EXETERRPG: (16-0818)-(Spcs) Ops officers Ensigns Zot and Rylee Page

[Rob Davis]

Mission: The Flames of Purity

Day: 16

Stardate: 2445.09.16

(USS Exeter- Deck 6- Primary computer core control- ( spcs) - Computer Ops
Ensign Zot and Ops officer Ensign Rylee page- 0818 )




Walking down the corridor, Rylee was feeling a little tense. Knowing that
the ship was on alert and recovering their crew mates as she walked, she
felt a little out of place not being involved but she also knew that she
was told by medical to take it a little easy after taking the brunt of the
power overload in the shuttle.

As she wandered towards the computer core, having checked that was where
her next shift was to be, her hands tingled slightly. A muscle memory of
what had happened the previous day, ~Ire, i hope you get home safely
because i may have to go into hiding if you don’t. I know she was okay with
me in sickbay but if you don’t come back, i’ll be first in line for the
blame.~ she thought to herself as she straightened her uniform and walked
into the room that housed the computer core.

Looking around, Rylee took in the sight of the inner workings of the main
computer. It was hard for anyone that had not been down there to know what
this place looked like. Rylee, herself, had only been down there once
before and the sight of the belly of the beast still caught her.

Looking off to one side, she noticed the figure. Tilting her head slightly,
she took a few steps towards it.

“Oh, i’m sorry. I didn’t realise anyone was in here. Ensign Rylee Page. My
next duty shift is in here and I just wanted to take a quick look around
before coming down here later.”

He kept his face down looking at the interface terminal in front of him.
Ensign Zot was the Computer Ops specialist on the Exeter,  most of his time
was spent working in or around the cores. Zot was a tall and slender
figure, typical body type for those of his race. Eunepians were a
relatively new addition to starfleet and the federation. He was the 7th
member of his race to join. Their featureless faces made many feel uneasy.
He didn't raise his head to look at her, only glancing at her with his
upward peripheral site.

" Ensign Page Rylee , age 34 years , Trill" he said finally raising his
face to look at her. " Unjoined" He said. His voice was soft and welcoming.

" I was expecting you here at 1600, Is this a practice of punctuality? "

Smiling a little, Rylee nodded, "that's me. And no, this is me being
interested in where my next posting is. I was going to grab something to
eat before coming back."

He titled his head." I haven't read your file in great detail, but do you
have experience working in or around computer cores or their subcores ,
Ensign?"

"Well, I have some knowledge of the computer core but nothing exceptional."
She paused a second and looked at the person infront of her, "I'm sorry, if
I am being a bit nosy forgive me. I haven't met anyone from your race
before."

Ensign Zot stepped out from behind his terminal and towards her. " I am
familiar with this statement of being nosey, it implies that you are prying
or questioning to gather information in a nonconventional way. Are you
attempting to question me about my race, Ensign?"

"Yes, I suppose I was. I'm just interested is all."

" Everything about my race is available to read in the ships computer.
Questions of a more personal nature can be asked to me directly and I shall
endeavor to answer them in a manner that satisfies your interests."  Zot
responded,  his voice still soft and welcoming. In fact the tone of his
voice hadn't changed with anyone he had exchanged with her.

"So, what are you doing in here?"

He looked to his right and at the cores main interface. " The Exeter's
computer runs off  a AC-21 Bio-Neural super series core built by Krayne
Systems, based on Bynar. I am currently simulating a recalibration of the
Liquid helium loop used to cool isolinear storage system, if successful I
can decrease cooling time by 31 minutes 11 seconds. Doing this will ease
stress on several key operating systems and reduce power consumption by 4
percent " He explained.

Raising an eyebrow,  Rylee smiled widely, "Sounds like you know a lot more
than I do. My computer knowledge is limited to say the least. I mean I can
work them, they seem to speak to me sometimes but other than that… the
technicalities of them.. not a clue."


He tilted his head. " Computers speaking is not a unique thing. Many
computers have a verbal interface. Ensign " He said looking at her face.

Smiling widely, Rylee forced down a laugh, "That's not exactly what I meant
but I take your point. "


" May I state an observation Ensign?" He asked.

Raising an eyebrow, Rylee nodded, "Go on."

" 89 percent of the Trill population has an odd number of spots on the
right side of their face and an even number of spots on the left side. You
however have 18 on the right and 21 on the left side of your face. You fall
into the 11 percent….Unique." He said as he turned his attention back to
the core terminal.

Blushing slightly, she took a breath. It had been a long time since anyone
had realised that. Now, this stranger to her had pointed out what was one
of her most unique features.

"May I ask your name?"

" My name is Zot of the community structure of Dormos  , but here ,I am
known as Zot. Currently Ensign Zot. " He replied

"Ensign Zot, i must say that you are also one of the most unique
individuals i have ever met."

He turned his face away from the terminal and looked at her. His eyes
looking at hers " Thank you, although back home we all look the same.
Nothing...no one unique."

