[ussgeorgetown] Angela Turns 5 again
- From: Carolyn Bustillos-Hawk <angela_yarrow@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: georgetown <ussgeorgetown@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2005 20:05:04 -0700 (PDT)
After calling Ensign Yarrow, Erelen retired to her office, set off to the side
of Engineering but near the entrance. The walls were mostly windows so she
could see everything going on, but now she darkened them. It was probably a
good thing that Dove wasn't here, Erelen thought wryly. If the computer
technician had decided to "come back" emotionally while the
science-officer-gone-engineer was here, the poor Ensign would probably get an
earful. Dove could be rather short with people who didn't know computers
messing with hers, especially without her knowing about it. Seems to be the
only thing she gets worked up about, though, Erelen laughed softly.
Angela had been standing in front of the Turbolift trying to get up the courage
to enter it and go to the bridge to confess to the captain when the Chief
engineer had called. She continued to look at the Turbolift doors in fear.
Either way wasn't good. Finally she dashed in. "Engineering!" The lift began
to move and Angela's heart went faster and she started breathing harder. "Stop
lift!" came out rather high pitched. The Lift stoped at the next deck and
Angela darted out. She was almost there. But no way was she going back into a
moving TL. She shook her head. Nope, no way. So, she went to the nearest
Jefferies tube and slowly climbed her way down to the engineering deck and
walked the rest of the way to the Cheif's office. She tapped on the Chief's
door. Not really wanting to touch anything electronic for fear of the computer
retaliating.
"Come in," called out Erelen, carefully smoothing out a smile as she remembered
another officer who refused to ring chimes. Hopefully this won't end with any
sharp objects embedded in any body parts. "Afternoon, Ensign. Take a seat if
you like," she offered. She never thought people needed to be kept standing,
whether they were in trouble or not. Besides, this woman wasn't in trouble.
At least, not yet. Erelen waited until the science officer was seated before
continuing. "The recent... incident originated in your quarters. Can you tell
me what happened?"
Angela sat down and tears formed in her eyes, "I tried to fix a simple computer
problem that any 5 year old can fix. And it just went all wrong again. I
swear I don't know why computers self destruct when I try to fix them." She
wanted bring her legs up and hug them, but held back, it was bad enough she was
this close to crying.
Well this wasn't expected. "Computers are very... tempermental, according to
Ensign McCallah. Every one of us has trouble with them every once in a while,
and we're trained for it. You aren't. You were only taught the basics.
That's why I, and especially Ensign McCallah, would appreciate it if you would
call an engineer from now on when something goes wrong with your computers. Or
any other equipment, for that matter. You can ask what they are doing to fix
the problem and I'm sure any one of us would be only too happy to explain," she
said. Erelen didn't want to be too hard on her as she was obviously distressed
about her mistake. She smiled. "I think our computer specialist would say the
computer doesn't like you. Ensign McCallah swears they have a personality."
Her comment about the computer not liking her shook her even more and she
looked even more frightened. "I don't have problems with computers every once
in a while, it's all the time. I used to be good with them then one day I woke
up and I could only destroy them.... At least this time it didn't explode like
my last year at the academy...." She left again like she was forgetting
something. The same thing that had woken her up the last few nights.
"Ensign, calm down," Erelen said soothingly. "I'm not going to bite your head
off. We don't kill people for mistakes. Tell me, do they break when you just
use them for normal operation or only when you try to fix them?"
"Normally just when I try to fix them. But recently small problems keep coming
up when I use them... Josh has helped me, but I've bugged him so much in the
last few days." She tried to keep the panic out of her voice, she didn't know
what was happening and her subconsious kept nagging her. No matter how she
tried to calm down it just wasn't working. "always around this time of year it
happens like this" She wispered it so softly that only a person with sharp ears
could have heard.
Erelen did have sharp ears. "Don't be afraid to ask. You can always ask me to
send someone up to help you. But why always at this time of the year?"
She looked up startled, she hadn't even realized she'd said anything. But
startlment gave way to fear again and she shook her head. "I don't know" Tears
began to fall. "it's changed now, worse, and I don't know why? Only that his
scream wont leave my dream." She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around
them and began to sob, looking very much like a lost and frightened 5 year old.
Without thinking, Erelen immediatedly got up and sat next to her and put an arm
around her shoulder. "Who's scream?" she asked gently. "Can you tell me?"
She was beginning to suspect that this woman needed a counselor, but she wasn't
going to take the time to call one now. Angela needed a friend right now, and
Erelen wasn't about to let her go anywhere like this. She tightened her arm
around her shoulder almost proctectively.
Angela hook her head. "I don't know, I," sob, "dont," sob, "know," sob.
Suddenly the crying stopped and she began to shake. She looked up at the other
woman. Everything now about Angela screemed 5 year old. "We have to hide
before Storm Runner knows we're out." she started to get up and tug on Erelen's
hand.
She was definately not equipped for this; Erelen was in over her head and she
knew it, but there wasn't anything she could do about it now. She had heard
about Storm Runner, but didn't know that anyone Angela's age had been aboard...
She would have to ask Dove about it as it was the kind of thing she would
know. As for the time being...
"Easy sweetie," she said soothingly. "How about you tell me what's going on
out there, and we'll wait here. I'll disable the cameras and lock the doors so
Storm Runner can't see us here, okay?" Erelen quickly moved to her console and
sent a message to both counselors on the ship, briefly explaining her problem
and asking for help, wishing she was more than just an empath. Mentally
crossing her fingers and hoping Angela would trust this, she explained.
"There, now Storm Runner won't know where we are at. Can you tell me what
happened?" she asked, kneeling in front of Angela and holding both her hands.
She shook her head. "She'll know... she always knows where I am." She started
rocking. "Hungry so hungry, food not safe..." she murmmered to herself. She
was terrified beyond reason.
"Angela, you are safe. I promise. I won't let anyone hurt you," Erelen said
quietly but firmly. She was trying to project warmth and reassurance, but she
wasn't very good. Usually she was very careful not to project anything. She
thought frantically for a way to get her out of this.
The projection, though slight, seemed to work. Angela stopped rocking and just
sobed in Erelen's arms. She fell asleep shortly there after, a sign that she'd
not had a good nights sleep in a few days.
Erelen sat back on her heels and breathed a long, slow sigh. "Wow," was all
she could say. She retreated to her desk and had Angela beamed back into her
bed, hoping that familiar surroundings would help when she woke up. Then she
added to her messages to the counseling department, as well as sending a
message to Angela suggesting that she pay a visit there.
She sighed again. "What a day."
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