Making Mischief

Posted on Fri Feb 24th, 2012 @ 4:30pm by Morgana Frey & Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Jackson

906 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: The Race for the Lost Treasure
Location: various

ON

Morgana sat in the arboretum, watching Kirk play in the trees. A security guard stood nearby, keeping an eye on both her and the monkey. It was sad, really, that these people thought so little of her than they felt the need to keep a guard with her at all times. The fact that she WAS intent on mischief was irrelevant. She'd done nothing so far to even hint that there was anything amiss.

After a while the guard began to get restless. "Okay, Kirk, let's go back to our room."

They exited the arboretum and began to walk back to the VIP prison. Morgana slipped her arm through the security officer's. "Thank you. It meant a lot to Kirk, which means a lot to me. Would you like to come in for a drink? I admit, it's lonely being alone in my room with no one but Kirk to keep me company."

Just then the monkey turned and raced back to the arboretum. Morgana turned and ran after him, not caring if the guard followed or not. Kirk had obviously thought of something and she didn't want to miss out on the fun.

Morgana entered the arboretum in time to see Kirk disappear through the trees. He was swinging from one tree to the other, apparently enjoying himself. Morgana muttered several imprecations against the monkey as she made her way as quickly as possible through the trees to the back of the arboretum.

====

Lizzie was working in one of the back rooms cloning the plant found on the last planet to see if there were any beneficial traits to the plant or if it was just an obnoxious weed. So far she had her doubts, but she had to explore the possibilities before she cataloged everything and banned the plant from the ship. It was far too hearty for her likes and seemed to kill off every other plant by leaching the soil of nutrients and choking any other plants until they died off. It was much like the rabbit population in Australia in the 20th and 21st centuries. The only redeeming quality she found was its natural defenses. It was resistant to most strains of fungus and bacteria and created a dampening field to most forms of communication and scanning.

A crash in the outer room caught her attention. She ran into the main workroom in time to see a small monkey jump off of a table littered with pieces of broken glass and dirt. "Where'd you come from..." she asked, but before she could finish it raced past her and into the workroom.

"Oh no you don't," she yelled, racing after it. She had no idea how fast the plant grew, or what it would do if allowed to grow and she dind't want to find out. She'd just put the arboretum back to rights. She had no desire to start over.

"Hey, get out of there!" she yelled at the monkey. "This is not a playroom!"

Morgana raced in after hearing the commotion. "Kirk! Come here at once!"

Kirk, having grabbed one of the cloned plants and stuffing it in his mouth, turned and grinned at Morgana. He jumped onto Lizzie's shoulder and used her head to propel himself onto his mistress's shoulder.

Sighing in mixed relief and amusement, Morgana patted Kirk on the head. "Sorry about that." She looked around the workroom, carefully noting the plants. "What are you working on here?"

"Nothing much," Lizzie answered. "Just a plant we found on the last planet we visited. It doesn't seem to have any beneficial characteristics, but I'm curious."

"If it doesn't have any beneficial characteristics, why are you growing it?" Morgana asked.

"Lizzie grinned. "Curiosity. It's an oddity and I'm curious."

Morgana walked around casually as if she didn't understand. She noted a few words on the computer that caught her interest. It would seem the plants weren't as irrelevant as the botanist would lead her to believe. She filed the information away for later.

"I would think you'd have more important things to do than grow weeds," Morgana commented. "But it's your garden, I guess." She turned and walked back out of the room, happy in the knowledge that she might just have learned something of value.

She linked her arm through the guard's and smiled casually. "Come on, I'm ready to go back to my quarters and have a drink."

The guard stepped out of her reach.. "I'll escort you back to your room. You'll have to have that drink alone, ma'am," he stuttered as he led her out of the arboretum once more.

'Pity," she sighed, though not really caring one way or the other. He might be worth an hour or two of amusement, but she doubted it would be worth the effort it would take to talk him into staying. "Come on then, back to my prison." Kirk jumped onto her shoulder and wrapped his tail around her neck. When the guard's back was turned, he slipped the piece of plant out of his mouth and stuck it in Morgana's shirt pocket.

"I'll give you a drink, too, when we get back," she promised him. "A nice glass of coconut juice and a banana."

The monkey clapped its hands together in anticipation.

OFF

Morgana Frey
Executive Officer
Blackheart

Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Jackson
Botanist
USS Calypso

Security Guard
USS Calypso

Kirk the Monkey
Pirate Monkey
Blackheart

 

RSS Feed