Star Trek: Starbase 777 - lt-cdr-zero﹢family

A message appeared on Zero's console.

From: Starbase Operations To: Lt. Cdr. Zero of Infinity Subject: Scavenger hunt Commander, Please see attached one final treasure from your adventure on the holodeck. Sincerely, - Starbase Operations [Attachment: scavenger_hunt_photos]

Attached to the message was a collection of holophotos automatically taken from various locations during the scavenger hunt, similar to ride photos on a rollercoaster. There was one from each key moment during their adventure, showing the best moments off. Each photo was angled to capture everyone involved so no one was left out, and they were all perfectly timed to show the happiest moments the group experienced.

A few days after he'd seen said photos and definitely saved them to his phone and his portable hard drive and all his other backups - information gets lost over time, good to have as many copies as possible! - and also setting one of the images of him and Zadki as his profile picture on netbook, Zero tidied his room of what little mess he'd made in his short time here. There really wasn't much to tidy - they hadn't had a chance to buy any fun trinkets at Delta Delights, which, admittedly, was his fault, nor had they had the time to fill the room with too many other trinkets. Mostly and fittingly, the room was just full of retro tech - simple gadgets like a toaster, a disassembled PADD, but also tech combined into incomprehensible amalgamations that existed purely ~~to suffer~~ as art, and an old Roomba called Frisbee. There were also some books about lost cultures, a few sets of tarot cards, and an orb with a button that, when pressed, lit up the room in a sea of stars. And, of course, there was Birthday Cake, the party-loving furby, far less advanced than the Furberus but lovable all the same. He put on his best flowy galaxy dress, one that was sleeveless because no sleeves could hold his biceps, and a pair of crocs, and awaited the Retro Tech club - Alizati and Allan - on the sofa. Zadki was in his room, moping about them moving again, which was... Fair enough, really. He still had his doubts, but he felt perhaps Zadki would feel more connected to his culture if he travelled, as most El-Aurians did these days, though they had always valued it. A love of exploration was something humans and El-Aurians had in common - he hoped Zadki would see the benefits of it in time.

[D] Showing up just as requested was the man, the legend, the most Vulcan Vulcan to ever Vulcan ever, except for Men and Evoras, those two were probably the only ones who could out-Vulcan him. Anyway, Alizati was here with his Furberus following closely behind him. The three headed monstrosity was dressed to impress, each of the heads wore a little top hat with a ribbon; Bir had red, Ikki had blue, and Yuch had yellow. Primary colours to keep it simple. Their fluffy white fur was starting to get a little dirty from all their adventuring, now an off-white with brown speckles instead of the pure bright ivory. Alizati was dressed more casually. He donned a pair of dark green trousers with his Gwa patterned Hawaiin shirt. Of course Alizati fashion could not be complete without-- a leather belt harness that wrapped around his chest and shoulders and a pair of black thongs. In his hands he held a small box, a going away gift for the man he was visiting. His cobalt-blue hair was combed back with a few strands left to hang down in front of his forehead. Before the android could make a move to ring the buzzer, Bir stretched out his long neck to hit the button! The Furberus seemed more enthusiastic about this meeting than their father.

[D] Allan showed up really just a few seconds after Alizati, also with a small box in his hands, and was about to comment on Bir, Ikki, and Yuch's look - particularly that he loved the hats but that Alizati should consider giving them a clean, but then his eyes were drawn almost immediately to his boss's own attire. The Gwa Hawaiian shirt was absolutely adorable, and the green trousers and flip-flops weren't too abysmal being paired with it but... the leather harness really threw him off. A thousand questions about it ran through his head about it, but none of them actually surfaced before Bir hit the buzzer. He was wearing a black cropped leather jacket over a simple black cropped sleeveless shirt, which could have been perfect if he didn't pair one of those wild early-2000s skirts with it that Rihanna had worn on the cover of Vogue once. The pattern can't even be described here. He also wore, like, at least ten thick bracelets on one arm. The typical thigh-high black boots he wore made up for the crimes in footwear here, at the very least. It also went well with his black hair since he'd removed the hair dye from his hair not long after hanging out with Mo.

