Erratic Nerd Writings

As they materialized on the planet, they were immediately greeted by a vicious wind that slammed into them, making them all hunch their shoulders beneath the thermal gear they had outfitted themselves in.  One of the security guards, an Asian human female whose name Kanor had already forgotten, raised her voice above the noise.

“Why the hell would the Zaranites want to establish a colony on this rock?!”

Kanor glanced over at Selorus as the Romulan frowned down at his tricorder, calibrating the instrument.  The two other scientists were doing the same, while Munson and his security team were scanning the surrounding area, their phaser rifles ready. 

“We have…adjusted our assumption the Zaranites were seeking to establish a colony on this planet.  Given the system’s dying white dwarf star and the harshness of the environment, we believe they were intending this to simply be their first live test.  They were going to set up a mock colony to run different scenarios, but not actually establish a permanent residence.”

Kanor, his Varon-T disruptor in his left hand, kept his eyes on the surrounding area as he sheathed his Mek’leth.  He pulled out his tricorder, calibrating the device without looking while Selorus directed the pre-arranged pairings of a Science officer and Security officer they had determined in the transporter room in different directions amongst the ruins.  Marcie had specifically requested Kanor be her “security”, and while Munson had protested the idea, Selorus had approved.

“What is it we’re looking for down here again?  I tend to tune out Selorus a lot of the time when he’s talking; I mean didn’t the Zaranites already go over these ruins?”

Kanor grinned as they moved off in the direction Selorus had sent them, sparing glances down at his tricorder as they moved, but mostly staying aware of their surroundings.  Selorus tended to have a very dry, stoic manner to his speech; that Marcie tuned him out like that he found amusing.  At times, the Lieutenant seemed more Vulcan than Romulan.

“They did, but they were merely a survey team.  They were looking for signs of intelligent life, determining the qualities of the planet and its atmosphere and how it suited their terraforming test needs.  The Enterprise has a better sensor suite and equipment to study the place with, and frankly, probably better qualified people.”

He glanced back at Marcie, walking just a couple of paces behind him to his left.  Her eyes were intent on her tricorder, barely aware of where she was walking.  The seemingly constant wind was making her raven-hued hair writhe around her head with a life of its own.  They were having to shout to be heard; Kanor idly wondered if any hostiles would be able to hear them coming or not.  Despite the lack of any lifeforms detected by the Enterprise’s sensors, he was always weary of something the sensors might have missed.

“Ah.  Well…it’s certainly pretty barren down here.  Even planet life is practically non-existent, at least in the surrounding area.”

“That star is dying a lot faster than I would have guessed for this region of space.  It’s a wonder there’s this much illumination down here as it is.”

While Kanor and Selorus wouldn’t have the same difficulties seeing as the rest of the team down here, the planet’s “daylight” would probably fall under “dusk” properties on most planets.  It was cold, and Kanor could feel the bite of that wind even through the thermal gear Enterprise had provided for him.  They made their way through the ruins, each of them gathering as much information as they could, but not finding much.  They stopped after a while inside a chamber that was largely intact; it was sunken beneath ground level, and had remnants of a roof overhead.  There was evidence wildlife had inhabited the structure before, but even that was extremely old.  Most importantly, the chamber provided some welcome relief from that wind.

“I’m just amazed this place has remained this intact for so long.  The preliminary dating of these ruins indicates the people that built this thrived a LONG time ago.”

Kanor nodded, studying his own readouts.  At least they didn’t have to talk so loud in here.  They had activated wrist-mounted portable lights upon entering; the far-side of the structure had collapsed, and that portion of the roof had caved in, but there wasn’t enough light coming in to see by, even for him.

“Most likely due to the location.  While these winds are…quite persistent, the mountain ranges surrounding the site seem to provide a natural buffer from the worst of it.  I doubt we’d even be able to keep our footing on the mountains or beyond.  That these winds haven’t worn all traces of these ruins away over time is, in of itself, curious.”

Marcie frowned, running her tricorder around in a circle where she stood in the middle of the room.

“I haven’t seen anything indicating a written language, though.  If it’s not meant for function it seems to be…aesthetically pleasing, not meant to convey any sort of message.”

Kanor crouched down, scanning with his tricorder where an intact wall met the floor.  He holstered his disruptor, reaching out with his left hand to brush along the wall.

“And I’m having a hard time determining what this is even made of; there are traces of stone AND metal in these walls.  Not individual components, but fused somehow, in flux.  Makes it difficult to scan.”

“Don’t you think it’s odd we haven’t run into any artifacts?  I mean take this place, for example.  Sheltered from the elements, and yet there doesn’t seem to be any objects of any kind lying around, unless you count animal remains.”

Kanor’s eyes swept around the room, noting the oddity.  Regardless of what this place had been used for, surely it would have had furniture of some kind, or evidence of its presence from before.

“I don’t believe the Zaranite surv…”

“Selorus to Doctor O’Neil, please respond.”

Marcie plucked the chirping communicator from her belt pouch, using one hand to hold it while she stretched a finger of her other hand away from the tricorder to flip open the grille.

“O’Neil here.”

“Report.”

Marcie rolled her eyes as she shot Kanor a glance.

“Not much to report.  Kanor and I have stopped inside a mostly intact structure to investigate, though there’s not a lot here to look over.  We’ve travelled…just under three kilometers from the beam-down location.”

“I will contact you again in another thirty minutes.  Contact me if you encounter anything of significance beforehand.  Selorus out.”

Marcie shook her head, replacing the communicator and refocusing on her tricorder as she stepped from the center of the room.

“He would, of course, get paranoid on an empty planet…”

Kanor got to his feet, shrugging his shoulders as he tried to find something else of interest in here.

“He’s being mindful; cautious, not paranoid.  That’s not a bad thing, especially on an unknown planet dealing with a civilization that hasn’t really been encountered before.  Besides, ruins like these, anything could happen.  Something crumbles, shifts just right…we’re trying to cover a large area, we should keep in regular contact just to make sure.  I’d recommend twenty minutes, personally, but…”

He trailed off as he saw Marcie standing still, facing a blank wall.  Her features were drawn together in puzzlement, her fingers adjusting the settings of her tricorder.

