Subject: Grail: 'Unexplored Spaces' - Sisters...II: Eve's Tale part 2
USS Grail: 'Unexplored Spaces' - 'Sisters....II: Eve's Tale - Part 2
by
Lt. (jg) Eve Mallory & Lt. Comm. Janice Hargen
<<Stardate: 47307.20- 19:30>>
Location: Janice Hargen's Personal Quarters
"V'jur?" Janice asked, a bit confused. She ran through her
memory banks automatically. Her eyes widened slightly
when she found the entry, something she studied far back
in the Academy. "Wasn't the crew of the original Enterprise
involved with stopping it?"
Eve nodded. "Yeah, they were," she replied. "I
was fascinated when I heard about it; one of Earth's
old deep space probes is found by a sentient race
of machines, rebuilt, and then comes back with all the
knowledge it's managed to pick up on it's travels." She
sighed with regret. "It's a damn shame we never managed
to get any of that information; just think what we could
have learned!"
"Anyway," Eve continued, "Once it was over, I was
determined to find out all that I could about V'jur and
what had happened. So I contacted Starfleet and asked
for access to the data. Imagine my surprise when not
only did they let me take a look, but they let me interview
the Enterprise crew, including Kirk, Spock and McCoy."
Janice raised an eyebrow, almost Vulcan-like in her surprise.
Starfleet never just gave out critical information like that.
*Not only giving her access to confidential information, but
letting her interview the officers involved as well? Especially
since they were Kirk, Spock and McCoy!! There had to be
something more to this...*
"Anyway, I never stopped to wonder why Starfleet was letting
me do this, but I was grateful to them. I spent months going
over McCoy's scans of Lt. Ilia, the readings taken from V'jur,
all of it. Then I got summoned to Starfleet Headquarters by
the Head of Starfleet, Admiral Nogura..."
*******************
Starfleet Headquarters, San Francisco, Earth - 2272
<<NRPG: Eve speaks in [ ] because back in 2272, she is using
a voice synthesizer>>
[You want me to *WHAT*?!] Doctor Eve Mallory exploded.
Admiral Nogura smiled. "I want you to be on the Alonzo went
it follows V'jur's path," He repeated. "You're the best expert
on the V'jur incident there is. You've studied the data, interviewed
survivors, had access to things we've never shown anyone else.
There is no one better qualified."
Eve stared at him for a long moment. Then she moved slightly,
the light glinting off her cybernetic hand. [Kirk warned me about
you,] She said finally. [McCoy too.]
Nogura's assistant stirred slightly, as if to say something, but
Nogura held up a hand, stopping him. "What did they say?"
He asked casually.
[That you're a games player. That when you want something,
you get it. Usually by stacking the deck in your favor.] Eve
replied. [I suspected something when you allowed me unrestricted
access to all the data, including the scans McCoy did on the
Ilia-probe.] She smiled. [You've been trying to recruit me into
Starfleet for about two years now, ever since the Nobel Prize.]
"Are you surprised?" Nogura asked. "Why shouldn't I go
after new blood? Especially someone as talented as yourself."
Eve shook her head. [You're desperate, Nogura,] She said.
[Daystrom is still in his little rubber room, playing with string,
Trevellian hasn't come up with anything original in years, and
McConnagh is about to quit on you. You need someone with
a reputation, someone you can parade in front of the press, like
you did with Kirk when you forced the Admiralty on him. So
you went after me. You made a good guess that once I saw all
the data, interviewed the Enterprise crew and got a look at what
V'jur left behind, and then offered me a place on a ship that was
going to try to make contact with these machine creatures, I'd
jump at the chance to sign up.]
There was a silence again. Nogura was first to break it.
"How did I do?" he asked.
Eve grinned. [Pretty good.] She replied. [When do we leave?]
********************
"You met Kirk?" Janice asked curiously. "What was he like?"
Eve shrugged. "A man," She replied. "Just like anyone else.
Nogura had hyped him beyond all recognition; first Captain
to bring his ship and crew home relatively intact, and a
handsome devil to boot. He needed to justify the expansion
and new ship classes, and Kirk was ready-made for him."
Janice nodded, understanding what she meant. As wonderful
as Starfleet was, and however devoted Janice was to it, she
would never agree with the ideas of most of the heads of it.
She could think of so many Admirals that had only one thing
on their mind - themselves. She shivered, thinking of how
quickly they had just taken Kaya from her "father" without
another thought. And how distressed he had been afterwards.
