STF

Labs Sweet Labs - Science Labs

Posted March 14, 2021, 7:53 p.m. by Lieutenant Christopher Robins (Stellar Cartographer) (Steven Sigle)

Posted by Lieutenant Oliver Loughty (Acting Chief Science Officer) in Labs Sweet Labs - Science Labs

Posted by Lieutenant Alexandra Robins (Xenobiologist) in Labs Sweet Labs - Science Labs

Posted by Lieutenant Oliver Loughty (Acting Chief Science Officer) in Labs Sweet Labs - Science Labs
Posted by… suppressed (13) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Olly had been on the ship for all of a few hours and he’d already dropped of his things in his old room, untouched thankfully and made his way to the Labs. It was starting to get late and most of the science technicians had retired from their duty shifts and gone to bed or a late dinner. Fortunately there was only a Skelton crew, usually on call during gamma shift which meant the science department always was envied when it came to the duty roster.

He was sat down in his office, the plant Revna had given him once wilted but not dead atleast unlike his chances of getting back in her good books. He had yet to even tell her he was back on board having left her nothing but a note and sorry explanations to why he was leaving. He wasn’t looking forward to the conversation.

“Computer play Loughty Beta four” and music instantly began to play in the form of some soft mellow piano keys. Olly began to play an imaginary piano with his eyes closed.

  • Lt Oliver Loughty

Hearing the music coming from the sciences department’s command offices Lexi stood up from her terminal and listened to the sounds of the piano drifting across the room. She had heard they were getting a new science chief for the interim but was unsure who exactly was replacing Kai while he was on sabbatical. Standing up from her console, she looked across the darkened room to the one office that had a light on. The music was clearly coming from there. Looking at her vine sample, Lexi let out a contented sigh that at least it was not reacting to the music like the goo did. If they brought another exploding item onto the ship someone with pips with put Lexi and Kai would we gormander food.

Moving to the replicator, Lexi grabbed two cups of coffee and headed towards the office. Now was as good a time as any to say hello. Reaching the door way Lexi smiled seeing the lieutenant lost in the music. She watched him smiling. Lexi loved when people did not realize they were in public. Thier true nature tended to shine brightly and her new boss’ nature screamed nothing but easy going and fun.

“Hello,” she said softly announcing her presence.

Lt. Lexi Robins science

Opening his eyes Olly could see a woman standing in his doorway and he smiled “Computer Lower volume” and the music grew quieter so that it could be heard but wouldn’t disrupt a conversation. “Hello to you too Lieutenant” He clicked his fingers trying to recall the name he had read in his assignment order and ships brief Kelly had given him. “Ro… Roberts… Dont tell me, I’ll get it” He Stopped and smiled.

Lexi set the cups of coffee on the small table next to her with a grin. Raising a finger she indicated she began the universal signs for charades. Laying two fingers on her arm she shared it was the giving him a hint on the second syllable. Tapping her ear she gave the clue for sounds like and picked up the wilted plant in the tin pot and tapped the side.

“Lieutenant Robins, Xenobiolgist! Its good to meet you. I hope the music didn’t disturb you” He stood up and moved around to the other side of his desk holding out his hand to greet the woman but then noticed the two cups of coffee.

  • Lt Oliver Loughty

“No,” she picked up the coffee and moved into the office more, ” but I am hoping your sabbatical was on botany. Give this thing some water. It’s fighting for its very survival.” It had been a while since she had seen Loughty. He had been around a few months ago but rumor was his expertise was needed for another project. “It’s nice to have you back sir,” she took a seat in one of the chairs in his office sliding one of the coffees forward. “I didn’t know how you take it so I went with black.”

He smiled, he could drink coffee black but did enjoy it with some sugar and cream. “I love it black thankyou” He lied trying to keep face and not make her feel as if though she had done anything wrong. “Its honestly good to be back, travelling from pillar to post on small ships filled with the top scientist can be very taxing but none-the-less I think Starfleet’s science candidates will be met”

Taking a sip Lexi let out a half laugh. “Just so you know you have been the talk of the science department since you left.”

He paused sipping his drink and raised an I brow, “Oh this ought to be golden, please explain” He finished his sip and placed the extremely strong coffee on his table.