“Find something unusual…?”

“I’m…not sure.  Like you said, whatever this building is made of, it sends these weird fluctuations, makes in-depth scans difficult.  But…I swear, for a minute there…”

Kanor directed his own tricorder to scan the area Marcie seemed to be focusing on.  He tried adjusting the scanning parameters, to see if he could catch something odd, but Marcie beat him to it.

“There it was again.  A room, beneath this one.”

Kanor’s right eyebrow arched up.  He hadn’t caught it on his scanner, but Marcie might have hit just the right setting.  She held out her tricorder towards him so he could see the visual replay she had brought up on its screen, then paused it when it showed up.

“See, right there.  Shows a room beneath the floor; a basement or something.  Not big, but…”

“But where’s the door…?  There weren’t any hatches outside, and THIS room was sunken in below ground level, let alone another chamber beneath.”

Marcie shook her head, crouching down and waving her tricorder down in front of her.  Kanor crouched beside her, eyes narrowing as he looked for any minute oddities in the surface, or where the floor met the wall.  Something indicating a switch, an access device of some kind.

“I don’t know.  It SHOULD be here, but…in between fluctuations it seems like it’s just solid flooring.  Maybe it’s pressure activated or something…?”

She pressed her left hand down against the floor, her delicate-looking fingers flexing as she exerted pressure.  Kanor tried to envision what a door, similar in dimension to the other doorways they had encountered, might look like in the floor, and reached out to press his hand down in the imaginary center of it.  He flinched, drawing his hand back; something seeming to physically…flick inside his head.

“What the…” he muttered.

A grating noise rumbled beneath their feet, and a split appeared in the flooring where Kanor had envisioned the door.  He and Marcie both shuffled away from it, exchanging startled glances.

“What’d you do?” Marcie asked.

Kanor shook his head, his brow furrowed deeply, wondering what that sensation had been in his skull.  It was flitting, at least.

“I don’t know…tripped something, I guess…?”

They watched as the seemingly solid material seemed to simply shift in front of them, revealing the entrance to the chamber below they had been searching for.  Kanor was puzzled by the mechanics of it; there wasn’t a part of the floor withdrawing, or swiveling on some hinge.  The solidarity of the floor was simply moving, shifting in front of them to reshape around this new form of an entryway.  It didn’t flow, like liquid, or shimmer, like some play of light.  It was…more like some invisible hand was moving individual molecules of the floor.  Marcie took a step forward, craning her neck to see down into the dark pit, but Kanor’s arm shot out in front of her, blocking her.

“I’ll go first; we don’t know what’s down there.”

Marcie frowned, but stopped, waiting for him.  She shone her wrist light at the opening as Kanor withdrew his disruptor again, keeping aim on the hole as he maneuvered so he wouldn’t block Marcie’s light.  As he drew closer, his own light revealed a set of steps going down; whether they had been there before the doorway appeared he couldn’t be certain.  Stale, musty air reached his nostrils as he advanced, wafting up out of the opening and only getting stronger.  Whatever the place was down there, it hadn’t been exposed like this for a long time.  Marcie was studying her tricorder.

“I’m not detecting any lifesigns down there.  With that hole, I can scan the room now, at least.”

“That’s good…”

Kanor’s eyes shifted to his tricorder as he directed it down the steps, trying to see if there were any possible traps that weren’t alive he might be walking into.  He placed his foot on the top step and started heading down.

“I’ve never seen something…appear like that door did.  What happened?  You seemed to recoil right before the thing opened up.”

Kanor’s head was on level with the floor of the first room, now.  He turned in the stairwell to look back at Marcie, who was coming over to the top of the stairs behind him.  As he did, his hip brushed the wall of the stairwell, and he felt the material snag on something.  It didn’t rupture the fabric, at least.

“I’m not sure; it was like something…poked me inside my head or something.  It didn’t hurt so much as it was…unexpected.  Be careful coming down, the walls seem to be jagged down here.”

The second room was significantly smaller than the first; it didn’t take Kanor long to determine it clear of any dangers he could identify, at least.  He reholstered his disruptor, and Marcie followed him down once he called up the all-clear, though she was already leaning over the edge of the opening and peering around, her nose wrinkling at the stale smell.

“What do you think this place was used for?  All enclosed and hidden away and everything.”

Kanor shook his head, shrugging. 

“Who knows?  Maybe it was simply a storage area, some utility closet or something.”

“Guess it’s hard to speculate without any furniture…and without an understanding of their technology, their culture.  It’s featureless in here…”

She stepped closer to one of the walls, her eyes narrowing as she stared, directing her tricorder over everything.

“Is this stuff crystalline…?”

Kanor was scanning the floor; if there was one room below, maybe there was another?  A half-formulated idea of architecture that went down rumbled around in his brain.

“Hmm…?  Yeah, looks like it, I kinda snagged my suit on it coming down…the floor isn’t, though.  Both of them are made of different material than the room above.”

Marcie was shaking her head; she had detached her medical scanner from the tricorder’s casing and had started moving it over the surface.

“It’s not crystalline; I’m not certain, but…I think it might be…might HAVE been, biological in nature…”

Kanor frowned, glancing over his shoulder at her.

“Biological…?  Why didn’t we pick it up before?”

“It’s just like all the other stuff this place seems composed of; it fluctuates.  It’s certainly not alive, not anymore, but at one point in time, I think…it MIGHT have been.”

Marcie’s brow had furrowed, a deep crease forming between her eyebrows that…almost seemed comical.  She reached for the medical kit she had slung over her shoulder that rested against her left hip.

“I’m going to collect a sample to bring back to the Lady for study.”

