Doctor... Who?

Posted on Sat Aug 28th, 2021 @ 5:41pm by Lieutenant Irynya & Ensign Noah Balsam
Edited on on Sat Aug 28th, 2021 @ 5:42pm

Mission: The Place of Skulls
Location: Deck 4, Junior Crew Quarters
Timeline: Mission Day 10 at 2100

The small circular table in Irynya's quarters appeared to be made of glass, although she knew it was definitely a more solid material that wouldn't shatter so easily. She had settled into a chair with her back to the wall, feet crossed at the ankles and elbows propped onto the table. Her hands reached back to wrap around her neck as she watched a series of videos detailing the various maneuverability tests the Rhode Island class and undergone during its refit.

On the PADD in front of her a ship that could have been the twin of the Sojourner dropped out of warp into a full stop, nacelles still flaring, before jumping back to warp from the same position. A message on the screen indicated that such a maneuver wasn't recommended, but that it was possible should the need to drop out of and/or jump to warp from a position dead in the water was needed.

Gently she tilted her head to the side, stretching her neck where a crick had begun to form. One of her hands dropped to the table, dancing across an imaginary console as she input the requisite commands for the maneuver on the screen. Her other hand reached for the small and rapidly diminishing tin of treats Noah had given her the day prior. They turned out to be the kind of treat where it was hard to stop with just one. Absently she put the end of one of the long thin pastries in her mouth, tasting chocolate and sugar as she bite into it.

The crispy, wafery crunch mingled with the swish of the doors. Curly hair under a rumpled brown fedora appeared. Around his neck was a over-long scarf wrapped twice, patterned with different colored bands- oranges, browns, creams, and a few green and blue. He wore a fuzzy wool, double-breasted overcoat that swept at his knees and underneath a tweed vest of greens and yellows. In his hand, some kind of chrome sonic... toothbrush? It tapered to a red circle around a cube, alight. When Noah turned to look at his roommate, it was plain that he had on a paisley red ascot.

Noah's mouth froze and twisted. He waved a hand in a small rainbow. "Hi."

At the sound of the door from Noah and Kennedy's shared bedroom Irynya sat up, adjusting her position so she could see who was exiting the space. At the appearance of Noah entirely decked out in an outfit that looked completely incongruous to his surroundings she giggled, a hand rushing up to her mouth as she did.

"Hi," she said, returning an identical wave in the same style Noah had offered. She giggled again. "What are you wearing?"

Noah breezed by with whiff of mothballs and sat next to her. "I'm The Doctor," Noah declared while he was fighting a smile. "It-it's a fictional character from Earth. Um, in-in the Cold War Era of the Twentieth Century. This is his fourth life." He opened his arms to give Irynya a better view of his ridiculous costume, dominated in beiges, browns, rusts and yellows- thoroughly anachronistic for the 1970s.

Irynya blinked at her roommate, an amused grin on her face alongside the uncomprehending stare of someone who has no idea what the other person is talking about. "That's... an unusual doctor's outfit," she remarked giggling again. "Are you headed to the holodeck?"

Noah nodded his head enthusiastically. "I booked an hour. th-thought I'd visit Satellite Five and the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire." His lips paused and pursed, "It-it's not strictly Fourth Doctor era... you could...come if... you know...?"

She perused his outfit then, noting the intricate details of it before reaching across to pick up the toothbrush device he had set on the table. "Is this... some kind of... spanner?"

Noah flipped the switch and it emitted a funny buzzing, warbling sound as the cube spun and lit up. "It's a sonic screwdriver. It-it's like a multi-tool," Noah swayed it in his hand, the handle out for her to take it.

She accepted the buzzing tool gingerly, holding it between thumb and forefinger. "And your holodeck adventure involves a multi-tool?" she asked curiously.

"Think of it," Noah said as he looked on, "As a tricorder, a phaser, and an entire engineering tool kit in one. Also, it unlocks the TARDIS."

