It's the sharp sound of talons on the usually unmarked plastics that gets his attention - he's already shooed all of the day staff out for the day, and the night crew tends to stay out of his way on nights like this. No one particularly wants to rile an already grumpy Doctor McCoy.







For the record, this might be the first owl sighting on board a Federation vessel.

He both knows and discredits the correct answer to this riddle in the span of heartbeats - it can't be Olya, Olya is back in the bar at the end of the universe, hopefully not getting too impatient with how long he's stayed here already.

How many other owls does he know, though?