Quiet time

Posted on Wed Dec 20th, 2017 @ 1:44am by Commander Bertrand Cuprum

Mission: When the Sinful strike back
Location: Arboretum, deck 10

Bertrand sat on the bench his eyes closed, head bent back slightly. The artificial lights in the Arboretum bathed the area in a warm glow, feeding the charges here. The air was the same here as anywhere else on the ship, but it "felt" somehow cleaner.

The junior botanist stood by the door awkwardly watching. She had managed to avoid the XO for the time on the ship, but everything she had heard about the man made her glad that she had.

He was just sitting there. If she didn't know better, she would say he was smiling. She wanted to run away, find another part of the ship to be busy in, but this was her station for the next four and a half hours. She considered summoning one of the senior staff, but what would she say?

She edged herself towards the man carefully.

"I..." She gulped and tried again with a stronger voice, "is there anything I can do for you, sir?"

"Birdsong," Bertrand said softly without opening his eyes.

"Sir?"

Bertrand opened his eyes, still looking at the roof above the trees, "This place needs birdsong. And the sound of wind."

The woman quickly checked her controls and said, "I assure you sir, air circulation is at optimum levels..."

"Not atmospherics, Ensign... actually, no. That is exactly what this place needs. Atmosphere."

The man was obviously mad, the junior officer decided. If there was no atmosphere in the Arboretum, they could not be having this conversation. The Betazoid turned his black eyes on her and smiled.

"It is actually too quiet. I had never noticed it before. I've only ever come through here when I was rushing to be somewhere else."

He looked back at the roof, "Would it be all right if I just stayed here for a little longer, Ensign?"

"Sure... I mean, yes, sir," the woman managed before backing away quickly, totally unnerved.

Bertrand closed his eyes again and let the warmth bathe his face, and the silence envelope him.