Cat Full of Rubies

Posted on 24 Sep 2023 @ 4:38pm by Petty Officer 2nd Class Alizabeth Omari

1,141 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Miranda
Location: Private quarters, rec and med bay

For three nights Alizabeth could not sleep no matter what she tried, oh and she had tried. Every remedy and obscure self-care idea she had ever heard in the past to counter wakefulness was attempted, from environmental changes like turning off all screens, working a light pattern from early evening to a sky full of stars, making her room warmer or cooler, to personal changes, meditation, yoga, relaxing each muscle bit by bit, none of it had helped.

After focusing on a report she was supposed to be summarizing for the Captain for much longer than she normally would, she found herself just staring at a point above it. Sweeping her hand over the top of the pad to lock the screen she knocked a glass of water over onto the floor, a ring of moisture remaining. With a sigh the dark skinned woman stood and went to clean up the mess, her mind completely blanking on the salient points of the report, all she could remember from it was a few missing commas.

Aliza put the glass on a counter and then leaned against it and rubbed her temples. With the self imposed pressure, from being so locked in to trying to make herself known to so many of the crew, she had ignored her normal workout routine and decided that might be why she was struggling with insomnia. Physical activity was supposed to help, time to get back in the gym. Changing out of her uniform she pulled on deep green shorts and a fuscia top, the color combination glaring and not offering the well put together look she always cultivated.

Plugging in a personal collection of music into her headphones, she left her room and made for the rec area. On the way there she noted a few people passing her and heading towards medical, no smile from her greeted them, the warmth she might normally have was absent, her expression and posture neutral while she walked at a subdued pace to her planned destination.

Once in the weight room she pulled a towel from around her neck and tossed it towards a bench, something she had done thousands of times, this time it missed and dropped to the floor in a little white lump. Gold eyes followed its journey and a small frown drew a line into a vee on her brow. Bending to pick it up she bumped her temple on the corner of the same bench. Not one to normally be clumsy, the surprise of the collision, more than the pain, calling a string of curses from her lips, starting in standard, then in Risan, then Haliian and back to standard again.

Settling heavily onto the padded seat and closing her eyes for a moment, the world spinning in the depths of the darkness made her swallow down a wave of nausea snapping golden orbs open again. This exhausted state needed to end or she would need to go to med bay and get something to help.

“Load program Omari’s One More Rep ,” she called to the ship’s computer, then took hold of weights that would automatically adjust to the settings she had prepared. Picking up dumbbells that were stored in positions under the bench, she took a deep breath and began to curl them up forcing her upper arms to remain flush against her sides so her biceps were targeted. It only took a couple lifts for her to know something was wrong, this set should just be a warm up and yet already she felt like this was the end of her routine. Muscles fatiguing at only five curls, she had to settle the weight back into place.

With an unsteady movement she brought her hand up to press into the ship’s analytics system, her other using two fingers to press against her neck under her ear. Instead of focusing on her heart rate there she paused and began to work around the spot, there was a strange swelling and pain there. “Computer, query reasons for lumps under the ear.”

Her mother’s image responded from in front of her, the orange and red zig zag patterned caftan that she wore so often at home, fabric moving and shifting into a large orange tabby cat with tufted ears and a wide grin before blending into an absolute avalanche of red crystals whose prismatic facets caught the light and danced in her vision, “Self-diagnosis is not recommended, dearling…”

“But mother… fine…” she whined automatically not even registering the oddity of what she was seeing. Wrapping her towel around the back of her neck once more and standing, or trying to, the effort making her head spin and the spotted lights in her vision return. Sitting heavily back down, she dropped both hands to hold the padded seat, locking the joints of her elbows to keep her upright, failing at that she slipped back and the ceiling became rainbow clouds.

After an indeterminate amount of time passed, the thought of this not being good came to her mind. Using careful concentration, and reaching out in front of her to help her balance, she was able to rise slowly. The gym lost interest for her and med bay was calling to her, sheer stubbornness was keeping her from calling for help as she left the room and made her way into the hallway.

The yeoman did not even notice the fact that a handful of people passed her and went into the entrance she was aiming for, a red shirted woman causing the door to open right as she arrived. Lifting her head and actually seeing all the people around her she frowned in confusion. One of the staff walked right up to her, her body separating into two halves, the top half scanned her with a tricorder, “High fever, swollen glands, what else is going on?”

“Can’t sleep, haven’t for days, feel really weak all of a sudden and my mom became a cat full of rubies. What is going on here, a party?” She replied then countered with a question of her own ridiculous as it was. Focusing on face before her, because flowers were climbing the walls behind him, best not to say that, he might think her crazy.

With a wave of his hand he called over another staff member. “Get her to a bed, a cot or the floor,” the order was followed by him pressing something into her arm.

“What th…” the comment soft as the room began to swim around her like the gym had.

“I gave her a sedat….” His tired voice blurring the edges of her consciousness, as the other crew member slid an arm around her waist supporting her on the way to a thin mat on the sick bay floor.

 

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