Checking on Ford

Posted on Sat May 23rd, 2026 @ 8:42pm by Lieutenant Commander Elias Ford & Ensign Abigail Gordon

1,728 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Flashbacks and Side Quests
Location: USS Valkyrie - Holosuite
Timeline: Post Anomaly

[ON]

Her shift was done, even though she could still be classified as being on call, Abi did value having the personal time to work on her hobbies, get to know others of the crew or just make certain that there was a time to destress on the holodeck. .

Speaking of destressing, she wondered about something, Did Doctor Ford take time to do that? Or did he closet himself in his office or his quarters and hide away. Well that could be thought as doing destressing.

Still though, Abi did wonder. She didn't know much about Doctor Ford, and being in medical she was also cognizant of making certain Doctors were also taking care of themselves.

There was also the question Abigail had on her mind, Did Doctor Ford suffer a six hour loss like the others had?

Walking to Ford's office, Abi tapped on the door before she stuck her head inside, having a cheery smile upon her lips.

"Doctor Ford, do you have any plans for the evening? "

He was at his terminal, on the screen flickered a brainwave scan, its pattern unnervingly coherent, almost orchestrated. For six hours, the ship was adrift. Its crew prey to a song of a siren long gone. But Ford himself felt good. Surprisingly good.

"Plans?" he asked "Of course, I have the gamma shift-" he stopped himself as he glanced on the duty roster. "Miss Snow has the gamma shift'' His eyes stayed on the roster longer than he wanted them to.

"Then, please come with me, I have things I would like to talk to you about, And a change of scenery even if it is artificially made might be a good way to refresh oneself?" Abigail's expressive green eyes, entreating Ford to say yes. "And we can have a meal as well? Can't deny the body sustenance either, right?"

Ford opened his mouth to decline. Politely, professionally, the same way he'd done a dozen times before. But the refusal didn't come. "I suppose the body does require sustenance."

A mental fist pump came to Abi's mind, though outwardly she kept a serene smile. "I hope you don't mind dining in an outdoor setting. There is a place I had visited when at home, it was called Bryce Canyon. It is still there." Abi having a fond smile.

"A good place to picnic, where the wind shaped rocks called hoodoos of varying colors of red, orange and lighter hues are evident with pine trees not to far off. My favorite place is called Fairyland Point. Very beautiful. Come with me to the holodeck and we can enjoy the scenery."

Bryce Canyon. He turned the name over in his mind. Maybe he had seen images once, perhaps in some Academy geology course he had taken to fill a requirement. He couldn't remember. He touched the control surface and the brainwave scan vanished. It occurred to him that he had never been to a canyon long enough to have a favorite place in it. He wondered if the choice in location had something to do with the phenomenon.

End of Shift was 12 minutes ago. He rubbed his eyes as he stood up and prepared to leave. "You've been there recently?"

"Yes I had been, when we were on Earth. My family decided to take a trip there, and I wasn't against it. It was so peaceful and magical. When we were there we had some rain, and watched as the fog rolled in, like a blanket being unrolled by unseen hands." Abigail's eyes lighting up at the memory.

"Show me" he heard himself say.

The walk to the holodeck was silent, but not uncomfortably so. He listened, answering when appropriate, but part of him turned to watching the passing crew. An Ensign walked with her eyes slightly narrowed, as if trying to place something she’d forgotten. A usually boisterous crewman was uncharacteristically subdued, rubbing his temples. The residue of the event was everywhere. And yet, he himself felt... clear.

The holodeck doors slid open onto a vista that put any holodeck he ever used to shame. The vast rock formations, the crisp air. Abigail's descriptions did not do it justice. The real thing must be even more impressive.

An intake of her breath, even though it was a holoprogram, the view still took her breath away. Abigail walked towards the rim of the canyon gazing out towards the panoramic scenery.

"This will never grow old, in seeing this. All the beauty, the colors so vibrant. The air." She turned towards Ford.

"This always made me happy when my family and I came to have our picnic. " motioning towards the table and benches. "We'd have sandwiches, of varying kind as well as drinks."

Ford stood to the rim and said nothing for a while. The wind was simulated but it moved correctly. It carried the scent of sandstone and pine in all the right ways. He could see why someone would come back to this. He could also see why someone would go see the real thing.

