The Next Morning

Posted on 04 Sep 2016 @ 2:03am by EBH Mark I "Raven" & Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Petty Officer 1st Class Unit Cu-47 "Copper"

1,523 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 12 - Recluse
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 1, Lirha's Quarters
Timeline: MD -39 - 0430 local

Previously, on The Joy of Painting...

Fluttering her eyes, Lirha's light green irises glanced downwards towards Raven's legs then back up her body to her eyes. She reached up with her green hand and pushed a lock of her dark black and purple back behind Raven's ear and grazed her cheek wit the back of her knuckles. Ever so slowly, Lirha leaned in for a kiss and gently pressed her gold lips against Raven's plush pink ones.

Surprised, Raven's first instinct was to recoil. While her program did contain textbook knowledge of reproduction and mating rituals for just about every species in the quadrant, this was all new to her. But instead of pulling away, she wrapped an arm around Lirha, pulling their naked bodies together as she kissed her back.

And Now, the Conclusion...

[ON]

Lirha's eyes slowly opened in the darkness of the early morning hour. At first she felt strange, as if alone in the abyss of the galaxy, but then her body registered a warm arm wrapped around her neck and the presence of smooth skin pressed against her chest. Memories of her painting experience with Raven and her invitation for the EBH to sleep with her for the evening suddenly resurged, and she smiled to herself when she realized the holographic woman had kept her in a cozy embrace throughout the entire evening.

"..Mmm.." Lirha mumbled, curling herself and her bulging belly into Raven's body. "What did you dream about?" she asked with a soft whisper accompanied by a kiss at the base of her neck, half-wondering if holograms dreamed and what type of thoughts they might have.

"Dream is a misnomer," replied Raven, matter of factly. "My program was active while I was 'asleep' and was considering childcare schedules, planning an art show for Copper, refining my avatar, and of course, about last night..."

Closing her eyes and sighing contently, Lirha suppressed a sleepy yawn. "I should have remembered," she commented in reference to the holographic's daily routines. "And last night? What did you think?"

"It was..." Raven paused for a moment and blushed. "I think my program is malfuctioning..."

The Orion smirked a bit at that. "Perhaps because complex emotions have not been programmed into your personal subroutine?" she surmised.

"Because I don't think that... that... was within the bounds of my programming," she replied, her voice wavering slightly as she worried about the health of her subroutines.

"Well, maybe our Operations department can install new subroutines for you? That is...if you would like them?" Lirha proposed. The Orion didn't want to pressure the young hologram especially if she thought it would overload her matrix. And perhaps, being a program specifically designed for childcare, an advanced sexual and emotional state of mind was not exactly required.

"I don't think tampering with my program is such a good idea," replied Raven, blushing slightly for a moment. "I mean, I'm not sure the EMH was designed for childcare in the first place..."

Lirha propped herself up on one arm and gave a slight shrug. "No, but we were able to allow your program to adapt. You had the necessary base files for healthcare...all that was needed was to adjust your personality subroutines to accommodate children. Would you not want to enhance that matrix with emotions?"

"I'd rather explore those emotions myself than have some engineer reprogram my personality," countered Raven. "Think of all that you would have missed in your childhood if you were created fully-formed with an adult personality. All those magical moments learning and exploring..."

"It would not be reprogramming...it would be..." the Orion touched her index finger to her chin for a short moment to think of the correct word. "Adding to it. To you." Lirha looked into Raven's eyes and reached out to play with her dark hair. "But only if you would like us to, I suppose. I do not want to force you to change."

Raven giggled a little as Lirha touched her hair. "I'm happy the way I am for now..." she said, pausing for a moment. "Though... I must admit, there is someone else on the ship that I kind of have a crush on..."

Lirha's eyes widened a bit at the sudden revelation. Some good morning gossip would be fun to hear, she mused. "Oh? Who?" This should be good, she thought to herself with a small smile tugging at the corner of her gold lips.

