Posted by Lieutenant Dr. Solomon Kane (Chief Science Officer/Research & Development) in side - sim: Social Experimentation at its Finest (Tag Kane)

Posted by Lieutenant Alexis Bonner (Assistant Chief Medical Officer) in side - sim: Social Experimentation at its Finest (Tag Kane)

Posted by Lieutenant Dr. Solomon Kane (Chief Science Officer/Research & Development) in side - sim: Social Experimentation at its Finest (Tag Kane)
Posted by… suppressed (16) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Alexis grinned, “Yeah, are you?” She really didn’t know what to expect from her parents as far as her relationship with Solomon. She was just about over the shock of them being there, she thought. She was still surprised and wasn’t sure why they didn’t tell her they were coming, but they were here. She had missed them, and when the door slid open, the smell of....cookies wafted into the corridor. “I did mention my mother loves to bake, right?” Like Alexis loved to experiment.

Frigga bounded into the room, and Alexis started to call her back. Instead she let her go as Frigga sniffed and exlopred the whole space. Her mother was near the replicator and if Solomon thought Alexis made a mess when she cooked, her mother made it look like a volcano erupted. Her father on the other hand had stood up and walked toward them to pause as they stepped inside and the door closed. With a barely contined smirk, “You know my daughter is going to be really upset if you let Mastrakian ice Beetles devour my remains and then let them in turn get eaten by a Brezid gecko.”

“Best part of the plan… she’d never know, now would she?” Kane said with a somewhat forced grin.

Alexis looked over and up at Solomon. And in those tiny ear buds they always wore he would hear a muttered, “Mastrakian ice beetles??” Alisson paused what she was doing and glanced over at her husband, “Anthony what you going on about now.” Then stopped turned fully as her brain tried to make sense of the chaos standing by the door.

Bonner

“Tell ya later.” Kane subvocalized and then he looked her father dead in the eyes. “Kane. Chief Science Officer. How ya doin’?” and he held out his hand to Anthony. “Other than trying to break into my R&D space, that is.” and this time the crooked grin was mostly genuine.

Kane

“Anthony.” He shook Kane’s hand. It was not exactly the firmest handshake Kane would ever get, but confident if a bit weathered by age. He laughed, a rich deep sound. “I never tried to break in, sneak around poorly, maybe. I’m an ecologist. I can breed you giant man eating Venus fly traps that can survive in space. I can not hack computers.” He gave Kane a once over, curiosity trying to reconcile the man he met earlier with the Alexis version of gushing they got about him several weeks ago. He had a feeling Kane made his daughter all kinds of unbalanced. “A pleasure.”

Alisson had made her way over and had already figured out this was both Alexis’ boy friend and the man her husband had met earlier. Did he even have skin under all those tattoos? “Alexis, aren’t you ..”

“Leave her be Alisson, she’s solving a puzzle. My wife Alisson.” She offered her hand to Kane with a genuine smile and a mother’s obvious curiosity. “It is very nice to meet you.” She turned to Anthony, “What puzzle?”

Bonner

Kane shook her hand and then said “The beetles and the gecko. When your husband decided to sight-see in my lab, I was wearing a shirt that said ‘I’ve got enough to do today without having to make your death look like an accident.’ My staff knows that as my ‘I’m off the clock but working so don’t even think I exist let alone talk to me’ shirt. When I told him to leave, he made a crack that I should at least try to make his death unique. So I went with the first idea that came to my head. Ice beetles eat him, gecko eats the beetles, no remains or even DNA to show the murder happened. Clean and clear. When he mentioned the beetles, Lex’s brain fixed on that. She is my Queen of Tangential Thinking.”

Kane

“Alexis you are not thinking about…” Alisson began.

Alexis shook her head, “Not quite in the clear. If you want all the beetles eaten and destroyed you have to feed them to the gecko before they wake up which means what they are hasn’t fully passed through their system. If you get the gecko and pump its stomach before it passes excrement you can find DNA evidence. Minute and mixed and hard to seperate out unless you have someone willing to put in the time. You aren’t in the clear until the bacteria destroys the gecko’s excrement.”