Mo turned up... Also in a leather jacket! Nowhere near as much accessorising as Allan, though, and in black jeans. He looked down at their two boxes. "Oh, shit. Should I'a brought somethin'?"

But before anyone could answer, Zero opened the door, his dress and smile sparkling. "Hello! You all look really good!" He had no eye for what was or wasn't a fashion crime, evidently. "Oh, I just realised I never got those shorts. Oh, and you dyed your hair! Now we're opposites." Black hair, white hair. He walked inside and sat down on the sofa. "Alizati, I feel like we're both about to go to the beach." Flip-flops (NOT thongs) and crocs were suited for sand, after all. "The beaches on Risa are lovely, you know. I lived there for a time in the 2200s with my wife, who's since passed; we ran an orchard of citrus fruits and figs and a little research centre studying the medicinal effects of herbs and other plants."

So many people showing up! Alizati was unaware there were this many people in the retro tech club, but he welcomed it. The Furberus was happy to see all of their friends with each of their three heads turning to look at one person; Bir looked at Allan, Ikki looked at mo, and Yuch looked towards Zero. Allan's attire was no surprise to the engineer, he was well aware that his fellow officer had a love for flashy appearances. It did not bother him, they were off duty. The jacket and crop top looked on brand, but the skirt set the whole outfit off. Compared to the Captain's more simple attire, the young lieutenant definitely stood out. Alizati's eyes then went from the Captain straight to Zero as the white haired man spoke to him. "Beach? We are not going to the beach, we are in your quarters," He said with a bit of confusion as he stepped into the room. The room decore surprised the Romulan-Vulcan android, the shelves covered with various gadgets and parts. The books were also an interesting detail, although Alizati couldn't even begin to make sense of what their contents could be. The soft hum from the Furberus' hoverchair followed right behind their creator as the three headed monstrosity moved themselves right up next to the sofa where Zero was sitting. And then that's when the android's eye caught glimpse of something pecurliar. "Your Furby is interesting," He stated, gesturing to Birthday Cake who was a pretty standard make of Furby. Not modified like the Furberus. "And the beach sounds... Nice. Well, I have also come with a, I believe the term is going away gift?" Alizati said as he placed the box on the table.

"Thanks, and I can always get those to you if you just send some over, I could always send 'em back - and, yeah! Lost a bet to this guy," he laughed as he pointed towards Mo, who was also in a leather jacket. Nice. "It was more like un-dying it, honestly, since this is my natural color." 'Removing the hair dye' was so many words and syllables! 'Un-dying' was definitely much easier to say, even if it wasn't a real word. He was definitely the youngest one here, that was for sure, but he personally felt that just offered some fresh perspective to the group of course! "For the record, you look really great too - and don't tell my boyfriend I ever said this, but I actually really love the crocs." Yet he was still so perplexed by Alizati's leather harness over the Hawaiian shirt. It wasn't beach attire, but it was Zero's-Quarters attire? Interesting. Or maybe that was just Alizati being Alizati. Probably the latter. Of course, it wasn't long after he walked into the room that he noticed the Furby. "Oh my God, that's..." he set the box he had been holding on the table as well, going right over to the Furby and reaching out his hand as if he expected it to react - he'd definitely gotten way too used to the Furberus. "Do they have a name?"

His boyfriend? Oh, that very fashionable guy he'd seen around? Why wouldn't he like the crocs, Zero wondered - they were very fashionable! As he picked up the box and opened it, Birthday Cake seemed to sense Allan's hand and said 'hi!' as one of his limited script of responses, and Zero said, "Thanks! I love your skirt. Birthday Cake! That's his name. He's not as intelligent as the Furberus at the moment since somehow it never occurred to me to make him more intelligent, but I might upgrade him. Actually, perhaps we could work on that today?"

