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Janeway suddenly knew what had been happening. "The bombs only Geordi could see...." she realized aloud, "Ariel brought them. They open this still point into our dimension." She pointed to the dried blood on the Guardian's sleeve. "She sensed you were hurting and tried to get you home. Only all of her attempts failed. You got worse. Then she contacted the outside... looking to us...for help. And now we're here..." On a thought, she drew out her tricorder from her belt, "There are new pockets forming all over the planet. " She suppressed a growing fear, "Guardian,..what would happen if the away team if they or the shuttle slips into one of these rifts when neither you nor Ariel are there with them?" The two alien refugees remained silent. The doctor's expression shared volumes, "I..think...we'd better find them .... as soon as possible.." he fretted. "I was barely able to pull you, captain, back from a coma." Janeway's felt her heart race, she widened her tricorder's range, sweeping its scans farther and farther out onto the frozen plain. "I can't locate the shuttle. They're out of range." She regarded the pattern enhancer still on her arm, "My ....traveling..must damaged the enhancer or they would've found us by now." Janeway knelt in front of Ariel. "Ariel...no one's blaming you for anything." her voice broke slightly, "..You..were just watching out for your Guardian as I would do for any of my crew. Now..I have to find my lost people from the shuttlecraft.." She gripped Ariel's shoulders, trying to get the child to look at her again for any glimmer of the truth in her features. "Can you tell me where they are?" With a cry, Ariel broke free and ran out of the ring of firelight. The doctor started to go after her, clutching his padd. "Let her go.." the Guardian said quietly, "I know where they are.." he said turning his face and seeming to feel something even deeper than the cold wind on his skin. "Tell me, captain. Is your traveling craft silver...like this?" He pointed to her tricorder. "Yes it is.." she breathed, "We were by an open plain at the edge of a river valley on the northern continent." "Follow me." The Guardian took up a burning brand and provisions. "Ariel used a rather large still point to bring you here, captain. We are two days walk from there. And I can not go into another transference, not yet. My Changing will not allow it." He pointed out where Janeway could take up a second pack of food, water and blankets. "Use my cloak to keep warm. The chill no longer effects me." He handed her her phaser as well. "I called this back from where the doctor threw it into the brush." "Thank you." Janeway replied. The Guardian headed downhill. He turned back when he noticed the humans started snuffing out the fire with snow. He finished the task with a projection from his mind in an instant. "That is done. Leave this place. We must hurry. I am afraid that your friends may already be in danger.." ---------------------------------------------------------- There was silence throughout the Batai. A chronometer tone sounded in the darkness and an overhead light powered up, ##Time 0900. Systems check enabled.## Geordi groaned, coming awake at the noise. He rolled over, "Where am I? Dr. Crusher?" he called out groggily. ##Lieutenant Commander Geordi LaForge is on board the Federation Shuttlecraft Batai. Doctor Beverly Crusher is in biomedical stasis.## "WHAT?!" Geordi was fully awake now. He struggled to stand but he found that his legs refused to move. He was paralyzed. He pushed that horrifying discovery aside and made his way over to the biobed on his stomach, scared to death for the doctor. He felt for her heartbeat and breathing anyway in spite of the activity on the sensors glowing over the bed. For some reason, he couldn't make sense of any of the flashing lights or displays there. ::It's as if my mind no longer knows anything past the basics. Do I have amnesia?:: He slid to the floor sobbing and bumped the tricorder still sensing there. Its lights were green and its gentle tones were reassuring. ::That's good then:: Geordi thought, ::Isn't it?:: He gripped the strange seeming device, fighting emotions, "Beverly..I don't know what is happening to you or ..to me. But I promise you, I'll get us out of this..." -------------------------------------------------------------- They were making good progress Janeway thought. ::In another day, we'll be at the shuttle.:: The captain had already discovered that her combadge suffered the same technological failure as her transporter enhancing arm band. It was just another disappointment to add to her growing list. The doctor caught up into step with her as they followed the Guardian through the twisting valleys leading back to the shuttle's landing coordinates. "I have just discovered, that little Ariel is following us.." he said quietly smiling. The Guardian looked relieved. Captain Janeway sighed, "I hope she is learning something from all of this." She stepped over a fallen fossilized log. "I can't imagine what kind of hell she must be going through having that kind of power