Master of Disguise, Part 1

Posted on Sun 24th May, 2020 @ 6:06am by Elizabeth Anderson M.D. & Li Kainon

1,064 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Resolution
Location: Brown Sector
Timeline: MD03 1200

Kainon found the little office space where one of the new clinics was located. It was an unassuming little place, and Kainon remembered the previous owner of the space had been an artist, a painter named Pieve. Pieve had fallen sick and died a month ago, and his husband sold what art he could. Kainon didn't know much about whoever was setting up shop here, other than she was a doctor and a human. According to the gossip nearby, she was a counselor of some kind, which surprised him. They got doctors through here from time to time, but he couldn’t remember the last time they had an actual counselor.

After watching the office for a few minutes from down the passageway, he finally started over. As he approached the door, he looked hesitant, pausing in the doorway. He looked around, as if he were trying to come to a decision, and finally stepped in. “Hello?”

"Come on through," a voice called from the back. A woman walked into view, wiping her hands. She looked up with a smile, her database scanning to find the man's face and give her an idea of who he might be. It returned nothing ... not too surprising considering this was the Brown Sector.

"I'm just doing a little cleaning back here. There seems to be an inordinate amount of stray color on the walls. I've heard an artist lived here, or had a studio, and I can believe it." She tossed the wet toweling into a trash can and came as far as the door. "I'm Dr. Anderson. Are you merely checking out the newcomer, or is there something I can do for you?"

Kainon moved forward into the office space, looking around. It was clear she was still getting moved in, which was good. She wouldn’t need to do much work to move back out. “This is the clinic?” He asked. “You’re a doctor?” He looked back at her. She was a human with blond hair, and she almost seemed to radiate calm. “What kind of doctor?”

"This is the clinic," Anderson confirmed, leaning against the door and wondering about the man. He seemed to carry authority like a man used to it, but then why didn't his face come up in the database? She sent another query, but there was no match. Interesting.

"I'm a counselor, Dr. Elizabeth Anderson. Used to be called psychologist in some cultures. I've already held one Saturday clinic, and I hope to do another one tomorrow afternoon. We had a little difficulty with the air recycler the first time, but a friend who works with small machines came down and fixed it last night. Corin Durant. Are you acquainted with him?"

"I've heard the name," Kainon said. "But I've never met him. A lot of people come and go through here. We've been getting a lot more lately, though. Used to be we were our own little secret place here. So you help people with the head, right?" He tapped his own temple. There was something almost unnervingly still about her, but he couldn't place his finger on it.

She smiled as she answered, "That's one way of putting it. Sometimes," she shrugged, "it turns out not to be in the head at all. Could be an internal imbalance in anything from diet to hormones. Mostly, I listen, ask a few questions. People are pretty good about discovering what the problem is if they have a little guidance."

She observed him for a moment, debating whether to offer him a seat. She didn't want him to think she believed he had a problem, though, so she'd wait him out a little longer. "You sound almost as if you miss the days of being a secret place where no one came to see you."

Kainon smiled at that and gave a shrug. Newcomers in his experience weren’t always a good thing. “Well, I’ll tell you, doc, the more people know about a place, the less a place knows about people. You know what I mean?”

"Hmm, I think so," Elizabeth said. Her sensors still measured numbers that, in her experience, meant negative emotions. "You have a small, closed society down here. You know all the ins and outs of it. Each part works the way it's expected to ... until there's an outside force introduced, such as strangers from the upper decks. There's no telling how your society will be affected - or that there will only be one effect."

She hadn't known there were people in charge in the Brown Sector, though it made sense that the residents would have chosen someone to interact with Starfleet. Was this man someone like that? "Things could easily spiral out of control ... out of your control, specifically. Are you officially responsible for the people down here?"

Kainon smiled at that. She was already trying to feel him out. She was good, he had to give her that. “If Starfleet up top found out that an independent government formed down here, do you think they’d let that go on? This is a Federation military installation, no matter how many civilians might be living on it, Starfleet is in charge. Maybe I’ve just got a head full of bad memories and I need some help.”

Anderson smiled, noting that he hadn't actually answered her question. Or maybe he had, in a round about way. "Wanna come in and lie down on my couch to tell me about it?" she offered, not expecting him to take her up on it. He probably did have a head full of bad memories, but was he likely to ask for her help? Why else was he here, then? Checking up on her, that was definitely part of it.

"I happen to be running a special today. Counseling with a side of cookies and mint tea, if you're interested," she offered in a different way.

“I do like cookies,” Kainon said, following her gesture inside. “I never did like tea very much, though. My mother always had tea. Never understood why.” He followed her deeper in, looking at everything with careful consideration. It was a professional space, so there was only so much to be gleaned, but he still knew it was important to pay attention to the details.

 

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