Kanor’s scans of the floor had proven to be a dead end.  He nodded as Marcie pulled out a scalpel, a bright light coming from its end as she proceeded to remove a portion of the wall, and moved over to the stairs as she worked.

“It’ll be the only thing of note we’ve managed to uncover so far.  Hopefully the others are faring better than we are.”

Kanor’s eyes scanned the ceiling around the stairs leading up, trying to discern any signs of the engineering for the door device he had seemed to inadvertently activate.  There didn’t seem to be enough space between the floor of the top room and the ceiling of the bottom room to accommodate machinery, but then this whole civilization so far seemed to be of an alien nature unlike any he had heard of before.  They had collected some samples as they made their way through the ruins of various structures; the rough range of the age of this place seemed incongruous to the level of craftsmanship and methodology they were encountering.  Perhaps this had been a colony planet…?

“All done.  See something up there you want to take a sample of?”

Kanor looked at her, contemplated, then pursed his lips.’

“You know, yeah, actually.  This place is a lot more intact than any of the other places we collected from, though.  I might need to do some cutting myself.”

He paused for a moment, looking up the stairs.

“Maybe you should head up, first.  If I should trip something, and we both get caught down here…”

He’d be fine.  He was confident he’d be able to teleport out if the need arose, but he had never attempted to teleport anyone else along with him before.  Theoretically possible; he had constructed the command prompts for the bodyslide system with that contention in mind.  Once he had begun work on Cypher, however, the teleportation tech just…hadn’t really been his focus.  He had made it safe, worked out the kinks-well, as much as he could, stupid targeting orientation-but it got him the use he needed out of it, so he was content with that.

“Good point, though maybe you should be the one up top while I try to cut a piece out.  The door responded to YOU, you know, not me.”

Kanor shook his head. 

“No way.  Besides, that was just a fluke.”  He paused a moment, but couldn’t help a playful grin crossing his features.  “And I’ve got a trick or two up my sleeve.”

She grinned right back at him.

“Now THAT doesn’t surprise me…alright, fine.  But I’m giving you a full scan once we’re done here to make sure that ‘poking’ you felt wasn’t something more serious.”

“Yes, DOCTOR O’Neil…”

She started heading up the stairs, looking back at him and shaking her tricorder at him accusatorily.

“That’s Lieutenant Commander Doctor O’Neil to you, mister, and don’t you forget it!”

He waited until she was crouched at the top, looking down at him, trying not to look concerned though it was obvious she was.  He pulled out the engineering cutter from his kit; essentially the same thing as Marcie’s medical scalpel, but less refined and more powerful.  He went up a few steps, keeping his head below the edges of the doorframe (self-decapitation was a no-go, in his books), and glanced up at her. 

“Alright, back up a bit.  Not sure what I’m dealing with, here, don’t want you caught in anything.”

She reluctantly scooted back a little, though not much.  He didn’t like it, but had a feeling she wouldn’t budge any further.  He activated the cutter, taking an educated guess on where machinery to operate a door system might reside as he pressed it up against the ceiling…

…and nothing happened.  He frowned, deactivating the cutter, drawing it down to adjust the settings, then attempting again.

Still, nothing.

“Well that was certainly anti-climatic.”

Kanor didn’t respond to Marcie’s jab, instead jumping the cutter up to the highest level, it’s maximum output.  Yet again, not even a scratch.  Bewildered, he reached a hand up to brush over the surface; he couldn’t even detect a single marring of the material.  He turned at the waist and aimed the device at the crystalline-looking wall nearby; activating it caused an outburst of crystal-like material to go flying all over the place.

“Was that really necessary?”

“I wanted to make sure it was working properly.”

“The little glowy thing at the end wasn’t a good enough indicator?”

Kanor made sure the device was secure and deactivated, shooting her a disapproving look as he started heading up the stairs.

“You don’t understand.  That’s my personal engineering cutter; it’s industrial-grade, and I’ve done some…adjusting of the safeguards.  It’s not like the normal stuff you guys have on the Enterprise; that last setting should have ripped a hole right through there no problem.”

“You obviously haven’t gotten a good look at Skid’s box.”

Kanor’s eyebrow arched as he looked at her, an image of Skid’s body flashing across his thoughts.  The two of them wrestling, her legs attempting to maneuver for that perfect leverage, the…angles of view he was exposed to, however briefly…

Kanor’s blank stare prompted Marcie to follow-up.

“You know, her toolbox?  You wouldn’t believe what that woman carries around in there; I bet she’s got a cutter to make yours look like a children’s toy.”

Ahhh, Marcie.  She seemed so…blissfully, innocently naïve sometimes, especially when it came to sexual matters.  He mentally shook his head, clearing his thoughts.

“Regardless, that ceiling was…more resilient than it should have been.  The walls weren’t that way, why was the ceiling?”

“Well, we don’t know what the…”

Marcie’s belt chirped.  Her communicator.

“Munson to O’Neil.  Respond, please.”

“Does no one include the Klingon on contacts…?” he muttered.  He took the last step out of the stairwell, moving to Marcie’s side.

Munson’s voice sounded tight, urgent.  Marcie shut her tricorder, slipped it in her belt pouch, and grabbed her communicator, opening it with two hands.

“Doctor O’Neil here, with Kanor.”

“Emergency change of plans.  Double-time it back to the beam out location.”

Kanor had been given his own communicator for the away mission, but since Marcie’s was open and receiving…

“What’s going on?”

Munson sounded irritated by Kanor’s question, but answered it anyways.

“Enterprise just reported-that monstrosity we ran into the other day just dropped out of warp.  It’s heading this way.”

Kanor swore vehemently.

“What’s our course of action?”

“We’re getting the hell out of here, that’s what.  Enterprise can’t stand up to that thing, not when we don’t know anything about it.”

Marcie was securing her med-kit, eyes scanning around the room to make sure they weren’t forgetting anything.  Kanor, too, was ensuring his gear was in place and secured for quick action; that was his normal practice, but he always rechecked.  His tricorder put away, on standby.  His Varon-T secured, though capable of being quick-released.

