Post 389: The Man In the Moon

Stardate: 70815.1700
Title: The Man in the Moon
Author: Ensign Rada Dengar
Scene: Inside the Runabout Ganymede
Time: Following "How's That Workin' For You?"

Rada had long since finished repairing the Ganymede and now faced the problem that had plagued him for as long as he could remember, he began to wonder *what had he forgotten?* He couldn't remember forgetting anything, which he regarded as a very bad sign.

At least when you remember you've forgotten something it remains at the surface of your mind waiting to be remembered, but when you can't even remember that you've forgotten it, it becomes almost impossible to find.
Rada had often compared it to having a bomb outside of your door which you don't know about. If you don't check, simply because you don't believe it's there, you die. Of course Rada had been told when he was younger that he worried too much; something which greatly worried him to this day.

He had always regarded the worst thing about repairing a runabout instead of the ship to be that typically if you make a mistake on the ship you all die whereas on a runabout it's someone else who dies. So not only is that your fault but you're also still alive to face the blame.

He walked around inside of the runabout which thanks to his efforts no longer showed any signs of damage.

He began to think with a distinct tone of anger *This is getting on my nerves. Every system is functioning well within established parameters; every test gives off the same predictable results as if everything's fine and I can't find a single malfunction. How can they expect me to fix a problem I can't even find?*

"Please, just show me one thing that isn't working!" he pleaded with the computer.

At that moment Lair Kellyn stepped onto the runabout and said "I can't say I've ever asked a computer that before."

Rada was startled but didn't show it, he didn't want to get her name wrong so he kept repeating to himself *Kellyn, Kellyn, Kellyn, Kellyn*

"Greetings, Kellyn."

*Yes, I've done it!* he thought triumphant at what he considered to be a small victory over his own failings. Rada was still even more worried than usual though because he had promised to take good care of her Ganymede.

"You seem to have gotten along quite quickly," she remarked.

*Now what do I do?* He began to panic *If I tell her how I did it she'll think I'm accusing her of not knowing how to do something so simple that even I can do it, alternatively if I don't she'll think I'm so selfish that I won't even share my tec! hniques with other engineers or that I have gotten through quickly by only doing the bare minimum. WAIT! What are you thinking? If you tell her how you fixed it then she'll see just how incompetent you really are! I don't care how many times you've lucked out and gotten things done quickly, you're still not likely to ever have done them the right way*

"Yeah, I've had a good run. I am sure that I have forgotten something though," he lied, he'd never been sure of anything in his life.

"I've tried diagnostic after diagnostic and all reports come back fine." he added.

Lair was impressed with Rada's speed and dedication to fixing any problems even those which the computer insisted didn't exist. She felt that here was an engineer who cared about the crew and whoever would be using the runabout more than he cared about his own time and interests.

Rada on the other hand was annoyed that he couldn't figure out this problem which he felt anyone else would be undoubtedly able to fix in a second. He couldn't help but worry what'd happen if he couldn't fix it and someone gets hurt. *Why couldn't there have been a large scale emergency which lead someone to take the runabout out before I had a chance to fix it? Then if it blew up it wouldn't be my problem*

"I'd suggest you leave it for now and go work on something else. Often when I stop thinking about something that's when I have an idea. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack, it's when you leave the haystack for a while and visit the nearby magnetics factory that you figure out the best way to find it."

*'Leave it for now'? she clearly thinks that I'm wasting my time here and that I should have moved onto something else a long time ago. That 'You seem to have gotten along quite quickly' must have been sarcastic, now how do you look? Basically every teenager on every planet has mastered sarcasm and you can't?*.

He then relatively calmly (for Rada) reassured himself using a quote he'd made up for exactly this kind of circumstance

*"Still, a man who does foolish things is demonstrating he can act like a fool, a man who does foolish things and then shows that he had the understanding not to do them proves himself a fool." For now you'll just have to pretend not to have figured out your own idiocy.*

"I suppose I'd better, Hopefully an idea will come then." Rada said as he stepped outside of the runabout relieved that he had an excuse to stop thinking and to do some actual work for a little while.

Ensign Rada Dengar
Engineering Officer
USS Independence NCC-90791