Document 1278803-4576b

-Keypad initiated-

Entry 3-

I was left alone in the hotel with my inventions, which I began to unpack and reassemble as soon as Thaal and Arno departed. Before long, I had covered nearly two-thirds of the counter space and a window seat with my various inventions, and I'd only unpacked half of them. I debated filling the rest of the counter and maybe the couch, but suspected that Thaal would be distressed if I "took over" the only comfortable piece of furniture in the suite.

I momentarily considered putting some on the table, but I knew that Arno would object to that arrangement. Finally, I decided to fill one of the two bathrooms with equipment, and layer half of my bedroom floor with the remainder of the inventions.

When Thaal and Arno returned, I was sitting on my bed, tinkering with the gauntlet that Thaal had recklessly dashed to the floor. It was supposed to increase muscle strength while stabilizing the bone structure to sustain enormous pressure using electronic signals of an extremely high frequency to stimulate a response from the nervous system. Ideally, the device could be converted into a full-body suit… but at the moment, I had yet to discover a frequency that communicated effectively with the nervous system without causing pain.

"Hey Brainy, why can't you keep your stuff in your room?" Thaal complained, throwing open the door. He surveyed my room, littered with inventions. The only areas where the floor was bare consisted of a path from the door to the bed, and another path from the bed to the closet/dresser. Thaal scowled and shook his head. "I spoke too soon."

I glanced up from my work. "Back so soon?"

"Soon?" Thaal scoffed, "It's been nearly twenty minutes. I'm dying of hunger! Arno insisted we come back here and eat with you. My stomach is digesting itself I'm so hungry! Come out here and get something to eat!"

I stood, carefully making my way to the door. "What did you get?"

"Some Corellian cuisine, Mon Calamari curry, a few Ferengi pancakes, and some gagh," Thaal said with a slight grimace. "I don't know what gagh is, but it's wriggling. I don't think I'm going to eat it."

"From what I've heard, I wouldn't recommend gagh," I agreed, surprised at the eclectic variety of food they'd managed to procure in twenty minutes. "Where did you find the food?"

"Oh, Arno managed to find some old, rundown part of town with a bunch of weird food that he insisted would be much better than anything normal we could find on main streets…" Thaal explained, pointing at the table, which was loaded with… unconventional… nourishment.

Arno was eyeing the food with undisguised delight. "I can't wait to try these things," he exclaimed, rubbing his hands together in excitement.

"Yeah. 'Things' is exactly how I would describe this stuff too," Thaal grumbled. "Not 'food', 'things'. Are you worried yet?" he asked me.

"I have yet to experience an adverse reaction to anything I've ingested," I informed Thaal.

"Yeah, but you haven't had gagh yet," Thaal argued, pointing at the wriggling, wormlike food in a large bowl.

I watched with slight queasiness as a bit of the sauce that the food was squirming in splatted out of the bowl and onto the tabletop. Fervently I hoped there were no foodborne pathogens present in the unique cuisines that Arno had selected.

"Let's eat!" Arno cried, slopping a bit of everything onto a plate and handing it to me.

I sat down, picked up a utensil and poked the gagh. It squirmed away from my touch, and I quickly turned my attention to the Ferengi pancakes, which seemed to include something recently alive, instead of ingredients that were apparently still living. In the end, Arno threw away most of the gagh, but vowed to purchase more Ferengi pancakes for the following breakfast.

After lying awake in bed for nearly an hour with a stomach that refuses to settle, I suspect I shall have to venture into the city myself to purchase victuals- or become accustomed to gastrointestinal discomfort.

I'm not sure which would be more difficult.

I would almost rather suffer the repercussions of unusual cuisine than walk the streets I once flew over… Returning to new metropolis has planted doubts in my mind that seemed irrelevant when there was such a vast distance between myself and the Legion.

But I can only consider this in private. If Thaal and Arno learned of my misgivings, I have no doubt that they would tell me exactly what to think and when. But of what use can I be to the Legion if I do not know what I want, or understand my own fears and desires? I suspect that returning to the legion will take far longer than either Thaal or Arno assumed when we departed…

I can only hope that my newfound friends can offer me their patience and acceptance as I struggle to understand my motivations, and ultimately, myself.

A/N: I'm throwing in more Star Trek and Star Wars references, simply because it's so much fun to mix'n'match! Eheh… Thanks Jay5merlin, your updates reminded me that I definitely need to start working on this again…

Additional A/N: I would have posted this last week, but somehow I ended up with two "entry 3's", and one of them was incomplete. (It's now Entry 4, don't worry.) I immediately assumed that my computer ate the rest of Entry 3 and went into a frenzy trying to find my backup files that I create nearly every time I edit one of my stories, whether it's original fiction or fan fiction. Of course, the backup copy looked the same as the document on my computer, which just made me angry at myself and computers. Suffice it to say, I eventually recognized my mistake and have apologized to my laptop for accusing it of doing something it didn't. We're back on good terms, and I've finally updated. All is well. ^_^