Generations

[WxMurray 0]

Murray sat in the empty conference room alone with his padd. Lieutenant Schawnsee and Crewman Wilson had escorted their guests from Richmond to secure quarters. He was still bothered by the vehemence toward him from the aliens. He suspected they would have killed him where he stood had it not been for the rifle he was holding…or the squad of security members surrounding them.

 

Clearly he looked like someone they know. Someone they knew and weren’t all that fond of. During his last trip to the bridge he stopped and grabbed a padd to study. He had downloaded his family genealogy. Perhaps that would hold a clue to the aliens’ dislike. Perhaps, if they were even luckier, it might hold a clue to the fate of Richmond or maybe some insight into their mission. And if they were really lucky, all of the answers they were looking for were right there in his genealogy.

 

Unfortunately for Murray, he suspected he had a better chance of being in a transporter accident, eaten by a shark, struck by lightning twice, and winning the lottery at the same time.

 

Murray actually knew his genealogy quite well…to a point. His family’s history was very well documented, going back into the 900s and earlier. However, he had only ever been concerned with the members of his family that were still living or those of that generation. He could name his great-grandparents and all 12 of their children, and there were a handful his generation outside of his first cousins that he knew names and orders of birth. But anyone who had served on Richmond was beyond that knowledge.

 

Murray went back generation after generation, name after name until he reached the point where his ancestry had died before the start of the NX warp five program. Ten minutes went by, and Murray’s eyes began to hurt from staring at the text. He dropped the padd and rubbed his eyes, feeling a few muscle tremors in his hands. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it was just a case of mistaken identity. As he opened his eyes, a name caught his attention, practically jumping off the padd and smacking him upside the head.

 

Warner X. Murray, assistant engineer, Richmond NX-07.