Practically Perfect (Part I of II)

Posted on Tue Apr 30, 2019 @ 9:12pm by Civilian 'Key Holder' Yolanthe Ibalin & Commander Amia Telamon M.D.

1,793 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: Amia's quarters
Timeline: MD07 1800

[ON]

Klia arrived at Amia's apartment just before six, lugging a huge tool box behind her. She was barely over the threshold before she dropped it and began cooing at the little bundle nestled on Amia's shoulder. "Ooh, you're so cute. yes you are. Are you ready to have a new nanny?"

"Well even if she isn't, her mummy certainly is... she's putting on weight at an alarming rate. Carrying her around everywhere is giving me arms like a Champion Weightlifter!" she laughed.

"It's so good of you to do this for us Klia. I do appreciate it so much! You're a great friend." Amia thanked her new friend. "Tell Auntie Klia thank you, Liana!" Amia told her baby who, as if she had understood, despite the fact that she was only responding to the tone of her mother's voice, did coo at the appropriate moment and appear to be doing as she had been asked to.

"Can I feel how heavy she is?" Klia held out her hands for the baby. She wanted snuggles.

Amia laughed softly. "If you're sure you want to practice your weight lifting already!" she chuckled, handing over the baby with no small amount of relief to off load her, if she was honest.

Carefully resting Liana against her shoulder she started scanning the room with a tricorder. "I'll put in several projectors in this room, and...does she sleep in with you? or do you have a nursery?"

"I have a nursery but she's not in it alone yet. I'm planning to put her in as soon as I get a suitable baby monitor so I don't have to get out of bed five times a night, or more, depending on how restless she is. For now it works fine to have her with me but she sleeps in her own cot. I didn't want to make it hard for her by getting her into bad habits from the start, but then again there's a limit to how soon you can put yourself to all that grief just for the sake of someone else's alleged rules." Amia explained, wondering why she felt the need to express so much explanation of her reasons. Perhaps she was a little insecure about whether she was doing it wrong or not? She wasn't sure herself really. It did seem odd that she felt so obligated to explain at such length.

"I'll do both. Then you can always move her if you desperately need some sleep." Klia walked through to the nursery, and scanned its dimensions, eyeballing likely positions for the projectors. "The safety protocols mean you can't use it for more than four hours. but that's a good nap, if nothing else."

Klia jiggled the baby and walked through to Amia's room. It was obvious there was something missing. The room was...skewed, various personal items just on the one side, as if there was another, invisible, occupant. Which of course there was. The ghost of the recently deceased.

Klia stepped out, feeling that she'd been invading a very personal shape. "Have you had any thoughts about the physical parameters of the avatar?"

"Er..... no....well I hadn't thought about it... " Amia admitted. "I just thought it ...er she.... or he.... would come as standard issue? Do I get to choose?" She began to turn this exciting new prospect over in her head. She couldn't stop herself thinking first of various varieties of someone who looked like, resembled, had some features that would remind of Cade, then she thought of Liam. Both of those options hurt and she immediately and instinctively shied away from them. "I would like a female." she said resolutely but then immediately felt selfish.

"But............. I guess it might be nice for Liana to have someone who looked like her dad so she might have nice memories from when she was too small to remember the lack of reality of it..... or uncle Liam who she was named after and who was never going to abandon us....... but then again, both of those two did exactly that and now.... why would I want to give her ideas that they were anything they weren't?" She sighed.

"No my first instincts were right. I'd like a female nanny please." she nodded her head strongly again showing that the decision had been definitely made this time. "I don't think I mind what she looks like. Dark hair, blonde... dark skin, light? Trill markings, none. Vulcan ears, Bajoran nose ridges..... I don't mind. Did you have any ideas Klia? What if you made her a bit in your own image... well, similar but not exactly the same?" Amia asked.

"Oh, I'm no role model," Klia chuckled. "I think I know what I can do. Let me get these emitters up, then I'll crack open my compiler and we'll run a mock up." Reluctantly, she handed the baby back to her mother, and started taking tools out of her bag.

Amia bobbed from one foot to the other, rocking Liana automatically on her hip as Klia began her work and they chatted some more. After an hour or so, Klia had finished plumbing in the new emitters and pulled out her padd to star running the program.

