Green thumbs

Posted on Wed 24th Apr, 2013 @ 7:53am by

1,305 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: http://sb109.sim-station.net/index.php/sim/missions/id/3
Location: Garden
Timeline: TBD

T'scholk casually walked the gardens, for as beautiful as it was, it was difficult to think that it wasn't a luscious planet. He thought back to Earth and the story of the Garden of Eden. The Bajoran roses were as bright as the ones he saw on Bajor, he was even surprised to see Romulan plants. It made him feel truly at home. He was too caught up in it all; he couldn't help but smell every flower or touch every plant that he came in contact with. It made him feel that he was truly on a planet and forget about the computers and metals that made up the station. He even forgot the reason that he came to the gardens.

Although fruits and vegetables were favorite time consumers of Hieronymus Block, he did enjoy the work of trimming flowers. Roses, no matter where they originated, were favorites of his, and today he'd set aside the time to enjoy himself with bringing the rose garden back to perfection. That was why he was completely annoyed to have a Romulan in civilian clothing run himself into his plant cart.

"Hey, keep your feet on the path!" the gardener yelled.

T'scholk looked around in a state of confusion before seeing the gentleman yelling at him. "Oh dear." T'scholk looked and saw his feet in the grass, he quickly moved his feet around to get back onto the path. "My sincerest apologies, I just got caught up at the beauty of this garden."

T'scholk walked over to the man and extended his right hand. "My name is T'scholk, it is a pleasure to meet you. May I ask if you are the gardener?"

"You think I grub in the dirt for my health?" Hieronymus grumbled, ignoring the outstretched hand. "Of course I'm the gardner, the head gardner. What's it to you?" The man turned back to a rose bush and carefully trimmed dead flowers, then switched to a small digging tool an dug around in the dirt at the base of the plant, exposing the knobs on the main stem. He carefully removed the extra dirt and put it in a container on the cart.

"I was actually looking for you and just got caught up in your exceptional skills." T'scholk was pretty used to rude behavior but this gardener seemed to be more on the extreme side. "I was wondering, do you rent plots for residents to use to grow herbs, vegetables and fruit?"

Block stopped what he was doing and hung his arm over a raised knee. "Do I rent plots?" he asked incredulously. "Son, I don't know where you come from, but maybe you should go back there. This ain't no planet, and I ain't no farmer leasing out bits of land. This is a U-nited Federation of Planets starbase." He moved on to the next bush, and shook his head at the foolishness of the Romulan. "Rent plots, indeed," he snorted.

"I understand, Sir. I understand how those could interfere with your operation. I suppose certain plants need a native touch to produce, and who knows it might cross pollinate one of your plants." T'scholk kept his tone even and smiled as he leaned closer to one flower and inhaled its scent. "Would there be another deck to set up a co-op garden that you know know of?"

"Nope. Nary a one," the old curmudgeon snapped. What a bother people were. Why wouldn't the man, this T'Shack person just go away and leave him to his work. He had plenty to do. Then he had an idea. An inspiration really. He chuckled and stood up. "But I know just what you want and where you can get it. Oh, not right away," he said, shrugging. "But down the line a bit. You go talk to that Jade Lantz woman, over to the Orchids place. Now I think she might be able to get you just what you need in about half a year."

He turned his back on the Romulan, pleased with the clever way he'd steered the man away from his garden, his domain. "Yep, you go on, now. You go see that Miss Lantz person." Block knelt down again, his back to the Romulan. Carefully, he began to denude another bush of its deceased flowers.

"Oh, yes Ms. Jade and I already talked. That's why I am here. We are trying to grow fresh items for our restaurants." T'scholk looked at the Romulan sky flower that appeared to be dying. "May I ask what chemicals you are using on that sky flower over there? It seems to be dying of a rare disease. If you use certain pesticides it will actually kill it quicker, not that I am questioning your abilities. I just don't want the disease to spread to your other wonderful plants."

Block took a deep breath, let it out and took another one. It didn't help. His face turned red. He counted to ten. With gritted teeth, he said, "Young man, get out of my garden. Go talk to Miss Lantz about her Tivoli Gardens, or go drown yourself, if you want to make me happy. Just. Go. Away." Who did this Romulan think he was, giving advice to someone who'd been tending gardens since before he was born? "The sky flower is in its recycle stage. There's nothing wrong with it. Come back to see it in a month. Preferably when I'm not here."

His day was spoiled. He was in no mood to clip any more flowers or dig around the roots. The pleasure he'd anticipated for the day was ruined. He began to pick up his tools and put them on the cart.

T'scholk was quiet and allowed the man to have his say. "I apologize for my intrusion. I was under the misunderstanding that the garden was for everyone on the station to enjoy. When it comes to the sky flower I do understand about the recycling stage, the problem is that during that stage the roots do not turn a red like they are doing. I was just hoping to grow some rare herbs that are rare even for your modest collection." T'scholk still had a slight smile to his face.

T'scholk turned and was getting ready to walk away. "I must say, for someone surrounded by beauty you have a prickly personality."

Hieronymus turned back with a snort. "I made the beauty you see here, Sir. I've been on this station, taking care of these gardens for more than 4 decades. There was nothing here when I came, nothing but a grimy hydroponics lab. You want to enjoy it, go right ahead. I never said not to enjoy it. You want to grow rare herbs? You go talk to Miss Jade about land in her dream garden. This garden is not for sale. Good day to you." He trundled off down the path toward the inner core lift that would take him to his potting sheds. Maybe he could still get some pleasure out of the day.

T'scholk couldn't help but wonder if the gardener was a Romulan. He walked toward the sky flower and knelt down to see the root system, he brushed away some of the dirt and saw the roots becoming more red as they went down. "Damn, its a shame, I bet you were beautiful when you were in bloom." He said to the plant as he dug deeper. "Well it looks like it isn't spread completely yet." T'scholk grabbed the root that was red and broke it off. "There we go all better." he filled the hole that he made with the remaining dirt, making sure to look around the corner to see if the gardener was nearby.

 

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