Gone Exploring

Posted on Sat 4th Jan, 2020 @ 1:26am by Elizabeth Anderson M.D.

1,558 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Resolution
Location: Elizabeth Anderson's apartment and Brown Sector, Deck 2445
Timeline: MD -3, 1640

Corin Durant entered the lobby of Dr. Elizabeth Anderson's counseling office and rang the bell. Damion Ildaran might simply call out that he'd arrived, but 'Corin' didn't know her well enough to take those kinds of liberties, and Damion was strict. Once he assumed the persona, it was vital that he maintain the persona in every respect.

"Elizabeth? It's Corin. I'm ready whenever you are," he said into her intercom. The Edinburgh accent was gone, replaced with his accent from Turkana IV. Damion had exchanged his uniform for an oversized brown jacket with the sleeves rolled up, under which he wore a pair of threadbare jeans and a black t-shirt. He'd gone to the replicator for his shoes, a pair of plain, gray slip-ons that were apparently commonplace attire for adult men in Brown Sector. Corin's hair fell slightly past his shoulders, not in his ponytail, for once. It looked perhaps a couple of days overdue for a wash.

"Come on in," Anderson called as she tied the sash on her tunic. "Door's open." Checking in the mirror, she decided she'd made an excellent choice with this outfit, which could become her Brown Sector uniform if she continued with her visits. She walked out into the living room, pinning the last strap on her tunic with what she'd come to think of as her dragon pins. She looked up and stopped where she was.

"Oh, my. I always forget ...." No longer finding it so strange that she'd become accustomed to doing so many things without accessing her database that she could actually say that she "forgot" something, it came natural to her. She shook her head and set a reminder to say Corin instead of Damion. The database did still have its uses. "Well, Corin, you're right on time, and you will fit right in with what I've seen down ship. The fact that the jeans are well worn helps, though they aren't as common as brown work pants." She nodded her approval.
"I'm ready if you are."

"I'll take a look while we're down there and make changes accordingly," Damion--or Corin--said with a nod. "I wonder why they do the straps and sash thing when they could just do a simple tunic and skirt?" He shrugged. "Looks good on you, though a little plainer than you usually wear." His gaze skittered to a stop when he saw her brooches, and his eyes widened. "Are those--your pins look a lot like a design from my home."

"They are. I hope you don't mind?" It occurred to Anderson only now that he - Damion, not Corin - might not be pleased. It was silly to think of Corin as a different person, but he looked subtly different, carried himself differently. She eyed him, trying to figure out exactly what it was that made him appear to be so not-Damion.

"Since I had to have something, I asked the replicator for a design that might be found on Turkana IV. At first I thought they were flowers, but I soon realized they're dragons," she added, looking down at the pins. "I'm very fond of them, for some reason."

"Mind? No, I don't mind at all. I'm delighted, in fact. It's lovely to see them on you--and I mean that as me," Damion said, straightening and breaking character for just this once. He looked directly at Elizabeth and spoke to her without intending to be Corin and without the Edinburgh accent, either. "I'm stunned and touched that you'd think of such a thing, and I'm glad you like them."

Elizabeth felt a mix of emotions, but happy and a little shy came out on top. "I do like them. Very much. I know so little of Turkana IV culture, but these," she touched one of them, "make me feel ... connected, in a subtle and entirely unelectronic way. I'm glad you are pleased to see them."

"They're associated with a family named Tobin; not sure why or what significance the design has to them," Damion said. He shrugged. "Shall we head downstation?"

Elizabeth nodded, and turned for the door. She wondered who the Tobins were, as they waited for the tram. For a moment she let herself be distracted watching others on the tram platform. Tivoli Gardens, and particularly this deck with the village and the River Walk, got a cross-section of the population of SB109. Or she'd always thought so. "You know," she reflected aloud, "I've just realized that I've never seen anyone from Brown Sector up here. At least, no one who stood out as being from those two decks. And isn't that an interesting fact? We have five decks and they have only two."

"I would guess that's because those decks weren't ever meant to be permanent lodgings," Damion said, slipping more into the Corin persona, now that they were out in public. "Originally, it was just one deck. I'd guess the process was meant to be--or should have been--find out what help each family needs, give that help, and then come to a mutually-agreeable plan for where each family could move to permanently and rebuild their lives. Somehow, that process broke down. I suppose we could assign blame, but at this point, I don't see that that would solve anything. The real solution is to look at the current situation, see what the residents want, and build a new process for any future people who come in."

Corin grasped a handrail that led to the tram, as the gravity was reduced enough that an idle foot movement might lift him off the platform. "I've never seen any of them in Tivoli Gardens, unless they're cleaning something. They do hire me out from my shop to fix things they can't repair themselves--like replicators--you have to be licensed to do that. But otherwise, I never see them higher up in the station, even though they're welcome in all of the public areas."

"It's one thing to be welcome, and entirely another to feel welcome," Elizabeth said, sliding along the handrail and into the tram behind Corin. "There are places I don't feel welcome, really, and I'm far more accepted than they are, because so few know who, or rather, what I am. If more people realized, I wouldn't be so welcome. Most species tend to fear what is unfamiliar or not understood." She shrugged, as she slid into a seat. "It may not be right, but it's the way biologicals are created. The unknown is a threat, always."

Corin glanced about and decided that, at this hour, there were too many people close by for him to have the sort of conversation he really wanted to have with Elizabeth on this subject. To him, her human identity was a lot like one of his cover identities, to be preserved at all costs. "Well, I hope I don't ever make you feel that way. You are always welcome, anywhere I am." Corin winked at her. "I'll forgive you for being a shrink." It was best, he thought, to offer some slight misdirection to anyone who might have overheard her use of the word, 'biologicals.'

He leaned back in his seat. "How do you plan to get them to trust you enough to talk to you?" Corin asked.

"Ah, another thing we Earthlings are so good at doing," Elizabeth laughed. "I'm going to use the magic of my stellar personality and empathy." In all honesty, it was something she didn't have an answer for, so hope was her real answer.

"I think if I'm there and I'm willing to listen without criticism or making them feel I'm looking down on them," she shrugged, "they'll be willing. Some of them have to be desperate enough to try a pretty face, don't you think?"

"I love it when a lady knows her strengths," Corin replied. "In that case, I'll tone down the watchdog look and find ways to give you privacy when someone wants to come up to you. People with troubles usually feel more comfortable approaching a person who's alone. I won't go far."

Anderson smiled at him, "And here I thought you just wanted my company." She wondered if Damion knew that Corin was a little different in reality than he was. Corin was a little more brash, a little less polished, still caring, but ... edgier, she supposed might describe the constant sense she had that he was looking for danger to walk up to them. She supposed, from what he'd just said, he must know.

"Wait, are you saying that being pretty is my strength?" she teased him, just to see what he'd say.

"That, along with the magic of your stellar personality and empathy," Corin said with a grin back at her. "That's got to tempt some of them out into the open."

 

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