“How were they able to follow us here?” Marcie said.

“Just get back to the beam site, pronto.  Munson out.”

Marcie closed her communicator and returned it to her belt, her eyes looking past Kanor.

“The door.”

Kanor glanced behind him, his eyes widening. 

“I didn’t even hear it…”

The stairs he had just come up, the doorway they had both just gone through to the room below, was completely gone, without a trace.

“If you didn’t hear it, I certainly didn’t.”

Again, there was no visible sign there had ever been an opening there.  Though…Kanor thought, with closer scrutiny, he could at least see some dust disturbance, which…was something, he guessed.

“Ready?”

Her face set, Marcie nodded. 

“Lead the way.”

{{Noticed a continuity error in previous posts, believe I got it corrected.  The story continues.}}

“…and that’s when I decided I wanted to be a doctor.”

“On a starship?”

“Well, not at first, no…but…eventually I realized it wasn’t that I wanted my own practice, and I didn’t want to be…I don’t know, ensconced in some cocoon of a hospital or anything.   I wanted to be out here, seeing new things, encountering life no one ever had before, or at least not many had.  I mean, this planet we’re going to, that giant ship we ran into the other day…we have no idea what kinds of people we’ll encounter, who they are, what they’re like.”

Kanor snorted, the arm he had curled under and around Marcie shifting, unconsciously drawing her closer because it was more comfortable. 

“Most likely, they’re the kinds of people that will destroy us as fast as they did that pirate ship without hesitation.”

Marcie lifted the hand she had been resting on his bare chest and smacked him with it.

“Shut up, you know what I mean.  We don’t know that, we barely know anything about them.  We don’t even know what they look like!”

Kanor craned his head to look into her face where it rested on his shoulder.  Their eyes met, and he arched an eyebrow at her.

“So you pursued being a doctor on a starship because you liked the thrill of your life being endangered…”

She rolled her eyes at him, then started her reply as if she were talking to a small child.

“Nooooo…I just…”  She paused, collecting her thoughts.  “I want to be challenged with something different.  I want to figure things out on my own that haven’t been before; I want that thrill of making sense of xenobiology for the first time.  Not your typical med school xenobiology of…of Vulcans that everyone knows; something strange.  Something no one has ever even heard of before.”

Kanor thought she was finished, was about to make some flippant remark about Vulcans, when he felt the skin of her cheeks flash with heat against him as she tentatively added.

“I…I want to be the doctor they talk about in classrooms.  ‘Doctor Sam O’Neil originally discovered this species when she blah blah blah blah’…that’s…that’s what I want…”

She had taken on a deeper, studious tone as she adopted the voice of that unknown scholar teaching students.  It made Kanor smile.  He felt Marcie hug herself up against his side, nuzzling her face against his chest and murmuring quietly.

“I’ve never told anyone that…”

He wasn’t really sure what to say to that, especially since she sounded so vulnerable admitting it.  So he simply stated what felt most important to get across.

“Thank you.”

They were silent for a few moments, neither of them speaking.  Kanor’s brow furrowed slightly as he tried to remember how their conversation had drifted onto a topic so personal.  His gaze had drifted back up to the stars streaking by outside the viewport above his bed.

“What about you?”

“Hmm?”

“When did you decide you wanted to be a…a bounty hunter…?”

He turned his head again to look back at her, finding her gazing at him inquisitively.  He was a bit taken aback, but it wasn’t like she was asking for command codes to the Hunt or something.

“Um…well, wasn’t something I…had a drive to do or anything.  I knew I could do it, and the credits keep me afloat.”

“Afloat to do what?”

“Uh…to survive, I guess…?  The Empire isn’t like the Federation.  If you cannot pay for your food, your lodgings, or work for them, you die.”

“I understand that.  Just because I grew up in the Federation doesn’t mean I’m still blind to the galaxy outside of it, you know.  So you’re surviving, keeping afloat.  What are you surviving for?”

Kanor opened his mouth to answer, but found he didn’t have anything to say.  He found himself frowning, his lips closing in a thin line.

“What do you do when you’re not on a job, when you’re not training and preparing for the next mission and everything?  I mean…is there something you’re setting aside credits to do, something you’re waiting for the right opportunity for…?”

“I…well, I have some…projects I work on, yes…” he said.

She shifted against him, angling her head so she could more comfortably look at him, smiling.  “Yeah…?  Like what?”

Kanor was conflicted.  He didn’t share what he did, because then people might attempt to steal his work; might try to alter what he had envisioned.  Might attempt to do their own version of his idea; and it was HIS idea.

“Some…things I like to create.  Different technologies, their applications and stuff…”

His eyes spared a quick glance at her.  She looked eager; happy, even.  Why did she care about his projects?  Part of him immediately supplied the idea that she was digging for information to report, to give Kaz an inside track to what he was capable of, what he had going on.  That was quickly admonished with the way her voice had sounded when she had revealed to him why she did what she did, what she longed for.  He became acutely aware of the warmth of her body up against him, the touch of the rather thin material she wore to sleep in because his body radiated so much heat.  Over the past few days, he had almost started to take them for granted.  They were comforting sensations; pleasant in a way other than just physically, even.  Shouldn’t that mean he should be wary, then?  “I’ve never told anyone that” echoed around in his brain.

“I’m…fascinated with the possibilities of artificial intelligence…of self-aware, fully adaptable and evolving independent life…”

“Aren’t you concerned with the issues surrounding creating a new life form like that?  The potential abuses, subjugations?  Or what if they evolve to the point we get abused and subjugated by THEM?”

“Do we have such concerns when we bring children into the world?  The same concepts apply…”

His initial trepidations melted away as their conversation took off.  While Marcie didn’t know too much about the technical side of the scenario, she had a strong sense of ethics, and was certainly more competent than Kanor when it came to knowledge of biological life.  She brought up several very good, well thought-out and reasoned counterpoints as they discussed the matter.  It wasn’t until he saw Marcie lifting her right hand from his chest to hold it over her mouth as she stifled a yawn that he realized they had been talking for a while.

