Dropping Off

[Archie Phoenix 0]

“Computer, what is the temperature in my quarters?”

 

“It is currently 21.3 degrees metric standard.”

 

Archie folded his hands on his stomach and sighed up at the ceiling over his bed. It had been such a long day. The figures and formulas involved in setting up and allocating power to the chewana containment systems were echoing around his head, like a dim spot in the eyes that lingers after a bright flash of light. His mind had gotten into the routine of performing the same calculations over and over, and now it was having trouble letting go of the habit. It was the mind’s job to think, after all; try telling it that sleep was for its own good, that it needed to rest to avoid instability, and it would only cling to its purpose.

 

“Are there unusual levels of vapor in the air?”

 

“Negative. Current water-air density is 0.04 grams per cubic meter, well within standard air reclamation parameters. There are no non-aquatic vapors present.”

 

Archie sighed again. Issues of bioengineering and plasma engineering had not been the greatest of his concerns. When one of the chewana roots had been pulled out of containment for further analysis, an unforeseen development precipitated a minor crisis. The root’s narcotic vapors somehow bypassed the ship’s biofilters, kicking off allergic reactions throughout the crew. All of Archie’s superior officers in engineering had been affected and shuttled to Sickbay, briefly leaving him -- after a sudden promotion -- in charge. Apparently, some crew members were affected less severely than others.

 

“If you insist on telling me that it is not as warm in here as it seems, then we will simply make it colder. Computer, reduce the temperature in my quarters by 5 degrees.”

 

Archie’s new rank, while pleasing to him, did create some unfortunate circumstances. He was made a witting participant in the gathering of a narcotic substance which would be handed over to a potentially irresponsible government. His increased involvement in the mission seemed to cause a conflict with his department chief. And his new wave of duties took him away from Sickbay, where he’d hoped that taking a caretaker role toward the more severe chewana cases would endear him to some members of the crew; it was the first time that Jordan, for one, seemed to be less than annoyed by his presence.

 

“Reduce the temperature another 5 degrees.”

 

He at least had a chance to get to know Oliver Gault, the science officer who’d helped him modify the probes to relay a transport signal to the planet. Perhaps a future friendship had taken root there. Ensign Gault, after all, did not need to work alongside Archie in engineering, a condition which seemed common to all of his relationship problems to date. Archie thought that he had worked well with Oliver.

“I wonder what Command would say if they knew that Arcadia is essentially being run by junior officers.”

 

“I hope they’d say we deserve overtime pay …“

 

“Considering that I have gotten about four hours of sleep in the last thirty hours, I would not complain.”

 

Archie recalled those four off-duty hours he’d been given, right after Arcadia completed its atmospheric dive and the first bulk of chewana root was retrieved. Those four hours had not been very different form this past hour and a half -- staring up at the ceiling, deep in his own private streams of thought. In fact, he was almost certain that he hadn’t gotten any sleep at all in those four hours. It had now been close to forty hours since he began his shift, just prior to Arcadia entering the MKor Dsamim system. That was the last sleep he could recall with certainty. With Arcadia now on the way back to Axrekrav he could enjoy entire off-duty shifts again, but he was not capitalizing on this one thus far.

 

Strange. He recalled feeling his eyelids drooping when he’d retrieved Jordan from Sickbay. He remembered thinking that he could have fallen asleep right there on his feet if it had gotten any worse. The feeling had faded as he and Jordan worked together on the power allocation in main engineering; her conversation had probably stimulated him away from the brink of sleep. But now that he was alone on his bed in his quarters, why was the fatigue not catching up with him again? Why could he not fall asleep? Why could he only lie here, consumed by an endless torrent of thoughts?

 

“ … I’m going to need a larger sensor window in the containment field … “

 

“ … I’m quite familiar with the phoenix legends. It’s a reference, isn’t it? To the fact that you people … can’t die?”

 

“ … I as ranking medical officer and doctor to the Captain have ordered you to … “

 

“ … most of the time, there's something else going on just at that time, so, I can't tell you what ‘death’ feels like, if that's what you're asking. It is something to be avoided for sure …”

 

“ … stop always trying to jump the blasted gun. We know you have a plan to get more root, but the blasted meeting about it isn't over, so sit on that bed and let us finish talking … “

 

“ … I do not feel like I fit in here … I do not feel that this society has much to contribute to me … I will -always- be young on this world …”

 

“ … it was the Human boy who created this change in you …”

 

“… thank you for helping me in Engineering …”

 

“ …there are … many like you on Earth?”

 

“Computer,” Archie said with a slight growl in his voice. “Reduce the temperature -another- five degrees.”