. Making no effort to shrug such a thing off in favour of looking more welcoming, Pieter inspected the leaves carefully before turning to Cyrin, who was now standing much closer. "The plants are fine," he declared, with a nod of approval.

"I am PO1 Pieter Van Zyl, ship's Botanist. Starbase crew or new transfer?" Finishing the question, Pieter's arms slipped behind him until he was standing in a casual parade rest, waiting for an answer while looking intently at the Trill.

"Oh that's good," the ensign managed regarding the planet, then his voice stopped working. Once again the young man wilted under the stare, hung his head and looked at Van Zyl's shoes. Though they were of a similar height with each other, Pieter intimidated him right from the start with the way he felt pinned like some needle-stare. Cyrin found his voice again and said, "Cyrin Xanth, astr-astrophysicist. I'm a-a-a transfer."

Although his speech was much more coherent now, and Pieter was able to understand him, the slight hesitation was a bit annoying. Why was he so nervous? Kids.

"You're an astrophysicist, what are you doing in the Botany lab?" Pieter asked, curious how someone from such a different field of study would be drawn to his own. Not to say that plants weren't one of the most interesting life forms in the known Universe, but astrophysicists didn't usually make a habit of sticking their nose into the dirt since they were so busy staring up.

"All s-science is interesting," Cyrin replied with a shrug. "I studied physics and astronomy, but it's all p-part of something bigger. I guess." He knew that wasn't very clear, but it was easier than trying to explain things. Van Zyl intimidated the heck out of him for some reason, likely the bold stares, and if he tried to get more detailed he would mangle it. "All searching for t-truth?"

Pieter just nodded, not saying anything and no doubt adding to the man's anxiety. But what does one say to something like that? He'd heard it as an excuse for poking into his lab so much Pieter was thinking of programming an automated response into his VOICE to just spew it out without him having to actually form the words.

Once again, Pieter found himself feeling as if he was the only one who genuinely didn't care what his fellow scientists were up to beyond any help they asked of him. He was perfectly happy to stick to Botany and found no joy in poking his nose into fields it didn't belong in just to satisfy something as pedestrian as professional courtesy.

There was an awkward silence, at least for Cyrin, and he risked a glance at Van Zyl's eyes. What he thought he saw there was that he was no more welcome now than he'd been when he'd first come in. He'd meant what he'd said, Cyrin had a love of all science and not just his own speciality, but the biologist didn't seem all that interested in sharing his own particular interest. "I uh...maybe I should g-go," Cyrin said, looking away hurriedly. "I'm s-s-sorry f-for dis-s-turbing y-you..."

Pieter just nodded before taking a step backwards to give Cyrin plenty of room to leave at his leisure. To speed it up, he made sure to remain where he was, staring and all.

The Trill didn't waste time. In fact, he almost ran for the door and didn't look back. The feeling of those eyes boring into him, loaded with with disapproval and judgement, had been almost too much to bear. It shouldn't have happened like that, Cyrin was the officer here, but Van Zyl had him feeling as nervous a first year cadet facing a captain. The moment the doors had closed behind him, Cyrin leaned against a wall to catch the breath he'd been holding, and figured it would be a long, long time before he visited the Botany lab again.

[ OFF ]

Ensign Cyrin Xanth
Astrophysicist
USS Galileo

&

PO1 Pieter Van Zyl
Botanist
USS Galileo

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