Ensign Slav Shewytch: The required words

[Serala]

I really enjoyed this comparison between life on the Santa Maria with Christopher Columbus and life on a starship. Well written!!

 

((Holodeck, USS Astraeus))

   
Shore  leave is coming to an end, which means that life is returning to the rhythm Slav is used to. After organising the cooking competition, he was completely exhausted mentally and spiritually. He needed to rest. On the bright side, he got to know many of the crew members and made himself known in such a good way.  

  

Along with the return of his regular watch schedule, the need for rest has also increased. This is exactly what he was doing now. The holodeck again. Today, he doesn't have much free time, so he chose the shortest and most interesting programme available to him (after all, service comes first). 

  

Shewytch: Computer. Run the programme HistoryShewytch020

  

It immediately became dark and cloudy. The ground began to sway to one side and then to the other. Well, how to say the ground, the wooden floor. And if you look around, you can see that Slav was on a ship, an old Earth ship.

  

oO I don't really like the app because of this wobble. Oo

 

That's why he didn't run this programme often, or to be more precise, he ran it only once, before he was sent to the ship. Maybe he was superstitious then? After all, he was also going to new worlds, new territories, just like Columbus' Santa Maria. Yes, this programme was a programme about the "great" geographical discoveries, well, they cannot be compared to the discoveries made after breaking the speed of light, but it nevertheless had a great impact on history.

  

Slav walked around the deck and turned to the man who seemed to be the most important of all the people around him. He had spoken to him only once before he had come here to Astraeus. He needed to hear some words of encouragement, or just what he wanted to hear. Because it was not a real person, but just a set of algorithms.

   

Shewytch: Captain, I'm leaving soon on a research vessel. :: pause :: As part of your squadron. And I'd like to ask you a question, if you don't mind. How can you go to a place where you're not even sure if the land exists or not?

  

NPC hologram of Columbus: ::Turning away from the map table:: Well, young man. The only thing you need to understand is that the land is ::he jumped up:: where the ship is.

   

oO That time, he said the same thing. Oo

  

At this point, it finished playing the programme for the last time. But today he was in the mood to continue.

  

Shewytch: But this ship ::he nodded towards the water:: floats. That is, there is still something under the ship, and it is a hulk of water. What if there is nothing, not even water, beyond the horizon?

  

The sailor was thinking.

  

Columbus: Hmm, an interesting thought. Will the ship be able to sail in this "nothing"? Because if you pick up water in your hands, it is also nothing. 

  

He demonstrated how water flows out through his fingers if you pour it into your hands.

  

Columbus: Do you see? But if there is a lot of water, then even my carrack holds on, does not sink. Maybe "nothing" will be enough?

 

oO The ships that travel through the void of space do the same. Oo

  

Shewytch: You're right, I agree. Everyone must believe in their ship and in the crew that will take it through everything.

   

That was enough for him. He heard everything he wanted to hear. Indeed, he was on a spaceship precisely to go somewhere where there were no other ships, and to explore it all. At some points, you forget about it, the routine. But at such moments, the thirst to see something new increases. 

  

But before he left, he decided to see what would happen next, and of course he skipped it. The weather changed, the air changed, it was noticeable. The ships were in a line. And he was on one of them. And suddenly he heard a shout.

  

Stranger: Land!

  

oO They have found their destination. Now it's my turn. Oo

 

After closing the program, he left the holodeck in the direction of the scientific laboratories. Now he needs somewhere to put his great reserves of enthusiasm.

 

-----

 

Ensign Slav Shewytch,

Junior Science Officer

USS Astraeus, NCC-70652

A240008SS2