Chapter Text
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 15: Close to the Edge Part IV - Seasons of Man
Scene 14: Now That You’re Whole
Now that you find, now that you’re whole…
15.14
Now That You’re Whole
“Someone has been busy,” observed Lance Corporal Petra Spitze. “A whole lot of someones…”
“Creme de Rattleroot,” Glaffe javClirv responded. “Tastes better than it smells. And it does wonders for your body aroma…”
The tellarite herbologist was serving up a dish of foods that had been grown over the past two days in the soil of Al Salemais A4.
United States Marine Corps Lance Corporal Petra Spitze turned her head, took a deep breath, then quickly popped a spoonful of the exceptionally foul-smelling gruel into her mouth, and tried not to retch. A surprised look of pleasure crossed her features until she exhaled, the breathed in again without taking the precaution of turning her head away from the food.
“See what I mean?” javClirv asked. “Smells awful. Tastes wonderful. After a few days, you won’t notice the smell. Because you’ll have absorbed enough of it into your system that you’ll smell just like it.”
Spike breathed hard, swallowed hard, then tried again not to gag.
“Which, in your case, will be a significant improvement, Stinky,” javClirv concluded.
Spike had grown accustomed to the jabs and jibes of the tellarites. Most of the time she had a ready insult to throw back at them, which had endeared her to the entire biological survey team. But at the moment she was too filled with curiosity to engage in the normal banter.
“So this meal is only from the one plant?” Spike gestured toward a freshly planted and freshly reaped field. “And you only planted it yesterday?”
“Day before yesterday, local time,” javClirv said. She pointed to the sun, which could be seen visibly moving through the sky. “This planet’s day-cycle is just over 21 of your hours. It actually makes the rattleroot grow faster. We developed it from a klingon plant and engineered it to grow faster, provide more nutrients, and re-seed itself to increase the crop in a very confined area. That small field will feed all 40 of us colonists for the next four months, providing us all the nutrients we need while we are sourcing local foods and growing other crops to supplement our diet.”
“We planted a crop. We harvested a crop. We’re living on that crop,” Spike observed.
“Making this planet a Federation colony under Federation law as long as no one has a prior claim to it,” javClirv said. “Like the intelligent species that have spread to all the continents and most of the islands on this planet.”
“We’ll just have to hope the holy landers aren’t familiar with that part of Federation Law,” Spike rejoined.
The new Federation colony of ASA 4 had been constructed in the caldera of a dormant volcano, which was part of an island chain in the middle of the larger of the planet’s two oceans.
Four large quonset huts provided sleeping quarters and a larger, mostly open building provided a kitchen, a dining area and general daytime shelter.
The entire Tellarite Biological Survey, a contingent of United States Marines, the planetologist Phillip Gorman, the trill oceanographer Akri Dexx and the elderly premiere emeritus of the Vulcan Science Academy, T’Eln, had crowded into the U.S.S. Puppy and raced forward at high warp from the U.S.S. Beagle and met up with the U.S.S. Bluebird, which had flown back toward them from the U.S.S. Mako’s position. The tellarites and the marines joined Commander Rhonda Carter, General Krank, Pel and Shadow in the U.S.S. Bluebird, which had then travelled at high warp to establish this colony on ASA 4. The U.S.S. Puppy, carrying the remainder of the colonists had arrived a day later.
It had taken another 3 days for the U.S.S. Mako to arrive in orbit, relieving the colony of the U.S.S. Bluebird, the U.S.S. Puppy, Commander Rhonda Carter and General Krank, to be replaced by the U.S.S. Arizona. The U.S.S. Beagle was still en-route, but Carter and Krank were already preparing planetary orbital defense.
“Do you really think this ploy about setting up a colony on a remote island on this world will be enough to keep the holy landers from trying to enslave the people of this planet?” Spike directed this question to the very elderly T’Eln, who had just sat down next to her with a full plate of creme de rattleroot. Other people would have been too intimidated by the former premiere of the Vulcan Science Academy to ask such an impertinent question. But impertinence was a Spitze family trait.
And as intimidating as the newly appointed planetary governor of ASA 4 was, T’Eln was a paragon of vulcan equanimity and egalitarianism. Her icy, emotionless demeanor made everyone around her feel equally beneath her.
“I have substantial doubts,” said T’Eln. “It is a rather impressive gambit and thoroughly human.”
“You don’t approve?” Spike asked.
“The Federation wasn’t built by vulcan pragmatism alone,” Planetary Governor T’Eln replied. “The principle ingredient has always been an almost miraculous reserve of human optimism. Commodore Yui made a tough call, but in impressive one. She could not protect the intelligent populations of two planets, so she chose the more defensible position in hopes of reducing the negative impact of our retreat to this system. An impressive blend of pragmatism and optimism.”
“It almost sounds as though you like her,” Spike suggested.
“You humans do indulge in a dangerous habit of anthropomorphizing everything and everyone around you.”
Close to the Edge Part IV - Seasons of Man