A humanoid figure, devoid of features, just a blue wireframe, materialised in the middle of the living area. "I am your emergency child minding hologram. How can I assist you?"

"Just hold tight, I'm customising your aesthetics." Klia turned to Amia. "I could make it look like you?"

"Oh Heaven save us, NO!" Amia exclaimed in horror. "That would be freaky!" she shook her head with emphasis. "What about making her look like you?" she asked.

Klia laughed. "I don't think so. That might just lead to confusion. Let's stick with some close to you or a little darker, rather than changing to something too bright. Male or female?"

"I think male would be nice for me, but then again. No, I think female please. Someone I can chatter to and make friends with. But not another red head please. Liana and I already have the colour down. Oh, and could you make sure she doesn't look like the former Station CO - Romulan look, green and beautiful? I never could get over the hurt that it caused me that Cade spent all his time and energy on her, dancing her tune, but never had anything left when he came home.... if he ever got home.... I would be jealous of the nanny if she reminded me of Isha." Amia admitted in a moment of off-guard candour. She looked into the wall, far away from the room itself, lost in her memories for a moment or two.

Klia's hands went still over the keyboard displayed on her padd. She didn't normally query what people wanted to do with with their holographic commissions. In fact she rarely even wanted to know. But this was different. "Doctor. Amia. I know things must be hard for you right now. But this is an emergency program. Its to give you a break when you need an extra hand. It's not a substitute for a real person. It's not a person. Whatever you think, it won't be, can't be, a friend." she said gently.

Amia looked back, her eyes moist. "I know Klia but it may *seem* like one. A bit like most of the empty 'machinery' I always adopt. In fact, she'll probably be more loyal. Just by her programming. She's unlikely to just up and abandon us like Cade and Liam did so that makes her a friend in my book." she smiled sadly and shrugged. "I know, you think I'm being over-dramatic and you're right. I have my beautiful daughter and I have so much to make up for a couple of fickle men. You for example have been so kind. And Yolanthe as well. I'm much more lucky than I deserve to be considering how morose I sound." she admitted.

She drew in a breath and came over to Klia, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Tell you what, let's make her fun.... let's ask the computer to give us random features. It can choose the hair colour, race, hybrid mix maybe... and it can choose the features randomly too. How would that go?" Amia smiled genuinely now. "Come on, it'll be fun!" she urged, putting Liana down on her play blanket and handing her her favourite teething rattle which immediately caused the tiny tot to coo and shake it around wildly out of control but practicing her fine motor skills without any knowledge of how clever she was getting. "Look at that. You can gum something to death and still be a genius at the same time!" Amia laughed now lightening up.

"You'll always have company in the shit-life sisterhood." Klia said, "Lani and I well, we've both been around the block. We know how things can hit you." She shrugged, "Until it magically gets better? We can do random. Okay, here we go." she tapped her padd. It made a rattling sound, like dice being rolled.

The blue wireframe shimmered, and was quickly covered by a more traditional female form, with over-tanned, practically orange skin. She sported a blue under cut, long on the left side, that did not compliment her skin at all. Her eyes were square pupilled, like a katarian. "Good evening," She said in a squeaky voice like she'd been snorting helium. "What are your childcare needs tonight?"

"God NO!" Amia's clear rejection of this awful combination very evident in her horrified face. "Please can I have something more.... er..... paler skin, less fake tan, that sort of thing?" she began trying to be a little bit open but finding it very hard.

Klia giggled, and ran a hand through her shortened red hair. "Okay, maybe we'll put some parameters on the randomisation." She rolled again, and the result was someone a much more natural shade for a Human/ Ba'ku, neat long hair, and a pleasant mezzo-soprano that sounded far more normal. Klia added an inoffensive knee length dress and sensible shoes. "How's that?"

Amia shrugged and looked apologetic. "I don't want to be ungrateful. I'm sure she'll be wonderful" she conceded with a smile, not willing to ask for something just a tiny bit less...plain? .....especially seeing as she'd rejected the blue haired squeaky from before. "Thank you Klia. Thank you SO much!" she said, genuinely grateful.

"Now, would you like to stop for a bite of supper?" Amia asked tentatively. "You've earned it for sure!" she looked hopeful.

To Be Continued

Cmdr Amia Telamon
CMO - DS5 (on part-time maternity leave)

Klia N'Shahdrah
Holo-engineer

 

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