Smoke on the water

Posted on 26 Jan 2014 @ 10:02am by Crewman Apprentice Sigrid Thelin
Edited on on 26 Jan 2014 @ 10:03am

723 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Episode 05 - Solstice
Location: Vega IX - Vega Colony
Timeline: MD 10 - 20:45

[ON]

It was a busy night at Muddy Water lounge. With 30 two-tops constantly packed, and even the 3 four-tops at the back seeing action from a group of rowdy lawyers, they could easily do well over a 180 cover night tonight. Servers, both male and female, clogged the back bar as they all tried to get drinks for their tables. The dance floor on the loft upstairs was hard to miss. A constantly evolving mass of people moved and grew across the sticky floor absorbing people that passed by, while ejecting others towards the bar like some sort of drunken amoeba of people. Behind the stage in the change room the back up singers busily applied several layers of makeup. Costumes, feathers, lace and leather hung off any available space making room only for mirrors and a few tiny stools. The smell of perfumes, powder, and deodorants were probably ingrained in the flooring by now.

Sigrid Thelin sat apart from the other girls. She lazily applied makeup to her lips while her attention remained focused on a console screen in front of her. The makeup applicator hung in the air as she paused. A middle aged human with white hair begun his lecture. She quickly swapped her makeup applicator for a stylus and began to scribble notes on to her tablet device.

Though the walls barely held back the noise threatening to burst in she leaned in to hear him speak. "There are many different fields of study that make up Planetary Sciences, and it is the intent of this course to introduce to you the concepts and theories behind this vast interdisciplinary subject."

Noise suddenly invaded her space and everyone looked at the door, startled. Through the crack in the door a loud voice called out, "Siri, five mintues!"

She wrinkled her nose in annoyance and gave the other girls a brief look. "That new guy is such narshbog, isn't he?" Maybe it was her crude Vega slang to a narsh's penis but they just sat there with the same bored expression they always had before returning to their conversation. "Great talk." Sigrid shrugged and turned her attention back to the console the started brushing back her wavy red hair.

"Can anyone tell me what the M in M-Class planet stands for?" Thankfully this was being recorded, but her participation score was low and she needed to attend more of these live lectures. So when a question she knew came up she launched for the buttons on the console. Her finger dashed out and hit the reply button, but someone in the class was faster.

Haark spit. The back up singers made their way to the door in a small herd of priming, smoothing, and adjusting. Sigrid looked at her self briefly in the mirror. She applied one last touch up on her smoky eye makeup and stood.

The professor's voice continued going on with his lecture while she continued getting ready that she almost didn't catch the next question. "Does anyone know what the planetesimal hypothesis is?" Sigrid did. But her and the backup singers were now starting to file out and she wouldn't have enough time to get to the console before that know-it-all in the class could answer first.

"Anyone? planetesimal hypothesis? First proposed by Viktor Safronov?"

She hesitated by the door but decided against it. She'd kill herself in these heels getting over there. With one last costume adjustment, she departed through the door.

"Anyone? Okay well...."

With a moment of reconsideration, a sudden torrent of high heeled clicks carried Sigrid at top speed back into the change room. Squealing in genuine concern for the safety of her ankles. She hit the reply button all in a huff.

"Ah, yes. This reply comes from Sigrid Thelin, from Vega IX." A moment later Sigrid's painted face was projected for the class to see. Many of them erupted in whispers of speculation as to why Sigrid was dressed as a pirate -- or a pirate with very little clothes on.

"Howdy there! Planetesimal hypothesis states that planets form out of cosmic dust grains that collide and stick to form larger bodies." She blew a kiss and waved, before ending the transmission.

[END]

Brought to you by Ben (PO3 K'os Beaumont)

Sigrid Thelin
Civilian PNPC
Vega IX

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