Things Break

Posted on 29 Jun 2015 @ 1:23pm by Cadwyn Lane & Ensign K'os Beaumont
Edited on on 05 Jul 2015 @ 3:34pm

3,357 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 08 - NIMBUS
Location: USS Galileo - Arboretum
Timeline: MD 02 - 1730

ON:

Arboretum

Cadwyn's faded jeans were now at the point where he knew he should either recycle them or burn them. They'd been with him since he'd moved to Trill for the Perim family but as a child clings to his familiar blanket, the stonewashed loose fitting jeans and his red checkered flannel shirt brought him comfort. And a gentle reminder of where he'd come from.

He leant at the water's edge in the arboretum, his blackened knees soiled with the ingrained dirt as he pulled gently at a Bolian thrush. They weren't the prettiest of water vegetation known in the universe but the ducks thrived in them, making small nests for their young in the plush undergrowth. But this one seemed to have contracted the beginnings of Bo-blight and once it set in it would quickly spread to the others around the pond. He grasped one of the stronger reeds and with a clenched fist tugged. At first, the thrush resisted, clinging to its roots with a vigour that both surprised and amused the man. But he took hold once again and then tugged harder. As the thrush resisted yet again, Cadwyn with his top-heavy mass lunged forward, careering into the shallows of the pond and immersing himself entirely. He ungracefully scrambled to get back on dry land and as he did so felt the heavy weight of his tricorder leave the gaping pocket of his shirt, disappearing into the mirky mire with an unnoticed splash.

He sighed, spitting out the soiled water in a jet from his lips and then swept the wet locks out of his eyes, quickly fishing into the shallows to retrieve it. But as it emerged in his hands, the sparking and fluttering of lights betrayed its demise and he fell back to his rump to regain his composure. As he rested there, the buzzing tricorder in his lap, it dawned on his where he was: On a starship with the best engineers in the Federation, and so, in his wet clothes, he decided to see if his trusty contraption could be mended.

Engineering

"I'm sorry, I'm not entirely sure who to ask about this," Cadwyn could be heard, holding up the broken tricorder to K'os as his clothes began to pool about his feet with mirky water. "It's not one of the ship's. It's my own. And I'm sure that they make them waterproof but I dropped it in the rockery of Norvi's estate last year and the casing cracked. Is it done for, do you reckon?"

K'os had to shake himself out of his thoughtful gaze. His grey-blue eyes had fixed themselves onto the hazel orbs looking at him that he'd almost forgotten what it was Cadwyn had asked in the first place. "Oh," K'os finally said looking down at the tricorder in the man's hands. "Well, not necessarily." K'os sounded distracted as his mind produced smells of a campfire at the sight of Cadwyn's wet flannel shirt. He reached out a hand to ask for the device and he beamed a dimpled grin that didn't stay on his face long. "I usually wear swim trunks when I go swimming." His attempt at humour was perhaps a little contrary to K'os' now stoic expression. He was at work, and when he was at work, he tried to maintain control over his, at times manic, hyper emotionalism.

"I don't," Cadwyn replied with a glint in his eye, but then broke into a smile as he flicked his eyebrows up skyward. He turned the device over in his hand and then flatly deposited it into K'os'. "If it can't be fixed, then that's no problem. I can easily replicate a new one. But this has... oddly, some sentimental value to me." He looked at the pathetic piece of technology in the engineer's hands and for the first time saw how battered and unfit for purpose it really was. Like looking through someone else's eyes anew. He squinted and then sighed, rubbing the back of his neck in a awkward fashion and then wiping the grains of mud onto his jeans. "But I'd appreciate us trying to fix it somehow."

K'os mimicked Cadwyn's raised eyebrows instinctively, but his expression remained somewhat passive, with only a slight hint of a smile. "That isn't odd at all." K'os said turning the tricorder over in his hands and inspecting the imperfections with his fingers more than his eyes. "Most engineers have a tool or two like that." K'os walked to where he'd left his tool case, plucking it off the floor and slinging it over his shoulder. "Let's go get you a towel, and I'll see what I can do for the tricorder." K'os started walking toward's Grayson's office to replicate a towel. He wasn't worried about the water pooling on the floor, as Copper was no doubt already minutes away from taking care of it anyway. "My name's Beaumont by the way. K'os Beaumont."

