There and Back Again

[Lisanna 0]

The life of a starship transporter operator could be more up and down than being an elevator operator. Traveling through the vastness of space often left no place to go for the crew, and therefore no place to send them as an op. Those times when there was some place to go were always a little slice of heaven, at least to Crewman 2nd Class Lisanna Stuart.

 

She'd been sending engineers and doctors over to the wounded Reaent for hours, as well as the occasional small or fragile load of cargo that wasn't ideal for the cargo transporters. The intermittent thrum and hum of the beam was music to her ears. Ironically enough, ship-to-ship transports like these where the travelers were going from one transporter room to another added an extra step to the process as an operator, making sure the receiving site was online. It also added an extra layer of safety.

 

It was true that under normal circumstances the computer did all the work, and she only needed to initiate the process, then monitor. So far, there had only been minor glitches that hadn't even required any operator override. But those times when things did go wrong, was the whole point of the position. Today, though, it was just load 'n go so far, and she was happy as the proverbial clam.

 

She loved to interact with people, so these times were extremely pleasant. Though everyone was in a hurry or had business on their minds, most usually found a word or two for the transport operator other than "initiate transport." She got to see so many different and interesting people of various species, it was always a treat.

 

They'd all start coming back soon, so she'd be able to have a word or two more, maybe a laugh here and there, though she imagined the business over on the Reaent was a little grim for much humor. Then, she imagined, they'd be on the move again and she would return to babysitting her transporters, doing tests and diagnostics, and waiting for that happy day when she could again be busy, and the benevolent dragon graciously letting people through the gates.