Setting up shop

Posted on Tue May 23rd, 2023 @ 1:44am by Cecilia Hjördis

771 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Ethics, Morals & The Prime Directive.
Location: Glass Shop.

CRASH!! Tinkle, clink tinkle. Crash, clink clink, tinkle.

That sound had Cecilia tearing down the back stairs from her apartment above her studio. The floor had vibrated as something fell, nearly causing a secondary disaster in her apartment, as she fumbled the cup in her hands. The apartment could wait if they were making noises like THAT in her workspace. The blonde hit the bottom step at a run, and skidded down the hall.

"The hell?!" she snarled as she rounded the corner, to see the officers that were assigned to unload the shipments of glass and other products labelled fragile from the last cargo shipment that they'd gotten. They were both frozen stock still, hands still outstretched to balance the load.

One with blondish hair and the other older and greying at the temples stood pale and open-mouthed within the carnage of a full pane of glass shattering to the studio floor. It was bare deck plating, and even if it had been cut pile carpet that had absorbed the impact, the pane would have broken in a similar fashion. The conversation between the men had ceased with the mighty crash, and the echo's of it still bounced in the chamber. The reverberation was almost painful, and she was concerned about her neighbors if she had a loud project or herself dropped something.

I'll add soundproofing to my list.

"Terribly sorry ma'am. I caught the edge of the pane with the loader and it fell. I didn't think I hit it that hard, but real glass ma'am I didn't even realize. I've never. I mean...Im so sorry. I.." The young man babbled apologies as he stood surrounded by shards of clear glass. It was reminiscent of the crystal sea, and she was almost amused by the picture.

Cecilia raised her hand to cut through his apologies and he fell silent. She'd gone from angry to merely annoyed. If it had been a colored pane, this would have been catastrophic. However, clear could be melted down into blow-able glass easily enough, and the larger shards could be salvaged.

"You two are fortunate that the broken pane is a clear pane" she muttered loud enough for them to hear. Looking at him and seeing a single black pip on his collar that she thought went with the rank of Ensign "You...Ensign blondie there...What is your first name?"

"Marcus ma'am"

"Don't move okay Marcus? I'd rather you not be cut to ribbons trying to escape that mess."

"Not moving ma'am"

"Good man" Cecilia muttered in a tone that could peel paint, as she walked back to get the tools in which to clean her floor. Glass dust was nasty and she had special filtration units in her air ducts and in the vacuum.

The man was clearly terrified of moving so she moved as swiftly and she was able, in order to save him.

I should make you clean up your own mess, but you'd cut yourself to ribbons.

She slipped on a pair of gloves and with practiced ease began lifting large shards out and into a pile of what would be usable base glass. There were some sizable pieces and they got placed on the wash panel.

Marcus didn't move a muscle despite the sweat dripping off him onto the sea of shards. Cecilia wrinkled her nose at the scent of the man's fear as well as the grime on her floor because of him. Swearing under her breath she stroked the tiny glass fragments into a basin with a suction apparatus. It separated the glass into dust, tiny fragments and centimeter size pieces. It left the larger pieces on the ground which she picked up piece by piece to place into their separate containers.

"There, now follow the path I made for you.".

He bolted out of the space and she steadily continued to clean up the pane of glass. Soon, the floor was as pristine as she'd moved into the space. Looking up she began to ask the two officers a question, to find them gone and the glass panes set neatly in a row.

"Fine then..."

Killing the lights she shined a single light source across the ground and saw a sharp glitter or two of glass remaining on the floor that she vacuumed up.

"Now how do I document this incident?"

The PADD in her hand lit up with all the documents she had to submit so that reimbursement could be offered, even though she could use the pane for other things...she still needed the full pane.

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