A Minute for a Meal ((O'Halloran/Curtis))

[Caroline Curtis 0]

The alert lights were starting to give Caroline a distinct headache.

 

They'd been going on and off with increasing frequency over the past few days, though she had only the roughest idea of what the latest crisis might have been, as she had not been to the bridge since the encounter with the Klingons some days earlier. Her curiosity about just what, exactly, was happening, had, therefore, been increasing exponentially through this latest chaos -- especially given the medical alert she had witnessed being called in sickbay. She knew that a team had gone down, that a crash had accompanied their return; she knew something of the injuries and she knew that the Reaent was now being pursued in the direction of, of all places, Wolf 359. But she knew nothing of what had been discovered, or whether any progress was being made towards their safe return.

 

Caroline, quite frankly, wanted to go home, so to speak. She'd more or less come to terms with the fact that she was not going back to the starbase any time soon, but she felt she was within her rights to at least vehemently prefer to be in her own time. She also was coming to the definite conclusion that her official position aboard this ship was not particularly conducive to actually solving the problem at hand so much as its aftereffects, a fact which rarely if ever came up on a starbase but now was starting to bother her. She would have liked to do something on the medical front, though the chaos had not yet served to overwhelm that department; she wasn't entirely sure how she could best contribute, but the thought was now percolating with clockwork regularity in the back of her mind.

 

For now, though, she'd settled for a quick nap and the salmon salad sandwich, soup, and coffee arranged (rather artistically for a computer) by the mess-hall replicator on the tray she carried before her. Turning away from the wall, she scanned the room quickly as she moved among the tables, looking for a familiar face -- and quickly found one at a seat next to the window.

 

"Anna!" she said, a smile popping onto her face as she stopped next to the young CSCI's table. She knew Anna had suffered head and shoulder injuries during the AT's return but there was no sign of it now, which was a relief. "How are you doing? Mind if I join you?"

 

Anna had really felt hungry when she'd come into the mess, thinking a quick break would give her some extra energy. Instead, she now realized it may have been a mistake to sit down. Or perhaps spaghetti had been a poor choice. She'd only eaten a third of the pasta, and now it seemed that all she wanted to do was close her eyes and take a nap. She was starting to drift off when she heard her name being called.

 

"Caroline." Anna looked up from her plate, her smile coming automatically, as she reoriented herself. "Of course, I don't mind, please take a seat," she replied, indicating the chair opposite her own. "You may have just saved me from an embarrassing encounter with my plate."

 

Caroline chuckled, seeing the exhaustion in her friend's eyes as Anna looked up. "Glad to be of service," she said dryly, sliding into the indicated chair and setting her plate down. "And I shall keep a sharp lookout and move the plate should it become necessary, now that I'm here. You look about done in." And she had a right to, she reflected. Calling this a "long day" would be putting it mildly. "I'm glad to see you made it back alright," she went on, sipping at her coffee and absorbing the shock of the hot liquid for a moment before going on. "It sounds as if the trip to meet the Guardian didn't exactly go as planned."

 

Leaning back, Anna took a long swallow of still-warm tea. "Well, alerting the science station to our presence on the Time Planet wasn't part of the plan, it's true," she replied dryly. "Nor was taking out the back part of the shuttle bay, but hindsight is more than satisfied with having gotten back at all. Will Tomlinson pulled a rabbit out of his hat with that one." Setting her teacup back in its saucer, Anna stretched, and felt her shoulder give a twinge. "I don't know what's going to happen--what we're going to do about all the ships on our tail, but is was very good to find out that we are in the correct universe at least."

 

"Oh, that is good to hear," Caroline said, nodding. "I wish it hadn't been quite so chaotic in the obtaining, but that's good progress." And it was; she could imagine good things for crew morale given this sign of hope, even if, in reality, she had to assume it didn't provide all that much practical help towards getting home. "I take it you don't know why we're going to Wolf 359 either? It's a subject of hot debate these days." She paused, then chuckled. "Sorry, I don't mean to grill you. But you know the adage about medical being the last to know..."

 

"I have heard that before," Anna chuckled. "However, it's not something I think Debbie would put up with if she were here." Her laughter fading to a faint smile, Anna shook her head, saying, "I don't know why we're headed where we are. Captain McQueen didn't say." Anna's expression turned speculative as she watched Caroline. "Mentioning Debbie has reminded me of something I thought of earlier today. She and I once talked a little bit about the ship's arboretum. Do you enjoy gardening at all?"

 

"I...can't say it's something I've ever turned my hand to, though not for lack of interest," Caroline said, looking somewhat surprised at the question but smiling at Anna's suddenly pensive look. "Why do you ask? Making plans to help with the work down there when this is all over? I suppose as a biologist, it's something you've had experience with." The arboretum was actually one of the locations on the ship which she hadn't had any occasion to investigate yet; by the time Caroline had come aboard, the place had already been in a state of some disrepair.

 

"My current professional interest in plants is focused on lichens. They're nitrogen-rich and, unfortunately, very fragile," Anna replied. "I'm working on a project to boost their immune systems but my interest in the arboretum stems from a visit to a beautiful fern garden on a starbase we visited a while back. I was in the ship's arboretum earlier today and noticed, not for the first time, that it could use some real attention. Looks like all systems are functioning but there's not a whole lot in place. For good reason, it hasn't been a priority. Maybe we could have something similar to what was on the starbase. It was so beautiful, really tranquil."

 

"That's certainly something that's been in short supply here," Caroline said with a smile. "I'm sure the whole crew would appreciate a little attention to it -- and I'd be glad to help you if you need an extra hand, whenever things calm down enough." It was good to be thinking of other things than the current chaos, even if it was a project that would have to keep until after the current situation was settled. Although..Anna said she had been down there earlier...Caroline cocked her head curiously. "Or have you already started?"

 

"Started? Oh, no -- nothing like that," Anna replied. "It's just something I thought about a little while ago and seeing it again today reminded me of that."

 

"Well, I'm glad you were able to catch a bit of a break, in that case, even if it wasn't quite as tranquil as it could be," Caroline said with a chuckle.

 

Picking up her sandwich, she took a large bite and chewed thoughtfully. "If we don't find what we need at Wolf 359, we'll need to find some place to hole up. Break the tension. Not permanently," she added hastily. "But...we'll need somewhere to go to ground, if we've got the attention of the 'present' Federation. We can't spend the whole time running. Unless there's some way to hide our signature, but from what I heard on the bridge, our abilities in that regard are limited at best."

 

"They followed the shuttle and tagged the ship, and unless we can get the very short-term cloak working again, which, when it was working, gave us nine minutes of cover, they can track us easily. We're faster than they are though." Anna finished her tea and smiled tiredly at Caroline. "I really do wish we could have spoken with them and explained our situation. Confrontations such as these are very rare but they have occurred." She stood up, suddenly wanting nothing more than to catch a few hours of sleep. "We have another day or so before we reach Wolf. We'll see what happens then."

 

Caroline nodded, looking up as Anna got up from the table. "I guess we will," she said agreeably. Settling back in her chair, she ran a hand down her face, then returned Anna's smile, again noting the tiredness in her expression. "Meantime, you get some rest. A nap'll do wonders -- or at the very least will keep the room from spinning, which is important. And you've certainly earned it." Anna had a lot on her plate, that was for sure; Caroline felt increasingly impressed at how, thus far, her young friend had handled the situation. "I'll see you at Wolf, I suppose."

Edited January 19, 2010 by Caroline Curtis