Handing it back to him she tapped the PADD to close the video playback she had been watching, and placed the top of the pirouline container back on the cannister. "I'd love to come," she said, standing and picking up the container. "Just let me get my shoes." She quickly padded barefoot toward her room, the door swishing open just as she turned and held up the piroulines. "These are delicious by the way. Thank you."

"I'm-I'm glad you like them," Noah said. He'd hold the story of how he discovered them for later. "Index." Noah stood up, tapping his sonic screwdriver in his palm. "Access Balsam File Index, sub-file Doctor Who. Access and display character Sarah Jane Smith." Index blurred and then re-sharpened to life-like, save instead of a bald androgyne with a white suit, Index was now a brunette with cascading 70's hair, a short bomber jacket, a sweater vest and faded blue jeans.

The door to Irynya's room swished back open revealing that she had not only grabbed shoes, but had switched to a pair of black leggings topped with an extra long and flowy black tunic--a more appropriate get up for leaving their quarters than the sweatpants, fitted t-shirt, and bare feet she preferred when she was lounging around at home. She hurried out of the room, but stopped short a few feet from Noah, eyeing the holographic image of a woman with shoulder-length brown hair.

Slowly she approached the image, eyebrows raised in a question. "This is...?" she asked.

"If-if you wanted to play a character," Noah said, "This is the Sarah Jane Smith character. She is one of the Doctor's Human Companions." Noah fumbled with his scarf which, even wrapped around his neck still hung down to nearly his feet. "But what you have on is-is good too."

Irynya's eyes lit up with a touch of mischief. "Oh no. If I'm doing this we're going all in," she remarked with a laugh before making her way to the replicator. She turned to eye the character Noah had generated. "Computer, brown leather women's bomber jacket, size Medium. White t-shirt, size small and..." she frowned turning back to Noah. "What do you call those pants?"

"Jeans," Noah replied.

"... Jeans size..." she frowned, "Pull pants measurements for Irynya Delt Pi Zeta," she added before quickly continuing. "Oh! And sweater vest. Size small, umm... like what Index is wearing," she said hoping that would work.

Glowing particles swirled leaving a small pile of clothing on the replicator. She grabbed them quickly and jetted back into her room, donning the apparel and her duty boots before returning to the common area. Entering the room she held her arms wide, turning in a circle for Noah's inspection.

"Well?" she asked, "Does this work?"

Noah nodded with enthusiastic approval. "Yeah, you-you look a lot like the original character. So, should we go?" he stepped into the door frame and the doors swished like air open.

Irynya grinned, pleased to have pulled off the look to his approval. "Excellent. Lead the way!"

With a nod, Noah did so, for the first time coming to grips with the fact that his private holodeck time was now a duo. It wasn't far to the Holodeck and once they reached the heavy cargo bay-style doors. Noah tapped at the console panel. "Computer initiate program Balsam Asterisk Echo Doctor Who Entry." The computer did a rolling beep and the door ground with hydraulics open.

Noah led the way inside a black room with only a spotlight on a tall, thin blue box that looked to be made of aged, painted wood. It was roughly big enough for one person to stand inside. On each of its four sides, the top had a black placard in white letters that stated, "POLICE BOX." Noah, striding toward it, went into his pant's pockets and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. He looked back at Irynya and smiled. "W-welcome to the TARDIS."

Irynya peered around Noah curious about what he had planned. She realized, as they had made their way to the holodeck, that he had likely planned this without a companion, so reminded herself not to be a complete mess of questions and curiosity, but to follow along as best she could. Even so, her curiosity got the better of her at the appearance of the singular small blue cubicle-looking box.

She looked at Noah as he spoke, a look of intense curiosity mixed with a touch of amusement crossing her features. "This takes place... with two of us... in there?" she asked, a suggestion being hinted at but not spoken in that question.

Noah nodded, "Yep. Come on inside, I-I'll show you." He smiled with a crypticness, "B-bet you've never flown a Police Box before." Noah moved to unlock the strange, wooden blue box. A set of double doors opened to a cool white inner light. Noah stepped inside and through the white nimbus of light it looked like he'd sort of walked downstairs.

