Dinner & Conversation

Posted on Sun Oct 26th, 2025 @ 5:14pm by Lieutenant Commander Deanna Celes & Commander Jonathan Grayson & Lieutenant JG Kate Kono & Chief Petty Officer Aaron Geiger

1,657 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Wild Wild West
Location: Planet - Durango City

Jon and Deanna entered the hotel. Deanna had been speaking about her desire to see what the food was like as they entered and she spotted Aaron and Kate sitting, apparently discussing something about the napkins. As they walked up to the table Deanna inquired, "What makes the napkins so interesting? I hope it isn't an indictment on the food."

"Quite right. So, what's the big deal with the napkin?" Jon asked curious to hear the answer.

Kate looked up at them and subtly motioned for them to sit down as she twirled the napkin in her fingers edge by edge before handing it over to Deanna. She then shifted the stack over to Jon.

"Aaron noticed the stitching. Compare..." Kate pulled another off the pile and handed one to Jon and one to Deanna. "Absolutely identical copies."

Jon examined the napkin and looked at the one Deanna held, they were identical. "Good catch Aaron, very observant." He looked at the others, "Thoughts? Theories? Wild hunches?"

"My wild hunch is -- replication. It's just a shot in the dark, but -- pattern replication of stored matter soltions from a library could explain the uniformity," Kate offered with a whisper. "The food is really good too; perfectly cooked and I don't smell any grease in the air or anything. I could just be picking at threads here, but it's just one possible reason for all of this but without evidence, I would file it under the wild theory category."

Kate dug her fork into her own country fried steak that she ordered after having a sample of Aaron's. It was truly irresistable to her taste buds and she blinked happily while chewing the next bite without a care in the world for her theories on perfect napkins for just a moment.

Deanna took a closer look at the napkins. They did look fairly uniform in appearance. They were cloth, perhaps a cotton-wool blend from the feel. "Replication in the manner you are referring seems unlikely. But they may have technology that is ahead of this era. You'll note that these are cloth napkins. Most societies develop textile industries that include the use of machines that can mass produce textile items. You'll note, when you look at the clothing of most people, the clothing is obviously machine made. I'd say it is a safe bet that they have developed early 20th century Earth textile technology. The only question is how it would be powered, because the only EM that we read is coming from the telegraph lines" she said in hushed tones.

As she finished her thought, the waitress came over, "Well, seems like you all are having yourselves a party. You two looking for something to eat as well?"

Deanna nodded. "What do you recommend?" she questioned, deferring to Jon to order first.

"Well, everything is pretty good. You won't find better beef steak anywhere, and we make it several different ways."

"A beef steak does sound good. I'd like it medium well with a helping of baked potato if you please ma'am." Jon replied politely before looking to Deanna to see what she was going to order.

"That sounds good actually" Deanna added. "I'll have the same, but I would like the steak cooked just medium. Also, if you have it, I'd like some peaches."

"We have a tasty peach cobbler if you are interested" the waitress replied.

"That sounds marvelous. Yes, I would very much like that" Deanna replied.

"Comin' right up" the waitress said with a smile as she turned and headed back to the kitchen.

Jon waited until the waitress had moved out of earshot. "Deanna and I are to meet with the judge tomorrow morning, hopefully we can learn more from him. Also, the sheriff thinks we're law enforcement, agents to be exact, so that gives us a certain degree of latitude as we search for clues. Are there any more thoughts to what we're looking at?"

Deanna looked to Kate, "If you are going to take another walk around town, stay out of the saloons and stay in areas that are sparsely crowded. From what I got from both the sheriff and the desperado Barton who tried to shoot you, while Asians are present here, so is the racism that existed on Earth during this time period. They aren't as bad as they once were, most are tolerant of one another, but you need to be mindful. Apparently not everyone cares for Asians here. And please be careful about what you say around others. I've had to do some creative telepathy to erase a few of your verbal miscues. Remember, the Prime Directive is in effect until the captain says otherwise."