“The top rumors have been you were abducted by an Orion spy ring during a rather adventurous shore leave on Orion because you have invented a new weapon. The other was that the Romulans grabbed you because you discovered a prototype energy that got rid of dilithium changing the way we travel in space. The final one,” she ticked off her third finger, “was that you were promoted and now have a ship of your own,” she rolled her hand as if continuing a theme, “that is involved in clandestine activities. Seems all the rumors revolve around Loughty..Lt. Oliver Loughty,” she spoke in a James Bond accent.

“I mean kudos for creativity, I quiet like to think as myself as a clandestine individual a spy would look good on my resume” He pretended to think by scratching his chin. “Romulan prisons dont sound so fun and I dont think i’d come out looking this handsome if I’d been there, I think if I was to choose one I’d go with Orion Spy ring, I do find something about their complexion…” he waved it way, “Nope just boring old academy lectures and recruiting no funny business here.”

“So when you walk in tomorrow when everyone is here and they are whispering…that’s why.” Lexi barely knew the Lt the last time he was here. She and Chris had just arrived so it was only a few weeks they had been on the ship together. What rumors she did believe however was that Loughty was a fantastic boss and easy to work for.

Lt. Lexi Robins

“Well I won’t spoil the fun by dispelling the rumours straight away, maybe I’ll come in with an eyepatch and fake scar and really milk it for what its worth.” He laughed, “Forgive me but I dont really recall seeing you around much before, different shifts or were you also undergoing similarly adventures activities?” Looking at the wilting plant he moved over to the replicator and processed some water in a small can, even though the plant reminded him of Runa there was no reason he couldn’t keep it alive. It was a nice plant after all.

  • Lt Oliver Loughty

“You are the head of a department with five hundred minions below you,” she laughed. “Unless we are blowing something up that requires us to head to the prinicipal’s office so to speak or we are pestering you about shore leave approval how can you keep up all straight.” Lexi laughed shaking her head. She had never been head of a department but had been close enough to people over the years to know the job was five percent perks and ninety five percent headaches.

“Yes well, I do try my best to remember everyone its something I work on very hard,” He said with a chuckle, “besides the last thing I need is to fill a wrongful death suit out for someone eaten by a flesh-eating eel and I didn’t even know their name! So where do you fit into the realm?” he asked curiously, she was, of course, a Xenobiologist but on the Atlantis most scientist were given ree rain on what they wanted to do as long as it didn’t compromise the ship (something he almost did several times.)

“I am not sure you were here for sodium tetraborate decahydrate base ten incident but if you were you would have remembered me and if you weren’t well we have a lot to talk about.” Motioning to a general science PaDD everyone used to record basic data that on the edge of his desk, Lexi waited a few seconds before picking it up and punching a few buttons. Turning it to face him she smiled like a kid that just won first place in a science experiment. On the screen was a basic molecule Olly would easily recognize.

He took the PaDD and looked it over, he was familiar with the information being displayed but not the incident she was reminiscing about, before his time or after his time he wasn’t sure. Either way, she’d certainly caught his attention now, good or bad was to be determined.

“Looks like a basic PVA/borate cross-linked polymer right,” she tucked a lose strand of hair behind her ear that had fallen out of the sloppy bun her hair was pulled back into. “It has all the basic characteristics you would expect. Its a gel that is sticky, slippery, and wet. It also is self healing so not matter what you do to it…poke it, pull it, stuff it into a container all you need to do is roll is around your hand it is back in one piece. It is surprising to me that it doesn’t leave a residue but all all good high-viscosity, non-Newtonian fluid it stays where you put it.” Realizing the PaDD was not going to show him the true extent of what she was trying to convey, Lexi stood up and walked to a console on the wall.

Olly pursed his lips, now she was talking his language and he sat back to watch her quiet freely use his office, which he didn’t have any objections after all he always had an open-door policy perhaps not this open but what was the harm, she had her rhythm and who was he to stop her from explaining the data he had just read, and honestly it was intriguing to say the least.

Extracting the computer glasses that were on her head to combat the glare from the screen, Lexi tapped a few buttons before moving to the side of the screen so Olly could see what she was talking about. On the screen a small pile of green goo that seemed to move and vibrate on the screen. The movement became more rhythmic as the time lasped clock at the bottom ticked off the second. “So it reacts to sound as you can see,” she made a wie circle with her finger around the long glob. The louder you get the more it reacts with stronger and stronger vibrations until it explodes everywhere.” Lexi had seen the footage enough times to narrate this in her sleep.

Remaining silent as he watched the demonstration it was pretty impressed until the Goo (nowhere near as good as his goo of course exploded. There were some real-world application he could envision but if sound set it off… as if to answer his questions he continued to speak only impressing him more and was inclined to hear her out to the final conclusion.

