Matters of Life and Death

Posted on Thu Jul 10th, 2025 @ 5:42pm by Lieutenant JG Katie Kellerman & Lieutenant JG Kally Kellerman

Mission: Doing What We Do Best
Location: Kally's Quarters

"I'm telling you," Kally said as she put a clean shirt on and fastened her skirt, "he did not die. He came right to the edge of the abyss, but I made sure to pull him back."

Katie stretched out on Kally's bed and sighed, looking at the ceiling. "He says he crossed over..." she said, thinking over their conversation the previous afternoon, before he fell asleep. "He says he absolutely died."

Kally watched her sister's face. "All right," she said. "Maybe he pierced the veil." She bit her lip. "Did he happen to mention if he saw anything...like..."

"Oh for God's sake, Kally," Katie said, sounding exasperated and rolling her eyes. "No, he did not see a freaking koala! Let it go!"

"I'm telling you, I've read too many reports to dismiss it as a coincidence," Kally said.

"Great, but Jadizon didn't see any marsupials. He saw some kind of sensenmann wearing the face of a former, presumably deceased, girlfriend," Katie said, sounding disturbed at the thought.

"That's what he described?" Kally said, raising an eyebrow.

"That's the long and short of it. He was kinda rambling, a bit out of it when he was talking, and I was busy keeping him from hitting the floor," Katie said. "But he was spooked...like right to his soul scared."

"Well, a near-death experience is generally disturbing," Kally said. "People have had those for centuries, maybe longer. Not all of them are bright lights and loved ones in a tunnel."

Katie shook her head. "He was pretty convinced it was real. He knew her...this wasn't a random, one-off thing..."

Kally sat down on her bed, crossed her legs, rested her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. "Do you believe him?"

"Yeah. I mean, I believe he isn't lying about it," Katie said, turning on her side to face Kally. "But presumably you'd know if there was a ghost in the room when you were operating."

"Not that I saw," Kally said, dryly. "But then again, I was focused on the living, not the dead."

Katie sighed, and looked at the chronometer. "I need to get back to Engineering. I hate leaving him alone."

"Well that's why you have me," Kally said, smiling. "We'll take shifts and make sure he's got company and is keeping safe."

Katie gave Kally a knowing smile. "Aren't you so selfless and sweet," she said.

"Yes, I'm quite the humanitarian," Kally said, airily, smiling. "And I'm sure he'll appreciate our combined efforts."

"Oh he'll appreciate it, all right," Katie said, shaking her head.

Kally grinned. "It'll be like when we were six and had to time share that dollhouse."

"Dollhouse?" Katie said, her brow furrowing.

"Yeah, remember that one dad built himself? He even whittled the furniture and the people? It could open on hinges and--"

"OH MY GOD!" Katie said, sitting up, her eyes wide. "Of course! Kally! You're a genius!"

Kally blinked in surprise, then shrugged. "Yeah, this we know. What'd I do?"

"I've been looking at it from a hardware issue, but I need a software solution! Jadizon was right, I can write a program for this!" Katie said, her mind jumping topics with the grace of a gazelle.

"Okay...." Kally said, "still not sure what I did, but you're welcome."

Katie bounced off Kally's bed and grabbed her, kissing her hard. "I've gotta go. I have work to do!" she said, rushing out of Kally's quarters.

Kally blinked, shrugged and stood up, adjusting her skirt. "And I have a house call to make," she said, leaving her quarters and heading for Jadizon's for his follow up.