In Dreams
Part 7
Z’ela had just heard
about Seven's miraculous recovery. The news was supposed to stay in sickbay
until the Captain said otherwise, but it took just an hour for the entire
crew to hear about the rehumanizing of Annika Hansen.
Many were suspicious.
Z’ela was just sure that this meant trouble, and she wasn't the only one
who felt that way. It felt too good to be true. Some were just happy for
Seven. Not many of the crew had that kind of optimism. They had grown accustomed
to expecting the strange and unusual from the Delta Quadrant.
What was it the Captain
had once said? We're Starfleet. Weird is part of the job.
It was the ship's
secret catch-all-catch-phrase now.
Stuck in her quarters
until they found Tepes, Z’ela was trying to make the best of her time by
studying Tuvok’s security logs.
She sighed to herself.
That Tuvok. What an
amazing specimen of man.
She rolled her eyes
at herself. It seemed every object of her affection had been unattainable…
first the Captain and now Tuvok, a married man from a race which allowed
no emotions. And all through her school years, it was always a professor
or a trainer.
Not that anyone could
blame her for aspiring to partners of intellect and power.
Z’ela thought about
Captain Janeway. What bothered her about that crush was that not only was
the Captain unobtainable because of her position on the ship, but her heart
belonged to someone else on board. Z’ela had seen it in Kathryn's eyes
one day, when Z’ela walked into Seven's bay to get some information and
accidentally saw the Captain watching her in her sleep. Z’ela immediately,
and quietly, left the bay.
It hurt Z’ela, but
it got her over Kathryn. Z’ela had the feeling that a few others on board
had some inkling of the Captain's feelings. No one said a word about it.
She didn't expect
what happened next. She wasn't looking when Tepes somehow stepped up behind
her. She felt nothing, saw and heard nothing.
And then there was
nothing.
*
The Doctor made sure
that Seven was assigned quarters immediately, but with all the security
over this Tepes, she couldn't go to them yet, and was waiting in sickbay
with the Doctor until further notice.
The Doctor had downloaded
the ship's files on Tepes, and was now up to date on that situation.
She sat on a biobed,
her legs hanging over the side, her feet lightly kicking back and forth.
She was still in the sickbay robe, and was anxious for some real clothes.
“Doctor, when may
I have something to wear? I wish to wear a dress.”
He turned from his
data- he'd been studying Seven's vitals and some tissue samples since she
had reanimated from death.
“You wouldn't prefer
a uniform?”
She thought about
it. “I have been resigned to very few choices in my clothing. I wish to
experiment.”
“The holodeck would
be ideal. You could ‘try on’ a few things, get a feel for your style.”
Seven's bottom lip
found it's way under her front teeth, and she bit down lightly for a moment.
Then she pouted, and focusing on the Doctor, her eyes seemed to glimmer.
“But Doctor… couldn't I use the replicator, and have something pretty to
wear now?”
Taken aback momentarily,
the Doctor had to pause. He had seen enough in his life as a hologram that
he knew what she was doing. Seven? A coquette?
“Seven,” he approached
her, and was stopped when she stood quickly, close to him. Her face was
inches from his, and her fingers played at his collar. He backed away a
step, his professionalism at the fore. “Seven. Please tell me what you
are feeling right now.”
She slowly nodded.
Her voice was quiet, nearly a whisper, “I am restless. So restless, Doctor.”
She came close enough again that her body heat brushed his uniform. “I…
need… something.”
“I'm afraid I’ll have
to ask you to stay at least two paces back.” He stepped back again.
She pouted again,
but it was not childlike as the Doctor expected to see. There was only
woman in those eyes now, a woman hungering.
He'd seen that hunger
before.
Where was that part
of his memory?
He and the Captain
hadn't even discussed where he'd been lost, he'd been so involved in the
work at hand.
His matrix seemed
to realign itself. He remembered now…
“Seven-” He was surprised
momentarily, remembering that she took his mobile emitter, which was still
missing. He remembered being quickly lost in the computer, his memory files
corrupted.
