What is Beauty?

Posted on 08 Feb 2013 @ 8:25am by Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Coleman & Amril
Edited on on 08 Feb 2013 @ 9:40am

1,681 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: Holodeck
Timeline: MD 01-1500 hrs

[ON]

Evelyn needed to get her mind off the current mission and focus on something else. She inhaled a deep breath and made her way to the holodeck, eager to escape the necessary confides of reality. As she rounded the corridor she halted seeing Amril staring at the controls of the Holodeck, she paused watching if he was going to initiate program, and when he didn't she continued forward. "Everything alright over here?" She asked Amril.

"Oh... yes," Amril said absently, studying the controls from a distance, his hands behind his back as if wary of accidently touching something. "I am just studying the holodeck. I understand the science behind it, and its potential for training or even recreational activities, but..." he turned to look at her and just like that dropped his wonderings over the holodeck. "How are you, Commander?"

Evelyn blinked and stared at the Vorta. "I'm hunky-dory Lieutenant." She replied eyes shifting from the holodeck console and Amril. "I came to actually use the holodeck myself for some... recreation, would you like to join me?"

He thought about it. "I think I would enjoy that very much, Commander, but I do not want to interfere with your training or anything. I am sure I can learn a great deal from the holodeck without your guidance."

Evelyn reached out and tapped the console, and the doors opened. She took his hand with hers and pulled him inside the holodeck. "Well we're doing this together, no use talking yourself out of this one Vorta."

He blinked in surprise as he was pulled along. "Very well..." he said as he was pulled in and looked around.

They walked into the holodeck, "Alright, what do you wish to experience first?" Evelyn asked.

"What sort of things are there to experience?"

Evelyn smirked, "There is a lot to experience... do you have any place you wish to see?"

"I do not know of any place I would want to see that you have in your database. Pick one for me."

"Make sure to add a 'please' next time you ask some to do something for you. It's polite, unless you're with a Zalden then forget it." She smirked, and looked up, "Computer... run program Evelyn SR Zero-Zero-Two."

Suddenly the hologrid around them was replaced with a nighttime landscape. They stood on a hill top overlooking a vibrant city. Crystalline architecture the city was glowing against the night sky.

Amril was silent for a minute, looking around. The scene held some curiosity for him, but he seemed to be relatively unaffected by the grandeur of the city. "What is this a depiction of?" he asked, turning to her.

"It's a planet, about a thousand light years away from here, in the Beta Quadrant. It's uninhabited." She smirked staring at the city "That is a naturally made landscape. A crystal city... the wind will pick up and when it does...you'll hear the most beautiful sound in the galaxy...." Evelyn blinked and turned to the Vorta beside her, "how is your hearing?"

"Why, excellent," Amril said, pleased to have her ask about a subject he knew so much about, himself. "Vorta auditory organs are highly developed. It is a great advantage in diplomatic situations. There is not a conversation in a room that I cannot hear, even pick out from background noise."

Eve arched her brow curious now, "How's your listening skills?"

"Listening is also important for a diplomat."

Evelyn looked at him as if studying him. "May I ask you a rather unique question?"

"Of course, Commander."

"Why didn't the Dominion contact directly following the discovery of the Bajorian Wormhole. The entire war could have been prevented, relations between both powers could have been... better off if you had come forward and informed us we were violating your territory."

The question seemed to amuse Amril, for he chuckled. "Who am I but a simple vorta, a servant, to question the will of the Founders? I cannot answer that question, because I do not know myself. But even you know that the vorta and jem'hadar are the only solids that the Founders trust. They do not want peace with solids, they want conquest." By the time he was finished speaking, his expression and tone had gone more somber.

Evelyn chuckled shaking her head, "Can't we all just get along?"

"I would not know the answer to that question." He looked out towards the city again, thoughtfully. "It's beautiful, you say?"

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but yes it is beautiful to me." She smiled looking back at the city. And then the breeze picked up, it was cool and nice. Suddenly there was a faint humming sound coming from the direction of the city. "You hear that? The wind will begin to pick up and the place will..." as if on cue the sound grew louder and the humming developed into cadence of it's own. "sounds like a union between an oboe and a violin."

