Talking History

Posted on 11 Oct 2018 @ 10:27am by Commander Marisa Wyatt & Lieutenant JG Matthew Plumeri
Edited on on 12 Oct 2018 @ 10:05am

2,290 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 07, Astrometrics Lab
Timeline: MD -179, 1400 hours

[ON]

It had been a busy few days, even though Marisa thought her department was ready for departure. Now that all her staff was on board, there were personnel adjustments and lab assignments to sort out, as well as a few minor repairs. All-in-all it went quite well, but it meant she didn't have the time she wanted to talk to some of the new arrivals. One she was most eager to talk with was Matthew Plumeri as he was also an historian.

When she had a break, she went in search of the lieutenant.

[DECK 07 - ASTROMETRICS LAB]

Matthew was working at one of the side consoles in Astrometrics. He was assisting one of his fellow science crew mates by performing a spectrographic analysis of the binary star listed as Nu Octantis. He was correlating some data. As he worked, he had the computer playing some music at a soft level. He always seemed to work better with a little music. It was music he brought from home. Much of it was not in the Federation database. Not yet at least. It was an aria from an opera that he enjoyed very much. He didn't hear the door open to Astrometrics or the Chief Science Officer come in and so he pressed buttons and sang softly as he programmed the computer to run the analysis. He had a good voice. And he liked the music. His arms and hands he used to 'air conduct' the music as he entered in the last sequence of commands.

Marisa watched him work for a moment, waiting for him to finish entering in the commands before speaking. "It's nice to hear opera that isn't Klingon."

Matt turned to see who it was and recognized his CO, the Chief Science Officer, Lieutenant Marisa Sandoval. He let the music continue, he smiled and said, "Yes, sir. Thank you Lieutenant." The program started it's analysis and he stepped away from the console and approached. "It helps me focus, I think? I find I work better when I'm alone to listen to it. I don't force it on anyone else boss. You like it?" He asked her as he stood near by. The lab actually had very good acoustics. A low volume filled the space quite nicely. The music was scored for a small orchestra. One could hear a few violins, a viola, a cello, a few wind instruments and the continuo. It was a single soprano voice that seemed to float effortlessly above the music. Whatever she was singing sounded marvelously beautiful.

"It's beautiful," Marisa said. "Although I tend to listen to other music when I'm working. Do you have a minute?"

He nodded, "Of course boss." He addressed himself to the computer, "Computer, pause music." The music stopped. "What can I do for you sir?"

"If you don't mind, I prefer ma'am. I come from an academic background and I have yet to adjust to being referred to as sir." Marisa smiled. "But that's not why I wish to speak with you. I like to know the people I work with. I studied history myself, and I look forward to working with you."

He nodded. He liked "ma'am" too. "Yes ma'am, that suits me fine too. Oh yeah? What field of History did you study? More importantly...why do you like History? From one historian to another I always like to see what drives my fellow colleagues."

"That's a big question. I spent my childhood on Vulcan, learning about Surak, but it wasn't until my family moved to South America on Earth that I really began to appreciate history. I fell in love with the Pre-Columbian cultures and what little they left behind. That spread to other cultures and other planets. I'm interested in the ancient Rihannsu as well. What about you?"

"Surak...oh yeah...well you couldn't do better than to study Surak if you want to know Vulcans. I find that even though Vulcans admire him, venerate him for his establishment of the Logical Path, the IDIC, there is, I think, in his writings emotionally charged passages. Though, good luck convincing other Vulcans of that observation. And with regard to Earth pre-Columbian civilizations, I read a fascinating paper where Doctor Myra Hess postulates that the Iconians may have visited Earth in the distant past and gave some of their cultural heritage to the peoples of that era. Do your observations and findings support such a view?" he asked.

"There is...passion in his work," Marisa admitted. "But you have to look at the world he lived in, and how he changed Vulcan ideology. It was a time of much passion. As for the Iconians, I've seen nothing to indicate they had any involvement in ancient cultures. Not here, anyway."

He shrugged, "Meh. It's an idea of mine. I'm thinking of writing a paper on it." He laughed and held up a hand, "Don't worry. I won't do it on your watch Lieutenant." He said, "I've always been fascinated by ancient peoples. It started out, of course, with my own people. The Federation had colonists to Fontalis a century before I was born so...all of the trauma of finding out your not the only intelligent creatures in the galaxy was over. Well...mostly. We still think we're the best!" He winked playfully. "But when I found out that Earth also had an interesting and...colorful...past. I wanted to explore it. And I found lots of similarities. And the differences? Well, those just made things interesting."

The computer beeped at him, "Analysis complete." He looked over at the display but didn't turn his attention away from Marisa, "I know this deployment will be three years long, but, do you think we can attend the Galactic Planetary Symposium on Sarthong V via subspace next month?"

"If we're not swamped with some assignment at the time, I don't see why not. I'll see if we can get a holodeck for science to use during the conference," Marisa said. "If not, we'll use one of the labs." Then she smiled. "As for that paper of yours...feel free to use the ship's resources as long as you aren't working on an assignment from me or command. I actually encourage those in my department to have a personal project to work on--and to publish--in their free time. It keeps you active in your field."

"Yes!" he said and pumped his fist, "The Entoosian Archaeology Guild got access to the ruins on Al Gahal. Pictures, etchings and holo-images. I can't wait to see them. What do you suppose life would be like when your planet orbits your star at a blazing 33 day year?" He asked wistfully.

