Unfamiliar Familiarity

Posted on 08 Dec 2017 @ 6:42pm by Ensign Miraj Derani & Lieutenant JG Gideon Nicols PhD

2,287 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: USS Hathaway - Mess Hall
Timeline: MD 92 1900

ON:

Gideon Nicols pushed around the dry, cold mashed potatoes with his fork. He wasn't really paying attention and had been mindlessly eating anyway. Just left of his tray were a couple of PADDs, he had been engrossed and had lost track of time in the process. He hadn't noticed that the mess hall had cleared out an hour ago, and he hadn't noticed that the doors had opened and a lone figure walked in.

Her pink bunches swinging, she headed over to the replimat and ordered. taking her food, she looked around for a seat, saw Gideon, blushed a little, and came over to him. "Hi, I'm Miraj." Her tray was loaded with bacon and eggs, mushrooms and hash browns and fried bread and a cream cheese bagel. It smelt divine. She sat down without being invited. "I'm the pilot. I know a lot of the crew from galileo, but you're new. Pleased to meet you."

At the feminine voice, Gideon looked from the PADDS to find himself staring at a petite woman with wildly pink hair. His brow furrowed in confusion as his brain tried to catch up. "Uh, hello..." he replied softly and slowly. His gaze went to the young woman's tray of food and then looked at his own and almost frowned. How much time had passed? "Pleased to meet you," he continued, "and you are right, I am new... well, sort of. I was originally assigned to the Galileo but with it's unfortunate end, I was left in limbo and now I'm here." He reached for and stacked the PADDs. "Gideon Nicols, the research officer, with the science department."

She was looking at him curiously. There was a moment's gap in conversation and then she remembered herself, "So what do you research? Do you have a specialty, like alien Fungus, or ancient robocyborgs and their locust hordes?"

Gideon chuckled lightly and shook his head. "No, no, nothing so fancy," he replied. "I'm a geophysicist, so my research focuses on that." He had other certifications in related fields of study--like most scientists--but his doctorate was specific to the geo sciences. "One of my current research projects involves air purification."

She looked confused. "How does earth stuff lead to air purification? Isn't geo sciences rocks and stuff?"

Smiling at that, Gideon shook his head. "Yes and no," he replied simply at first. "Over the centuries, the geo sciences, especially geophysics have expanded to include everything from plate tectonics to magnetospheres to solar-terrastial relationships. However, more to the point, one of my certifications and interests is the environmental sciences, hence air purification."

"So what are you working on?" Miraj cut into her fried egg, and bright runny yellow yolk oozed out and she swiped it up on a piece of bacon with great relish. "I mean, there can't be much more you can do with air scrubbers, surely?"

"True," Gideon began, "however, there is a huge difference between air purification on a starship and planetary air purification. There is a lot that goes into planetary air purification, but I am looking into ways to use the natural resources of the planet as opposed to technology." His research was slow go, but there was some progress over the past year.

"Like grow your own purifier? Or push through volcanic rock or something." It was how water got filtered. It might work for air. She should have paid more attention in her science basic training then she'd know.

Gideon smiled at that. "Something like that, yes," he replied. "I just want to find a way that is a more natural way of doing things. Don't get me wrong, technology is great, but not all races or cultures have the access to technology that Starfleet or more core worlds have." He would fully admit that things on the research front were slow go, but that was okay as well. "Anyway, enough about the science stuff. Tell me more about being a pilot? I think it is fascinating, but I'll be honest the thought of manoeuvring a big starship scares the bejeebers out of me."

"Pfft. Manoeuvring is easy," Miraj dismissed his fears. "Most people think its like flying in atmosphere, where you have to worry about aerodynamics. But in space, manoeuvring is easy. Friction is negligible, there's no gravity to speak of, most of the time, no drag. Most people forget that space is huge, and three dimensional. You can make a big ship skip like a stone on a lake if you want. Manoeuvring you can do with your eyes closed."

She looked at him impishly from under her long pink eyelashes. "but lose Inertial Dampening at anything over a couple of hundred kilometers an hour and the entire crew is jam the moment you make a sudden stop, or even change direction."

Gideon had been skeptical of that. Of course Miraj made it sound easy because she was a trained pilot whereas he was just proficient in the basics with a shuttle--which those 'basics' were definitely rusty. Though he was very aware of what space was and how it worked, he still had a hard time wrapping his mind around interstellar flight. Warp drive was the norm, people were used to it, but the mechanics of it seemed all very surreal at times. Humans had come a long way in such a short amount of time. "Inertial dampeners are certainly an important aspect of faster than light speed, I do enjoy not being jam."

"Its not just FTL." Miraj pointed out. "No-one's strapped in. Sudden movement at just twenty kilometres an hour will give you a nasty whiplash. Imagine what happens to the fragile organic body at two hundred kilometres an hour. Or a second, or nano second?"

"Believe me, I can imagine," Gideon said. He knew full well how all of it worked, but in hindsight whiplash was better than being scrambled eggs against the back bulkhead. He had been on some bumpy rides in his time in Starfleet, so he knew all to well the aches and pains of ravelling faster than walking.

She was looking at him again, heavy brows furrowed, wrinkling the trident shaped dent in her forehead. "I'm sorry. I have the funniest feeling I know you. Have we met?"

I'm not exactly easy to miss, Gideon mused to himself. However, with that thought, he kind of had the same feeling. The bright pink hair was noticeable. "Maybe you had seen me when I boarded? Otherwise, I had been off-planet, I was on a science expedition to the the Akkadian Five moon, Ryn."

