Laika

Posted on Wed 14th Aug, 2019 @ 8:18am by Lieutenant JG Artyom Mikhailov & Commander Jasmine Collins-Keller

3,281 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: A Diplomatic Affair
Location: Promenade, Deck 586
Timeline: MD 3: 1100-1200

It had been almost two weeks since Artyom had come to Starbase 109 with young Matthew in tow. For a time, the Russian had been very uncertain as to how he should have felt about being saved by those aboard the Federation starship Vestavia. On one side, it meant no longer relying on alien vegetation for sustenance, and that Matthew could actually have a life outside of his father.

On the other side of that equation, however, Artyom was internally reeling from not having his son beside him any longer. For the first 2 1/2 years of Matthew's life, it didn't matter where Artyom was or what he was doing. His son was always next to him so Artyom could keep an eye on him. This was made easier, of course, when Matthew learned how to walk. But Artyom never took his son for granted or wished to be alone from him. Not after losing Rees.

Artyom felt as though their time apart was his fault, seeing as how he'd neglected to give up Starfleet once it was made clear that his commission was waiting for him. In the honest truth, Artyom simply hadn't known at the time what he was going to do… and sit simply felt easier to transition back into something he'd already know. What he didn't realize until days after was just how little he would have with his son afterward.

"Ok, young boy. It's time to choose." Artyom said as he let Matthew hold his hand while they walked down the promenade to a strange and noisy little shop. Artyom had decided to buy Matthew a gift… a puppy, in fact. It was of course not a real puppy, but there was a shop that specialized in holographic ones made to appear playful and yet not-quite-a-real so that the young ones weren't overly confused.

In the shop, no fewer than two-dozen holographic cats and animals parading around or playfully toying with their prospective owners. Each, as the advertisement had suggested, was embodied with a randomized algorithm so that no two animals behaved or appeared the same, while aggressiveness beyond a playful growl or snarl had been entirely deprecated out of their programming.

A few came right up to Artyom and Matthew, and uncertain of what to do with the small creatures, the boy clung tightly to his father's leg while they proceeded to sniff and lick him. Artyom nudged him forward. "It's ok, Matthew. They are nice animals."
"Nice animals?" Matthew looked up at his father looking for an affirmation of that description. Artyom nodded again. Matthew proceeded to smile and then knelt down to pet one of the puppies; this one appeared to be a cross between a German Shepard and a brindled Boxer. It was cute and adorable with one ear flopping to the side, a brindle patterned coating that extended across most of its body except for the belly which was white. The face was black up to the snout and eyes, at which point the brindle took over in full splendor.

It barked playfully at Matthew, who laughed and giggled.

"I choose." He stabbed a finger excitedly at the pup who backed away with a small whimper.

"Careful, Matthew." Artyom knelt down and helped Matthew learn how to gently reach for the puppy so it could sniff him. He wasn't even sure if any of this was actually required seeing as how they were holographic. "You need to be gentle." Matthew took the lesson and carefully pet the puppy while observing the other children for how to.

"Is this the one you want?" Artyom asked, laughing. "That was not much for shopping, I think."

"This one." Matthew repeated. Artyom nodded. "What shall we call him?" "Umm.…" Matthew thought for a moment, putting one hand at his chin while the dog excitedly licked his other hand. "Laika."

Artyom almost laughed again. Of course he'd shown Matthew what dogs were about an hour earlier… starting with the famous space dog from Earth's history. "You sure?" He asked, not wanting Matthew to feel like he wasn't on board with it.

"I'm sure."

"Ok then." Artyom acknowledged. "Let's go buy Laika." He looked up towards the clerk's desk where a teenaged Andorian girl was checking another happy customer out. Laika happily followed them over to her where Artyom pulled out a rarely-used credit chit to pay for the program. While Artyom paid, Matthew continued to laugh and giggle as Laika licked him. The joy in Matthew's little laughs made the Russian single-father smile, feeling as though he'd finally gotten something right with this son after these past few days.


******

With Teagan off to school and no shift for herself today, Jasmine decided that Leilani needed a change of scenery from their home. She'd dressed her daughter and packed a bag for the day and thought she'd take Lani to the parks and maybe enjoy a picnic lunch. Granted, it was more for Jasmine than for the one-year-old, but she was sure the little one would enjoy testing her new walking skills at the park. Her running skills were being tested daily.

"Come on little one, let's go see some nature." Jasmine lifted the child into her stroller and the pair head out. Oscar padded beside them. He was there to protect his woman and his girl from the dangers that they might encounter. "Maybe we'll stop by and see Uncle Wyatt and Maia."


As Artyom and Matthew emerged from the shop, the youngest of the two had devolved into a hot mess of tears and snot. The cause was his holographic dog, of course, which had de-materialized after the clerk had pulled its emitter. According to her, the emitters had a small power cell that was able of lasting about an hour for whenever a walk was necessary, but Artyom had hoped to wait until he could install it in their quarters. That being said, this was becoming less likely an option.

"Laika gone, daddy!" Matthew more cried than shouted.

