[ SB Unity - Infirmary ]
Mercedes made her way into the Infirmary to see Scott. She'd been putting it off for a few days, but there was no going around it. She had to see him because she needed to know when Rangi was coming back from her extended holiday. Moreover, she needed access to some medication that Scott needed to authorize for her.
The over sized plant seemed to be moving on its own, floating gracefully along the corridor a couple of inches above the ground in a pleasing dull red flower pot.
"Coming through!" a disembodied voice called and the plant made an almost right-angled turn, ricocheted off the corner, slowed to a stop, rushed forward then rebounded off the opposite wall. There was a thin scream and a simultaneous thud as the pot parted company with the hover trolley and came to an uncertain halt, its leaves bouncing in momentum and its only flower falling to the floor.
The driver of the hover trolley stood with her hands on her hips, her blonde curls bobbing for a moment in time with the leaves and her usually pretty face clouded by a frown.
Mercedes looked astonished at the seemingly self-moving plant that had for the moment stopped being a safety hazard. Then she saw Sally behind it and somehow wasn't too surprised.
"Sally," Mercedes smiled and stepped forward. "Doing a little redecorating?"
"Huh?" Sally turned her head and recognizing Mercedes, the frown disappeared. "Oh no!" she said, "Nothing like that." She glanced back at the plant. "I'm taking this to the AMO's lounge just as a favour you know.." she looked back at Mercedes "...because I'm not a botanist really."
She giggled at her own joke and shook her head. "No no, perish the thought though I like flowers of course I do but I'm not much good at growing them but when Greenfly turned
up with a load of these and said he was running late because he's supposed to be playing in a basketball game and he really couldn't miss it because its the semifinal and they
stand a great chance of winning, I offered to take them for him." She gave Mercedes a questioning look.
"I mean, whats so difficult about taking a few plants around and dumping them off?" She shrugged her shoulders as she spoke. "Greenfly was so pathetically pleased when I offered and he told me where to take them and said there wouldn't be a problem and just to put the trolley back when I'd done it but somehow I seem to have one left," She eyed the plant
speculatively then frowned again "… and this thing didn't help either." she added, nudging the hover trolley with her foot.
The trolley wobbled a bit uncertainly for a second, the leaves of the plant dancing about. Mercedes opened her mouth to ask more about Greenfly, but then thought better of it.
"How are things here in the Infirmary?"
For a fraction of a second Sally tensed ready to leap forward should the plant fall forward but it stayed put so she smiled towards Mercedes and answered: "Well you know how it is what with the war and all we've been really overstretched at times and it didn't help when 'all' of the B team went down with that bug and we had to work double shifts for almost two weeks and what with one thing and another it was hard to say which way was up, whether we were coming or going or whether we were back to front !"
"I see," Mercedes replied, trying to seem interested. "That's rather... unfortunate." She decided to ask Sally about Rangi; if there's one person who'd know what was going
on, it would be Sally. She was often more up to speed than official channels.
Sally, who rarely paused for breath and leapt from one subject to another with often unnerving speed now changed topic entirely and leaning toward Mercedes, whispered so
softly that Mercedes too had to lean forward to hear.
"You want to know where the Commander is don't you?" she asked and gave a wink and a knowing nod.
Mercedes smiled. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were a telepath. I need to speak to her about a couple of things, but there's no way of reaching her until she gets back."
"It's funny you should say that." Sally replied, standing straight again. "George often says that I know more about people than they do about themselves but it's only because I
can add two and two together. She's not here."
Mercedes nodded with a sigh. "That's pretty much what I expected. Do you have any idea when she'll return?"
"Sorry, no." Sally replied shaking her head sadly.
"All right," Mercedes replied. "Is Scott… I mean Dr Fisher available? Maybe he can help me."
"Oh yes… he's here." Sally replied regaining her spark but paused to eye Mercedes thoughtfully, for Sally was romantic at heart and the slightest hint of an attraction between
even the most platonic of friends rang the sound of wedding bells in Sally's mind. She smiled at Mercedes. "It's very nice that you're back again." she said meaningfully.
"Thank you, Sally," Mercedes smiled genuinely. "I'm not sure for how long I'll be here, but it's good to see familiar faces again."
"I wonder if he would like this." Sally said " but then again, he doesn't seem a very flowery type man does he not that that's a fault..." she added hastily , glancing at Mercedes and bent down to push the plant pot onto the centre of the hover trolley "… we can ask him anyway. Right, hold tight Sally!" she instructed herself and squeezing the control set off at a smart pace along the corridor although whether she was in charge of the trolley or it was of her was difficult to judge. "Deputy CMO's office is down here," she called over her shoulder.
[NPC by Bren]
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3rd Petty Officer Sally Schumann
Medical Technician
Starbase Unity (SB 234)
[NPC by Rangi]
