There was something disconcerting about her accent that I could not quite make out – I pursed my lips a moment, furrowed my brow – sent my mind spinning back through the dozens of sleepy years of dream-infused hypersleep.... how many it had been at this point I no longer dared say; enough that Dr. Halitzer in her ever helpful dissertation on “Hypersleep and longterm effects of faster than light travel on the human psyche...” hadn't bothered to find any test subjects that far along...

And then I was hurtling through a sparkling field of blue flowers against crystalline glass – a little child runs toward me through the grass, trailing a stream of broken petals in her wake. She laughs, jumps and then springs into the air – I catch her. Catch her in my arms. And even in that moment find myself caught up in the whirlwind of a storm, the blue petals of the flowers turned all to shards and the droplets of rain turned to acid on my skin... I scream, and she screams, and from the depths of our cry I float back just long enough to see the entirety torn away in the scouring hail of burning rain.

A single drop hovered. Quivered. Finally tumbled down... down from the spout of the coffee machine to -plop- into the depths of Raymond's cup. 

No more time had passed, either – or so I surmised. Blinked several times. Noted that Annie had already done me the courtesy of quietly tucking the dream-memories away into her storage banks; god knew how many I'd left down there. Something comforting, I think, about having the machine handle the uncomfortable memories for me... it made me feel less guilty about forgetting them myself, knowing she would always be there to provide the details if I erred.

Raymond turned about with a smile as he gestured toward Alice with his freshly 'brewed' mug-of-whatever: 

“I see we are in perfect agreement then, Miss (a momentary pause) Triskin; perhaps between the two of us, then, we can keep our dear engineer convinced it's all a good idea?” Here Raymond shoots a glance sidelong toward Zelda before adding: “And it's a pleasure to remake your acquaintance a few years on the flip-side – Raymond... Charles.” Shuffling the mug of coffee from his right hand to his left, he makes as if to offer it for the woman to shake.

And just at that moment Reddick finally strolls into the room.

I saved the rest of the chit-chat for later; business was as business does, and this time around things looked like they really -were- going to get interesting. After the briefing and our glorious leader's perfunctory demand for questions (Demons below help the man who had any, I figured!), I swirled the remnants of what had been my fourth mug of coffee for that 'morning' as I trotted back to the machine and then made my way to the bridge. It was going to be a long... well... whatever time passed for a day out this far from anywhere.