“The Queen indeed,” Anthony turned around and walked toward the couch his shoulders shaking in silent laughter. Alexis…finally catching up with the conversation turned red.

Kane took and squeezed her hand. “It’s okay. And what was missed is that the ice beetles completely absorb the food in under an hour while motionless. True, their excrement would have the DNA present, but thats why you use Brezid geckos. They digest everything, even the excrement.”

“I did not miss that. That’s why I said pump the stomach. By the time it gets to the gecko’s excrement the traces are sub molecular. You have to know what you are looking for to find it by then. But it would be impossible to identify the specific living matter it came from.” Then she shrugged slightly, “So you’re right.” Anthony looked like his jaw might hit the floor or Alexis had grown tentacles or something. Then he looked at Kane and then grinned hugely.

“As usual, we’re both right. That’s why we make such a good team.”

“Six years old she walked into my lab class, stared at a model of Cypress Pine DNA a student had submitted for five minutes and then proceeded to rebuild it correctly, and explained as she did it.” Anthony said from the couch. Alisson joined him in the couch watching the two of them without shame.

Alexis thought it might be a really good idea to go to work. Very very quietly, “He knows I’m smart, Dad. You don’t have to explain it to him.”

Bonner

Kane squeezed her hand again and then looked directly at her mother who was staring at them. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” and he winked at her as he took a seat. “I do know she is highly intelligent.” and he looked at Lex. “But you are also highly creative, dedicated, and extremely beautiful and sincere. The smarts is just kind of the icing on this cupcake.”

Kane

Her mother grinned, “Oh I intend to, several of them in fact.”

Kane looked at her and his voice became a bit serious. “Maybe hold off on that for a bit.”

Alisson gave him a look, it was the same exact look Alexis got when she was trying to figure out something he said that she didn’t get right away. Maybe she was pushing it a bit. Anthony snorted, “Told you to leave the matching sweaters at home.” Alisson laughed and pushed him, not nearly hard enough for as much as Anthony moved. “I did not bring matching sweaters.”

Alexis stopped on her way to the couch when he squeezed her hand again. But then she sat next to him, only to turn and look at him like the world no longer made sense. “Are you sick?” Then in the ear bud, “Why are you acting so weird?”

Bonner

Kane grinned his crooked grin at her and said “No. And I’m trying to be nice. Can’t let the in-laws know what a reprobate you’ve brought home.”

Kane

At the word ‘in-laws’ Anthony’s brows raised and he stared hard at his daughter, who squirmed in her seat and turned a couple shades of bright red under his scrutiny. It might have been way too long since she called or wrote. If Alisson noticed she didn’t give it away, but she did change the subject. “Alexis, and no offense to Kane, but are you really sure you want to work in science? I am sure there is no end to the experiments and research you can do, but that’s all you have ever talked about. Being a doctor.”

“Oh, I’m not in science or R&D anymore. Well not full time. The AMO position came open again and I applied. Dr Walker said yes, so I am a practicing physician again, Mom. Stop worrying.”

“Good, that’s where you are happiest.” Alexis could concede that was true, or had been. Now there was more. “So Kane, where are you from? What got you into science?”

Alexis knew the questions were coming, her dad was patient, her mother…not so much, but her eyes happened to catch the top part of the NDFD tattoo and suddenly Solomon’s comment about the pictures made such clear sense. A muttered, “Crap.” and then “You can’t ask him that!”

Bonner

Kane’s head slowly turned and he looked at her like she had just grown a third eyeball…

And then he just chuckled and shook his head. “Yeah… real smooth there, Bonner. I’m sure they didn’t catch that at all.” He turned and looked at Alisson and said “I’m… not from around here. Thats a pretty good way of starting off that particular conversation, I think.”

