Post 13 - Hey Siri!

Posted on Sat Jan 9th, 2021 @ 1:27am by Commander Ellis Rienl & Siri
Edited on on Sat Jan 9th, 2021 @ 7:45am

Mission: Episode 1: Acta Non Verba
Location: Presidio Grounds
Timeline: Day 11, 1104 Hours

[Presidio Grounds]
[Day 11, 1104 Hours]

"Accessing information. Standby," scrawled across the monocle's HUD. Visible only to its wearer, the light blue text ended in a glowing line of three ellipses that blinked in staccato rhytym. "There are 4,753,017 results to your query. Result one," the text changed, overlaying a giant chuck of data on-screen. Behind the words moved the muted world beyond: a grassy vista full of flowers, watery pools with their spritely fountains, shady trees perfect for a picnic, and -- as always -- the not-so-Golden Gate Bridge off the coast.

"Hello Your Grace," spoke up a voice from the embedded earpiece that worked in conjunction with the monocle. The tone was full of mirth, as if its source was greatly amused about something. Knowing that only the earpiece's wearer would hear her, the artificial intelligence did not concern herself with being overheard by others walking to-and-fro or relaxing in the quad. "It looks like you're trying to figure out what in the hell those flowers are. Want me to sort through all the data myself and give you the short version?" Siri's tone had a bemused quality to it, as if she already knew the answer but was asking anyway to try the patience of her human companion.

Named after an AI from Earth's very ancient past, Siri was a pet project of her creator, Commander Ellis Rienl -- a Starfleet Intelligence operative who'd only recently returned to Earth after his last assignment. Utilizing Ellis' custom-created monocle as a private, augmented-reality display and the earpiece as a transmitter for her voice, Siri was the perfect companion for someone who was constantly analyzing the world around him, as Ellis so often did. But Siri also knew that Ellis was his own man and did not always want or need her help, though she delighted in providing it when desired.

This was proving, unfortunately, to be one of those times when he needed it, perhaps in more ways than one. It had been so long since he'd been back planet-side, his more recent duties having carried him far away from humanity's ancestral home. Upon his return, and before his next assignment could pull him into its current, he had decided to take some time for himself, here in the quad. It was important, he had decided, not just to reconnect himself with his home, but to drink in the tranquility of the place.

Here he had sought simply to find a quiet spot amidst the patterns of every day life... of the duty officer taking her lunch on a picnic with friends... the assistant striking a hurried staccato stride across the concrete walk as he raced some invisible deadline... the custodian tending lovingly to the plants and maintaining the verdant greenery that brought a crucial component of the very peace he sought... It was in the last that he found his downfall.

For it was as soon as he had traced the threads of lives to this elderly gentleman, singing in muted tones while he offered water and nutrients to the foliage... that Ellis became lost. From the man his attention slid to the flowers, composed in a planting that was both beautiful and... deliberate. He became lost in the questions... Which flowers were they? Why were they arranged the way they were? How did the aesthetics so perfectly combine to evoke a scene of such serenity in the middle of one of the surely most chaotic and frenetic locations in the quadrant.

So it was, his own relaxation forgotten, that when Siri chimed in, she was met with a subtle smile. It pulled at only one corner of his mouth, and didn't even touch the eye where she rested. It matched her bemusement with his own, and he chuckled quietly before he replied in a tone that was a playful acquiescence. "Very well." Ellis took the moment to recline back upon his bench again, having apparently leaned forward at some point during his intensive scrutiny. He cast both arms atop the high back of it to either side, and brought one of his legs up, resting the ankle upon the knee of the other. "Full display. All flowers. All species."

On the monocle, each type of flower suddenly appeared with floating labels overlaid. Siri sounded entirely too cheerful as she rattled off the different types present, giving context for certain varieties she knew Ellis would find more interesting than others. "The yellow ones are Aconite. Planted in large groups like this, their honey-like smell and color gives the quad a cheerful quality. The blue ones that look like little fireworks," she continued, speaking from Rienl's earpiece, "are Catmint. A favorite of felines around the Earth. Look closely at that patch of Catmint bushes there," the indicated berth of plants lit up with a glowing border. "See anything interesting?"