"People live a very long time," Marisa replied, smiling. "If they count years at all. It will be interesting to see what the images and scans reveal."

He nodded in agreement, "Quite interesting." He motioned with his head to the computer console, "Want to review my work on Minadora's spectrographic analysis. I think it's done. See if I got the stellar drift correct?"

"Sure." She walked with him over to the console and looked over the final analysis, checking it against the raw data. "Very nice," she said.

"It seems that Nu Octantis is emitting higher levels of gamma radiation. And has denser heavy elements than three years ago when the last Federation vessel performed a similar analysis. The star could be cooling" he offered.

"At what rate?" she asked. "And how does it compare to projected average degeneration?"

"Chromium, Moltrium, Stretrium, Thulium...Uranium. I don't see anything really unusual. More of them but that would be expected for a star of this age. The rate is 0.579 microdegrees per stellar day. It's faster than it ought to be. It's using up its fuel and in...ouch!....100 million years we'll have to deal with the complaints from the neighbors." He teased and answered her fully, "Degeneration is slightly faster, 0.00018 percent per stellar day."

"The system will be evacuated long before then," she assured him with a spark of humor in her eyes. "And some stars do tend to burn out faster than others. File a report and mark that it should be checked again in another three years. If the rate of cooling has accelerated we should consider launching a probe for continual monitoring."

He nods, "Yes ma'am. Consider it done." His fingers typed in the commands and he sent the results of the analysis to Minadora. "In another three years. Three years and this tour of duty will be done. What do you hope to see out here in the next three years Lieutenant?"

"Honestly? The remains of an ancient civilization or two. Or find a pre-warp society we can study. There's a lot we can still learn from the past."

"I'd like that too. I wish I could be part of a first contact team you know? I mean...ahhh...just everything would be new. Everything. From the ground up we'd have to start fresh with a first contact. I know, it's unlikely to happen. But still, I wouldn't mind it one bit. I guess I can always keep my fingers crossed?" he added.

"Definitely," she assured him. "You never know what we'll come across. That's part of what I enjoy about exploring."

"Have you met many new or...new to you alien civilizations? How long have you been the CSO for the Galileo?

"Yes, I've met alien races. Most recently on Pleione," she said. She didn't think the AI she and Miraj encountered counted as an alien civilization. "I've had a number of opportunities to work on archaeological sites, where I saw the remnants of ancient civilizations. They're fascinating."

"As to your second question, I was given the position on the Galileo a few weeks ago, but I've held the position before."

"I love exploring too. Finding out about the people of the past. It's a love of mine. Good thing they made a science discipline for folks like us ay?" he laughed.

She couldn't help chuckling. "Indeed. What else do you expect from your time on the Galileo?" she asked.

"I've been thinking a lot about that. This will be the longest deployment I've had...ever. I'm thinking about keeping a separate journal. A kind of...chronicle of our adventures out here. It will be a kind of personal account of everything that we see and the people that we meet. Written from a historian's point of view of course. More informal than a log. Fontalans, we love our music and our stories." He snapped his fingers and pointed at her, "Did you really like the music I was listening too when you came in?"

"It was pleasant, yes," she said. "I think you should start a new diary with your insights on the Galileo's three-year mission. It will be an interesting addition to the crew logs."

"I'll keep the chronicle then. Who knows, maybe I can turn it into a white paper and make some waves? Pleasant huh?" He nodded in acceptance, "Pleasant, well, it's not everyone's cup of tea. I brought some of my favorite Fontalan operas. They're holodeck programs. You get to be in the opera itself. It can also be played in a concert setting, you know...just viewing it. Interested in attending one with me?"

"Yes, I believe I would," Marisa said. "I'd be interested to see one of your operas." She was always interested to see what other cultures did for entertainment. At least once. She'd attended a Klingon opera, and this would prove more palatable. "You know, it might be worthwhile to arrange a number of cultural events like this from a number of worlds for the crew to enjoy during the next six months."

"Sounds great! I'll set up the program, gimme a few days to get it into the computer? And yeah, I'd love to see the cultural heritages of the other crew. We could even host the event you know? Maybe on the holodeck the sights, sounds, tastes and smells of different cultures right here on Galileo. Could be very interesting and it might go a long way to help the crew...appreciate the diversity on the ship. Take yourself for example. Human and Vulcan and all of the challenges and successes you have had. It will be very interesting." He was genuinely enthused by the idea.

"I'll let you take charge of it. I'm setting up a series of seminars," Marisa said. "You should definitely include Commander Warraquim and Ensign Mimi."

He nodded affirmatively, "They are on the list. But, I also want to be sensitive to how this is presented to people. It's not a circus. I'll coordinate it with them and I'll let them take the lead with how much they want to participate or how little they want too participate."

Marisa nodded. "A good idea. It looks like you have things well in hand."

With a cheeky grin he replied, "Ay, it's me. I'll take care of it boss." Something about that look. It was unclear which, angel or devil, was whispering in his ear right now. "Well, if there's nothing else ma'am? I should get back to my work."

She wasn't going to question his look. Not until she got to know him better. If nothing else, he was going to keep science interesting. "There's nothing else." She couldn't help smiling, though. "Good luck, lieutenant."

Yes, indeed, she thought as she went back to her office. He would definitely keep things interesting.

[OFF]

--

Lieutenant Marisa Sandoval
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Matthew Plumeri
Science Officer/Historian
USS Galileo-A

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