Posted by Lieutenant Markus Woods (Chief Science Officer) in side sim - Plant Food

(snip)

“How about the lounge? I haven’t seen it yet.” [There were too many people all in one place and some times she preferred the illusion of isolation.] “After I can pick up the results and then…?” Sharah wasn’t really sure what after that; she just knew she wanted to spend more time with Markus. He didn’t give much away and she was getting to know him in a very genuine way.

“Well, we can look over what you’ve got so far. But it’s not something a simple working dinner date would cover. But at least the broad strokes maybe. Or.. whatever. I tend to go with the flow. Play it by ear.” He flashed her a bright smile, just happy to be there at the moment. The research was a cloudy subject, but ideally witha bright future. There was hope floating in those clouds.

His optimism was infectious. She didn’t expect him to help with her research. It was a personal thing, her own personal life long work. But it was a lovely fresh breeze to it all to have someone to share it with, even if it was only a passing curiosity. But any different point of view helped.

She led the way out of the lab and to a turbolift. “Deck 12,” she murmured the request and the lift took off. “How was the science department today?” It was a genuine question. Sharah wasn’t in the science department anymore, nor was she a department head, but she had found after her time on Ark Angel that she enjoyed hearing about the different projects and studies going on and she’d missed that casual collaboration of the science department.

Sharah

As the lift took off, heading for Deck Twelve, almost unconsciously Markus slipped one arm around her waist, his hand settling on her right hip, just steadying her and taking a moment to make contact once more. She felt good to the touch, but also seemed just as comfortable with him before. If he overstepped, he’d know it instantly. But, he was a betting man, and it was a good bet it was anything but an an over-step.

Sharah leaned gently into him, both physically and mentally, not really aware she was doing it. It was just comfortable and natural. It felt right. At the moment she didn’t think about it, but later, as she reflecting on her day, it would surprise her that after all this time of avoiding physical contact with anyone, that instead of making things worse, it was comfortable and calming. She laughed softly catching his thought. “Hmm…you make good bets. We should go to Risa, we’d really clean house.”

“Good. Everybody’s putting in good work today, though … Uh… I uh electromagnetically reconfigured some data storage.” Euphemism for wiping computer or data storage… or breaking something with an electromagnet or electromagnetic field. As he said it, through his chagrin came the image/surface memory of a small, wearable device he turned on and it shot across the lab, slammed into the wall, and exploded into tiny pieces. Whoops. And it had been something for her. The memory of that was like a punch in the gut, just for a moment and he visibly deflated.

Markus, Science imposter

Sharah cocked her head to the side picking up the surface memory clearly…everything from Markus was always clear…and she was…not sure what he was doing but he was doing it for her. Instead of being curious what it was she was more curious why he was doing it. Why would he make something for her? She reached her left arm around his waist and hugged him gently. “I remember a professor telling us about Thomas Edison. He didn’t fail 1000 times, he succeeding in learning how not to make a lightbulb. He only needed one way to make it, but those 1000 times taught him just as much about electricity. I really liked that. There are no failures.” The lift stopped and Sharah stood up straight, her arm slipping away and walked down the corridor. But it was obvious, almost immediately, that the noise was crashing over her and she was distracted for a few moments while they walked.

Sharah