A Space Oddity

"So, sleeper pods over there but we never really use them. Long, time spanning flights don't really occur and with the skeleton crew on the Normandy, I had crew sleeping quarters arranged in a few of the many cargo holds. It's not big and it's not much. Any personal affects you need to store in a personal locker."

Dani looked at the row of pods Commander Shepard pointed at. She cocked her head a bit and soaked up the entire image first. In her mind she turned the image around; up, down and sideways. Then she tried to disassemble it, element by element. The dimensions and the structure limited certain used parts to specific brands and makes. Other parts she couldn't be entirely sure of . . .

"Dani, you listening?"

The mention of her name pulled her back. U-oh, judging from the look on his face he was expecting some kind of response. She didn't do responses very well.

"The pods could be improved Commander," she stammered, trying to conceal her confusion.
"I noticed a few . . ."

"We don't really use them, Dani," Commander Shepard cut her off. It was soft spoken, but resolute.

"Yes Commander. Sorry, sometimes I . . ." She trailed off and searched his eyes for understanding and though his eyes were kind, she also noticed that look. The 'alert-fruitcake-alert' kind of look.

"Commander, we've got a transmission coming in from the Citadel. Top priority clearance."

Dani looked up hearing the unfamiliar voice cutting through the silence.

"I'm in mess right now but patch them through to the comm room. On my way," Commander Shepard replied. At least he had the decency to shoot her an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry Dani, the rest of the tour will have to wait. Just, settle in and if you have any questions, ask the crew. I'll see you later."

With a slight nod he turned around and made his way back to the CIC. That left her standing alone in the mess hall.

She hadn't received a duty roster yet. Hell, she didn't even know why she was here! One moment she was working on streamlining a power relay and the next she was shipped off to the Normandy. The Torques had all wished her well and given her a fond hug. They, and their body guard Alex Wright, had been her grounding anchor for so long she now felt lost without them. The absence of Alex she felt the most.

He'd been the one who kept needling her about social interactions. And though most of his advice had been frustratingly pointless, probably just designed to raise her ire, she'd give anything to hear one of his jabs.

One time he had encouraged her to ask one of the scientists at Torque if he could make the hunk of junk work or if she should just stick a fork in it cause it's done. He'd laughed his ass off when she did just that. The teleport prototype the scientist had been working on was subsequently written off as a failure because the scientist felt so insulted he abandoned the project.

And now she was here, standing alone in the mess hall of a space frigate, whishing with all her might that Anderson's unwelcome influence in her life wasn't so . . . felt. They never really met, they never really talked, but his influence was always there.

With no idea what to do next, Dani took a seat at the mess hall table. She didn't feel free enough to just wander around let alone ask a random person for . . . what, instructions? Directions?

If only she had her sketch pad with her, that would really help kill the time. The idea to start up sketching software on her omni-tool was immediately dismissed. It was not the same. She loved the feel of a charcoal pencil in her hand, flowing it across real quality paper. But, as she didn't have access to a sketch pad at the moment, maybe she could engage her mind in something new, something useful. Something that would convince Shepard she wasn't a complete tool.

Maybe she could continue her ideas on phasing objects. Her calculations were correct, she was sure of it, but once she scaled up the dimensions, the calculations didn't hold. Very annoying!

She'd been staring herself blind on the large scale calculations, but what if she concentrated on the small scale calculations instead? Find a way to implement those into something small.
Small but useful. . . Small but useful. . . Her eyes widened as an idea struck. As her mind set itself to the task, images and possibilities flashed by at rapid speed. She would definitely need that sketch pad later on.

"Commander? There is, um, a bit of a situation in mess hall."

Rhyder looked up from his latest mission report. The one he was supposed to have filed a day ago. He sighed while he let his hand travel to his neck to rub away the tension.

"What is it Joker?"

"You're new protégé is freaking out the crew."

"My new what?"

"You're new protégé? That young woman you brought on board this morning?"

"What? Oh, wait . . . huh?"

"Yeah, very impressive and intelligent response, Commander."

"Watch it Joker. Just, be a bit more specific to what's going on?"

"Not sure Commander. All I know is she's freaking out the crew."

"And she's where? Mess hall?"

"That's right Commander. Wait, weren't you there with her when the Council called in?"

"Yes, I was giving her a tour of the Normandy. I told her to settle in and that I would see her later."

"Well, seems to me she's still waiting for that later part. You forgot her. "

"Joker!"

"Just saying, Commander."

Rhyder got up quickly and headed to the door of his office. Mess hall was pretty much outside his office. How the hell did he not notice if a commotion was going on there? And how the hell did he miss her sitting there, waiting, when he walked to his office? He had but a short corridor to ponder that thought.

