Subject: Grail: 'Unexplored Spaces' - 'Sisters...'II: Eve's Tale - Part

1

USS Grail: 'Unexplored Spaces' - 'Sisters....II: Eve's Tale - Part 1

by

Lt. (jg) Eve Mallory & Lt. Comm. Janice Hargen

<<Stardate: 47307.20- 19:30>>

Location: Janice Hargen's Personal Quarters

Eve remained sitting for a moment. She was about to do

something she'd never done in her life, since the shuttle

accident when she was 11; tell someone the whole story.

Oh, she'd told fragments here and there, but the whole

thing? No. Not even to Ceece.

The only problem of course was knowing where to begin.

*At the beginning is a good place.* She thought.

"How old do you think I am?" She asked.

Janice shrugged and looked at Eve for a moment. Frowning

for a moment, she almost brought up Eve's file in her memory,

but paused. *She didn't ask how old she was, but how old I

thought she was...* Janice closed her eyes for a moment,

trying to calm the churning in her stomach.

"I'm not sure... perhaps 28, at the most?" Janice asked

hesitantly. From Eve's expression, she immediately knew she

was wrong. *I wonder if she knows how old I really am, too...*

she thought with a half-smile.

Eve stood up, and inserted the chip into Janice's main

screen. It lit up, showing a lecture hall, filled with people

of all ages; some obviously students, as well as others.

The podium on the raised stage was unattended. But as

Janice opened her mouth to speak, a figure began to walk

out of the wings. The camera zoomed in, and Janice saw the

figure clearly. Applause began to well up, growing louder.

It was the woman now walking back to the sofa to sit

beside her, but different. She walked with a stiff-legged

gait, and one hand was metal. There were scars on her face,

as well as the glint of metal through the hair on her head.

And now that Janice could see her clearly, there was some

kind of metal collar around her throat.

The Eve on the screen reached the podium, and turned to

face the audience. There was a broad smile on her face, and

she made damping motions with both hands. The applause

died away.

At the bottom of the screen, a row of text appeared.

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON - THURSDAY 13TH MAY

2269 - LECTURE ON POSSIBLE FUTURE ADVANCES IN

CYBERNETICS - DOCTOR EVE SUSAN MALLORY.

"Freeze." Eve said to the screen. "I'm 137 years old, Janice.

Although I only remember 36 years of that."

Janice looked at the screen, dumbfounded. "But..." She looked

so young, so alive. She couldn't possibly be 137!!!

"How?" Eve smiled. "Good question. All I can do is tell you

what *I* know.

"I was born in 2236, to Jack and Sian Mallory, in Ballymena,

Southern Ireland. My mother was a historian and dad was an

archeologist; almost as soon as I could walk and understand

they dragged me around every museum and show they could,"

Eve smiled. "If their intention was to hook me into their line

of work, they succeeded. I loved those trips, seeing the past,

hearing about it; it just fascinated me." Her face took on a

far-away expression; whatever she was looking at, wasn't in

Janice's quarters.

"Then one day, on my 10th birthday, we boarded a shuttle

to New York; I think we were going to see the museum there.

But there was some kind of malfunction." Eve stopped, that

last word wavering. "The shuttle crashed into the sea, killing

everyone on board, except me, outright. And they thought I

was brain dead." She shook her head. "Any other time, they

would have been right."

"What happened?" Janice asked, enthralled by the tale. She

didn't know what to think... it was astounding. *Looks like

we both had accidents that... altered our lives.*

Eve tapped her head. "Pieces of shrapnel embedded themselves

in my brain," She replied. "99% of the time, it would have killed

me instantly. But it was one of those freak things; it severed the

connections that allowed me to move or speak. I could still

think and feel, I just couldn't tell anyone." She shivered. "There

aren't any words to describe it. I woke up, and my entire world

was pain. Couldn't open my eyes, couldn't move, couldn't talk..."

She closed her eyes. "I still have nightmares about it; laying

there helpless, hearing them talk about me as though I was

this lump of meat. All I had was my mind, and what I could

do with it. I buried all my feelings down deep inside me, and

just concentrated on staying sane and alert, despite the pain.

I was determined not to give up on myself."

