Unexpected Guest
Posted on Fri Oct 30th, 2020 @ 11:16am by Lieutenant Commander Sofia Nikedoros & Lieutenant Commander Jott Brott
2,307 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
Equivalent Exchange
Location: Rectory
Taking an evening walk was a habit for Jott. Well, where possible. An "evening walk" didn't have the same allure on a starship or space station. There was no sense of evening. The lights might be dimmer, depending on the commanding officer, but that was about the only concession that could be made. There was no temperature shift. There was no settling of the boundary layer turbulence that caused the winds to die down after sunset. You couldn't hear insects and amphibians as they woke from their slumber and set about their nighttime activities. It was just stale, recycled air and sometimes the hum of a conduit.
Thankfully, Xaeprea wasn't letting him down. There was an abundance of life to soak up as he made his way briskly through the colony - the smell of soil, the sound of insects, the soft glow of a setting sun out on the horizon. It made a wonderful backdrop as he moved through the residential quarter, admiring all the varying styles of homes as he went. The voyeur in him prompted him to pause at the more interesting ones to peer at nameplates to identify owners. And it was at one such house that the name triggered a memory: Nikedoros. Sofia Nikedoros. Where had he heard that name before?
Never one to be stopped by things like propriety or custom or manners, he strolled right up to the front door and pressed the door chime twice.
Sofia had been inside, curled up on the couch with a book, when she heard the chime. It was rare to get visitors at this time of night, but not unheard of, so she marked her place and rose to go to the door - just as the chime sounded again.
She quickened her pace to door, imagining some urgency now, and opened it to find the new science officer. He did not look particularly in need or distress, but that didn't always mean anything; she had once had a Romulan who gave every appearance of paying a social visit collapse two steps into her quarters from a knife wound concealed under his robes. "Hello, Commander Brott," she said cordially, "Won't you come in?"
"Oh, you're that Sofia Nikedoros," Jott said as he crossed the threshold, shaking his head and smacking his own ridged forehead. "I saw your name. Outside there, on the placard. You know the one? And I thought to myself, 'Goodness, that name sounds so very familiar.' And now I see why, it was you all along. What a delightful surpri- oh, what a lovely home you have, Sofia! Is this what they look like when they're properly decorated? Mine is empty. Just hollow and empty and resonant, like a tomb. In point of fact, it reminds me a Krianii tomb I once excavated."
"I could hardly be any other Sofia Nikedoros," Sofia laughed. Brott was surprising scattered for such an eminent name in archaeology. Or perhaps not so surprising - he was nearly the very model of an absent-minded academic, constantly distracted by new thoughts and observations. "I'm sure your place will be amazing once you unpack and put out your pictures and mementos," she assured him, leading him in to the sitting area. "I've been here for some time, so I've had more time to decorate. Please, have a seat. Can I get you something to drink?"
"You can," Jott replied. Then spent a full thirty seconds just looking around the room before realizing he actually had to tell her what he wanted. "Oh! You know, I'd like one of those fizzy yogurt things. Are you familiar with them? They serve them on Cestus III, put some sort of herb in it that makes the whole thing fizz up and cause a terrible commotion. But they are, uh, almost unreasonably delicious. Oh, with tulaberries. Yes. Yes, add tulaberries. I think that might improve upon it quite a bit."
That was...surprisingly specific. But since she always tried to be an accommodating host, she smiled graciously. "I'm not familiar with that one," she admitted. "But I'll see if there's anything like it in the replicator listing. Would a tulaberry smoothie be okay if it's not there?"
"That sounds smashing," Jott confirmed. He raised his voice (probably too much) to account for the distance between couch and replicator. "Have you, uh, been here long, Sofia? The planet, I mean, not the house."
"I arrived with the Io," she replied, returning with a smoothie for him and tea for herself. She handed him his drink as she took seat. "But it has become home fairly quickly. What do you think of the colony so far?"
Jott held up a finger while he finished his smoothie. Apparently, he could produce a lot of suction through a straw as the entire thing was gone in roughly 45 seconds. "I like it so far. It's small, quiet, unassuming. The planet seems quite wild, so there are a lot of opportunities for research and exploration. Perhaps excavation."
"It is quite 'wild' as you put it," Sofia said, sipping her tea. "Despite the surveys done before the colony was established, we are discovering new wildlife. For instance, you'll note a coating on nearly every piece of metal in the colony, which is there to deter a creature that was eating chunks of equipment because refined metals are apparently like candy to it."
"Really?" Jott asked as his eyes grew wide and he inched closer to the edge of his seat. "That's... Well, that's fascinating. Did its fecal matter have any special properties? I can't imagine what organic digestion of metallic alloys would produce."
Sofia paused at that and took another sip of tea to mask her reaction. On reflection, it wasn't a bad question actually. "You know, I haven't heard since it's not really my area, but I'm sure someone in Science did. You might check with the xenobiology group, but as I understand it, the creature - they're calling it a Daucin - normally chews rock to get metallic minerals essential for its diet. Eating our alloys isn't actually good for it - rather like one of us gorging on straight sugar."
Jott made a thoughtful noise and nodded his head. He seemed a little distant, as he was actually compiling a mental list of research topics related to the little creature. "What about any psychotropic compounds in the air? Plants? Animals? Have you had to treat many patients for that sort of thing, or you have a mundane department here?"
"Not that I'm aware of," Sofia said slowly, almost wondering if he had been exposed to something. "Though I'm told the one predator we've identified for the Daucin has glands in its mouth that produce a gas with sedative effects. Honestly, there's quite a lot about the native flora and fauna that we don't know at this point."