Of course, those were all memories implanted in her head. She
shrugged off those thoughts, and brought her attention back to
Eve's story. "And then what?" she asked, gently prodding
Eve forward.
Eve shrugged. "I took basic Starfleet training, and took my
place aboard the Alonzo. We left Earth and rendezvoused with
a Klingon ship to pick up their scientists and a couple of
'military advisors', and picked up V'jur's trail. Pretty boring
actually, at least till we got to the wormhole, then things
got really interesting."
Janice frowned. *'Interesting' always meant something more
than just interesting.* She leaned forward in her seat.
"Wormhole? What happened?"
"We fell through." Eve replied. "It was pretty rough, and
we sustained some damage. But that was nothing to the
discovery that the wormhole was one way only; if you tried
to go through from our end, the gravimetric pressures
would have crushed us. So we went forward."
"Then, about six months into the trip..."
*******************
USS Alonzo - unknown location: 2273
[Computer, analyze model.] Eve turned away from
the screen to the small tray of instruments. She picked one
up with her free hand and inserted it gently into the slot in
her mechanical hand. It slotted in with an audible click.
=/\=Model #A4567 will function within specified parameters=/\
Eve smiled. [Good. Display readouts.]
The screen lit up with the information. Quickly, she scanned
the columns of data, and a faint frown marred her features.
[Computer show detailed readout on section 24, and run
second level analysis.]
=/\=Procedure will take 5 standard minutes=/\
She stared at the new readout for a moment, then with a faint
sound of disgust, turned back to the collection of circuit boards
and the object that rested in the middle of them, leads leading in
and out of it like veins.
The model was running perfectly in simulation, but there was
still an area of concern with the backup and secondary
functions. That one area was still showing signs of continued
degradation, and Eve couldn't figure out why. She narrowed the
field down, but was beginning to look as though there was a
flaw in the original coding itself.
*Should have written up new codes, instead of using old ones!*
She thought. *Old language can't handle the new procedures..*
The red alert klaxon blared with a shocking suddenness, making
her jump, and almost spilling the artificial heart to the floor.
=/\=Brace for Impact! I repeat, Brace for Impact!=/\= The
words, overlaid with a sense of panic blared from the speakers.
Mallory got to her feet, but before she could do anything, the
ship gave a giant lurch, and then seemed to roll. Equipment,
padds, anything not held down, went flying, including Eve.
She hit the wall with an impact that knocked the breath out of
her and slid down it stunned. Pain exploded in her head,
far more than she was used to.
The ship lurched again, sending her tumbling, wringing fresh
waves of pain from her, and a low scream from her lips. She
impacted with the edge of a table, and was sent back again by
another lurch, this time impacting with the comm panel, which
exploded in a shower of sparks. The charge earthed itself
through Eve, and this time the pain in her head was indescribable.
She did not know how she remained consciousness, but she
still fell to the floor in an untidy heap.
The ceiling and walls seemed to crumble, and part of one wall
collapsed into the room, burying the table and computer
terminal. The lights went out, cloaking the room in darkness,
only illuminated by the sparking of various connections.
Eve tried to move. Nothing. not even the slightest twitch. She
tried to cry out, but nothing came from her mouth but a vaguely
electronic lowing.
*The charge must have shorted out one of the links!* She
thought, panic beginning to well within her. *nonononoicant
belikethissomeonehelpmepleasepleasepleasennononononono
nono..*
Something moved in the shadows. Eve could only barely see
it in the darkness, but her mind, already screaming with panic,
sparked with joy.
*helphelphelpmepleaseicantmovepleasepleasehelpcantspeak
cantmovenononono..*
Darkness.
**********************
Janice swallowed thickly. *It must have been horrible, not
being able to move or even speak.* Her heart flew out to
Eve. "So... what happened then?" Janice asked, her voice
barely a whisper.
"I woke up on the USS Nova." Eve replied. "Inside a
containment field. I couldn't figure out where I was, and no
one would tell me anything. I discovered that was dressed in
an old-style Starfleet uniform, but that was nothing to the
shock of discovery that my cybernetic arm was suddenly
flesh and blood." Her eyes went distant. "Then the Captain
shows up, and asks me the date. I thought he was nuts; any
idiot knew that the date was, but I humored him, told him it
was 2273. Besides I wanted to know why we'd been followed
through the wormhole." Eve glanced at her hand again, which
had clenched tight. "And that's when I found out that it
was 2*3*73, 100 years had passed, and..." She closed her eyes
for a moment. "...I freaked out."