Janice was horrified. It was all she could do to keep herself

from jumping up from the couch and leaving. Not only was

the story so horrifying, but it was bringing back memories in

her... memories she didn't wish to bring back up for the world.

She fought herself - fought her emotional side. Again. And

won. She managed to keep herself seated, and whisper, "What

happened then?"

Eve studied her left hand, which was laying on the back of

the sofa. "Six days, seven hours and 11 minutes later, a

Vulcan doctor, Toril, was curious about my higher brain

functions, so he mind-melded with me." She grinned. "I think

I almost fried his brain, I yelled so loud. After that, they started

work on me.

"I'd lost both legs, and most of one arm," Eve continued.

"Cloned replacements were rejected, so I had to have cybernetic

replacements. I had to wear a voice synthesizer collar, because

my voice box had had to be removed during the operations

to keep me alive. I also had to have small chips inserted into

my brain to handle the lost connections that helped me to

move and speak. I got around 70% mobility back, as you

saw.." She indicated the frozen image. "...but there was a

bit of pain still; the chips put out a tiny current that was just

different enough from the brain's natural charge to cause

some discomfort."

Janice nodded dumbly. She couldn't imagine the pain that

Eve had felt. In all her life, she had gone through emotional

trauma, but never once had she felt real physical pain. It was

almost beyond her comprehension. And to feel pain for just

thinking.... Janice was sure she would rather die. She couldn't

help but feel in awe of this person before her, this person that

had so much will to live that she dealt with this pain for so long.

She nodded, prompting Eve to continue.

"I spent the next few years in and out of hospitals; learning

to walk, talk, going in for upgrades to the brain chips. I got

interested in the technology and started learning all I could,

in between keeping up with my school work." Eve smiled

again. "I think I made everyone nervous, apart from the

Vulcans."

"Why?" Janice asked, curiously. Her voice was still barely

above a whisper.

Eve looked at her. "Old habits," She replied. "During that

week I was paralyzed, I tried so hard not to have any feelings

or emotions, that It became second nature to me. Instead

of feeling, I thought, I reasoned. I still have that problem today

to an extent. Made it hell on any relationships; whenever I

did manage to feel, it never lasted long; I even got called

a robot once." She shook herself. "Anyway, I took myself off

to Oxford when I was old enough, I'd kept up my class work,

and just focused on getting a doctorate. I studied and worked

and studied, ignoring most everything else. Think I got called

some pretty inventive names while I was there too." Eve shook

her head. "But I didn't care; all that mattered was work." She

waved a hand. "I think I had a few one-night stands while I

was there, but apart from those I was alone. And I wanted it

that way; I saw myself as a freak, someone so unlovable that

who'd want to be with me anyway."

"So I graduate with three doctorates, and get jumped on

from all sides by interested companies who want to take

advantage of my expertise in cybernetics and computers.

I end up at the Medical Cybernetics Research Department

at San Francisco University. I do OK in the next years,

working on various things, giving lectures on papers I'd

written, pissing off that lunatic Daystrom whenever I could."

Eve shook her head. "That's the one thing I can never get

over in this century," She commented, "You create the

greatest institute for learning, research and academic

achievement, and then name it after a man who stole or copied

other people's work, then became so paranoid about anyone

doing the same to him that he had to be locked away in an

asylum!"

Janice winced at the emotion in Eve's voice. She seemed to

be rather passionate about her anger towards Daystrom.

Janice kept her mouth shut and her own feelings to herself.

Daystrom was, in her opinion, a brilliant man, who was

pressured too far too quickly. Janice empathized with him.

But Eve needed this time to talk - and Janice wasn't going to

stop her. She was astounded by her tale, but at the same time,

she was horrified at how much pain one person could go

through in a lifetime, albeit a long lifetime. She nodded silently,

and listened for more.

"But enough about him," Eve continued. "I won a Nobel

Prize in 2270, as well as a hovercart-load of other things

over the years, but it was the Nobel Prize that got Starfleet's

attention. They wanted me to work for them; I kept saying

no; I was happy where I was,"

"And then V'Jer came."

TO BE CONTINUED....

Jason Cleaver & Vivian Salib

/ ICQ No: #4914684

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train

stops. On my desk I have a work station...