A tour of a much smaller place

Posted on Tue Feb 4th, 2025 @ 7:12am by Lieutenant N'vok Holv & Lieutenant Commander S'hib

Mission: Season 6: Episode 5: A church beyond heaven
Location: Science Department
Timeline: Day 2, Morning
570 words - 1.1 OF Standard Post Measure

". . . as you can see, we are very interested in understanding the ecologies of the worlds we visit," said N'vok, leading his guest out of a room filled with plants of all sorts. "Ecologies tend to be unexpectedly fragile and the more we can learn about working systems, the more prepared we will be when we encounter one that is in trouble."

"Your ship must make extensive use of plants for cleaning the atmosphere and other such purposes," he added.

"We do indeed," High Brother Y'emet said with a broad smile, his heavily tattooed face somehow looking bright and cheerful. "We use extensive algae farms that filter our environmental systems and provide a sustainable food source for our people."

"Only algae? While admittedly efficient, I would have expected you to have gardens for meditation and reflection," said N'vok.

"Ah, yes... no we do have those too, though they are purely aesthetic, unlike the algae farms. However, and you might be interested in this, some of the trees we have are almost as old as our vessel... in fact, the trimmings are potted around the outer docking rings."

"If you would be willing, we would welcome one of the saplings into our collection," said N'vok. "It is impressive you have been able to keep the trees for so long."

"We saved as much as we could from our world, not just our people..." Y'emet said, his voice soft but proud.

"but regrettably we have lost many species over the years due to the lack of biodiversity and inbreeding," He looked back at the room they had just left, his thoughts on the wide array of life he had seen.

"I'll arrange for one of our younger saplings to be delivered to your vessel once I return, I only hope it does well in your care." He said, returning his attention back to N'vok.

"We would be happy to share some of ours in return, if a place could be found for them. Some of our trees have ties to various religious practices of our member world," said N'vok. "And I promise that, I personally will oversee taking care of the sapling. And I have a good hundred and twenty years left in my life, all going well."

"Unfortunately we are somewhat limited on space within our church, though if you could provide us with seedlings and their genetic sequences instead we would be more than happy to catalogue them until we can find suitable worlds for them to thrive on."

N'vok thought back to the vast area of the cathedral ship but did not comment. "We would be happy to do so, it is our desire to build friendship and understanding between peoples and cultures. What would you like to take some refreshment, perhaps meet some of the other people aboard?"

"I would be delighted to meet more of your people, but even more than that learn about your galaxy, or as we call them in our faith, trees."

"Excellent," said N'vok leading them toward the galley. "Does your order have any dietary restrictions? I would not wish to in advertantly cause offence when things are going so well."

"Our quest for knowledge, to learn all there is for the universe includes experiences... As such, I would very much like to sample everything you have to offer."

"Then let us go," said N'vok. "We have access to an amazing diversity of foods."