He followed her toward the picnic table and sat down across from her. The bench was warm from the sun. He noticed that too.

"Your family" he said, after a moment. "They're all in Utah?"

A light shake of her head, causing her dark curls to move side to side. "They live in Hannibal, Missouri. we came here for a holiday. And it became one of our favorite spots to come. Can't beat seeing the hoodoos that are carved by wind and water."

Quite the distance Ford thought. In reality, distance was never an issue this day and age.

"Quite the trip for a picnic" he leaned back in the bench.

"Wasn't just for the picnic, we stayed a week here in one of their cabins. No camping, but it was spent hiking and enjoying the natural wonders."

"Anyway, speaking of picnic. Shall we eat while we converse?" Abigail opening up the basket and pulling out plates, napkins, utensils and the food.plus drinks and cups.

"Hope you like sparkling lemonade, but if you don't, the computer can provide something you'd prefer." Abigail said with a smile.

"Sparkling lemonade is fine-" he realized he had been sitting in a posture he hadn't taken in months. Both forearms on the table, shoulders down, the stiffness gone from his neck. The wind moved across the rim and somewhere a holographic raven called once and was gone. "-is it real?"

"Yes it is real." Abigail answered, the taking a sip of her own. Feeling the bubbles tickle her nose after she drank of it, she giggled rubbing her nose with the back of her hand.

"The stuff always seems to tickle my nose." she remarked. before drinking a bit more of it. A silence settled upon the scene as Abigail ate some of her food, then she decided to be brave and open up the real reason why she requested this away from the workplace meeting.

"Um so... I wondered if you had suffered from a missing six hours. And did you experience a flash back of your past?" Abi holding onto her glass.

Ford's hand played with the glass a little. The bubbles in the lemonade rose and broke against the surface in tiny bursts.

"For most of the crew" he said "there appears to be a period of measurable cognitive disruption. Missing time. Fragmentary recall. Emotional residue. Headache. Disorientation." It was too easy to treat it as a faceless report. "Some have memory echoes. Some are recalling events they haven’t thought of in years."

"But flashback?" The word felt too small. Too meaningless. Too cold. "I suppose that's one way to describe it"

"I couldn't come up with anything better at the moment, as flashback. Most of what I had heard of, it was recalling some traumatic memories of what happened to them. I for some reason decided to share mine and well it didn't get well received." Abi taking a moment to drink some of her lemonade.

"Mine compared to the others, was like a fairytale." a slight bitterness to her laugh."Mine was of my first kiss when I was young."the last part was slightly mumbled.

"A first kiss?" Ford repeated, his expression had shifted. A surge of annoyance went through his spine at a comment that was probably not intended to cause it.

"And who exactly on board had the gall to critique someone's precious memory?" He placed the glass on the table as carefully as his nerves allowed. "Treating it like a competition, absurd. The content isn't what matters. It's the intrusion itself." It took him a moment to find the next sentence. "This phenomenon took something from everyone and forced back an experience no one chose. Pleasant or not it doesn't excuse the violation"

"Any idea as to who did that to us?" Abigail wasn't going to share who had made her feel uncomfortable, after she had mentioned it to the others. That had to stay in the past.

"I don't know." He drank some of the lemonade. After dealing with a phenomenon that medically affected the entire crew, the mere thought of having to figure that out as well just sounded like extra work to him. He rubbed his eyes as he sat back, letting the sun catch his face.

Giving a nod as to his answer, Abigail decided to concentrate on eating. She was hungry, and the young ensign decided that she didn't wish to deal or think about that missing six hours.

Besides, at this moment, this was something to enjoy. Good memories were attached to this program, and in all honesty, nothing else needed to be said about the missing six hours.

Deciding to concentrate on her meal, letting the surroundings, do the healing that she needed.After a small amount of time,

Abigail broke her silence just for a moment. "Thank you, for agreeing to have a meal with me."

The canyon wind moved between them, fluttering a napkin until Ford pressed it down with two fingers.

"Thank you, for the invitation"

[OFF]

Lieutenant Commander Elias Ford
Chief Medical Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298


Ensign Abigail Gordon
Nurse
USS Firebird NCC-88298

 

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