Wake-up Call
Posted on Fri Oct 7th, 2011 @ 1:01pm by Cadet Senior Grade Chance Conradi & Commander Oralia Zeferino
Edited on on Fri Oct 7th, 2011 @ 1:11pm
Mission:
In Our Time of Need
Location: Oralia's Quarters
Oralia. An alien whisper prodded at Oralia's consciousness. She groaned and shifted in the bed. There was a reason why she didn't want to face the day. The remnants of sleep protected her from knowing why just yet.
Oralia. This time, the whisper was a bit louder and Oz barely opened her eyes. With a scream, she snapped them wide open and scrambled to get away from the hairy, scary monster staring her down. Even as she realized that said bandersnatch was just Iggy, she fell off the bed and landed with a grunt in a tangle of sheets.
Lying there a moment, she wasn't surprised to see Iggy peer over the edge of the bed at her. "Gee, thanks for the wake-up call."
You will be late for work.
"I don't think the boss will care."
You should have just mated with him and then eaten him. It would have been easier.
Oz lifted her head to look at the spider. "Gods, this is weird." She knew that there was a somewhat logical reason behind Iggy's ability to telepathically speak with her, but it wasn't the sort of thing she was likely to get used to.
Iggy's comment brought back the reason why Oz didn't want to face the day: Connor had left. Connor had left her. How did she move past that? Lying on the floor, she settled back and stared at the ceiling, trying to breathe and blink back tears.
The spider had continued watching Oralia and, through whatever process had let her talk to the human in the first place, could sense the tangle of emotions in the woman. She liked this woman and found herself wishing harm upon the male who had hurt her. She sensed something, turned to look towards the main room of the apartment then said, Someone is coming to see you.
"They'll have to go away, then. I'm taking a sick day."
Again, the spider looked over the edge of the bed at Oralia. But you are not sick.
Rubbing at her eyes, Oz sobbed but caught herself. "You're right. I'm not. And I can't take the day off, I have a missing diplomat to find. Admiral Wegener wouldn't be real pleased if his Chief of Security weren't on the job for this." Still, she stayed on the floor and didn't make a move to get up.
The door chime changed that. It startled her and she looked at the spider, as if ready to accuse Iggy of causing the visitor. She stayed where she was but the chime went off again, then a third time. The fourth time, a thumping joined the chime; Oz knew whoever it was wasn't giving up. She hauled herself off the floor, donned a robe and answered the door. "What?"
"Wow! You got up on the wrong side of the bed! Did I interrupt some morning nookie again?" Chuckling, Chance spoke as he walked into his sister's quarters and he missed the unkempt, bleary-eyed look she had. Glancing around the living room, he picked up on the same signs Oz had the night before: empty spots on the shelves, missing photos on the wall.
Frowning at Oz, he moved towards the bedroom, glanced in and screamed like a little girl. "Oh my god! Oz! What is that thing!?" He danced back towards Oralia.
"Don't call Iggy a thing. She's a spider. She can be a little creepy, but she's also kind of awesome," Oz found herself grinning about the scare Chance had gotten.
"Little? There's nothing little about that... about Iggy!" He looked at her aghast. Doing a little dance, he rubbed his hands up and down his arms and legs. Suddenly he stopped and pinned his sister with a hard look. "What did Connor do?"
In their family, there were few secrets - if the family didn't know all about one of the siblings' business, it was only because the sibling had been out of touch. One reason there were no secrets was that each sibling was quite good at reading the others. "He left, didn't he?"
She didn't need to say anything to confirm that. Sinking onto her couch, she simply nodded and dissolved into tears. Chance was quick to sit next to her and comfort her.
Mug of coffee in one hand and a dark chocolate brownie in the other, Oz leaned back on her couch and blankly stared at an empty space on the opposite wall. Connor had removed whatever piece of art had been in that place. Sighing shakily, she resigned herself to never knowing what had happened here. "I'm going to transfer. Find a no-responsibilities low level security position on some exploration or science vessel and just wander where the ship goes," she announced.
Chance's brows tried to creep upwards as he looked at his sister. It'd been ten minutes since he'd entered her apartment. Somehow, he doubted she was thinking rationally just yet. "Really? Give up the Chief spot here? All because a boy is too stupid to get how wonderful you are."
Sipping her coffee, Oz slid her gaze over to Chance and glared at him. "If I'm so wonderful, he'd have not left me." Her voice hitched on the word 'left'. "Besides, I took the transfer here so I could stay with him." She swallowed hard.
Chance hadn't known that and it rocked him back to hear it from her.
"The Chief's position came later, after I decided to follow him." She mindlessly nibbled at the brownie, eating half of it before speaking again. "Yeah, transfer to a deep space exploration vessel. All female crew... that'd be good."
Now Chance was certain Oz wasn't thinking rationally. "Oz, what Federation vessel is staffed by all females?"
She looked at him but her eyes didn't really focus on him. "I'll find out." Nodding, she added, "Yup, that's what I'll do. Right after we find Kh'ali." She finished the brownie in two bites, licked chocolate off her fingers then downed the rest of her coffee. Standing, she asked him, "You have class to get to?"
"Ah... no... not today."
"Okay, well, I have duty; I'm already late."
"Should you be going in?"
"Why shouldn't I?"
"Oh... well... no reason." Just that the love of your life walked out yesterday with no explanation? If that were me, I'd take a week off, Chance thought to himself.
A thought came back at him: The female of the species is always stronger than the male. Oralia is no exception.
Looking about frantically, Chance saw Iggy under the coffee table, less than a foot from him. He stifled a shriek, poorly, and pulled his feet up onto the couch. "Your spider talks?"
Oz, who had walked several paces away, looked back and saw Iggy as well. "Sort of. There's a crystal on board that seems to ...do something... to her that lets her communicate."
"Oh, that's totally creepy, Oz."
"Yeah, but it's growing on me."
"Shouldn't it be in a cage?"
"Nah. I figure that I'm the only one here and she's not going to hurt me."
"What about me? Or males in general?"
"Huh... well... maybe she would, all things considered. She did tell me I should have eaten Connor. She might be onto something there." Oz wandered away to her bedroom, leaving Chance at Iggy's mercy.
A while later, she emerged and the change was dramatic. The weepy, disheveled, slump-shouldered Oz was now a hard edged, evil green eye glare and ramrod straight backed Chief of Security. Frowning at her brother, she asked, "Haven't you moved since I left the room?"
"No," Chance shook his head; his legs were still scrunched to his chest and Iggy was now directly in front of him on the floor. "Make her go away!"
Oralia laughed and said, "Iggy, c'mon, leave the boy alone." Much to her surprise, Iggy turned and plodded towards her.
"Thank goodness. A well trained spider. Who'd have imagined that?" Chance unfurled his legs and tried to stand up.
"I don't think she'd be so well behaved if that crystal weren't around."
"Let's hope that crystal doesn't leave, then." Chance looked her up and down and recognized the hardness in her. "C'mon, I'll walk with you."
Oz stroked Iggy's back then nodded and left the spider alone in her quarters. "I'm going to transfer," she said as the door closed behind her.
__________________
Oralia Zeferino
and
Chance Conradi
and
Iggy
Alarm Clock Extraordinaire
