Subject: Grail:"Unexplored Spaces"-'Keeping it together'

'Keeping it together'

by

LtComm Janice Hargen

-------

<<Stardate: 47307.29- 15:40>>

<<Main Engineering>>

It had been ten days since Janice had seen much of anyone. Ten days in

almost solitary confinement. She had been happy before when Epic had told

her that she would be unaffected by the General Quarters order. But she was

just as affected as the people locked up in their quarters. Since the rest

of the crew was confined, she saw little to no one in an entire day. The

only thing that was keeping her together was the fact that she could work on

the engines. The soothing presence of the warp core near her, and the fact

that she could drown her lonely thoughts in work kept her going day after

day.

Janice was no telepath, but she could almost physically feel the tension on

the ship. She was feeling a bit tense herself. Having almost her entire

engineering crew in confinement due to the General Quarters order made it

rather hard to get any work done at all. And Epic still wanted that probe

done by the time they reached the Great Brightness. Janice sighed, running

a hand through her hair. She had been up for the past three days - there

was no reason to sleep, as no one was around to watch her sleeping habits.

There was no reason not to move as fast as she wanted, for no one was

watching her, to see if she was human or not. But she rather missed it.

*Ten long days,* Janice sighed to herself. For a long time after she found

out that she was an android, she wanted to lock herself in a room, and never

come out, too ashamed of what she was, and to disgusted by herself to make

anyone else deal with her presense. But now she was glad she didn't try.

Janice had felt lonely most of her life - she was too afraid to let anyone

come close to her for fear that they would discover the truth. But this

loneliness was much worse. Much worse than anything almost she had

experienced. For before, she could at least interact with people, if only

from a distance. The most she could interact now was on communications, or

if one or two people wandered down for a shift. Most of the shifts were

nearly deserted.

Suddenly, the public address system came to life, startling Janice and

making her jump.

[To all residents of the Grail:

We are only a day away from the star cluster known as `the Great

Brightness'. Beyond that, another day to traverse that spectacular

expanse. But, effective 18:00 today, the General Quarters order will be

cancelled so that we might prepare for our arrival at the Kerestia

system and our much needed cure of this heinous Romulan virus.

I know it doesn't mean much in the face of the incarceration I

have forced upon you, but I am genuiny sorry it had to be this way. In

order to make it up to you, for your outstanding cooperation and

patience, once the virus has been contained, I will insure that we

remain in the Kerestian system long enough for any who desire it to

visit the planet that Ambassador Kyp Firespray has dubbed `the Shopping

Mall of the Beta Quadrant'.

Thank you again. Captain Terrakian out.]

Janice nearly dropped the piece of the probe she was working on. *Lifted?

Just like that?* She could barely believe her ears. She could feel a smile

begin to form at the corners of her mouth, and she let it come. She must

have looked odd, setting down to work on a half-finished probe with a grin

on her face. The exhaustion of loneliness was strong, but not strong enough

to keep her from smiling, at last.

Her hands flew, knowing that in little more than 2 hours, the ship that felt

like a tomb before would come back to life. Her concentration soared, and

she got more work done on the probe in the next 5 minutes than she did in 2

hours before.

Her commbadge chirped, breaking the fluid motion of her hands. She reached

up to tap it, holding the probe together lightly with the other hand.

=/\= Terrakian to Hargen. Commander. I want your report on that probe I

requisitioned by 16:00. I hope I'm not demanding too much.=/\

Janice stared at the probe for a moment. The guts of it lay across the

table - she was going to make sure this worked correctly. It had to - the

lives of everyone onboard depended on it.

"We'll see, won't we?" Janice replied, startled by the strain in her own

voice. She didn't realize how long it had been since she had spoken. Most

of the day, she figured. She could hear the commlink click almost inaudibly

as it ended the communication. Something only she noticed, with her android

ears. Janice quickly tapped on the console before her. She had

approximately 7 hours before they arrived at the Great Brightness. She had

a good 5 and a half to finish the probe and perhaps another hour to test

it. And a report to make on it in 20 minutes. She sighed and turned back

to the probe.

She quickly finished piecing back together the parts her hand was gently

holding together throughout the converstation and examined her work for any

flaws. *Not seeing any visual ones was the first step,* she thought to

herself. Pulling out the tricorder she had in her pocket, she examined it

for any internal flaws she couldn't see. Nothing again.

She straighted, her back groaning in protest. *I'm going to need a good

workout after this, or I'll be sore for days!* She checked the time - she

had five minutes to give this report.

She began typing furiously on a blank padd nearby, then tossed it on a

chair. *If I have to make a report, I do it in person.* she thought,

shrugging. She smiled, knowing that her pride wasn't the only reason she

wanted to make this report in person. She wanted to interact with another

person, if only for a few minutes. It would relieve the tension she had

been feeling for the past ten days. Janice walked out of engineering and

onto the turbolift, relieved that she would finally be able to see someone

other than that probe.