Repetition

Posted on Sun 4th Dec, 2016 @ 5:12am by

863 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Murder on the Silent Night Express
Location: Interrogation room, Starbase Vanguard
Timeline: MD 2 1147

Blank walls, blank floor and ceiling. The lights were a harsh white. A single unadorned metal desk, two crude chairs on opposite ends. Armored doors, designed to be magnetically sealed, if her eye for technical details hadn't failed her. It was uniformly dull and uninteresting. Angel decided she didn't like the room.

The officer, gold shirt of Starfleet Security with the single dot of an Ensign on the collar, seemed to blend into his surroundings. An average face on a roughly average-sized frame, not particularly packed with muscle, but not lacking in definition. Polite, but distant. His gesticulation minimal, his expressions barely perceptible. He was about as exciting as the wall. Angel decided she didn't like the officer either. She'd liked the security guard she'd been assigned, that one had been fun, even if she had been a bit of a nervous wreck, but a real diamond in the rough. This one didn't seem like a diamond, more a lump of coal. He'd introduced himself, but Angel hadn't been paying much attention, his voice and vernacular was enough to lull people to sleep. Angel decided to call him Ensign Bore - becasue he seemed to be one.

"We just need to go over some details." Ensign Bore stated dully, "Your statements are on record, but we like to be thorough. What was your relationship with the victim?"
Angel released an annoyed sigh - it was a question that had been asked, for the record - it was like Ensign Bore either couldn't be bothered to look it up or was just boring enough to be tasked with the endless regurtitation of the same questions midnlessly, "We had been in a relationship for three years. It ended recently - after I found out he'd been cheating on me with my own sister."
"I see. I take it the breakup didn't go well, then." Ensign Bore beleaboured the point, "There was a record of a fight between the two of you."
Angel offered a wan smile, "Just one? I suppose the first fight was the loudest. Perhaps making a scene on the bridge wasn't the smartest idea, but I had been very, very angry at the time." the smile blossomed into a full, happy one, "Of course, in retrospect, it was the best thing to happen to me. The first time I felt anything in that relationship in years. I didn't know how liberating it would be, casting off the chains of the past ..."
"Yes, the fight was not the only incident to involve the two of you ..." Ensign Bore droned, "There were numerous incidents of irregularities in the system. And sudden shift alterations. It seemed your spat was mutual."
"I suppose it was childish." Angel shrugged, "I'm reasonably certain I started it - Kris always had been ... stubborn, I suppose. His word always had to be the last. I suppose I enjoyed watching him lose his temper when the computer systems refused to cooperate."
"According to the records, you worked the same shift on the day of the murder. Did you see the victim after the end of the shift?" Ensign Bore bothered on and on, "And where were you at the time of the murder?"
"I hadn't seen him after the end of the shift, no. We didn't spend much time together, I wanted neither hide nor hair of him and he did suspect it was me behind all those incidents, even if he never could prove anything. Drove him up the wall." Angel's smile was as smug as could be, "As for me, I went back to my quarters and watched this holo-recording of a human play. Medea, I think the name was. Either the main character or the play. I wanted to become acquainted with human culture."
"You are a computer systems engineer ..." Ensign Bore didn't even bother to look up from the PADD in front of him, reading - like one of those annoying, boring professors, "It would be well within your capabilities to alter records."
"Of course - I'd be able to do it even without having worked with those systems for years on end. I know them inside and out." Irreverently, Angel added, "Was there a question there?"
"Back to your studies of human culture: I see you've arranged for a transfer to another ship." Ensign Bore's voice bored into Angel's skull like a drill, "After the initial incident."
"I decided I wanted a change. I'd fallen into a rut after all those years. Something new, that would allow me to sever all ties to the past."
"I see." Ensign Bore's tone was a dull monotone, "That will be all for today. Thank you, technician Cranberry, that will be all for now. You're free to go."

Without waiting for any further prompting, Angel rose and practically skipped to the door. She didn't so much as bother ackowledging Ensign Bore. It was time for shore leave, something to actually look forward to for the first time in years. Oh, there'd be watchers, but that could hardly bother her or dim her mood - it was time for Angel Cranberry to enjoy herself and sever all ties with her past.

 

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