Spacebook

Summary: Trip shows T'Pol the ship's social networking site.

Disclaimer: I own nothing herein.

A/N: Thanks to Escriba for translation assistance! Gutxiengo hizkuntzen hizlariak = "Speakers of minority languages" in United Basque.

This takes place not long after "Breaking the Ice."

When Trip mentioned Enterprise's new social network site, he'd never imagined T'Pol would deem the topic worthy of her attention. He really had to stop trying to predict what the sub-commander would find interesting. Anyway, he'd ended up bringing her to his quarters so he could show her his profile, hoping nothing too personal found its way into the Vulcan database. He'd have mentioned that on the off chance she didn't realize what might be private, but after the letter debacle he didn't think he had much right to grill her about privacy.

"It's a way for crewmembers to connect," he explained while entering his door code. "After you."

"Should any member of the crew need to 'connect' with another, the internal communications system is an obvious method."

"Well, yeah, but sometimes it's nothing that's really that important." He sat in front of his computer while she pondered that.

"If it is not for a matter of significance, why is contact necessary?"

"Because it's fun, it's somethin' to do that keeps us from goin' stir crazy when things are slow, an' it's something we do at home. Only we can't get regular accounts out here, so a few people decided to make our own. Here we are. The first thing that comes up is my news feed."

"'News feed?'"

"It tells me what my friends are up to. See?"

T'Pol leaned over and read the screen. The topmost item said, Travis Mayweather has reached the level of Village in Colony World, the game where you build a civilization on an uninhabited planet. Get a bonus for your colony in celebration!

"There are games associated with this site?" she asked.

"Sure. A new one every couple of days. They're called applications."

"And this is a form of recreation."

"Yep."

"Lieutenant Reed is not a proponent."

"Huh?"

"The second item from the top."

Malcolm Reed joined the group I Live in the Real World, So Kindly Stop Inviting Me to Join Virtual Ones.

Trip rolled his eyes. He half suspected the armory officer created the group. "That's Malcolm."

"What are these 'virtual worlds'?"

"I've only got one. Here." He clicked on Visit My Aquarium!, allowing T'Pol to see his fish. "See, you feed them, keep the tank clean, an' then sell them when they're big." To demonstrate, he fed his fish.

While the digital feeding frenzy was taking place, T'Pol cocked her head in confusion. "For what purpose?"

"Well, reachin' higher levels, gettin' points... but mostly just because."

"Crewmembers considered creating and using such programs to be a productive use of time?" She sounded as close to incredulous as a Vulcan could get.

"Sub-commander, we're on a ship full of nerds. At least a quarter of the crew's been writin' programs like this for fun since high school."

"Including yourself?"

"Freshman year in high school I made up somethin' like this. It was with pirates."

"Pirates?"

"Yeah, space pirates. Hey, I was fourteen an' laid up with bronchitis." The program had been popular among his classmates for several months, too, but he doubted T'Pol would be impressed by that information. He went back to his news feed, since the aquarium wasn't going over very well.

Apparently she chalked that up to human illogic, because she pointed at the next item. "What is that?"

Hoshi Sato has joined the group Gutxiengo hizkuntzen hizlariak.

"Not English. An' my Spanish is pretty rusty, but it's obviously not Spanish either."

"Is the oxidization of language another of your idioms?"

"Yep. It just means I'm out of practice. You know, if you leave somethin' out an' don't take care of it, it gets rusty."

"That metaphor is more logical than many I have encountered."

He didn't really know what to say to that, but the conversation had brought a question to mind. "We always talk about Vulcan like you just have one language. Do you have different Vulcan languages?"

"In the generations followed the adoption of Surak's philosophy, the language he spoke and wrote in became dominant. However, we do have regional dialects. I have not made a comprehensive study, but from my observations I believe human dialects have greater variance."

"So, way back, they decided it was more logical to have one language?"

