Dawn Lingers [2430-2-1 Tues 7:00 am]

[Erawan Montri]

It was shift-change on the Galen, and the mess hall was filled with with the tired and the sleepy. There were a few who were bright-eyed and alert, but most were still half-asleep, eating their breakfasts and going over their logs for the morning, or finishing up some paperwork and having a late dinner before going to their rooms to relax or sleep.

Erawan was among those waking up, and he was sitting in his usual place near the far right corner of the mess hall, where the walls came together. The smooth white walls were busy this morning, embedded viewscreens playing the morning news, or digicanvases pulling up calming photos of scenery from various planets. Era wasn't paying attention to any of them, or to the eInker in his jacket that beeped periodically as new messages came in.

His body was on the Galen, eating a bowl of nutritional but somewhat bland cereal, but his mind was on Terra. Last night, he'd dreamt of his wedding day. Only this hadn't been a memory exactly, because when he lifted up Yue's veil, her face was a bleached skull. He'd woken up, sweating and terrified, and heartsick. The worst of the nightmare's affects had left him, but he still felt slightly off-kilter. On another morning, he would have stayed in bed, called in sick and asked others to cover his surgeries. Except these days, he didn't do surgeries, and Era was certain that if the captain called in sick, he'd have people stopping by his quarters all day to check on him and make sure he was alright. The last thing he wanted was the endless parade of well-meaning doctors, all trying to diagnose or curse Era.

He stirred his bowl, letting his cereal go soggy as his mind drifted back to his wedding day, the real one. Yue had been so happy, and so beautiful in her gown. The red in her uchikake had brought out the glow in her cheeks. Everyone had been right. It had been the happiest day of his life.

Another beep from his eInkr jolted him out of his thoughts. He didn't answer it, not quite ready to face today's work. Erawan still had half a bowl of cereal to finish, and even if he wasn't hungry after the nightmare, he knew enough to eat now rather than risk the consequences later.

[muriel]

The garden seemed to be the only place where Muriel could find complete inner peace. She had not been here long, a recent addition to the team of medics. She was using the traditional medicine of her people as well as the one developed by humans. Some had mocked her use of herbs, but she didn’t care. Faithless humans’ opinions were of little importance to her, or so she liked to believe. Muriel found herself pushing thoughts of skeptics away from focus for the tenth time.

The shoots that she had brought with her seemed to thrive in this controlled environment, and that was something to make her happy. Muriel tended to the shoots, but the familiar sensation of hunger became too hard to ignore. Breakfast was long overdue, but she had to find a way to kick those bland cereals up a notch. As Muriel’s eyes scanned the garden for inspiration, her eyes fell on a particular tree. Muriel analyzed it immediately; bark dried and reduced to a powder could be made into a salve to ease the pain of damaged skin, the leaves made into a tea would have a mild calming effect, but a bitter taste that few would overlook. She’d have to keep an eye for when the tree would shed its bark, this way she would not harm it. Walking silently toward the elevator, Muriel did take the time to take a few leaves from a small bush, and put them into her pouch. Added to her morning coffee, it would provide a nutty flavor that she liked and it cleared the mind too.

The elevator was somewhat unnerving for her. She had no problem with small space; her own personal space being rather small, but it was the movement that she didn’t like. Even once out of the elevator, it seemed to her that she was still being lifted to the next floor. As she glided into the kitchen, Muriel scanned the room and placed name on familiar faces. Mingling with humans had proven to be an interesting challenge. She had decided to train herself into ignoring the age factor and try not to see them as children. When her eyes fell onto the man sitting in the corner of the room, Muriel thought about how, in spite of everything she had been taught about humankind, she didn’t mind having a human as captain.

She reached the counter where she prepared herself a bowl of cereal and two cups of hot coffee. She balanced the bowl which contained very little liquid on the inside of her arm, slipped a spoon between her pinky and next finger, and then picked up the two full cups of hot dark liquid. Maybe he didn’t like coffee, Muriel thought to herself, but it could be a good way to get a conversation going. The man looked lost in his thoughts there for a bit, but Muriel didn’t let it stop her. She placed a cup of coffee in front of him, and took her bowl of cereal in her free hand.

