[snip]

It was mere moments later when The Gruff 4‘5” form of Grunch entered the Cargo bay “Alright whats going on?” he asked clearly bothered by the fact he had been called out of sickbay “I have a lot of Patients to tend to due to you all tossing this ship like a salad!” he said in his usual insulting way

“Sorry, there was some kind of sudden, localized sub-spacial event,” replied Glen. “I’m sure your nurses are capable breaking out the arnica oil and dealing with bruises, but I thought you might like to attend the first meeting between humans and this new extra-galactic humanoid life. We do need everyone here examined as Daniel came aboard directly without triggering the ships bio-scanners.”

He gave a gruff Chuckle as the Captain matched the abrasive attitude he started taking scans of the fellow crew members to make sure they were good to rejoin the ship’s population

Scans of the crew members present showed they weren’t carrying anything out of sorts, since their new arrival joined them.

after he got those results he began to scan the visitor “Daniel is it…Any illnesses I should know about?” he asked in his gruff and no nonsense attitude

The half-human/ancient hybrid regarded the much more shorter Grunch. “..I can honestly say I have not had a sick day in my life..” He said, and indeed it did seem that was the case, no known diseases were picked up and his immune system seemed quite strong already fighting off well the nasty little critters that still were in the air from the normal crew to crew day to day lives.

“If we are clean of diseases and parasites,” Glen said, “I think we can all see very clearly that he is totally clean of any weapons. Or, anything else! So, I suggest we quickly withdraw to a more comfortable place, as Daniel has suggested.”

Glen didn’t quite know why, but he felt a rather affectionate, “parental” responsibility for this being. A being he had never met before, which had just “hatched” out of some futuristic “egg,” but which evidently shared some genetic material with him. If that colored his judgement in Daniel’s favor, well then it was up to his senior officers to say so, because Glen couldn’t see it himself.

Daniel just stood there still fully naked as he waited for Grunch to finish his scans. He was clearly a strongly built man, and his eyes shown with a deep wisdom and intelligence, but yet a sense of curiosity of where and likely when he now was. What knowledge this hybrid man possessed would certainly be interesting to delve into, not to mention what he might learn of the Merrimack crew themselves.

Once the scans were complete Daniel looked to Glen again, “..Where is it we are to proceed first then?” he inquired.

“First we will find you some clothes like these we are wearing,” Glen answered. “It is impolite in our culture to be naked in public. Then we will find you some quarters. I am sure my officers have questions for you, as you will for us, but they are better answered sitting together around a table on chairs… I have a few basic questions now, for your own comfort… You appear to be human but, do you sleep? Do you eat and drink? Are you hungry, or is there anything you require more urgently right now?”

William had been monitoring the conversation with great interest but had avoided speaking as all he had were questions that were frankly not very important to the current situation. The remark about nudity made him raise his eyebrow as he suddenly realized that the man had in fact been nude this entire time. The sudden realization made him grab a small PaDD from a pocket and started writing down some notes on the situation.

”..I do recall now that you mention it that such garbs are appropriate. Among the Ancients such things are very limited usually only for more hostile forms of duty or studies. As for sleeping yes I do, though only 4 of your hours a day, since I was held in stasis in the crystal I will not require such for a while. For eating and drinking I also do these things but my nutrient requirements are less then what a normal human may require daily. Your normal food fare should suffice for me though, as for any current hunger, no I am not. As for any other urgent needs, no I do not. My purpose here was to educate and learn what I could with the span of life that I have before me..” he said in reply to Glen.

“Great!” replied Glen indicating the turbolift. Then he had one further sudden thought, “How long is the ‘span of life that you have before you’?”

”..The span of life before me varies like any living being. Normally for an Ancient it is equal to 150 of your human years to 200. But a hybrid such as myself has never been in evidence or study so the ability to pin down an exact reference of time for my life is unknown..” Daniel said.

Glen nodded his acknowledgement. He had thought, given that he was born fully grown out of an egg, it might be a much shorter length of time.

Glen had Yeoman Hopkins organise Daniel’s clothing and quarters, and then to set out the conference room ready for them. She had worked in Sickbay and in hospitals, and within the ‘Brotherhood,’ and so she had seen plenty of naked men before. As for quarters, Glen thought that officers quarters on Deck 3 would be most suitable. It was on the same deck as the smaller conference room B, and easier to keep an eye on him there. Glen was sure that Hal would agree, but he would ask him first. There were more sensitive areas on the three decks with the crew quarters, and as for the Brig, well who in their right mind had designed a ship with the Brig situated next door to the Armoury?

Once these housekeeping matters were organised Glen told his officers, “Let’s reconvene in two hours in Conference Room B, Deck 3?”

Daniel gave simple nods and followed the team as directed out of the bay then.

-Glen, CO