STORY SUGGESTION

A Hand Extended Outward by Bumbling Bea

The halls of the USS Diagne were dimly lit during the night shift - bright enough to navigate by but subdued enough for anyone exiting their quarters to see the darkness, the starlight reflected against the low lit walls, and think: ‘It’s night.’

In reality the ship was, of course, constantly wrapped in the seemingly endless ‘night’ of the universe; a glittering black expanse of stars which had in some way drawn in every single member of the ship’s crew.

Kadiatou Abubakar had seen this herself as a senior and science officer. One of her duties on board was leading tours through the ship’s (of course highly sophisticated) science facilities and there were always cadets (and even some higher ranked officers considering a change in occupation) who gazed at everything she showed them as if she held the stars in her hand.

One such officer, Utut Nako, was at the bottom of her long and efficiently completed to-do list. Unlike many other names on her list (now crossed off), Ensign Nako was not in violation of any rule or a necessary piece in some shipwide puzzle. The only thing written beside her name was ‘speak to’ and Kadi intended to do just that.

As she walked down the ship’s corridors, nodding to fellow crewmen who saw fit to wave or call out to her, she recalled what had prompted her to speak with Utut Nako. That was, nothing.

‘Nothing’ prompting Kadi to action was in itself not anomalous. As a science officer, nothing was often a reaction one had to note and work from as even negative data was useful data. However, Ensign Nako’s inaction was quite anomalous indeed.

Kadi’s awareness of the Ensign had begun during one of her facility tours.

As Kadi spoke, Utut appeared to be hanging onto every word, eyes practically gleaming with wonder and delight as she took everything in. It hardly mattered what discipline or area they toured, she appeared just as entranced by botanical sciences as she did physics or astrometrics.

This reaction was not out of the ordinary. There had been many officers that displayed similar behaviors - eight others in fact [though none as eager to speak with Kadi as Utut, not in that particular group]. However, all eight of those officers had gone on to apply for a place in the science division. Kadi had been expecting nine.

Again, this was unusual but not what had prompted Kadi to action. There were thousands of different factors which contributed to any one decision and she had only known the Ensign for a short amount of time at that point. She had set the matter aside.

It was what happened afterward which was unusual. Namely, Ensign Nako’s continued displays of great interest in the science division: Often speaking about how ‘amazing’ what they did was and staring at the various experiments with longing, wandering around the labs late at night when only a skeleton crew was present - sometimes only Kadi herself.

“If science impassions you so, perhaps navigation is not your path.” Kadi had suggested one of these impromptu visits, watching Ensign Nako as she stared at a hybrid plant the botany division had just created and Kadi had just finished telling her about.

Nako’s questions were just as numerous as they’d been upon their first meeting. More so, perhaps. And the look in her eye had only become more laden with longing.

“If I left the water I doubt I’d be welcomed back,” she’d responded, a clear and pervasive sadness in her eye - her voice. “I hardly belong as it is.”

Kadi had told her that to believe her cetacean peers would devalue her place beside them due to her ability to adapt to both land and water was illogical but she’d already seemed completely resigned to the assumption. Kadi had even extended an invitation to her during the course of their conversation but it was met with none of the bright eagerness the Ensign usually displayed and after nodding with a pained smile at the Lieutenant’s words, Utut excused herself and left the labs entirely.

It was an unsatisfying encounter.

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