Cleaning House

Posted on Wed Oct 13th, 2010 @ 10:35am by Captain T'mpest Michaels

359 words; about a 2 minute read

Mission: Structured Shoreleave - Marchwiel
Location: Arboretum
Timeline: Current

ON

Miranda Stefani climbed one of the taller trees in the arboretum to verify what she'd suspected: that someone had infected her trees with a parasite.

Not just any parasite, mind you. A very specific parasite. A very Terran parasite.

It took very little time to confirm her suspicions. Someone had infected the tree with mistletoe.

Miranda sighed and pulled out her utilitool and began to carefully excise the mistletoe from the tree. Didn’t people realize mistletoe was a bad thing for trees?

Probably not. They probably thought it would be fun to have mistletoe growing in the trees for the holidays. The holidays. She sat back again. They were getting far too close and she hadn't begun to grow the traditional plants people would expect. Not that she'd do it in the main arboretum. No, she had a workroom set aside in the back for holly, mistletoe, ivy and poinsettias. She would have a holiday area set aside for the month of December.

Fortunately for her, she'd noticed it while she was hanging moss on the Medusa tree in the center of the arboretum.

She had two favorite holidays: Halloween and Christmas. And, since half the crew was human in one form or another, she figured they'd appreciate a little "atmosphere" during these two holidays. Hanging moss and fog oozing out of the Medusa tree for Halloween and fairy lights for Christmas.

Fortunately for her, she'd noticed someone else's attempt to decorate for the holidays.

She finished cutting away the mistletoe and carefully examined the tree to be sure she got it all before putting her utilitool away. "Computer, is there more mistletoe in the arboretum?"

"The only mistletoe is now on the ground beneath you," was its cool reply.

"Good," she said with satisfaction before swinging down to the ground again.

Miranda carefully picked up the pieces of plant and stuffed them into a bag to be put in the compost barrel. She cleaned her hands and headed back to her workroom, pleased that one more pest was gone from her precious trees.

OFF

Lieutenant JG Miranda Stefani (NPC)
Botanist
USS Ranger

 

RSS Feed