Relevance

[Samantha_Kent 0]

It was, Sam decided, far, far too easy to avoid focusing on the greater problem in favor of its interesting aspects.

 

In pursuit of further answers on the unnamed and rather destitute planet on which Arcadia had deposited them, Sam's team had made offers of assistance to the two beggars who had arrived in the temple of the Deia. It had seemed a reasonable suggestion to make. They had Fleet-grade engineers with them, after all, and their progress in the temple had descended into cyclical inquiries into an incomprehensible manuscript which were getting them nowhere. A change of scenery might at least offer them a chance at a few answers.

 

And there were certainly a lot of questions up for grabs, enough that Sam was starting to lose track of them all. They'd found the Hamarian race, who were, it turned out, little more than livestock for the Armours, who were initially from this planet -- why were sentient creatures like the Hamarians being treated that way? Had they been sentient all along, or had they experienced an unprecedented spurt in intelligence over the short period since they had been deposited on their current "grazing" planet? And the Armours themselves -- the Arcadia had first encountered them on a station some distance from here, but this was their home planet, the source of their economic spread. Just how far did that reach expand? What else did they have their hands into, that Starfleet might need to know about in the event their territory and diplomatic connections ever expanded this far?

 

So much was at play here -- diplomacy, cultural investigation, economic investigation, ethical debate, military intelligence, almost every possible question a starship crew could expect to come up against.

 

And yet despite all this, as they trod slowly behind their new companions back towards their village, all of Sam's curiosity was still wrapped up in that damn rhythmic phenomenon they had seen in the temple.

 

There is no indication that they are anything more than religious devotees, but I saw that data. Something was happening.

 

But what? I would cheerfully kill for a doctor on this team right now; another pair of eyes over the physiology, someone with a bit more dedicated insight into this sort of thing. What would cause that sort of sympathy with sound?

 

Snap out of it, Kent. You don't even know if this is relevant.

 

Of course it's relevant! It's too damned weird not to be!

 

Then again, she was forced to admit, there was a lot of weirdness in the universe that had nothing to do with anything in particular. This wasn't some kind of holonovel, where you could count on an author to call your attention only to details that would move you on in the plot. This was real life, and you had to figure that sort of thing out for yourself.

 

She sighed, and forced her eyes up from their thoughtful stare at the slightly muddy ground through which they were slogging. Time to pay attention to what was going on.