"No," Miraj said slowly. She was certain now she'd seen his face, and fairly recently, she just couldn't pin where. "I know you. Are you famous for anything?"

Oh no! Gideon knew immediately what the young pilot was alluding too and he wondered if she stood in any of the numerous lines to get a book signed. There had been so many people that he had talked too and seen, though the pink hair would have been a dead give away. He had a decision to make, he could say no, but he had a feeling she would just double check. He leaned in and said in a low voice, "I'm an author."

Miraj leaned in close as well, pink bunches falling across the table, "Really? That's so awesome? What do you write? Spy thrillers? fantasy? Pirates?" She said the last so hopefully it was comical.

"Spy thrillers," Gideon mumbled at first and when he received a look that told him he needed to repeat himself. "Spy thrillers," he said again, this time a bit louder than before. "I write spy thrillers."

Miraj was a little disappointed that it wasn't pirate novels. You could never have enough pirate stories. "That's cool. Like James Bond, or Enabran Tain? How many have you written?"

Gideon gave that thought some, what would Jack be? Maybe a little bit of both? "Maybe a little bit of both," he replied. "I suppose I should also say he is his own character, with his own strengths and flaws." He briefly thought about the evolution of Jack and how he originally came up with the character originally. It was always a story he wanted to tell, and maybe in a way, when he saw Jack, he saw a cooler, more confident version of himself. "I have four published and I'm working on a fifth."

"Wow," Miraj said, genuinely impressed. "That's incredible. Are they like, just novels, or has anyone done holosuite games or films of them?"

"Just novels, though there has been talk of making them into a series of holofilms. I'm not sure if I want to go that route with them, they are unique in that they are printed books, anyway... I suppose I'll see what happens," Gideon replied. "So, I take it it's not the books I look familiar from?" His picture was always on the inside of the jacket cover of his books, despite protests in doing so.

She gave him a guilty look, "Sorry, no. I kind of stick to historical stuff. Age of Sail. Pirates. Did you teach at the academy?" That was the next most likely place.

Gideon nodded. "I did, oh about five or six years ago actually. That is one of the reasons I am here, because of my experience working with cadets. It's rewarding work, but I don't think I was ever cut out to teach a lecture hall of cadets who never plan to go into the science field." The woman who sat across from him looked so young, if he did teach her, he would have surely remembered the bright pink hair. Right? Or did he finally turn that corner where names, faces, and... wildly colorful hair all blended together?

The young pilot frowned, her pronounced brows drawing together in confusion. "I didn't even start till four years ago. I can't figure it out at all. I just feel like we've met. Weird."

"Then I'm not sure either," Gideon said. His career had been in full swing eleven years now, when he was awarded his doctorate and immediately assigned to the Archer-A as the on-staff geophysicist. "I suppose, the important thing is that we have met now, and you now know I am an accomplished scientist by day and a published author by night. Most people do not know or even realize the latter."

"So I know your secret identity?" Miraj giggled conspiratorially. "Awesome. I shall take it to grave."

Gideon chuckled. "Thank you, I appreciate that," he replied. He had been lucky thus far in that most people didn't recognize him, his ultimate goal was to keep his science career and his writing career separate so that one didn't interfere or influence the other. Also, he knew he was popular--or well he didn't actually realize that until he went and did the book signings. "Also, now that you've actually seen my ugly mug up close and personal, it might eventually jog your memory where you have seen me."

Miraj polished off the last of her bacon and eggs. "Probably. But not till we're right in the middle of something else. Its just not coming now." She chewed and put her knife and fork down, "You know what its like, It will bug me all day, then right in the middle of trying to stop these cadets from killing themselves, it will come. I'll be sitting on the bridge shouting 'Eureka!'"

"I may want to pay money to see that 'Eureka' moment," Gideon replied in jest. Then a thought came to mind, one he wouldn't share outloud simply because it still sounded so absurd even to his own ears. What if she in some round about way knows Nesh, and Nesh showed her the drawings? he asked himself. At that thought and at that memory his cheeks colored and grew warm.

She saw him colour, and wasn't sure why. She was pretty sure the word was Eureka. Or had she got it wrong. Maybe eureka was one of those euphemisms. "Are you okay?"

At Miraj's words, Gideon's thoughts were pushed away and he came back to reality. "Uh yeah, yeah I'm fine," he replied. He waved off the thought, mostly because he didn't want to think about that one time he did something out of his comfort zone and got shot in the process. "Yeah, I'm fine," he repeated, more for his own reassurance.

"Good." She licked bacon grease and egg yolk off the side of her mouth with her tongue. "I've got to go, but I'd like to hear more about your book. Next time I see you I want know all about it!"

Gideon nodded and smiled. It was a small ship, he knew he would be seeing the young, pink-haired pilot again. "Certainly, I'd like that," he replied. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Miraj."

She gave him a winsome smile and picked up her plate, "You too, Gideon. See you soon."

Waving his goodbyes, Gideon watched Miraj take her leave from the mess hall. He looked forward to speaking with her again, and there was a part of him that was excited to talk about his novels. It wasn't something he typically did, but now the cat was out of the bag wasn't it. He looked at his own tray, the plate's contents were cold now and only half eaten. He sighed, gathered his own stuff and left the mess hall.


OFF:

Lieutenant JG Gideon Nicols, PhD
Research Officer
USS Hathaway

Ensign Miraj Derani
USS Hathaway

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