Log with Kirk: Feed Me, Sulu!

[parked]

Sulu is hanging out in his favorite place to hang out off-duty: the greenhouse. His little jungle is flourishing, despite the coldness of space and the fact that it was, by Earth's standards, the middle of winter; he's so pleased that things like that don't matter inside a starship.

Anyway, his pet project/straight-up-pet, the strange tentacle monster from the jungle planet, is his current focus. The thing needs to eat, and since its roots aren't strong enough to grasp any kind of automatic dispenser lever and its teeth aren't hardened enough to actually chew anything, it's up to Sulu to feed the thing its little nutrient supplement and freeze-dried grasshoppers. If only he could get some live ones...

Needless to say, he isn't planning on having visitors.

Comments

[yeswedo.livejournal.com]

Somehow, that wasn't reassuring. Somehow, it made him feel guiltier for not being honest, and it made him feel worse for bringing Sylar aboard without first asking Claire for confirmation that he wasn't a murderer. It took him a moment of hard staring to reply.

"Yeah. Making the hard decisions is kind of what I do best." He laughed it off, "Glad to hear you've got faith in me." He wasn't even going to touch on the trustworthiness of Azula's opinion -- after all, she was known for being biased and absurd, as far as Jim was concerned.

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Sulu figured that was dealt with and turned his attention back on Audrey III, which was currently halfheartedly attempting to chew on his hand. He really, really needed to teach it not to do that. "I think," he said finally, "After it learns not to chew on people, I'm teaching it to play catch. You know, since it can't exactly fetch."

[yeswedo.livejournal.com]

"I don't know, I think it could fetch with its ... tentacles, or something." Jim started laughing. "Okay, maybe not, but it's worth a try. Maybe catch is better. I'd like to see that, either way." Again, he played with the tendrils.

[parked]

"It'd be a good way to figure out if it can... see. I'm actually not sure if it has any optical abilities, or if it's purely from touch and motion. And besides - if it tried to fetch and fell over, I'm sure it would start screaming." Maybe. Can plants even scream, outside of fantasy? "I don't want to find out."

[yeswedo.livejournal.com]

"It has to be able to sense somehow, I mean, to catch stuff, right?" Though it wasn't necessarily true, Jim was having a hard time imagining a plant like that snatching people up just based on it stepping on its roots alone.

[parked]

"Well, I know that the flower here-" He touches the bright blue lure and the plant's roots immediately seek out his wrist, "-Is a method for attracting prey, so it's sensitive enough. I'm not sure if the roots can feel us touching them, though, for example, and I can't tell where any sight would come from. Right now, I'm thinking something like radar, maybe."

[yeswedo.livejournal.com]

"What about sonar?" Jim asked, turning to lean against he table, crossing his arms over his chest thoughtfully.

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"Honestly, the only option I've ruled out so far is the existence of optical nerves - though, for all I know, there might be some in development. This is... really, really rare. The only two other kinds of plants even remotely in league with it barely ever get beyond four feet in diameter, neither of them actually adapted for hunting large game like Audrey here - they never grew underground, for example, and they more closely resemble Venus flytraps. Audrey... Well, it kind of looks more like an angler fish or something." He shook his head. "I've - to be honest with you, I've been contemplating trying to accelerate the growth process a little to see how it develops, but I'm not sure how it'll affect him."

[yeswedo.livejournal.com]

"It's probably better to let it grow as naturally as possible. There will be time to accelerate other specimens, you know?" It was obvious in Jim's tone that he really had no idea what he was talking about, but all the same, the point of his statement was valid enough.

[parked]

"Yeah, that's what I've decided on." Mostly. "I don't want to accidentally kill or otherwise impede the progress of the one living sample I have, after all."

[yeswedo.livejournal.com]

"Good choice," Jim turned to study it over his shoulder for a moment longer, considering this, before he pushed away. "I've got rounds to finish, though. I haven't stopped by engineering -- I've been putting it off. But, thanks for showing me this."

[parked]

"Not a problem," he said, "I'm glad you like him." Oh, so glad. He wasn't sure he could part with the thing now. "I'll make sure to update you if anything unexpected happens."

[yeswedo.livejournal.com]

"I appreciate it, Lieutenant." With a mock salute, he pushed away from the table and headed for the door, mind already drifting down to engineering and wondering what to expect of the situation down there. As far as he was concerned, Sulu had the plant under control, and he wasn't going to let it become one more thing for him to worry about.