The Book of the Thux

Posted on Sun May 28th, 2017 @ 12:41am by Commander Cor Cordale & Lieutenant Commander Ziyal Tajor

Ziyal entered the Lounge, and found a table. She was waiting for Cor. She enjoyed talking to the Thux and hoped that this lunch would be as enjoyable as her previous encounters had been. She had been meaning to ask him about the Book of Thux he had mentioned. She hoped that she would be able to read it. She had read and memorized many religious texts from across the Federation. From the Bible to Gaudaal's Lament to the Kir'Shara. Cor's comparison of the book of Thux that he was writing to those holy scriptures was fascinating. Particularly as it was being written, something that many religious texts were not.

Cordale eventually made his way into the lounge. He was a very difficult person to miss, what with his dashing good looks and natural charm... the blue fur and the prosthetic limb helped narrow down the choices. He made a stop by the wall replicator to snag himself a drink of some form and a tray of food, before he spotted Ziyal over by her lonesome and gave her a wave. "Hello hello." he called as he approached. "Mind if I join you?"

Ziyal smiled at Cor, "Not at all." She said, sipping on her Oceanleaf tea. "In-fact, I was just thinking of you, something you said at that get together we had at Hel's. You said you were writing a book of Thux?" She asked.

"The Book of The Thux. Genuine article." he said with a nod as he sat and joined her. "See, my people don't have any racial history. None that I know of. So, I'm borrowing experiences from other races along with first hand experiences of my own to kinda write a guide, a 'how-to' book on the best way to be the best Thux you can be. Noble, loyal, supporting." he explained before he took a chomp out of his burger. Cheese, bacon, and a tomato to complete the food pyramid. "Half the reason I joined Starfleet was to find my people. I figure if I'm looking in one direction, and all of Starfleet is looking in the other, eventually one of us has got to find another Thux."

"It's a work in progress but I think it's coming along nicely. Would you, you know... want a copy?" he asked. Sure she wasn't a Thux on the outside, but that wasn't what was important. Maybe she was a Thux on the inside.

Ziyal smiled and nodded, "Very much, I've read the Bible, the Koran, the Bajoran Sacred Texts, and the Kir'Shara. When you compared it to them, I was very interested because those are already complete as it were. Have you ever read them?" She asked.

He gave a nod mid-chew, then continued after, "I've read parts of the Bible. The others I've heard of but never read. Mostly it's because I can't speak the language and no matter HOW good a translation is, you're going to lose something." he mentioned, "But yeah, I read the human Bible and well, it's really dark and gloomy in the beginning. It got better around the middle, and I mean better for the people in it. Reminded me a little of life before I was free, but I don't think that's how it was supposed to make me feel."

"Though, it's got those commandments, while the Book of The Thux has ... I'd call them guidelines really. Suggestions." he offered. "It's hard to talk about being free and treating everyone with respect in one verse, then outlining demands in the next. Some of them are kinda no brainers though. Though I guess in the ancient times of the older scripts folks kinda had to be spoon fed their morals." he paused to take a swig of what was very obviously a sweeter variation of the classic root beer. A human staple.

"I'll brush up the latest version of the Book that I've got now, and send it your way. Lemme know what you think. Multicultural acceptance is kinda a big deal in the Book."

Ziyal nodded, "I'll be sure to let you know what I think of it." She paused, considering what to say next. "So what do you think about our society having laws? Are they demands that fundamentally conflict with our supposed values of treating people with respect? What is a Thux's relationship with it?"

He gave her a smile, careful not to show teeth, "There's a nice picket fence between Freedom and Anarchy. Being able to do whatever you want is nice and all, but when it hurts other people, there's gotta be a line." another quick nibble, "Now, I've seen some places where the laws are stifling, and I've seen one or two places where the only law is 'There is no law'." a pause, ".. and ultimately folks find a way to be doucheba.. sorry, 'scuze my Ferengi."

"Folks find a way to be cruel and disrespectful in either culture. So I don't really think it's the laws of a society that foster, or restrict, respect. I think it's just the people." he paused, "And as for what a Thux's relationship with those rules are, again it really comes down to the person. If we gotta lead by example to how to make someone's life a little better, a little easier, or a little more worthwhile, then that's one thing. If we gotta hurt someone or make someone feel like dirt in order to do it, then we should re-evaluate."

A pause, "That's really why what happened on that station isn't sitting well with me. Moreso then just that. I had to sit and do nothing while my two brothers were taken from me and put to death. If I did anything then, I'd be dead too. From how I hear it, if I just jumped up and did something, we'd all be in sickbay now, or worse."

Ziyal filed his answer or rather a lack of one in a way away in her mind, she would consider that when she read the book. "Are you going to put what happened in the book?" She asked.

