Star Trek: Eventide 777

That next day, Mika had agreed to accompany her mother to the shop in the early hours. Rico had protested, but she’d promised to work on the bike with him later. The shop had changed since she’d last been to Peru. The countertop had been replaced by a new one, made of a lighter coloured wood. There were a couple of virtual post card stands, where one could download post cards; stuff to be sold to tourists, next to their self grown goods. Her mother had told Mika to get the clothing racks from the back room. She’d been confused and then she’d found alpaca ponchos on the racks. “You really have expanded, haven’t you?”, she said as she put up the racks in front of the shop.

“Well, yes! I’ve been having more time to make ponchos, so now we’re not only selling wool, but the finished product as well. Oh, and Arabella is working with us on the post cards. You remember her, don’t you? Arabella Merced from the copy shop?” (edited)

Mika nodded. “Yes, I remember.” Arabella was a nice woman, covered in tattoos. Mika used to go to the copy shop to get custom programs for her padd.

“She got a dog now. A golden retriever.”

“Oh, lovely,” said Mika and they kept making small talk as they set up the rest of the shop. Mika was sitting behind the counter, waiting for customers, Latino music in the background, when her PADD gave a chime. Mo liked the sunrise picture. Mika smiled at the screen.

2

Mika totally wasn’t at all texting with her superior officer about alpaca keychains when her mother returned from the back room.

Millie raised an eyebrow when she found her daughter glued to the PADD screen. “Who’s got you smiling like that?”

Namika looked up, turning off the PADD maybe a tad too quickly for it to not be sus. Oops. Wait, why was she blushing? She didn’t even have anything to hide, chatting with the station commander was totally normal. Yeah. A lot of people did it probably. As soon as she thought that, Mika caught herself thinking that she hoped it wasn’t true. She kinda hoped she wasn’t one amongst many people that would text Mo silly little messages about alpacas and holodeck nights. Ah, that was a selfish thought. “Uh, nobody. I was just looking at this keychain I found in the backrooms. I’d like to take it,” she said, holding up the little plastic alpaca for her mother to see.

2

Her daughter was a lousy liar. But fine, thought Millie, keep your secrets. “Ah. Well, feel free to take it back to the station with you. It belonged to your great grandfather. I’ve been meaning to get rid of it - nobody needs keychains anymore nowadays.”

“Yeah…” She turned the keychain in her hand and gave it a thoughtful glance. Objectively, it was useless, her mother was totally right. She wondered whether Mo would appreciate a more useful gift. Actually, that made her think about getting gifts for all of her friends! “Hey, mom,” she said, “I might just go to the city a little, do some shopping, you know. You think you could spare me for a couple of hours?” (edited)

Millie pulled up a chair behind the counter, sitting down. “Of course, mi muchacha. You know I usually manage the store on my own anyways.” A true feat, at her age. But she liked being busy, and she knew almost everyone who came in through the door on a daily - except for the tourists of course. Millie has always been a community person.

2

Namika helped her mother serve some customers. She was shown off to several people who had known her in her childhood, like the local tailor and a distant cousin of her father, forcing her to make a lot of small talk and repeat herself over and over again - “Yes, doing fine.” “Working as a pilot for starfleet, yes.” “No, not married.” “Of course I missed Peru.” - until eventually she got sick of all the reunions. She told her mother she was headed downtown to do some shopping and Millie sent her off with a kiss on the forehead. Before any more distant cousins could pinch her cheek and ask about her relationship status, Mika fled out the door and into the city!

1