“…so, sure, there are definitely valid concerns and issues, but…I guess I just feel like we can’t let that keep us from exploring the idea.  To not do it would be just as grave an injustice than if we were to do it recklessly, or for the wrong reasons.  Not doing it just because we’re afraid to.”

She was still looking at him as he finished, the ghost of a grin tugging at her features, even as she struggled to keep her eyes open. 

“It’s nice to see you animated about something other than…pretty girls or violence.”

He found the hand he had resting against her body squeezing her lightly, oblivious to the fact it was the swell of her backside; he meant nothing sexual by it.

“And you look like you’re about to fall asleep.”

She chuckled quietly, her eyelids sliding down, giving up their fight at last.

“Not because I wasn’t interested or want to…”

She burrowed back up against him, a soft sigh escaping her lips while he reached over with his free arm to tap the light controls beside the bed, plunging his quarters into darkness.  It somehow felt more appropriate to use the manual controls than to call out.

“You’ve never told anyone that before either, have you…?”

Gazing up at the stars again, his fingers idly moving back and forth against her flesh lightly, used to the tingling sensation their skin contact elicited, now, he found himself surprised by the answer.

“No, I…can’t say as I have.” 

She made a sound he wasn’t sure what to call, but it sounded pleased, if nothing else.

“Mmm…I knew we were going to be great friends…” she murmured.

                                                                           *****

Kanor stepped out of the shower and proceeded to towel himself off, thinking back to that morning’s workout with Skid.  It had been nearly a week since the Enterprise had left Independent space, and during that time he had started to settle into a daily routine.  The sparring and workout sessions with Skid were only one of them.  They had gotten a good feel for each other’s capabilities and usual tactics; now, Kanor looked forward to discovering how they had each decided to throw the other off since the day before.  Enjoying the sight of the voluptuous redhead’s form in action so closely every morning was certainly a plus as well.

“It would appear you are adjusting to life aboard the Enterprise with the Independent Fleet crew rather well, Master.”

Kanor paused for a brief moment at Cypher’s unexpected observation.  Their journey out to the location of this alien planet had not changed Cypher’s frosty demeanor towards him, nor her insistence upon using the word “master” in regards to him.  He had made multiple, futile attempts at trying to reconcile things with her, but hadn’t really gotten anywhere.  Though the idea seemed to get more and more attractive every day, he still refused to simply reprogram or order her to change her behavior.

“I have begun to develop a bit of…professional respect for members of the Enterprise’s crew, yes.”

“Especially for two of the crew’s more attractive females.”

“Skid and Marcie are simply two members of the crew I seem to be having the most interaction with at this time.”

“In my studies of biologicals social and cultural ideas, I have not encountered sleeping with one’s coworkers to be considered ‘professionally respectful’ in many cases.”

Kanor scowled as he finished toweling himself dry, heading over to the mirror to continue with his morning rituals.

“Marcie and I are not sleeping together; we’re simply…well, sleeping in the same bed.  We’re not engaged in sexual relations of any kind, which is what is generally implied when someone says ‘sleeping together’, as annoying as that is…”

“However, I have observed the two of you in extremely close proximity to each other during the sleeping process, as well as the time leading up to and following the act.  Does this not indicate a level of physical intimacy?”

“Well…it does, yes, but…”

“I have also observed that not only has the amount of conversation the two of you have engaged in increased, but the topic matters considered ‘personal’ and generally ‘off limits’ to strictly professional interactions has increased significantly, especially considering your general anti-social qualities.”

Kanor sighed, pausing for a moment in his facial hair grooming to mull over a response.  The fact that Cypher had, in essence, been eavesdropping, observing, and likely recording his interactions with Marcie seemed rather unsettling, as well.

“It has, yes.”

“Why?  You have not shared a particularly bonding experience together; a joint project, a momentous occasion, a battle, sexual intercourse.  Neither of you had mutual acquaintances before your arrival aboard the Enterprise; there has not even been a medical incident that has precluded the illusion of intimacy a doctor and patient can encounter.  A week ago, you did not even know of Doctor O’Neil’s existence, and yet I have witnessed you discussing things with her you have not even mentioned to me, your frequent business associates, or past lovers.  As far as I have been able to determine, you have not even performed the usual background checks you typically perform.”

Kanor’s eyes narrowed minutely at Cypher’s response.  Was that…frustration, agitation, jealousy, even, he was hearing from her?  This felt like a simply perfect opportunity for him to help her understand biological interactions better.

“Honestly, I can’t really explain it either.  It’s not that I trust people aboard the Enterprise, or even Marcie, more than some of the people you’ve mentioned.  However, as I’m sure you’ve also noted, Marcie seemed…convinced, for whatever reason, we were going to be close friends from the moment we met.  Though she still barely knows me, with absolutely no reason to trust I wouldn’t hurt her, kill her, or…or even rape her outright, she puts herself in an extremely dangerous and vulnerable position every night.”

“An incredibly illogical, if not practically impossible, situation for a young female human woman to be putting herself into with a strange male, especially a Klingon male.  I would postulate the odds the Enterprise’s warp reactor would randomly breach and explode are significantly greater.” 

Kanor frowned at Cypher’s postulation, but decided to simply ignore it.

“It’s bordering a level of outright fantasy and insanity, I agree.  However she came to that course of action, she also was immediately comfortable in a level of physical…closeness.  Maybe she finds large statured men comforting, perhaps I remind her of her father; she hasn’t stated, it doesn’t matter.  Regardless, she initiated a…a deeper connection between biologicals than merely talking-physical contact.”

“Judging by physical reactions her physical contact elicits in you at times, I believe you certainly find her physically attractive, and enjoy her physical contact, though your mother was…”

“Attraction is only a small part of that.  Physical contact is another way biologicals use to communicate with each other.  Attraction, sure, but also trust, comfort, even non-romantic love.  It’s a very intimate form of communicating, but that doesn’t mean it’s restricted to only sexual overtones.”