"In part. There was also a widely-held belief that Surak's readings ought to be read in his own words, not those of a translator."

"I can see that."

She nodded briefly and turned her attention back to the computer. "Can you explain the concept of a group on this site?"

"It's a way of lettin' people know how you feel about things, what you like an' don't like, that kinda stuff. Plus it's a forum to chat with other people who feel the same way."

Anna Hess has joined the group Enterprise Vegetarians.

"Then this site can be used to find crewmembers with similar interests."

"Exactly. An' there are events. This is a handy way to let people know what's goin' on."

Hoshi Sato is attending Ladies' Night.

Anna Hess is attending Ladies' Night.

"Verbal transmission of information is insufficient?"

"Okay, you're right. We've got a pretty thorough grapevine." When her eyebrow went up, he clarified, "You know, people talk to each other."

"And yet this system is used as well."

"Why not? You can look up who's gonna be where. Don't worry, nobody really expects you to join the site."

"'Why not?' is a common reason given by humans. From a Vulcan perspective, the absence of a reason not to do something does not suffice."

"I'm not surprised. Now this is a status update." He pointed at the next line. "You can put whatever you want in."

Jonathan Archer is knee-deep in paperwork.

"Since we have very little paper on board, I presume this is another idiom."

"It means he has a lot of reports an' things for Starfleet."

"I see."

"Even the quartermaster has joined now. An' he's joined a group."

Paul Hayden joined the group The UT Needs Settings for Engineer and Scientist.

"How are these groups formed?"

"It's easy. Someone just gets an idea an' invites people to join. See, like this." Over on the sidebar, his invitations were listed. He clicked on '1 group invitation' to demonstrate.

Hoshi Sato has invited you to join the group If I'm Not at Movie Night, Something Big is Happening.

"So then the site asks me if I want to accept or ignore, an' I just click 'Accept' here. That's it." With that, Trip went back to his news feed.

T'Pol read intently, although she didn't look convinced that the site was actually useful. Then again, Trip hadn't expected her to be.

Michael Rostov I see inducer coils even with my eyes closed.

"Rostov's been workin' on inducer coils for two days."

"Is that phrase meant to be taken literally?"

"Sometimes yes, sometimes no."

"Human communication is very imprecise."

"We make it work."

"Apparently."

Phlox is a fan of First Friday Fiesta.

"What is First Friday Fiesta?"

"Chef's new Mexican theme the first Friday of the month. Authentic Mexican, not Tex-Mex."

"'Tex-Mex?"

"Texan-Mexican, Texas Mexican, or somethin' like that. Basically, Americanized Mexican food. Not a lot like what they eat in Mexico."

Malcolm Reed is attending the First Annual Shipwide Chess Tournament.

Andrea Zhi Is anyone else interested in getting a beta shift movie night?

8 people like this.

Rhiannon Sawyer wrote: Absolutely!

"Is 'liking' a form of expressing agreement?"

"Yes. Now, this is how you comment." He clicked 'Comment' and began typing. "Then you just hit enter, and here it is:"

Trip Tucker wrote: We can set up a second showing, say 0100?

"You do not use your given name," noted T'Pol.

"Everyone calls me Trip."

"Most of the crew refers to you as Commander Tucker."

"Right. I meant Trip instead of Charles."

Travis Mayweather is attending the First Annual Shipwide Chess Tournament.

"Chess is one of the few human games that Vulcans find agreeable," T'Pol informed him.

"Are you gonna enter the tournament?"

"No. The competitive nature is not conducive to the intellectual challenge, and my presence is likely to dampen crew enthusiasm."

Trip would've liked to disagree on the last point, but to do so would require lying. Instead he said, "Well, I'm not a big fan of chess, but I bet Malcolm would like to play with you. He loves the intellectual challenge. I played him once when I was bored. Not that I was much less bored playin' with him. He doesn't like time limits." Trip had spent a lot of time waiting for Malcolm to ponder, and doubted he'd ever be bored enough to play chess with the man again.

