LtCmdr Jovenan – I don’t know the reason, but I understand it
Jovenan
((Geology lab, Deck 9, USS Artemis))
Jovenan had seen plenty of rocks in her life. Many of them had peculiar properties, ranging from curiosities to subjects of myriad of potential uses all the way to posing danger to people around them. Ulexite projected the image through to its surface – nice. Gallicite zapped people with electric charge – not nice. Mirabilite concentrations appeared each morning only to dissolve by the evening – awesome. Kelbonite had prevented her from beaming out or calling for help at La’kso Canyon on Meranuge IV and Rakantha Province on Bajor – not awesome. Not to mention all the crystals and not-exactly-rocks-but-close-enoughs: da’allium made people insane, the Yurum’s crystals could be manipulated to make people insane, the unnamed crystals on Callis I powered machines that made people insane, prismagons tore holes in the multiverse and invited insane people to your universe. All cool from a safe distance, not so much encountered in the field. Hearing that one of the teams had found rocks that attracted lightnings from the sky wasn’t going to shock her, but it was good to hear that they hadn’t done that to the team either.
Jovenan: Fascinating. If my memory serves me right, stones with somewhat similar properties have been found at least on Delphi Ardu IV. The composition is very different, though. ::smiles:: Let’s see if we can replicate it.
Jaran: Yes. More of the danger rock from the death planet. Loving that.
Well, that was their job. Jovenan took the dish with the sample to a scanner to see what the rock was made of and how it could cause the effect the Doctor had described. Often, they’d have scans from the site of discovery – which could help them figure out the difference if the samples behaved differently in the laboratory environment – but without operational tricorders, they had only as much data as they could produce on the ship. No one was to blame, quite the opposite, Jovenan was impressed that the Doctor had the insight to grab a rock and take it with them at all. Their description of the area and the effect, albeit not by a professional geologist, was invaluable.
Jovenan: So, geology isn’t your field? Did you do a biology degree first, like some of your colleagues, or did you go straight for a medical degree?
The Doctor shifted the weight from one leg to another. Jovenan was unsure what had caused such a reaction or what it meant. Were they impatient about the results, or were they dissatisfied with the conversation turning to personal matters? Or were they just eager to get away from the rocks? Whatever it was, Jovenan could read their body language just enough to tell that her question caused some discomfort, something she would have never wanted to do intentionally. They, however, responded before she could blurt out that they didn’t need to.
Jaran: You'll never believe it, but I actually did my pre-med while studying philosophy. I couldn't immediately bring myself to leave my old life behind, you know?
Philosophy? That was certainly an unusual choice for pre-med. Jovenan had barely ever studied philosophy, but she could see that it would be of great use for a doctor making life-altering decisions frequently. As for the substance, however, she imagined Doctor Jaran would have been at some disadvantage when starting their studies compared to their fellow students who had extensive knowledge of biology, for example – disadvantages that they had clearly overcome. “My old life”? Just switching the study focus didn’t warrant for such a descriptor in Jovenan’s mind. Were they a philosopher before becoming a Doctor? The young medical officer didn’t come across as a debater, their demeanour was more… soft-spoken? Introspective? Even academia seemed too confrontational, “publish-or-perish”, challenge opposing methods, participate in seminars, debates and retractions. Or maybe she wasn’t all that good at judging a character, but there was also more to philosophy than that. Old life not entirely left behind, inner contemplation, philosophy and the work to aid others, combined with the flash of the Bajoran earring, made Jovenan connect dots where she hoped to see an image.
Jovenan: Oh? I haven’t heard anyone choose that for a pre-med before. Did your “old life” perhaps involve a religious order or something similar?
Jaran: I'm not even sure how you knew to ask that, but it's pretty astute. Calash Monastery. Do you know it?
Jovenan inhaled and held the breath in for a few seconds, looking in the mid-distance trying to bring any memories with that name forth. There were plenty of religious locations across the galaxy known for their architectural or natural beauty, historical or current political significance, or their particular methods of devotion. However, there were so many of them that someone who didn’t specialise in such topics couldn’t possibly remember a fraction of them.
Jovenan: Sorry, no. I haven’t sadly spent much time on Bajor, and I haven’t met any other Bajoran monastics or clerics. ::shrugs:: Not many in Starfleet.
She turned to the computer screen again. The initials results were flooding into view. Leaning in against the desk, she read through the chemical composition reports and the physical structure overviews. In theory, the rock wasn’t all that much off from gallicite, but its structure was influenced by an external force not present in the recorded deposits. Granted, in her field, anything that was off by just a little could still behave entirely differently. Diamonds and coal weren’t that different, yet getting one or the other for Christmas changed the mood drastically.
Jaran: And you? You're Edo, if I remember correctly. I didn't know many Edo left the planet, much less became Starfleet scientists. Why is that?
Jovenan: Hm? Oh, um… Most people don’t see a reason why they would leave or do any of that, I suppose. Nothing to push or pull you away, if you’re like most people and want the same things, since you can just get them. No need for achievement, adventure, jealousy, curiosity. So, why bother leaving?
It was hardly the first time Jovenan had explained her problem, so to speak, with her culture to someone else. Emotionally, she knew very well what had made her leave her homeworld but not many others, yet every time she tried to put it into words and rationalise it, she felt more and more like she needed someone else to explain it to her first. She was a planetary scientist, not a board of objective outsider psychologists and anthropologists.
Jaran: Response
The results were done. Jovenan tilted her head to a side.
Jovenan: Okay, we have a nice picture of the sample, but I’d like to observe what you said about the lightnings. We can try different set-ups, but it would help if you happened to remember something about when that happened. Was it like the thunderstorms on Bajor, for example? What happened to the rocks after the lightning hit them?
Jaran: Response
She nodded and moved the sample to a different set-up across the room. They might be able to mimic some of the circumstances of the observed behaviour in here, although getting results from the experiment right away was an exception, not the norm, when it came to sciences. While inputting the data and the measures that she thought best matched the conditions in which the behaviour the Doctor described would happen, she continued the conversation where they left it.
Jovenan: I am like most Edo. I like running. I eat vegetarian most of the time. I pray to our God occasionally, even if they can’t hear me from this far. And Starfleet’s order is a decent replacement for our rule-based society, even if there are differences. I just… didn’t find my people’s version of instant gratification something I wanted. ::shrugs, smiles:: Not special, just different. The culture shock after leaving was just as debilitating. I would imagine the switch from a monastery to stopping someone from pulling off a coup and running away from predators was a drastic change for you too, am I right?
Jaran: Response
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11