Kane

Alexis looked like she felt like she might have grown a third eye ball. He only called her Bonner when she’d done something real stupid, or they were on duty. They are not on duty. And he hadn’t called her that since those first couple of weeks. The subvocal pickups buzzed in his ear, “I told you I’m not good at playing games....”

Oblivious to the side conversation Alisson shook her head, “Really Alexis. Why not? Those are perfectly normal questions. Your father and I just want to get to know him.” She turned a smile on Kane. “Well I didn’t think so, there’s not much near here. It doesn’t matter, everyone is from somewhere.”

It wasn’t normal though, not for Solomon. They hadn’t talked about this, what they would tell them. Then again Alexis hadn’t expected to have to tell them anything for awhile. Then they showed up unannounced, and Alexis didn’t think to ask Solomon what they should tell them. Of course her mother would ask everything. She folded her hands into her lap, her right covering her left, and she realized she still had that fake ring on. Oh…no....she lied to Hannah. She couldn’t lie to her parents. She would do it, but they would know. Her father always knew. She couldn’t do it. She felt like someone had just dropped her into a pitch black room, but not quite as bad.

Her mother was looking at Kane waiting for him to answer. Alexis suddenly stood up. “Mom I think your pies are burning.” Alisson looked indignant, “They are not.” Alexis grabbed her hand and pulled her into the other room. “I really think they are, let’s go look.”

Bonner

As they left the area, Kane watched them and held up a finger to her father. When they were around the corner, Kane said “Ok, I need 30 seconds of your time.” and he went to Alexis’s bag and grabbed a PaDD. He accessed the Personnel Command system and flipped the PaDD towards Anthony. “Pull up my file. Your Academy, you can pull records on anybody, right? So pull my file. And then look. And then try to get the rest of it.”

Kane

Alisson, bless her, wasn’t aware of the tension in the room. She wanted to believe that Alexis was just concerned she and Anthony would look down on where Kane came from, his upbringing or some such. They wouldn’t, but Alisson never wanted to see past the facade.

Anthony took the PaDD and typed in his credentials and then input Kane’s name. He looked at it. That was a lot of missing information. Then he fiddled around with the access levels a bit as requested, but nothing.

Bonner

And then something. The screen blanked. It was dark for a few seconds and then a message appeared. “Redirecting traffic. Server Secured to unauthorized access.” and then an icon appeared. It looked like the crest of Star Fleet, but over the field of stars there was an hour glass with a banner under it that read ‘Tempus Fugit’… Time Flies.

Kane grabbed the PaDD and tapped furiously for a few seconds. He then exhaled for a second and said “Understand now?”

Kane

Anthony had never been involved with Intel, but he had butted heads with them over his daughter. They had been after Alexis for awhile. He had tried to protect her, maybe he hadn’t succeeded. He knew a file marked up by them when he saw it. He did not recognize the symbol but it wasn’t hard to conclude it was some division of Intel or the like. His jaw tightened noticibly. He would not jump to conclusions. Hell he didn’t want anything to do with them and they had an Intel file on him.

He glanced through the door way. Alexis, at Alisson’s prodding was explaining in great detail the thermo-chemical reactions going on in the food and what that did to the nutritional values. For some reason Alisson always got a kick out of Alexis explaining that. He looked back at Kane, “Yeah, I do.” His voice had lost the relaxed edge. “You work for them or a casualty?”

In the grand scheme was that the most important question? Maybe not, but it was to Anthony, and Kane’s answer would determine what he said or asked next.

Bonner

Kane looked at him and said the only thing he could.

“Both.”

Anthony didn’t need to imagine. It’s exactly what they wanted out of his daughter. Questions were on the edge of his tongue, unuttered in an attempt to curb fear and anger that wanted to be aimed at the wrong person.

He leaned back and took a breath. “You’re a scientist. So… when your wife asked where I’m from. What did I say?”