Cypher was silent for a few moments as she processed that.

“That does not answer my initial question.  Why have your interactions with Doctor O’Neil proceeded to a state of intimacy and trust at such an accelerated rate?”

Kanor, taking one final look in the mirror and scowling darkly at the flecks of towel that, again, had lodged themselves into his cranial ridges, shrugged his shoulders as he attempted to clear off the white fluffs. 

“There are multiple, differing levels and areas of trust, Cypher.  As well as multiple, differing levels of communication that biologicals correlate to building intimacy and trust.  I’m afraid I can’t really explain it any further than that; you would have to experience it yourself, and you can’t.”

Cypher was again silent in response, and Kanor tried not to take too much satisfaction in having hopefully driven home a very valid reason for his desire to provide her with a physical body.  He left the lavatory area and proceeded to get dressed.  The Enterprise was scheduled to arrive at the location of the planet that evening; while he still had some things he wanted to do before they arrived, he couldn’t skip his daily meeting with Skid.

                                                                           *****

Kanor stepped through the doors into the main briefing room, where Skid was waiting for him.  She had initially suggested the main briefing room for their meetings because it was somewhere on the ship he knew and had been to before.  Kanor suspected it’s “strictly business” atmosphere and the fact it was adjacent to the ship’s armory might have something to do with it as well.  She was in the same seat she had occupied during the senior staff meeting a week ago, the same seat she took every day.  Kanor took the seat Drei had occupied during that meeting- one chair over from her right- the same spot he choose during each of their meetings. 

“What’s on the docket for today?”

She consulted her PADD as she sipped a steaming beverage.

“Well, since Kaz wants us all on-hand when we arrive at the planet tonight, we agreed to delay what was to be your first security staff performance evaluation this afternoon…”

“Despite what we’re heading into and how busy that will make everyone, especially the security staff, I STILL think it’s imperative we move on that right away; tomorrow afternoon, ideally.”

She eyed him over her mug, shaking her head in what he had come to recognize as an amused manner from her.

“You’re a right flippin’ slave driver, boyo, I’ll give you that.” 

She sighed, glancing down at her PADD for a moment, then rather reluctantly tapping its screen a few times.

“Alrighty.  Tomorrow afternoon, after lunch, 1300 hours, then.  That IS assumin, of course, we’re not arms deep in aliens with donuts by that time tomorrow.”

Kanor inclined his head in her direction slightly, adding that appointment to his own PADD, since he was still operating under the guise of Cypher not existing with the Enterprise crew.

“Kaz has denied your request to allow you unrestricted access to the comm system, but wanted me to assure you you’re welcome to continue utilizing it for whatever purposes you’d like, as long as the communications officer on duty has authorized it.”

Kanor grunted, but accepted the information in stride.  He hadn’t really expected for Kaz to grant him the same privileges he extended to the members of the senior staff in regards to privacy and free rein with the comm system, but he had to ask. 

“I went over your security staff shift scheduling rotations, placements, and patrol route suggestions with Munson.  We came to the conclusion that, with some…minor adjustments and tweaks, they could prove beneficial.  So…thank you.”

Kanor snorted as he sipped from the frigid water that sat on the table within reach for him.  While the “current” information Skid had supplied him of their security staff routes and staffing levels had obviously been tweaked for his eyes, and had “odd” gaps in information surrounding the higher importance areas of the ship, Kanor hadn’t brought the issues up.  If anything, the gaps helped identify some of those higher importance areas for him, and it wasn’t like he had supplied them with improvements he wouldn’t be able to circumvent himself.  They were markedly better than what was supposedly in place, however, and Kanor felt they would serve to safeguard the Enterprise and her crew quite well.

“I’m sure Mister Munson also extends his most heartfelt thanks as well.”

Skid made a disapproving sound to his comment, but otherwise ignored it.

“Lastly, Selorus wants to get chummy with ya in his office this afternoon so that the two of you can go over the data that’s been compiled about the planet one last time before we go slidin up to the doorstep.”

Kanor arched an eyebrow.

“Why didn’t he simply send me a message himself?”

Skid shrugged, sitting her PADD down as she leaned back in her chair, cradling her mug and propping her feet up on the edge of the table.  She was wearing one of her jumpsuit “uniforms”, this set having some anonymous stains of some sort in various places along her right leg.  He tried not to dwell on the much more attractive and revealing images of her legs he was exposed to during their workouts every morning.

“You know how he is, or at least you’re starting to, I’d wager.”

He frowned.

“My people-all three of them, actually-don’t exactly get along well with his kind.”

“I’m sure they feel the same way.  In fact, something along those lines is probably why the Founders started the bloody Dominion.”

He grunted, conceding her point.

“Ye’ve made a point of avoiding almost everyone on the crew while you’re not workin, with the exception of myself, and maybe Marcie.”

Kanor wondered how much of his…interactions with Marcie Skid and the general crew were aware of.  While keeping it perpetually hidden was unlikely, he still would prefer if Marcie wasn’t viewed unfavorably by her peers, especially for something that wasn’t even happening.

“If this is yet another inquiry as to why I did not attend the party last week…”

Skid held up a hand defensively, shaking her head.

“No no, just sayin…ye take your meals in your quarters, never visit the recreational rooms aboard the ship and with the exception of our morning exercises, never leave your quarters unless you’re headin down to your ship or workin.  Heard one of my boys down in Engineering refer to you as “the Phantom” the other day, Youngblood.”

Kanor smiled, shifting in the entirely too comfortable chair. 

“Excellent.  Perhaps that will add a sense of foreboding in the crew as I begin my security evaluations.”

Skid threw her hands up in the air, sloshing some of the dark liquid in the mug over the edge to fall on her jumpsuit.

“Of course, you ENJOY the infamy.”

