From: 95lnm@williams.edu (Lisa Masterman)
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
Subject: "Aeia" epilogue and repost (3)
Date: 6 Jan 1993 01:50:47 GMT
Organization: Williams College, Williamstown, MA
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: welsh.cs.williams.edu

"Aeia"

PART THREE

"Observations, Counselor," requested Captain Picard as the group entered the 
turbolift.

Troi turned towards him slowly, pausing to gather her thoughts before she 
spoke.  "She has a very strong presence," she said.  "I sense that she is very 
intelligent, and very open.  She has no intention to deceive us.  She is, 
however, suffering from an intense emotional shock.  She was not prepared 
to wake up alone."

"She feels that her people are all dead?" asked Riker.

"She knows it.  When she woke up, she reached out to feel the presence of 
others of her kind - and found nothing.  Everyone she knew and loved died 
years ago.  Adjusting to this fact  is going to be very hard for her."

"I know," responded Picard quietly.  They fell to silence.

----------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Crusher watched Aeia pilot the automated chair down the corridor 
towards the turbolift.  "You handle that chair well," she observed.

"Yes," responded her patient as she maneuvered the chair into the turbolift.  
"I will, however, be glad to be free of it."

The doctor bit her lip as she entered behind Aeia and gave the command for 
their destination.  She let a few moments of quiet pass as she listened to the 
sound of the lift.

"You have little faith," spoke Aeia.  She turned to regard the doctor, whose 
face was trying to deny her thoughts.  "You will not have to replace my leg 
with a prosthetic, Doctor."

"Aeia, the cell damage to your leg is extensive-"

"And the condition is improving-"

"Yes, but not fast enough!"  The doctor turned to face the wall, uncomfortable 
before the direct, candid eyes of her patient.  In the twenty-four hours that 
had passed since Aeia had revived, her healing process had skyrocketed.  
Her physical strength was still very low, but her cells were repairing their 
damage at an amazing rate.  Her right leg remained in very poor condition, 
however, and could seriously endanger the rest of her body if not removed 
soon.  There was simply nothing more the doctor could do.

"Doctor, I am more aware of the condition of my leg than you know.  Like 
you, I am a Healer.  I have been monitoring the process of my recovery and 
I intend to correct the damage in my leg when I am strong enough."

Beverly Crusher shook her head, confused.  "I don't understand."

Aeia's smile lifted the weight of her confusion.  "You will," she said as the 
doors opened.

The girl glided into the conference room and stopped where Captain Picard 
motioned for her to be.  She turned herself so that she faced across the table 
and regarded each face in turn, waiting for Dr. Crusher to be seated.

"It is good to see you out of bed so soon," said the Captain.

"Thank you, she responded.  "I have had very good care."  She looked across 
the table again, measuring the expectation on the faces around her.  "You 
have all come to hear me explain many things.  It is very difficult to know 
where to begin, but I will do my best."  She slowly took in a measured 
breath, holding it for an instant as she closed her eyes.  Then she began.

"My people," she said, "are a very old race.  We are not humanoid, but shape-
shifters.  Lacking such characteristics in our natural form as opposable 
thumbs and agile hands, we did not develop our intelligence in the same way 
as the human race, starting with the physical manipulation of simple tools.  
Ours was a toolless society, so where the human race developed the 
technology of objects, my race developed the technology of the mind.  What 
we could not do without hands, we did with our minds.

"Any race's natural ability to read body language and pick up on subtle 
nonverbal communication was developed in my race into telepathy.  We also 
developed a three-dimensional awareness of our environment that can be 
best described as a combination of sight and tactile sensation.  Instead of 
extrapolating a third dimension based on a two-dimensional image on our 
retinas, we can perceive the third dimension and 'feel' with our minds.  This 
sense provided the basis for telekinesis and other such skills.

"Shape-shifting was the final result of telekinesis, developed to the point 
that, given explicit DNA information on another species, we could translate 
our physical matter into that form.  Telekinesis at the molecular level is 
infinitely complicated, and our brains are specially structured to carry 
through the process at a sub-conscious level.

"With this ability came an incredible opportunity for the acquisition of new 
knowledge; by assuming the form of an alien race, we could join this race 
and learn from it.  Our scholars did this for thousands of years, documenting 
the peoples we found around us.  We amassed a library of knowledge 
greater than most other intelligent races could dream to possess.  And then 
the BORG arrived."