If it was possible, Irynya's grin widened as she watched Noah seemingly disappear into the light inside the small box. Shaking her head, she stepped in after him.

Inside the strange box was much larger than the outside. It seemed to take up a large portion of the Holodeck's space. It was a bright interior: circular in shape, with bronzed walls reminiscent of worked metal. It was sectioned off equidistantly around the circumference, with panels that each had an open circle. At the heart of the machine was something that looked primitive: a hexagonal console in brushed nickel. It was suspended at the middle- roughly waist height- on a glowing, clear tube. Inside, the light seemed to swim like something between a red and white lava lamp and a barber's pole. The console had all sorts of strange knobs, dials and even a couple of hand-cranked wheels. Mounted at eye level on the tube was a small screen with a concave shape.

As the bright light resolved into the interior of the Police Box, Irynya's eyes widened. For a long moment she just looked at everything, turning in a circle to look back from whence she came before returning to the unexpectedly large space. After a moment her eyes landed back on Noah, her gaze sparking with fascination. "What..." she began, walking over to where he was standing and then gesturing broadly at the space around them, "What is... How does it... What is this thing?"

Noah grinned like a goofy schoolkid, "It-it's the TARDIS. It's a spaceship and a timeship. And it's a-alive. It just looks like a Police Box b-because its appearance got jammed. And um... it's innocuous." Noah moved and stood at the screen with the controls in front of him.. "H-here, shut the door and I'll show you."

Unable to help herself Irynya let out a small gleeful squeal. "Oh my goodness I have no idea how this is going to work, but this is already too much fun." Carefully she walked back over to the doors, reaching out to pull them shut behind her and effectively sealing the two of them in. She practically skipped back over to Noah. "Ok, now what?"

"OK..." Noah encouraged her to step up next to him. "Here," he pointed at what looked like a rubber and metal wheel built into the console, "is the time controls. Up for forward, down for backward." Noah demonstrated. He pushed his palm hard and fast against the wheel. "Oh r-right, I forgot to prime." Noah ducked his head and looked at what seemed like a bicycle pump. He grabbed it and gave it several hard presses. "Now," and again he sped his palm hard up the wheel. It spun and squeaked as an analog clock counted in a blur upwards. It rested on 1267881. "With I hit go, we'd travel to the date June 12, 7881. Outside those doors w-would be the 79th Century. The Third Dark Age of Humanity."

His nose wrinkled, "B-bit depressing though. I mean..." He trailed off. "Oh. Um. Here." He punched in a few buttons and then grabbed and joystick. He pointed at the screen. "I'm, um, focusing on Earth." He grinned, "Should I t-try one and we can step outside and then you can have a turn?"

Starting to pick up the plot of the device, although still clueless as to how it was supposed to work, Iry nodded. "Umm.... yes..." she said with a touch too much enthusiasm to come off as cool and collected rather than someone who was utterly geeking out at a completely new experience.

"I'll watch," she added.

Noah nodded. "Okay." He stooped and pumped the bicycle pump again and then with manic energy pumped at the wheel. The analog numbers went higher and higher until he slammed his hand on a bright red button. "Hold on!" There was a strange, moaning, wailing sound that started in low and started to rise. And then there was a vibrating feeling of moving! Gyroscopes near Irynya spun wildly showing they were tumbling. The room lurched and Noah went for a grab bar. And then they tumbled forward almost into the console. Meanwhile the central tube was pumping like a hummingbird's heartbeat, throbbing with light and color.

And then suddenly it all stopped with, again, that strange beacon-like sound, except in reverse. Noah's fingers wrapped quickly around a handle and really had to use his feather to wrench it down. "P-parking brake..." he said. "Ok." He grinned. "If we step outside right now, it's the Earth Year 199,996. The 200th Century. The Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire." His toothy, too wide smile broke and dimpled his cheeks under his fedora and curly hair. "Are you g-game?"