“You gave me an…almost thorough tour of the ship, introduced me to some of the crew.  I worked with Jax for a couple of days to determine the location of the planet, have interacted with Selorus and his senior science teams electronically.  I have visited Doctor O’Neil a few times, and see you daily.  What more do they need to know of me?”

Skid shook her head, lifting the mug up to drink from, seemingly oblivious to the drops that continued to slip from the sides to fall on her jumpsuit, seeping into the material and darkening the fabric.

“Fine, fine…I’ll certainly not be a mother hen, what you want to do is what you want to do…”

“Hmph…from what I understand of this ‘mother hen’ behavior, you are always…”

Skid shot him a look that silenced him, though he couldn’t help letting a wicked smile cross his features, knowing he was right.  The curvy redhead tossed her head back, emptying the contents of the mug, drawing her feet off the table as she let it hit the surface, and leaned forward a little in her chair.

“Now, one last thing…I’ve noticed you seem to draw a lot of power to your quarters, mister…”

Kanor stiffened, his fingers loosely weaving together in his lap as he lifted his left leg to rest over his right knee.  He arched an eyebrow in her direction, his face devoid of any particular reaction.

“Is there some sort of limit to how much I am allotted to use, are my consumption rates too draining on the ship’s EPS network, a danger to it’s power reserves?”

Skid lips pursed as she shook her head, her gaze sliding to the side to avoid his directly.

“No, no, nothing like that…I was just…curious what you could possibly be doing that’s pulling so much energy, that’s all…”

“I’m glad.  I do endeavor to ensure I am not imposing too much on the…hospitality of my business associates.”

Skid’s eyes lifted to meet his again, their edges narrowing just a touch as she scrutinized him.

“Indeed.  Well, then…” she smacked the table with a hand lightly.  “I suppose I’ll see ya later tonight, eh, Youngblood?”

“2113, yes.  I get to visit the bridge again.”

They both got to their feet, each of them retrieving their respective PADDs and making their way around the table towards the door.

“Smashin.  I’ll see ya then!”

“Until then, Red.”

                                                                           *****

Kanor stabbed the page button beside the door to the main science lab on deck seven.  He had been trying to prepare himself for this encounter since Skid had told him about it; but he wished, not for the first time, he could have prevented it occurring in this fashion.  He was heading into the Romulan’s lair, following the Romulan’s terms for their meeting; tactically, an incredibly weak situation to be putting himself into.

“Enter.”

The voice came from the panel with the page button, transmitting Selorus’ invitation and releasing the lock upon the doors, allowing them to slide apart like normal.  Kanor stepped into the lab, stopping his hands from twitching as the doors slid shut behind him.  The room was dark, at least darker than the standard light settings for most areas of the Enterprise, though Kanor didn’t have trouble seeing clearly.  There was a large holographic display column in the center of the room, where the planet the Enterprise was heading towards spun slowly in mock orbit.  His eyes swept the area, which appeared to be only illuminated by the light of display screens and control panels.

“I understand you wished to discuss the Zaranite planet?”

The voice seemed to come towards the left of the room, from a centralized control station.  He couldn’t see anyone over there, however, when his gaze shifted.

“Technically, it is not a planet of the Zaranites, as they were unable to colonize it.  Since the planet was previously occupied, it would more accurately be under the…’ownership’ of that previous race; which may or may not be the people from the ship we encountered when we picked you up.”

Kanor was annoyed by these theatrics, this senseless debate over semantics.  There was a sneering tone to Selorus’ voice as he mentioned how Kanor was “picked up” he didn’t care for, either.

“If I had wanted to take part in childish games, I would have visited a school.  What is it you want?”

The voice came from the opposite side of the room than it had the first time, from another control station.  Again, no visible sign of anyone being over there, either.  Kanor made sure his back was against a bulkhead just to the left of the door, his face breaking out into a scowl.

“What I want is to remain alive.  Given your propensity to murder officers aboard this ship you do not particularly care for, I considered these…’games’ to be a mandatory safety precaution against an opponent I am fairly confident would be capable of defeating me in an all-out brawl.”

Kanor’s back stiffened, insulted by the accusation of murder levied against him.

“And yet you have no hesitation in angering me by accusing me of a dishonorable, heinous act.  All while you remain hidden from view, after you invited me to supposedly discuss the planet we will be reaching tonight.”

This time the voice came from directly across the room; yet another workstation.

“You deny your honed ability to terminate life functions in living beings?  I do wish to discuss the planet; however you seem fixated on my completely reasonable desire for personal safety.  I have simply responded to your questions honestly.”

Kanor’s fists clenched at his sides as he tried to calm himself.  Knowing Selorus, knowing Romulans in general, this was all probably engineered specifically to agitate him and foster paranoia.

“I will not have a discussion with you here unless it is face to face.”

This time, from the station to his right again.

“I have your word you will not attempt to kill me, as you did Mister Sh’lan?”

Kanor gritted his teeth.

“I will not hesitate to defend myself, as I did with Mister Sh’lan; however, you have my word I will not initiate a physical attack.”

Now, from the panels directly across from him again.

“Remove your weapons and place them upon the floor in front of you.”

Kanor barked out a laugh as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Absolutely not.  I gave you my word.  Consider yourself fortunate I gave you that much.”

There was silence in the room for a few moments, during which Kanor’s eyes swept around suspiciously, attempting to discover any unaccounted for shadows, a bulkhead that didn’t seem to belong.

Finally, the lights in the room flared up, adopting a more “normal” illumination level for the Enterprise, as the hologram in the center of the room flicked out of existence.  Standing in the center of the column, where the hologram had been projected around, was Lieutenant Selorus.  His right hand returned what appeared to be some sort of controlling device to his belt as he reholstered a phaser with his left hand.  He stepped onto the floor of the Science lab, his arms shifting to clasp his empty hands behind his back as his chin tilted upwards, his gaze meeting Kanor’s.

“Very well, then, I suppose that will have to be sufficient.”