"I do hear it," he told her, listening intently. "What do you think makes it beautiful, Commander?" He was being perfectly sincere about the question.

Evelyn listened to the natural sound of the crystal city, the melody becoming more pronounced as if an orchestra was beginning their performance. She sighed shrugging her shoulders, "I can't answer that Amril, at least not in the way you'd be satisfied with. The only answer I have is... I just do."

"Ah," he said, sounding a little disappointed, "well, I am glad you find it beautiful."

Eve sighed, hearing the disappointment in his voice. "I'm sorry, that wasn't helpful. Amril, it's beautiful because this is nature. It's not artificially created it's something made by creation."

"So..." he said, "something is beautiful if it is natural? I thought that you considered things made to be beautiful as well. What distinguishes them?"

The El-Aurian looked at the Vorta. "Amril, beauty is in the eye of the beholder." She lifted her hand gesturing to the city. "That is beautiful to me. It is beautiful to me for many factors. It' natural where most things in my everyday life is artificial. The sound that... music, stirs emotions inside me just by listening to it. The combination of this experience makes this place... beautiful to me."

"Then it must not be beautiful to me," Amril said thoughtfully, "I see crystal structures and atmospheric conditions, and I hear the result. The Founders did not give vorta a sense of aesthetics." He paused, looking at the city, and then added, "Is there anyone who thinks this place is ugly?"

"If you're asking if anyone else on this ship thinks it's ugly... no one knows about this." She replied, looking at Amril. "Do you experience emotions? Happiness? Joy? Sadness?"

"Yes, I do," he said, "but beauty is not an emotion, is it? But it seems to me that when one of your kind says that something," he gestured to the landscape before them, "is beautiful, most of the rest agree, and few disagree. So there must be something about beauty that is not just a matter of opinion, or else what you say is hideous would be beautiful to someone else, and there would be people who find this landscape utterly repulsive and horrifying. But that's not the case, is it?"

"You are right, Amril. Beauty is fundamentally is a manner of opinion. Beauty also triggers certain emotional responses within each of us, which various amongst individuals. I find this scenery beautiful it sparks various emotions within me, even brings a memory or two to the surface. You may disagree. Feel nothing about it. Think it's ugly, and that is alright too. That is why I said I can't answer that. All I can ask is, do you find this beautiful to you, Amril?"

"I don't know. I do not feel any different when I look at it, or hear it. I told you, vorta do not have a sense of aesthetics, I cannot tell the difference between something beautiful and something not beautiful. But there must be some difference, because you somehow know what is beautiful and what is not without having to think about it. Even if I think about it, I cannot tell."

Evelyn groaned and rubbed her head. "Oh for Rao's sake!" she yelled, "Amril you're thinking to damn much! It's a manner of pure opinion. Do you find that appealing yes or no. If it yes, then good chance there it's beautiful to you, if not, it's horrid." She sighed and rubbed her temples. "I'm sorry Amril." she whispers, "I didn't mean to snap at you like that."

He waited until after she had finished, thinking about the way she reacted, not sure if there was something deeper underlying her outburst or if it was simple frustration. Something he decided to keep in mind. "It is quite all right," he assured her at last, "but I do not find things appealing or unappealing either. That is not how I think. I am not designed to see beauty, so I cannot, it is a null factor. If beauty is only what one finds beautiful, then I find nothing beautiful."

Eve looked at him, "Well I feel sorry for you then Amril. Must be a curse to want to experience what others experience but being genetically limited."

"Oh, do not worry, Commander," he told her affably, "I cannot miss what I have not experienced, I am merely fascinated by the idea. But I think that I will be able to find out what beauty is someday."

"Amril, I hope all of your dreams come true." Eve smiled at him.

"Ah, well," Amril declared, chuckling, amused by something he wasn't sharing, "we shall see. Why don't you show me another place you think is beautiful?"

Evelyn eyed him suspiciously yet kept her smile. "Computer, Run, Program Evelyn Theta One."

[OFF]

Lt. Commander Evelyn Coleman
Chief Intelligence Officer, 2XO
USS Galileo
Played by Sarah

and

Lieutenant Amril
Chief Operations Officer
USS Galileo
played by Psylus Anon

RSS Feed