Tooling Up

Posted on Sat Nov 17th, 2018 @ 1:18am by Lieutenant Commander Matias Grronkil

Mission: Season 2: Mission 2.A: R&R
Location: Engineering
959 words - 1.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Justin hobbled into engineering on his crutches, looking around for the boss. He had a special request and he was hoping the senior engineer would be able and willing to help him with it. "Commander Grronkil?" he called, likely mispronouncing the man's name horribly enough to be almost unrecognisable.

Matias was working on some problems with the transporter when he heard somebody say his name, somewhat badly. He turned around. "Ensign Case! What can I do for you?" he said.

"Hi, um, I was hoping you could help me with a problem I'm having", Justin said. "I need a small, hands-free version of an anti-gravity sled that can carry things around for me, and grab things from the replicator. I've already settled on a design, a round, green smiley face sticking its tongue out, with two short arms and tiny hands off to the side. It's from a Douglas Adams book cover. I could use help to make it work, though."

"An anti-grav sled?" said Matias. "Simplicity itself. Do you have a picture of the design, by chance?"

He hobbled over to a console, leaned his right crutch against it and keyed in a few commands. Soon a picture appeared. "The problem I've been running into is getting the hands to grab a drink from the replicator, then setting it down on the sled and balancing it over to where I'm sitting. I need something that'll stabilise it so it won't spill all over the floor along the way."

"I'll do something about that," said Matias. "I'm a wizard about such things." Hands to clasp drinks, stabilizing. The gears were turning.

"I'd love to work with you on that", Justin asked. "If that is okay, sir? Anything that keeps me busy and lets me learn something new would be great right now."

"It's OK with me," said Matias. "It's your idea, and you should have say on it and a part on it."

Justin smiled. "Thank you, sir. I was wondering, can we build inertial dampeners small enough to integrate them with the device?" The obvious solution would be to instruct the replicator to put drinks into a vessel with a lid on, but with the inertial dampeners it would look normal, and Justin wanted to look normal.

"I've been experimenting with miniaturization," said Matias. "Small inertial dampeners. He was programming the input he was given.

"You're way ahead of me, aren't you?" Justin asked, leaning against a console and grateful there were safeties put in place against butt-dialling.

Matias laughed. "It keeps me from getting bored here," he said.

"If you don't mind me asking, sir... you haven't been around here long, and all this must have been new for you when you first got here. How did you manage to learn so quickly to both become chief engineer on one of our most advanced ships and manage to be bored, too?" Justin asked.

"Quite easy," said Matias. "When your ship was thrown into my galaxy, what you call Andromeda, I was already Chief Engineer in the Grral ship, which is just as advanced as yours. We helped fix your ship so you could return home, and I came with you, as I had nothing more to live for after my mate died. The captain accepted me here and made me Chief Engineer, as they needed one. And I manage to get bored here as I already knew the tech."

"The science is the same, I know, but we've got all those different norms and rules and design paths..." Justin was impressed. "It would take the average person years to learn."

Matias laughed. "But I am no average person. I am Grral."

"So, your species learns faster than others?" Justin asked. He hadn't looked at the civilopaedia entry for his kind, which meant he was terribly unprepared for this conversation, and his questions probably sounded stupid. It was hard to subdue curiosity, though.

"I can't answer that," said Matias, "As there are so many species in both our galaxies." He was wondering where this was going.

"Well, it's a good thing I'm not a cat", Justin said, then realised that he probably wouldn't get the reference and added, "We've got a saying, curiosity kills the cat."

Matias laughed. "You need not worry about that," he said. "I have met some Caitians here, and they're quite enjoyable company. Not so the Catharis of my home galaxy. Grral and them don't get along too well."

"They said the same about Terrans and Cardassians", Justin said. "And twenty years after that last war, relations couldn't be better." Of course, it helped having Elim Garak as their head of state.

Matias smiled. "That is good to know," he said.

"So, have you immigrated into this galaxy for good, or are you working on a way to at least communicate with your folks back home?" Justin wondered. He loved going new places, but the thought of never being able to return home wasn't comfortable.

"No, it is difficult, even impossible. By the time my message got there, it would be centuries beyond when my friends lived." He sighed.

Justin nodded. It made sense. He had somehow thought that if they manage travel between the galaxies, communication might also be possible, but maybe he hadn't thought it through properly. "I hope you like it in these parts, sir."

"I do, but it does get kind of lonely around here. How I would love to have some close friends, even some lovers." said Matias.

"If you're a good chef, perhaps?" Justin teased. "Most of us milky-wayers like to be served dinner first." He hobbled to the replicator and retrieved the tool that the chief engineer had so expertly crafted. "Thank you for your help, sir."