“Our biggest problem is with application. Sound sets it off and then each piece reacts the same way resulting it the goo taking over a space literally in minutes. Myself and the Lt. Oliverston were working on a project to eliminate the Borg with it. All you need is one molecule for it to continually grow. Borg are notoriously noisy so we have been working on a way to deploy the stuff into an approaching Borg army. Suffice it to say they have not been able to adapt to that in all our holo trials.” Looking at Olly, Lexi again smiled like a kid and rose on her toes utterly proud of herself. “If you can’t tell I am rather proud of this project.” Bringing up another picture, showed Lexi and several other officers with mops and buckets, “the biggest issue we have is with clean up but if we deploy it on a Borg cube do we really care,” her voice took on an inquisitive tone.

Lexi Robbins

He was silent for a moment his eyes fixated on the screen, he stood up and moved over to the screen. “This is some pretty out the boxes thinking Lexi.” He began taping away until he started to speak “Have you tried containing the Goo in a cold Vacuum, the sound would penetrate it but at least not to the level it would have the Goo Explode, you could configure a probe to have an internal containment chamber and make a kind of Goo warhead. And like the cold, it will probably react to a large explosion. so it would increase the rate of replication.” He stepped back and looked at it another minute “And if you put inert Borg nanoprobes into the good they won’t even realise its dangerous until its already over, we reprogram the nanoprobes that so when we want to ‘clean up’ they attract one another creating a large Gloopy ball, or at least that’s the theory.” He looked to her, smiling.

  • Lieutenant Olly Loughty

“The temperature is an interesting component we did not figure into our initial experiments,” Lexi pulled out a PaDD and began to input several variables before sending the information to the screen. Her eyes narrowed in concentration watching the screen play out the new information visually. Lowering the temperature definitely did have an impact just as Olly had predicted. Lexi just wasn’t sure Olly completely understood how low the sound had to be in order for the boom to go boom.

Feeling like he contributed a little something Olly was smiling, it was good to be back on the ship where in his eyes ‘the real science’ happened this was the frontier and the Atlantis always encouraged experimentation, some ships didn’t some ships did under strict guidelines but here it was a bit like the wild west of science if you could think it try it. “If there’s anything more I could do?”

“I definitely would love to work on this more with you. I have another colleague I have been working with on this. He warned me to be careful so I have conveniently left off the exploding situation with EMMA but the captain did authorize a test with security when we have stable delivery method. I would love to continue this project with you if you have free time.”

He nodded “Best thing I’ve heard all day, I was wondering if I was going to have to start a new project to keep me entertained I’m happy to be part of yours in anyway way possible, well maybe not a test subject” Olly chuckled. “So where do we start? Or is there anything else you’d like to…” Olly was watching Lexi as she unexpectedly moved away, did he say something wrong?

Moving away from the console, Lexi held up a finger. It was not normal she would tell her boss to wait but this was unexpected surprise finding him in the lab this late. Arriving back to his office, Lexi laid a vine on the desk. It was non-descript with a dull brown color running the length of it. Small flakes of bark and what looked to be a bud of possibly a flower dotted the foot-long shaft. Lifting it the weight was far heavier than one would expect. It felt almost petrified in its properties. “I just got this from a friend of mine on the USS Saracen. She is a climatologist and came across it on a shore leave. Kalani and I have collaborated a few times so she sent me this specimen. From what I have heard it is strong as any durasteel. Go on…try to pull off a piece of bark.” Lexi had tried everything to remove even a sliver of wood from the specimen. Nothing short of taking it to the firing range had even caused it to splinter, crack, or break.

Lexi Robins

Olly looked between Lexi and the specimen on his table, he was wondering if she’d now gone a little bit mad but decided to do as she said. He reached out with one hand and attempted to remove a bit of the bark. As he pulled the specimen rose, ok so he should have held it down first. Using his other hand he held the vine firm to the table and pulled, but nothing. Not even a slight tear or a sign it would rip.”Interesting” Was his one-word answer.

  • Lt Oliver Loughty, A.CSO

“I know right,” Lexi said. “I tried to create more of the sample from a cutting but that appears to have died as evidenced by the empty pot on my desk. Kinda embarrassing when a biologist has a black thumb.” While she wasn’t a botanist like her friend Kalani, Lexi did take a number of classes on the subject in school. Luckily with as large as the Atlantis was, it meant there was a department of botanists to help one along with this task. “I am going to try and contact her but the Saracen is out of range on some sort of mission.”