Irynya had, somehow, come out of that manic vibrating experience largely unscathed. She'd been paying close enough attention to what Noah was doing to follow his lead with the grab bar, but her hair was mussed, as if she had run a hand through it awkwardly--which she had. "Bring it on," she replied, wild grin on her face as she released the grab bar she was holding.

The lanky one shoved his hands into his overcoat pockets and went for the double doors. With a quick unlock, they creaked open like they were wooden. A satin-silver like light emitted from the outside, almost gritty or grimy. Noah stepped outside.

Not waiting Iryna followed, tugging at her jacket to make sure it was sitting just right. The light wasn't as bright as it had been entering the TARDIS and I seemed to glimmer as if there were particles in the air being lit from a distant light.

It was like a giant bazaar and the noise was a cacophonous mix of languages- humanoid and not. It was so thick it was hard to figure out what languages were being language. Some thrilled or chirped or clicked. Others were spoken. A few even seemed to be ululating song. A dolphin, suspended in a force field, swam lazily by without any obvious means of propulsion. A strange creature with milky white skin and large, almond eyes of all blue passed by them, holding in its trunk a glowing sphere. A squat being that resembled a blustering humanoid rhinoceros chatted with what could only be described as a hybrid of a Klingon and an Andorian.

Noah grinned as the deck plates were heavy and absorbed their footfalls. But they seemed as still as a planet. The ceiling towered above them, at least a good 30 meters high. Neon signs moved like holograms, promising insurance, legal counsel, and a ton of different foods. Noah, who had shoved his hands back in his pockets, looked bemused. "It-it looks like the computer took some creative license with the aliens," he said while a robotic-looking dog barked and chased a couple of children.

On the wall, painted in peeling lacquer was the number "100" and below it, in diminishing size, were dozens of other languages. All of it in a gritty feeling expanse, like someone had dropped a souk onto an industrial station. The walls were a dark satin metal but it wasn't immediately clear where the light was coming from. It felt quite warm- almost tropical.

Irynya had stopped short just outside of the blue police box, the foreign sights and sounds washing over her in a tidal wave of sensory input. For a moment she was tempted to place her hands over her ears, creating space for her brain to process everything.

The Andorian-Klingon turned it's blue gaze on them, cranial ridges fading in an ombre mixture of brown and bright blue. The children being scolded by the dog ran past them giggling, the robo-dog chasing after with a bark.

Irynya turned to look at Noah, her eyes wide with uncertainty and curiosity and the confusion of someone making sense of something for the first time. "This is what this..." She gestured to Noah with a movement that seemed to take in all of him "... Doctor thought the future looked like?"

Noah bobbed his head. "S-so we're in a simulation of what the people in the twenty-first century thought the future might be like. In this story," Noah ferreted around a very large being that looked mostly Human. Mostly. "Um, in this story, the Doctor takes his companion to where we are, satellite Five. W-which is the hub of all information in the known universe. And it's supposed to be this incredibly civilized, high culture time. The Fourth Great and Bountiful Empire. But it's all a fabrication. It's manipulated d-data put in the history books."

Noah passed by a chilly-feeling stand that was selling slushies- and the scent from it was overwhelmingly like a strong beef curry. "About 400 levels above us is an alien supermind c-called the Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe. It has been manipulating Humans to be docile, ignorant, and enslaved to the information they get from the Jagrafess's Human slave called The Editor. And its all so another alien species called the Daleks can invade and enslave the Humans."

Noah shrugged, "S-so in the story, the Doctor and his companion have to fix the timeline."

Irynya nodded, following along closely as Noah wove through the throngs of people. The smell from the slushie cart made her nose wrinkle--the cold mixed with the obvious spice meshing in an odd and unpleasant way in her nose.

Still walking Irynya moved so that she was nearly shoulder to shoulder with Noah. "So, I probably should have asked this earlier, but what does the Doctor's companion do, exactly? Other than keep him company?" It was clear this was something Noah knew a lot about and she wanted to make sure she held up her part of the role play bargain.

