Unforgettable (Backpost)

Posted on Thu Feb 7, 2019 @ 6:48pm by Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres

759 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Plaga Navis
Location: CEO's office
Timeline: After plague mission briefing

Penny walked slowly into Torres' office and sat down in a chair, criss-crossing her legs and resting her elbows on her knees. "Hey, boss," she said quietly.

Miguel swiveled in the chair to face her, he immediately noticed that the Helmsmen wasn't herself "What can I do for you?" he asked as an ice breaker

"Well, seeing as this is my last official day as your Acting Ops Chief, I figured I'd see if you had one last odd job list for me. Evidently I have some extra time to kill," she said, morosely.

"Not really. Everything is pretty much working as designed... at least for now." he added as he had a gut feeling that soon there would be exploding consoles to fix. "But why look for something else to do? You should be happy no more extra shifts, and you'll be able work on more things for yourself."

"It's not the extra shifts, I don't mind that. It's....personal, Sir," she said, her eyes getting wet as tears leaked out. "I'll be fine."

"Well I'm no counselor, however if it's something you want to talk about I've been told I'm a good listener." he told her.

"Why don't humans ever know what they want?" Penny finally exploded. "I get a letter saying he loves me, but he doesn't want me to suffer the stress of a "long distance thing." I miss him, yeah, but I wasn't suffering. So was he suffering? Was I hurting someone by letting them love me? And why am I so angry now, but I'm sad and I don't know what else and I'm trying to classify it so I can internalize it but I keep coming back to him and the fact that I miss him and BEEP BEEP PENNY!" She shouted at herself, reigning herself in.

"I just want someone to reach inside me and pull out my memory chips so I don't know that I feel this way," she said after a second, sniffling.

"Do you really?" he asked her. She knew he was more than able to do it, but some how he doubted that was what she wanted.

"Kinda," she said, sniffing. "I just don't know what to do. I was programmed to find a good human. Do I still say I succeeded? Do I delete him and start the mission over? How do humans do this?"

"Every relationship we humans have is different. We take what we learned in the last relationship and use that to help us grow in the next.... at least hopefully that's what we do. So if you delete him then you are robbing yourself of an essential part of humanity." he told her.

"So...I should be happy that I'm sad, because that means I'm feeling human and if I use that to do better with a second relationship then I'll feel better about the one I lost?" she said, looking confused. "Humans are so weird...."

Torres smiled "It's not logical... but it is often true." he told her.

"But why would someone ever want to be in another relationship if they're so painful?" she said. "I hate this feeling! I wasn't programmed for this. Humans have no idea how lucky they are that they can forget things."

"We never truly forget, though it does become easier for us to deal with in time. And as for why would we ever want to be in another relationship, that's because when it works the happiness and fulfillment we get from find that partner far out weighs any potential pain." he tried to explain.

Penny mulled that over. "I guess I need to archive those memories for reference," she said. She sighed and rubbed her temples. "Can you give me any assignment to help me focus? I could use a distraction."

"Lieutenant... I think you need to do what we humans often do and that's get a hobby." he told her. "Do some panting, or get into some music."

"I have hobbies. I do verbal jousting, I surf, I play cards, I used to have movie nights..." Penny said, pausing as she choked a moment. "I used to surf at home when I wanted time away from my parents. I guess I could try that. She smiled at him. "Thanks, Commander. I really appreciate you taking the time."

She jumped up and came around, giving him a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek. "See you later, boss! I mean, Commander!" She smiled and bounced out of Engineering, leaving a stunned Torres behind.

 

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