The Riddle Of The Sphinx
Posted on Tue Jun 16th, 2015 @ 11:08pm by Niall Sala Ph.D. & Lani Gellar & Commander Adara Gunnar
Mission:
Further Challenges
Location: CoronaTech Offices
* CoronaTech Offices *
Niall was restless and he didn’t like it. The park elevation sat, ignored, on the large computerized drafting screen embedded in the table by the portal. He sat at his desk, his hand laying on top and his fingers tapped its surface. The afternoon in the Arboretum replayed in his thoughts, occupying him far more than colony designs were at the moment. What also distracted him was the fact that Lani had seen him there. He trusted her not to tell anyone but even so…..he frowned a moment, then his thoughts turned once more to the pond, the feel of the water on his bare feet, and the conversation with Robin.
Lani had the feeling that Niall was, at the moment, lucky he didn't work with a bunch of curious telepaths. She hadn't any idea just what he was thinking about, but she could guess it wasn't the park plans. "I'll place the call to Commander Gunnar," she told him, then wondering whether he'd heard her, cleared her throat and added, "Boss? You ready?"
“What?” He looked over to Lani, completely unaware of what she’d just said. He searched his memory to see if it might have lodged there but came up empty. “My apologies, Lani.”
"S'ok. Just said that I'm placing the call to Commander Gunnar," she repeated, even as she did as she said.
A moment later, a brunette with brown eyes appeared on the viewscreen. "Niall, Lani, good to see you two again," she said.
A smile settled on Niall’s face as he focused on the screen. “Adara, you look wonderful. I see the time since I saw you has been agreeable.”
Lani smiled as well, "What he said, Commander."
"Thank you both. The trip has been long and restful and I'm glad it's almost over. How are things at 900?"
“They seem relatively peaceful now, though I understand that we arrived just after a bit of an uproar concerning an Admiral, or I should say ex-admiral now. For our part, life rolls along as normal.” Niall paused, knowing that was a lie. He let the thought drop, however. “We’re calling regarding an addition to the colony layout I wanted to discuss.” He nodded to Lani.
"An addition? Of what kind?" She sounded a bit wary, mostly because she knew the colony's design was already in its fourth edition.
Lani sent the schematic they'd worked on to Adara's console and watched as the woman sat back and turned toward the other screen. "It's a park, with a water feature, walking gardens, a dog run," she said, grinning.
"I can see it's a garden," Adara commented. "What's the orange... Oh, is that an elongated pergola?"
“It is,” Niall answered. He shot Lani a ‘well done’ look over her mention of the dog run. “The pergola will make a good gathering place and the climate on Charu is suitable for a wisteria cover over it. You can see on the schematics the projected landscaping as well. It was modeled after the Arboretum here, which is amazing and sees a lot of traffic. Officers spend so much time indoors, it will be both enjoyable and healthy for them.”
"We'll be on the planet, though... There will be grass or whatever native flora right outside the door. You're not intending that this would be indoors, are you?"
"No, strictly outside. It may be a Federation installation but that doesn’t mean it has to look like a complex of industrial boxes. You remember very well how popular the park was on your previous posting. It even had a certain CO climbing the trees as I recall.”
"Yes, and that park was on the space station," Adara reminded him.
"This park, though, Commander, will be safer than walking through a native garden. I mean, it'll have native plants, but we'll be able to keep out the known dangerous plants, like the flower that causes delusions," Lani piped up.
Adara's left brow rose slightly. "That's a good reason for the park, and one I can sell the admirals on."
‘I’ve sent you the information on that flower that has become known, at least here in the office, as the Malfeasance Flower, after a certain employee of mine.” Niall smiled. “We have a few last details to add to the plan on the park. I expect to send the final draft out tomorrow morning, barring any natural disasters.”
"Then don't worry about sending it till the afternoon. The Captain informed me that we'll be at SB900 tomorrow," Adara informed him. "We can take this to Admiral Wegener together, after I pick up Cody."
"Cody? He isn't with you?" Lani looked concerned.
"The Captain isn't a fan of animals on his ship, so Cody is riding in cargo," the Commander admitted.
“It will be nice to see you both in person again.” Niall paused, a slight frown appearing on his face. The thought of a mutual friend rose, one who’d been through hell not long ago and he was curious. “Now that business is done, tell me, Adara. Have you seen Gaelan recently? How is she?”
"Gaelan is okay, Niall." For such a simple sentence, Adara had chosen her words carefully. The hell Gaelan had been through wasn't public knowledge. "You might know that she has left Fritz?"
That news obviously surprised Niall. “No, I hadn’t heard. Should I be unhappy or glad?”
