Are you there Margaret? It's me, Penny.

Posted on Sat Oct 24, 2015 @ 5:49pm by Lieutenant Penelope Naroot

956 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: All this has happened before...
Location: Penny's quarters
Timeline: (Backpost) Evening before the Colony landing

Penny was sitting on her bed cross-legged, padd in one hand, her chin in the other as she rested an elbow on her knee. She wasn't quite reading so much as staring off into space when the chime rang. She glanced around at the mess, then hopped off her bed and bounced over to the door, hoping whoever it was wouldn't mind the state of her quarters.

When the doors opened, she smiled immediately. "Hi!"

Tom smiled, quickly embracing Penny and greeted her with a kiss. "Hi!" he said, continuing to smile. He hadn't seen Penny in a couple days, not that he intended to ignore her, but because issues with the enlisted crew had kept him busy. Truth be told, he was way overdue in checking in on Penny, especially after the incident in the holodeck.

"I didn't catch you at a bad time, did I?" he asked, politely standing in the doorway, still holding her in an embrace.

"No, I was just reading a letter from my mom," she said, pulling him into her quarters. She kissed his cheek and pulled him by the hand to her bed, helping him navigate the precise pathway through her belongings. "I'm sorry about my quarters. I keep meaning to clean them, but at this point it might be easier to just put in for a transfer."

When they reached her bed she dove onto it, grabbing her padd mid-leap and twisting around to land on her side. She sat up w/her back against the wall and patted the empty spot next to her. "Make yourself comfortable," she said.

"I don't see what good a transfer would do," Tom asked, sitting beside her on the bed while still eyeing the mess. Maybe he'd make an excuse to practice his site-to-site transporter skills by using the transporter to clean her quarters. He smiled, grateful at least that he wasn't jealous of the size of the room. It had to be at least twice the size of his. Rank sure had it's privileges.

"How's your mom?" he asked, stealing a look at the text on the PADD.

Penny turned and leaned back against him, nuzzling her head into his shoulder. "She's well. She and daddy took a trip to Haridwar to visit his sister and see the temple there." She pulled up a picture of a smiling Indian couple standing in front of a tall red and white building. "Mom works for Earth's Diplomatic Bureau, so when she isn't in California working, they like to travel. I think that's how they ended up in Hawaii. They were on vacation and decided they liked it there." She smiled and kissed her finger, then tapped her finger on each of their faces. "I researched Hinduism, but I don't practice it," she said. "And they understand, since they were raised with it and I kind of fell into it with them."

She put her padd down and snuggled closer. "Humans are kind of weird with the whole religion thing. They're one of the few species who can't just agree how their mythology works. In fact, they're one of the most diverse species around. Very weird." After a moment of silence, she said, "Do you believe in a God?"

"We might be diverse, but I think it's that diversity that makes us strong, once you look past the differences and work together." He'd always thought that it was those differences that helped Earth pave the way for the founding of the Federation. Without that ability to understand, who would have thought that even Vulcans and Andorians would become allies. "You know, it's interesting you refer to us in the third person. Humanity, that is."

Penny shrugged. "Write a few hundred medical reports, xenobiology comparatives and attend some conferences held by non-human speakers and you'll fall into the habit too," she said. "And incidentally, as adorably 'Recruitment-Poster-Boy' as that was for a non-com, you didn't actually answer my question." She looked up at him expectantly.

"Does it matter if I do?" Tom asked before planting a soft kiss on the top of her head.

"I suppose not," Penny said, snuggling closer. She pulled his arms around herself. "My adoptive parents believed that all humanoid life evolved from a single species, even though they practiced a religion. Somehow they made it work. Even those who meet their creators can still believe in something." Her voice took on almost a tone of awe thinking about it. "It's the most remarkable thing."

She held his hand out in front of her and looked at it. "You're a God, you know," she said," because you're a Maker. You think of something, craft it, create it. You, essentially, think it into existence. It wasn't there yesterday, but then suddenly it is, all in a day." She sighed and kissed his hand. "Imagine what you could do with seven."

Tom thought for a moment. "In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, 'Let there be Vodka'; and there was Vodka. And God saw that the Vodka was good. Then God said, 'Let there be light; and then he said, 'woah....too much light.'"

Penny laughed out gleefully, hugging him hard. "Dinner?" she said brightly.

"Sounds like a plan," Thomas said, smiling and picking her up off the bed and kissing her before carefully lowering her feet to a clear spot on her floor and following her over to her sitting area, shaking his head, wondering how quirky someone could get.


JP


Thomas Barnes
God

Penny Naroot
CFCO

 

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