David was supposed to be clever. He was a scientist. Serving in Starfleet. So why he he couldn’t master chess was a total mystery. He sat, staring at the board, long after his opponent had won and left. He still didn’t see it. It was a Vulcan mind trick, it had to be. People seemed disconcerted as they walked past David, staring at his chessboard and hardly blinking. Clearly something had broken and he needed to be rebooted, but no one could agree whose job it was to fix the scientists when they broke. So they stood around, sipped coffee and whispered, wondering what exactly had deposited this person where he was, and how it might be possible to undo it.

-David Sweeney