Aeia's face grew dark as she broke off her narration.  She stared out the 
window beside her and studied the deep space beyond.  "The options 
presented by the BORG were assimilation or destruction.  We could not allow 
them access to the knowledge we had accumulated; thousands of races would 
be put in mortal danger.  Yet neither could we resist their threat; we couldn't 
reach them, couldn't reason with them..."  Her delicate hand drew into a fist 
on the conference table as she fought for control of her emotions.  "Their 
minds were inaccessible, too controlled by their unified mind and their 
processors to think, or feel, or know..."

"We understand," spoke Troi softly.

"Yes," said Aeia sharply.  She leveled her eyes on the counselor, who could 
sense the tremendous storm of feeling that was being held back behind the 
blue walls.  Then Aeia broke contact to stare at the table.  "My people, one of 
the oldest races in this galaxy, perished without a fight.  But the BORG never 
found our libraries, and they left my planet empty-handed."  She paused to 
pick up the crystal shard from where it had lain in her lap.  Placing it on the 
table, she continued, "Shortly after the slaughter of my people began, we 
knew our cause was futile.  I was chosen to remain because I was young and 
I was strong.  I had also achieved our highest distinction as a scholar and a 
Healer.  I would carry my people beyond their deaths..."

"Did you agree to this?" asked Picard.

"It was not my place to agree or disagree," Aeia responded sadly.  "This 
crystal is their last message to me.  There were only five left then.  The 
writer...  was my sister.  She was joking...  she said she wished I was there...  
she was wounded...  I would have healed her..."  Aeia's tears flowed across 
her face and dripped onto the crystal in her hands.

Captain Picard hesitated for an awkward moment.  Troi reached over to her 
and placed her hand over Aeia's.  "My apologies for causing you distress," the 
Captain finally said.  "Perhaps we should meet again later."

She shook her head and drew in a quivering breath.  When she spoke, her 
voice was controlled: "I knew when I lay upon the stone in the crystal cave 
what I would find when I awoke.  I should have been prepared."

"No one can be prepared for something like this," said Troi.  "You need time."

Aeia shook her head.  "Time will not change the fact that my people are gone 
and I live still."  She turned towards Troi and directed one of her painfully 
open and direct gazes into the dark eyes.  They did not leave hers.  "When I 
felt you, Counselor, I was half dead, and somehow, I knew I was dying.   I 
had been trapped for too long in that state of near-sleep, imperfectly 
suspended, completely deprived of all sensation, and yet, not at rest.  I think 
I was ready to surrender myself.  I reached out in one last grasp for 
something, and I felt a presence.  I thought maybe you were one of my kind.  
I held on for a little longer."

"Just long enough," said Troi.  She drew a faint smile from her personal 
reserves.  Aeia's eyes softened in response.

"Well, what now?" prompted Geordi.

Aeia glanced at the Captain.  "With your permission, sir, I will stay aboard."

"What are your plans?" asked Picard.

"I will do what I have been chosen to do," she replied.  "I must recover the 
records of my people."

Dr. Crusher frowned.  "I thought you said your people were successful in 
protecting the libraries from the BORG."

"There are indeed vast libraries beneath the surface of my planet, but 
certain key elements are missing.  A lot of vital information and some of the 
crystals needed to decode certain sections of the library were hidden on 
other planets.  Also, there were thousands of my kind doing field research at 
the time of the BORG attack; they left their records behind to return here to 
protect the libraries.  I must find them, and make sure that my race does not 
die forgotten."

"And how will you do that?" Riker asked.

"I will choose a race to be heir of our knowledge."

"Do you have anyone in mind?" said Geordi jokingly.

She leveled a serious look at him that extinguished his smile instantly.  She 
quickly softened, however, and let a smile creep to her lips.  "It is not a thing 
to discuss lightly, Mr. LaForge."  Then she turned back to Picard.  "Sir, I will 
need certain items from the surface.  Then, if your observations here are 
finished, I will not stand in the way of you continuing your mission.  When it 
is convenient for you, you can leave me at a...  Starbase."

"Certainly," responded the Captain crisply.  "Describe and locate the items for 
Mr. Data-"

"Sir, I would like to retrieve them in person."  She paused for a moment and 
noted the awkward look on Picard's face.  "If Mr. Data would agree to 
carrying me."

"That would not cause me any difficulty," said the android.

Picard raised both eyebrows at the idea, but consented.  "Agreed.  Let us 
plan to leave orbit as soon as your things are collected.  Dismissed."

-------------------------------------------------------

They materialized next to the ruins again, Data holding Aeia in his arms.  
Troi stood beside them; she had requested to come and help Aeia say 
goodbye to her homeworld.

