A Conversation Over Coffee

"Can I sit here?" he asks the girl (and she really is a girl, not a woman; she must have skipped a few grades in school).

She looks up from whatever she's scribbling in her notebook, and it takes a moment for her to come out of whatever place in her head she was and focus on him and the question. "Oh, sure. Just let me…" She starts moving her sprawl of papers and books over to her side of the table.

"Sorry about this," he says. "All the tables are taken."

"Not really a problem," she replies. "I need more coffee anyway. Watch my stuff?" She doesn't wait for an answer, just walks off with the empty cup.

He takes out his assignment and is working on it when she returns. "Oh hey, physics!" she exclaims. "What class are you in?"

"4710," he replies. "Foundations of theoretical physics."

"That's one of McKay's, right?" she asks like she already knows the answer.

"His reputation has spread, I see." Dr. McKay does not teach undergraduates.

She smirks. "You could say that. What do you think of him?"

"He's brilliant; I feel like an idiot next to him. Very impatient, though, and I get the feeling that my papers are going to be bleeding red no matter how small the errors I make are."

"You'll be a better physicist because of it though."

"Oh, I'm not complaining; he's the reason I'm doing my graduate work here."

"Oh?"

He smiles sheepishly. "My uncle used to work with him, and when I got into physics, well…" he shrugs.

"Who's your uncle?"

"Oh, he's not in physics or anything; I doubt you've heard of him."

"You never know."

"I'm just saying. My uncle's Evan Lorne; he used to be in the Air Force."

Her eyes go wide. "Your uncle's Lorne?"

"That's what I said," he says. "Why, have you heard of him?"

"Heard of him? My dad used to be his CO. I'm fairly certain he changed my diapers. He's pretty good at Trivial Pursuit."

"Must not be the same guy. Uncle Evan's terrible at Trivial Pursuit. Pretty good at Chronology, though; he claims he played it so much he memorized all the cards when he worked with Dr. McKay."

"Maybe there are two different Lornes or something" she says, and glances at her watch. "Oh hey, I've got to go. Maybe I'll see you around?" She disappears into a crowd of people coming out of a classroom, curly black hair bouncing as she weaves effortlessly between the students.