Alex Macen

Alex Leans back in the chair, though it doesnt lean back very well, being not a flexible chair " So. Excited for our R&R at..." He looks at the brochure again "New Topeka?" Sakura tests the word as if it were new to her "New Topeka... doesn't sound very relaxing to me." He shrugs, tossing aside the brochue, "I heard of the original Topeka, before it changed its name or something for some silly reason. I think a cult had its headquarters there. Anyways, I hope its a lot more exciting then this brochure acclaims it or i'm going to be very bored." Sakura turns a bit in her chair to look over her shoulder at Alex. "What does the brochure say?" Alex leans over at the desk where it is. It has a picture of several cottages along a prarie along the background. A cornfield could be made out in the far corner behind the cottage, and a setting sun hovered itself upon the horizon "Not Much." "The usual peaceful, sounds of nature, anti-tech world they make it for us Starfleet" Sakura brightens a bit and hops out of her chair to look at the brochure for herself. She leans casually over Alex's shoulder looking at the pictured sights of New Topeka. "Finally, I am so in need of this kind of peace," she grins. Alex looks up at her "You like corn fields? You should see the Great Plains on Earth." She shakes her head. "Not necessarily. I just need to get away from all of this," Sakura waves her hands around for emphasis, "technology. It's like a never-ending cycle of culture shock." Her laughter rings around the room, a sound that does not echo in humor, but in much needed stress release."I think being in a place like that will... make me more at home." Alex Nods, "It's stressful, but it is what it is of course." He shifts gaze from the desk to her, changing to a more personal tone. "What did you mean by home? So you guys have corn on..." the name of the planet escapes him. "-Warwick," She finishes for him. Noting his change in tone, takes a step back but remains at ease. "Well, Konohagakure didn't grow corn, but i'm sure it was grown somewhere else on the planet." Sakura chuckles lightly, "We had technology, we just didn't take full advantage of it. Sure, we had electricity, and even communicators, though much different than the ones we use." Alex Nods, "Makes sense. Why fix whats not broken i suppose. Must be a living hell to be on this ship I bet." Sakura smile turns into a sheepish grin. "This ship is a luxury, on my planet;anyone would die to be in my position. Stepping outside of your country's borders without permission is considered treason. I just... I loved it there, and I always thought I would live there and die there." She looks down at her feet, purposfully avoiding Alex's gaze. Alex only nods, looking up across the room "Quite the Contrary for an El-Aurian. You could call us the vagabond race, as i think a few have noted in derogatory remarks." Her eyes scrunch up a bit, and she looks back to him. "You've never told me what your home was like," She probes him "Well..." Alex Sighs, "There isn't much to it really. We are a race that live for knowledge i suppose. We realized long ago that its better to expand and research rather waste time with protecting our cultures at home." He pauses, gazing at himself pensively "We realised its better to share our experiences with other races and indulge ourselves on the cultures of others, and I suppose I've been on a mission ever since." "But to not explore your own culture?" Sakura shakes her head a bit. "We are very deep rooted in culture. We even stop all missions for certain festivals, well maybe not festivals, but one. I think that if you looked into your own culture you'd find something you'd like, and you's stop searching for a culture you don't have." She raises her eyebrows at him to say 'Am I not right?' Alex Chuckles a little, thinking to himself as she says that last phrase, her brow quivering. "No, No.. You are quite right. You merely must understand we live ten, sometimes twenty times that of your race. With so much time, we grew tired of belittling our cultures. Instead we focus on others, and try to increase our knowledge and use it towards advancing our own culture. We think of our culture, yes, but most importantly, we hear other's" "I think i get it, if even a little bit," Sakura nods her head slowly. Then, her head snaps up to look at him closely, intrudingly close. "How old are you, Alex-kun?" He scratches his head "That's not an easy question to answer, Sakura-chan..." "...El-Aurians are aged on two scales. one is chronological, as in years, as most humanoids scale it. We then have our mental age, which ages at a very awkward pace." She frowns in confusion. "So, what is your age in both... er, catagories?" "I am, in Earth years, 488, i believe. But in mental age to scale, I think I am roughly..." He does some calculations in his head "twenty-five?" "We age upon a scale that change very often. For example, we are through adolscence in no more than 20 years, but our premature stages and early adulthood stages can last centuries until they peak at, maybe somewhere close to 1,000 years old." Alex Says, "...EHHHHH?!?!" Sakura quickly takes a few steps back, distancing herself from the... older man. Alex sighs, reaching a palm to his forehead. "Pay attention... It's not the chronological age that matters, it never has in El-Aurian society. Otherwise it'd be a broken society as we all age chronologically the same, but mentally very differently." She eyes him suspiciously, but does not comment on either age again. "Um, s-shouldn't we be getting close to New Topeka soon?" Alex arches a brow, the swift change of subject was far from subtle. Sakura shifts awkwardly, an odd action for her, under Alex's gaze. Alex continues his gaze, but sees it to no avail. He thinks to himself for a moment, though not a mutter from his lips as lets a sigh and glances up at the ceiling, no longer leaning on the chair "I think the Captain said another hour or two." Sakura feels her stomache drop. The back of her legs meet something hard and she is vaguely aware that the object is her chair. She sits down in it, hard. "Oh, yey," she deadpans. Alex looks down from the ceiling, a little heartbroken from her reaction maintaining, but he thinks of the matter from her perspective, and understands. He looks up from the corner of his eye the chronometer and nods to Sakura, stretching. "It's late, I think I'm going to hit the sack and sleep off this paperowr," gesturing to the filed pile At the mention of sleep, she feels fatigue pulling at her body. "Y-yeah, me too. Um," Sakura stands quickly and bows to her security partner, "I'm going to do the same. Good night." She hurries out of the room and into the hall. Alex nods as she bows, watching with a frown about to consume his face. He stares at the steaming cup of tea at his desk, either half full, or half empty.