It was hard to listen when it seemed everything he had tried to do suddenly seemed short of enough. But jumping to conclusions didn’t get accurate answers. “You’re not from around here. Thats a pretty good way of starting off that particular conversation, you thought.”

“And she said that there’s not much near here and doesn’t matter, everyone is from somewhere. Well, what would you extrapolate if I said that regardless of where I was, and I mean anywhere… I wouldn’t be from around there?”

Kane

Anthony puffed out a breath, turning the words over. The implications…well better to not let imagination run wild…yet. ‘Taken on a quite literal level, I would extrapolate you aren’t from this universe.”

Bonner

Kane shrugged and said nothing. He just looked at Anthony for a long moment. When he spoke, it was to say “Hey, ladies? How would you feel about a drink?” and then he looked at Anthony and muttered “Or six.”

Kane

Alisson’s voice carried into the room. “What would you like?”

“I’ll get it.” Anthony said as he stood and moved across the room and returned with four glasses and a bottle of Knob Creek bourbon. He poured two glasses and handed one to Kane.

“Mom. Stop. Feeding. Frigga. Treats. 6 was enough.” Frigga whined and then came trotting back into the living room a treat sticking out the side of her mouth with a doggy grin. She stopped right next to Kane, dropped it and put her head on his knee.

“Or just the bottle.” Anthony leaned forward, elbows on knees hands clasped. He had tried so hard to keep his daughter away from Intel, their machinations, and twisted truths. “Kane, I am going to ask you to look me in the eye right now and you tell me the truth to my question. It’s rude and presumptuous and I am well aware a normal man would never get along with me ever again. Do you love my daughter or is she just an asset? Is she safe with you?”

Bonner

Kane downed the glass and motioned for another.

Anthony poured him another measure, and then poured the other two glasses for his girls. His own glass left untouched for the moment.

“Star Fleet Intelligence is a bunch of self-serving, manipulative, lying, cheating, stealing, back-stabbing pieces of s#!+. I love Lex as much as I hate them. They’ve come after her before… and they paid for it. So yeah… she’s safe. Safer with me than with anyone in any universe.”

Anthony stared at him a long moment, would he be able to tell if Kane was lying to him? Only if Kane wanted him to know, he was sure. But he understood this with his heart. Alexis and Alisson were everything to him. And this man was everything to Alexis, it was glaringly obvious. He nodded, picked up his drink and downed it. “I believe you.”

Kane leaned back and looked at Anthony. “So now it comes back to you running interference with your wife. And I’ll make you a deal. A month to the day before I marry Lex I’ll tell both you everything. Deal?”

Kane

He poured himself another and watched his wife and daughter walk back into the room. He sipped from the glass. “Deal.” He picked up a glass and walked over towards them. He kissed Alexis on the cheek and then handed the second glass to Alisson and slipped an arm around her and leaned into her ear. Alisson grinned flushing slightly, then a serious look as she watched Alexis sit down and then nodded. The older couple sat. “Well Alexis was right, as alway. The pies almost burned but we saved them just in time.”

“She made Irish beef and Guinness Pie. It’s one of her specialties. She can’t keep them in the shop.” Alexis said it absently. She was fidgeting, she couldn’t do it. She didn’t know how to lie to them. Her mother was … her mother. Excited and hopeful and … amazing. Frigga stuck her head in her lap which seemed to drag Alexis away from dark thoughts a bit. “No. No pie for you.” Frigga just looked at her like she knew it was a lie. Steak Keeper would give her some.

“Alexis what do you think of this ‘toy’ Kane has created?”

Alexis leaned back some, scratching Frigga’s ears. “Honestly, it’s brilliant. I’m not sure why something like that hasn’t been worked on before. It would seem obvious. Even if it had come from the cultures it’s intended to be used on, but there aren’t. Not like this anyway. I haven’t seen it past the initial sketches. It will take a subtle hand to control it I think, but it’s going to make a huge difference in surgical results.”

