Engineering Deck - Gamma Shift (Day 3) - Open

[transwarp_beam]

This close to the main drive, the deck vibrated under your feet in time to the heartbeat of the ship - an all-pervasive sound more felt than heard. Everywhere was the unmistakeable steady hum of moving parts in perfect harmony. It was pleasant spending time in the Engineering Decks with everything in working order and no looming disaster. It was

Comments

[redhaired_orion]

Gaila wasn't sure if she was adjusting well to this whole living-on-a-ship thing. For one, she didn't have as many friends here. Granted, she just needed some more time, but it was unsettling nevertheless. For two, those eggs had thrown her off. She still felt a little peaked even now. And for three, she couldn't sleep. She guessed the last thing had something to do with it being dark all hours of the day.

There she was being negative again. She was usually so cheerful, but damn it, she was down. Finally she sat up, threw her covers back, and wrapped a robe around herself.

Gaila was known to be a very outgoing person. Sometimes she was too outgoing, too forward. She felt as if she had made that mistake with her boss, but she wasn't going to the engineering deck to find him. She was going because machinery had a way of making her feel serene. Perhaps it was the warmth that the working parts emitted, perhaps it was the vibrations they caused. But in any case, sometimes she liked to be alone, and usually she ended up alone with machines.

But to her chagrin, Mr. Scott was already on the deck. Fucking Gamma shift. And here she was just out of bed.

[transwarp_beam]

"Evening, Lieutentant," Scotty said. He was leaning back in his chair, boots propped up comfortably on his makeshift desk. "You're up early. Or possibly late, I canna quite get the hang of this 'ship time' business. Feeling any better?"

[redhaired_orion]

"A bit. I couldn't sleep. I just--" She leaned against the metal wall. "I'm usually a much brighter person, you know."

[transwarp_beam]

"I believe you, love," he said, "Not your fault you're sick."

[redhaired_orion]

"I'm not really very sick anymore."

She suddenly became very interested in her hands, stretching fingers over palm over fingers. "You know, I thought I'd gotten over the fact that my mother had red hair and white skin."

She smiled. "I've heard about you, Mr. Scott, and how you had to stay on that awful planet for so long. How did you stay happy?"

[transwarp_beam]

He looked away, eyes fixing on his boots. "I didn't," he admitted. "For a while I thought I was going crazy, trapped there."

[redhaired_orion]

"That sounds terrible." She shuffled her feet a bit. "I suppose this ship's a lot better for you, but I feel a little trapped myself."

She fixed her eyes on Scotty's face. "You know, I didn't mean to interrupt your shift like this. Do you want me to go?" She bit her lip as she said it.

[transwarp_beam]

"What?" He looked up at her, startled. "Of course I don't want you to go. Here, pull up a seat. Have some triple-distilled jet fuel pretending to be rum."

[redhaired_orion]

She giggled then, and laughing made her feel more like herself. She sat down in a chair next to him, leaned forward with her elbows on her knees and her chin on her fists. "Fake rum, huh?" she said, crinkling up her nose but still smiling. "I confess I've never tried the real thing."

[transwarp_beam]

"That's good," Scotty said, winking at her, "You've no got a standard to compare this lighter fluid to." He wandered over to the still - a tangled mess of tubes and valves cunningly disguised as part of the water reclamation system - and poured two glasses of homebrew. "Engineering's finest," he declared, offering her a glass; "The trick is swallowing fast. That way it only burns your throat, not your mouth."

[redhaired_orion]

Gaila sat up straight, took a deep breath. What the hell, she thought as she took the glass and brought it up to her lips. In one fluid motion, she tipped the glass and drank in most of the strong-smelling liquid. Though she had kept Scotty's advice in mind, she didn't swallow fast enough, and part of her mouth burned along with her throat. She found herself coughing and spluttering.

She managed to choke out, "So much for impressing you." She coughed for several more seconds before the coughing turned to laughter, stilling and resting the now half-empty glass on her lap. "How much of this stuff do I have to drink before I don't care how much it burns?"

[transwarp_beam]

"You're still conscious," Scotty said, grinning, "That's impressive." He toasted her and tossed his own shot back - after a moment he made a face and coughed, eyes watering. "After the second shot your mouth goes numb," he advised hoarsely.

[redhaired_orion]

Another deep breath and she was finishing up what was left in her glass. She coughed some more, spluttered some more, but it didn't burn as bad this time. She slid the back of her hand against her mouth, pulling her lips apart and showing a bit of her teeth. She was beginning to feel the first effects of intoxication.

Her face was serious as she held out her empty glass to Scotty. "Maybe if I get drunk, I'll be able to sleep."

[transwarp_beam]

"Aye, but you'll want to die when you wake up," Scotty pointed out. It didn't stop him from refilling both their glasses, though.

[redhaired_orion]

Gaila smirked. "Well maybe just a little more then." Taking another drink--this time she hardly felt it--she said, "I doubt I have as much tolerance as you for this stuff."

Keeping a hand around her glass, she brought one up in front of her face. Her skin was turning that odd color that was a mix of green and red and meant that either her blood pressure was up or she'd had entirely too much to drink already. She put the glass down on the floor and put her elbows on her knees again.

"Tell me, Mr. Scott. Am I ever going to get you in my quarters?"

[transwarp_beam]

"Sweetheart," he said, "You're ridiculously attractive, and I haven't got laid in longer than I care to admit. All you had to do was ask."