Posted by Vice Admiral CockRoach (GM) in Main Sim - D Deck - Arboretum
[snip]

Nessa gave another three circle stance, and whined again, giving more urgency to her need to ‘get going’. With nothing else to do they may as well ‘get to it’.

GM CockRoach

Sasha looked at the Sergeant then to Rick. “I will go back to the bay and bring up anything I might find there and complete the gravity scans. It may be best to attend to the Sergeant.” With that, Sasha gave a respectful nod to the doctor and left.

“Can I leave these things here for now, doctor? I’ll pick them up a little later after Nessa and I have .. attended to business.” He did still have the tablet with him for reference.” Moving the box of food and things off to the side and out of the way for the moment, he said, “Nessa, come,” and, waiting for a moment for her to respond, they moved out of sickbay and in the direction of the arboretum. Sickbay was on B deck and the arboretum was on D deck. Not that far down. Mentally still getting his bearings in this new ship, Rick made for the nearest lift to take them down to D deck. Here and there Rick could pick up the click click of Nessa’s nails on the deckplates. He would have to look up if they needed to be trimmed. Well, they did. Barb’s folks had to, he recalled. He would have to look into the accompanying kits supplied for things like clippers and a brush maybe?

After a short trip where Rick began to feel a sense of urgency, he picked up his pace and made it to the arboretum. He had not visited there yet and was curious what he would find ..

Sasha and Rick

As Rick and Nessa got to the arboretum, he would find it was as many of the science labs a bit small in scale. While slightly larger in scope to contain plants and such studies, it was not planted with grass say on the floor or such. Still the air in here was much fresher due to the plants and over in one corner of the lab by a small 8x8 ft area a patch of grass and flowers had been setup for the scientists to experiment with. Nessa obviously in urgent need of doing her business yipped and ran over to the corner soon hunching over and letting loose before anyone could stop her.

‘And not a moment too soon,’ Rick thought. Some of Barb’s stories said they had to walk their dog a long time before getting ‘results’ as they said. They apparently got lucky that way. He rubbed his face in thought .. freezing as a voice rang out. The ‘yard’ was not that big but at least it was there. Would it be big enough?

NE Bickers the only science member present in the lab looked up when the yip then slight smell of fresh dog doo doo reached his nose. Frowning he looked at Rick in displeasure, “..I do hope you plan to clean that up SIR?” he asked. Nessa meanwhile having finished sniffed about the area then done with her business returned dutifully to Rick’s side looking up at him with her tongue lolling out on her right side.

GM CockRoach

Rick’s first sense was to look around to see who Bickers, whom he had not met yet, was talking to. He was a Petty Officer and not in the ‘sir’ zone. Who was this fellow? Was he an officer, crewman, civilian gardener? His head turned back to see Bickers. The question was valid, he supposed, but quite unexpected. Rick had to admit that he had thought Nessa was going to do, well, the other one with the way she was dancing. Nervously rubbing a finger under his nose in part from a reaction to the odor he first knelt down to pat Nessa. “Good girl,” he said, petting her flank. Was there something in the ‘kit’ that came with the sergeant that related to picking up said .. things? He couldn’t remember offhand. There was so much in there.

“Uh, yes,” he began, but then fell back in the old ‘pull rank’ trope. “Captain said to look after things. Seems like the sergeant here,” he said, patting Nessa again, “was mailed to the wrong ship.” Right, he was babbling. “I’ll get this tidied up. I’m PO Rick Walters by the way.” Glancing at the ‘pile’ he let out a breath in a sigh. Still kneeling, he glanced about. If this was a science lab place surely there would be sample bags. That should do the trick until he got things sorted otherwise. He’d have to find someone in science to talk to about this need. Best to come to this in a spirit of unity than butt heads. “Who can I talk to in your group about arranging to uh, share the space?” he asked Bickers.
- PO Rick Walters