"Take it With A Grain of Salt"

[Jamie Kroells 0]

“Take it With A Grain of Salt” A Kroells and Harper production

 

The conversation with Kairi was short lived. As much as she wanted to help, he could sense the hurt it caused her. He quickly realized she wasn't the best one to be asking. So he excused himself to continue his search. He debated about his own department, but from the few random conversations he had struck with people in the hallways, something called and Odile was in his office, and apparently should be avoided whenever possible. In response, he headed towards the bridge, and this Colonel Harper, who apparently was in charge around here. Hopefully then he'd have some answers.

 

Harper was hovering over the shoulders of her tactical officers, concerned about the Agincourt's vulnerable position in what was probably enemy territory, when the lift opened. Automatically she glanced over, and straightened up in shock. "Mr. Kroells," she said, "it's good to see you up and about again."

 

More unfamiliar faces. However, he was apparently chief of sciences. This was where he worked, for it to feel so foreign hurt more then he thought it would. Before he could dwell on it however, he was pulled away by the female's voice. "You must be Colonel...uh....Harper? Right?"

 

"Oh, dear," said the correctly identified colonel. "Perhaps we'd better step into the Ready Room." Harper motioned to the door, assuming Kroells would not be able to locate it on his own.

 

He gave her a brief nod, before allowing her to lead him into the room. He began to look around, taking in the sights, committing them to memory like he had with every other place he visited.

 

Taking a seat in one of the chairs in the small, casual meeting area, Harper said gently, "Not quite recovered fully, I take it?"

 

"Tordai said something about not taking to many shots to the head from Odile, whatever that means." He motioned his hand towards the door, where his..."travel buddy" unassuming Jones stood. "And I'm apparently a danger to myself.”

 

She nodded. "I'm sure things will come back to you in time, Lieutenant. In the meantime, what can I do for you?"

 

He let out a small sigh and looked back to her. "Problem is, that it might not. According to Tordai, traumatic amnesia cases are touch and go. I'm basically hoping my brain to heal itself. And incase it doesn't...I suppose I'm here for some information."

 

"All right," Harper said gamely, not letting her concern show. "What would you like to know?"

 

He pondered for a moment, realizing he really didn't know at all what it was he wanted here. "To be honest, I'm not so sure. I doubt this is normal thing around here..."

 

"Hardly." She chuckled slightly. "I'm afraid this is as far from normal as it gets."

 

James raised an eyebrow. "To the best of my understanding, we're been thrown across the galaxy through some sort of a subspace conduit, and we're thousands of light-years from home."

 

"That's about the size of it, yes. Also, we've apparently stumbled into the middle of a war zone. Just to make things interesting," she added.

 

He smirked. "This job just gets better and better."

 

"Somehow I think I've heard you say that before."

 

"I'll have to take your word for it."

 

For a moment Harper debated telling him about his history of smart-assed remarks, but it occurred to her that she might not want to encourage a return to that behavior. "How are you with general information, Lieutenant? Think you could manage.... oh, say, a sensor analysis?"

 

"I believe so. To the best of my remembrance, I can perform most tasks...I mean, I remember knowing how to do them..."

 

"Well, then, perhaps we can arrange for you to take on some light duties." She smiled at him. "Getting back into a routine might jog your memory. Shall I ask Dr. Tordai for her opinion on it?"

 

"You can. She wants me back in sickbay soon. So I don't know what happens after that."

 

"Don't worry, we won't leave you there to rot," Harper assured him. "I'll enquire about getting you back on a partial duty schedule."

 

He gave her a brief smile. "Thanks. However, I can't help but note you avoided the entire conversation of my past. I hope you're not always this sly."

 

She sighed and crossed her legs. "Frankly, Lieutenant, I'm not certain what I can tell you. We weren't exactly close, really."

 

He shrugged. "Well, I tried people who 'knew' me already. She couldn’t handle it. So I figured it best to go to someone with less...intimate knowledge. Anything you knew, or such would be a great help."

 

"Kairi?" she questioned gently.

 

"Yeah..."

 

"Shipboard gossip had the two of you as a couple for quite some time. I'd imagine this is rather difficult for her, as well."

 

He let out a half hearted chuckle as he pondered it. "I think she's more tore up about it then I am."

 

"Well, you can't remember the emotions, so that makes sense."

 

"Well not a lot makes sense, I'm basically relying on people to be honest"

 

"And I'm sure they are." Harper paused for a moment, then said delicately, "Ah -- when you do go into the science lab... Well. Take whatever Condacin says with a grain of salt. Or a shaker."

 

He pondered her words for a moment. "Did she really break my nose?"

 

"You heard about that," she sighed.

 

"I'm sure I can handle her."

 

"I'm sure you can."

 

"She's not going to try and kill me or anything?" Kroells looked at her with minor concern. "Apparently I'm not supposed to be taking blows to the head."

 

"She's not really violent," Harper assured him, "just a bit... tetchy. And she'll certainly be honest with you; she just has a rather odd perspective on things sometimes."

 

He nodded. "I'll have to take that into consideration." With that he quickly stood. He could sense she really didn’t have much time for this either. He thanked her for what help she did, and excused himself from the bridge with one more destination before returning to Tordai and more head scans.