The girl gazed out across the hillside in silence for several seconds.  "When I 
saw it last," she said, "the grass had been burnt away."

"It is amazing how Nature heals its wounds," replied the Counselor.  They 
shared the unspoken meaning of the sentence in silence for a moment.

"This used to be a school," explained Aeia, gesturing with one arm towards 
the ruins.  "We don't usually build artificial structures, but those who wished 
to study were very exposed to wind and rain here on the top of the hill.  
Dwellings for those completing their studies were here, so they wouldn't 
have to travel back and forth from the valley."

"Why have the school here, then?" asked the Counselor.

"Because of the caves.  Here, let me show you."  She directed Data to take her 
to the cave entrance.

They walked in silence for a long time, proceeding deeper and deeper within, 
until, finally, they had returned to the chamber where she had lain.  "Please 
stop, Data," Aeia instructed.  She reached outwards towards the shattered 
crystal for a moment, extending her fingers as though to touch the pieces 
still several feet from her reach.  Then she closed her hand and let it drop.  
"Four years," she said quietly.

"Inquiry," spoke Data.

Surprised, Aeia jumped a little in his arms.  He had not said a word since 
they had beamed down.  "Yes, Mr. Data?"

"If your people possessed the technology to put one person in a stasis 
crystal, why not more?"

"One person had less risk of detection," she replied.  "Hidden in these caves, 
the BORG's sensors would not find me.  But a significant disappearance of 
people would have drawn suspicion."

"But weren't you open to the possibility of even accidental discovery in this 
cave?" asked Troi.  "Aside from the rockslide, there was nothing blocking the 
opening."

"There was something concealing the entrance," Aeia replied, "but I suspect 
the same seismic disturbances that caused the rockpile behind us moved the 
block."  She paused for a moment.  "Please continue down this tunnel, Data."

What followed were a series of maze-like turns as they went deeper and 
deeper within.  Finally, Aeia signalled a stop.  Data put her down in front of a 
little alcove.  Using her arms to pull herself in, she half-disappeared in its 
darkness.

She emerged with a sack of some sort and an armful of crystals like the one 
Troi discovered in the stone mount.  "Right where I left them," she said 
quietly.  She gazed down at the crystals, cradling them with care and 
tenderness.  In the shadows caused by Data's hand-held lamp striking the 
side of her face, Troi almost thought she saw a smile work its way across the 
young face.

"What are they?" she asked.

Aeia looked up at her companions.  She WAS smiling.  "They are, Counselor, 
the rough equivalents, I think, of a doctor's bag and an encyclopedia."  And 
she laughed.

------------------------------------------------------

"Come in."

Deanna Troi strode into Captain Picard's Ready Room just in time to see him 
sit down into his chair, the last piece of his emotional armor sliding into 
place a fraction of a second before his eyes met hers.

"Yes, Counselor?"

Troi sat into a chair facing her Captain with a smooth movement, wishing she 
could have been in the room seconds earlier, before the summon of the door 
had put Picard back on his guard.  "I thought you might want to talk," she 
said.  It was one of her more direct approaches, but subtlety rarely worked 
when trying to get through to the Captain.

Still, Picard shrugged it off.  "About what?" he inquired innocently.

"Aeia's story is bringing back certain...  memories.  I thought you might like 
to discuss them."

The Captain did not even react to her statement. He stared out the window, 
regarding the field of stars beyond.

"You might be interested in knowing that it was Aeia who told me this."  
Picard's double-take told her that she had struck some interest.  "She is very 
sensitive, and keenly observant."

"She's young," he finally said.

"Not so young as you might think," said the Counselor.  "She has aged a lot in 
a short amount of time.  I find she has a profound understanding of other 
beings."

"From what she told us, that may simply be in the nature of her kind."

"Nevertheless, you ought to talk to her sometime."  Counselor Troi watched 
the impassive face, searching for a way through to what the Captain was 
feeling at that moment.

"Counselor, if you will excuse me, there are some things to which I must 
attend.  Thank you for stopping by."

Troi stood up, watching Picard as she did.  She moved towards the door.

As if he felt that the weight of her regard required further comment from 
him, he said, "Perhaps I will go speak with our guest, as you suggest."

Good, she thought.  He had never really told her much about the experience 
he kept locked up inside of him, of the family and world he left behind, now 
destroyed, and he, like Aeia, the sole survivor.  Perhaps they could share 
some of the pain of their similar experiences, together.  "You might have 
something to learn from her," she said.

"If what she says about her people is true," replied the Captain, "we all have 
something to learn from her."

And the doors shut behind Troi's departing form.



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