Spectacular Malformations

Posted on 12 Mar 2015 @ 5:46am by Ensign Arandon Khnailmnae Ph.D. & Ensign K'os Beaumont

2,199 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 08 - NIMBUS
Location: USS Galileo Botony Lab
Timeline: MD -01 1400

ON

The events of the day before with Ellsworth had left him still feeling a bit rattled. Granted, he was happy about feeling more in control. His mind was the usual torrent of often conflicting emotions rolling around in that usual way of his but he patiently dealt with it when he needed to. He was getting much better at saving his strength and knowing when to apply control and when not to. He hadn't fully processed the events of the previous night so shaking away thoughts of the Betazoid, he replaced thefeelings with those of joy and slowly his passive expression was replaced with a tight-lipped smile.

As usual, one of the easiest things for K'os to do to take his mind of things that were bothering him, was to dive into a project. The current Unit in his geology class was soil salinity. Though in order to test his soil samples, he needed to grow things. It was the reason he found himself now heading into the Botany lab.

Potting was a tedious exercise and replacing the soil of all of the specimens would take an inordinate amount of time. But part of Arandon lived for this sort of thing. After all, he took meticulous notes by quill in a parchment ledger and lived for filling the minutia of his findings. His ears bristled at the opening of the lab doors. From the center island he could not get an immediate view of the visitor, due to the column on the other side of the room in the way. Craning his neck, Arandon saw a man in gold, with somewhat striking and boyish features. Vibrant and youthful blue eyes, mixed with a brown hair that almost deflected Arandon's eyes from the Vulcanoid glow of his skin that he recognized well from his own reflection.

"Can I help you?" Arandon said, still craning his neck over the center island, and letting the soil fall from the exposed roots of the plant he was currently working on.

K'os stepped more fully into view. His over-sensitive sense of smell produce a rather interesting cascade of memories in his mind.The back of the hand found it's way to his nose as all the new smells, some of dirt and vegetation and others he couldn't identify bombarded his senses. He hadn't expected that and it took a moment to compose himself. He cleared his throat and lowered his hand revealing small grin.

"Well I sure hope you can help me." He moved closer to the center island, placing his hands behind his back casually. His head swiveled from side to side as he walked, taking in his surroundings. His mind, with practiced ease, associated his spatial awareness with the smells as he committed everything to memory and filed it away deep in a mental drawer. "I'm doing a soil salinity project for school and I need things to grow." His grey-blue eyes finally settled on the man. If Arandon's similar Vulcanoid features came to his attention, it didn't show on K'os' face.

Arandon sincerely hoped that the notion of a 'school project' involving his particular brand of science didn't lead to him tutoring a petty officer in Botany. His language lessons with Delon were trying enough. That wasn't a judgmental statement, at least not of another, but he found his abilities as an educator lacking. He preferred working silently and diligently on the work that was assigned to him. "What do you need?" Arandon said, plopping the plant into one of the many half filled pots on the table.

"Something that'll give results quickly. It's a geology unit and we have different soil samples. We're supposed to chart plant growth in relation to salinity." K'os waved his hand flippantly in the air. "The usual, 'does this affect that' project where we already know the answer but you have to show your work kind of thing. You have something I can use?" K'os now studied the man's face as if it contained more information about the man. "My name's K'os Beaumont by the way. From Engineering."

K'os. The K'os? Ellsworth's K'os? Where this a larger ship it would be coincidence, on the Galileo, it was the facts of life. "I see..." Arandon mused. "Seeds are in one of the containers under the far stand." He said with a jerk of his head, motioning to the line of plants just behind K'os. "You can take some of my soil samples here." He said with a nod of his head to the assemblage of pots.

K'os spun around to the area indicated. "Thanks." He said as he moved to retrieve the container and brought it over to the centre island where the other man was. "I'm just looking for something that will germinate in a few days and have growth results that I can use in a couple weeks. Radishes maybe? or Mustard seed?" He placed the container down close to Arandon without disturbing his work and opened it. When he did so, even though he wasn't that close to him, a warmth spread through his hands as the telepathic receptors in his skin felt the familiar wave of tiny shocks dimly spread through his forearms. He gave Arandon a brief puzzled look. He hadn't even registered that the other man might have telepathic ability and was only looking at him as if for the first time. Part Vulcan perhaps? He flashed a dimpleless smile to force the puzzlement from his face and returned his attention back to the container of seeds. He took an unconscious step back, noticing the sensation lessen. Seeing the seeds in their packaging burst forth a cascade of memories regarding his late Mother and her garden. He allowed the swirl of colours and thoughts to whip up all simultaneously within his mind in the hopes that it would drown out the feeling in his hands more. "I don't want to do beans though, everyone does beans. What do you suggest?" He asked in a spacey sort of way.

The tempo was particularly chaotic around K'os, and his thoughts weren't quite hitting the right 'notes'. Arandon found this was the case for most people on the Galileo, so it was easy to brush it off. He kept his mind, eyes and hands firmly on the plants at hand, and ignored the static sensation on his gloved hands as a sign of dryness in the air, a faulty air filter no doubt. "You would do better with beans, salt affects crops more than anything else." He said, his mind and eyes preoccupied with brushing the dirt off of the roots of a plant.