He'd keep this to
himself for now.
He spoke to her again.
“What do you need? If there's anything I can get for you, please, Seven,
just let me know.” He watched. If her hand moved toward his emitter, he'd
be able to move away before she could touch it.
Her tongue peeked
out from her lips, her eyes wandered to the floor. She lifted herself easily
back up onto the biobed, and there she sat quietly. Her eyes wandered back
to her own hands, folded in her lap now.
The computer beeped
to let the Doctor know his inquiry was finished. He turned back to the
computer while he spoke to Seven. “Since you won't be needing to regenerate
anymore, I’ll need to monitor your sleep patterns for awhile. I also want
to monitor any changes in your tastes for food and art. I'm sure you will
discover you desire-”
Desire. Seven breathed
the word in, and the Doctor's words faded. That was it, that was what she
was flooded with. Desires such as she had never imagined, and such as she
had never allowed herself to feel or express. Desire… it was in her blood
now, her veins surged with it, it was in her bones, in her belly, in her
skull.
And her need was to
fill that desire.
She wanted to know
now. She wanted to feel the touch of another human being, she wanted to
be kissed, she wanted someone to feel her inside and out, and she wanted
to feel them. She wanted to drink them up, devour their desire for her….
And there were those
on board whom she could experience that with, she had only to say the word.
Her mind raced… had
she ever thought so quickly? Had she ever felt so much sensory input at
once? Suddenly, it was as if she had never seen, heard or felt before.
Every tactile experience exploded into vibrant colors and sounds, and her
fingertips rubbed together for the mere sensation of it. Her ears pricked
up at the humming of the ship's engine. Her tongue played with the roof
of her mouth, then her lips.
And she understood
that the Borg implants had given her something like these sensations, but
not so full of life. The implants were gone now. She didn't know who she
was anymore.
Suddenly the colors
meant nothing, the sounds were empty echoes, and her own touch reminded
her of how empty her life had been.
And Annika Hansen
cried, cried hard, and broke down on the biobed, sobs shaking her body
as she lay down. She curled her legs up while she let the crying have its
head, and she heard the Doctor call for someone.
She heard him call
for Kathryn.
Not knowing why, Seven
cried harder.
Time might have passed,
but she didn't know how much. All she knew was that someone had their arms
around her, and was guiding her to sit up. Someone was whispering comfort
into her ear. Someone's warmth penetrated her tears, and someone's hand
was wiping strands of hair off her face.
She inhaled the scent
of this person, and it brought her peace again, it seemed it was really
all she needed.
Kathryn.
Seven let her head
fall on that strong shoulder, heard the voice of the Captain again.
“Seven, Annika. It's
all right.” Kathryn left her protocol at the door when she'd seen her beautiful
blonde crying like that. She sat on the biobed with her now, arms holding
Seven. “I know this must be a frightening change for you.”
Seven allowed her
crying to slow, and she grasped the hand nearest her own. “Captain. I apologize.
I have duties I should attend to. My behavior is not the behavior of an
officer.”
“Not true.” Kathryn
said, her hand going to Seven's chin, she grasped her slightly there, and
met eyes. “You need to adjust to what you're going through. We still don't
even know exactly what's happened to you.”
Kathryn's heart stopped
for a moment when she thought she saw Seven's eyes returning the feelings
she herself held for the Astrometrics officer. She broke the gaze, and
stood now, her hands in Seven's.
“You will take all
the time you need to recover. The Doctor will let me know when you're ready
to go back to work.” She looked back at the Doctor, who feigned as if he
was not watching this entire exchange.
What in Kathryn gave
her the strength to pull away, she didn't know. But Seven was in a delicate
state, and whatever Kathryn might have thought she'd seen in Seven's eyes,
it was likely the result of torment of being newly rehumanized, free of
implants, and having Kathryn as the source of comfort.