Though Siri did not highlight them on the monocle's display, a pair of small, thoughtful eyes were staring out of indicated batch of bushes ahead. Framed by the blue flowers, the eyes were inset into a cindery-gray head of fluff. Medium haired and perhaps in its adolescence, the cat was clearly enjoying the dappled sunlight playing across its hiding spot, which ruffled in the gentle breeze. Though it was November and the weather was changing for the colder, it seemed the landscapers who groomed the grounds of Starfleet Command worked their magic to keep blooms flowering year round: the perfect place for a kitty to relax during the day.

Or a man. Leave it to Siri to bring him back around toward the original intention of his visit, leading him by the nose of his very curiosity to something that embodied exactly what it was he sought. To be a being immersed in the moment, bathing in the sunshine, reveling in the shade, drinking in the colors, breathing in the scents. He did so deeply, exactly the same time as he did all the others and finally, at last, felt truly centered. A long, slow, languorous smile spread itself across his lips as he eyes slid closed and his head tilted back. A small slice of piece, a perfect moment.

When he fluttered his eyes open and drew them down from the sky, he exhaled a contented sigh and nodded. "Capture the image. Catalogue all data. Flora," he smirked, "and fauna." Then his head tilted to the side, and after a moment his eyes opened wide. "Siri. Call up the database. Image archive. RX-367-28. That nebula off Rhilix. Overlay via the AR on the flowers. Orient the image 20 degrees x-axis, 30 degrees y, 90 degrees z, and center coordinates 128.36 by 367.90 by 292.86 on our furry friend... But shift the visible spectrum 130 THz toward the Ultraviolet. Display."

Though not truly a sentient being, Siri still drew satisfaction from accomplishing her goal -- helping Ellis to find a little corner of paradise and lose himself in its peace. As ordered, she used the imaging hardware installed within the monocle to snap an image of the flower beds and their feline interloper. But then Ellis was making a rather odd request, prompting her to ask into his reasoning while she assembled the composite overlays as requested.

"Looking for something in particular?" Siri asked through the earpiece as Ellis considered the finalized image she was now showing him.

"There!" exclaimed the man, satisfied. His outburst probably drew a couple stares on the quiet and sunny afternoon quad, but if they did, he was oblivious to them. Instead, he took a moment to just appreciate what he saw. It wasn't perfect, and he hadn't expected it to be, but it was a near thing. With the proper rotation, with the applied color shift, the nebula laid itself over top the flower bed like a blanket.

As it settled, the altered hues of the gaseous clouds nestled into the natural ones of the foliage, the stellar nursery sparkling and shimmering like the sunlight upon the petals. It dimmed, less active in the areas where the catmint dominated, and then flared with the promise of new celestial life in the clusters of aconite. Naturally or artificially made, the patterns reflected one another, and once again Ellis leaned intently forward and for a stretch of time said nothing, losing himself instead in the similitude, and savoring the vast and connected complexity of existence.

"... Archive image," he said at last, his voice a barely audible and reverent whisper. It was a few more moments before, "Dismiss overlay," followed and at last the Commander stood. He took his time with it, waking each limb toward purpose, feeling out the muscles and the joints at his knees, twisting slightly at his waist, rolling both his shoulders. "Hey Siri..." he began, his tone still soft, and perhaps even a little affectionate. "What would I do without you?" It was a rhetorical question, but Ellis knew better than to give her enough time to answer. Instead, he spoke again as he tucked both hands behind his back. "Where are we due, exactly? It's probably time be on with it."

"Image archived," the AI intoned in response. "I'll have it ready for a drab day, when you could use a little 'order of the universe' reminder, Ellis," her voice sounded like she was smiling. Truly predicted, a snarky answer was about to pour from her of-the-ether lips but the comment stalled as a true query was issued instead. "Rear Admiral Ojo is expecting you in 20 minutes, Ellis," came Siri's pleasant, sing-song reply. "If you leave now, you will arrive in 7 minutes on foot. I can also arrange for a site-to-site transport if you wish."

Ellis shook his head slowly, deliberately, the soft, subtle smile on his features seemingly rooted in place and utterly immovable. "Thank you, Siri," he said, and he gave the grounds one last appreciative sweep with his eyes. When they alighted on the still slightly obscured and luxuriating feline, he tossed it a wink, and concluded, "but I think I'll walk." As he said so, he did so, and set a measured pace to carry him toward whatever new puzzles awaited.

=/\= A joint post by... =/\=

Commander Ellis Rienl
Intelligence Operative
Starfleet Command

and

Siri (NPC - Brad)
Artificial Intelligence Operative