Alex sat in his bed, restless. A strange thing it is, to be El Aurian. We are a thoughtful race. Unlike the brute tactics of a human, as I've seen with some of the crewmates. We don't act upon suspicion, or think of life as this short lived hysteria that it must be. Along with this, millennium of living can alter one's personality many times over, yet certain traits remain the same. I've never met another El Aurian, whether he be eight, or eight hundred, that resorted to violence before negotiating, or talked before he thought. It seemed like an instinct, how we'd always be the listeners, accumulating those years of knowledge to create a result. It was almost robotic, how we never acted without assuming several scenarios, to plot the best course, to do what was best, not what was right or wrong. This human emotion, these things that they are. We are well accustomed to them. El Aurians can love and hate as a human can, we just disregard it more often than them. Yet, I seemed to always be expressing emotion, contrary to an El Aurian thing. When we love, we do it with great compassion and rarely. The idea of living a long life stretches out the worry of reproduction, hence why you can be well into seven hundred come the first marriage. It wasn't like the Vulcans, where we could ignore it, emotion is apart of an El Aurian just as much as it is for a human, we just hold it back, rather ignore, until its truly necessary. Yet, I seemed to love the idea of only a hundred years to live. How thinks blink by, and how every moment must last, and be filled with - Ah, Why am I doing this? Why am I so angry? Even now as I speak this, why do I have such damn emotion! The voice of his echoed, bouncing across the empty room, as noone was around to hear it but himself. This is how it's always been, hasn't it. When the first crews came that I tagged along with, I was seen as a minor. I couldn't blame them either, being so naive for my age. They probably shrugged it off as natural, at least until it came time to leave. That was the first time they ever saw an El Aurian say no to an elder, and i'm sure it was their last. I said no, and I stayed, I continued to assimilate, and I continued to change. I am what I am now because of it. Why else would I be aboard this crew, this ship, risking my life not for El Auria, but for Earth. Had i switched sides some century ago and I was not aware? Or was I aware all along? These questions linger in my head, and I have no answer for them, noone does. I seem so childish to an El Aurian, and perhaps the same to everyone else. Where had that maturity gone? Where had the El Aurian traditions went? Where was my identity, at a bridge between one world and the next. Without a map to guide, and no idea which side would be for the best, and only having two choices: Right and Wrong. In the eyes of anyone else, I'm having a mid-life crisis. But to an El Aurian, I've always been in a crisis.

Can I get. What a piece of work is man, how... like a God.

Tying Loose Ends, Part One. It's late. Much too late. The primary shifts have passed, and most of the ship now slumbers. And yet, Alex remains awake. The office is empty, most likely right before the A shift. It's the bleak of the night to a ship's standards, and the fewest of crew are in the administrative areas. Most of security is on late night patrol, or in bed. Only forty eight hours remain however, and he's pressed to the screen, grazing by hundreds of files, looking for the right one, her. Where can she be? Could she be here? Does she continue to be upon them, here in the new colony? Does she still dwell among them, or has she moved on? Was she even on Vulcan as of its destruction? Is she even still alive? So many questions, and so little answers. If only those data files gave a clue to her existence. It's been over a century since they last met. Does she even try to remember him? All this spinning in his mind, he is frantic to find her. And, as if a switch were pulled, there she was. *** I look down at the screen, my eyes sore as ever, bulging from their sockets, but I knew the time had been well spent. The data file was here, and not a moment too soon; she was alive, and on New Vulcan. But there's so much still unanswered. I looked down at the screen now, reading over that name carefully, and delicately. As if she knew I was retracing her now, I held caution to that notion, tracing the name with my eyes. Remembered - Nay - infused within my mind is her face, and smile. Those cherubic cheeks, blending with that incessant smile. She never did frown, except the day we went our separate ways. All those thoughts, memories, ideas, echoing themselves in the depths of my El Aurian mind. It sometimes is so hard to concentrate, and they must be buried for me to move on. Cupping my hands over my face, I took a deep breath, attempting to dissipate whatever emotion was left in my mind of her. I cannot work with her like this, that wound that never healed. The loose ends must be tied, now or never. I took one final glance at that name. "Catherine" I said softly, in the empty office. With that alone, I felt some relief. Perhaps she will be happy to see me, perhaps not. This thought must end, as I could hear soft footsteps approaching from the hall, being that of some other officer most likely. With that fear in my mind, of this secret past uncovering, I shut down my LCARS terminal, swallowing hard what little was left of my fourth tea. Standing up, I caught a peripheral glance of the officer entering as I walked out beside him, giving him a tentative nod as I headed to my quarters. Ready to enjoy those four hours of slumber before my shift. "The loose ends must be tied" I thought again to myself, entering my quarters. Catherine and I must meet again, one last time. It's the best for us both. That bit, I only hoped.

Black holes are detected with light now and satellites that use special equipment. They no longer use the Hubble since its made for seeing what we can see with eyes. Seeing isn't believing in this case, rather the satellites they use blast light energy or certain wavelengths and they look for holes in the data. These are the black holes. Thankfully however, our region is [for the most part] quiet with These bad ass Black Holes.

I cant make it. Someone PLEASE set up a webcam at the STSF Stand, put it in the eye of a full size Klingon Cut out!

I think I need to work on my target practice too.

Yeah, very cheesy line, anyways I've been always interested in Star Trek. Not a big fan of DS9 or anything beyond, but TNG was my real favorite. I can't wait for some exciting Participation, and the apparent suicide mission later tonight.

"Beer Beer everywhere, and not an opener in sight."