Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side - sim: In Memory of Jay

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side - sim: In Memory of Jay

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side - sim: In Memory of Jay
Posted by… suppressed (6) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Pipkin’s nose was cold as she rubbed up against him, and then she settled down on the blanket as close to him as she could get. His hand was still in Rand’s and he squeezed it lightly. He didn’t know what he needed. He definitely didn’t want to be alone. There was no one back home he regularly contacted, certainly no one he’d want to talk to. Randy, maybe, but he had no idea what Randy could do that was better than Rand so he didn’t say anything. He sniffed hard, trying to pull himself together, and then lay quietly for a few minutes. “Tea. Tea makes everything better.” It was a half hearted attempt at a joke. Really, all he wanted was peaceful sleep, but he wasn’t getting that, so tea was the next best thing.

~ Roman

A half smirk crossed her face. “My grandma would agree with you.” She was reluctant to get up, but she did. Luckily she had left the kettle on and it only took a couple minutes to make the lavender and chamomile tea. She brought both cups back and settled in next to him. She slipped the tea for a moment. “Our parents took us camping at Loch Lomond for our 13th birthday. Randy and I had gone out to this long stretch of beach butted by the rock formations. Not quite cliffs. We found a baby Osprey that had fallen out of its nest…”

Rand

Roman sat up long enough to drink the tea, listening to her story. He wasn’t thinking it would work, but soon the tea was gone and he was settled back in laying down, holding her hand. Soon his eyes closed and he was back to sleep.

~ Roman

Like always, Rand continued the story until it was finished, even though Roman was asleep. She reached over setting both cups on the side table before laying down, still holding his hand. If that ever stopped working, Rand wasn’t sure what she would do. They slept until Rand heard the comm go through off. It was Franks requesting he come down to the lab. She looked at the time and blinked. 0930. She gently shook him awake. “Roman, the comms going off.”

Rand

Roman had no idea what he would do if that stopped working. It was the only thing keeping him sleeping regularly for months at a time. It didn’t take much to wake him. “What? …Oh.” He yawned and checked the time, and then got up and stretched. Then he went and answered the comm. “Commander Alden here, what was that you needed, Franks?” He asked, trying to hide his tiredness.

~ Roman

“No emergency Sir. At least I don’t think so. It’s the Goo Lizard.” There was a soft snicker from Rand as she got up. Apparently her nicknames were catching. “She acting differently. She doesn’t seem to be in distress, but I thought you might want to see for yourself.”

Roman glanced at Rand and grinned. The whole lab was using her nicknames. It helped that Roman had labelled the tanks with both the animal’s species names and Rand’s names.

Rand started making fresh hot black tea. She knew Roman wouldn’t leave it for Franks he would want to see for himself.

Rand

“I’ll be down in a few minutes. I’ll want to see exactly what’s going on for myself.” Then Roman looked at Rand, she was already making tea. He just wanted to know how long it would be so he could get down to the lab.

~ Roman

“Yes, Sir. Franks out,” and the comm went silent. Rand grinned as he looked at her. “Your tea will be ready by the time you get a fresh uniform on.” Then she flushed slightly as she glanced over at him. “Unless you plan to go like that?” That being shirtless, not that Rand would complain. “Then I can bring it to you.”

Rand

Roman had forgotten he wasn’t wearing a shirt. The joys of being chronically tired. “I’m not sure Franks would appreciate it as much as you do.” He commented, heading to the closet for a fresh uniform. Then he went into the bathroom and changed, coming out a few minutes later.

Tea in hand, he headed down to the labs to see exactly what the goo lizard was doing.

~ Roman

Franks and a couple of the other officers were gathered around the tank. One was taking a sample of the water, the other (wearing protective gloves) was removing some of plants from the tank into a metal container. Franks turned when he heard Alden’s footsteps, he had the clipboard that was kept beside the enclosure in hand writing down his observations. “I only noticed it when I made the rounds to feed. But based on how much goo is spread everywhere it started some time over night. Gamma shift noted that she was rolling around in the foliage. She tends to do that, but not usually at night when she’s sleeping.”

Roman stepped up to the tank as he listened to the explanation. He was worried there might be something wrong with the lizard. If she fell ill, there was little he could do.

The Goo Lizard was snuffling around the tank would find a dry spot and then roll and squirm and wriggle and scratch. She leaving behind huge amounts of the goo and her skin bare of the stuff. Anywhere there was already goo she seemed to shy away from. She also seemed to be shying away from the ‘pond’ and it was more goo than water. “Once she finishes scratching she seems content and then starts up again. She ate fine, and I put a small container of fresh water in there and she drank. She’s as friendly as usual. I was worried maybe the goo was irritating her, but there doesn’t seem to be any sores or burns on her.” She’d have to come out of the tank to get a really good look though.

Franks

“I can take her out of the tank and check her out. Then we’ll put her into a fresh tank while we clean hers since it seems the goo is bothering her somehow.” Maybe she was shedding skin like a snake? Roman hadn’t the faintest idea. He put on protective gloves and a protective gown over his clothes, and then set up another enclosure. The he put something down to protect the lab counter. He lifted the goo lizard out of her typical enclosure and set her on the lab counter in the space he’d readied to look her over.

~ Roman

The lizard was docile as normal as the lab crew put fresh water in and took the plants out, but no one handled her, rarely. So when Alden picked her up to move her at first she skirted away, almost hissing, flipping her tail out, but the lack of goo didn’t protect her. When Alden got ahold of her she squirmed and thrashed, even biting a gloved finger. Luckily her teeth were made for grinding plants and not puncturing flesh. All the movement caused the little bit acidic goo that had started to appear again to get flung about.

There were no sores or wounds on her, but the goo was not producing as quickly as normal and her skin had an opaque quality to the color. Where Alden had to hold her tightly some of the scales flaked off leaving behind soft delicate beige skin instead of the normal dark brown.

Franks