Kanor ignored the urge to roll his eyes at the Science officer, even if he inwardly appreciated the subterfuge the Romulan had engineered.  He did not respond to Selorus’ jab at the value of his word, either, though his eyes narrowed in displeasure.

“That was an unnecessary charade.”

“Mister Kanor.  I do not trust you, as I am sure you do not trust me.  While the rather convenient disposal of Mister Sh’lan was fortuitous, at least I had become accustomed to knowing what to expect from the surly Andorian.  You, however, are an unknown.”

Kanor, his arms still crossed over his chest, frowned; time to steer this conversation in the direction it was supposed to be going in so he could get the hell out of here.

“The planet.  Talk.”

Selorus turned and gestured towards one of the science stations with one hand as he started walking towards it.  Kanor reluctantly followed.

“As you know, my team and I have been going through all of the information from the Federation’s package you retrieved.  As I was going over all of the summaries my team, you, and myself have come up with, I started to notice an interesting…trend.”

Selorus activated one of the nearby viewing screens, putting up a slideshow of the reports that the Enterprise crew had been exchanging with each other and Kanor; complete with the included diagrams, pictures, and addendums the Federation package had contained.  Kanor’s eyes flitted over them, Selorus activating three additional screens to illustrate them all even quicker.  He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be looking at, so he glanced at the Romulan.

“And?”

Selorus smiled with self-satisfaction, but didn’t indulge himself too much.

“The trend could easily be the byproduct of the Zaranite’s inconclusive findings, or even the location of the places they were investigating themselves.  However, given the amount of artifacts they did uncover, the fact there is not more evidence of the specific objects I noticed missing says…something.”

Kanor’s eyes narrowed as his gaze shifted from one screen to the next, glancing over all of the material again with a dawning realization.

“There are no original written works from the aliens.”

“Precisely.  All of the artifacts the Zaranites unearthed were objects of art, or tools; pieces of structures and materials.  There is not a single book, page, or even tablet with a discernible written language upon it.  Not even a language of symbols or hieroglyphs, either.”

Kanor seemed reluctantly doubtful as he looked over the screens again, sparing a glance towards Selorus.

“It could be a written language we simply don’t recognize, or perhaps they inscribed it on materials that didn’t survive the test of time like everything else.  Then there’s the obvious, like you mentioned; the Zaranites and their work itself.”

Selorus inclined his head minutely, as if in acknowledgement of Kanor’s assessment.

“Certainly a possibility, yes.  However, given the amount of material they uncovered, possibly not perfectly, there should still be an inkling of some evidence indicating a language of some sort.  I went over everything we have; the original source material.  There is none there.  I found no mention of any sort of material that crumbled upon discovery, either, though of course that does not mean much.”

Kanor, too, inclined his head in acknowledgement, turning away from the screens to look at Selorus directly.

“Speculations?”

Selorus’ brow furrowed slightly, but he met Kanor’s gaze unflinchingly.

“If I had to choose, I would say it must be a method of communicating we are simply not familiar with, or that would not make itself known with archaeological artifacts.”

Kanor arched an eyebrow at the Romulan.

“A method such as telepathy, perhaps?”

“Perhaps.  Or something similar.”

Kanor nodded his agreement, glancing over at the screens, which were still showcasing the information they did know on an endless loop.

“I would have to concur.  The likelihood an advanced civilization developed without any sort of recordable language seems…extremely improbable.”

“There are records of some species developing a spoken language that is considered an art form in of itself; great songs and epic dramatic historical renditions and communications that form the whole of their language.  Such species usually view recording these vocal expressions sacrilegious.”

“True; they are exceptionally rare and practically unheard of, however.”

Selorus was also looking over the screens as the information flitted past.

“I will inform the Commodore of our findings.”

“Have you mentioned this…oddity to Drei?”

Selorus turned to look over at Kanor, his brow furrowing, puzzled.

“I have not, no.  Most likely when I contact the Commodore, Lieutenant Commander Drei will be informed concurrently.”

“The communication the alien ship had with the pirate ship.  Drei mentioned it was strange, like nothing he had seen before…”

Comprehension dawned in Selorus’ eyes.

“Perhaps; if those aboard that ship are the same civilization as from the planet…”

“It’s worth looking into.”

Selorus seemed to hesitate for a moment, his eyes dropping for a moment before returning to Kanor’s gaze.

“Enterprise will be sending a team onto the surface of the planet when we arrive to investigate the Zaranite’s findings.”

Kanor shifted on his feet slightly.

“I had assumed as much.”

“I asked the Commodore if I was required to bring you along on the mission.  He left it up to me to make that decision, as I will be in command of the party.”

Kanor’s eyes narrowed as he continued looking at the Romulan.  Why was he telling him this?

“I have appointed two members of my team to accompany me; there will also be three members of security, and Doctor O’Neil.”

Selorus paused, studying Kanor’s face for a few seconds.

“Would you like to accompany us to the surface?”

Kanor mulled that over quickly.  He had assumed he would be going down to the surface of the planet once they had arrived anyways; Selorus pointing out the fact that the ship’s chief Science officer would be leading the mission illustrated his delusion, however.  Strictly speaking, it was…simply logical.  The Romulan was offering him an invitation to participate he didn’t have to, at all.

“I would, yes.”

“As interim chief of security, Ensign Munson will be in charge of the security detail.  Will this be a problem?”

Kanor’s jaw tightened, but he bit back the immediate retort that sprang to his mind.

“No.”

“Very well.  I will inform the Commodore of your inclusion, as well.  Our departure time will be determined once we have arrived in the system and have had an opportunity to investigate the surrounding space.  I will let you know once it has been decided.”

Kanor knew he should thank the Romulan, but couldn’t bring himself to do it.  He simply inclined his head in acknowledgement, glancing towards the screens so Selorus couldn’t see the look in his eyes as easily.

“Anything else?”

“That will be all.  I will see you tonight at 2113, Mister Kanor.”