So I spent the better part of an hour last night typing up this nice little rant about the irresponsibility of the media, and the gullibility/stubborness of people in general, and even started laying out some well informed and researched bullet points....and then the computer ate it. Post haste even.
I chose not to try rewriting it then and there, since I tend to be an emotional writer already, trying to write something while being consumed by a technologically induced Hulk Rage would poorly affect whatever it is I chose to wrote about. So I'll just wait until the next insanely blown out of proportions news story comes along. Shouldn't be much of a wait at all.
So instead, I bring the second portion of the FarCaster spontaneous mini-write thing I did. Enjoy.
Chapter 1:2 – Command Munchies
.: 2 :.
Captain Argos dropped his shaver and comb into a drawer, where they clattered upon a pile of other essential personal grooming tools, and then slid the drawer shut. Running a hand over his face and jaw, he nodded to himself as he looked in the mirror. He was still fairly stubbly, and nowhere near regulations for grooming standards, but at least he didn’t look like he had spent three days under a reactor core anymore. As pulled the top of his jump suit on, he felt the need to justify his appearance even further, why he didn’t, nor would probably ever figure out. It was just one of those little bits of nagging psychosis that all people tend to have.
“Well, I’m not winning any presentation commendations, but at least the crew are more comfortable with me.”
This seemed to sit well with William, as he nodded once more, and pulled the zipper up on his jumpsuit. Popping open the hatch to his quarters, the bright and sterile luminescence of the ship’s artificial lighting flooded his room. Closing the door, William stood for a moment, his hands on his hips. The bridge was to the right, only a hundred meters forward and two decks up. However, having been woken out of cycle, his appetite wasn’t sure what it was doing, and his stomach had been phasing in and out of hunger since he had started getting dressed. Considering that there were no alarms sounding, and since there was a decided lack of blowing up, William felt that he had at least enough time to swing by the galley first.
Turning and heading off to his left, William made for the nearest access ladder. Sure a lift would be less climbing but then he would have to go closer to the bridge and risk being sucked into the situation, or he would have to trek all the way back to engineering. That would be a lot of walking. Especially in the cramped and narrow confines of his ship’s passages. Reaching the ladder, and looking up and down it to make sure someone wasn’t about to come zipping by, he stepped onto the rungs and swiftly made his way down to the next deck. As he backed out from the ladder, someone bumped into him from behind, or he bumped into them, and a loud shout came from below.
“Hey! What’s the big idea?”
Turning, William saw the back half of someone, sticking out from an access panel on the opposite wall. The tool case on the floor suggested that the one inside was probably of the engineering crew, doing some early morning repairs. The grumbling within continued as the man extracted himself from the wall paneling, and spun on William.
“I have half a mind to…”
The man’s voice came to sudden silence as he recognized the face looking back at him. This recognition, combined with the knowledge of the tirade he was about to loose upon his Captain, triggered an almost instinctual reaction bred into all military personnel to come to attention. A reaction that didn’t fair well for the engineer’s mate, considering the low ceilings and cramped conditions of the hall.
“Sir! Ow, crap! I mean, sorry Sir, I didn’t know it was you.”
Clutching the back of his head where it had slammed into a reinforcement joint, the young man tried to maintain his demeanor. William couldn’t help but feel sorry for the man. Here the guy was, just trying to do his job, when somebody comes along in the middle of the night to jam on him while hip deep in ship bits.
“It’s okay Crewman. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
The technician seemed to loosen visibly, seeing that his commanding officer wasn't going to harbor a grudge.
“Although, in the future it might be prudent to understand what the situation is, and who is involved, before letting loose of the tongue, hmm?”
The crewman straightened up again, and put on a hard face.
“Yes Sir. Thank you, sir.”
“Carry on.”
William left the man to continue his work without further interruption. Finally reaching the galley, he swung in through the door quick enough to catch a couple apparently canoodling in the back corner. Again, his presence brought crewmen to their feet, and as usual for his crew, mainly when they weren’t carrying properly. The man, a very nervous and surprised looking young Ensign, he recognized as being a member of the stellar cartography team that had come aboard at their last re-supply stop. The calm and collected, and obviously more experienced woman, who was just now zipping up the top of her uniform, was none other than William’s Chief of Engineering. William felt like his eyes wanted to roll right out of his head.
“Lieutenant Commander?”
“Yes, Captain?”
“Take it somewhere else please? You’ll scare the children. Excepting of course the one you’ve already cornered.”
The Chief Engineer grinned slightly at her Captain’s jab at her choice in men. Her strawberry blond curls, pulled tightly to the back of her head in a bunch, bobbed slightly as she nodded in acknowledgment.
“Of course, Captain. My apologies.”
The young Ensign kept looking over his shoulder as she led him out by the hand, probably not entirely certain as to what had just transpired. It was in fact, just another facet of William Argos’s command style. If one were to sum the methodology up in the fewest words it would be something akin to, “Do whatever you want so long as it doesn’t interfere with your duties, and don’t forget for a second who’s in command.”
After watching the two officers leave, William’s stomach gurgled a bit, as if to remind him why he had come down here in the first place.
“Alright, alright. But we don’t have time for a full meal. A roll, maybe some fruit, and then off to the bridge.”
<<<>>>
That's it for now. More again later.
- FireSpark Out
“Technology makes it possible for people to gain control over everything,
except over technology” - John Tudor
 FireSpark · Thu Nov 11, 2010 @ 11:03pm · 0 Comments |