She then looked to Aaron as well, "And regarding what the sheriff believes, he only sees Jon and me as that. You and Aaron can remain under the guise of travelers without any issue. I would suggest you two check out the trainyard in the morning. The morning train to the capital doesn't depart until 0800, and they are loading it up with livestock and other goods for at least an hour prior, giving you both a chance to take a look at things, maybe learn a bit about the technology, or perhaps find somebody chatty that can give you some useful information."

"Excellent points Deanna." Jon answered and looked at Kate, "If you go out take Wolfie with you. You are less likely to have anyone confront you physically. "He shifted his gaze to Aaron. "We will meet with the judge, I'm sure we can gain valuable information from him. You and Kate, check out the train, rail yard even the stock yards. Someone is always talking."

"Oh, I would relish the opportunity to take a closer look at the locomotives and talk to the engineers." Aaron said excitedly. "It seems at this point we still don't know what we don't know. Has there been any report from the other team?"

"When we get upstairs, I have something for you Aaron, give you the ability to take a closer look at things. As for the other team, we've not had a chance to check in. I thought perhaps you all might've since you were here, but we can check in with them when we get up there" Deanna replied.

It was then that the waitress brought out the food. Everything looked good, but Deanna was entranced with the scent and sight of the peach cobbler. "Oh my. That looks and smells like I want to skip dinner and go straight to dessert."

Jon nodded at the sight of his and Deanna's meals and like Deanna he was taken with the smell of the peach cobbler. "That does smell divine." He agreed.

"Much appreciated" the waitress said with a smile. "If you all need anything else, just give me a holler."

"What's your name dear?" Deanna questioned.

"Everyone just calls me Annie" the waitress replied.

"Much obliged for your many kindnesses" Deanna replied.

"Again, if you need anything, just let me know." Annie offered another smile and walked away, leaving the team to their meal.

Jon watched as Annie walked away before to Deanna and the others. "Well let's see if this tastes as well as it smells." He said as he picked up his knife and fork.

"Yeah, I'm sure Wolfie would like to get out and walk around now that he's been cleaned up and had time to rest. About him..." Kate twiddled her fingers. "... he doesn't have an owner and he sort of attached himself to me. Considering this, could I put in a request to make him part --- of..." Kate looked around to make sure nobody was listening, "the posse?" She was reluctant to say crew because every time she seemed to say something revealing of their true nature, an unintended ear seemed to drop right in front of her mouth to hear it.

"Yes. You can put in a request for Wolfie." Jon replied simply without saying the rest, knowing Kate would understand.

Deanna dug into her steak and then tried the potatoes. The steak was cooked well; the potatoes though were a bit different than what she expected. "These taste more like..." she began to say, then stopped herself, remembering where she was. She looked to Jon and sent a telepathic message, very much like Andorian potatoes. Another curiosity.

Jon took a bite of his steak it was cook well and tasted like beef. He nodded in silent acknowledgement of her message and sent back.*I think I have a theory on this place*

A pair of ceramic chopsticks appeared out of nowhere and glided across Deanna's plate and even clicked a few times before a chunk of potato was stolen off of her plate. The potato arrived in front of Kate's nose as she sniffed it a few times before taking a bite out of it and sliding her chopsticks back into the sleeve of her long black shirt.

"Wow... I don't know," Kate said as she shrugged slightly. " I think -- I like Eart..." She stopped again and looked around before correcting herself "... LOCAL potatoes a little bit better but still, better than none at all!" Kate said

Deanna looked at Kate. "Those sticks come on my plate again, you and I are going to have a problem. Despite our locale, remember your manners." Deanna finished her meal and moved on to her cobbler. It was every bit as tasty as it smelled.

With the meal complete, everyone moved upstairs to the rooms. Deanna dug into her bag of tricks she had brought along and pulled out what looked like a leather wallet. She handed the item to Aaronm "Congrats Chief, you are officially a railroad commissioner." She smiled and then said with a chuckle, "Don't let the power go to your head."

 

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