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ois was long since used to the way that Ross persisted on removing his respirator when speaking with her pretty much anyone, if he could help it. Of course, one hardly required a background in medicine to understand for what purpose the equipment was needed, but she wasn't his physician; it was obvious to her that he had long since made up his own mind on the matter, so she said nothing--as usual--even if she noticed him struggling from time to time suppressing a cough or sound of pain here and there.When he came closer to offer his hand, Rois did not hesitate to return the gesture. "Ah, I'm glad you find the morning well," she replied and couldn't help but return his good-humoured smile. The man gave off a very amiable energy in his movements and words, not what you would expect by judging solely on his appearance or military record. When his tone turned a bit more consequential, she began her less than lackluster attempt to appear more business-like; this presented as Rois suddenly appearing a bit stiff in posture and closed off in body language. She wasn't uncomfortable with the shift in conversation rather she was merely unpracticed at not being the one delegating tasks to be done. It had been a while since anything had come down the line from anywhere above her, and she certainly wasn't used to receiving the news in person. She was certainly nervous at the prospect, but also terribly excited. She could definitely use some excitement right about now, anything to chase away the stagnation of late.
A light turned on in Rois' eyes and she was already lining thought after thought up on what the task could be--of course something potentially plant-based if she was being considered--when the commander's speaking was interrupted by an alarm in his hand-held device. "Of course, Commander. It's certainly easy to let time run away with you here; I'm glad it is to your liking. I'll watch for word from you and your staff." She could see that he was just as excited as she was to talk about it, but of course couldn't just lay it all out--especially in Eden with too many ears. Nevertheless, the fire was lit for more information and she hastily pulled a notepad from her pocket, hurriedly flipping to the back of the book to find a clean page. A suitably empty paged found, she hastily scrawled:
Underlined. Underlined. Starred. And she shoved the notepad into the breast pocket of her suit before continuing on to her duties in Eden.
She was always happy to be in Eden, but now she had some pep in her step as she moved from section to section, closely examining each arrangement of 'wildlife'. The trees from the Conglomeration were a personal favorite; she loved to run her hands over the bark and imagine climbing the trees back on the farm. Hell, climbing the trees at university as well. The tips of her fingers found some old vandal work by one of the ship's crew whom was no longer permitted unsupervised visits; they were damned lucky she allowed them back in at all after they'd carved into her tree. That was about the closest she ever came to wanting to murder somebody. She'd scraped some of the bark and applied a covering that enabled some of it to regrow properly, but the poor thing was forever scarred.
Satisfied in the current health of all Eden's specimens, she moved on to the irrigation and simulated weather systems. She didn't handle those personally, but she could check if basic functions were in order via hubs strategically placed around the area. It wouldn't do to have the whole area under the same exact weather pattern, so multiple units were placed that controlled each wedge to which they were connected. This not only enabled slight changes in temperature, shade, and breezes but was also helpful in case the watering system malfunctioned. Instead of the whole area being disrupted, only a single section would be; furthermore, it enabled maintenance on the synthetic systems without interfering with the whole of Eden. It was well designed, and Rois remained very appreciative of her colleagues in fabrication, who were always quick to jump on any problems she had presented them. Even a few false alarms. One could never be too careful about these things. All screens seemed to indicate proper function from what Rois could tell, so it was unfortunately about time for her to head out and back to home base in Hydroponics.
As she walked, she pulled her notepad from her pocket again, adding a second note to the back of the first reminding herself to actually check her e-mail for once. She wasn't as forgetful with her professional correspondence as she was with personal, but she had lagged behind as of late. She couldn't say how many months it had been since she'd even logged in properly, but her PDA indicated they were--mostly--routine and automated messages. Surely nothing important. Probably. She'd have to find a minute at work today to go through it as she figured she'd hate to miss whatever it was that was going to have her being a part of history for a second time.
hand reached out from under the strewn about covers, groping for the alarm clock which was shrieking somewhere on the floor near the vicinity of her bed. After several seconds where her hands only found crumbled notes and dirty laundry, Rois finally threw the covers from her with an exasperated breath. She was definitely up now, as she half-leaned out of the bed to find the source of her frustration. Finally turning the damned thing off and returning it to her bedside table, she sat up in bed and glanced at the time: 0600. She had meant to push it back a few hours since she'd had to make a late night inspection in her center the previous night. Of course, late night meant nothing in this place except that someone was up when they were usually sleeping.