"Cadwyn," he smiled back, unsure of how to still address him. "I'm not overly familiar with what to call people here. I suppose that I'm used to calling people by their first names but on a ship like this it's all 'lieutenant' and surnames. "Norv... Commander Stace has already chastised me for being overly familiar with people here. But I'm just not used to it."

After K'os had replicated the towel, Cadwyn then began to dry himself off, drying his hair first into a ruffled mess and then drying over his sopping clothes.

K'os dropped his toolkit on a worktable and placed the tricorder on the lit surface of the table top. "Well down here in engineering, I'm usually called Beaumont. Most other times it's just K'os. I don't have a preference either way." K'os popped open the outer casing with a tool as if he'd done it a hundred times before. Placing each detached component in a straight and organized line on the table top. "Just don't call me ensign or sir or anything. I'm still not used to that yet. I assume you're a civilian then? What's your trade?" K'os looked at him with a raised eyebrow as he paused in his work, pretending to be hesitant to touch the tricorder further. "It isn't waste water reclamation technician or anything is it?" K'os held the look of worry for as long as he could but couldn't hide the grin that was starting to form.

Cadwyn also broke into a smile and snorted a little chuckle, pulling the towel down from his hair and hanging it loosely around the back of his neck. "Nothing quite so technical," he replied, shaking his head. "But I'm helping out in the arboretum mainly. I'm a gardener by trade and Norvi felt like she needed some help with the more rustic, less scientific way of plant care. And that's where I come in. But now that she's been promoted to First Officer I'm not entirely sure of my worth in the science department."

K'os looked at the man with curious eyes, and his eyebrows rose up his forehead. "I love the arboretum. I go there to stare at the flowers, sometimes to meditate, but mainly for the flowers." K'os was doing fairly well concentrating on keeping his emotions disconnected in his mind, and it seemed reflected in his tone, as if he was being reserved more than usual. "There aren't enough lilies," he said lifting the corner of his mouth in a small smirk.

Cadwyn countered his smirk with a swift cock of the head and smile of his own. He'd met so few people on this ship with a sense of humour and it was refreshing to him that K'os didn't have somewhat of an entitled attitude like the few people he'd already met. He took in a breath, held it in his open rib cage and then added, "In an engineer's point of view, I imagine was going to be the next thing out of your mouth before I cut in." He flashed his eyebrows upwards and then took it a step further. "For the frogs breeding this season and the young ducklings with their protective mothers, there are just the right amount of lillies in the pond not to overcrowd the other wildlife that depend on the water's vitality. Too many and something else has to give. Like components in a tricorder, say. It's a shame that it doesn't double as a portable transporter. But then I don't want to be carrying around something the size of your tool box for its benefit. Do you see where I'm coming from?"

K'os nodded understanding, but his attention was focused on the tricorder as he disassembled some of the wetter components from the framework. "Biotic and abiotic components synced through nutrient cycles and energy flows." He said before he looked up, beaming dimples at the man, "Just like a starship. One big happy ecosystem." K'os looked back down and regarded the inner frame of the tricorder with curiosity. It had been awhile since he'd had to disassemble one and without the rush of emotions and memories, his photographic memory was hampered. He picked lifted the the device and turned partially away from Cadwyn in an attempt to partially obscure his expression.

With a slight breath in K'os released his control. Nearly instantly his face reflected various moods and expressions as he sifted through memories till he came upon the one he needed for recalling the inner workings of the tricorder. His breathing became a little more heavy and slight tears of intense emotion made his eyes slightly wet. "Ah," he said with understanding, as he recalled what he needed to continue his work. "There you are." He said more to the device than Cadwyn. He sniffled, and wiped his eyes before regaining a bit of composure and turning back to the work table. "Ok, doesn't look too damaged. A lot of the inner components aren't affected by water damage, and it seems the chip network just needs a little desiccation foam." He said somewhat cheerfully despite his wet eyes.

