Lieutenant JG Ras El'Heem - The Canyon's Maw
Ras El'Heem
((Holodeck 1 - DS 33 ; Simulation of Broken Tepui Aerie, Klowahka))
The air was pleasantly humid and warm. The kind of warmth that lingered on a summer night when the sun was gone, and the heat seemed to seep into the skin from the very air itself rather than from a direct source. His back rested against a granite-like boulder near the cliff’s edge. From here the mesa dropped away in a sheer fall, the opposite canyon wall streaked with ochre bands hundreds of feet below, clearly delineating a different layer of time when the topography wasn’t so sharp and scattered. A misty fog rose from the waterfalls that were smattered all around and below them and it caught the angled sunlight in a hazy glow that made it seem like radiance came from the slots of the canyons instead of the sky. Ras stayed there for a while in silence, eyes half closed and the boulder’s shade amplifying the mellow gusts of cool air rushing up from below. He tilted his head back and drew a long slow breath, letting the past weeks’ conglomeration of emotional, physical, professional, and social upheaval dissolve into the air filling his lungs. His eyes closed and he let it all disappear into the breeze. Nature like this was the last thing he needed to reset, and he made a mental note to thank Amelia for choosing such an awe inspiring location.
When he opened his eyes again, his gaze fell across the canyon to the larger tepui that rivaled their own. It was surrounded by spires of mineralic pillars that never reached higher than itself. Some were broad enough to hold small outcroppings of trees or grass, others stood barren and weathered by time. It all resembled the worn teeth of some ancient, slumbering beast, who allowed nature to reclaim it, and whose breath was the scent of wet rock and dust.
El’Heem: You ever go hiking on Luna?
As he spoke, his fingers wandered idly across the ground by his side until they closed around a palm sized rock. Without shifting from his slouched seat against the rock, he gave it a toss with just enough wrist and shoulder to send it arcing out into the open air. The stone floated farther than he expected and caught the light as it exited the shade in such a way that it resembled a distant meteor. Its climb slowed just as it met its apogee, and it seemed like it would stand still for more than a heartbeat. When it finally decided that it was well and good and no longer wanted to resist gravity, it tipped and plummeted into the drop. Ras watched it fall in diminishing flashes until it slipped into the mist and was swallowed whole by the great canyon beast’s maw, with no sound.
Banks: Response
Their discussion was stilted and slow, like the holodeck was limiting the pace at which the conversation flowed, but it still felt natural. The beauty and solace of their environment was infusing the banter with reverence. It made it all more cinematic. Ras craned his neck to look up at her where she sat with her legs dangling off the rock to the right of him.
El’Heem: What about anywhere else?
Banks: Response
El’Heem: We should go some time we get a chance. Next time we’re stationed somewhere with a real atmosphere. I went with Ezra on Bajor once…There’s nothing like being out in nature.
Banks: Response
The Kressari braced his palms, one real and one synthetic, against the cool surface of the ground and shifted his weight forward. The canyon’s breath still rose around him, but it mingled with the faint echo of voices and the distant clink of glasses. He eased himself onto his knees and lifted himself just far enough to peer over its rounded top. From this higher perch, the center of the tepui revealed itself. He could see Amelia’s familiar figure caught mid wave as Richard strode up to her and Lera. Around them, uniformed staff wove between other officers as their trays caught the golden flashes of the sun’s reflection.
He lingered there longer than he meant to, half hidden behind the stone, taking in the rhythm of it all. The scene had an ease about it, like everyone was following a music he couldn’t hear. He watched their heads tilting in conversation, the subtle choreography of steps and gestures. It brought a warmth to him that the air alone could not. A small flicker of green movement just to his right drew his gaze downward to a scraggly outcrop of deep green clinging to the rock just below his hands. Its waxy leaves trembled against the updraft and its crown of tiny orange blossoms seemed too delicate to survive all the way up here in the high altitude. He released the hold with his new hand and brushed its fingertips gently over the blooms that released a faint, citrusy scent.
Ras smiled. Not for anyone else this time. For himself. The expression had grown on him and he found himself using it more and more in private. He moved his hand away from the flower and then brought his fingertips to his mouth, feeling the upturn of his lips.
oO Oh Starfleet, what have you done to me? Oo
He shifted his weight to his hand and twisted his body in one motion so that he was now facing back into the canyon. Ras lowered himself beside Juliet so that his legs would dangle from the rock as well. His eyes flicked once more toward the flowers before meeting her eyes.
El’Heem: How’re the plants doing?
Banks: Response
El’Heem: No issues with the grow system, then?
Banks: Response
El’Heem: I told you it was easy! They’ll keep ‘em alive even during our mission.
Banks: Response
TAGS/TBC
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Lieutenant JG Ras El’Heem
Science Officer
USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)
K240106RE3