Exploring the Arboretum, part 1

Posted on Tue Nov 8th, 2011 @ 5:03am by Lieutenant JG Jane Porter

905 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Orbital Yard Project Athena I
Location: Typhon Arboretum

Shandro and Rae Lyn walked along the path in the Arboredum. His hands behind his back as he looked around. He was like a kid in a candy store. Shandro was smiling as he looked around, amazed at such a beautiful place could exist somewhere inside the blackness and cold of space. He took in the smell and the looked at her. "I like that smell. It reminds me a lot of home." Shandro loved the smell of nature. He was so used to the all around feel of it. The smell, the touch, the sounds, and even the all around taste of things when they were grown in it. "Let it not be said that our true mother is the one that provides for us through her simple existence. Granting us all we need, right in front of us." He looked back at her and smiled again. "I don't know who said it before I did, but right now I am saying it." Shandro let out a small laugh and sighed again.

"I know. Isn't it great? There's nothing like real trees, my daddy used to say." She looked up to where a sky blue ceiling gave the appearance of outdoors. She laughed happily. "I could move in here and be happy as a bug in a rug."

He laughed and then saw a tree. Shandro smiled as he ran up to it and with amazing agility jumped at he tree. He then took two steps up on its bark and then jumped to a think branch. He laughed again as he brought his feet up and the wrapped his legs around it and let the rest of his body hang, looking at Rae upside down. "You know, I hope the Relentless has one of this places. I might actually ask my quarters to be moved to it." He smiled as he crossed his arms over his chest, swinging back and forth slowly.

"You'd have to fight me for it," Rae teased. "I am the Chief Science Officer. But I'd be willing to share." She watched Shandro for a minute, then scrambled up onto another tree branch. "It's been too long since I climbed a tree," she giggled.

Shandro smiled as he hung upside down and watcher her scramble up onto the branch. Now he felt a little better, although it did still remind him of home. He let out a laugh and then looked around. "You climb very well, but cautiously. You have fallen before haven't you?"

"Sure. You don't learn to climb without a few falls. I broke my arm once. My dad pert-near skinned me alive." She chuckled. "As soon as the cast was off, I was back up the tree." She eyed him assessingly. "I'm pretty sure you could teach me a trick or two."

Shandro laughed as he watched her. "I was raised in a big area. Nature was a second mother to me. Its creatures were my friends and those who attacked becomes my food."

Rae Lyn spotted the large tree house at one end of the arboretum. She let out a tiny squeal of delight and dropped out ofthe tree. "I have to check this out."

She hurried over to the tree house and began to explore the multiple rooms on various branches with a roped walkway between them. It was just like a book she'd read as a child called "Swiss Family Robinson."

Shandro smiled and then crouched up and then flipped off the branch. He fell down and landed on the ground, the implants in his legs help cushion the impact. He crouched a little and then stood up straight. She was hard to keep track of sometimes. He felt his legs adjust before he took off running toward the tree house and then with a leap caught onto the ladder with a swing.

It swung back and forth for a bit before he adjusted and began to climb. He stopped and then smiled as he leaned from it and looked up at her. "Swiss Family Who?" Shandro raised a brow as he looked in her direction.

Rae wasn't sure what surprised her more. The speed with which he caught up with her or the fact that he had no idea who the Swiss Family Robinson was. "It's a family from a book. And a vid. They were shipwrecked on a deserted island. They built a house in a tree. They were attacked by pirates and fought them off. It's a really great story. I have a copy on PADD. Or you can always come by my place and I'll be happy to show you the vid. It's a lot of fun."

Shandro smiled as he watched her. He was amazed at how she moves so gracefully up the tree without any implants. She climbed that try without any fear, knowing she could fall down at any moment. She was truly someone who could love to be on Technica. "I would like that a lot, Rae."

Jane Porter, the botanist in charge of the arboretum watched the two from a short distance away. "Just be careful and don't damage anything."

Rae Lyn looked up, surprised. "Of course not!" she said. She made a mental note to be careful.

(To be continued...)

Ensign Shandro
Chief Security Officer
USS Relentless

Lieutenant Rae Lyn Pickler
Chief Science Officer
USS Relentless

Lieutenant Jane Porter
Botanist
USS Relentless

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