Artyom rolled his eyes, although he felt bad for Matthew's misunderstanding of what had happened. He reached into his bag and pulled out the small emitter which looked more like a futuristic screwdriver, and held it in front of Matthew. "Laika is in here. He's resting. He'll come out when we get home."

Granted, the argument that a dog was somehow magically contained within a small metal object would have been hard for anyone to swallow if they didn't know any better. Matthew's skeptical look said everything, so Artyom thumbed at the activator and a electric-colored shimmer of light materialized before coalescing into the form of a very happy Laika.

Matthew screamed with a grin and ran towards his new puppy, hugging the dog enthusiastically. The projectors strength was limited as Matthew's arms literally wrapped into the dog in some parts where he'd squeezed too tightly, but the boy didn't seem to mind.

"See?" Artyom asked rhetorically as they continued walking.

While at a couples dinner the other night, Maia had asked when she could see Lani again so Jasmine headed in that direction with the stroller.

Artyom got more excited as he ran alongside Laika... or was it the other way around? Artyom couldn't tell who was leading who, but the smile on his face disappeared once he realized that Matthew was making a bee-line for a woman and her own child. At first, he was more worried about what kind of impact Laika, being a dog, would have... Then recalled that Laika wasn't even real and would likely pass through the stroller at this range. Matthew, however...

"Matthew, look out!" Artyom called out, although he was too far to stop Matthew directly. In his enjoyment of watching his son be happy, he'd let too much distance pass between them. Artyom couldn't have even been sure if Matthew had noticed the woman and her stroller by the time he turned and realized he was about to crash into them. His stride turned awkward like an almost three-year old who didn't quite know how to stop on a dime, and he managed to fall in front of them using his hands to soften the impact.

Nonetheless, he was well into crying by the time Artyom reached him and picked him up. The boy's hands were stuffed slightly on the flooring, but he'd avoided hitting his head... or the stroller. "Matthew, are you ok?" Artyom asked as Matthew, still sobbing, buried his head in his father's shoulder. Artyom looked up to the woman. "I am very sorry... I let him get too far from me."

Laika seemed to take up a stationary position next to them, looking at both Artyom and Matthew curiously. Artyom went to turn him off, but realized that the emitter was now buried somewhere between him and Matthew.

Oscar sniffed around the holographic dog not quite able to figure out what it was.

Jasmine stopped and moved to the man with the boy. "Oh, don't be sorry. Is he okay? I didn't see him until it was too late." Jasmine was quick to grab a wipe from her bag and offer it to the man. "Here, you can wipe his hands with this."

Artyom took the wipe graciously. "I am sure he is fine. Thank you." By this time, the crying had started subsiding into quiet sobbing, and Artyom presumed that Matthew had been more surprised by the fall than anything else. For now, however, Artyom let Matthew continue to rest his head on his shoulder until he was ready to come out and start interacting with the world again. In the meantime, he regarded the woman in front of him. Given that this was a Starbase with a mixed population of Starfleet and civilians, it was difficult to tell who was which. Tucking the emitter into his pocket, he extended his free hand out. "Not the best way of introductions, I suppose, but I'm Artyom." He said, trying to be friendly in light of it all.

"Jasmine... Jasmine Collins-Kellar." She took the offered hand. "I'm the Chief Science Officer here on the station. This is Leilani, my daughter. And the fuzz ball is Oscar." She was sure to introduce him as well. "He's a support dog, very smart and very friendly." She inclined to the boy on the man's shoulder. "And the little one?"

There was that odd feeling again which Artyom had been getting quite often these days. Until his commissioning, he'd the grizzled non-commissioned officer whom the most junior officer would either attempt to lord over or respect the experience that came with those chevrons. Now he was a junior officer himself, and an old one at that. Jasmine... er... Commander Collins... hardly looked older than thirty. Artyom nuzzled Matthew so he'd have no choice but to peek out. "This is Matthew." Artyom then looked down to Leilana... or at least the stroller in which Leilana resided. "Hello." Artyom said, making a strange face that he wasn't sure came out as funny or just plain creepy.

"I'm also an Empath and I apologize, but, Is everything okay? You seem a little, I don't know, frustrated or frazzled. Something just doesn't seem quite right." She looked at the man with a smile. "But my name is Jasmine, not Commander. She rolled her eyes. "I never put much stock into ranks and frankly, I think they exist to separate equals.

The statement caught Artyom completely off guard, and it took a few moments of standing with a generally blank-expression before his brain managed to kick itself back into gear. An odd feeling came up, like when criminals exhibited gladness after they were caught. With everything going on, perhaps all that Artyom needed... Or wanted... was a chance to get something out. But what? "It's been a strange few weeks, that's all." Artyom admitted. "For a long time, it was just Matthew and me. Now we are here. He gets to grow up like little boys should with a community surrounding him, and I get to return to my career." Artyom shrugged with a small and somewhat forced smile. "While I would never wish for things to go back to the way they were... Sometimes I feel that he is adjusting to this new world better than I am in returning to it."

