Can't See the Forest For the Trees

[T'Prise 0]

As the never-can-bes had unfolded in his mind his fists had started clenching, and the feeling of something being squeezed in his right hand had broken him from his reverie. He sat down heavily to look at the photograph that he had taken from Syndrx’s body and that had been sitting, forgotten, in Escher’s right hand. He wiped the salt water and desperation from his eyes so that, for a moment, he could see clearly.

What Lies Beneath the Waters, MC Escher, Chief Science Officer, USS Manticore

****

The answers were all within the evidentiary minutiae the Manticore was collecting, of that fact, T’Prise was assured. As a scientist, she well knew that the solution to any question or problem lay within the particulars. Logic dictated that the explanation as to the admiral’s disappearance, the unusual climatology cycles on earth, and their orders to report to Titan, would be discovered by examining the specifics and piecing them together correctly. To use the human euphemism, it all came down to assembling the puzzle properly.

Pegasus was now in docking bay three, awaiting a thorough inspection by the crew assigned to investigate it. Having arranged retrieval of the admiral’s yacht, the Vulcan was on her way to begin a preliminary examination of the vessel. She knew that Commander Escher was already in the docking bay, eagerly scrutinizing the ship. His request that she bring a pair of specially calibrated tricorders to the docking bay met with the physicists approval. These specially tuned devices would provide invaluable aid in the inquest.

T'Prise stopped at the door of the science chief’s office pausing to enter a keycode and submit to a bioscan. The door slid open, plunging the physicist into darkness. A simple command illuminated the office, revealing the organized clutter of multiple projects scattered across work surfaces. Piled high with data PADDs and discarded instruments, the commander’s desk occupied the corner alcove of his office. While Escher’s keen curiosity and fierce devotion made him an excellent scientist and researcher, those same traits also perplexed his subordinate.

Pausing for a moment, the Vulcan considered some of the thoughts that currently occupied her neural matrix. Her brief conversation with Doctor Farrington had provided no real answers. While T’Prise's knowledge of emotions and their effects on humans had grown during her time aboard the Manticore, many things still puzzled her. Escher was her friend; an individual she trusted with her life. Yet, just as she thought she understood him, his actions would once again become incomprehensible.

Quietly sliding behind his desk, she activated the concealed release for the hidden compartment. The drawer slid open, revealing a small cache of highly sensitive and highly sentimental objects. On the very top perched a photograph, the subject of which perplexed her exceedingly. She stared down at the photograph for several long moments, trying to determine its meaning.

Some months ago she had accidentally discovered this drawer on another errand for the commander. While she refused to violate his privacy by further disturbing the cache or its contents, she nonetheless turned the facts over and over in her mind, considering every context and every nuance, trying to deduce the significance. It was not something she could discuss openly with Escher, for obvious reasons, yet its presence had been the determining factor in beginning her new research project at the Daystrom.

Quirking a brow at her own contemplation, she gently slid the drawer shut and went to retrieve the tricorders. She could ruminate on this issue at another time, to insure the conclusions already determined were correct. The more urgent matter of discovering the missing admiral and restoring earth to its normal environmental setting needed to be addressed. The captain required the examination of evidence in that puzzle as soon as possible and this required the science team to quickly catalog the details in order the expediently formulate any theories.