"They keep him Human. B-but they're also there to explore and open up their minds to.. you know... s-something other than just twentieth century Earth." Noah said. "They get in trouble a lot." Noah stopped at a massive window that seemed to span the entire width of the level. And outside was the ultramarine, familiar orb that was Earth. Yet it was deeply changed. Massive satellites and skyhooks connected to space elevators orbited it. And its very surface was alien. Instead of recognizable continents, they were a lot more fuzzy. Long networks of what looked like roads or maybe other forms of transit jetted across whole oceans. And the land had a texture- like it was made up of millions of blocks, triangles, shapes. They were buildings- and some of them were so tall that they broke through the bow of the horizon. It looked like entire cities stood higher than the stratosphere.

"Keep you human and get into trouble," she repeated inexactly. "Got it." Following Noah's lead, she paused as well, taking in the familiar, yet alien, surface of Earth out the window. Earth may not have been her home, but like all Starfleet officers she had attended the Academy there and the planet held a certain fondness to her. This version of Earth felt foreign. Like she was looking at someone she knew a long time ago and trying to place how she knew them.

"The story's message is about h-Humans fearing technology and information and the alien. But with the message that only knowledge and information could save us from extinction. But at the time, it-it felt like we were losing that battle. We just wanted to b-believe whatever our internet and our media told us, it didn't matter if it was true or not. So this story is a commentary on that. In the end, the world is saved..." Noah screwed up his mouth, "Well, sort of saved by a single Human using what she knew to stop the Jagrafess." Noah looked down at the world. "It's also about greed. The companion in this story brings a boyfriend who tries to take back knowledge of this technology to make himself rich."

Irynya took in the story they were entering with a degree of seriousness, recognizing the narrative as one that so many civilizations had grappled with over time. Truth and a future or fear and a fabrication. The fear was never the right response. As Noah finished his explanation her gaze shot back over to him. "A boyfriend," she repeated, swiveling her head to see if there was a holographic character she was supposed to recognize.

Noah smiled into a creased dimple, "The-the program's set in gallery mode. We're not playing out the story." The fourth Doctor facsimile folded his arms over his chest. "I-I mostly just came for the view today" He breathed in and out, "Sh-should we go further? It's y-your turn to steer."

Irynya's mouth formed into an "o" of understanding before she nodded, her eyes lighting up. For as much as she was enjoying the whole holodeck experience, there was no denying that she was a pilot at heart and the idea of flying such a heavily physical device sounded particularly exciting. "Yes please," she said with a grin. It seemed like she couldn't stop grinning. "But you're going to have to remind me again what to do."

Noah agreeably bobbed his head, then it was back through the throng of beef curry slushies, strange meaty treats, something called a Cronkburger, and a bevy of aliens unseen by Starfleet eyes. Mostly. Once they were back inside the blue wooden police box, Noah demonstrated. "The wheel spun up for forward." and he did so, pushing his palm against the squeaky wheel. And the number analogs, like a rolling chronometer, steadily climbed. "But," he pointed," you have to prime it first." And he pointed to the pump.

Irynya tucked the various images away as they walked knowing she was going to be thinking about this stop all day. Slowly she nodded, watching him closely, her fingers twitching as though she were trying not to mimic his movements herself. "Are we going forward or backward?" she asked. "I mean, I know we're pretty far forward right now."

Noah grinned and folded his arms across his skinny chest again, "Oh b-but geologically, astronomically? We're barely anywhere past like... a few seconds after midnight. C-considering the heat death of the universe is in..." his dark eyes swiveled up in thought and squinted, "L-like five qua-quadrillion years? from now?"

The Risian woman giggled despite herself. "You would know that, wouldn't you?" she asked with a teasing smile. "So, we're going forward again. And I should spin the wheel up like this..." she placed her palm against the wheel and set it into to motion... "And in order to move I need to prime it first," she replied indicating the bicycle pump." She eyed the pump curiously. "I think I've got it. Should I give it a try?"

Noah nodded in agreement: she should. He didn't want to influence her decision on where they would go yet, just show that she was right. "Forward... more civilizations, n-new species, new empires, eventually the Earth dies and so on. B-backwards is a bunch of world wars, dinosaurs, Earth's first sentient s-species, planetary accretion and eventually the Big Bang."