"Yes, I'm very much looking forward to exploring, uh, all of that," Jott said. Moving along to another topic, as he often did, he added, "But I'm very disappointed in the lack of ruins. I love ruins."
"No ancient cities so far, but there was a much older first colony here. There are remnants of that to explore," Sofia said, and took another sip of tea, not saying anything about an ancient shuttle.
"Have you been to them?" Jott asked. He scooted closer to the edge of his seat and leaned in. "I don't remember reading anything about a colony preceding this one. And I read a lot. Quite a lot."
"There isn't much to read," Sofia explained. "Kane colony was founded about a hundred years ago, but disappeared roughly a year afterward. Or at least all communication was lost and no signs of the colonists were found by the time anyone could get out here to check. But some of the structures remain. In fact the Town Hall was built from what remained of main center building in the original colony."
"Eerie," Jott said, then turned his eyes on her with an inquisitive look. "What do you think happened to them, Sofia?"
She considered the question, and the person asking, carefully. "I don't know. Early colonies failed for all sorts of reasons, but given what we experienced a few months back, I wouldn't be surprised if extreme cold coupled with Daucin eating critical parts of their power plant lead to their demise. Of course, no remains of colonists have been found, but it's possible they tried to head for the equatorial zone and encountered some other disaster along the way."
"Hmm. Hmm, hmm, hmm," Jott said. His brow was furrowed, and he was repeatedly sliding his fingers around the glass she'd given him. Enough condensation had formed on it to make it squeak every time he moved his meaty digits. "And a ship crashed here, too, didn't it? The, uh... The Io, correct?"
"Yes, the Io. I was on it, in fact." Sofia felt her jaw tighten at the squeaking. It wasn't nails on a chalkboard, but not that far off. "Excuse me, I'm going to refresh my tea," she said, getting up. "Can I get you another smoothie?"
"Oh, yes, please," Jott said with a jolt, offering the glass back to her. "That must have been quite the experience. The, uh, the ship crash, I mean. Despite a storied and adventurous career, I've never been in a crash. A transporter accident, yes. Just once. Hmm." His eyes and thought pattern drifted off to the side but then snapped back to focus soon after. "Yes, but never a crash. Seems frightening."
Sofia took the glass, put it into the recycler and replicated another drink. "It was alarming," Sofia said, returning with the drink and settling back into her chair. "But it all happened so fast. There was hardly any time to be frightened." She took a steadying sip of tea. "Really the emotional impact came later, dealing with casualties and people coping with loss."
"It takes a lot to help others with their trauma. I've always admired that in other officers. Counseling is... A higher calling," Jott said as he nodded knowingly. While it was sometimes hard to pin him down on other things, he sounded genuinely sincere this time.
"I am a Chaplain too." Sofia laughed softly. "But I wouldn't place my calling any higher than anyone else's. The work you do as a scientist is arguably more beneficial and to more people. What is your current project, by the way?"
"I didn't know you had an interest in the sciences, Sofia," Jott said, a cagey and evasive response if ever there was one.
"I don't see how I couldn't." She smiled. It had been centuries since any major human faith had been anti-science, but somehow it was still often assumed that clergy avoided the subject. "Science is the study of the Creator's works."
"Well, I wouldn't have put it quite like that," Jott said, then shrugged. "But sure." He focused on his smoothie for a long moment or two then finally seemed to remember she'd asked him about his research. "Oh, my project! Right. Well, it's not very well defined. It's sort of nebulous. An idea in its infancy at the moment. But I'm looking into the former colony and searching for signs of sapient habitation that might pre-date it. It's part of a new book I'm working on."
Sofia's brows rose. She had heard people speculate on the idea, but most of it had been more on the level of gossip or even conspiracy theory - certainly not the stuff of scholarly inquiry. "Indeed? That's the first I've heard that there's any scientific evidence suggesting a prior sapient habitation."
"Oh, nothing concrete just yet. Only rumors. Well, even rumors might be too generous," Jott said almost dismissively. "I have some leads on some areas, but there's quite a bit of remote sensing and geophysical survey work to do in advance. And, uh... And you? Do you conduct research? Forgive my ignorance."
"I have worked on a few digs, but not for some time," Sofia demurred. "Here, I'm both Chaplain and Counselor, which keeps me busy. I assume you have other areas of interest as well?"
"Oh, a lot. I like to keep myself busy. I write, I read. I like to grow things - flowers, vegetables, that sort of thing. Speaking of... Excuse me," he said, then reached into an interior pocket of his jacket and produced a PADD. He lifted it up toward his mouth and spoke very loudly, "Conduct soil analysis to determine suitability for exotic species cultivation." He replaced the PADD then raised a hand toward his head, making small movements with his fingers. "I'm a little...everywhere...so I have to keep notes. Otherwise I forget."
Sofia pressed her lips against an amused smile at a classic absent-minded professor move. "It's okay. I have been known to scribble a reminder note when I get an idea for sermon. But if you're interested in growing things, we have a small garden attached to chapel, and I plan to bring some into the sanctuary near the front windows. There's something very peaceful and uplifting about live plants, don't you -"
A comm buzz interrupted her thought. "Forgive me," she said to Brott as she tapped her badge. "Nikedoros here."
+ Sorry to bother you so late, Chaplain, but there's someone here who ...could use a little guidance. +
The wording was careful and understated but Sofia knew that tone. "I understand. I'll be right over." She rose as she tapped off her comm. "I'm sorry, Dr. Brott, duty calls. But whenever you get a chance, come by the chapel and I'll have someone show you the garden."
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