A Discussion of Noir

Posted on Wed 31st May, 2017 @ 6:25am by
Edited on on Wed 15th Aug, 2018 @ 5:17am

805 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Unity Week
Location: Pale Moon Books

Brock had been on the station for two days. Like every knew posting, the first two weeks would be busy, but you had to make time for yourself and Brock had heard about a book store on board. A proper book store, you can't beat the smell of paper.

It took him sometime to locate the Pale Moon Book store even with the help of the computer. He walked into the store and breathed in the smell through his nose while closing his eyes. A small smile began to show on his face and the stress started to leave his body. He was going to like this store.

In the aisle directly in front of the door, a heap of gray fur stirred. A tail flopped, and a pair of eyes opened. Slowly, the pile of fur shook itself out into a gigantic, shaggy hound that stood a couple of meters away, regarding Brock solemnly. From somewhere out of sight, a female voice called, "Be right with you!"

"No rush" Brock took one last intake of breath through his nose and opened his eyes. In front of him what a large hound, and he jumped back in fright. He had not heard a thing.

The hound's tail wagged lazily, twice, and it looked toward the other aisle of the shop. A teenage girl appeared at the top of that aisle, and smiled. "Oh, don't mind Shaggy," the girl said. The dog yawned an enormous yawn full of very sharp teeth. "Is there something I can help you find today, sir?"

"Not at the moment, I have just come to have a look around, I had heard of this shop back on Earth and new that it was going to be one of the first places that I had to visit." Brock hoped that the girl had not seen him jump. After all he is supposed to be a hard, tough security officer.

"You heard of us on Earth?" the girl said, sounding surprised. "Well, I'm Aiko. Holler if you need anything."

"Thanks Aiko, I'm Brock," he smiled at her. "I am just going to look around for now." Brock approached a large book case, but kept a careful eye on Shaggy after all he was a huge dog.

"C'mon, Shaggy. Let's leave the gentleman to his..." The girl trailed off as the bell over the door rang again.

"Aiko, good afternoon." The contralto voice belonged to a woman. She appeared Human, but probably wasn't -- too tall, too impossibly thin. She wore a black velvet skater dress with a halter collar which left her arms and most of her back bare. Or, rather, they would be bare, if not for the otherwise transparent bodysuit that sparkled when the light hit it at the right angle, and the waist-long cascade of silken black hair.

"Hi, Doctor Addams," the girl said. "No Thing today?"

"Dear Thing is feeling like a homebody today," the tall woman answered. She held up a handful of papers. "I'm hosting a Film Noir night for the cultural festival. I wondered if I might post a flyer on your board?"

Brock looked towards the entrance as the bell rang, this was a natural thing for him to do. He always wanted to know who was around him or more importantly what threats. But he was taken back a bit by what he saw. He had heard the girl refer to her as Doctor but she was dressed like no Doctor he had ever known. He could swear that she called her Addams which would make her the Chief Medical Officer, but he felt that he had misheard the girl as he did not think that she was Starfleet and certainly not a senior officer.

Brock continued to stare at the Doctor he was trying to work out if she was a threat? If she was beautiful?

"Sure," Aiko answered, gesturing toward the corkboard near the door. "What are you going to show?"

"I was thinking about starting with Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid," Addams responded, finding a pushpin on the board which wasn't in use. "And perhaps Devil in a Blue Dress."

"Oh, you're sticking to Terranglo?" Aiko inquired, sounding disappointed. "I was hoping you'd show a Suzuki film, or at least a Kurosawa."

Addams made a thoughtful sound. "Tokyo Drifter perhaps? or Kanto Wanderer?"

"My favorite Suzuki film is Branded to Kill," Aiko countered. "It makes absolutely no sense, but it's beautiful!"

Addams chuckled. "Why don't you pick a couple of your favorites, and host a second night of Noir? We can leave the equipment set up, and you can replicate thirty-five millimeter prints of your movies to run on it."

"That sounds like fun!" Aiko enthused. "Thank you, Doctor!"

 

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