Subject: Grail:"Unexplored Spaces"-'Sisters...II: Janice's Story (part one)'

{OOC: Major apologies for the delay in the finish of this story... it's getting

harder as we go along... It'll be over soon... promise. <BG>}

USS Grail:"Unexplored Spaces"-'Sisters....II: Janice's Story (part one)'

by

Lt.(jg) Eve Mallory & LtCmdr Janice Hargen

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Janice rubbed her hands over her eyes, and when she looked at Eve again,

emotion had returned to them. They were filled with pain and sadness,

but it was infinitely better than the cold, emotionless stare of an

android.

"I awoke from the blackness that had buried me for so long. Dizziness

filled my senses. Hot pain raced up my left arm every time I tried to

move it. The slightest movement sent it screaming in agony. But my

right arm was numb. I looked... and found my right arm torn off at the

socket - and nothing left but the cables and wires that held me

together. No muscles, no blood. It was so nice and neat." Her voice

was filled with bitterness. "I didn't know what to do, what to think.

My entire world had just crumbled - my whole life was a lie. Everything

was gone. I didn't know what to hold onto... and then I heard Mike,

finally. All my concentration went into helping him, taking my mind off

what had happened to me. I couldn't have made it through the next hours

if I hadn't."

Janice's face was drawn. She looked old. Haggard. It was her eyes.

Her normally bright attentive eyes were blank, almost sunken into her

face. Perhaps it was the lost look on her face, perhaps the way she

leaned on the table like she was unable to support herself... or perhaps

it was just her general aura that gave her an aged appearance. But

whatever it was, Janice seemed like she had lived and seen the horrors

of these worlds.

Eve reached out and first squeezed Janice's hand, then enveloped the

other woman into a hug. Once again, she noticed the difference

between them. Janice was an android, machine parts and all, but she

wasn't afraid to feel, to be sad or happy. Whereas she, who was

human, had to work hard just to feel emotions. After a moment, she

led Janice back to the couch and sat her down, sitting close. Wanting

her closeness to reassure her. "Go on," She said quietly.

Running a hand absentmindedly though her hair, Janice smiled, but it was

more a grimace of pain than anything else. "Mike had been... crushed by

the skimmer. He was sprawled across the ground, both his legs caught

under the wreckage that used to be the skimmer. His neck..." Janice

swallowed thickly. "His neck was twisted at an odd angle - broken. And

his face was all scratched up and bleeding. I had to stop myself from

breaking into uncontrollable sobbing at my first sight of him." Eve

worried that Janice might break into uncontrollable sobbing now.

Eve reached out and stroked a hand through Janice's hair. "It's

OK," She said quietly. "I'm here." She left her hand and arm curled

around the other woman's shoulder.

"He couldn't see. Blinded completely. I didn't know what to do - I

wasn't a doctor, I was an engineer. I guess I could have fixed myself

better than him," she said sourly. "I stayed with him, praying that

some help would come. I couldn't leave him. Finally, I nearly broke.

I told him I wished we hadn't gone there. And he disagreed with me. I

couldn't understand it - why in the world would he want to be here?"

Janice smiled bitterly. "'Because I brought you here to tell you I love

you,' he said. And what did I say? Not that I loved him, too. Not

that I cared for him. Just that I needed to lie down. But he accepted

it. Held me as I slept beside him. He tried to make everything better

- even though he couldn't see, his legs were crushed, and he would

probably never walk again. And all I did was drop unconscious next to

him." The anger in her eyes was evident. She was completely furious

with herself.

Eve reached out and hugged Janice again. This had to be the hardest

thing Janice had ever done, to tell her all this. No, not the hardest. The

Hardest thing would have been to go through it. She could feel her own

eyes blurring with unshed tears at the other woman's pain. She brushed

at them, hoping Janice wouldn't see.

Janice continued. "I awoke and it was dark out. I had slept through the

day. Mike was resting peacefully, the only good thing. I was miserable.

I had no where to go, no direction in my life anymore. I had no life

anymore - it had been stripped away from me. My heart was as broken as

my body. Suddenly, a low rumble filled the air - a vehicle was approaching.

I hid behind a tree, not sure how someone would react to my appearance.

But I needn't have worried - it was Mandan. Dr. Reginald Mandan,

creator of the android, Kaya. The most obvious reason for what I was.

The moment I saw him that night, I hated him. I hated him for what he

did to me, for what he had stolen from me. My entire life was a rouse

because of him. If I hadn't been on the verge of collapsing, Eve, I

would have killed him. But I was weak. I stood there and allowed him

to reattach my arm. He talked on and on about how no one would ever

need to know what I was. How this wasn't to affect my education at

all. He had planned everything for me, so no one need ever know."

Janice turned to Eve, tears in her eyes.

Eve restrained herself from letting the anger she felt, but couldn't

stop the tears from filling her own eyes. What a bastard! He must

have known that Janice would be fragile from the shock of discovering

what she was, but all he'd been able to think of was that another of his

creations would be taken away from him! She reached out and enveloped

Janice in another hug, hoping to convey her support to the woman in

her arms.

"It wasn't until then that I realized that I had forgotten Mike. My

shock in seeing Mandan, his simple explanation that I was an android...

it had closed my mind completely. I was numb - I couldn't think, I

couldn't breathe. I ran to my best friend, and begged Mandan to get

help for him. He had wanted to stay and complete my repairs, the

bastard. No real notion of the value of human life." Janice's emotions

flipped from deep depression to hot fire.

"Weren't presentable enough for him, huh?" Eve's voice betrayed

the anger she felt for Mandan.

"I was 'presentable' enough to get to the hospital, 'presentable' enough

to sit in the waiting room for the next 49 hours, waiting for some news

about Mike. Any news. Mandan waited with me for a while, repairing my

other arm as well as some other minor injuries as well. And I waited.

For all hell to break loose." Janice slumped onto the couch.

"What happened?" Eve could tell Janice's hell wasn't over yet.

Her eyes vacant, she stared into the wall. "The doctor finally came.

They had managed to piece his legs back together again, and even his neck

but it didn't really matter."

Eve didn't say anything at first. "Why?" She asked finally.

Her voice was dull as she answered. "Because his back had been broken.

In several places. He was paralyzed from the waist down. Broken legs or

not, he wasn't going to be walking anywhere for the rest of his life."

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To Be Continued...

Jason Cleaver -&- Vivian Salib