Oliver could understand that, he wasn’t always good with plants and had even in the academy been given the unofficial awar of “Black thumb of the year award” Luckily though with practice and time he becomes the ‘plant whisperer’ and in turn it seemed had some positive effects on others in his life including Sharah, who he missed desperately.

“So now that I have caught you up on all the mad science experiments of the Atlantis what fun have you gotten into in your time away,” Lexi downed her coffee like it was Saturday night at a bar.

The quick meeting that Lexi had intended was slowly turning into a midnight watercooler break that was going on two hours. Olly was so easy to talk to. He was an excellent choice to be the science chief. From Lexi could tell the officer had not lost his fascination with science. It was rare with people that climbed up in the ranks but the look was in Olly’s eyes. The excitement of trying something just to see what happened. People like Olly made you want to expand the borders of what was known and what was out there to be explored.

Lexi Robins

Oliver had already told her all about the Academy and why coming back to the ship was because of Kelly or to Lexi at least Captain Bordeaux, he also told her that if she ever needed some extra shoreleave to come to him first and he’ll find some particularly funny stories to share with the Captain that she would probably prefer not be spoken out loud. “So we’re just about to finish our tour and one of the Cadet prospects, the ones who have been pre-selected for the Academy before we even got their wanted to show us what she had been working on, this thing was huge and honestly the engineering was probably far better than the science” He held op his hand, “Of course I didn’t say this because you know I’m all for about learning from you mistakes but anyway…” Oliver sipped his drink before continuing,

“But anyway, the idea behind the machine was to simply be a replicator that wasn’t restricted to an alcove in the wall, he liked computer science what can I say? So to demonstrate he was like ‘here’s an apple’ and to be fair to him it did what he said it would he could stand anywhere in the room hold out his hand and bang there was the apple, Ofcourse I thought well I fancy a Taco right? So I asked ‘Can I give it a go?’ since I figured I’d endorse it and cure my hunger at the same time.”

“God Mexican is so good when you are hung over. It soaks up the booze like a sponge,” she agreed wholeheartedly. “It was the integral but unspoken part of when when we played All Federation. People think pasta but it is definitely rice.”

“So I ask the computer ‘Can I have a Taco?’ and the usual response came asking for which type, flavour, spice level the usual and I simply thought Stress test and I asked for a sample of every possible taco on file… I mean you should have seen the look on this boys face. If sheer horror was one he had it because the next thing that started happening was Tacos were just materialising out of thin air at an increasingly fast rate, I’m not talking about just the usual taco shell there was Birria, Barbacoa, Carnitas hell even the soft shell type. The room was very quickly getting filled and those who had already seen the danger fled but there’s me fascinated by this machine just standing there being pelted by Sour cream, Salsa, Guacamole everything down to Klingon Vegan Tofu!

To cut a long story short by the time the machine broke I think I was swimming in a room of thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of Tacos, I’d say that was a great success.”

“Thank god we don’t have that issue with the coffee,” Lexi let out a laugh. “The engineering chief designed something like that for the Captain when Ian boycotted his task of getting Kelly coffee every ten seconds and Drayke got tired of adjusting every replicator that would not put out coffee and having to reconfigure the ones that did not reconstitute the discarded cups. Now Kelly pulls out the disk and wahla there is coffee. It also ended the reign of terror on the yeoman.

Meanwhile, Robins Quarters

“Okay, mommy isn’t answering… I don’t know what you expect of me Ruth baby girl.” Christopher said with an exhausted expression as he sat on the edge of his three-year-old daughter’s bed. “I have done all the voices, I can’t make myself sound like mommy though…” Chris was tired, it was obvious cause he was trying to negotiate with a todler at this point.

“I can’t sleep unless mommy does her part!” the little girl said as she sat under her covers, looking more diva than child as she wanted her way or the high way. “You don’t sound like a princess. You sound like a princess that has a stuffy nose,” she critiqued his performance, “or that voice you get when you hurt yourself and start talking crazy.” Like all parents, the moment children entered your life everything changed including your vocabulary. A stubbed toe or finger pinched in a drawer no longer were followed by mother loving or son of a but a series of high pitched expletives that were a mash of the chosen words an adult once used without impunity. You mother ducking piece of sheet fudget nuggets becomes the norm even if it is far less satisfying.

