Meeting a Rumor

[Dox Maturin 0]

"Meeting a Rumor"

0704.20

Duty Log

 

Maturin inched up on his toes, peering into the glossy black eyes of the tall figure in his path. It bobbed its head up and down, its four legs twitching as it idly flexed its four arms. The human moved a bit to one side, and the creature's eyes followed him. He could see his reflection in those lifeless eyes. The quiet was broken only by the creaking of the black Scorpiad's exoskeleton and the tinkling of the ice in Maturin's lowball glass.

 

He brought the rim of the glass up to his lips, inhaling the spicy aroma of the scotch, ice cold sweat dripping down the clear sides. He tilted the glass up and took a slow sip, closing his eyes as the liquid washed into his mouth. His cheeks and tongue tingled from the liquor.

 

Around them a sea of data was displayed on the walls, scrolling slowly by. Dox looked back at it, ignoring the lumbering giant in the middle of the room. A heavy sigh from the corner of the room caught his attention. He turned, looking at the other officer in a gold uniform staring boredly at the ceiling of the holodeck.

 

"Never seen one before, eh?" the officer asked him, shifting his balance away from the wall and approaching Dox with a smirk.

 

"You understand," Dox continued to stare at the data, a jumble of numbers and symbols with brief sections of text. "Until two days ago, I had thought these things were only a rumor."

 

"You're uninformed. Why am I not surprised."

 

The two stood in silence for a moment, interrupted by an annoyed huff by the security officer who had, much to his disappointment, been assigned to give Dox whatever he needed to update himself on the situation.

 

"Can you read any of this?" he looked at the walls with a curled lip.

 

"Yes." Dox replied, sighing. After another silence he turned to him, "Lieutenant Grady, is there something you wish to say?"

 

"Well, honestly, I've had a chance to look at your public record. I'd be real interested in knowing how one of the worst graduates, and a lousy soldier I hear, managed to get their first posting on a ship like this. Let me guess, daddy an admiral?"

 

Dox cleared his throat and took another sip of his scotch. "No, not quite."

 

"Many of the best want to be here, and they don't make it. And you sure aren't here on your own merit."

 

"They live over a thousand years." Dox said randomly, obviously ignoring Grady's prying.

 

"What?"

 

"The Scorpiads. A thousand years. But their casts are so violent, some so self-absorbed. How did they develop all of this technology?"

 

"Well, when you meet one, why don't you ask it."

 

An alarm sounded in the room and the data froze. A line of red appeared at the bottom, "Classified."

 

"Look like you've hit a brick wall, ensign."

 

"Indeed," Dox smiled slightly as he finished off his drink.

 

"Anything else you'd like to look at?"

 

"Yes," Dox turned to him, "tell me about the weapons."

Edited April 20, 2007 by Dox Maturin