BACKSIM Ensign Ras El'Heem - Do you hear our plight? Pt. 1

[Ras El'Heem]

((Stardate 239101.30, The Root, Verdant Belt, Sylvana Prime))

 

The classroom had been increasingly empty over the past month. Ras still attended as his parents insisted that his primary school education must continue despite everything that was going on. However, his mind had been fuzzy as of late. The rations his family were entitled to were hardly able to sustain all four of them. Most of the creche he had grown up with were migrating with their families away from the blight. Although, not all of them had left because they were moving, some of them had left Ras’s life because they did not get enough rations to survive. One loss in particular weighed on Ras these last few days.

 

Ras looked over at a desk that sat a few rows ahead of him and to the left. It sat empty, as it had for less than a week. Every time he saw that seat, melancholy washed over him. Maybe he should’ve forgone a day or two of rations to sustain his crechemate. It would’ve been hard on Ras no doubt, but he should’ve done something. He felt immense guilt over the loss even though in reality he could not have prevented it, his parents had told him this very fact many times since Kael Jena’s composting. Why did they even need to compost her? The Verdant Belt had grown withered since those botanists unearthed the mutant mushrooms in the Great Barren North. There was nothing for Kael to return to. He supposed they did because it was tradition. A way to honor those lost, even if it was in vain.

 

Ras’s faith in tradition had waned since the only things on his mind were his empty stomach. The growling kept him up at night too, the lack of sleep surely contributed to the fuzz in Ras’s head. He floated in that cotton, his thoughts adrift. Thoughts of leaving all this pain behind, thoughts of his now frail baby sister, thoughts of the dead stares his parents have as they reconcile with how to provide for their children. Thoughts of food. Basted Variegated Palm stalks, grilled tufted mushrooms, fresh Star Blooms that the Bloomgrazers hadn’t gotten to yet. His stomach growled now, and it snapped him back to the present just in time to hear his instructor calling his name.

 

E’Na: Ras. Ras did you hear me?

 

Ras: ::Looking up.:: No I’m sorry Shila E’Na. What did you say.

 

Ras sat up at attention. He wanted to show respect to one of the few Shila’s that still came to teach the children in their classes.

 

E’Na: I said that they’re closing this Root at the end of this cycle. In two days time, we will no longer have the facilities to run anymore. There’s only three of you in this class anyways. ::She cleared her throat as her voice broke.:: Go home, spend time with your family. I know your minds are elsewhere children.

 

Ras looked around at the two others that still came to class. They looked back. Sadness in their eyes, all of their worlds had crumbled around them this last month and here further were more changes that kept a semblance of routine in their lives.

NT/TBC

Ensign Ras El’Heem

Junior Medical Officer

USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)

K240106RE3