Ensign Lyra Voss: Full Topographical Impression
Sarah Terry
((Arboretum 6, Deck 521, Starbase 118))
Lieutenant Seris just *had* to be the one in the arboretum, didn’t he. She’d met Lieutenant Seris about a month after arriving on Starbase 118, when he had come upon her softly weeping - not sobbing, *not* crying, a few tears on her cheeks at best - in one of the stellar cartography labs as she was taking readings on a nearby comet. When she’d explained that she was simply moved by the grandeur of the moment, the fact that this rogue exocomet had traveled through the darkness of space for untold millennia, propelled by a force that had launched it long before Betazed or Vulcan were even a blip on the cosmic landscape, and that they were meeting now in this profoundly unlikely moment and who could say if anyone would ever record this comet’s trajectory again… he had been less than impressed.
But at least she’d inadvertently set herself up for this moment - Seris was expecting her to be intensely emotional and odd, and Four knew she was about to deliver on that promise.
Voss: Unfortunately not. But I would love to hear more about what you’re working on, Lieutenant, if you have a moment? ::to Bremi and Munshi:: Why don’t you go check out the artificial environment a little closer? It’s really quite impressive.
Thankfully, they got the message.
Munshi: ::Nodding with a level of professional gravity that he hoped sounded convincing:: A prudent suggestion, Ensign. I was just noting the fascinating integration of the irrigation sub-grid with the local flora. If the Lieutenant doesn't mind, we shall perform a closer inspection of the... aquatic variables.
Bremi: Response(s)?
Alok and Bremi walked deeper into the grass - Alok in a perfect pose of Vulcan composure - and Lyra turned the gushing fire hose of her attention on the lieutenant.
Seris: Well, if you’re interested…
Voss: Absolutely! Tell me all about it! Spare no detail!
She was about to be more interested in the goings-on of Arboretum 6 than anyone had ever been in the history of the station. As Alok and Bremi attempted to corner CHRLI, she peppered Seris with every question she could think of about his ongoing experiments.
Munshi: Lyra’s distraction tactic has a fifty-percent probability of success, but we need to move before Seris notices that my engineering tricorder is currently locked onto a 'puppy' frequency and not the soil pH. Bremi, you take the left bank. I’ll try to flank him near the waterfall. If he realizes we're here, he’ll likely bolt for the filtration ducts.
Bremi: Response(s)?
Munshi: Logic—and my desire to not be cleaning maintenance tubes for the next six months—dictates we catch that armadillo now. On my mark.
Bremi: Response(s)?
Munshi: ::His mouth twitched into a ghostly, exhausted smile, though his hazel eyes remained locked on the silver glint in the water:: I shall add it to the logistical requirements. Mark.
Lyra tried not to flinch as she saw Alok make his move. He slid quietly and precisely down the mossy embankment, but the moment his boot hit the water, CHRLI froze mid-backstroke. There was a collective breath as Alok and Bremi froze as well, and then CHRLI suddenly shot out of the water like a silver bullet. How the hell did he move like that? There had to be some kind of propulsion system that– but those were questions for another time. She tried to carefully maneuver her walk with Seris in such a way that the entire scene was behind his back.
Munshi: He’s airborne! Bremi, intercept at the fern line!
Bremi: Response(s)?
Lyra tried desperately to distract from the hissing, whispered shouts behind them.
Voss: And the cross-breeding program has been a success so far? That’s incredible! Maybe you can explain to me how you compensated for the different nitrogen requirements of both species and –
Seris: ::His voice cool and increasingly suspicious:: Ensign Voss, your enthusiasm for basic botanical biology is... statistically improbable. Why is Ensign Munshi currently submerged in the irrigation channel?
She felt a brief flush of offense that he called her enthusiasm improbable - damn it, you could doubt many things about her, but never her enthusiasm - but it was hardly the most pressing part of this comment.
Voss: Ah! Well, Ensign Munshi, as I’m sure you’ll learn, is extremely thorough. I’m sure he just wants a full… topographical impression of the arboretum. Which would, of course, include the details of the simulated riverbed.
Four help her, she’d never been much of a liar. Not only did she get the classic Vulcan eyebrow arch, she got some slightly narrowed eyes directed her way as well.
Seris: ::highly skeptical:: Indeed…
*Kathra,* talking was not enough of a distraction for everything that was happening in the arboretum at this moment. CHRLI was on the move, jumping through the trees and trying to make a beeline for the nearest conduit. She needed to come up with something else.
Unfortunately, she only had a few seconds to do so, during which time her brain only put forward a single idea, so she was doing it whether it was a good one or not. She staggered a bit, grabbed the lieutenant’s arm, and started fanning her face. Seris’ eyes immediately widened as he struggled to decide how to handle this new scenario.
Voss: Oh my goodness… oh, I… I feel a little faint…
Munshi: ::Scrambling out of the stream, the Spiced Plomeek soup from earlier now a heavy, salt-warm memory in his gut:: He's looking for a conduit. Bremi, the tricorder! If we can't grab him, we have to jam his navigation array. Set your output to 4.2 hertz—it might stun his internal gyroscope!
Bremi: Response(s)?
Four help her, she needed to turn the performance up. Her mother and sister were both actresses, she’d been on stage before - she just needed to *really* sell this. She fell even further into Seris’ arms like a wayward sack of potatoes.
Voss: Ughh, my head is just… I need some air! Please, I…
Lyra didn’t really give him a choice. She was now holding onto him for dear life as he steered both of them out of the arboretum and away from Alok and Bremi, and not a moment too soon as CHRLI squeaked like a rusty hinge and wormed his way into the rafters with the two other ensigns in hot pursuit.
Munshi: ::Tapping his badge as he began to run, his composure finally fraying into genuine, human desperation:: =/\= sh’Sonora! The 'puppy' is on the move again! He’s in the Arboretum 6 rafters, heading for the primary air scrubbers! We need a containment field on the vents before he turns the station’s oxygen supply into a silver armadillo playground! =/\=
Bremi: ?
((Short time skip – Corridor behind Arboretum 6, Deck 521, Starbase 118))
Lyra finally extricated herself from Lieutenant Seris and made her way to where Alok and Bremi were waiting for her. CHRLI was still in the vents, but the other team had managed to put up a containment field that was at least keeping him relatively stationary for the moment. She shook her head as she came up to the two of them.
Voss: Okay, that could have gone better.
Munshi/Bremi: ?
Voss: Well, I’m definitely going to have to spend a day with medical being evaluated for “heat hypersensitivity” and I’m pretty sure Seris thinks I’ll collapse if he looks at me wrong, but that’s a tomorrow problem.
Munshi/Bremi: ?
She forced out a giant breath as she crossed her arms.
Voss: I know time is of the essence, but we can’t just spend the whole day chasing him. He’s being playful, right? Mischievous? It feels like he wants to mess with us. There has to be a way we can use that. Some way to bait him?
Munshi/Bremi: ?