Mo said nothing, feeling extremely awkward since this was the closest thing to an informal group scenario he'd been in since Allan's party, but sat down on the far end of the sofa and eyed the box as Zero opened it. What had Alizati brought?

Alizati remained standing as he watched the Furberus move their little hoverchair over towards Birthday Cake. "That is quite a name," Alizati was not going to judge Zero's naming sense, especially not when he named his own Furberus literally just one, two, and three in Uyghur. As he watched the Furberus attempt to interact with the much less sentient Furby, he caught sight of Allan's different hair colour. Black, his natural colour it seemed. "You changed your hair because of a 'bet'? Interesting. Black hair suits you just as much as red," It was a compliment, a very Vulcan compliment but a compliment none the less. It was only then when he heard the shuffling of Zero opening the box he had given him. Inside the former Borg would find a collection of retro tech items from Vulcan. Strips of velcro in silver and blue (Zero's brand colours, Alizati determined), an RGB Vulcan keyboard with the full Vulcan and Standard alphabets on the keys, a few sticks of RAM from a vintage computer, and lastly a hand crafted heat sink that looked like a giant cube with Vulcan lettering done in copper wire around the outside. "Retro items from my home, the Vulcanis Lunar Colony. The keyboard is a little newer as it has Standard lettering, but the rest of the items are parts of the computer my family used on our farm when we first settled on the colony," Alizati explained. One could easily use the parts to recreate a vintage Vulcan computer or perhaps as great display pieces, especially the RGB keyboard, wooo colours!

Allan laughed, smiling as he pet the furby. Even though he knew exactly why the Furby had said hi back to him, it still filled him with some sort of joy and amusement. "Hii, Birthday Cake," he replied, before looking back at Zero. "Yeah, that sounds so fun! We totally should, and yes, Alizati, I did, but thank you. They're... different vibes, but still good." Personally, he still thought red hair was best on him - not that his natural color was bad or anything, but he just felt more confident with the red and therefore it was better. Hey, at least on a good note anyone he met with the black hair would be pleasantly surprised when he dyed it red again! But holy shit, his attention was drawn away from Birthday Cake and his hair and all that when Zero opened Alizati's gift and inside were fucking vintage RAM sticks from Vulcan and a whole bunch else. Whoa. The young engineer simply stared at that shit in awe, he'd seen Earth ones sure but vintage Vulcan computers were also just so cool and he'd hardly seen them ever.

As birthday cake said 'hi!' to the Furberus (he wondered if the Furberus felt strange about seeing such a primitive version of itself, like a man gazing at a chimp) Zero's reaction was similarly awed. "This is amazing! How did you even think of this? Very creative." An odd compliment for a Vulcan, perhaps, who were not known for their creativity, but hey, Alizati was out here bustin' stereotypes. "I like that the heat sink kind of looks like a Borg cube." Most liberated Borg were out here having trauma over Borg and, well, while he certainly had no shortage of that it apparently didn't stop him from collecting cube-shaped trinkets. There were quite a few in this very room.

"Don't forget the other one," Mo said, still sorta sitting there. "Sorry I didn't bring one, but we've never met, so it didn't really occur to me."

"Oh, it's no problem. Pity, though, I would've liked to know the Captain better. Oh well." He picked up Allan's gift and also unwrapped it. "Yes, I quite like the black hair. While the red hair is very you, it's nice to see you in a new, fresh way."

"I am still unfamiliar with 'vibes', but I am glad you are wearing it confidently," Alizati honestly didn't know what Allan meant with 'different vibes', but he considered it just another weird human colloquialism. Naturally he did not care for slang or anything of that nature, it was very confusing why people felt the need to create new words or phrases when normal language had the proper terms. Illogical, but that's what made interaction with Allan so interesting. Alizati watched Zero's reaction carefully as the sound of the less sentient Furby's voice rang through the air. "I know you enjoy retro tech and I thought I would share some retro tech from my home with you," Despite the hardships he had on the Vulcanis Lunar Colony, being locked in a drawer disassembled for three years, he still thought of the quaint farm as his home. His family had always been up to date on the latest technology to improve efficiency so it was often they had a lot of spare outdated parts. "Most Vulcan heat sinks are cube shaped, it is the most efficient shape to disperse heat," Alizati expained. "The copper coils are ancient Vulcan script, it is the word 'logic', which was quite common on many Vulcan computers many years ago," He gestured to the coils that wrapped around the cube. His attention then shifted to the Furberus who seemed to be enjoying making noises at Birthday Cake. Despite the primitive programming, Birthday Cake sure was entertaining his three headed monstrosity. Next up was Allan's gift, something Alizati was quite curious about as he watched Zero open the box.

