Personal Log: Midshipman Noah Balsam

Posted on Wed Jun 30th, 2021 @ 4:14pm by Ensign Noah Balsam

"Dear Mum and Da..."

Noah undid his jacket with a chew of his lip. He organized his thoughts as he pulled pips and commbadge from the garment and then pushed it into the reclamator. Then off came to SOJO shirt, equally disposed of. "I've been pretty busy," he said back over a fair shoulder. "Really busy. So..." He shrugged wide and folded his arms across his chest, "Sorry I haven't called since Antares. Da, I saw Mum on a..." Noah undid his uniform trousers and lowered them, and then they too were disposed of. "Um, a layover on Haven before I got to the Shipyard. Which I'm guessing a lot of people think is a really pretty planet." He smiled broadly, "Like Earth but it has rings. But knowing you Da..." Noah raised an eyebrow with his continued smile, "I guess I get it from somewhere." He sniffed and rubbed the broad side of his nose. "Anyway, she says hi. And she's doing well. Pause."

The computer beeped.

"Secure door," Noah said to the bathroom before his trunks came off and were the last thing disposed of. He stepped inside the sonic shower and pushed the button. Noah gathered his thoughts more succinctly. Bathed in decon blue-violet, he felt the waves ebb and wash over his bare exterior. He tilted his curly head against the wall and let the system cleanse him of the detritus of a fourteen-hour shift. He was reluctant to push the off-pad but having three roommates- two of which seemed quite social- Noah felt pressure to. He wanted to finish this overdue letter home.

Noah clamored out of one of the two sonic shower stalls in the collective bathroom. He found one of the silver towels and wrapped it around his waist for decency's sake. "Unsecure door, and resume," Noah said. He picked up where he'd left off. "To get you both up to speed. I was assigned to one of the smaller ships. It's based on the Nova and Defiant Pathfinder. But it's a little more than a refit. They call it the Rhode Island which..." Noah chewed his lip, "I had to look up what Rhode Island was." He smiled wryly into his cheek, "Starfleet still likes its Earth-based names even though it's been... well... a long time. I know it annoys you if I get too exact on dates, Mum. Programmer's brain, I can't help it. I have an eye for details." He hummed, bemused. "Sorry about that..."

Noah breezed through the door of the bathroom in his towel and crossed over the common to his room. He stepped inside with a quick survey to see if anyone was inside. What he came into was a small room with two extra-long twin-sized beds. On his half, a lazy Russian Blue cat lifted its head and set golden eyes on the boy. It studied the lanky creature with a sway and harsh flick of its sleek tail.

"Hey, I'm not a piece of meat," Noah scolded. The cat swayed its tail again and double blinked its golden eyes. "Sorry I was talking to my cat..." Noah said. "She's not done yet... I still need to install purring subroutines and maybe a fussy cleaning program." He mused. "I haven't named her yet either. Any ideas? I'll send some holos. Anyway, I'm off track."

Noah unwrapped his towel and then found fresh underwear and a SOJO shirt in his wardrobe. He sat next to the cat and began threading them on. "My ship is called the Sojourner. Like the Sojourner Valley on Mars? And it's... nice. But like my new boss says they don't build them like they used to. A lot of it feels rushed. But it has good parts. I work in the computer core which I love." His voice stressed just how much he did. Noah laid back on the bed and toppled his hands on his forehead. He sighed. The cat hologram didn't move. Noah eyed its hindquarters and its regular breathing, noting that he needed to increase its skittishness and curiosity subroutines.

"My new boss is from Rigil Kentaurus Colony. He's... strange. He's trying to carve out this bubble of no hierarchy in a ship full of it. TBD on if it works. But he's nice enough." Noah rubbed his neck, "Well, sort of intimidating. Speaking of Rigil Kentaurus?" Noah rose up on his elbows with a frown. "Have either of you heard from Simon? I got a recording when I left San Francisco but I haven't heard from him since. Is he still trying for the Proxima Shipyards job?" Noah chewed the inside of his cheek.

"To answer your questions, Mum. no, I haven't really made any friends quite yet. Well sort of. There's the lady that runs the Mess Hall. She's really nice. I like being around her. She reminds me of Doctor Gertrude. At Bright. Only she makes hashbrowns and not bio-mimetic gel." he smiled into a cheek again, "There's a big difference... but I helped her make a holo-skin... modeled on her diner on Earth. Which sort of reminded me of the Deep Dive, but the Deep Dive was more Italian." Noah pulled on his shirt, sleeves first before he pushed his curly head with a pop through the neck hole. He rolled it down his frame. "But no friends yet exactly. I have roommates though. But we've hardly had time to talk."

Noah stood up and walked over to his desk and knickknack shelf. He picked up an odd figurine- it was a rounded cone shape with spherical nodules regularly spacing a skirt-like lower body. Its upper body had two robotic, spindly arms. One looked like a plunger and the other, an egg beater. It had a single camera eye on a long stalk on its domed head. "My roommate probably thinks I'm a little eccentric with my collection... I wonder if he knows what a Dalek is." Noah mused with a smile and set it back in its place, next to a strange blue box labeled, "Police Box."

"But I promise I'll try and make friends. Speaking of friends," he said backward over his shoulder. "A couple of my friends at Academy are still waiting for assignments. Roxy got assigned to the Asimbonaga so she's headed for deep space, and Tzem found a spot near you, Da, at Jupiter Station. I'm jealous of her. She might get to work with the Zimmerman Group." Noah decided to sit down at his desk and brought up a few schematics of something he was designing- something very much still in a wireframe stage of brainstorming. "How are things on Ganymede, Da? How does Bright compare to the Fassbinder group?"

Noah tapped at a few keys to bring up his holographic interface. It glowed amber before him, its precise lines and keys still and waiting. Noah stroked a few, feeling their haptic response at his fingertips. He reviewed his schedule first then, with a flick, he checked on a diagnostic. "And no Mom..." Noah smiled with soft patience, "No dates... not since uhh... that blind date just before I went to France. Please, please, please don't set me up with the children of your colleagues, Mum? I mean Orions are exotic and all... um..." He rubbed his neck, "And-and... very nice looking. But I didn't have anything in common... you know?" Noah sighed and fingered his elbow nook, "But thanks for trying Mum. But I'm fine."

Noah flicked off his holographics and sent his console back into standby. "Lieutenant Giorgiou... my boss... gave me a special assignment. He needs me to build and modify a couple of self-guided holo-imagers for wherever we're going. Which sounds like it's in Klingon space. Speaking of Klingons, I met my first one. Well, I think she was half Klingon. But she was... umm... intimidating. But that's off-topic. I need to go down to the Fabrication Lab but first I need to finish the modifications to the synthesis template. Mum if you get a chance I will send the schematic and you can see the design."

Noah rested his chin on his long, curled hand. He blinked, "Well I should wrap this up. I have to change over to the night shift. So I should get some sleep. But I'm not really tired. I want to go to the Holodeck for a while." He sighed and sat back, "But I'll try and go to sleep first. Anyway. I love you both. If you hear from Simon tell him to say hello. Talk to you again later... probably after we leave Klingon space. Goodnight."

Noah blinked, "Computer. End recording. Send transmission to Fassbinder Thinktank, Ganymede and Hill Province, Bajor." Noah blinked again then reached for a key on his desk. He turned off his dorm room's lights.

== A Personal Log By ==

Midshipman Noah Balsam
Systems Specialist