Meniscus

The woman, IDIC pin stuck in her mouth, leaned her head to one side as if trying to peer at her own left shoulder, then reached around behind her head with both hands to take a hold of her flowing brown hair. She flipped it expertly up, then pinned it into place with the IDIC pin.

She pulled her lab jacket closely around herself and belted it loosely, then dropped her hands into her pockets. She moved across the room to the replicator housed by Science Lab I and ordered it to supply her with a nourishing supplement. She didn't feel it would have been appropriate for one of her officers to walk in while she was eating on duty. That certainly would not have been conducive to a working atmosphere, she realised. Quickly scoffing the supplement down, she wiped the corners of her mouth, and walked over to the observation unit that held the stellar core fragment she was studying.

Her stomach lurched a bit as the symbiont in her body adjusted its position within her belly to facilitate easier digestion of the nutrient laden supplement.

"Thanks Rhee." She said aloud to herself as she opened the viewing portal of the observation housing. The light that spilled forth was blinding and the woman reminded herself not to look directly at the constantly shifting mass, but was still captivated by the purple light it was throwing to the room's ceiling.

She heard someone fiddling with the door controls and quickly ordered the computer to unlock the doors to the secured lab. Damson Rhee watched as the doors slid open to allow the entrance of Ashraf Kahfre, who looked at Rhee before entering.

"Permission to enter ?" He smirked before stepping inside.

Noticing the brilliant light, he went over to her and the fragment. He carefully averted her gaze to her.

"So you required my assistance, Lieutenant ?" He enquired, his dark eyes meeting her blue.

Rhee gestured at the high-tech goggles that she had lain to the side and at the readouts. "I need to use the goggles to study the fragment, but I can't simultaneously read the panel and it's readouts while I use the goggles and manipulate the fragment with standard procedures." The Trill explained. She sighed. "Whichever you want to do is up to you." She said. Her stomach noisily grumbled then.

He paused for a moment and regarded her in a thoughtful way. "How about we eat first, then we get to work, because it's too hard to work on an empty stomach . . ." He flashed her his boyish grin.

Damson Rhee blanched a bit, then stepped close to Kahfre and grabbed his shoulder lightly, leaning in close as she looked around in mock suspicion of being observed. "And here I was trying not to look hungry in front of you." She laughed, leaning back upright, "Being on duty and all." She took a couple of steps back and leaned back in the console's chair where she had lain her duty jacket and told him. "If you're hungry we'll go ahead and eat first." She looked toward the replicator, then picked up the goggles from the table, fingering them. "If not, we can go ahead and get to work." Her face sobered. "I just had a supplement before you came in…" She said. "….so technically I'm fine." Calmly, she placed the goggles back on the table, then raised her eyebrows, a smile on her serene face, waiting a beat for the man to respond.

"Well, if you're fine, I'm fine," Ash smiled back with almost a hint of a laugh in his eyes. "I was eating lunch when you paged . . . I'll manipulate the fragment, that way you can get the exact readings you want." He reached for the goggles. "Does that work for you ?"

"Great," Rhee said, standing. Unfortunately, her pin caught on the tight fabric of her hair and remained there, so as she stood, her hair did not. It fell from atop her hair to hang behind her. She grimaced, anticipating it snagging as she stood and yanking her back, but it did not.

"Heh." She said. She looked back to the pin, then to Kahfre. "I guess that's a good place for it right now." She smirked as she stepped over to the panel, gesturing for the Lieutenant to don the goggles. "Guess it wants to stay there."

She peered down at the console, the coloured lights of the panel reflecting in her eyes and on here face. "All right then…." She said. "….tell me what you see in there."

Reaching over and placing a hand on his wrist as he put the goggles on, she told him, "Be empirical." She reminded him. "I want to make sure we get this all just right. I've got a hunch we might use this to work out the slipstream problems." She told him carefully before leaning toward him as she took her hand back. "But that's between you and me." She said.

"Then lets get to work." He replied, adjusting the goggles.

He began his assessment on the fragment, describing all the details he could discern. He carefully manipulated the piece around on all sides, mentally taking notes of his own. But mostly still dictating what he saw.

Rhee told the Lieutenant. "See if you can adjust the polarity of the harmonic synchronising beams to a factor of three point four out of phase with normal matter." She suggested. A beat passed as Kahfre complied and she asked him casually, "Anything new on the Kahfre horizon ?"

For a moment, he stopped. "New ? I'm not sure I understand the question. If you mean if anything special has happened to me recently, I would have to say no . . . My life is rather simple and boring it would seem. My sister is the one who seems to have the excitement." He smiled inward thinking of Rahel, though he was concerned. She still wasn't exactly herself lately.
Rhee grimaced lightly. "No no no." She told him, intently watching the readings filtering into her console. "Three point four the other way." She continued. "Negative."

Sighing she continued. "It can't really be all that bad." She told him sardonically. "Being Ashraf instead of Rahel can't be that unexciting, can it ?" She paused a beat, then told him, "I mean look what you're doing right now - better than tending to someone's sprained ankle, right ?"

"Oh, it's not seeing patients. If I wanted to switch to medical, I'd have no trouble. I have the training for both." He replied. "Rahel and I both do. We both have a passion for science and medicine. But she does go on more away missions. Of course, I was stationed on Earth before this . . . Starfleet Headquarters. This is my first ship assignment."

Rhee saw the allotted energies drop into the range she had selected and her eyes narrowed, watching the readings fluctuate slightly beyond what she had expected them to. "Lock down those constriction units for me, would you. She asked. "Medical, huh."

