Keb-o-Deck (Long)

[Erich Jaenke 0]

Keb-o-Deck

A Keb and Erich thing

 

Erich turned to leave Stellar Cartography after an exhausting shift when he saw a pair of boots sticking out of an open service access. Someone was sleeping on the job. “Hey buddy, there’s no sleeping in here.” He tapped the crewman’s leg, then jumped. The officer’s thoughts, muted by sleep, felt familiar. “Keb...Keb? Are you out cold?” Erich scanned the room and spied an underling nearby.

 

“Lieutenant, I need a blanket for our helm officer. I'd rather not move her.” The Chief turned towards her. He could hear Keb’s voice inside her head, politely asking the computer to bring up a program, as if she were on the holodeck. She was dreaming. Erich grinned.

 

The officer paused to give him an update before the Chief insisted she fetch the blanket. Erich found the officer’s chatter made it harder to focus on that floating feeling of Keb’s sleep. He knew he shouldn’t be listening, but...

 

In her dream, Keb could see herself as if she were another person for a moment, wearing a shimmering red and gold ballgown. Her program was a ballroom, with soft music that was in beat with the thrumming of the ship that surrounded her sleeping form. It was a waltz of the ship’s lifeblood pumping through its arteries.

 

The blanket arrived. Erich unfolded it. He stooped down to cover her, but she was too far in the wall. He lay on the floor and pushed himself into the service access beside Keb. A tool rested by her hand. The circuit panel above emitted a pleasing hum, which might have caused her to drift asleep. Now, two pairs of boots jutted out from the service access. With some effort, he tossed the blanket over her.

 

Keb’s dream shifted as he moved beside her. She was dancing with someone close to her, someone familiar. A warm smile crept over her sleeping face. The man leading her around the dance floor began nameless and faceless -- until she looked at him. Dark black eyes, curling hair--the name and face of Erich filled her mind. He realized she was dreaming of him, and unable to resist seeing more. He laid comfortably beside her, resting his head on one arm as he watched her dance with himself. It seemed he was falling in and filling in his place in her dream.

 

He spun her under his arm, and then brought her close with a bemused expression. “I can dance in dreams. Wow.” They continued to twirl to the waltz playing all around them. “How am I here?”

 

Keb laughed in her dream. “It’s the holodeck, silly,” she said. “It’s a magic place--Manticore’s a magician.”

 

Erich laughed softly and closed his eyes to concentrate. “It sure is. I can’t read your mind here, but I am in your mind. Fascinating.” He peered into her eyes. “You look great!”

 

The compliment interrupted the flow of the dream; her body stirred as she stopped dancing in the dream. “Th-Thanks. Wait, what do you mean, you’re in my mind?”

 

“Uh, I wouldn’t mind more dancing,” Erich said brightly, urging her on. “Let’s dance the night away.” He pulled her closer as he attempted to resume, trying to keep the dream going. Neither of them moved. Any control he believed he had did not exist here. His real face showed concern. Dancing while lying on the floor proved fruitless, but it did not stop him from pulling the sleeping Keb in tight.

 

Keb gasped, her eyes fluttering open. “Erich? What--why--” She pushed his arm off her side and backed away to get a few inches between their bodies. “What in the galaxy are you doing?”

 

A half-conscious Erich spoke. “Mmm, what-t...no more dancing? I was,” he yawned, “just getting to the mambo.” He flopped his arm over. His hand searched for a moment. Nothing. His eyes opened.

 

Keb was alert, and gave him a suspicious, almost fearful look. “You were listening to my dream?” she accused, half asking.

 

His eyes met hers. “What? No--Well, see, you had fallen asleep and were resting so comfortably. You just needed a blanket, but--”

 

“You were!” She was angry and embarrassed all at once. He’d know that she had been dreaming about him, and… “I--I’m not your personal holodeck!”

 

“I am not a Peeping Erich and had no idea I could see in such detail! I’m--” He lurched up, only to hit his head on the low circuit board she’d worked on earlier. “Ow, ow.” He reached to rub his latest boo-boo. “I didn’t mean anything.”

 

Keb paused, checking to see if Erich needed a medic. When she saw there was no blood she seized her tool bag and started sliding out of the access panel. Two people in a space for one made getting out awkward. She fought angry tears. She got out. She needed her distance.

 

“Pagh, wa’, cha’, wej...”

 

Keb counted in Klingon under her breath as she stalked to the turbolift. She imagined everyone’s eyes upon her. The door opened and she entered. “Computer, deck 9, please,” Keb said, her voice shaky. She turned as the doors started to close, but his hand reached through, grabbing her by the wrist.

 

Erich entered after her. The door clipped his heel. At first he didn’t say anything, hoping that his touch would bring back the strange connection he’d felt between them. He kept hold of her wrist and let it relax at her side. If she pulled away now he’d get off the lift.

 

Her eyes went to his hand. She was hurting because of what he’d done, but she didn’t pull away from him. Questions bubbled in her brain. Had he done anything besides listen? Did he realize how that must’ve looked--the two of them nestled in the wall like that? Was he actually a good dancer? What made him think he had any right to listen to her dreams? What if it had been something less--innocent?

 

Erich heard it all. “I wish there was a way you could hear my thoughts. Words--don’t often fit just right.” He took a deep breath. “I can answer any of those questions you have if it’s important for...us.” The color had faded from his face.

 

She tensed under his hand. “What us?” she asked. “Just because you--know everything about me, just because you know I--I’m interested--doesn’t mean we’re a thing. I hardly know anything about you, though I’m sure nobody’s got the slightest doubt now that we are...together.” She was blushing even through her anger. Her growing affection for the engineer made his listening to her dreams feel like a betrayal of some unspoken promise.

 

“You are completely right. I should have left you by yourself down there and not taken advantage of your rest.” Erich derived no pleasure from her exposure now. He held on to her, keeping himself together, but shaking inside. His heart fell yet again. “I don’t know what to say other than sorry.”

 

She commanded the turbolift to stop. “Why did you?” she whispered, looking at him with lowered eyebrows.

 

“I sensed happiness and contentment, more so than when you are awake. It’s like standing on a beach, closing your eyes, and letting the sounds of the surf carry you away. One might call it hypnotic. I should have stopped. The detail was so real. The dream so lucid, at least for a time, and I could dance there with you.”

 

Her anger faded somewhat; he made it sound so beautiful that she could almost understand. “How can I feel...safe around you, though...if you can be inside my head that way?”

 

His eyes watered. “I don’t know if you can.” He admitted. “Among Betazoids, there is an understanding. But you’re human, so...it’s different.” He swallowed hard to pull himself together. “I never meant to harm you, Keb.”

 

She was weighing his words; his gentle grip on her wrist felt as if he were hanging on for dear life. She could tell he was sincere in his apology, but she still felt confused. “Can’t you...turn it off sometimes?”

 

“Most of us can...but I was not trained. I am trying to work with T’Prise and Dr. Abbingdon to gain more control, but it’s on hold due to the...weather.”

 

“I just feel like I’m naked in a room with a one-way mirror...you can see me and I can’t see you.”

 

“An apt description.” He looked her over. “How about this...we go about our duties, I stay away and refrain from reading you as best I can until this is all over. Deal?”

 

“And then what?” she asked, tilting her head. She had been enjoying working with him, getting to know him.

 

“A proper date with real food...and dancing. So you can get to know me, too.”

 

She looked at him hard before her mind answered for her. Deal. “I’ll think about it,” she said aloud.