Tour: Science

Posted on 18 Nov 2024 @ 6:15pm by Lieutenant Zayna Ryler & Commodore Harvey Geisler

1,327 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Bait and Switch
Location: Science Labs
Timeline: June 29, 2390 || 0815 hours

As was common for the first morning of a new mission, Harvey took it upon himself to tour the vessel, stopping by each of the major locations aboard the ship and check in with his senior staff. This leg of the journey brought him to the Science Lab where he knew Lieutenant Ryler was known to frequent. When he arrived, however, he found the door unwanting to open. He shifted his coffee mug into his other hand and tapped the door chime.

Buried nose deep in research and information, the chime on the door barely registered in Zayna's brain. However, she did hear it enough to answer. "Come in," before blinking for a moment. Realizing she wasn't in her quarters or office and that she'd locked the door to anyone just wanting to wander in like she normally would on the other two rooms, she gave a heavy sigh and went to open the door herself.

She was surprised who was on the other side of the door. "Sir! I..sorry. Didn't mean to lock the door on you."

Harvey blinked in his own surprise. It wasn't often that someone met him at the door, especially one that didn't walk on four legs and had a tail to shake. "It's all right, Lieutenant. I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"No, not at all. Just digging through the information and locked the door on accident." Zay stepped aside. "Please, come in. I zoned into everything is all."

He accepted the invitation and stepped inside. As soon as he was inside the doorway, he took a sip of the coffee and took a good look around the room. "You know, I don't think I've seen the new science labs yet. What's your impression of them so far?"

Looking around a little bit, she smiled. "Honestly? I don't think I've seen better ones beyond on Earth. But that might just be me. With all this work, don't get to see many other labs. My team seems to approve of them."

Harvey chuckled and took another sip of his coffee. "And the fact that they are indeed brand new plays a big part on that I'm sure. I'm glad your teams approve. Do you have any big plans for them in the next few weeks? I'm sure you've had an idea or two."

"Plans?" Zay sat and thought for a moment. "Honestly, not much. Maybe get working on some more experiments after I make sure my team's schedules and such are set right."

"Sounds perfect." Harvey took a sip of his tea as he started to circle the room, taking close attention of each lab station and its features. "How about you yourself, Miss Ryler? I know we haven't talked much since your promotion and with all of the recent events happening. Are you settling in to the ship all right?"

Raising an eyebrow slightly, Ryler relaxed a little. "Doing my best. I tend to overfocus on work and not so much myself. Bad habit I suppose. I likely could try to explore the ship a bit more, talk to more people."

"Believe it or not, Miss Ryler, I can relate." Harvey took in a deep breath, held it in for a moment, before letting it out. "It was not that long ago that I had a lab of my own. When my first wife died, I locked myself away and I didn't want to come out. It took a while, but, uh, I'm glad I did."

"Didn't want to..." she frowned as the words escaped her lips. "It's not my place to ask. But, I've been in the same boat at times. Gone places in my mind that I don't want to revisit, times in my life I don't want to revisit." Zayna shook her head, "Let's say I'm glad I'm not the same person I was."

Harvey could relate to that as well, no longer being the same person he was. "We are all different people throughout our lives, not just in labeled identity, but in how we react and behave." He was not normally one to provide a comforting smile during hard conversations, not that this conversation was hard even though they had broached on a potentially sensitive subject. But if it was anything he had learned in his own life, it was that he needed to respect where a person was in life in addition to the roles and responsibilities they were meant to fulfill. "For what it's worth, I am glad that at this point in your life, you are here."

"Honestly," she finally said after a bit of quiet, "so am I. Didn't think I'd ever be in charge of anything, let alone an entire department on an amazing ship with an amazing crew." She couldn't help but grin. "Er, I take it you didn't come down here for that kind of talk though. Conversations can get away from us, can't they?"

"Indeed they do," Harvey agreed. "And you are correct, I didn't come down here for that. It's been a quiet morning, so I thought I'd drop by, see how all is proceeding, and if there are any needs that must be addressed."

Zayna thought for a moment and shook her head, "Unless you can make more hours in a day so I can properly sleep and work? Though, I'm sure everyone wants that to happen. Science has what we need unless my team tells me otherwise."

"I can do a lot of things, but altering the space-time continuum is not one of them." Harvey paused for a moment, considering the time they'd punched through to an alternate universe, and then the issues with the quantum filaments they'd snagged with the previous Black Hawk. "Well, at least not intentionally."

"As someone who studied all that...yeah I understand. More sleep would be amazing though. Given the mission however, I'll sleep after." She gave a small shrug, "Don't worry, I will get some sleep so I am able to fully focus when I need to."

The Commodore nodded, understanding that he would not be the only one on board who would not find rest until this ordeal was complete. "Just make sure that's not a can you keep kicking down the road. Even with stimulants, our bodies can only function so well following a few days of sleep deprivation. I'm not telling you to get some rack time. I'm telling myself that as much as I am you."

"We probably all need to get some sleep honestly, before things get to chaotic. I think we all hope it doesn't get that way, but given our history..." Zay smiled, "I'll get some rest before the day, don't worry. But, please be sure you do too?"

He chuckled, stating, "As always, I'll do my best. If it's not duty keeping me up, it's the sleeping pattern of young toddlers. That's something that's hard to control at this age."

"I won't pretend to know how that is. Not sure how I'd do at being a mother, though babysitting I've done before." She shook her head, "Hopefully they actually sleep for you when you need them to."

"For now they are," Harvey admitted. "I'm told I've got a few months before that changes again, but we'll see. And there we've gone again, another conversation getting away from us. It sounds like all is well down here, so if there is nothing pressing, I'll take my leave and let you get back to it."

Zayna couldn't help but laugh. "True, but science doesn't have much need for anything, and sometimes other conversations are nice to break up the work talk. But, I'm sure you've got a lot to do anyways, and I'm sure my team will be checking in soon too."

He smiled and nodded. "Great. As always, my door is open. If anything comes up, don't hesitate." Harvey nodded once more, then turned to leave.

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