Cadwyn was raised in a society where shattered hearts and rolling tears were brushed aside to the point of psychotic ignorance. He'd once heard of a story whereby one of his crazy aunts had carried around a sack of flour for four months pretending it to be her young born and no one batted an eyelid. Nor would they ever. And from that emotional ignorance was borne a desire for him to escape. To face life head on and grasp every nettle so that he could feel the pain and happiness and love of the world. He furrowed his brows and then scrunched up his nose - a mannerism that he'd picked up from Norvi.

"Does the thought of desiccation foam make you emotional, Mr. K'os?"

K'os threw his head back and laughed heartily. "Everything makes me emotional Cadwyn." K'os reached for a small foam injector from his tool kit and began spraying into the inner compartment of the device. His cheeks turned a bit pink at being caught emoting. Every one reacted differently during those times he had to release his emotions and while he thought he was used to it by now, something about doing it in front of the attractive man standing by him was more embarrassing than he'd thought it'd be. "A by-product of twenty fourth century interspecies insemination." He reached up and flicked his slightly pointed right ear.

"Wow, that's a romantic way to put things," Cadwyn jested, looking away from him and then back to him squarely with a grin. "What does... that mean, exactly?" he hesitantly questioned, pulling his smile down into a quizzical frown. "That being part-Vulcan makes you cry a lot when you fix things?" It was odd for Cadwyn; being so isolated with the Perim family on Trill meant that his interactions with humans (and hybrids at that) was severely limited. And being friendly with someone, especially over fixing his broken tricorder, pleased him in a way that reminded him of his previous life. And not negatively.

"That's a good question." K'os put the device down to let the foam set and he returned his grey-blue eyes on Cadwyn. "I'm not sure how much you know about how hybrid children are made, but a lot of genetic manipulation goes into making a viable embryo. My father is Human, and my mother was Vulcan. Every hyrbid species is different because of the insemination process. As a result I unfortunately suffer from hyper-emotionalism. My limbic system is overactive and it produces extremely intense emotions. It's actually quite fascinating, even if it's been really hard to adjust to it. If I don't control myself properly throughout the day, it can become overwhelming. Something I find slightly funny, if left unchecked, can cascade to something akin to euphoria. Something that frustrates me can...well, you can imagine I'm sure where that could lead if left to intensify. The limbic system is quiet a complex mechanism in the brain, that's for sure. It's responsible for memories and regulating the autonomic system. I could talk about this for hours if you let me."

K'os laughed heartily again. "For instance, your shirt there. The plaid colours of it makes me," K'os breathed in through his nose, "smell campfires. Which in turn makes me see blue blobs of colour if I close my eyes, and a lot of memories of the boreal forest back home are at the forefront of my mind right now. As for this," K'os waved a hand towards his tricorder, "Sometimes my memories lay dormant and disconnected if I'm controlling it, and it helps to release my hold over it so I can remember...the trickier things in engineering."

K'os bit his lower lip a bit out of shyness for blabbering so much, "Does it..bother you? It can make others uncomfortable sometimes, and it's ok if it bothers you too. I can reassert the control if you'd like."

Cadwyn almost shrugged off the suggestion physically and then shook his head, relaxing his features into a nonchalant smile. "It doesn't bother me at all," he replied, looking K'os squarely on. "In actual fact, I find it quite refreshing. Emotional expression isn't something that I've quite grown up with, and what with my job, it allows a sort of quiet loneliness that I enjoy. Norvi is my only vent for such things on board here so it's something of a wonder for me to experience." He paused and then looked down at the tricorder, trying to distract himself from the conversation's intensity. "Is it difficult? To experience such a rush? Or is it all you've ever known?"