"I will consider proposing a match to Lieutenant Reed." The sub-commander, meanwhile, had noticed another feature of the site. "What is the 'wall'?"

"People can leave me messages an' stuff. Look." He brought up his wall.

Jonathan Archer wrote: Thanks again for watching Porthos.

Hoshi Sato wrote: Is there any chance of getting a romantic comedy for Movie Night sometime?

"Again, I do not understand why the communications system is insufficient."

"Well, you can do this anytime, day or night."

"Each crewmember has a private account on the ship's intranet. Messages can be sent any time."

"Yeah, but you can't do this."

Anna Hess has given Trip an Engineering Gift: Precision Hyperspanner.

Below that was a little animated hyperspanner with a blinking light. T'Pol was, unsurprisingly, not impressed. "Is there a reason for this besides an absence of reasons not to send representations of tools?"

"It's fun."

"So you say."

"Hess is one of the main creators of this site. She just enabled photo sharing a couple of days ago. See, one of the best things about this is that you can do so much in one place. Take the luau party we had last week. I uploaded my pictures, so people can see them. You can even tag who's in the picture, so people know the picture of them is up."

"What if some individuals do not want their picture on this site?"

"The only people who see this are crewmembers, but there's a way to block it as long as people tag the pictures properly." Suddenly something occurred to him. "Right now you have a sign up to block your pictures, an' I think just about everyone is on here. But if you don't want your pictures, I can put a block in for you."

"Thank you, but it will not be necessary. I have no objection to a photographic record of my presence at public events."

He once again didn't know what to say, although it was probably best for T'Pol's already marginal popularity that photos with her didn't start getting blocked. It wouldn't endear her to the crew, that was for sure. Trip decided to change the subject a bit. "An' of course, there's the profile." He brought that up, wondering how illogical she'd find it.

"Your photograph of the warp core appears to have a flaw in the color processing."

Trip chuckled. "I was playin' with the camera. It's supposed to be sepia-toned."

"That is the image by which you are identified?"

"It's called a profile picture. Cap'n has a picture of Porthos for his."

"That is not altogether surprising. He is very devoted to his canine."

She eyed his profile, and Trip couldn't help but wonder if his favorite books, movies, and music meant anything to her. "You enjoy the compositions of Bach?" she asked, sounding (for her) very surprised.

"Sure. It's great workin' music, just to have in the background."

"Several years ago, one of Vulcan's most prominent musicians compared Bach's music to that of two composers from just before the time of Surak."

"Really? I had no idea." It was amazing how much he'd learned that evening. Trip was beginning to suspect that Vulcans were less secretive than popular belief held. "Did he think they had a lot in common?"

"At a basic structural level, yes. I am unqualified to make my own assessment, but I do not consider it impossible." She must've gotten to his favorite quotes, because she switched the subject entirely. She did that a lot, switching to another subject without segue. "You are a great admirer of Zephram Cochrane."

"I think just about everyone in Starfleet is, Sub-commander, but yeah. Ever since I was a kid."

"Everyone lists their favorite books, movies, music, and quotes?"

"You don't have to, but just about everyone does. That's social networkin' 101."

She stood up straight. "Thank you for explaining the social networking site, Commander. It has been... elucidating."

"Glad to help. You know-" he paused, then decided to go for broke, "if you ever need to ask someone about things like these, I'm happy to explain the best I can."

T'Pol nodded slightly. "I will remember that. Good evening, Commander."

"Have a nice night, Sub-commander."

When the door closed behind her, Trip shook his head a bit. There was more to that woman than an emotionless mask, he was sure of it. But he wasn't going to figure T'Pol out in a day. Heck, he didn't have much hope of ever figuring her out.

He went to Hoshi's wall and, rather reluctantly, typed a comment on her wall.

Trip Tucker wrote: Have a particular chick flick in mind?