inhistorybooks | [023: voice]

Kinda nice to have some quiet, apart from that flood. Of course, now that I've said it, there's gonna be some catastrophe and everyone'll start pointing fingers about me jinxing it, but still. Gotta admit, it's nice.

For any of the new people, my name's Commander Charles Tucker the Third, but everyone calls me Trip. I'm the Chief Engineer on board the starship Enterprise - not Jim's, the NX-01, the original one - and here I'm a warden and the head of maintenance and repair.

Anyone up for another movie night sometime this week? I'm kinda in the mood for somethin' like a thriller, but I can probably be talked out of it if that's not what everyone else's in the mood for.

[Private to Preston]

John Preston? Trip Tucker. We should probably talk.

[Private to T'Pol]

Four inmates in five months. Must be some kinda record. How're you doin'?

[Private to Kay]

I've got a couple questions for you, if you're not busy.

[Private to Jim]

I've got a couple ideas for the new lock.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You're John Preston's warden now, I hear.

I thought I'd mention to you that I've spoken to him at length a couple of times, mostly because my own inmate has taken a slightly unhealthy interest in him and his world. If you'd like to talk about this, I'm more than happy to do so.

I'd be happy to. O'Brien's your inmate, right?

That's so. He's quite intrigued by Preston's world, and I suspect he's trying to learn as much about it as he can.

I ought to inform you as well that I acquired three doses of Prozium for O'Brien. Only he can use it—it'll go inert if anyone else tries to take it. It's an experiment strictly for O'Brien, and hopefully it won't have much effect on Preston himself, but I thought you should know about it.

Thanks for letting me know. Preston knows O'Brien's an inmate, right?

He does. There's a chance that O'Brien may try and convince Preston of the rightness of collectives and totalitarian regimes and so forth, which obviously will be of no help to you whatsoever. If you need me to sit on O'Brien in some way, let me know.

Considerin' everything he gave up to go against a system like that, I'd like to think he'd be able to see O'Brien's - no offense - full of crap.

I'll keep an eye on it, but I'll definitely let you know if it's gonna become an issue. Thanks, seriously.

O'Brien can be alarmingly persuasive. He may be many things, but he's actually a rather good judge of character and at finding which buttons he ought to push with people. I'll keep an eye on him as well, and let you know if I notice anything.

Thanks, Una.