#13 To Learn and Unlearn

Posted on Tue Jun 18th, 2024 @ 4:31pm by Lieutenant JG Sheyla {Meji} & Lieutenant JG Ainkara "Kara" {Meji}

Mission: Shakedown II
Location: Meji Sea, Danvers
Timeline: Current

ON:

A group of people who served on the planet of Danvers all stood on the reef rocks and coral that was above the surface. They were all looking down into the clear seawater, a deep pool that was surrounded by a protective reef as a sort of deep dive wading pool. The thing that had caught their attention was the blue woman at the bottom of the pool. They knew it was Doctor Sheyla from Amandora, and not being able to see her super clear due to waves and ripples on the surface that distorted her simply due to physics, they could not see the starfish she had on her face. Plus, she had her back to them at this angle.

"How long has she been down there?" A woman asked.

"Since I got here," a man answered. "About twenty minutes. Not once has she come up for air."

Sheyla, for her part was deep in meditation, sitting lotus on the sea floor and using the Core to take in everything. Through that energy she communed with all the life she could feel, and for her efforts there were schools of fish swimming around her as they felt an attraction to this strange thing inhabiting their environment. Crustaceans, fish, various other sea going arthropods, not to mention squid-like animals and smaller versions of the octopus she had encountered in her adventures. They swam around her, some touching her and getting in close as they felt she was a place of safety and security. As Sheyla came out of her meditation she opened her eyes and smiled beneath the starfish, seeing all her guests.

The woman on the surface pointed. "What is she doing now?"

"Gesturing at something?" Asked the man, not really sure until they all saw what it was the gestures were doing.

Sheyla lifted her arms and opened her hands with the specimens swimming all around her as they did circles around her arms and torso, close enough that Sheyla could feel the tactile sensations of their fins and bodies touching her in a feather-light manner. So, seeing this she made her hand into that of a knife strike, but instead of swatting at the small fish species' around her she held her hand out in that pose and began to wave it back and forth like a child acting out how a shuttle would move through space. Whoosh. Whoosh. This way and that as if riding currents and waves. The fish followed her movements as a school. First sliding this way and then that way. Each species grouped together and swimming according to her somatic gestures.

"That's amazing!" Another woman said, watching in awe.

"I don't see any devices she could be using," Said another man, a Science officer. "She must have a bond with them, or earned a trust."

As her time on Danvers had become more water bound than land bound, Sheyla began to realize that the Core protected her from the environment. Instead of getting the puffy, crinkly skin of someone in the water too long, her skin began to show it was no longer affected by such things. Her eyes auto-acclimated to the vision beneath the waves, and changed up almost immediately once her eyes broke the surface. Her ears never plugged up with water and they were not harmed or discomforted by the length of time spent in the salt water, or any water, for that matter. The Core knew her desire, knew her heart. She had fallen in love with the sea and with the life on this planet. Sheyla had told herself many times over the past few days that she would gladly spend her whole life here on Danvers just to commune with the life here, commune with the Core through that life, and explore the highest mountains and the deepest seas.

"Lieutenant Sheyla is not using any devices," a woman's voice said from behind them. They all looked back to see Lieutenant Ainkara, or Kara, as her crew called her. "The Doctor is Meji and she is communing with the sea life. The Core is testing her dedication to this world and the life upon it. That's all." They all looked back at her, seeing her smiling pleasantly.

"How is she holding her breath so long?" Asked a woman.

"Some of it is her use of the Core," Kara explained. still smiling. "Beyond that she is wearing a special kind of starfish over her nose and mouth. A natural, organic rebreather with a heartbeat."

"No shit!?" Asked the Science guy.

"No shit," Kara said.

Just as that was said, Sheyla kicked off the bottom and rose up, breaking the surface and treading water. She pulled the starfish free of her mouth and let it attach to her shoulder. The group now had their backs to her and Kara looked between them and kept smiling as she met her friend's gaze.

"Do you think she would let me see one? I mean, hold it?"

"Ask her," Kara said, motioning behind them. They all spun around to see the Andorian coming up out of the water as she climbed up the reef and stood with them all.

"Ask me what?" Sheyla glanced around at them all.

"That starfish," the science officer motioned to it on her shoulder, and then pulled his hand back as the clear gel began to form around itself to keep it moist. "What's it doing? Did I scare it?"

Sheyla gave a giggle. "No. It's fine. A defense mechanism against drying out. Here." She gently pulled the creature free of her flesh and handed it over, with the man hesitating to touch it. "It's perfectly safe." Sheyla assured him. "They have no means of attack other than slowly riding over mussels for food. Here." She handed it over and he took it, bringing it close to his face to give it a good examination.

"Sheyla," Kara said as she stepped in and hugged her. "You've been absent from everyone else. We miss you."

"I know," Sheyla responded. "My time here is limited so I am spending it with the sea. That, and collecting some things for research when back on board."

Kara understood that, and she could feel the devotion from her Acolyte for this world and the life upon it. All life. "Will you share this knowledge with others?"

"Of course." Sheyla grinned. "It has been proven time and again that sea life on many worlds have wonderous natural remedies for many ailments. I'm sure Doctor Long and Lieutenant Herculoid would be agreeable to studying them, as well. In a kind manner, of course. No dissections."

Kara gave her a crooked smile. "Neither seem the type to want to harm an animal merely for scientific research." Her head turned and she looked at the science man still looking at the starfish. "Not everyone, I feel, is the same." Her smile faded as she looked the man in the eye when he glanced up at her.

Feeling that same instinct for this man, Sheyla reached out and plucked the starfish from his hand. "I will make sure you are never allowed in the Meji Sea. Your methods are antithetical to Meji. We do not kill to discover, we commune. We observe. Blood samples and the like are one thing but killing an animal just to further your own limited knowledge is wrong in the extreme."

"Please, I'm sorry. You're right. I was letting my own ambitions have free reign."

When Sheyla went to respond she was stopped before she uttered a sound by feeling Seamother and the pod coming closer to the shoreline. "Your apology is accepted, but I have guests. Pardon me, everyone, Master." She gave them nods and then turned and hopped back into the sea. Swimming through the gap of reef she entered the more open portion of the Meji Sea as she placed the starfish on her face after it recovered its gel within itself.

Off in the distance the pod began to rise and blow air out. The group of people began to point excitedly, moving along the rocks and reef to try and get a better look at the whales. Kara moved along with them as she too watched Sheyla swim out to meet them. It still amazed her that her pupil was so in sync with them. The pod all swam around her, coming in one at a time to be touched by her, to rub with a pod member and Seamother's claimed pup. The group also gave voice to their own amazement, seeing the Andorian mingling with the Orca looking beasts as if she were one of them.

Kara now realized that her Acolyte was learning how to be a Meji from the Core itself, that the Core was influencing her education and teaching her. As Sheyla's Master, Kara had to accept that. She would be here for the philosophical side of training but as far as actual Core training went, the Core was seeing to that. There was nothing Kara could add to it unless her student asked her for aid. So, Kara would wait for those times but allow Acolyte Sheyla to continue as she was.

OFF: