Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: The Report Dilemma

(snip)

“Whether it would be safe for our skin or eyes is more based on radiation, brightness of the sun, the gasses in the air just decide how well we breathe. It would most certainly be safer to stick to EVA suits,” Roman said thoughtfully. “I dunno, that’s just it,” His ‘posh’ accent had slipped slightly into something a little more casual, which was quite rare for him. “We’ve never discovered anything like it, so I can’t even begin to guess what they’d be like, or how their bodies worked. If you ask me, it’s a life form so long as it has the ability to move on its own, shows some kind of thought or instinct.” The idea of plants that didn’t live on oxygen was also interesting, they likely wouldn’t be anything like earth plants.

~ Roman

Rand noticed the slight change in his accent and grinned. It made him sound relaxed and comfortable. She doubted it was her but she was glad he could be that way with her. “Don’t life forms have ta also reproduce and be organic?” Then she paused and looked confused but curious, “So, then, would tha’ mean plants are no living because they don’t move on their own? Do they have instinct?” She was curious, not challenging, and excited about the conversation, so her accent was starting to show again.

Yeoman Rand

“Reproduction is a broad thing, so long as they create more of themselves in some way or another, it counts. They have to be born, grow, and then eventually die, too. As for being organic, I can’t imagine all life works the same way as what we’re familiar with in our own solar system, or even the entire galaxy.” Roman tipped his head at her second question. “Well, they do move. Not in the same way animals do, but they do. They turn their leaves to face the sun, don’t they?” Much of the conversation was highly hypothetical, there was no proof anything like Roman hoped was out there, existed. But he couldn’t help but imagine first contact with something completely unlike anything humanity had encountered so far. He wasn’t even sure if they could or how they would, communicate with it.

~ Roman

“I hadn’t thought about it like that. Or how the leaves will turn upside down when it’s going to rain after a drought to catch the extra water?” Her thoughts were oddly similar to his. “We use math as a universal language. Like every species will conduct mathematics the same, but what if their math developed in a totally different way?”

Roman nodded again. “Mathematics are a universal constant, it’s like the language of the universe. But that doesn’t mean everyone we meet will express it the same way.”

As the conversation slowed with the slowing flood of hypotheticals Rand found she wasn’t sure what to ask or say next. Her last question had upset him, nd she wanted him to feel he could talk to her, but she didn’t want him to feel like she was pushing him. That would make her feel aweful if she made him feel that way.

Yeoman Rand

The conversation slowed again, and Roman found himself unsure what else to say. He’d all but forgotten about her last upsetting question, and if he knew she was avoiding asking things because it made him upset, he’d feel bad about it. He wouldn’t want her to feel like she couldn’t ask him anything, though he knew there were a lot of questions he couldn’t or wouldn’t answer, just because of how intertwined his life had been with Jay’s, a death he’d never really gotten over. And he still hadn’t told her much of anything about his family, either. “What about you? What made you want to be a yeoman?” He asked at last.

~ Roman

Could she tell him? Yes. Would she was another question. “I saw a Star Fleet officer once when I was 18. She was with another officer, but everyone seemed to forget she was there, but she was everywhere. It wasn’t just meals and coffee; I watched her on her communicator, and her PaDD, and she seemed to know what exactly had to be done all the time and the other officer seemed to be the only one who noticed all the stuff she was doing. She even knew how to find the nurses and doctors and what to ask them.”

She tucked both her hands into her lap. She was upset and sad. She hated thinking about that time and being in the hospital. Her voice was suddenly thick with her accent. “Randy convinced her ta talk ta me. It seemed like a godsend, ta be useful and go unnoticed. I never wanted ta be in Star Fleet afore that.”

Yeoman Rand