A Moonlight Sonata For Two

Posted on Thu 4th Oct, 2018 @ 9:45pm by Lieutenant Damion Ildaran & Elizabeth Anderson M.D.

1,280 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Oblivion
Location: Tivoli Gardens
Timeline: MD 2, 2110

As Damion and Elizabeth exited River Falls Inn, she took his hand again, hoping she wasn't being too bold this evening, and asked, "Shall we stay here and walk the River Walk, or perhaps go over the bridge and walk in the neighborhoods up the hill? Or shall we go up two decks and walk the forest paths?"

"Let's see what the neighborhoods are like," Damion said. "It'll probably be quieter there than on the Riverwalk. I want to visit the forest, too, but somehow, going up to it in the turbolift doesn't suit my mood right now."

Elizabeth nodded, and they walked toward the bridge that crossed over the river. Most of the River Walk carts were closed up tight, while the last few were shutting down and soon would be. Not many people were still wandering, though the pub was open and the door occasionally let light out as someone left. Streetlights, mimicking lanterns of half a millennium before, dimly lit the streets of the village. The bridge that overlooked the river and ran along side it over the creek nearby held strings of brighter white lights, but they were below the top of the stone railing, facing the river.

"It's sort of funny that the rest of the base runs on a three-shift rotation, but here it doesn't. If we were on a planet, I would think this is a small town where people go to bed with the sun. Even the apartments like mine, over businesses, are mostly dark now. Does that seem as strange to you as it does to me?"

"Sort of," Damion agreed. "Back home, most things don't need constant coverage, except for security and power. The more energy we can save, the better, so most of us do sleep at regular times, even though we don't have the actual sun to guide us."

"That's right, underground," Anderson 'remembered' as she accessed what she knew of Damion's home planet. "I don't suppose you walked the neighborhoods much there, if at all. Really, do you have neighborhoods? I have a hard time putting together a picture of Turkana IV, since it's so different from what I know." They meandered over the bridge to the other side, stopping to watch for a moment as one of the paddle boats, Walt or Willie, pulled into the lighted dock. Apparently, it was the last ride of the night, as once the twenty or so passengers dispersed, the boat shut down.

"Turkana City is shaped like a large, square-based pyramid," Damion said. "There was an effort at one time to split it neatly in half, with the Coalition folk living on one side and the Alliance folk on the other, but nothing is ever neat or well defined at home. Even with the proximity detectors there are still skirmishes, which mean chunks of cubic meters where inroads have been made by the two sides into the other's territory. So you have to know where you're going. What passes for neighborhoods down there is primarily the living quarters section and whatever living spaces people have carved out for themselves as the population has fluctuated. Sometimes you have families living in those; sometimes you have gangs, who have to be routed out."

Turning to Damion, as they began walking toward the end of the bridge again, Elizabeth asked, "How about rivers? Do you have underground rivers near your home?"

"I don't know about underground rivers, but we do have above-ground ones--a lot of them, in fact. They connect the four inland seas. That's another reason I'd like to go back home someday--to explore the place. Turkana City's pretty much the only city, but there are villages scattered about. I've seen them on maps. I'd like to know if they still exist and how they're faring."

He paused as they came to a different part of the River Village. "Huh. This looks like Edinburgh cobblestone, like you see in the Old Town," he said with a glance at the street they walked on. "Haven't seen that in a while. Even the houses look different from the area you live in--more... What is it called? More Tudory."

Elizabeth did a lightning fast check of the database. "Maybe, but it might be Queen Anne. Both are big and have gables. Tudor has those strips of wood across the fronts of parts of the upper floors, or sometimes just a steeper gable, while Queen Anne is more likely to have rounded tower sections and ... well, it doesn't make any sense to me, but the database says 'gingerbread'. I guess that's a decorative something." She didn't bother to look it up. "And maybe these houses aren't truly of either origin, but something in between."

Anderson looked at the ones they walked past, all of which had lovely gardens. They turned down another street, this time looking definitely like what she'd seen of Queen Anne homes in the database. "I never thought about living in a house, on a base or a planet. I never even imagined the apartment I have now, over the business. Can you picture yourself living in something like one of these?"

Damion shook his head. "I'm not used to having so much space," he said. "This plot of land alone could house 20-30 people, possibly more." He glanced at Elizabeth. "Speaking of space, I'm curious--Were you always autonomous from Sickbay, or did they decide at some point to give you the self-contained transmitter?"

Smiling, Elizabeth said, "That's a funny thing for you to ask, after all the months we've known each other. I was made to be autonomous. All the Mark IV models were. On reflection, I don't think they expected us to be able to be quite so independent. They didn't realize they were programming us to be able to grow. At least, I don't think they did. It's hard to be sure. I knew a number of the scientists involved with developing our model, and some of them seemed to forget the original objectives of the project, and got carried away with extending our abilities to see just how far we could go." She glanced at him, seeing the artificial moon over his shoulder, and appreciating it as something that would make biological forms, especially those from Earth, feel natural and comfortable.

"That's where the greatest innovations come from, though," Damion said as they walked. Overhead, birds chirped, a quality that always startled him. Who expected to ever hear birds on a starbase? "Great innovations come from that feeling of being carried away by something. Maybe that's why you are what you are--because passion and drive and love of the work for its own sake is what fueled your creation, not strictly following the project objectives."

"Do you know any scientists? If you do, you'll understand what I mean. They tend to get carried away with the research, and they forget the project guidelines." She wondered if she should share the research she had done on other Mark IVs.

"Mm...I knew cadets at the Academy who were headed for postings in the sciences," Damion said. "I can't say I've ever met the sort who stay in a lab all day."

"You aren't missing much," the counselor said dismissively. Far in the background, the sound of the falls lingered on the night air, and somewhere, a chorus of robins competed with another of blackbird singers. Elizabeth stopped and listened, enchanted by the alternating songs. "Isn't that amazing?" Her shining, happy eyes turned to meet Damion's. "Each group is so clear and distinct and beautiful! I love Tivoli Gardens!"

https://www.bto.org/about-birds/bird-id/bto-bird-id-nightingale-and-other-night-singers

 

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