When he did step into the mess hall, commotion was not exactly the word he'd use to describe the situation. It was a very strange scene though. He found Dani sitting at the table. Her eyes were spread open wide, pupils dilated, her irises a vibrant blue, much more intense than the softer blues he'd taken notice of before. Her hand was raised as if in warning not to approach her. The creepy thing was the way her eyes were fixed staring off in space. She didn't blink. . . Once.

A few technicians and engineers were gathered around the table, looking on as Dr. Chakwas soothingly tried to get Dani to respond. Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams and Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko were standing at the back and whispering to each other. Ashley sniggered about something funny she just said. Even his alien crew, the quarian engineer Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, the asari biotic Dr. Liara T'Soni and the turian agent Garrus Vakarian were watching the goings on with barely concealed curiosity.

"What's going on here?" Rhyder finally asked after absorbing the scene in front of him.

"Commander, this woman was found here in this current state," Karin Chakwas got up from her kneeled position.

"She's completely unresponsive to any questions directed at her. She appears to be in a fit of catalepsy. As I have no knowledge of her medical history I can't just give her a sedative or muscle relaxant. The least invasive procedure is to cool her forehead, maybe a hot footbath after that. Aromatic stimulants might also help. Once I have her files and have her examined I can offer more suitable treatment."

"How long has she been like this?"

"I'm not sure. I've seen her sitting at the table at some point, but didn't think much of it. I just thought she was waiting for something or someone. Engineer Adams alerted me to her present state. That was, an hour ago I think."

"So, she's been sitting at this table from this morning on and no one thought this strange or deemed it necessary to alert me? Ugh, never mind."

He couldn't very well blame his crew when he was the one responsible for leaving her alone and unattended in the first place. Suddenly her eyes regained their normal color.

She blinked a few times, still seemed a bit dazed but at least she snapped out of, whatever it was that just happened.

"My stuff has been delivered on board, yes?" Dani's voice sounded odd, almost unearthly.

"Yes, since early this morning."

"Could someone show me to the crew's quarters? I need my sketch pad."

"Come on, um . . . " Karin looked up at him, her question silently visible in her eyes.

"Her name is Dani. Dani Pryde."

"Come on Dani. Let me show you your bunk."

With those words Karin guided Dani away from the mess hall. Once they were gone the whispering started.

"Okay people. Nothing to see here. Dani is fine and I'll make the proper introductions later. Back to work everyone."

The engineers and technicians scurried away to whatever they had planned to do earlier on.

His trusted squad members lingered behind though.

"You sure know how to pick 'em, Commander," Ashley wasted no time in saying while shooting a meaningful glance in the general direction of the not human squad members.

"Not trying to question your decisions, Commander," Kaidan piped in. "But we can't have people on board who don't pull their weight. And to be honest, she does seem to be – a bit unstable. Can we afford that right now?"

"She's no liability Alenko, if that's what you mean. A bit weird and out there, yes. But I was warned about that up front. Dani Pryde is said to be a genius and I have no reason to doubt the source. I'm sure she will prove her worth. She just has a few – peculiarities we might have to deal with."

"That's the understatement of the century!" Ashley muttered under her breath.

Oddly enough, the only ones not jumping the gun to judge Dani, were his alien team members and friends.

"Isn't it said there exists a fine line between genius and insanity?" Liara offered quietly. "Intelligence of her caliber may perceive reality a different way than others. Opening up possibilities others may not understand."

"There's a fine line between stupidity and insanity as well!" Ashley scoffed. "Think of that when she fuck's up so hard that we end up paying the piper!"

Tali eyed Garrus in obvious confusion. Even though her face was concealed by a helmet and it was there for impossible to determine any facial expressions she might make, Shepard had learned to read her body language well. He couldn't contain the smile curving his lips. Garrus just shrugged his shoulders in his I-gave-up-trying-to-understand-humans-long-ago kind of way.

"I think you said it very well Liara," the turian then complimented the asari, his voice laced with the characteristic turian flange. "Maybe her mind just operates differently from what others perceive as normal. Better in some ways, worse in other ways."

At that moment Dr. Chakwas reappeared, a look of bewilderment in her eyes.

"Well?" Rhyder pressed.

"Well nothing. She's fine . . . I think. She just took out paper and pencils and started . . . drawing!" She finally choked out. Ashley snorted loud and tried not to burst out laughing.

Rhyder whipped around to glare at her.

"Ashley!"

She held up her hand in defense while she tried to recompose herself.

"Anything you could glean from the drawings?"

