Memory Lane

Posted on Mon Apr 13th, 2020 @ 8:49pm by Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein & Ka'see 'Cassie' Anderson (*)

Mission: Mission 11 - Prospecting
Location: Deck 7 - Science Labs
Timeline: MD 01 14:00
1128 words - 2.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Cassie had headed straight to her lab and smiled in pleasure as the familiar nature of it all. It was like she was home still in 2246 without a care in the world other than getting a divorce from Tevir. She had not felt this free and easy in forever. When had she last felt like this? She could not remember at all. It had been years. She looked around and nearly decided to have a nap there on top of her table but moved to the sink and freshened up. She would be fine there until the medication wore off or she got bored of the trip down memory lane. She heard the announcement requesting that she return to medical but she ignored it, she did not want to deal with the bickering anymore.

Burnie had had a heads up from Liha before the announcement. He figured she'd comm'ed him because he was Cassie's friend and might be better at finding her, though the closing warning of "Don't help her blow anything up" had been a little insulting. It did however give him an idea of where to look.

Sure enough, poking his head through the door of her lab, he spotted her. "Hey, Cassie. Are you okay? People seem to think you should be in sickbay."

Cassie looked up from splashing her face in the sink and looked up with water running down the face. "Burnie! Hello." She said brightly relieved to see someone who wouldn't haul her off to sickbay. "They gave me the wrong pain killers for my shoulders." She said as if that was explanation for why she was on the run.

To Burnie, whose hobbies had led to spending a certain amount of time in hospitals as a child and medbays as an adult, that was actually a perfectly understandable explanation. "Yeah, that's the worst," he agreed. "Last time I got serious painkillers the head nurse threatened to remove my vocal chords because I kept reciting old comedy bits."

Cassie found herself laughing as she imagined it. "Tell me some?" She requested unsteadily jumping up onto her table sitting there looking a little wild.

"Well, um..." Burnie pulled at the back of his neck, not expecting a command performance. "Okay, but I was kind of out of it, so I don't remember it everything, but this was the one that really got under Nurse Gable's skin." He took a breath, leaned back on a table and then popped upright, singing, "ohhh I am not dead yet! I can dance and I can sing. I am not dead yet. I can do the highland fling. I am not yet - no need to go to bed. No need to call the Doctor 'cause I'm not yet dead!"

Cassie watched him intrigued for a moment before bursting into laughter. "I love it." She approved. "I can do a highland fling. My mother was Scottish." She admitted with a small smile as she thought on the woman and the cottage they had lived in after leaving Vulcan.

"You do?" Burnie laughed. "Wow. I sort of know what it is, but it's just part of the lyrics. I think I'd do damage trying that dance."

"Yeah. When I was 13 we left Vulcan. My parents had separated and we went back to where my mother was from in Scotland. It was a tiny little village on an island where everyone knew each other. They barely accepted technology but it was so nice and warm the people. They took me in when my mother was too busy or away. Such a sense of community." Cassie stood up to do it but clutched the lab table hard as the room span just a little.

Seeing her wobble, Burnie rushed forward to catch and steady her. "You can show me later," he said, and flashed a smile. "And trust me, you'll probably have to keep me from falling over, so best if you're past being all zorched by then."

Cassie smiled relieved as he caught her up and she found her head resting on his shoulder. "Later would be better. Been a while since I've felt like this... zero g training I think." Even coming out of being in a transporter loop had not felt as bad as this. Every muscle in her body wanted to do something different than the others.

Having her lean her head on him like that felt nice. No one had done that since Erica... Burnie pushed the thought away. Cassie was a friend, one still hurting from a bad divorce and feeling all wrong from meds. "I wish I could make you better," he said sympathetically. He looked around for ideas. He didn't know enough bio to try to counter whatever she'd been given, but maybe a distraction would help. "I could make a light show with the lasers in here. You know, since you're sort of trippy right now anyway."

"I'll be okay soon enough. But this is a prime example of why doctors should not assume everyone is human." She mused to herself before looking around at what he was considering around later. "Go for it." She had no idea what a laser show was really but he wanted to help occupy her safely that was nice of him to say the least.

"Okay." Burnie smiled and guided her over to a chair that he judge she wasn't likely to fall out of. He helped her into it and pulled another up beside it. "Here, save my seat until the show starts," he said with a wink.

As he turned away Cassie grabbed his hand, making sure she did not pull herself out of the chair and smiled up at him. "Thank you." She said honestly having a moment of clarity.

"Anytime." He smiled back, and squeezed her hand before releasing to go gather the half dozen small lasers from various interferometers and other measurement devices in the lab. Most were red or green, but with some fiber optic cable, a black light, and various prisms, he could get a whole spectrum.

After a few minutes, he had it all set up on a lab table, including some rotating pedestals to make the kaleidoscope move. Returning, he pulled a control up on his wrist miniPaDD. He cast a grin at Cassie. "Ready for the show?"

"Always," Cassie assured and patted the chair next to her. "I kept your seat."

Burnie sat down and leaned back with a smile. "Then, lights, action!" he said pressing 'start'. He only regretted not having time to work out how to sync some explosion sounds in.

OFF::

Ka'see 'Cassie' Anderson
Biologist
SS Mary Rose
(PNPC Gregnol)

Michael Burnstein
Chief Engineer
Biologist
SS Mary Rose