Post by Deleted on May 4, 2015 21:02:50 GMT -8
"How long has she been like that?"
"Couple of hours. It's kind of creeping me out."
"Leave her be...she's been through a lot."
"Why here?"
A shrug. "Someplace familiar? Maybe she's like Hunter, work is therapy."
"But she's not working...just staring at a blank screen."
"Look how screwed up Tekison got. He's still on light duty."
"Chief says there's no such thing as light duty in Science."
"Did she really say that?"
"Dunno...that's what I heard."
Their voices washed over her, around her, surrounding her with the muffled sounds. Though she couldn't tell what they were saying, she let it comfort her, as she had done with sound all of her mute life. Now that she could speak, she found it impossible to talk. The counselors were kind and she smiled and nodded at all the right places, found the words that seemed to placate them, but the true story was never told, as if the author had ripped the pages away and thrown them into the fire.
She blinked slowly, watching her lids lower until the darkness blocked out her reflection from the monitor before her, only to have them rise again seconds later. The counselor had told her that there were multiple steps in healing, and she was somewhere between frozen and anger. She knew others had suffered, she had seen it in the aftermath of the war, watched their own blank faces as they went through the motions of their duties, some even tasked with finding final resting places for the dead.
The thought sent a chill up her spine. Out in space, there would be no repository for her lifeforce and her body would decay instead of joining the others. For the thousandth time, she asked herself why she was there, but the stern face of Phillips stared back at her in her mind, his disapproving expression always forcing her to push through, to prove to him that she was strong enough.
But was she really?
"Think we should call Vargas?"
"Why? So they can send Tahp on shore leave? Those things down there will eat her alive."
Footsteps approached and a hand placed a glass of water on the console near the Etimonian. A hand briefly patted her shoulder, but she didn't look up or speak. "It gets easier," came the voice behind her head.
She swallowed and glanced at the water, watching the ripples settle to nothingness. "When," she choked out, but the lab tech had already moved away to continue his studies.
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"Couple of hours. It's kind of creeping me out."
"Leave her be...she's been through a lot."
"Why here?"
A shrug. "Someplace familiar? Maybe she's like Hunter, work is therapy."
"But she's not working...just staring at a blank screen."
"Look how screwed up Tekison got. He's still on light duty."
"Chief says there's no such thing as light duty in Science."
"Did she really say that?"
"Dunno...that's what I heard."
Their voices washed over her, around her, surrounding her with the muffled sounds. Though she couldn't tell what they were saying, she let it comfort her, as she had done with sound all of her mute life. Now that she could speak, she found it impossible to talk. The counselors were kind and she smiled and nodded at all the right places, found the words that seemed to placate them, but the true story was never told, as if the author had ripped the pages away and thrown them into the fire.
She blinked slowly, watching her lids lower until the darkness blocked out her reflection from the monitor before her, only to have them rise again seconds later. The counselor had told her that there were multiple steps in healing, and she was somewhere between frozen and anger. She knew others had suffered, she had seen it in the aftermath of the war, watched their own blank faces as they went through the motions of their duties, some even tasked with finding final resting places for the dead.
The thought sent a chill up her spine. Out in space, there would be no repository for her lifeforce and her body would decay instead of joining the others. For the thousandth time, she asked herself why she was there, but the stern face of Phillips stared back at her in her mind, his disapproving expression always forcing her to push through, to prove to him that she was strong enough.
But was she really?
"Think we should call Vargas?"
"Why? So they can send Tahp on shore leave? Those things down there will eat her alive."
Footsteps approached and a hand placed a glass of water on the console near the Etimonian. A hand briefly patted her shoulder, but she didn't look up or speak. "It gets easier," came the voice behind her head.
She swallowed and glanced at the water, watching the ripples settle to nothingness. "When," she choked out, but the lab tech had already moved away to continue his studies.
Tag Any