“I hope you like coffee,” She said softly. “Mind if I join you, Captain?”

[Erawan Montri]

Era glanced up as the cup of coffee was placed in front of him. It was the new Elvish medic, Muriel. She'd joined the Galen last time they were on Antheia. Era didn't know much about her. She seemed to be a very private person, and he respected that. Truth be told, Era was a private person too, though there wasn't much room for privacy as Captain.

He nodded to the Elf, "Of course. Please, have a seat." There was plenty of room around Erawan, no shortage of seats to be sat in. It looked like she was having cereal too, and coffee. "Thank you for the cup." He added, and picked up the warm mug, taking a sip. It was good coffee, real stuff instead of synthetic. Doctors wouldn't have it any other way, not when they had a choice in the matter.

Even better than the taste of the coffee was how the warm mug felt in his palm. It was like closing his hand around a small sun, the warmth radiating out into his palm and fingers. He could have enjoyed the feeling all day long.

Era took another sip of the coffee. "Long night?" He asked Muriel. Era couldn't remember if she was on the night shift or day shift. It flipped every two weeks, and ever since Era had switched from being a surgeon to being captain, he found it hard to keep track of the shift-changes that had once ruled his life. As tiring as it had been to swap between days and nights, he found himself missing late night shifts now and again. Sometime to do with out quiet and peaceful nights could be.

[muriel]

“Thank you.” Muriel said softly and gave the captain a warm smile before she slid gracefully into her seat. She set down her coffee and her bowl of cereal before reaching into her belt pouch for a fresh green leaf she picked on her way to the kitchen. She bruised the leaf between her thumb and the side of her spoon, and then dropped it into her coffee. “No, I am on the day shift. I have always been an early riser so I got up way ahead of time.”

Muriel stirred her cereals. They were nothing close to what she was used to, but the change wasn’t necessarily bad. It would take some getting used to, just like everything else. Muriel didn’t lose her smile, she was living a dream here. She was given the opportunity to help and to study the ways other people used to heal their wounded and their sick. Thinking about how she was still struggling to get use to life without a clear indication of the night and day cycle, Muriel suddenly spoke her thoughts aloud even though her speech remained soft and discreet. “I am on day shift for a while. It’s the night shift that I dread. I know I’ll find a way to keep awake, but it will be a new experience for me. How long have you been in space, Captain?” She asked before paying attention to her soaking cereals. She was definitely very hungry.

[Erawan Montri]

Day shift. Erawan made a note to remember that. He was trying hard to know all the medical technicians on the Galen. Era thought it was important to know everyone that was depending on you, and everyone you would be depending on in turn. You never knew when the little knowledge you'd gained would come in handy.

"You'll get used to the night shift." Era assured Muriel. He gave her a soft smile, mind thinking far back to the first time he'd been put on shift work. "You might even like it after a while. It's much quieter at night, even up here." Didn't matter if there wasn't really a day and a night, the periods designated as 'night' always seemed to be quieter than those meant to represent the 'day's. A med student had stayed aboard the Galen for a few months, collecting data for a paper discussing why this seemed to happen. He'd promised to send Erawan a copy when it was done, but it had yet to shown up.

Erawan took a sip of his coffee, "Oh... just under four years? I should be coming up on my anniversary in the next few months." Since he set foot on the Galen, he'd rarely gone planetside. Many of the other doctors had families to visit, but Era was free of those sorts of ties. And the Galen took him enough strange places that he didn't feel the need for vacations.

"How are you finding things so far?" Most Captains wouldn't have asked, but to Era, his crew's comfort matter intensely. Maybe it was because not so long ago, he'd been part of that crew. It was still hard to think of himself as a captain instead of just another doctor.