For the World is Hollow (or So They Say)

Posted on 06 Oct 2015 @ 12:04am by Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant Oren Idris Ph.D.
Edited on on 06 Oct 2015 @ 12:10am

925 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 09 - Empires
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Chief Science Officer's Office
Timeline: MD 03 - 1800 hours

[ON]

Perhaps out of guilt for his indulgences at the science team briefing, Andreus Kohl's office was the epitome of energy efficiency. The lights were set to the lowest setting to avoid eye strain, the LCARS panels remained dark, and the delicacies on the small meeting table consisted of bottled water and ration packs from ship stores. Despite that pang of guilt, Kohl didn't actually regret his approach to the science briefing. He was convinced, utterly convinced, it was what the department had needed; although, he had been quick to dismiss the room at the end of the presentations, before any feedback could reach his ears.

Sitting in the meeting area of his office, Kohl was starting to look a bit disheveled, with his hair in all directions and the jacket of his uniform folded over the back of his chair. "And then we have Bravo 312..." Kohl said, reading the asteroid designation from a PADD. He stared at the display, blinked at it a couple of times, and stared at it some more. He couldn't think of what else to say about it.

Oren's reply came in the form of a sigh as he too stared at a copy of the same information. Taking a moment, he turned the display of his paDD towards Kohl, holding it at an oddly.

"If you look at it at this angle, it looks like a bunny?" he supplied, hoping to break the tension. They'd been stuck in Kohl's office since the meeting ended and had made no progress worth mentioning.

It had the desired effect, drawing a snort of a laugh out of Kohl. But Kohl shook his head in the negative, when he said, "That kind of whimsy might work with Stace, but I don't think Captain Holliday wants to hear that we're recommending he sit on a bunny's face."

Oren sighed, saying. "You're probably right," his voice holding a note as if he'd actually considered adding the asteroid's likeness to long-eared rodents to it's file. Sitting in companionable silence, Oren shifted in his seat almost constantly. If there was one things he disliked above all others, it was paper work, especially concerning material he barely understood. Oren's professional contact with astronomy was limited to the symbolism many celestial bodies had within different cultures so he was pushed out of his comfort zone with this new assignment. Watching Kohl, Oren doubted he was faring much better.

"Maybe we should move on to another asteroid," he suggested to the Argelian, feeling at a loss, "I don't even know what exactly we're looking for. I mean, a lot of these asteroids meet the criteria we're looking for."

"You're right. We're over-thinking this," Kohl said, managing to sound vaguely annoyed with himself. He tossed his PADD onto the table, and he said, "When I spoke with the command staff about selecting an asteroid, they really only cared about it being large and solid enough to withstand Galileo's mass. Any other criteria don't matter overly much. Why am I complicating this?"

"Perhaps it's in your nature, Andreus," Oren said, using the Argelian's first name for the first time since their meeting in the holodeck, months ago. "That's a hard thing to let go of." Oren thought of his own tendency to overthink everything to death.

As he breathed in, Kohl squinted his sapphire eyes at Oren, giving Oren's words serious thought. "Hmm, I don't remember getting worked up about asteroids when I studied them at the Academy," Kohl remarked. He sighed before he went on: "Frankly, I don't think I've given asteroids a second thought since the Academy. Second year at that."

"Why would you? Asteroids are boring," Oren sighed, looking at the paDD, eyes focused on the writing. Typing in the proper criteria, he narrowed down the asteroid choices to a few dozen. "Maybe we should just give each a number and run a random number generator. Or pick one with the most appealing name," he suggested, half-heartedly throwing the paDD aside with the rest.

"Drink?" he offered, getting up and walking to the replicator, ordering a strong tea and a bow of spiced carrot sticks.

Watching the PADD skip across the table, Kohl followed it with his eyes. His lips remained pensively pursed, as he remained internally-focused on trying to understand why he was going out of his way to make his own life more difficult. Kohl nodded faintly, and he replied, "Yes, I'll have the same." He allowed his gaze to follow Oren to the replicator, and that's when Kohl hiccuped out a laugh. "In the end, we're only making a recommendation, same as all the officers in the meeting," Kohl remarked. "The command staff could select an entirely different asteroid than the one we recommend, or rename them all. I'm glad we gave this assignment to the team, gave them something productive to focus on, but we probably don't need to think about this so hard ourselves..."

Falling into his chair once again after setting their snack out between them, Oren watched Kohl. "I suppose you're right." Granted, Oren rarely overthought anything concerning work. It was one of the few things Oren always felt confident about.

"You should probably tell yourself that more than me though," he added absentmindedly to Kohl before reaching over to pick up a paDD to continue his analysis, carrot stick planted firmly between his teeth.



[OFF]

Lieutenant Commander Andreus Kohl
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Oren Idris
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

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