Down the rabbit hole

Posted on Mon Aug 9th, 2021 @ 7:06am by Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Stone & Ensign Remedy Slim

899 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Out of Time
Location: Science Labs

Siren was curled up on her couch with a book. It wasn't often that she got lost in a bit of fiction, but she was captivated by her current novel. That is until it reached a bit she didn't understand. Something about ancient pre-Romulan/Vulcan split Vulcanoid prehistoric magic use.

Yes it was fiction, and the whole magic bit was probably just a story device, but it had her curious as to the possibilities. Not real magic of course. But any technology so far advanced that it couldn't be explained could easily be considered 'magic." She pondered who to ask, and found herself looking up the ship's roster.

There was the person she needed. She asked the computer. "Where is Ensign Remedy Slim?"

The computer responded, "she is in the labs," the simple, very boring but all-knowing monotone feminine voice.

Remedy was in the shared lab area trying slog through the day, and what wasn't helping was her massive hang-over, nor the incessant dribble that the other scientists were drawling on about. It took all of her willpower to keep from standing up and shouting at them to just shut up.

Siren made her way to the lab, her PaDD in hand. She heard a string of gossip from the assembled scientist, and sent a glare at the group, before heading to the woman she was looking for. She looked a bit worse for wear, Siren recognized the signs. So she got a glass of water from the replicator before clearing her throat in front of the woman, her hand outstretched with the offering of water.

Remedy groaned, but gladly took the water, but there was not going to be a "thank you" or "thanks" that just wasn't Remedy. Luckily Remedy was smart enough to slowly sip it, "you are not a scientist," Remedy said simply, "and with you, not a scientist, or really even if you were can this wait until tomorrow?"

Siren had to admit she was a bit miffed at being put out, but honestly, it could wait indefinitely. "Sure." Siren turned to leave, having another good glare at those who hadn't disbanded their little gossip session.

{Ugh, damn it,} the cranky Rigellian thought, "wait, hold on," Remedy said slowly standing up, "if you came all the way down here you must need answers, yes?"

Siren nodded. "Only to curb my own curiosity." Now that Slim had made the offer though, she wasn't going to turn it down. She offered the PaDD to the woman. "I just wanted to know how much of that was based in fact."

Taking the PaDD and quickly skimming it, Remedy was about to laugh at the lieutenant, kind of her primary reaction when seeing something as ridiculous as this, but stopped when she saw something, "hrm, follow me," Remedy said again very simply. "Take a seat," she added.

Siren did as instructed. She was actually surprised she hadn't been laughed at. Had the situation been reversed, Siren doubted she would have been able to control herself. She looked just a tad expectantly at the Ensign. but refrained from speaking.

After a few more minutes and several PaDD shuffling, "...so you do know that magic doesn't exist, yes?"

Siren snorted. "Yes of course. But if we showed up in the sky above a bunch of cavemen, I'm pretty sure we'd be the 'magic' she used air quotes as she said it.

"....so with that established, that doesn't mean we can explain everything, for example, Iconian Gates, yes there is some type of teleport technology, but there is most likely something more, or even the concept of ascension," Remedy said perking up a little bit, so with that in mind, there is a possibility that the Iconians or a species like that visited Vulcans and Romulans and felt like they could share information with them, that would speed up their society quite considerably," Remedy said simply, "which could come off like magic, or something similar," she said with a small shrug.

"So, it's not completely out of the question." Siren summed it up simply. "Just not quite in the way portrayed in the novel."

"Yes," Remedy said, "....but knowing how logical Vulcans are and have been, I am shocked that magic is the term that is in this novel, may I ask where you found this novel?"

Siren squared her shoulders and answered. "A book club of sorts. The CMO on my last ship liked to find obscure books, fiction, non-fiction, the more obscure the better. It gave me something to do between rehab sessions, so I kept it up. I don't know why this one caught my interest so much, but thank you for indulging me."

Remedy just nodded as she memorized the title of the book, deciding to dig a little deeper later, "welcome," she said simply as she finished the water, "oh, and uh, yeah thanks for the water," she said awkwardly.

Siren waved her off. "No problem. I've been there many a time." Then on her way out, Siren 'accidentally' shouldered into the worst of the gossipers. "Oh my. I'm so sorry." She said in an over saccharin tone, then hurried the rest of the way out before she could burst into childish giggles.

Remedy just sighed, this wasn't what she signed up for but she did get to do what she enjoyed, so she really couldn't complain.

 

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