"Thanks! It is fresh to all of you, I forget, and - are you serious?" Allan looked at Alizati for a moment as he explained the copper coils in ancient Vulcan script to say the word logic, and moved a little closer to Zero to see the cube closer. "Aw, fuck, that's so cool, dude. Earth had cube shaped heat sinks too, but damn, we never had - or at least I've never seen - the copper coils in script like this, wow." "And vibes are like... they're like, some feelings you get based off of things sometimes. Like, if the people in the room around you are sad, you might get a sad vibe. If the room is really quiet and dark, you might get a spooky vibe. If someone's wearing like, a comfortable sweater, that's comfy vibes they've got. You know?" He figured it was probably just a weird human colloquialism, probably, since the amount of times he'd explained it on his last posting had been so numerous. But that's what made explaining it fun, sort of, because it was something he knew about. Sorta. Inside the box Zero opened was a medium-sized hand-crank radio from around the late 20th to 21st centuries. "So uhh, this is a really old one, but I remember you talked about how you didn't have any of your record players or radios anymore so I thought, hey, we still... we still actually use these a lot back at home, since they don't need power it's really good for like, emergencies and stuff, but also just good to bring to the beach and chill because of that. It's called uh, radio de manivela, or um, I mean -" Fuck, why did he only know the Spanish for this? Weird. "It uses a crank to power it - crank radio! I think that's it."

Zero smiled brightly at Allan and opened his arms for a hug of gratitude, if Allan wanted one. He was quite casual about physical contact, but it was still good to ask. He hadn't offered one to Alizati because he did not seem like he was very open to hugs. It was only a brief squeeze and a pat on the shoulder, though. "I'm so touched you remembered! You're quite attentive, I think. I enjoy such simplistic but intelligent design as this; it just shows what innovations people will think of even if they don't have access to technology and knowledge such as ours, and there's something artistic about the simplicity of its function, like reading a story with a focused idea and mood and theme - the vibes, if you will - instead of trying to talk about a million things at once and cover the entire spectrum if human emotion. Speaking of, vibes are very real, and I would say that even if I wasn't an El-Aurian." Local empath vibe checks everyone he meets. He turned to Alizati. "For example, you are stern, curious in that you seek knowledge and self-exploration, and you have a quiet, tempered kindness to you, and even though you may not express yourself much, you say a lot nonetheless. You remind me of a schoolteacher I once knew... He was very dadly, very dear to me, and very dead now, but I have a feeling you're no stranger to death. Your aura if I could see it would be amber, like the reddening sky of the evening, Vulcan from space, the spark of life in the embers of a campfire, or a fossil unearthed... Though one might think to assign you a cold colour such as the blue of still water, I don't think you're as cold as you might seem at first glance."

"You're gettin' all that from a vibe?" Mo said. He was good at reading people, but that just sounded like a bunch of assumptions to him. Then again, he supposed reading people WAS making a bunch of assumptions and being fairly accurate, hopefully. "Also, damn, that radio is cool. I ain't never seen one like that before in real life, actually, with the crank." He grew up in a way too technologically advanced environment for that, though it wasn't like he didn't know about them. He wasn't in the retro tech club for nothing. "I also kinda wanna draw the heat sink. It looks like art."

"Everything in the universe is art."