“Fine… fine…” Chris said as he got up from the edge of the bed as he yanked Ruth from the covers.

“Yay! Field trip!” Ruth shouted as she wrapped her arms around Chris’s neck as she buried her head in the nape of his neck. “I love seeing Mommy at work.”

“Mommy will murder me, but if I have to die I will take you with me, child,” Chris said playfully as he kissed the top of her head.

Later, the Lab

“Lexi…” Chris said as he entered, unsure of where Lexi was. The computer had told him this was where her badge was, but no one was in sight.

“Go look around baby girl, mommy has to be here somewhere,” Chris said as he placed Ruth day and she began to scamper off.

“Alexandra?” Chris said, the worry clear in his voice. He never used her full name and he found this bizarre. “Come on you have to be here somewhere and she won’t go to bed without the voices…” he said as he began peaking around, the lab didn’t have many walls more stations for experimentation. Which made it bizarre to find not a soul in sight.

Feeling a crunch, Chris stepped back as he looked down. It was a combadge as he knelt down and examined it. “Lexi…” he said, more panic-filled. Why would she take off her badge, and more so just leave it on the floor?

Robins, Astrophysics

  • Lt Oliver Loughty

“Chris,” Lexi said with her nose wrinkling up at Oliver. “One second,” she held up her finger to her boss and moved to the doorway. Seeing him standing in the middle of the room looking concerned Lexi immediately thought about their daughter. “Is it Ruth? Is she okay,” Lexi felt her heart start to race.

“Mommy,” Ruth yelled out barreling into her mother’s legs.

“What are you doing awake munchkin,” Lexi said looking down at her. Nothing looked wrong with the little girl as she lifted her up and zerberted her neck sending Ruth into a fit of giggles.

“She’s fine, just being stubborn. Claims I wasn’t doing the voices right… after two hours I figured you should get the joy of having a crack at her.” Chris said with a large smile. “Honestly I think I just need to get some hologram recording from Drayke and just have an EMH, Emergency Mommy Hologram.”

“Daddy wasn’t good at tucking me in so I couldna get to sweep,” Ruth said glancing back at Chris as if she didn’t expect him to hear what she just shared.

“You couldna get to sweep,” Lexi imitated her daughter as she looked at Chris with a half-smirk. “What are we ever going to do with that daddy?”

“Well mommy is almost done here but you want to meet my boss,” she asked Ruth kissing her on the side of the head. “You can come too,” she nodded at her husband to follow as she re-entered Ollie’s office.

Oliver listened from his office and realised that Lexi was about to introduce him to what he assumed was her family. Fortunately for him, his tour of the core planets meant he’d gotten good at speaking to people, not that he ever struggled anyway. He quickly checked himself over and waited for Lexi to bring them in, he didn’t want to seem to keen after all.

“Lt. Loughty this is Lt. Chris Robins my better half. He is head of the astronavigation and stellar cartography and this,” Lexi adjusted the child on her hip, “is Ruth.”

Oliver stood up and smiled bowing his head, “Its nice to meet you both! I’m sorry for keeping your wife so late, it seemed we got caught up in talking and didn’t realise the time.” Olly turned to the young child who looked a spit of the two adults in the room. “Hey Ruth, sorry for keeping your mum! If I had known I was interrupting story time I’d have never kept her!”

Ruth was never shy around adults especially when her parents were around. While they might not remember, Ruth remembered why she wasn’t shy around adults. “Heh woah Mister Loughty. Peased to meet you,” she said to Ollie with a smile. “I wike your office. It’s so much bigger than my daddy’s…or my mommy’s.”

Lexi Robins.

He shrugged, “Well I dont use it much normally but thank you for the comments. You’re welcome here whenever you want it could use some colour” Something he learned when raising Sharah all those years ago was that children loved to draw and she would litter his walls with colourful murals of their day to day life. Children were pretty amazing. “Well, I wouldn’t want to keep you all up any later on my account shall we close up shop? I just need to water some of the plants and check on some of the experiments but feel free to leave or wait” he shrugged, he wondered if Ruth was as curious toward science as Sharah had been.

  • Lt Oliver Loughty

“No, it’s no big deal… just someone didn’t have their badge on and seems didn’t get my messages…” Chris said as he looked over at Lexi. “Would have been much easier to just have had her sing the lines over call… you would have loved that wouldn’t you?” Chris as he looked over at his wife with a goofy grin. “Maybe next time she can do karaoke.”

Robins, Stellar Cartography


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