K'os scrunched his forehead in thought and placed his hands on his head as he stared down at the seeds. "I don't want to do better, I want to do different." He was getting distracted with all the thoughts and feelings pressing for his attention, so he took a deep breath focusing his concentration like a phaser. Everything in his mind settled and dissipated during the exhalation and now with a clear mind he was free to put up the block for his emotions until he'd decided on a plant to use. His expression was passive as he reviewed each of the seed packages, but so far nothing was catching his interest and grey-blue eyes drifted from the seeds to Arandon working. He released his control which caused a quick suck in of air as everything came back 'online' as it were and the usual torrent of emotions clanged around. He flashed a smile before asking excitedly. "What about bean-like plants from somewhere other than Earth? Like really funky looking ones?"

No, K'os's thoughts were not just the normal, unusual song of the Galileo's crew but something far different. They shifted pitch faster than Arandon could process them and they were more than a bit cacophonic. "There are some spliced Terran and Risian beans in there somewhere. They were designed to grow on a Venusian environ so they're pretty hardy though." Arandon said, plopping another plant down into a half empty pot and packing in a few scoops of soil over the partially exposed roots with his gloved hands. "If not that, try some Andorian frost algae."

K'os frowned and looked back in the container. "Decisions...decisions." The phrase brought forth more than a few memories of his father, Cole, saying the same thing. He used to hate make decisions on things and would always either defer to K'os' mother or he'd do this weird ritual that always made K'os laugh. His grey-blue eyes looked sideways at Arandon working on the plants, before returning his attention to the seeds. He raised a finger as if counting the packages and in a quiet voice to himself he began, "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Catch a tiger by the toe. If he hollers, let him go. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe." He snatched up a seed pack and showed it to Arandon. In a louder voice he said, "How about this one?"

Arandon looked up from his work and narrowed his eyes slightly to look at the label of the seed pack K'os was holding up, like a child holding up his latest creation. "Hydrangea venatora," Arandon read in a slightly musing tone. "They're very aggressive in their absorption of nutrients from the soil, plant it in a very small container and add salt. It mal forms spectacularly." He said very matter of fact, finishing potting one of his own samples.

K'os retracted his hand to peer at the package as well. "Spectacularly, eh?" K'os chuckled. "Don't we all." He placed the packet down and drummed his fingers on the counter. "I don't need a whole package though." He said to Arandon as he swiveled his head in search for something. "Do you have something small I can carry a few seeds in?"

"Just plant them here," Arandon said, looking up. "Take a few of the pots, some water and a bag of soil and just do it here. You can keep them here if you like too, beats replicating and constructing an apparatus in your quarters." He said in a somewhat distant tone, gesturing to the different materials with his head as his hands were occupied.

K'os looked to where Arandon had indicated. "Hmm, that sounds like a good idea." The other man hadn't given K'os his name yet, but from the Vulcanoid features and the telepathy he sensed from him, he took a guess at being part Vulcan. As he picked up the bag of soil he turned his head back towards Arandon and with a smile thanked him in Vulcan, "Chaya t'not. K'os placed the bag of soil on the counter before leaving to retrieve the rest of the items he would need.

"Itaren'vu," Arandon said with a respectful nod of his head. His Vuhlkansu was rusty but it was familiar enough to him both as a Rihanna and a man who had picked up a bit of the language. He could only hope that he used the right conjugation or particle right. "Uf akarshif ki'du fi'masu-hali?" Arandon asked. He could feel, though he was not actively expanding his abilities, that K'os had been on the Galileo before. Perhaps it was the interaction from their abilities earlier, or perhaps a psychosomatic response to Arandon knowing, not through his abilities, that K'os had been here before.

K'os had smiled at the reply and began sorting the pots, but when Arandon started speaking again his eyes cut back to him with confusion he knew the words, but the way he said them he could tell he was not a native speaker. K'os mouthed the words sorting out the meaning. Suddenly his polite smile pulled into a thin lipped grin, producing deep dimples. "I was posted here for a few months before taking a two month leave for training. I was reposted here just a couple days ago." He said, to answer his question. He returned his attention to his own work but after a moment asked curiously, "What's your name?".

"Arandon Khnailmnae," He said in a very polite and somewhat warm tone of voice, briefly making eye contact. He then returned his attention to his work, making no further attempt at conversation though he was not dismissive.

K'os smiled and said, "It's very nice to meet you Mr. Khnailmnae." He emulated the warm tone. While K'os usually preferred chatty people, he was perfectly comfortable with silence too. He returned his attention to the work in front of him. The soil in his hands made a beautiful display of colour come to mind and feelings of contentment. K'os was careful to stay mindful of the thought process though; left unchecked and that contentment would increase to a reckless equanimity to near delirium if he let it. As he worked, he played the delicate dance of memories and emotions to keep his mood steadily content, as the two worked in comfortable silence.


FADE OUT


Ensign Arandon Khnailmnae
Botonist
USS Galileo

&

PO3 K'os Beaumont
Engineer's Mate
USS Galileo

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