K'os regarded him with curious eyes as he thought about the question. His mind was still stuck on the sentiment about actually enjoying loneliness. Feeling lonely was one of K'os' least liked feelings, and something that was becoming all too familiar these days. How Cadwyn enjoyed it was beyond him. He cleared his throat a bit while keeping his eyes glued on the man's face. "It's more difficult to continuously control it. It physically drains me, and by the end of my shift I just have to let it all flow. It used to be very disorienting when I was a kid, but now I don't think I could really live without it. It truly does make me see things differently. Colours are so vibrant they look surreal. Sounds are always heightened. Actually, Commander Stace once described it to me as sounding like a drug. I don't think it was a far off assumption. I spent an hour after shift once on deck 5 just staring at the texture of the wall." K'os began to feel that creeping feeling of vulnerability from his oversharing. K'os was a listener, not a talker and his cheeks turned pink again. He turned his attention back to the tricorder, dumping the now solidish block of foam out of the compartment. He retrieved a small air compressor and blew out the remaining bits.

"Wow, that sounds heavy," the blond replied with a vacant glance. In truth, he wasn't quite sure how to answer something so personal. Especially when he barely knew the engineer. But then in a microsecond he reasoned that that's how you made friends and developed relationships, no matter how fresh and new. He smiled genuinely back to K'os and then added, "Was it a particularly textured wall?"

K'os continued his attention on the tricorder, but a grin crept onto his face. He began adding each component back to the tricorder as he said, "Incredibly textured." K'os expertly snapped the last component back in and looked back up at Cadwyn with deep dimples in his cheeks. "Kind of like the ripples in tanned leather." Before putting the casing back together, K'os stared at his hazel eyes for a moment. "Do you like it here, Cadwyn?" K'os asked in a passive and calm voice suggesting he'd reasserted his control in his mind. "I imagine being a gardener in the arboretum must make you a little isolated."

"I think that 'isolated' is such a loaded term," Cadwyn then replied, looking to the open tricorder on the table with an eager and renewed vigour. "It's quiet and away from the hustle and bustle of what I describe as 'hectic' on the other decks. But can you really be isolated when it's your choice to step away from that? I like it. And I like it here. Everyone is just a bulkhead away. So I don't feel isolated. And from what I've come from, the quietness of the arboretum is like an inner city town square." He paused and looked up to K'os. "Do you?"

K'os waved the question away with a flick of his wrist and cluck of his tongue. He was still feeling a little off from over-sharing a moment ago but when he reconsidered the question he said quietly, "Perhaps sometimes." Without looking, K'os clipped the casing back together on the tricorder. He cleared his throat and clarified, "But it's entirely by choice." He handed the repaired tricorder back to Cadwyn. "The hecticness of the other decks pales to what goes on in here," he said tapping the side of his head, "Isolation can make it seem bearable." He smiled to convey that it didn't sound as bad as it might seem.

However, Cadwyn truly understood what K'os meant. Taking the tricorder back into his hand, he allowed it to drop casually by his side before nodding a smile to him. "Thank you for this," he said genuinely. Holding it back up to look upon it, he opened the flip as it began to whir. "I'm glad that you managed to save but, since I'm now starting to feel a little cold..."

"And I'm glad I could help." K'os said warmly, nodding his head towards him. "I like fixing things. Maybe I'll see you around in the arboretum. I have some Favinit seeds I've kept that would look beautiful. Not enough Vulcan plants I think." He beamed a tight-lipped grin. "It makes delicious butter."

"Swing by then and I'll help sort you out a place to plant them." He flicked the tricorder to him in a fashion that denoted his thanks once again. "Call down anytime."

K'os nodded in response to the show of appreciation. He propped his elbow on the table and cradled his chin in his hand. "I will do that." He said with a little enthusiasm. "See you around." He added.

And with that, Cadwyn smiled and then left engineering in order to change his clothes and head on back to the arboretum.

K'os watched the gardener leave. Watched the way he walked. The way his body moved. When his image disappeared from view he shook his head as if to force his thoughts elsewhere and he began cleaning his worktable.

OFF

Cadwyn Lane
Gardener
USS Galileo
[ PNPC Stace ]

Ensign K'os Beaumont
Assistant Chief Engineer
USS Galileo

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