Author's Note: All non-original characters belong to their respective owners.
Author's Note: This is another in a series of monographs and stories - thought exercises - based on the world envisioned in the story "Opposite of Logic" by Kristen Elizabeth. Read my story 'For the Love of a Child' for background.
Check Your Work
By Ma Anders
The Lieutenant's irritation could be seen. No one who'd ever been around humans could mistake the posture, the bearing, the focus evidenced through a single glance. This investigation would determine the cause of the mishap and would skin the guilty alive once blame could be properly affixed.
The witnesses squirmed in their seats. What once had seemed a good idea could mean the end of freedom as they understood it. Not to mention the blot on their permanent records. The tarnish might never go away.
Random thoughts - "Nobody got hurt", "...followed the instructions", "Didn't realize the power..." - ended abruptly as the authoritarian voice asked,
"Who will go first?"
The younger looked at his fellow accused and sighed.
"I will, sir... I mean ma'am"
Begin...
"The cargo arrived as scheduled. I confirmed its content and we made arrangements for it to be transported to the planet. An uninhabited area outside of the space port would provide an adequate safety margin for the.. the... experiment."
The witness rubbed his neck, which itched whenever the prosecutor looked at him.
"We beamed the cargo container down to the designated area."
The prosecutor interrupted him.
"Did you use an inhibitor to prevent damage during transport?"
"Oh, yes ma'am. We thought of that."
"What happened next?"
"Well, we beamed down and set up the experiment in the designated area after we confirmed it was uninhabited. That took a while." The young deponent smiled remembering lunch in the base cafe. Real food.
"Please continue." the voice prodded.
"We had planned to use fuses. But the experiment was outside and the fuses got wet, so we could't get ignition. That's when we decided to call Engineering and get some detonators beamed down." The witness shot a frustrated look at the co-conspirator on his left. Pointing with his thumb, he informed the court "That was HIS idea."
"By the time we got the detonators in place and calibrated, it was really raining. So we decided to pack up and try again at the next stopover. We were hurrying, trying to keep everything from getting wet. We called the Enterprise to get it transported back to the cargo bay. I mean, it was really raining. I checked my detonator and it was OFF -" this shot aimed at the same co-conspirator.
"His must've been on. The cargo went back ok then we transported in. It just went off."
"Do you have anything to add?" this addressed to the co-conspirator. He shook his head, looking at the floor.
""Sit down"
Agonizing minutes passed before the court spoke.
"Have you both lost your minds!? Grayson, what were you doing with explosives in the first place!?
The co-conspirator finally spoke up. "Don't exaggerate. They were fireworks, that's all"
"I'll get to you in a minute." Rounding on Grayson Uhura x Spock again, the beat-down continued.
"And why would you use a DETONATOR to set them off?"
Grayson smarted at the rebuke. "I TOLD him the detonator flashpoint was too low. He wouldn't listen. HE miscalculated the burn rate for the fuses. If he had CHECKED HIS MATH the fuses would've WORKED!"
"Traitor" this from the co-conspirator as a side message.
"I TOLD you that equation was wrong!" this a hissed retort from Uhura's 8 year-old son.
"And what was the intended purpose of this experiment?" the judge asked.
Both prisoners smiled identical smiles as the older one spoke:
"We wanted to see them from the Enterprise!"
The court left the room momentarily to restore calm.
"You two blew up an ENTIRE cargo bay! You almost got yourselves blown up! What do you have to say?"
The defendants looked at each other, genuinely perplexed, and answered "We're... sorry?"
The court was not amused.
"Let me tell you how sorry you're going to be. You are BOTH going to clean that cargo bay until it's ship shape and Bristol fashion. THEN - " they had hoped the punishment was over; no such luck. Some of the food stuffs had cooked into the cargo bay walls.
" - you are going to PAINT the entire area BY HAND. Buckets of paint and brushes."
This got the first reaction the co-conspirator had shown during the entire preceding.
"What!? No 'bots!? Be reasonable. I don't have time to..."
"You agree to this, Jim Kirk, or Grayson will be forbidden from spending any time with you until his wedding day."
He tried reason.
"We're talking about a cargo bay here, not the bridge. Let's keep some perspective..."
Reason failed. Addressing the judge, jury and executioner, he threw himself on the mercy of the court.
"C'mon Uhura. It wasn't that bad. We made a mistake. Everybody's o.k.. It was a CARGO bay!"
"And who ordered and PAID FOR those EXPLOSIVES?" she shot back.
"They were FIREWORKS! I can't spend every free minute PAINTING!" Kirk shouted at her.
"You can and you will. So help me, someone is going to teach you BOTH some discipline. Are we clear?"
Defeated, they hung their heads and agreed to their sentences. It would take weeks to restore the cargo bay.
Her arms crossed, Lieutenant Uhura made sure the work got scheduled on the duty roster Spock made up.
She watched them argue, as they left, over who miscalculated the fuse ignition temperature.
She did not hear them plan their modifications to the cargo bay fork lift to turn it into a robo-painter.