She studied the readings as the phase's changes slipped by rapidly and watched the fragment's base gravity inertial difference change in respect to its relative observable mass. Of course the mass remained the same at all times, but the relative mass - the quotient derived from the total subtracting the phased qualities - fluctuated based on the degree of phase. It was this that interested her. It was this that seemed to cause 'skips', 'potholes', and 'bumps in the road' of the standard USS Taurus slipstream. "What was Earth like ? " She enquired.

"In truth, its like many other planets I've been too. But beautiful in it's own way as well. I use to enjoy the beaches during the Summer and the mountains in the Winter. Nothing compares to a good, old-fashioned snow-ball fight with friends." He replied with a light laugh. "As a child, I was on-site with my parents. My father was an archaeologist . . . We didn't do much digging near snow. Not that I didn't encounter it as a child. It just didn't seem as much fun as when I was at the Academy. Then after that, I went mostly up into the mountains to reflect . . . and snowboard." He added with a smirk.

Rhee found herself wanting for a visual. "Snowboard ?" Watching her readouts as she manipulated the console before her, she told him. "Great. What colour is it emitting ?" She then asked in reference to the fragment.

"It seems to have shifted to a violet blue." He replied, then paused a moment before continuing. "So have you ever done any snowboarding ?" He asked casually.

"Violet blue." Rhee mused. "See if you can shave about half a degree into the lower energy spectrum." She told him. "Nope." Damson reported. "Never even seen a snow-board."

The Chief looked up at her officer and smiled coyly, her lips pursed, her brows hitched together as if she were on the verge of laughter before she looked back to her console. He made the adjustment. The colour shifted to a more purple hue.

"What's so funny ?" He asked. "The idea of a snowboard ? Or me on one ?" He arched an eye brown at her through the goggles for a moment before returning to his work.

Damson blushed a bit, then told the Lieutenant. "Oh I wasn't laughing." She assured him. "Just a little amused at the idea of a board made of snow - kind of an oxymoron where I'm from." She said. "Yeah, that's it…" She said. "…just kind of coax it into lower subspace. Can you tweak the dynamics to retrieve twelve percent of the phased mass ?"

He manipulated the fragment again as a small laugh escaped him. The purple hue lightened again. "Actually, the boards aren't made of snow…" He explained. "They're made of a high-density plastic resin. At least that's what mine is made of . . . They're used on the snow for going down hills. Some people are really good, you can do stunts on them."

"Like skis." Damson prompted. "That's it." she told him. "Come here and look at this." She gestured toward her board.

"It's sort of like skis, I guess. Just that both of your feet are on one board instead of two separate pieces of thin board." He replied with a shrug. He then went towards her taking off his goggles to look at the readings she'd gotten.

Gesturing at her board, she told the Lieutenant. "See how the energy sort of spikes right here and kicks the ambient matter away from itself, forming it's own meniscus." She asked. She peered at him, watching him nod that he understood. "Well…" She told him turning back toward the board. "…it reminds me of this 'snowboard' thing you were talking about." She said.

She tapped a few controls to show a scientific schematic of the USS Victory, complete with bussard collectors, deflector dish and shield enhancers. "See this - maybe we can create our own sort of meniscus." She tapped a control. Instantly, a heavy shield popped into place around the image of the Victory. "Like this." She said.

He reviewed her idea once more and nodded. "This could work . . ." He said assured. "I think the Captain would love to hear about your progress and theory." He was quiet for a moment. "And maybe one of these days you'd like to come snowboarding with me on the holodeck ?" He asked, his eyes, once again meeting hers.

Damson pursed her lips. "I think you must have meant to say our progress." Damson said, extending her hands toward Ashraf. He took her hand and they shook hands in recognition of a job well done. "Snowboarding sounds a little dangerous though." She said, still grasping his hand.

"It's easy once you get the hang of it !" He reassured her. "And we can start on the easy slopes first." His boyish grin was back. "Either that or I could just invite you to the world's best snowball fight !"

"Snowball ?"

"Yeah." He replied with a devious glint in his brown eyes. "You take some snow in your hands and form a ball with it and then you throw it at your opponent !" The grin truly made him look like an excited little boy, yet there was nothing childish about him.
Damson broke the handshake and smiled warmly at him, her eyes playfully darkening. "Oh yeah, well, I have to use the bathroom - would you mind storing these settings and stabilising the fragment ? I'll be right back." She said, heading toward the science lab exit, grabbing her IDIC pin off of the chair as she did so.

"Sure . . . Doctor." He replied, with a quizzical smirk as he watched her leave. Quickly he stabilised the fragment and stored the settings. His mind began wandering to the last time he had had a good snowball fight. It had been with Rahel, of course. The only trouble with that was her aim was too good even while running in the snow. She had him at a disadvantage . . . But he did enjoy the snow. Maybe even if Damson Rhee didn't join him he would block some time of his own on the holodeck and have a Winter Playday.

The doors to the bay slid back open and Ashraf turned to see Doctor Rhee stick her head back in and fire an index finger at him, a broad smile on her face. "Oh, and prepare a report for the Captain on our findings too, would'ja ?"

The doors closed and Rhee continued on her way, smiling at herself. "That was so wrong." She told herself, turning into the bathroom.

With a small smile and groan Ash shook his head and settled himself before a monitor. This report was going to take him awhile. The snow would have to wait . . . He thought of Damson though. It would be nice to get to know her better, he thought, though she had stuck him with the report he mused. With that last thought he got himself to work. The sooner he finished the sooner he could hit the holodeck.