Dinner and a Musical

Posted on Tue 9th Apr, 2019 @ 9:32pm by Elizabeth Anderson M.D. & Commander Paul Graves PsyD & Ensign Elizabeth Brennen

1,097 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: A Diplomatic Affair
Location: Elizabeth Anderson's Apartment, Riverwalk Village
Timeline: MD 3, 1900

"I don't see her yet," Damion said to Elizabeth as he peeked out the window, looking for Elizabeth Brennen, who was to join him, Elizabeth, and Daneel for dinner before they all went to see Phantom of the Opera together. "I hope she didn't get lost." Then he caught sight of her on the street below, opened the window, leaned out, and waved. "Liz, we're up here--third floor!" he called out.

Elizabeth Brennen came around a corner in a conservatively elegant black dress with a matching wrap, moving smoothly in minor heels. "I'm not late am I? Took a bit longer than I remembered."

"No, you're not late," he said. "Just take the stairs, and we'll see you in a minute." Now that she was here, he took off his dark gray suit jacket and draped it over the back of Elizabeth's loveseat. His shirt was a dark but shimmering stormy blue color that matched the bands of similar material accenting the jacket.

"Perfect," the doctor said. "Daneel, if you will carry this bowl of mashed potatoes, and Damion, if you'll take the platter of ham, I'll bring the salad and lemonade, and I think we'll be set."

Damion picked up the platter of sliced ham and set it in the center of the table as Daneel brought the mashed potatoes.

As the door chimed, she added, "Computer, allow entry."

"Great, Elizabeth, so nice to have you come!" the counselor welcomed Damion's co-worker. "You look lovely, especially the crystal ear drops. I hope you aren't allergic to anything on the table. There are no nuts, which is the most common allergy even this late in our history. At least it's effects are preventable now," Anderson said, dropping into doctor mode for a moment. Her own short slim-line dress of royal blue silk was enhanced with a chain of small fresh-water pearls she'd bought from a Ferengi shop down the street. They were from Tivoli Gardens, not expensive, but she'd liked them.

"Why don't you sit across from me, here," her hostess told Elizabeth, "and the men can sit across from each other, there," she pointed, "and we can have a nice round-robin discussion while we eat." She checked the table one more time to make sure she'd forgotten nothing.

Elizabeth smiled and took a seat politely. It had been some time since she'd gone out, actually it'd been sometime since she dressed up, too. Her sweat pants got more use than this dress but it was nice to get away from one's computer once in awhile.

"It's a shock seeing you in such different clothing," Damion said to Liz. "It's nice to see a whole different side of you."

Daneel seated himself on the side of the table between the doctor and Liz and smiled at her. "You, I presume are Liz Brennan. I'm Daneel Olivaw, and I agree with the other assessments. You look lovely. I look forward to getting to know at least one side of you this evening."

Brennen smiled politely, she didn't know him well, but enough to know he was an AI. She was terribly curious as to schematics but felt it would be the height of rudeness to ask as she simply erred on the side of cautious and gave him the same consideration she would any other being. "Yes, when I am not being Walsh, that is...." She made a small joke about the undercover nature of the current assignment.

"I wonder why it's called 'round-robin,'" Damion said as he set tumblers filled with ice at each place setting. "Is that how robins chirp, one after another?"

For a moment, Anderson wasn't sure whether he was being serious or not. It was still hard for her to tell when humans were joking, sometimes, even ones she knew as well as Damion. After a few micro-seconds, however, her query to self resolved with When in doubt, treat everything as serious.

"That's a good question," the doctor said. "I'll have to look that up," she winked at Damion, because he knew that was a fast bit of research, in reality. "Maybe it's because they are such fat little birds!" A glance at her table told her everything was ready, so she sat, too.

"As my mother never said," Anderson smiled, "dig in!"

They did. Damion put a slice of butter on his plate and then passed the butter dish and the rolls to Elizabeth, who sat to his right. "What've you been reading lately?" he asked Daneel. "Anything good?"

"Nothing that would interest most people, I expect," he said with a smile, adding potatoes to his plate, and passing the bowl along. "I became interested in the industrial revolution on Earth, and have found quite a good number of sources for information. Instructive to one who is a product of today's technology. Where did we begin? Isn't that a question everyone asks?" He directed the question more toward the doctor than toward Damion.

She nodded, passing the butter and then the rolls on to him. "From earliest man on, I expect that's been the big question, along with 'Why am I here'. Liz, what's your opinion? What are the most basic questions of life?"

Brennen looked up from her tea, "Logically? Food, Shelter and Water." Then she smiled, "When one has the time ... What's this do? Where does this path go? How did this thing form? but my favorite has always been Why." As she recalled bugging her parents constantly with such things along with 'Whys', why is the sky blue, why do Klingons have ridges, why is Earth's gravity 1 g? Why did they judge all planets by Earth gravity? Why, why, why. She thinks they got her into research to save themselves, so she could find her own answers.

"I always favored 'What's for supper?'" Damion muttered to Daneel under his breath and then spoke slightly louder. "For me the big question was, 'Where does the sky end?' When my Dad told me it doesn't, I thought he was daft."

Olivaw set the last serving dish back on the table, and grinned. "We joke: How can you tell a human from everyone else? They'll be the ones asking, 'Why?' I'm afraid I'm picking up that habit more as I'm around you, and soon we'll have no way to tell."

Elizabeth laughed even as a part of her mulled over the fascinating variety of sentient life she got to experience as a member of the 24th century. What a great time to be alive.

 

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