The station was quiet, well as quiet as a major hub could be, but more than that, it was peaceful. They sat in the garden, enjoying the relaxation, nibbling on snacks, and petting a cleaner, who was scooping up the snack crumbs. -- Anon Guest
Rare indeed in the public service industries is an entire day off. Yes, members of essential services get their holidays, but the day off is a direct result of slowness in the system. A lack of demand leading to the oversupply taking some much-needed relaxation.
It's wonderful.
Lyr Marken, District Chief Security Officer for the One-G JOAT Sector[1] has wanted to enjoy such a thing for some time. Ambassador Shayde, chief cause of problems, had taken a day off to teach Rael about fishing. And if that was what they were calling it, Lyr wasn't about to quibble regarding technicalities.
Mostly because the place they were fishing wasn't supposed to have fish.
What she was doing was having a picnic in the park with her husband. No uniforms. No boots. Not a care in the world.
The environment was comfortably warm, and the park was quiet, too. They had a little table set up near their hammock and nothing planned for the rest of the day.
It is not every day that one gets to plan nothing.
Jole intermittently read Lyr chapters from his book as Lyr intermittently dozed. They were cuddled up next to each other and snacking according to want.
It was lovely.
Considering how their usual days were filled with the needs and wants of everyone around them, things to do, problems to solve... Having a day to do nothing was tantamount to paradise.
As they spooned for another mutual nap, Lyr let one arm dangle over the side of the hammock. Just to touch the grass.
What she found was the rubbery surface of a Cleaner that then investigated the surface of her hand for food crumbs. She scratched it, idly. Glad that Rael was nowhere near this park to have his emotional equilibrium disturbed by his genetic cousins[2].
That was a problem for another day.
They were all problems for another day.
Lyr and Joel both had nothing to do, and they were going to enjoy it.
[1] One standard gravity is ten distance units per second per second fall acceleration. Most cogniscent life occurs in this general region of pull.
[2] Imagine, if you will, being an illness-prone Human who knew for a fact that they were a gengineered ape. Who then had to spend time working in facilities that also employed apes. That's how Rael feels about Cleaners.
[Photo by Justin Meckes on Unsplash]
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