"If I might..." Jasmine stopped for a moment and wondered how to broach the subject as they stood there with their children. "I may understand a little bit of where you're coming from." She smiled. "Can we take a seat?" She pointed to an area off the path where an empty bench sat empty. "Over there out of the way. I was isolated from the world for a very long time, but for different reasons." She then apologized. "I'm sorry. I sometimes forget to turn my 'mind' off."

Artyom had already begun to follow her guidance with Matthew still in tow against his shoulder. They took a seat at the bench she had indicated, and although he had no idea what she was going to say next, had already imagined several possibilities. It was something he did fairly regularly when walking into an unknown situation, he tried to... in effect... over-prepare. More often than not, the conversation rarely went how he'd expect or even fall under the same topic, but it never stopped his brain from doing its own thing. "It is ok, I think." Artyom answered her apology for what some might consider an emphatic intrusion. Artyom's experiences with telepaths or empaths was relatively brief, but he'd never felt uncomfortable being around one.

As they settled into the bench, Matthew slid down of Artyom's lap and started exploring a nearby tree that was well within Artyom's eye-sight as well as being easily reachable, so he let him go.

"As a child, I was kidnapped because of who my father was." She explained. "I wasn't harmed, but the experience was traumatic for me and even more so for my parents." She told the man. "I don't talk about it often but after that, my mother pretty much made me a prisoner in our home. I was isolated from the world. The only people I interacted with were my tutor, my parents, and my brother and sister."

The confession came from the side of what Artyom had been expecting, and he genuinely felt for the woman. While his own circumstances on that alien world had been difficult to bear, he couldn't imagine going through what she experienced as a child. Instinctively, even at the mention of kidnapping, he made sure that Matthew remained in the corner of his eye at all times. It was unlikely for something like that to occur on this station, but nevertheless, Artyom wouldn't allow that chance. "I am sorry. That must have been difficult." He admitted to Jasmine. "Particularly as a child."

"Thank you" She smiled and touched the man's hand. "It was difficult. But what was more difficult was the change after I grew up." She smiled. "That's why I know what you're feeling." She paused a moment. "You and Matthew were alone for such a long time. It's got to be hard to adjust to being around people, Matthew interacting with other people," She sighed. "Just leaving him in daycare to work has to be excruciating...for both of you." She lifted Lala from the stroller and set her down to play next to them. "My case was unique in that my experience was traumatic. IF I hadn't had Oscar and now Adam, I might still be cowering in my quarters, afraid to walk to my office." She smiled. "I just want you to know that you aren't alone."

The smile was infectious, and was something that Artyom realized he'd been missing. Of course, nothing could beat Matthew's smile, although Rees's had a tendency to come close. But a smile, even from a complete stranger, helped to remind Artyom that he was glad to have returned to a community such as this... even though it forced him to miss his time with his son. Just as happy as Artyom was for Matthew to be able to grow up with others, Artyom was beginning to realize that he wasn't isolated, either. Or at least, he didn't need to be isolated. The touch of warmth from her hand likewise felt like an unfamiliar albeit greatly missed sensation. For a brief moment, Artyom was reminded of such a random occasion when Rees had done so. It was completely random, like one of those memories that never felt too important until now.

"Thank you." He looked over to Matthew who seemed to be well entertained by spinning himself in circles around a tree as Laika mimicked his actions, while Artyom hoped not to not reminisce too heavily on Rees's absence. The fact that they had never been particularly close or even friendly until the crash, and that things had only happened due to a mutual realization that escape was likely to be impossible, had still made it hard for Artyom to know exactly how he should have felt for her... or how she felt for him.

"Matthew was something of a happy accident," he started, opting to follow her lead on the sharing of one's personal history. "His mother is... gone. She and I barely knew each other before our crash, and I suppose you could say the only reason things happened was because I was literally the last man alive on the planet. To this day, I don't know what we would have become to one another were she still alive, but as I look at my son, all I know is that I could never imagine my life without him. He was..." Artyom paused for a moment, remembering something he had once forgotten again. "Well, he is the reason I am still here today. Otherwise, I..."

Artyom decided not to finish that sentence as he knew it would have brought up a strongly unwanted memory.

"I miss our time together, and having him always look up to me. Now he goes off to school while I work, and sometimes I don't even get to see him until just before he goes to sleep. But he gets to live a normal life now and make friends." Artyom said, realizing more and more that while Matthew was moving on, Artyom wasn't. He'd filled his time between work and being a father, but that was about it. In fact, other than a few random encounters like this, Artyom wasn't sure if there was anybody on the station he'd actually gotten to know. He didn't know how to express that realization without it either appearing as sudden, so he let the realization sit in his own head for a small time.

Jasmine smiled. "I can't begin to understand what your relationship is with your son. He's happy and smart and active. I think you're doing great raising him. But now you need to put some attention on yourself." She sighed. "Believe me, I know how much easier that is to say than do. But remember, a happy, healthy papa makes for a happy, healthy, well adjusted child."

Artyom nodded again. "Perhaps you are right."

"Listen, I have to get going. Lani is only calm and quiet for so long and I need to take advantage of that time." Jasmine smiled. "I should really say good bye for now. But if you ever just want to talk or sit at the park with the children, feel free to call on me." She stood to leave. "Don't think that you have to do this alone."

 

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