The Exciting Life

Posted on 04 Feb 2019 @ 6:41pm by Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater

1,007 words; about a 5 minute read

Sofie found herself sitting in her quarters still ruminating on her encounter with the counsellor a few weeks ago. She picked away at some dinner she had replicated but she wasn't really tasting it. She was far away now from home, far away from what had once been her dreams and nightmares. For the first time since the beginning of the journey she really was wondering what she was doing here.

The tasks that she was doing as a science officer seemed hopelessly inane - she and Plumeri were constantly running around trying in a ceaseless battle with the computer systems. Even when all the computers were working as intended there was nothing incredibly exciting to do in deep space. Just yesterday she found herself breaking the astrometric monotony when the ship detected a Hortzendorf tachyon perturbation - if you'd asked her a year earlier whether she would ever be excited to see one of those the answer would have been a strong negative.

She thumbed through the last message from Farla. It had arrived about a week ago but she hadn't known how to respond. Farla's life sounded so vibrant and exciting and she was just some sort of archivist. Life in deep space just doesn't compare well to life on the capital planet of the Federation. What could Sofie possibly say?

But there was another reason that she didn't know how to respond - Something in the last line before Farla had signed off, something about Tholians. At first she'd brushed it off as another of Farla's eccentricities but yesterday Sofie had been chatting to a security NCO who mentioned that they had begun prepping exercises for the crew based around possible encounters with the Tholians and what's more the day before that there had been a course change and talk of investigating a colony which seemed to be having communication difficulties of some sort. It hadn't take Farla too long to put two and two together, especially not when she looked up exactly where this colony was.

The dinner had become cold now. Sofie sighed and shoved it back into the replicator. Biting her lip she sat down again ad decided she might as well just get to writing.

"Farla,

"It was great to hear from you again! Sorry for not being so punctual with my response this time. Things are proceeding normally here in the sciences department. Plumeri is still calling me Ullsworth, but I think its just his way of showing friendship now.

"We made a course change a couple of days ago. Turns out this trip might not be quite as boring as anticipated. Contact has been lost with some colony out here and it just so happens that we're the closest thing too it - though I'll be honest learning that we are the closest thing to anything came as quite a shock to me..."

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Surrey, Earth
Several Months Earlier

"So this is where you work?" Sofie asked gazing up at the rather ordinary looking building.

Farla nodded with a grin and a flourish of her arms to take in the large structure "The Maybury Hill Archives. We can't go in though, you don't have clearance."

Sofie scowled, in just a week she'd have finished her time at the academy and no longer be a cadet but until that time there were still so many doors that seemed closed to her. "Alright that's fair, but what do you do in there?"

Farla tapped the side of her nose, a human expression that she'd picked up much to the chagrin of her friends. Sofie just scowled again so Farla set off down the street gesturing for Sofie to follow. "Its not that exciting anyway," the wadi continued "What will be much more interesting is what's round the corner here."

A short distance down the large avenue they turned off to a smaller street and Farla indicated a door they should go into. It looked like something approximating what Sofie had come to know as a traditional English public house with a wooden front with large windows. Once inside there were tables and benches and a small bar behind which were several rows of bottles. Elegantly shaped bottles, with a black liquid inside.

Sofie gave a sideways knowing glace at Farla "This is a Kanar place?"

"The only Kanar place this side of the South Downs." Farla said with an air of triumph. They proceeded to the bar "I'm not even sure what the South Downs are," she continued "But given you're interest in geology I'm sure you could tell me all about it." then she hastily added "But please don't."

The man behind the counter was short and small in build, probably in his mid 20s and wearing something that has probably never in history been fashionable. "Afternoon Farla, what can I get for you and your friend here?" He at least sounded cheerful though.

"You still have the special bottle right?" The wadi asked the man while sitting at the bar and indicating Sofie to do so too.

He nodded and went down into a cupboard and produced another bottle of Kanar that looked much like the others but Sofie's eyes began to widen and her jaw dropped. A look of satisfaction spread across Farla's face as she noted her companion's amazement.

"Is that..?"

"The very same." Farla answered.

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"...and sorry again for taking so long to get back to you. I hope to hear from you soon - Sofie."

Sofie ended the recording and yawned. Maybe she should have eaten that food, she was starting to feel a bit peckish again.

She really hadn't had much to talk about with Farla this time, maybe she should try to do something new at some point. While she was replicating her meal again she ran through a couple of options in her head. She hadn't really been putting any effort into keeping in shape recently. Perhaps it was about time she took a trip to the gym...

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