Irynya frowned, considering the options before nodding and stepping into the controls. Tentatively she reached for the pump giving it a light press. The pump pressed back, resisting her and confirming what she had suspected. Straightening, she rolled her shoulder before reaching for the pump again, this time put her weight into pressing, the resistance giving with the force of her hand on the pump. She repeated the motion in rapid succession before turning back to the wheel and placing her palm where she had demonstrated moments earlier. She hesitated for only a moment before rolling the wheel upward with quick sharp presses. The device squeaked as she pressed it until she, as Noah had done before, slapped the red button. The TARDIS responded with the same building whine that she had heard when Noah had flown the device earlier. The floor underneath her began to vibrate and she reached, without thinking, for the grab bar nearest her as the floor bucked beneath them, gyroscopes spinning rapidly at eye level.

For a moment she thought she had her balance, but then the movement stopped combined with a declining whine. She went for the parking brake she had seen Noah wrench into place last time and tripped, tumbling into Noah in the process.

Noah's featherweight was at least a brake for Irynya's momentum, his willowy arms out to try and catch her- but then he too tumbled. They ended up on a still floor in a pile of limbs in a sort-of-spooning position. Noah's hat had fallen off and rolled down toward the door. "Are you OK?" He asked as he got up. He offered a hand down to her to help her, his other hand grasping the hand rail to give him some leverage. "L-let's see where we landed."

Irynya's cheeks pinked slightly in embarrassment. "Uh, yes, I think so," she said accepting his hand to help her up. Standing again she dusted her hands down her sides and thighs as if some invisible dirt might be marring the cosplay outfit she wore. "Sorry about that," she said, following Noah over to the controls.

Noah shrugged, "Ih-it's OK," he said. He bent and looked at the chrono. With a chuckle, he guffawed. "Oh well, not far... j-just about four-point-five billion years in the future." His freckled nose wrinkled while he strode lankily over and retrieved his hat. "The-the Earth will be destroyed in five hundred million years. In the stories, Humans um, use technology to hold the sun in a static state of check. But in the future, they'll decide to let n-nature take its course."

He shrugged, "But-but I bet it'll still be worth a look."

Irynya's ever-present grin was back, unable to be held back despite her tumble into Noah. She watched as Noah donned his hat and nodded her agreement. "Let's do it. Would be a shame not to see where I landed us on my first try," she quipped with a chuckle and a fresh pinking of her cheeks. "Lead the way."

Noah grinned and dropped his hat on Irynya's head. "Nope, you're the Doctor right now. You drove." The stick bug of a cadet pushed his hands into his pockets and unlocked the door. "After you."

Through some impossibility Irynya's grin grew wider, eyes tipping up to the brim of the hat that now sat on the top of her head. Her hand reached up to grasp the hat with one finger pressed between the twin ridges along the top, adjusting it so it sat rakishly on her head. She turned her grin on Noah then, raising her eyebrows suggestively before grabbing the door latch and stepping outside.

They emerged into an eerie landscape. The TARDIS hovered near a room-sized, completely transparent sphere. It had a clear floor that opened up to endless black and stars. Before them was a massive red and range inferno, bent at an impossible refractive angle. And stranger still, the inferno looked... frozen. It was barely burbling, like a cooling oatmeal of plasma.

Below them was a blue gem and- stranger still- all of those planet-wide cities and transit corridors were gone. In fact, there were no lights on the surface at all- no signs of life. Yet the continents were as familiar in shape as they were if one was on a shuttle down to the Academy. Noah leaned and touched shoulders to Iry. "In this era, Humans and the other species that came after... they turned their old homeworld into a giant reserve. Nobody lives down there. Just animals and plants." His dark eyes smiled, "It was time to let the planet rest. They left like... four billion years ago."