"Everything's a lesson." he said, a little softer than anything else he's said thus far. "When a Thux gives his word, it means something. When I put on this uniform, I gotta weigh everything I do against two scales: As a Thux, and as an Officer."

"When I went with the Captain to chase down the Admiral, and abandon the wargame, that was actually a rather simple choice for me. There had to be dozens of ships all across the sector engaging in drills, but we were the only ones that could handle that one rogue admiral. So, as an Officer, the Admiral represented a clear and present danger that had to be dealt with."

"As a Thux, he hurt a lot of my friends and, well pretty much a lot of the folks I consider family last time we met. I couldn't let that stand."

Then he chuckled, "I'm trying REAL hard not to add the third scale of 'As an Engineer' to the list. Three scales is too many."

Ziyal laughed and nodded, "Balancing being and officer and being a Thux is something that pretty much everyone can relate to. How you balance between your obligations and your beliefs is as much a part of any religion as God is. More so in fact, as there are many religions that don't have Gods. And no, I'm not including the Klingons in that group even though they killed them."

"Almost all religions have traditional stories, part of their shared mythology. Even if their not written down. In my religion, our scripture is not written, it is memorized. Partly because a written copy would be evidence against us. Partly because scripture doesn't do anything when it's on a page, it only does something when it's in our hearts. I've found the ones that when you really look at them have flawed heroes. Ones that are imperfect, show their flaws are the ones that are remembered." Ziyal explained.

Cor gave a nod, then thought, and shook his head slightly, "With all of the history of the Thux that I know, which isn't much mind you, what I'm writing doesn't have a God. We're a created people." he started, "Born through science and born in chains. My earliest memories are of a latinum mine. It took four doctors and a few entrance physicals for someone to get the nerve to tell me that I'm nothing but recessive traits." he paused to take a swig. "So, the concept of an all powerful being responsible for our creation and guidance hit a little too close to home for me. So, I kinda left that part out." he admitted.

"Each Thux is the master of themselves. Like you said, on paper it ain't much but it becomes something once you do it." he gave a nod to punctuate this, "That whole human bit of actions speaking louder than words... see I can TELL you that I'll always have your back. Doesn't mean anything if I never follow up on it."

After a moment's pause, he chuckled, "Something's imperfections make them memorable... heh, well then, you're never going to forget me." he gave a good chuckle after this.

"Well it is not every day that you work with a blue weasel. Have you ever heard of the old tradition of kintsugi? You are a kintsugi, I think." Ziyal said, taking a sip of her tea.

He smirked, "Unless you're me. Then it happens everyday." his smirk evolved into a smile, "Wake up every morning, put my arm on, look in the mirror and..." that smile faltered a little, "... you know, greet the day."

"Never heard of kintsuuu... kinsuugu.." he held up a finger, he'd get this right damnit. "Kin suugi." he said, with a pleased look, "But, if it's as tasty as it is hard to... wait, I'm a kin suugi? Okay, so it's not food."

Ziyal shook her head, "No, the word translates to 'the golden repair'. What happened is that a long time ago, when a piece of valuable pottery broke, you didn't throw it away. Instead, you made repairs. In most societies, the repairs were hidden, giving the illusion that it had never been broken at all. However, this one society did it differently, they made the repair with gold, highlighting the damage that had been done to it. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise."

The Thux's features perked up a bit. Ears stood a little higher, while his entire posture just straightened up, "That sounds really interesting. Embrace your history's faults, rather than hide them. Th.. That's actually pretty neat. Learned something new today."

He took a moment to look over to his left hand. Artificial, somewhat clunky, and certainly not the same shade of blue as the rest of him. Almost an industrial yellow really. Shiny, sure, but that was a sign of love towards the mechanism, rather than by design. At a thought that passed into his head, he chuckled, "There's a line, right here..." he tapped around his shoulder joint with his good hand, outlining a line of sorts that went almost to his collar bone. "... that I can assure you is not gold, but..." he went quiet for a second.

"It's where I broke." he said. Anyone else, and they'd be all sorrow and sadness. Cordale actually managed to crack the hint of a smirk. "Yeah, I know, corny as hell but... can't take everything super serious, can we?"

Ziyal nodded, "Well, we can, but I think I might kill myself if we did. Humor helps keep us alive. It allows us to appreciate the incongruities of our existence."

Cordale took a long swig, before he gave Ziyal a smile, "I think you and I are going to get along just fine." before he gave a pause, "I'll... make sure you get any updates I make to the Book... and thanks. It's good to know that someone is interested in it. I mean, you're no Thux, not on the outside anyway. You've got the heart of a Thux though."