"Then how do you tell each other apart?" Rylee asked before closing her
eyes briefly and opening them, "I'm so sorry. That's such an insensitive
question. "

" Our body types are different. Some short , some tall. Our faces all look
the same. But if we want to determine who someone is we look at the
arrangement of veins on exposed areas of the skin, looking past the
epidermis. The arrangement pattern of veins is comparable to thumb prints
."

"Almost like my spots. Every Trill has different patterns although you ask
any of the others and they wouldn't notice. " she replied.

" Others? Who are the others" He asked.

"It doesn't matter. Tell me what I can do to help you once my shift starts?
Any … what's the word…. cultural differences I should be aware of when
working with you?"

He pointed to the wall 3 meters behind her. " Don't touch any of the
isolinear storage units. But don't worry when your shift starts I will be
here with you for the first 4 hours. Since you are general ops you can just
make sure all streams are flowing above 60 percent and below 90 percent. I
will explain later how to adjust the data streams. As for differences of
culture, nothing but I am hard of hearing and wear hearing enhancement
units to provide sufficient hearing capabilities. If not you would have to
shout at me. " He said shrugging his shoulders

Nodding, Rylee filed that knowledge away in her mind, "okay, thankyou. That
would be appreciated."

~he is so different. Interesting ~ she thought to herself. She had known
that she would meet different cultures in Starfleet, different beings with
differing skills but Zot was the first crew mate she had met that was more
than just a little different.

" I should add you're ever talking to me and my eyes are not looking at you
, I'm not ignoring you or being rude . I can see with complete accuracy in
my side to side, upward and downward peripheral vision. I tend to have to
stress this one a lot." He made a heartfelt sigh.

" It has always fascinated me how people require eye to eye contact to feel
validated or respected."  He added.


"I can understand that. It's something we value. For us, eye contact is….
Well,  it's important. You can tell a lot about someone from looking into
their eyes."

" When people say 'Look at me when I'm talking to you ' although I'm not
looking at them face to face, eye to eye, they are however mouth to ear
with me. Which helps me a great deal and unbeknownst to them I am seeing
everything they do in my peripheral"  He said with a slight grin.

"Good to know. So, no making rude hand gestures behind your back then?" She
laughed.

" I can not see behind my back, so feel free. Even if I did see them. I
would not be offended. They are only hand gestures." He remarked.

"Zot, if I ask a lot of questions, I mean it as no disrespect. I lead a
sheltered life on Trill.  A good life but sheltered. Part of the reason I
wanted to join Starfleet was to be out here, exploring. "

" There is  nothing wrong  with asking questions, asking questions is the
search for knowledge " He said as he walked back to the center terminal and
watched his simulation, checking to see the tolerances of the ODN pathways.
He was still listening to her. " So you wanted to be an explorer?"

"I'm curious. My father always said it would be my undoing."

" In curiosity we find ourselves endeavoring to discover the mysteries of
the universe, no matter how small. No matter how grand. A life lived
without the pursuit of the unknown is a life not lived at all. " He paused
and looked at her to make direct eye contact with his black orb like eyes.

"  I have heard the term curiosity killed the cat, but among my people. We
have another saying for curiosity...Curiosity finds wonder."

Looking at his eyes, Rylee knew she was staring and looked away. "That's
beautiful. Maybe I should think of it that way?

" If it helps you find comfort in curiosity then I advise you make the
attempt to include that way of thinking into your life as an explorer.
Ensign." Zot replied.

"I should stop bothering you. This is your duty shift not stand here and
talk time. "

" Its, interesting having someone to talk too, if you weren't here. I would
be reading something or thinking of another simulation to run or program to
analyze." He said, maintaining eye contact because she said it
was...important. looking at her eyes. He tried to see if he could see
something beyond the material to see if he could learn something about her.
With his vision focusing in he could see the details of her retinas.

"Say, would you like to grab a drink after my shift? Nothing fancy. I want
to hear more about your people as I am sure you want to find out about
mine?"

He snapped out of it. " A drink ? I should be sufficiently hydrated by the
time your shift ends. Hopefully you are keeping hydrated as well." He said
to her with concern.

Chuckling, Rylee gave him a look of curiosity and warmth, "I meant get a
drink and sit down to talk."

" I see, you meant a social encounter. The consumption of alcohol to ease
potential tension in conversation or to provide a menial social tool for
developing a conversation. It sounds good. I look forward to hearing about
your people. The relationship between humanoid structured Trill and
symbiotic Trill is fascinating to me." Zot said with a hint of enthusiasm
in his voice.


"I can tell you what I can. Having never had a symbiont, I wouldn't know
exactly how it works…" she replied with a hint of sadness on her voice.

" Does that trouble you?" He asked.

"It's fine. It's tough to become an initiate. I'd have missed out on all
this fun.' She replied with a wink.

" Perhaps your curiosity will one day lead you to the experience of being
joined.You should get going Ensign."

"Throwing me out already?" Rylee replied with a laugh  as she headed for
the door, "I see you, Zot!" She winked as she left.

Zot watched as she left and titled his head. " and they say I'm odd"

( reply none )

( posted by Rob Davis  and Jackie )
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://startrekfreedom.com/pipermail/exeter-rpg_startrekfreedom.com/attachments/20201003/de932b68/attachment-0001.html>