Irynya's grin softened as Noah's shoulder bumped hers. She bumped him back gently. "That's..." she sought the right word. Her home, Risa, was the exact opposite of the lush green and sparkling blue sphere below them in function and yet it looked nearly identical in the way that the vibrant colors signaled that it was alive. She wondered, for a moment, if there was ever going to be a day when the atmospheric controls of Risa would be turned off, leaving the planet to the ravages of extreme weather and rendering it uninhabitable.

"It's beautiful," she whispered, shoulder still bumped against Noah's.

"Yeah," he agreed, "It is. It's alien to me but it is." Noah agreed. "And look there." He pointed in an arc where the normal haze of the Milky Way's disc seemed to be intersecting another. At first, it had looked like a haze from the sun placed in static check- or maybe a double image of the Milky Way's edge. But it was at a tilted angle. A double-giant orb of light was at its center and it looked like two galactic fireflies were so close that they were mating. "By-by this time, the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies are colliding. Sagittarius-A and the double-core of Andromeda are about to start interacting. In about... five... maybe six billion years from now, it'll be one, big galaxy. Ellipitical or... m-maybe a Disc Galaxy."

She followed the line of his arm as he pointed to the two melding galaxies. The two brilliant spots of lights in the middle of the haze shone and she squinted to see them better, her mind reaching back to her astrophysics courses at the Academy. It was a slow process, one that could barely be measured on a mortal scale and yet, these changes still moved ahead, shifting each world, star, and life in its wake.

"Where are the humans now if they aren't on Earth?" she asked quietly.

Noah nibbled his lip. "In the stories, they have long since spread across the galaxy and even beyond it. And what is Human doesn't really necessarily look like what a Human looks like anymore. They've had a few billion years to um..." he blushed, "You know... mingle." He turned his hands over each other. He grinned, "A little interspecies sexy times. Oh-over four billion years... yeah."

Irynya turned away from the sight to look at him. "Are you... blushing?" she asked, her voice teasing. "We already live in a time of interspecies sexy times you know?" And then she winked at him. "You should try it. It's fun."

Noah grinned sideways, "Wuh-what makes you think I haven't?" He snickered softly, "A little. I'm blushing a little." He protested and shrugged goodnaturedly, his eyebrow raising up to his curly bangs. "I've had sex before... just... uh, a couple times." He shrugged a shoulder gently, "It's... it's nice. But I think it's something I-I'd rather do with... not, uh, not strange to me. Not like alien strange, but, I mean not a stranger."

She dropped the teasing tone then returning her gaze to the sight ahead of them both. "If Risa were to take a step like this I don't think there'd be anything left to act as a reserve," her tone turned sad. "The planet would tear itself apart."

Noah nodded, "It's all fiction anyway. We couldn't really do this. Th-there's this engineering legend that we read a lot about at Academy. Jett Reno? She's famous f-for saying," And he did his best to assume the sarcastic nature of this model figure of engineering, "Violate the laws of physics? Uh. No?" Noah looked out at the sun held in check, "This one's a little beyond technology. Maybe... like a Q. W-we know how to kill a star. Theoretically. Or re-ignite a dead star. S-sort of." He winced at that. "But we can't stop a star from doing what they do."

Irynya nodded, understanding a small smile tickling at the corner of her lips as Noah attempted to impersonate Reno. "It's a lovely dream, though," she remarked. "Imagining being able to let the planet return to its originally form, undisturbed by people."

"Yeah..." Noah nodded agreeably. "It would be a good... good ending to a long story." He said. He leaned a hand against the bubble and just looked out at the stars, like in a holodeck program part of him was looking for home.

Noah had moved away to lean into the bubble and so Irynya had moved back to give him a moment of space. Watching him watch the fictional universe in front of them made her pause, grateful for the diversion and his willingness to bring her along on his trek. After a moment she raised a hand, laying it lightly on his shoulder.

"Ready to go home?" she asked.

=/\= A Mission Post By =/\=

Lieutenant JG Irynya (Playing as Sarah Jane Smith)
Acting Chief Flight Controller

Midshipman Noah Balsam (Playing as the Fourth Doctor Who)
Computer Systems Specialist