[sylvanSpider]

The quarters that the H.S.S. Incredulous provided for Dr. Marie Gallagher were nice. They'd brought her on the mission in the case they encountered intelligent life. One of her calliber was necessary, they said, as few had quite the diverse background she had. Tearing her away from the hospital took a lot of effort and persuasion, but with the promise of potentially viewing new life and thus anatomical variances to be observed, she relented, praying that her fellow surgeons would be able to take the reins in her absence. No new life seemed to have been found.

Remnants of ancient life, perhaps, but nothing that a doctor of living things could be of assistance with. This entire trip had been a disappointment. Certainly, archaeologists would be interested in an ancient technologically advanced species, but if they were gone, they were of no use to her anymore. Now, with free times on her hands, she took to study. The purpose of leaving was self-improvement, and she was still going to accomplish that if she could help it.

Now, the doctor sat hunched over several open books, worn so that the books sat where they were opened, each with notes scribbled in the margins and an open several paged data-doc sat open and propped up against the sole source of the light in the room, a small desk lamp. Silence permeated the air, excepting perhaps the soft click of fingernails against the dataslate's screen or the gentle scrapes of ink on paper. It followed, then, that she startled when the soft beep signaled the opening of her door. She clenched her jaw and straightened her posture, actions contradicting her soft, slightly shaking voice, “I thought we agreed I would be pinged if I were to receive visitors?”She pressed her lips together and mustered a smile of pleasant optimism as she turned around in her seat.