Food for Thought

Posted on Thu Sep 28th, 2023 @ 5:19am by Lieutenant Commander S'hib & Lieutenant Danica Kovitz & Lieutenant N'vok Holv

Mission: Season 6: Episode 3: Far From Home
Location: Mess Hall, USS Elysium
Timeline: MD 3
1412 words - 2.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Danica slumped into her chair, feeling as if she'd just shrugged off a thousand pounds. She felt exhausted on every possible level. Her body was tired from hours of crouching and occupying odd postures to get her science lab back in order. And her mind...well that was another thing entirely. Ever since the vessel had been ripped across space to this unfamiliar set of stars, she'd felt unmoored. She'd thrown herself into going through the motions, but that had come with a cost, and the burnout she now felt was it.

With what felt like a herculean effort, she raised her head and looked at her tray, willing herself to start eating. It wouldn't do to starve herself. It took a moment for her to register movement approaching.

"Kovitz," said N'vok from almost right next to her where he was getting another cup of Andorian The. "You look like I feel, as the Terran saying goes. Come and join me." He gestures to a table where a half-eaten meal waited.

The voice broke Dani out of her stupor a bit. "Oh, uh...yes sir. I feel more tired than I believe I've ever felt in my life. Glad to know it's not just me though."

The Vulcan almost smiled. "Come and sit down then. We can share our miseries together. As it is for everyone else, this is not the mission we expected to be on when we left on it." He slowly lowered himself into a chair. "I do look forward to being recovered from my injuries though."

"You and me both. My shoulder still doesn't feel right. Medical has me on a rehabilitation regimen, but I've been admittedly bad about sticking to it," the woman said, settling into a seat. "How have yours been coming along?"

"Well enough," he said picking at his food. "Vulcans have mastered a variety of techniques to help them understand their bodies. Unfortunately, I was not as diligent with them before now. But, they have been helpful and I will be more faithful in my practices in the future."

"I could teach you some if you would be interested?" N'vok added.

"I think I might take you up on that," Dani added. "I could use a bit of self-discipline."

"It is refreshing to hear a human admit that," N'vok says deadpan. He raises a hand. "A gentle tease, Kovitz. No insult meant. I would be pleased to teach and we can all benefit from a better link between mind and body."

"No insult taken. We humans have a tendency of not being the most self-aware. I've just gotten to the point where I know I need work," Dani replied with a laugh. "I'll take a look at my nights this week and see what's open."

Back across the other side of the Mess Hall, the doors hissed open as Lt Commander S'hib trotted slowly inside, PADD in hand and clearly over-invested in the contents of the screen as he meandered somewhat towards the replicator, only stopping to look up once he found himself marooned in the void between the tables and said replicator.

"Sequus dietary supplement 54 and a glass of earth apple juice..." He huffed after walking over to the machine.

It materialised nearly instantly but still, he remained where he was, back to being fixated on his PADD.

another few moments passed and he finally picked up the tray and slowly turned, walking towards the tables with no real direction.

Again he stopped, frowning intently at something on his PADD as he stood towering over the two Lieutenants, his peripherals barely alerting him that he was about to put his tray down atop N'voks head.

Then his eyes caught the look on Danica's face, wondering if he was about to trample the Vulcan in front of her.

"Apologies... I'll uh, I'll just sit here..." He said as though finally realising where he was and what he was doing.

"Welcome, Commander," said N'vok. "You seem a bit distracted today."

S'hib sighed at this and then finally put the PADD on the table, face down. "I'm always distracted..." He admitted while readjusting how he was sitting. "Comes with running a department... you're never really off duty."

"Science is not as bad, we are mostly self-directed people when we are not facing unusual situations," replies N'vok. "And that is a good thing as I was out of action for some time and unable to run anything. Even now, I am not at my optimal capacity," He nodded towards his walking stick.

"Yeah, I know the feeling... didn't get hurt though but uh, my quarters were in a section of the ship that had multiple plasma fires, that whole deck just got gutted... lost everything." S'hib quipped as he idly moved the vegetable broth about with a spoon.

"I am sorry to hear that," said N'vok. "It is . . . painful to lose part of one's past. We are all the sum of our memories, after all."

“We will make more,” S’hib began, gently resting his spoon against the rim of his bowl before pointing at his mane. “But the most important ones I carry with me always.”

N'vok nods. "Quite so, it makes head injuries particularly feared by the Vulcans, we often have so much to lose."

The Vulcan held out his hand and spoke,
""To See a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.'"

"From the Terran poet William Blake, a mystic at times but with a beautiful turn of phrase."

“Humans can be full of surprises when it comes to philosophy… mostly because they never seem to listen to their own words,” S’hib remarked as he lowered his hand back down to the table, not wanting to dismiss what N’vok had said even if he hadn’t noticed he was pointing at the memories braided into his mane.

“But then again, we Sequus are the same in that regard.”

"I suspect it is the same of all sentient beings," says N'vok. "Even we Vulcans have trouble living up to our ideals from time to time, despite what some of us might say."

S’hib smiled and looked down at his bowl, stirring his spoon again before lifting it out and watching some of the contents fall back into the bowl “Guess we’re not so different after all…” He mused, scooping what remained on the spoon into his mouth.

"It would be a less interesting universe if we were all perfect," said N'vok. "And forgive me, I totally missed your reference earlier. My mind is still in a muddle. You braid memories into your hair, yes? How does that work? Are there agreed-upon patterns? Or does each person devise their own?"

"True... though it is the imperfections that are making things far too interesting as of late," S'hib retorted with a sigh full of sleepless nights and frustrating department reports. "But, to answer your question, Yes... and no." He said with a slight smile forming on his broad lips.

"Some are personal so their context will be personal, like an important event or something that happened in a specific place, which while vague... offers us a chance to tell their stories to each other."

As N'vok watched, S'hibs fingers seemed to talk just as much as his tongue was. He was searching amongst his mane for something specific, tapping and counting beads of wood, stone and bone alike.

"This, for example..." He said broadly, holding a small polished wooden bead. "Is from a pear tree in the Academy grounds."

Then his fingers moved to a length of intricately woven bubblegum pink hair amongst his own mane. "And this is my good friend Miraj."

"Fascinating," says N'vok. "Are there events that require commemoration or is it entirely up to the individual?"

"Oh, there are plenty... I mean, you could realistically think of our manes as a tapestry of our history, just... from different points of view." He paused for a moment, going back to his bowl of vegetable stew.

"It helps to ground us I think, shows us where we've been... and more specifically who we've been."

He smiled at this before lifting his spoon again, thankful for the moment of self-reflection N'vok had inadvertently caused.

N'vok nodded thoughtfully at this before turning his attention back to Danica, leaving S'hib to eat his food.