She shrugged with just one shoulder, "Neutral, perhaps? I've asked Personnel to transfer her to the Colony. Her and Tobin."
Niall glanced at Lani, sure that she would recall Tobin, then looked back to the screen. “Does she know this? About Tobin I mean, not that she’s transferring.”
"Not yet," Adara said, grinning slyly.
“Oh. Good luck with that then.” He hoped that didn’t bite Adara in the ass but it might be what was needed. He smiled once more. “I suppose I will see you tomorrow. Shall I meet you? Spirit you away for dinner to catch up?”
Lani's brows went up but she stayed silent. Indeed, she looked down at her padd so Adara wouldn't see her surprise.
"That would be wonderful, Niall. As soon as I know which dock, I'll comm you. See you then," she closed the comm link.
"Did you just ask her out?" Lani asked her boss point blank.
Niall laughed a bit and shook his head. “Don’t get too excited. She’s a friend that I helped pull out of a dangerous situation once upon a time. Nothing more. She has a husband, or the next best thing to one. He’ll be overseeing medical out on the colony and is a rather unusual man. You may recall Dr. Nighthawk?”
"Ohhh, yeah, I do," Lani nodded. "He's as dreamy as Thor - I mean, Tobin." She coughed, slightly embarrassed.
Niall shook his head and moved away from the comm. “I suppose I should do the last bits on the park. I could have JL do that, though.” he mused.
"I'll tell him he needs to finalize the plans." She stood, smiling. "You just keep daydreaming about whatever. Just watch out for telepaths." Her laugh echoed back into the room as she walked out to see JL and Malcolm. Behind her, Niall was already lost in his daydream once more.
JL looked up as Lani reached the outer office. “What’s the word, hummingbird?”
"Beeswax. As in mind your own," Lani flashed him a grin. "Oh, and that you need to finalize the park plans. Gunnar will be here tomorrow and His Highness is having dinner with her."
“With a real woman?” Malcolm leaned across his desk. “Really? So now I learn he has actual feet and now he’s dining with a woman. What’s going to happen next? Can we go spy on them?”
"You can, if you can find where they're dining. Me? I think that'd be boring." Lani shook her head. "Nope, there are other things I could do. Like watch the grass grow in the Arboretum."
“Ditto,” JL replied, his attention focused on the park design. “Besides, Mal, Gunnar is married or something. And think about it…” he paused as he made an adjustment on the design. “If this was ‘something’, he never would have made it known he was taking her to dinner. He’d sit on it and think about it and never mention it. Right Lani?” he asked, unaware he had just described Niall’s state of mind to a T.
"Correctomundo, JL! She's hooked up with Nighthawk, remember him?"
“I do. He fixed up my ankle when I sprained it...oddly enough in a park.” JL laughed.
Malcolm shrugged. “Oh well, another dead end.” He rose, a padd in his hands. “I need to get this to him and then I can help you on the park JL. Okay to go in there Lani?”
"He was fully dressed when I left him," Lani said. "Go ahead!"
“Oh...good to know.” Malcolm shot her a ‘what the hell’ look then moved on down the hall.
Back in his office, Niall had made reservations for dinner with Adara, then stared at the drawing of the park for several minutes. Finally, he berated himself mentally and decided to stop thinking and start doing. He moved to his comm where he began sending a message. When Malcolm appeared at the door, he was still entering the message.
“Thanks Mal, just leave it on the desk.”
Malcolm did so, then made a hasty retreat. He was silent as he returned to his desk.
"Still clothed?" Lani grinned but didn't look up from her console.
“Yes but absorbed. He didn’t even look from his comm.” Malcolm sat in his chair, then rolled over to JL’s desk. “Something, my friends, is up.”
“Got me,” JL remarked, then he prodded Malcolm and pointed at Lani. The two men sat and stared at her, waiting for her to feel the eyes boring into her.
She did after a moment, mostly because she could see their reflections in a frame on her desk. She shot them a hand gesture. "Not gettin' anything from me, you two."
“A ha!” Malcolm almost shouted. “That means she knows something!”
JL muttered at the outburst. “You’ve done it now, Lani. You won’t have a moment’s peace for the rest of your life.”
"Yes, I will. Mal, get to work helping JL or you'll both be grounded." She playfully glared at Malcolm.
“You heard the woman.” JL smirked. “I don’t want to be grounded.”
“Me either.” Mal rolled closer to the schematic but he looked past JL, studying Lani. Her expression just now rivaled that of the Sphinx. He shook his head and got to work.
******************
Niall Sala Ph.D.
Daydream Believer
Lani Gellar
The Sphinx
Commander Adara Gunnar
The Dog Walker
JL Axin
Malcolm Trent
Behaving...For Now
