Posted by Lieutenant Solal Segal (Oncology and Immunology) in Side sim: The Things We Don’t Tell Our Loved Ones

Posted by Lieutenant Achilleas Petrakos (Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: The Things We Don’t Tell Our Loved Ones

Posted by Lieutenant Solal Segal (Oncology and Immunology) in Side sim: The Things We Don’t Tell Our Loved Ones
Posted by… suppressed (14) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Solal was not getting better. In fact, he felt worse. It was late in the day and Solal had yet to drag himself out of bed. His body ached. He had a headache. He was exhausted. He wanted to sleep simply so he didn’t have to feel it all.

Laying on the nightstand near him was his PaDD, left open to a letter he’d received from his parents two days ago. It was written in French, but the UT would auto translate it into any language. It read as follows:

Solal,

It’s been months since we’ve heard from you and it is beginning to worry us. How have you been? Have you earned any promotions? Made new friends? Meet anyone interesting? Or what about a date? Haven’t you thought about dating somebody?

We have been busy lately, ever since the next nearest hospital was closed for structural repairs to the buildings. We are doing well as ever. We visited Japan last month. It was a beautiful trip. The letter went on to describe the trip in more detail.

We both hope to hear from you soon, Solal. We miss you.

Write soon,

The Segals

Solal had been rereading it, still undecided on how best to respond. He was unwilling to lie, yet also unwilling to disclose his illness, to mention the discovery of his half sister, V’alura. Then he had been distracted, set the PaDD down, and forgotten to deal with it. Presently he lay awake, eyes closed, wasting time with little energy or motivation to do anything.

~ Solal

The chime rang at this time notifying that someone was at the door.

Sci Petrakos

Solal reached up and pressed the door control without getting up. Then he rolled over and peered at the doorway to see who his visitor was. “Achilleas. I’m too tired to do anything today.”

~ Solal

Achilleas entered empty handed but in visibly great spirits. “Oh no need to do anything. I’m just stopping by to visit and bring some good news!” He moved towards Solal and the bed he was resting in but had to slow his approach because it was dark and his eyes hadn’t adjusted yet. “Mind if I have a seat next to you?”

Sci Petrakos

“Go ahead.” Solal gestured to a chair in the room, “Pull that chair over. What’s the news?” He asked, sitting up and leaning against the bed’s headboard.

~ Solal

Achilleas brought the indicated chair over and sat in it with a bubbly manner. “I just had the Captain, the newly appointed one, visit me during my work shift and ask if I was interested in stepping back into the role of the Chief Science Officer! I’m not sure why exactly Kane got shifted back to R&D but that opened the position back up and I’m the most senior in the department and obviously held it before.” He kind of babbled all of the news out in a single breath.

Sci Petrakos

Solal nodded as if unsurprised. “Congratulations, then.” He looked up at Achilleas, “You’re comfortable with that? Taking your old spot back?”

~ Solal

“It is… familiar.” Achilleas said slowly. “Having some semblance of a routine will help my adjusting to being back, I feel. Either way I’ve enjoyed the job and the work that comes with it. It also gives me a chance to do some good.” He finished his sentence with an abstract, vague meaning.

Sci Petrakos

Solal nodded again. “It is a good thing the position opened, though I too wonder why Kane vacated it.” He shrugged. “I am sure you’ll do well in it.”

~ Solal

“I wanted to share the news as soon as I could. There’s still some administrative stuff to finish first so I’m not official yet but soon.” Achilleas said with a bright smile. His attention drifted over to a brighter point in the quarters, the PaDD that was left on sitting on the nightstand near the bed. “Oh what were you reading? Another medical journal?”

Sci Petrakos

Solal nodded tiredly. “It’s good news for you.” To the question he looked up at the PaDD as if he’d forgotten about it. “I was trying to read something wasn’t I? What was it…?” Then he reached for the PaDD but the end table felt so far away.

~ Solal

Achilleas saw Solal reaching but having not the reach to actually grab it, so he got up from the chair and grabbed it for him. He casually looked at the screen not really meaning to be intrusive but not thinking the contents would be private. Curse his speed reading and excellent memory because that brief glimpse seared entirety of the letter into his brain. While still processing what he had just read, he awkwardly handed the PaDD over to Solal before he sat back on the chair.

Sci Petrakos

Solal grabbed the PaDD and looked at the screen, then made a face and turned it off, setting it on the bed next to him. “Not a medical journal. I’ll deal with that later.” He looked up at Achilleas, clearly not intending to talk about the letter. “Any other ship news?”

~ Solal

Achilleas looked back at Solal but did not respond verbally. His mind was still tumultuous with thought. That letter from Solal’s parents clearly showcased how they didn’t know he was sick. He understood to some extent as he hadn’t let his own family know of why he was back to Earth. He’d be a hypocrite to point at Solal and scold him over this. Their reasons were likely overlapped in that they didn’t want to worry their families and the shame that comes with being sick despite it being outside of their control. Should he respect Solal’s deflection though? He supposed that he really shouldn’t stick his nose into everything, despite his opinion that avoiding everything was unhealthy.

So after what seemed like an eternity of silence pregnant with awkwardness, Achilleas finally addressed the question he left hanging during his internal debate. “Um… sounds like I won’t have to deep clean my office personally. There were some poor crew tasked with that task after Kane vacated it. I was going to rig up a flamethrower and just cleanse it all with fire if it was going to be left to me.”

Sci Petrakos

“It can’t have been that bad.” Solal said. “And the fire suppression system wouldn’t have allowed it anyway.” If Achilleas mentioned ‘shame’ of being ill or not wanting to worry his family, Solal would of course call such things illogical… Even though they were absolutely true and correct. That was exactly why he was withholding this information. “Your office was always quite neat, wasn’t it?” Solal continued with the small talk.

~ Solal

“My office was definitely neat but his was a biohazard. He offered me a chair piled with crap and random bits of wiring. I didn’t want to sit and get something poking into my butt. Papers were covering the floor and there was no organizational method to any of it that I could classify. I tried to not look but there seemed to be food items on the desk that were at the least several days old.” Achilleas shuddered at the sight. “I still would’ve tried to burn it all. Maybe a phosphorous reaction that would’ve intensified with the fire suppressant.”

Sci Petrakos

That was admittedly gross. But Solal found Achilleas’ reaction just a little bit humorous so he shrugged and said, “Sounds chronically disorganized. I’ve seen worse though. A phosphorus reaction would only stump fire suppression for a short time.”

~ Solal

Achilleas shrugged as well. “Perhaps. Either way it would help somewhat. Though I hope whoever cleaned the office used some exceptionally strong cleaner. I am looking forward to setting it all in order again with everything in its rightful place.”

Sci Petrakos