SOMEONE STOLE MY MITTENS!

Posted on Sun Jan 15th, 2012 @ 10:21am by 1st Lieutenant Kathleen Lorrieta

1,013 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: [Typhon] Through a Window Darkly
Location: Docking Bay 4 / Temporary Living quarters issued to 1st Lieutenant Lorrieta

The repairs to Docking bay 4 were complete. 1st Lieutenant Kathleen Lorrieta had to admit, while Lyra's tendency to cause things to explode was hazardous, there was certainly a dignified grace to it, when she was told to refine this tendency, towards a specific task. The damage done, during explosive decompression was minimal, to the Docking Bay, itself, while the Franklin would be incapable of docking until it's docking-ports were repaired from the inside, out. Something Starbase personnel couldn't fix.

A man was walking along the Docking bay. He seemed out of place. It was probably his ridiculous helmet, and old-style dress. Neither Lorrieta, nor Lyra, apparently, could clearly make out many of the man's features, as she was squinting at him.

"Lyra-" Kathleen said.

"Kathy lady, what do you think the fashion police should do to this guy? He's a good few centuries out of date." Lyra said, shaking her head.

And then. And then.

He was about 30 feet in front of them.

He took a step towards them, and his foot, then his leg, then, slowly his arm, and his torso, and then the rest of him, just dissolved, almost like a hologram trying to leave the holodeck. But it was so fast, it looked nearly instant.

"The hell?" Kathleen asked.

"Uhm... Hmm.. I didn't do it?" Lyra said, after thinking for a few minutes.

"If you can do that, to people, Lyra, I'd be worried." Kathleen said, running to the spot the man disappeared. "It's like he was never even here. No warmth, he didn't leave any kind of foot-prints. I wonder if this area has any kind of surveillance. Maybe we were just hallucinating."

"The same thing? Both of us?" Lyra asked. "And you call me crazy, Kathy lady?"

Kathleen was drawn up short. She had referred to Lyra as being crazy once, to Jane Atwood. How did Lyra know?

Lyra more, or less assaulted a repair technician, stealing his tricorder. She scanned the area the man had disappeared in, and the surrounding area. "Odd EM readings. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just enough to register."

Kathleen quirked an eyebrow. "Maybe he was a ghost?"

"Kathy lady, I know we've been up for over 30 hours, trying to track down this random glitchy thingy with the Docking Bay sensor readings, but you is going crazy now. I think Kathy lady needs to go to bed." Lyra said. "Go ahead. I will go find scary lady, and get her to help me."

"Uh... Yeah. That's it. Just tired." Kathleen said, stuttering slightly. "Maybe... maybe I'll feel better in the morning."

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It was not until she walked into her bedroom, that Kathleen had realized something was sitting on it.

She quirked her eyebrow, and poked it, to make sure it was real. A beautiful porcelain doll, like the one her grandmother once had, sat there. The white paint looked brand new, and it smelled of an out-dated type of varnish. The attention to detail was amazing. The blonde hair, apparently that of an animal's, was soft, and the glitter in the doll's cheeks sparkled, when she moved it, into the light. It was then, that she realized, it was wearing almost exactly the same dress, yet Grandma had said that her's was nearly 200 years old.

Kathleen dropped it.

Something was wrong. It was still in one piece.

Kathleen had gotten beaten within in an inch of her life, by her grandmother, when she was playing with the old doll, at age 4. She had brought it out to the balcony, so Dolly could see the sunset, and set it down on the rail. The slight wind blew dolly off the balcony, not onto the ground below, but onto the balcony, itself. The 4 foot drop was sufficient to shatter the Porcelain face.

Kathleen had dropped it from nearly five feet.

It was still in one piece.

"The hell?" She asked, for the second time, in as many hours.

Picking dolly up, she set it next to her pillow, and crawled under the covers, pondering whether or not this unwanted job was stealing her sanity.

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Kathleen woke up, and something in the back of her head, said something was off. She began her normal morning routine, before realizing, when she was getting dressed, that the doll was missing.

Maybe I dreamed it up? She thought to herself. She shrugged, and headed for the door.

---------------------------------------------

Lyra was crying, in the Sensory maintenance room, when Kathleen arrived.

"What's wrong, Lyra?" Kathleen asked, rather worried.

"Commander Skylar said that I was supposed to get my mittens, so I could help him with the structural upgrades to the Docking ports, so we could use the explodey decompression thing, without damaging the Docking struts, but I can't find them. They were right HERE!" Lyra said, while sobbing. "I always hang them up here."

Kathleen quirked an eyebrow. "Lyra, is it possible you-"

"NO! I always hang them up here, and Sirgei watched me hang them up, last night. SOMEONE STOLE MY MITTENS!" Lyra exclaimed. "It was you, wasn't it? You think I'm crazy, and you don't-"

"Lyra, I didn't steal your mittens." Kathleen said.

"Then it must have been scary lady." Lyra said. She wandered off, to go find Jane Atwood.

Kathleen looked around sensor maintenance. There was the soft sound of whispers, as though someone were talking somewhere beyond the door. She was about to go check, when-

"I DIDN'T STEAL YOUR DAMN GLOVES, YOU DAMN SCATTERBRAINED DITZ. GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE, I'M TRYING TO FIX THE MATTER-ANTIMATTER CORE, AND YOU AREN'T ALLOWED NEAR IT!" The sound of Jane Atwood's furious tirade overrode the sound, and Kathleen shook her head.

She quickly ran towards the sound of the yelling, wondering whether or not, today, someone in the Engineering department, would come to blows with Lyra.

I need a psychological examinnation. She thought to herself.
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1st Lieutenant Kathleen Lorrieta
Acting Engineering Officer
&
Lieutenant Jane Atwood
Acting Assistant Chief Engineering Officer
&
Lieutenant Junior Grade Lyra Walsh
Propulsion Specialist

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