Kathryn paused, as
her only thought was that Seven shouldn't be left here in a sterile, boring
sickbay. The Doctor was busy, and wouldn't be good company. She turned
to the Doctor.
“Permission to sign
out your patient?”
The Doctor almost
flustered his next words. “Where to?” He hadn't expected to see the Captain
comfort Seven quite the way he'd seen.
“My quarters. I want
her to rest, and my quarters are safe.”
“Of course. I can
monitor her from here.” He smiled, but was thrown. Inside, his holographic
stomach twisted at this. He was the one meant for Seven. He was the one
who had loved her all this time. And the Captain? He'd had no idea.
He was losing his
touch. This, he should have seen!
“Wonderful.” Kathryn
turned back to Seven. “Will you join me? I was just about to have coffee.”
Seven smiled, “Yes,
Captain. Thank you.” She sniffled, and wiped the last of the tears from
her eyes. Seven moved from the biobed and walked with the Captain.
“We'll have to get
you some clothes.” Kathryn said, “I imagine you'll want to experiment.”
The Doctor's senses
returned, and he stopped them briefly. “One moment, Captain. May I speak
with you in private for a moment?”
Kathryn nodded, and
Seven leaned against one of the beds, which pleased Kathryn. It was such
a human behavior, and unusual for Seven.
The Doctor led Kathryn
behind the iso unit wall and erected a shield so that sound would not travel.
“I have some news.”
He said, “And I'm afraid it's not good news. My disappearance- it was Seven.
She took my mobile emitter offline and fairly well catapulted me into the
ship's computer.”
Kathryn's brow furrowed
in concern, “Why did she do that?”
“I can't recall exactly.”
The Doctor admitted, “She also seems to have corrupted a few of my more
recent memory files. They are gradually realigning, but in the meantime,
she either doesn't remember that she did it or she has decided not share
that bit of information.”
“I see.” Kathryn said.
“Maybe I can talk to her. See if I can find out if she remembers or not.”
“Yes. Please do. And
if she remembers, I would like my mobile emitter back.” He glanced over
at Seven who was examining the ends of her hair in great detail. “One other
thing, Captain. Seven's behavior. She is experiencing such a tumult of
new emotion, it seems to be throwing off her emotional stability. She was,
well, flirting with me earlier. She is experiencing what I would say is
probably lust. And mood swings. As you saw, her emotions are in turmoil
right now. I don't believe she's a danger, but you need to be aware of
her at every moment if you intend to stay with her.”
“Janeway looked out
at her Seven of Nine, who now sighed in boredom, and was folding her arms.
“I can handle it, Doctor.” Inside, she herself sighed. Indeed. She hadn't
seen affection in Seven's eyes. She'd seen turbulent mood swings and the
influx of new feelings and sensations. “Thank you for the update. Monitor
my quarters, and if you discover anything about what's happened to her,
let me know immediately.”
“Yes, Captain.” He
removed the shielding and waited while Janeway joined Seven.
He watched them leave
sickbay. He couldn't believe what he'd just witnessed a few minutes ago.
Thank heavens he had
work to do. He really thought he'd like to analyze every past encounter
he'd witnessed between Kathryn and Seven, looking for signs of the Captain's
infatuation. But no time for that.
There was a mysterious
blood type, innocuous from all he could find, flowing through Seven's veins.
There was total regeneration of her body, all systems functioning normally.
Her Borg technology
had been activated somehow to assist in the regeneration, and then had
been evicted by the same mysterious force that started it all. The regenerative
properties of that new blood, which he had sitting in tubes and being scanned
by every instrument he had available to do so, were apparent, but as to
where it came from, where Tepes had come from, he didn't have any clues.
He had confidence
he'd find the clues soon, and as he went to his desk to take another look
at the implants he'd removed from Seven, he decided that he'd use most
of the data stream in the next Starfleet transmission to send what data
he had so far to Earth. Maybe Starfleet had some knowledge he didn't.
Not likely. But he'd
best get the data together, as the next transmission was in twelve hours.
He went back to work.
*
End Part Seven