A Guided Tour Through the Arboretum

Posted on Wed Oct 14th, 2009 @ 2:17am by Commodore Samantha York & Colonel Damon Raine

1,442 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Prelude: Blowing away the Cobwebs
Location: Main Science Lab
Timeline: current

ON

The arboretum was finished. Sam, Lizzie and half the science department had worked hard to get everything planted in four days so that the plants would have a chance to settle before departure.

She was back in her office, catching up on paperwork.

Damon weaved his way through his way to the Lieutenant's office through all of the staff working at their stations. He had to chuckle to himself for how packed this level of the ship had become by all the people coming and going, it reminded him of a traffic jam. After successfully navigating his way through the maze of people, he found himself finally standing at Samantha's office entrance. With a push on the door panel the chime sounded.

"Come in," Sam called. Her stack of PADDS was getting smaller, which was good, but she hated having to read so many.

Damon walked into the room and looked over to the Lieutenant who was currently mired in a pile of PaDD's. He crossed his arms and leaned on the door jam of the office.

"So rumour has it that the Orion's gone green." He said with a smirk.

Sam looked up, grinning. "Yea, you could say that. It looks pretty good, too. You should have a look."

"I was thinking of heading over there right now. Do you have a few minutes to spare to show off your work." His eyes glanced down at her desk again. "If you aren't too completely swamped that is."

"I would love an excuse to get away from these," Sam confessed. She stood up and walked over to him. "I'll be happy to give you a guided tour."

She led him out of her office and the main lab and down to the arboretum. She started on the top floor where a walkway ran around the arboretum. It was covered with a wide variety of flowers. Walkways wove through the flowers and benches were scattered here and there to let people sit and enjoy the flowers.

Damon's eyes were wide in amazement at the brilliant colours displayed. He stopped to admire a Lotus Blossom near the edge of the walkway. The flowers petals all ended in a brilliant violet colour that was only highlighted by the bright yellow stigma in the center.

"Incredible." He said in near disbelief. "I thought it was just going to be a big hole cut out in the floor with a tree growing through it. I had no idea of the scope of what you had in mind."

"The hole in the floor is in the main science lab," Sam said. "I've had a stream of people coming in all week to look at the 'curiosity' of trees growing out of a hole in the lab." She grinned. "That is for the botanists. This is for the entire ship. So we set it up so that everyone would have something to enjoy."

She led the way around one side as they looked at the various flowers. When they got to the far end, there was a grove of fern around and behind the waterfall. "This is an idea I got from the Galahad," she added. A small light by a path into the fern blinked green. She walked inside where a space opened behind the waterfall. A bench sat by the fern so that people could sit and enjoy some privacy.

Damon whistled at the sight. "I could see how some people could get into trouble back here." He punctuated the remark with a sly smile. "And you say it was an idea inspired from the Galahad?"

"Yea. The arboretum manager came up with it..." she grinned at him. "It's a long story, and I won't go into it, but, yea, it has its uses."

"A story for another time then? I can live with that. What other surprises does this garden have?"

'Not too many," Sam said, leading him out the other side and then to the spiral staircase leading to the main floor.

"We have three holographic images on the walls down here to create an illusion of being planetside. A castle, some ruins and a mountain. They, along with a lot of fern, will help maintain the illusion." On the main floor were trees of all kinds. Some flowering, some deciduous. Dirt-packed pathways meandered through the arboretum. In the center sat a large stone fountain.

"There are some workrooms in the back for the botanists, and some smaller rooms for experiments as well, but those haven't been assigned yet," Sam continued.

Damon's mind went tactical for a moment. "What happens if the ship is hit by a salvo of torpedo's? I mean it's not like the tree's of even the plants have much of a root structure on th hard deck. I would think after an attack by the Borg that tree would uproot and find its way through the decks to my barracks."

"A good question," Sam replied. "The trees have a good meter to meter and a half of dirt for the roots. They're well anchored. Granted, they should have a good 3 meters of dirt, but we can make do. Nothing is going to go flying, except for the people walking around in here at the time. And some of the dirt will be displaced, of course."

"Not to mention a few hundren gallons of water." He motioned at the waterfall. "Deck might get a bit muddy, but it sure would be an entertaining sight to see."

"You have a very warped mind, Mr. Raine," Sam said, chuckling. "But you do have a point. I'll look into the environmental controls to see what can be done with that and some force fields."

"Shouldn't be too hard to convince some engineering staff to help you out with that. After all, if I'm not mistaken main engineering is only a couple of decks below us, i'm sure they woudn't want water dripping on their heads after every fight."

"I'll do that. Thanks," Sam said, smiling. "Any other suggestions?"

"Security cams in that hidden room." He grinned ear to ear. "You did say I have a warped mind after all."

Sam shook her head, chuckling. "That you do. The problem would be keeping people from hacking into the security computer to view the video. I don't want to deal with that mess. Not even the Marines could handle that one."

"HA!" He exclaimed loudly. "No I think your assesment on that is correct."

Sam shook her head. "Yea. And you'd be the first one in there, wouldn't you?"

"In the video, or with my hands on it?" He smirked.

"I meant with your hands on it, but now I'm not so sure..." she replied with a chuckle.

Damon chuckled a bit at the joke before looking back over the arboretum. "It really is beautiful, the Orion is lucky to have such a spectacular display."

"It did turn out nicely, didn't it? Lizzie did a good job with it," she said, nodding in agreement. "Is there anything else you want me to show you?" she asked the Marine.

"Is there more to see?"

"The workrooms, but they're empty right now. So, nothing else here," Sam said with a shrug. There was the spare room in the back with a bed for the botanists who worked late into the night, but she wasn't sure he should know about that. He might want to put a camera in there.

Damon took one quick look around the room again. "Well in that case I thnk you for taking me on this lovely tour." He tipped his head to Samantha. "It was certainly worth the trip to come see the new addition."

"Thank you for coming by," she replied. "I always like showing off other people's work." She grinned. She also enjoyed Damon's company.

"I appreciate the time you took out of your schedual. Hmm," He said thoughtfully "I'm going to have to think of another excuse to come by now." He let a small smile slip by.

"You don't need an excuse," Sam replied quietly, "You're always welcome. But if you think you need one, I'm sure I can come up with something."

"Well in that case," His smile widened "I'll be looking forward to stumbling across that excuse in the near future. Good day Samantha."

With his final words he turned and walked towards the exit. His mind immediately went to mulling over the conversation. ~In the video? Really smooth dumbass.~ He shook his head as he disappeared around the corner.


OFF

2nd Lieutenant Damon Raine
Marine CO
USS Orion

Lieutenant Samantha York
Chief Science Officer
USS Orion

 

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