Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side sim: Try Not to Sleep on Duty

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: Try Not to Sleep on Duty

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side sim: Try Not to Sleep on Duty
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
It was later the same day of the run, and Roman had gotten in to the lab at 0600. His reports were finished at their normal time. All his early morning duties completed. But by 1000, four hours later, the energy gained by the run had worn away, and his tea was doing little to help. There was a saying about holding one’s eyes open with toothpicks, and that was quite accurate to how Roman felt.

He was trying to finish some paperwork for the lab, but he’d been staring at the same field for ten minutes. His handwriting wasn’t as neat as usual. Finally he wrote something in, signed the document, and moved on.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand’s morning had been much more back and forth than usual. She’d appeared at the lab at her usual time with a very large thermos of extra strong black tea with extra honey, just for the extra sugar. She’d finished her reports for Rogers and had made the coffee runs for the bridge. She’d gone by the lab a few times, but Alden seemed find. Then about 1000 she walked in and though he wasn’t asleep he was going to be soon. She left crossing the deck to the galley and then returned and set a large drink bottle in front of him. The rest of the lab crew was strewn about the deck getting materials, coordinating with other labs, etc. “Cmdr Alden,” Rand said as she set it down. “Drink that.” That was extremely cold ice water. He’d been downing hot tea all morning so the temperature change should wake him up a bit, and then she had more black tea for him.

Yeoman Rand

The large drink bottle hitting his desk seemed to jolt him and he looked up. “Ah, Rand, you’re back,” he said. The bottle was quite cold to the touch, and a quick look in said it was water. Ice water. He took a big drink of the water, and an instant cool feeling spread through him, waking him up somewhat. He took one more drink of it. It was… Refreshing. That was the word he’d use. But at least it did what it was intended to. He didn’t look quite as much like a zombie as he had. “Thanks for that,” he said. He hadn’t caught on that her extra visits were specifically to make sure no one else caught him sleeping, and he wondered offhandedly how her timing was so impeccable.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand shook her head, of course she was back. He’d said he didn’t want anyone catching him nodding off. She might be Roger’s yeoman, but Alden was the XO and if she could help him she would. Her responsibilities to Rogers had to come first, but that didn’t mean that Rand didn’t know how to care for the rest of the crew. And all that time working with Alden, after Carmichael left, had left Rand with a feeling of comradery with Alden. Plus she was much more aware now of how much his dual position required of him and she was willing and eager to help, for the benefit of the ship of course.

She looked at Alden, and although the almost shocking cold water did the trick, if he sat there for much longer, the stillness would make him drowsy again. She wandered over to the animal cages....perfect. “Cmdr, the Goo Lizard is doing that ‘afraid to get in the water’ thing again.” Usually that meant that the amount of goo washed off in the water is so high that the water was uncomfortable for even the lizard to get into. Rand took a clean test tube from the rack and dripped a sample from the valve on the cage and then set it by the testing equipment. Usually this meant that the cage needed to be cleaned. That meant, while he was refreshed Alden could get up and safely clean it and dispose of the waste. Getting up and moving and doing something would wake him up more.

Yeoman Rand

Had it been that long? He stood from his sport at the desk, stretching, and headed over to the enclosure. Sure enough, the strange little lizard sat in its den in the edge of the cage rather than ‘sun’bathing by the little pool of water. Cleaning the water required moving the lizard out of its enclosure, no easy task considering touching it without specialized gloves would mean nasty toxic burns similar to a chemical burn. Preparing a small dirt filled enclosure, and wearing his protective gear, the small slimey lizard was moved into the spare habitat.

With that done, he could drain the tainted water and refill it with fresh water, also clearing away the animal’s waste. All waste was saved to test before disposal. Once the enclosure was clean, he carefully replaced the lizard in its home and ensured the lid was safely locked in place. “There, that’s better, all clean,” he said, half to the lizard and half to Rand. It seemed her plan was working, at least he appeared more awake. He almost said something to Rand about ‘no time’ or how tired he’d been but it would have sounded horribly like an excuse, and so instead he remained silent.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO