Whose Balls?

Posted on Tue Jul 13th, 2021 @ 2:02am by Ensign Noah Balsam & Lieutenant Kennedy Ryan Walsh

Mission: The Place of Skulls
Location: Junior Officers' Quarters, Deck 5
Timeline: Mission Day 3 at 2000

[Crew Quarters]
[Deck Five]
[Mission Day 3; 2000 Hours]

The warble of the set of devices was rounded, soft, and almost medical. They pulsed with strange, spinning gyrations of various diameters of their sphere shapes- the center would spin, fix and emit light- the center bands would do the same- spin, stop, fix and flash. Then its polar zones would glow. At first, they seemed to self-track- orbiting a snake plant near the front door- until one began to trail off and began its emissions at one of the desk chairs.

The set of satin nickel-colored tennis balls had the hazy blur on its bottom side- and occasionally its equatorial band- suggesting strongly that it had positional thrusters or antigrav positioners. Flash. Ebb. A friendly chirp. A rotation. And then another flash. From Noah's room, there was some eerily minimalist music playing, sad and desolate in its wonder.

Kennedy entered the bedroom that he shared with Midshipman Balsam. One of the balls darted over to him, flinchingly he stepped behind to the side but the ball began to twirl around his right leg and worked up to the inseam. Then multiple times around his torso and a pass around his head before the other one worked downward.

"Uhh. Whoa!" The staggered voice came from the doorway and a Noah in a towel wrap stared at the scene. His eyes widened in alarm. "I-I'm. Pugsley, recall home! Wednesday, recall home!" Both of the devices froze, clicked some kind of acknowledgment, and then daintily began to glide back to Noah's desk whereon they nestled inside two mobile cup alcoves. Noah rushed over to them with a swishy, shortened gait to maintain his towel. He closed both alcoves. "I-I-I am sorry, so sorry. I thought I put them on standby. I don't kn..." he trailed off with a frustrated air, wondering what subroutine had gone wrong- or had he just been distracted with lack of sleep that he hadn't turned them fully off.

The good Doctor watched his bunkmate enter their bedroom semi-clad. Kennedy immediately looked away to the nearest wall to gaze at. He swallowed deeply, this was bound to happen with living within close cohabitation with three other crewmates. His face reddened with embarrassment as he looked away, a tear slowly swelled underneath his right eye as he hoped that Noah didn't know of his embarrassment and that there was nothing wrong with his body. He had seen it as a doctor, of course, but he gets to wear another face when he's in Sickbay compared to that of Noah's bunkmate.

He wiped the sole tear from his face until the balls returned to their alcove which he was unaware. Noah's voice broke through. He didn't know why Noah was apologizing as he did nothing to wrong him. Kennedy rose his shoulders dismissively as he was a teenager, one not raised by his mother or father that had a bit of a rebellious spirit. Kennedy readjusted himself to face Noah, "It's alright."

"Sorry again," Noah said in a phantom of a voice. "They're for the Away Mission in a couple of days. Tr-trying to coordinate with the Science Labs to get them quality holo-scans of whatever they-they find down there." Noah said. "It was Lieutenant G-Giorgiou's idea." Noah, this time, firmly shut each ball's emplacement and tucked them away. Then he turned and leaned a butt cheek on his desk. His willowy arms folded across his chest. "Anyway, uh, good-good evening." He smiled at his bunkmate. They had had virtually no time to speak.

So it had been odd, as Noah had not even been in the room much, with his various late-night duties and ventures. "How-how are physicals going?"

"The crew seems to be mostly healthy which is good news as most of them were holidaying on Risa," Ryan Walsh continued, "I thought I personally put on ten pounds but I actually loss two. Not ideal, as I don't have a lot of BMI to begin with."

Noah smiled broadly, "I-I guess that happens with no place to go that isn't pretty. And-and, a lot of good food." Noah agreed. He pushed off the desk and went for his wardrobe where he found a SOJO shirt. He pulled that on, first threading his arms through and then popping his curly head through the hole. "I-I get the feeling with Debbie in the Lounge, we'll all have a lot of good food. It-it's, um, hard, to opt for a salad sometimes."

"Everyone needs to eat their greens and other veggies," Doctor Ryan Walsh mimicking his mother's voice. He sat down at the foot of his bed while looking to the nearby wall instead of at Noah dressing into his evening's attire.

"I-I admit, I'm bad about that," Noah said. "I like um, carbs. Junk food. But I have an insane, um, metabolism." He flicked a smile at that. "But being, um, from a rimward Hab... I ate a lot of protein bars as a kid, If the uh, well if anything happened." He went toward the garment processor, and tapped keys "One-piece Starfleet jumpsuit, Operations. 38 chest, 30 waist, 36 inseam." The computer beeped and swishes of light produced the black and gold-shouldered look of a Starfleet Engineer's one-piece jumpsuit.

"So-so, where are you from? Originally? I'm from Enceladus."

"Ireland, Drogheba to be exact." Kennedy replied. "Whereabouts is Enceyledos?" He winced at his mispronunciation of the name as it didn't match what Noah said.