He sounded desperate and he knew it. He immediately regretted asking the question in front of Ashley, if the look crossing Karin's face was any indication.

"I'm sorry, Commander. The drawings seemed to be nothing more than squiggles. Gibberish. To your knowledge, is she . . . alright, up there?" Karin ventured cautiously, motioning to her head with her hand.

When he heard a weird strangling noise, he didn't need to look to know it was Ashley, rather choking on her laughter than being the subject of his wrath for laughing out loud about this. She quickly excused herself and Shepard watched her flee to the elevator. He cringed inwardly when he finally did hear her erupt in laughter in the distance.

"Fuck it all!" He muttered.

When he finally steeled himself to meet the eyes of the rest of his companions, Kaidan muttered an excuse as well and also fled to the elevator, even though he was usually working near the sleeper pods.

"Look, if it's any consolation Shepard, she didn't seem insane to me. Just, lost in thought," Garrus finally spoke up. Though the cautious way he used to express himself suggested he was putting it mildly.

"It's true. I may not have much experience with humans but I know an intelligent mind when I see one. Whatever is going on with this woman, she is not a lunatic," Liara said serenely.

"It looked like she was running some numbers in her head. She didn't seem much different from Garrus when he's calibrating," Tali said with a giggle. Liara laughed heartily at the joked and Garrus just huffed in mock indignation.

"Thanks guys. I appreciate what you're trying to do," Rhyder smiled fondly at them, not really surprised that he seemed to bond more with these aliens than his human crew members.

"Well, I think I will give her some more time with her . . . drawings and then I'll look her up. See how she's doing. This could all be just some weird reaction to change and travel and . . . fuck if I know. "

When Rhyder finally did have time to look up Dani it was much later than he had intended. Upon entering the small room shared by four crew members,
he found Dani sitting on one of the lower bunks, hunched over a drawing while furiously scribbling on the paper, forcing the charcoal pencil to do her bidding. Before he could even open his mouth to address her, her free hand shot up warning him off. Even in the dim light he could see that feverish blue hue had returned to her eyes and he sighed inwardly when he saw the various paper sheets strewn over the floor around her feet.

He was no scientist and he never claimed to know much about art, but seeing the tiny scribbling, the crazy diagrams and the strings of numbers and equations, he realized that this woman gave the term 'beyond help' a completely different meaning.

Anderson, you sick bastard! He cursed silently. After a while she finally put aside the pencil and for the first time that day, she actually raised her eyes to meet his.

"There, all done!" She said almost cheerfully though perhaps a bit tired. "I'm so sorry, Commander. I really had to get this out of my system. It's been a while since I got so worked up over something. It's difficult to let go and very easy to get lost. When that happens, it's easier to haven an anchor to ground me. Unfortunately, mine is on Earth. And I'm not."

She smiled sadly and Rhyder found he could only nod, even though he had no idea what she was talking about.

"So, how badly did I screw up?"

It was a laden question, but her face gave away nothing of what she was feeling. She just looked back at him with a bland expression. It was almost like staring at the expressionless countenance of Avina. For the moment he was just glad she resembled some kind of normal and hurried to reassure her.

"Don't worry. You didn't screw up. You just had us worried for a while. You are okay now right?"

"As good as it gets I suppose," she answered quietly and averted her eyes from him.

She wasn't very forthcoming in this . . . Could this actually be called a conversation? Rhyder wondered if this wasn't some kind of defense mechanism rather than her just being weird. She was odd, there was no way around it, but according to Anderson she was also a genius. This woman in front of him put a lot of effort in keeping her emotions and feelings in check. Her face was completely unreadable but he had caught her flexing her fingers nervously a couple of times, before she shoved them behind her back. What was she afraid of? Rejection? Hurt?

Rhyder wondered how many times people had shot down her attempts at reaching out, before fear of more rejection and humiliation finally caused her to withdraw from social interactions altogether. He groaned when he remembered he'd almost done the same to her that morning. Not quite, not severely and not entirely, but too close for his own comfort.

"Dani, I want to apologize for this morning. You tried to pitch an idea to me and I just shot you down. It was rude and uncalled for. Please, don't feel like you can't approach me with your ideas. I run an open door policy. You got something on your mind, lay it on me."

His words just seemed to make her clam up more. When she did respond, her voice was level and measured, her eyes cold and distant.

"Okay, that's good to know, I guess. Cause, you see . . . I have this idea I was working on. I'd really like to pass it by you sometime, if that's okay with you . . . Commander," she said, speaking slowly and gauging his reaction to her words.

He just smiled at the guarded woman in front of him. "You do that Dani," he grinned. "By all means."