Bonner

“I’m thinking of adding an ocular interface with it.” Kane said. “That would allow for more precision. On the other hand, the surgeon might rely too much on it and get complacent. Then if the interface failed, the surgeon is screwed… and so is the patient. So I’m still on the fence about that.”

Kane

“Possibly. We use the microtome images on the surgical support unit for the same thing. And the wearable tricorders have a visual interface. What if you designed it to work with those existing systems? More precision would be great, but complacency is a huge problem in the field. Doctors rely too much on the tech and not on the foundational theories and practices. Talk to Dr Drake Marshall, the head surgeon. He’s overly sure of himself, but critical of younger and less experienced doctors. I have not decided if he’s justified in that or not, BUT his insight could be valuable.” She tapped her fingers against her leg, no stylus at hand, “Oh I wonder…could we add something similar to the tritanium slips we’ve been working on? Get them to heat or ice the area based on input physiology?” It was work, a problem, and her mind was jumping around quite happily.

Bonner

Kane leaned over and kissed her, then pulled back just enough so he could say “Work later, doll. We have company that have missed you terribly.”, kissed her again, and then leaned back and scratched Frigga to give Lex time to reset

Kane

After he kissed the first time she looked a little bemused and dazed. After the second time she nodded. Right, her parents. Frigga leaned heavily into the scratches perfectly content.

Anthony nudged his wife with a grin. Alisson was struck by the contrast and the seeming chaos of the heavily tattooed hand holding her daughters own pale hand. It wasn’t judgement just a noticing of details. Given Anthony’s description of Kane in the lab she had to wonder how Alexis dealt with all that sarcasm and domineering personality. He certainly didn’t seem that way to her though. Maybe Anthony caught him at the wrong time? Or her husband was really good at pushing students’ buttons, maybe he has done that to Kane.

Anthony did not wonder at all. Kane probably kept Alexis so confused she didn’t know which way was up half the time. He thought that was the best thing for her.

After a moment Alexis seemed to reset, but before she had to figure out what to talk about her father spoke up. “How do you like having Frigga? I remember you were quite resistant to the idea.”

Alexis ran her hand over Frigga’s back. She glanced over at her father and nodded. “I was.”

“But you always liked animals,” her mother said never having understood why Alexis hadn’t wanted a pet.

It was true Alexis had liked animals…to study them, to learn about them, but she had never really wanted a pet. She had found them fascinating. “I still like them, but I was always busy. I thought it was irresponsible to have something totally dependent on me when I wasn’t there.” It was a distraction to her work, which had been the point. “I can’t imagine not having her now. She’s done wonders for my bedside manner.”

Bonner

“And when Alexis is down one of her rabbit holes, Figga works with the Counselors as well.” Kane said and rubbed the top of Frigga’s head vigorously, just how she smiled it. “So they both have something to focus on if the other is busy. And when we are all watching vids, those two are usually cuddled up.” and Kane chuckled. “I’ve introduced Lex to an old Earth television show, mid-twentieth century. Its called ‘I Love Lucy’. We’re plowing through it right now.”

Kane

Frigga let out a sigh, shook all over, and then leaned back into his leg. “She likes people. Actually her recertifications are coming due in a month.”

Alissa looked skeptical about the vids. Alexis never watched anything unless it was a recorded lecture. “You watch TV now?”

Alexis shrugged. “Yes. He likes it.” She glanced at Solomon out of the corner of her eye a resigned smile on her face. He says I’m like Lucy. I don’t see it.”

Anthony’s brows rose as he considered then looked at Kane began to laugh, “I do, and I have to agree with Mr Stark over there.”

Her mother looked from Alexis and then gave Kane a long hard once over and then back at Alexis. Finally seeing what her husband saw. She got up and walked away laughing.

“I am not…” Alexis gave up with a sigh. Her mother stuck her head back in. “Who’s ready to eat?” Frigga barked. She was.

Bonner