"Vulcans believe logic and beauty go hand in hand," Alizati explained to Allan. As always his words were spoken slowly, he was someone who thought carefully about each word. The lieutenant's explanation of the word 'vibes' still made no sense. Perhaps because he was never one to pay attention to 'gut feeling'. It was illogical and in many cases was the result of illogical and irrational conclusions fueled by his emotions. Little did he know Allan's explanation on vibes would help him later on in this conversation. The sounds of shuffling as Zero lifted the odd piece of tech out of the box soon reached Alizati's ears and he quickly focused his gaze on the object. The shorts-loving man's language slip did not bother him in the least but it was yet another reminder that Allan spoke Spanish. It was easy to forget many of the crew were multilingual as everyone was trained in Standard or their words filtered through the UT. A sign of intelligence, Alizati thought. "The radio is very thoughtful, Allan. I am quite fond of retro terran design," At face value the statement may have sounded dull, but he was confident Allan would be able to understand it was a compliment. As soon as he noticed Zero opening his arms to invite Allan for a hug, he looked away. Too scandalous for his eyes. He looked over at the Furberus instead who was booping noses with Birthday Cake and making the softest of mewing noises. 777_divider

02:38

'Vibes', that word appeared yet again. The word seemed synonymous with empathy, which was probably the reason Alizati couldn't relate. "Dadly?" Alizati turned back to Zero, confused by the term before he realised it was supposed to be 'fatherly'. He ignored the 'very dead' part, Alizati was technically never alive. "Your analysis of my 'vibes' is well informed and insightful. You are correct that I am no stranger to death, I am half Romulan," Even though him being half Romulan only vaguely explained why he was familiar with death. "It is difficult to read a Vulcan, especially an android. Your perceptive abilities are high, Zero," Another compliment delivered in a cool monotone, but a compliment nonetheless. "I'd like to hear your 'vibes' on others as well," Alizati was still unsure how to properly use the word, but he was trying here. Cold dark mechanical eyes stared at Zero and then moved to the Captain who wanted to 'draw the heat sink'. Interesting, although Visual arts were not really his forte, Alizati was a music guy.

"Yeah! Yeah, you're right," Allan did indeed give him a hug when he was so asked, and yet wasn't in complete understanding of what Zero was saying, but he was understanding enough of it to know he was right and that this was Cool Stuff. "Ittt it really is retro terran design, yeah, and -" he looked towards Mo and smiled, "I could probably get another one if you want one! We don't have a whole lot of the crank ones around still, most of 'em are the solar powered ones - still pretty vintage, but we still have crank ones for when it's really stormy and not sunny and all that." "Oh, and you should absolutely draw the heat sink, that'd be fuckin' sweet." He also nodded along to what Zero said about Alizati's Vibes. "Pretty spot on, yeah," he confirmed, "Zero, you really are the best with..." he took a moment to remember how Alizati had phrased it, "'perceptive abilities', yeah? Clocking the vibe. A 'vibe check', I think it's called."

"Huh. I wouldn't mind that, thanks." He had no idea what he'd do with the radio, though. Would it even pick up anything in space? "Zero, you got a pencil and paper in here somewhere?"

"Over there." Then as Mo went over, fetched the pencil and paper and started sketching the heat sink, he continued, "Thanks! It's an El-Aurian thing. We see things others don't, in many ways." He wondered if either of them had ever met an El-Aurian before. Probably not. Most people hadn't. "I think I'm all out of vibe checks for today, though; sorry, Captain."

"It's fine, I'm busy drawin' anyway. Just the initial sketch, though."

"Right. And while you're doing that, we should discuss what we're going to do today..." He looked over to where the Furberus was mewing at Birthday Cake, which was Very Cute. "How about upgrading Birthday Cake a bit so he and the Furberus can actually interact properly? It would be nice for the Furberus to have a friend of its own kind." [D] And so, presuming they all agreed, they got to work improving the intelligence and memory capabilities of Birthday Cake, transforming him from a bog-standard furby into something of a... Higher intelligence. How much higher? We'll find out!

Mo also finished his drawing of the heat sink and gave it to Zero. He'd brought him a gift after all!