NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7: There Be Whales Here!
A flash of white and the Captain and Commander were greeted by a wall of aqua blue glass, staring into an endless tank of water. Consoles and computers lined the glass tanks as they lit up with different obscure bits of data.
Anzyl and Neil stood by the glass peering into the endless blue as it rippled with reflecting light.
"There really IS a Cetacean Observation on board. I heard stories that the Enterprise-D and other ships had them, but never actually saw one in person." Ansyl peered in amazement.
"Well Earth and Trill are both 75% covered in water with thousands of aquatic species, the Xindi have a fully aquatic sentient species, and Tey'un said his Bond Brother was here." Neil explained as he reached up and pressed a button, "Captain on Deck, senior officers report."
Inside the water, high pitched squeaks, squeals, and snorts of different species of whales and aquatic life sounds echoed in the water, reverberating through the glass. The aquatic light rippled over the two men's faces.
A moment later, a half dozen aquatic life forms swam up to the windows, a bottlenose dolphin, a humpback whale, and other large aquatic life from other planets.
As they approached, they squeaked and whistled, while the intercom universal translator spoke to the captain and commander.
A massive Tulkun whale, about 10 meters (30 feet) in length, large V shaped cranial crests, 3 meter (9 feet) long flippers, and four finned tail, "Greeting's captain, I am Kayuli," the intercom translated his whale squeaks in the voice of a young man in his 20's, "My Bond Brother informed me that you were touring the ship," spoke over the intercom, "I hope he didn't embarrass you or himself. He's not the best around strangers. He may not say it out loud, but I can tell he misses our homeworld more than he leads on. I know I sure do."
Anzyl smiled at the familial care this gentle giant displayed, "It's quite alright, nice to meet you Kayuli. And what is it that you do here?"
"I am the Astrophysicist on board, and second in command of the science departments. I'm not exactly sure where Nolan went but he should really be here to meet you."
"He's probably forever lost in the depths of his thoughts and endless theories." an Aquatic Xindi commented, " he was about the size of a dolphin, but resembled a thin green manatee with a flat face, aquatic eyes, and flat emotionless mouth."
"And captain," Kayuli said, "this is Yolec, our resident Xindi Aquatic, and our Warp Field Analyst and mathematician."
"I can whistle for myself, you know, thank you very much!" the xindi squawked back.
"Sorry I'm late!" a flash of light and a tall reptilian man stepped forward, he more resembled a dinosaur than a human. 1.8 meters(6 feet) high, orange scaly skin, three fingers on his hands, crest arching backwards on his head.
"Nolan Rivas!" Anzyl cheered and gave the dinosaur man a hug, "It's so good to see you in person after so long, how is my favorite Voth doing?"
"Favorite Voth? I'm the only Voth you know.. And the only Voth on this ship!" he ranted, "But good to see you my friend, after my banishment from the Voth "ouncil of Learning, I can't thank you enough for giving me a chance at the Daystrom Institute, when I heard you were heading up this project I leapt at the chance to join!"
"So I take it, you know each other?" Neil commented.
"Know each other?!" Nolan squawked in shock, "Anzyl was my secret pen pal and colleague for ages while we studied the Dyson Spheres on the other side of the galaxy from one another, until the Council of Elders almost killed me. If it wasn't for the captain's timely intervention, I'd be dead!"
"And how are you enjoying things here Nolan?"Anyl beamed at his friend,
"I'm doing quite alright, this ship and crew are just a delight! How xenophobic my people are, I never in a million years would have guessed this many species could co-exist on a ship!"
"That's great to hear my friend, I look forward to working with you!" Anzyl smiled and patted his friend on the arms.
He and Neil stood on the teleport pads, "Well we still have much of the ship to see. Good day gentleman." Anzyl bowed his head, and turned to Neil, "Where to next?"
"I'm starving, lunch?"
"Lunch sounds great, " then standing up straight, "Melting Pot" And in a flash of white, they were both gone.