"Well..." Raven paused for a moment and then excitedly blurted out the gossip that she had been keeping to herself for the past few weeks. "It's Copper. He's so cute. And talented too. I've seen his art; it's amazing!" Seeing the surprised look on Lirha's face, Raven paused. "Promise you won't tell him, okay?"

"...Tell him?" It took a short moment for Lirha to realize the EBH was referring to the mechanical creature who worked in engineering. "You mean the exocomp?"

"Yeah..." replied Raven, blushing heavily.

Lirha tilted her head slightly to the side with a bit of a perplexed expression on her face. "Why have you not told him yet yourself? Are you...shy?" She didn't understand how a hologram could feel hesitancy or trepidation for approaching a love interest. Unless...said hologram was already experiencing emotions.

"What if he doesn't like me back?" asked Raven. "I mean, I have access to the computer's cultural files and all the romantic literature ever written for dozens of civilizations, but..." She sighed and paused for a moment. "It doesn't make it any less scary."

"If you never approach him and ask...then you will never know," Lirha replied, giving Raven a soft rub to the back of her left shoulder. "There is never any harm in expressing your feelings. In my experience, it is far more painful to contemplate the 'what-if' as opposed to dealing with the unknown speculation. And, I think he will be very happy to have your company," she added with a genuine smile. "He is the only one of his kind aboard our starship...sort of like you. I think you two would be a perfect couple."

"Awww, thanks..." replied Raven, blushing, feeling thankful for Lirha's comforting touch. "I just need to figure out how to approach him..."

Lirha was not a very shy person herself and admittedly had a bit of trouble understanding those personality types who were hesitant to speak their feelings. In her experience, she'd learned the best way to overcome apprehension was to face it head-on and get rid of it as soon as possible. "Computer," she began, glancing up towards the ceiling, "where is Petty Officer Cu-47 currently located?"

The computer replied in less than two seconds in its soft and soothing female voice. "Petty Officer Cu-47 is currently in his quarters. Deck four, section twenty-two, room nineteen."

Lirha then looked over towards Raven with a mischievous glint in her green eyes before leaning forward to steal a final kiss from her. "There is no time like the present, they say...trust me on this," she whispered. "Computer, transfer the EBH program to deck four, section twenty-two, room nineteen." She watched Raven's final surprised facial expressions before she shimmered away and rematerialized in Copper's room."

Raven gasped as she materialized in a small lab where Copper was working on fixing a replicator. As the exocomp turned towards her, her cheeks turned a deep red with embarassment. "Oh," she said, "Hi Copper. I was just... um... trying to go to sickbay and must have transferred myself to the wrong room... I'll just be deactivating myself and getting some shut-eye..."

The small exocomp blinked a few lights, the equivalent of staring and blinking in confusion. It had only taken miliseconds to scan her code for errors. He'd seen it before after helping her during the Nimbus exercises when she'd inadvertently got stuck looking like a Klingon.

"Query: EBH Mark I program, 'Raven', has made an error but this unit does not detect errors in Raven's code. Please identify the inconsistency so unit CU-47 can fix the Raven program."

"I... er..." Raven paused for a moment, on the verge of panicking due to her embarrassment. "I think it's okay now. Computer, deactivate EBH."

Copper was left alone to ponder the interaction though his processors. His calculation failed to come up with any reliable logical conclusion one way or another. Which was an error in and of its self. Exocomps were problems solvers. Resolving discrepancies and producing the right tool for the right occasion.

As he ran algorithm after algorithm through his axionic chip network he began creating new neural pathways to accommodate this new information. But it would be several moments after Raven was gone that perhaps the old exocomp might have understood. nstead he stored and saved the information for later review and went about his business.

[OFF]

--

RADM Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

EBH Mark I "Raven"
Emergency Babysitting Hologram
USS Galileo

PO1 Unit CU-47 "Copper"
Damage Control Specialist
USS Galileo
[PNPC Wiggins]

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