Noah's again broad smile seemed ultimately forgiving of Kennedy's odd way of pronouncing his home. "Eilat Anchorage. D-down under the ice. But I went t-topside all the time. It kind of becomes a thrill. Umm... b-basically getting to fly up the Drop and back down again. It's like a big vacuum slide that takes about twenty minutes. C-closest I've ever felt to flying." His eyes flicked to his console and back as it lit up with a warning about his upcoming shift. "So... Dro-dro-drogehda?" He butchered its pronunciation. "What part of Ireland is that in?"

"That sounds interesting and scary all at the same time," Kennedy reflected on the slide. He nodded his head, "In Leinster. Do you know where Belfast is?"

Noah winced with a grimace of apology, "I-I to be honest I don't know Earth geography very well. I didn't even see Earth until I was seventeen. Is Belfast the one, um, in the north or the one in the south?" Noah tapped in the air above his head left and above his head right. A nearly opaque screen cast down to the floor from nothing: a holographic dressing screen.

"Belfast is in the northern part of the country," Kennedy smiled.

"Oh," Noah said from behind the hovering opaqueness. "Do they have castles in, uh, Drogheba?" The opaqueness scrolled upward with a beep. Noah had threaded his skinny legs into his jumpsuit and was now pulling his arms through his sleeves.

"They do!" Kennedy got excited about talking about home. "We've got quite a few." Kennedy scooted over on his bed closer to his side table to grab a PADD. He pulled up information on castles and passed it over to Noah. "There's St. Laurence, Slane, Trim and Marletto Tower. There's a private one called Drummond Tower that's available to rent for a couple nights."

Noah took the PADD while he idly repeated the last as if to start committing them to memory. They all had a similar profile- square, blocky, functional towers. Marletto stood out as being sort of rosy colored in the picture, while Trim looked the largest. "These would make interesting, um, huh-holograms." He noted with a glance up with Betazoid-like eyes.

"Too big for our quaint room but maybe a miniature St. Laurent's gate at our door's entrance outside would be cool," Kennedy commented.

Noah quirked a grin, "N-no I mean in the Holodeck. Buh-but I could install a holographic puh-portcullis and an arch if you want." His arms threaded in, he fastened up the center of his uniform and then went to his desk for his commbadge and cadet pins.

"That's... unnecessary," Kennedy smiled. "I think all of them are already holograms but they could use upgrading as they were probably made in the 2360s."

"That's a good point," Noah said. "I-I reinvent the wheel too much. Uh. Sometimes." His insignia were fixed into place. "that's forty years of subroutine and algorithm advancements. And rendering techniques." He turned back to the Doctor briefly to stoop. His hypermobile elbows bent forward while he leaned on his desk. He studied his schedule and then with a few flicks, he binned a few old messages and drafts.

"I was very impressed with Mood from the other day."

"Oh, tha-thank you," Noah said over his shoulder. Then he spun and sat in his desk chair, With a lean, he planted elbows on his knees and folded his fingers together. "It seems like Mood, uh, went over well. Accidentally. Not like Wednesday and Pugsley," he smiled with a glance at the hibernating holo-scanner balls. "I shared Mood with Doctor T'nai during my physical. A couple hours ago. Buh-but Mood's not done."

"What did Doctor T'Nai think of Mood?" Kennedy inquired.

Noah thought about that. :"-I couldn't tell exactly. She thinks he needs improvement... but may be useful."

Kennedy nodded his head. He wasn't too sure in the areas how to improve because holo-programming wasn't a skill that he had or would be able to provide feedback about sensing emotions as he had difficulty with that. Something like Mood for himself would help him not only in his professional but personal life, except when it decided to land on himself in front of Irnynya. He began to blush lightly before turning his head aside out of Noah's view for it to dissipate.

"Sadly, I can't contribute much in terms of feedback for you to improve Mood but I would find such a tool useful for myself as it's pretty hard for me to pick up on emotional cues."

"Its-it's not always easy," Noah agreed. His nose wrinkled at the bridge for a moment when he grimaced, "People are hard. Machines are easy."

"They are," Kennedy found that relatable.

Noah tapped his music off and rose, He stretched arms over his head and crooked one in a frame around his curls. He bent to stretch his back and sides. He needed to get ready for his night shift. "So, uh, so how did you meet Irynya?"

"Uh..." Kennedy remembered Noah arrived with the Sojourner in orbit of Risa. "I met her at the bon voyage party before the Sojo arrived. In fact, I met both of our roommates at that party. I spilled half a drink on Sheldon. I didn't mean it! But what a way to make a first impression. I think he hates me."

Noah nibbled his lip, "W-well I hope not," he shrugged while he stooped to get his case. He pulled its strap across his skinniness. "H-hating somebody over a spilled drinks seems kind of... uh... unnecessary."

"Well, have fun on the night shift. I think I'm gonna go to bed early."

"I-I will. Goodnight," Noah said with a fussy perfectionism trying to rest his case on his hip and butt cheek. He smiled and took his leave.

A Post By:

Doctor Kennedy Walsh
Medical Officer

&

Midshipman Noah Balsam
Systems Specialist

Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3fz6CC45ok&t=238s