Janice could barely contain a gasp of shock. She put a
comforting hand on Eve's shoulder, wishing she didn't make
Eve relive this over again. She fought back the pained expression
that wanted to come over her face - she doubted Eve would
want her pity. Afraid to ask for any more information, she
just nodded.
"I figured out that I might be a Replicant almost immediately,"
Eve continued. "But I was seemingly totally flesh and blood,
which confused me." She gestured at herself and the screen.
"See, when V'jur copied Ilia, it copied her exactly; but that
hadn't happened with me at all. I didn't have any of my
cybernetics.
"At first I thought I'd been healed by whoever had done this,"
Eve face took on a wistful look. "That had always been one of
my dreams, to be human and normal, just like everyone else. But
then I got a look at the preliminary scans and that all came
crashing down on me." The sadness was visible in her eyes. "I
was human all right, I just wasn't made out of any organic
material." She wiped a hand over her face. "I really wanted it
to be a nightmare at that point; I wanted to wake up in my bed
on the Alonzo, to find that everything was OK." Her face
changed again. "But I didn't wake up. And it got worse."
*My God, how could it possibly get worse??* she thought,
horrified. "What happened, Eve?" Janice asked gently.
"The Nova took 3 months to get to Lerins Station, where
I was taken back to Earth for a de-briefing, and testing."
Janice gasped and recoiled, pulling her hand away in an
inhumanly quick jerk. It was the one thing Janice had really
feared. The testing. To treat a sentient being like an animal, to
be poked and prodded as they desired, to have no free will of
your own... Janice turned her face away so that Eve couldn't
see the tears that sprung to her eyes.
Eve shuddered. "They put me through every test they
could think of," she continued, one hand now picking at the
fabric of the couch. "And I was getting interviewed by all
sorts of people, most of whom didn't believe me, who thought
I was some kind of advanced Borg. I made a friend while all this
was going on; she was on the team that was testing me." Eve's
face was hard. "Then one night, she got me out of the complex
and took me back to her quarters." She smiled. "It was great;
out from under the tests and the questions and...." She
gestured. "...just everything. She cooked me dinner, not
something out of a replicator," Eve paused. "Then she seduced
me."
Janice had finally turned back to Eve, back in control of herself.
But she jerked when she heard Eve's last sentence. Her
eyebrows furrowed in confusion, her eyes were filled with pain.
"Seduced? How?"
She shrugged. "I was an easy target; confused, pissed off,
and just fed up with everything. Next morning, she got me back
to the lab and it all starts again. But I managed to sneak a look
at her computer clearances, and decided that *I* wanted to
know what they'd discovered about me; I figured I had a right
to know, and no one would tell me anything."
"It works, and I'm in, going through all the info they've been
collecting," Eve pointed at Janice. "It's all on the file you read
remember?"
Janice nodded, silently dreading what was to come.
"And that's when I see a file that's apparently on-going, but
untitled, by my friend. I open it up, and for a moment, I don't
believe what I'm reading." Eve's face has gone dark with
remembered anger and shame. Up until this moment, she
hasn't been looking at Janice, but now her eyes meet the other
woman's. "It had been a set-up. The team wanted to test my
sexual responses, so they drew lots to see who got to take me
to bed." Eve was on her feet, unable to sit still under the force of
the memories; she started to pace. "And I fell for it!" She
exclaimed.
Janice stood quickly, and without thought, hugged the woman
opposite her. "I'm sorry, Eve," she whispered. It was all she
could say. She didn't know how long she just hugged her,
hoping that she could make the hurt go away just a little.
Finally, she held Eve at arm's length and looked at her. She
seemed a bit calmer than before. Janice bit her lip. "What did
you do?"
"I went crazy," Eve smiled lopsidedly. "I threatened to bring
legal action for the abuse I'd been subjected to, raised a holy
stink, basically." She sat down again.
"Starfleet wanted me out the way; they didn't want me around
to begin with and the kind of fuss I was threatening to make
gave them the perfect excuse to send me to the Grail. I think
they'd have sent me here anyway, after they saw what I could
do."
"What you could do?" Janice echoed, confused. Just when
she thought she had been following the terrible story, she lost
the plot again. *Did I miss something?* she asked herself,
quickly reviewing the conversation in her mind.
Eve was silent for a moment, her eyes resting on the couch.
This was the last truth. The one that was going to turn Janice
away from her.
She looked up, staring unflinchingly at Janice. "I can talk
to Borg."
(Do I really need to say it? Oh OK...)
TO BE CONTINUED
Jason Cleaver & Vivian Salib