Work Text:
Bloomington, Indiana, USA, Earth. The home of the decorated Admiral Edward Janeway; his wife, Gretchen; his older daughter, Kathryn; and younger daughter, Phoebe. The family had decided it would be the perfect place to raise their daughters, as it was a large enough city to have a transporter station for Edward but small enough to allow them to get away from the constant pressures of life in the 24th century. It had always been important to Edward to be able to leave the world behind. He was a firm believer in seeing the world without technology, so, as soon as baby Phoebe could walk, he took her and Kathryn off to explore without the creature comforts ubiquitous in the twenty-fourth century.
****
“Look what I found!” A delighted Phoebe Janeway held up a leaf, her gaze admiring the tones and patterns throughout the veins. She laid it out next to her growing collection of findings, which included other leaves, sticks, and even a few flowers.
“I’m reading. Go bother Mommy and Daddy,” said Kathryn, a grumpy edge to her voice. At her father’s insistence, she was reading a print book instead of her usual padd.
Phoebe sighed. “You’re always reading. And Mommy and Daddy are no fun.”
Kathryn didn’t respond, thoroughly engrossed in her book about Alpha Centauri.
“Fine then. Read your book.” Phoebe huffed and walked off.
“Wait, Phoebe, stop!” Kathryn set down her book, jogging to catch up. “I’m sorry.”
“Phoebe, Kathryn, time for dinner!” came a voice from a few meters away. She rolled her eyes. ‘Dinner’ most likely meant they would have to cook something over a fire, because Daddy insisted on leaving the 24th century behind.
“We’re coming!” yelled Kathryn back. “We have to go,” she said, glaring at heryounger sister.
Side by side, the two walked through the woods to get to their main campsite. The fire pit was surrounded by trees soaring into the sky, nestled in a blanket of birdsong. It was truly a beautiful sight, one of the (many) reasons Phoebe loved going on these trips. She saw it all through the lens of an artist’s eyes. Meanwhile, Kathryn saw species of flora in their natural ecosystem with all the pests that accompanied them. She had always had the scientist’s eye. When they were willing to work together, the pair could make a formidable team. For now, there was dinner to face.
As she had expected, Mommy was working on starting a fire. The fact that it wasn’t done meant she and her sister would be expected to help out. “Mommy, Daddy,” she said, sitting down on a patch of grass. Phoebe also mumbled something.
In response, Gretchen smiled at them both in turn.
“What have you two been up to today?” asked her dad. Before Kathryn had a chance to respond, Phoebe blurted, “Kathryn’s been spending all day sitting under a tree with a book looking somewhat miserable.”
“And Phoebe’s been running around picking up leaves,” Kathryn retorted.
Edward sighed. “Kathryn, maybe we should spend some time tomorrow cataloging the plants around here. You can’t spend all your time buried in a book.”
“And, Phoebe, you could see if any of the tree bark or flowers make good art supplies,” added Gretchen. “Kathryn, could you grab tonight’s dinner?”
“Sure,” came her response. Kathryn walked over to the cooler, peering in at the clean lines of the day-by-day labels. Just two more days of this, and then she would be back home with her padds and replicators and bed.
Before they knew it, dinner was over and they were headed to sleep. Phoebe and Kathryn were sharing a tent, as were Gretchen and Edward.
*
The next day, Kathryn awoke to her father’s gentle hand. “What?” she mumbled, half asleep.
“Do you want to go out and look at the plants in half an hour?” he asked, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“Sure.” After he left, she dragged herself out of the sleeping bag and pulled on a change of clothes.
Exactly thirty minutes later, Edward came in. You could tell he had spent decades of his life in Starfleet by his eternal punctuality and his mannerisms, even going down to the way he walked and the words he used. She noticed he was holding a notebook and pen, along with a simple field guide to the plants of North America. “You ready?” he asked, despite already knowing the answer.
“I suppose,” said Kathryn, grinning. The pair wandered out until they found a clearing in the woods with a good number of plants around.
“Kathryn, how many lobes are there on that tree’s leaf?” he said, gesturing towards a tree to their left. He studied the field guide, then made a quick note.
“Four,” she said. The rest of the day went on like this, with a brief pause for a lunch they had packed. By and large, Kathryn did enjoy spending time with her father, despite that she knew any computer would be able to identify these plants in a heartbeat, no dichotomous keys required.
***
Bloomington, about a week later
Kathryn got home from school in a bit of a huff. She had gotten an A minus on a quiz in language arts, despite that, in her opinion, she had perfectly good justifications for her reasoning. To make matters worse, she and her mother had been in a bit of a fight after the camping trip, and she would surely see her lamenting the grade as her just being a whiny child with no real problems. Her dad would probably understand, but he was out at some planet doing something, none of which any of them were allowed to know. That was the thing that frustrated her about her father’s line of work. Oftentimes, he could hardly tell them anything whatsoever.
Walking through the kitchen into her room, she set down her bag on the bed. Sighing, she busied herself with her homework. After all, it wouldn’t do to have zeroes for those grades. She grabbed a stylus from the cup, and immersed herself in science. While the classes at her school were rather basic, she still loved any time she could spend with the stars.
Just when she was beginning to get into the rhythm of things, she noticed a message informing her that she should grab something to eat. Kathryn sighed. She wasn’t really in the mood for something replicated, so she set about the process of making a sandwich from the ingredients in her kitchen. She took bread from the counter and some meat and cheese from the fridge. Piling it all together, she took a bite, then wandered out to the back porch to keep eating and stare up at the sky.
Tonight, as usual, there were an abundance of shuttle craft entering the atmosphere. The brief flashes of light somewhat disrupted her view of the constellations, but it was gorgeous nonetheless. As she ate, she picked out the Big Dipper, following it up to the North Star. From there, she picked out the others. Orion’s Belt, guiding her to the rest of the constellation.
Before she knew it, her mother was calling her inside to bed. After just a few more looks up at the sky, she came in. Eventually she made it to sleep, the images of the stars frozen in her mind.