Ensign Gila Sadar - I've got a Need for Discovery!

[Michelle Pehrson Dupont]

((Space Center Hrrr’ston - Tecain District, Cait))

Sadar: I-I’m sorry, I should’ve looked where I was going.

Kader: Oh sorry I’m just-

If a Mizarian could pale in any meaningful way, Gila would be white as a sheet. Of course she had to run into someone from the ship. She felt like she’d seen him before - in person, not just in the personnel files - but judging from his pips he was one of the other Ensigns aboard.

It was just her luck to bump into someone from the ship like this. The crewman didn’t seem to recognize her, however, as he seemed distinctly preoccupied with something of his own.

Kader: I’m just lost.

Sadar: Lost? Uhh… ::looks around:: I mean, you’re heading outside of the main dome?

The crewman shook his head.

Kader: Nono I mean I’m just lost on this mandala. You see as I was flying in I noticed the shape of this district from above. It was uncanny. I’m sorry again, is that real paper?

Gila flushed slightly, nodding as she closed her journal. It was a silly thing to hold on to - it’s not like Mizarians didn’t have PADDs - but she’d always found that she remembered things better if she wrote them down by hand. It felt as though the practice of writing things down actually etched them into her memory, rather than just embed it into a computer databank that she’d have to access later.

Sadar: I, uhh… Yes, it is. Umm… What did you say about a ‘mandala’?

She noted that his uniform was far from pristine - filled with leaves, dust and pollen. Had he gone through vegetation rather than sticking to the beaten path?

Kader: A mandala is a sort of a spiritual labyrinth. Supposedly you go through it and you reach some sort of conclusion or epiphany. Some species really love building things like that. Like vulcans.

The Ensign couldn’t have gotten Gila’s attention more efficiently if he’d dangled the Primer of Tol’n - the first of the Lost Scriptures - in front of her.

Sadar: Vulcan… Interesting. And you are saying that the Space Center ::looks at the state of him:: and its surroundings, form such a labyrinth? ::opens her journal again, flipping through the pages:: Well… I’ve drawn the center itself, but I haven’t drawn the surroundings.

Kader: Response?

Gila looked around. If she recalled correctly, there was an area at the entrance to the main dome detailing the construction and legacy of the center. She hadn’t paid attention to it as she entered, since the details of the building and its construction was usually something she left for the very end of any museum tour. However, given the other Ensign’s observations, perhaps it would be of use to fill out the ‘mandala’.

Sadar: Well… At the entrance of the dome, there’s an exhibit about the construction of the Space Center. I think there’s some blueprints and a satellite view of it among the images.

Kader: Response

Gila nodded slowly. Though her reason and logic was practically screaming at her to cut her losses and get back to the ship - before she was going to completely ruin this fellow Ensign’s opinion of her - a primal and so-far ignored need for discovery egged her on.

Sadar: I believe so, yes.

Kader: Response

TBC

Ensign Gila Sadar

Medical Officer

USS Artemis-A

A240006GS1