without completely understanding it." The doctor was thoughtful, he turned to face her, "Speaking of unknown energy..Remember the charged tachyon decay I saw in the footprints?" The sadness in Kathryn almost overwhelmed her. ::He means the charged tachyon energy left over from my ship's destroyed holodeck emitters. I really thought those footprints belonged to surviving crew from Voyager.:: "I remember." she said out loud. "That energy signature was similar to what B'Elanna had installed in the holodeck before Voyager was destr-" her voice broke and she looked skyward for distraction. The doctor was not blind to her pain, "Yes.. well.. You would think the decay would fade over time." he said gently. "You mean, it hasn't?" she asked. The doctor shook his head, "I have noticed the tachyon emissions have not changed all day. In fact, not since I found you. Is this significant?" Captain Janeway halted in her tracks, "We've been with the Guardian all that time.." she said out of the man's earshot. The EMH started to look forwards toward their guide but Janeway said, "No, don't look." she ordered. "Just listen. I want to see if you can pinpoint exactly where those emissions are coming from, where they're strongest. My guess is that our host knows more than he is letting on.." "What do you think this means?" the holodoc whispered. "I don't know just yet. But I am going to find out. Distract him doctor.." He reached for his hypo laden kit. Janeway grabbed his arm, hissing through her teeth, "Verbally if you don't mind. We need his tracking skills. And besides, I like him. Ariel obviously does too. And we wouldn't want Ariel to get angry with us, now would we?" It only took a moment for the doctor to switch modes. Captain Janeway watched as he hurried on ahead to join up with the Guardian to talk. She could not, for the life of her, quell the strange feeling of apprehension she felt growing in the pit of her stomach. She waited for his cue.. Finally, it came. "Captain.." the doc called back to her, "I need your advice on a small matter." He gestured subtly for her to join them on the Guardian's other side. She played along, "Guardian." she said reaching them, "Could you tell me how these intrusions of the still point we've been avoiding may effect my people if they get too close to one? I'm worried about them." Captain Janeway didn't miss the doctor's hand hovering over a curious pyramid shaped jewel on the Guardian's sash about his robes. She gave a small nod to the EMH that she understood. The doctor pretended to be nonchalantly interested in the green cloud formations overhead, twisting in the bluish sunlight. The Guardian totally missed the exchange between them. "I've felt the symptoms myself. There is weakness and forgetfulness, even after a short exposure." The hologram provided Janeway with some cover, "Would you know how to treat this malady? Any information would be very useful." Captain bent over while she walked, pretending to hook an ice chip out of the inside of her boot's leg. She got a close look at the tiny pyramid. What she saw there poured ice into her very soul. A perfect replica of Voyager lay encased in its material. The engine nacelles were still active and running. They ....were the very source of the inner light that was sending out the tachyon decay readings the doctor could see. ::Oh my ...god. My ship.. It's here. ..:: ----------------------------------------------------------- Geordi LaForge's voice quietly dictated a log entry: "Day two. From as best as I can tell, my paralysis extends to my lower waist. I have gaps in my memory that I can't explain. Beverly, my friend, cannot be taken off life support or she will die. The computer tells me that a ship of some kind is due to arrive in nine hours and that she is friendly. I can only wait for them and hope that the computer can keep her alive for that long. I have learned why we are here on this planet. Beverly's log says I saw a distress call in my visor day before yesterday and that we went to investigate. For some reason, I am afraid...to go outside and see this world for myself. I thought about curing the two of us but I have no useful information with which to learn how we got this way. I feel time is running out. The numbness is getting worse and so is my memory. If only I had some clue..." --- --- --- --- --- --- Geordi chuckled, leaning against the back wall nearest the biobed, "So..you can't tell me how to fly you...huh. Why not?" He glanced ceilingward in mock indignation. ##The primary command core adaptive interface links are sealed for security protocol measures.## the computer droned. Geordi winced at the jargon he must have understood at one time, "Wonderful..." he sighed sarcastically, "Just..." His eye fell on the plant remnants drying at his feet. He frowned, "Hey, computer... What are these vegetables at my feet?" ##The biological specimens are samples of the indigenous population of Endicor III.## Geordi recoiled in sudden, instinctive fear. He scrabbled sideways, away from them. ##Warning. Occupant blood pressure dropping. Inject 4 CC's dexaline arteriorly.## Geordi gasped,.. "ugh.. was th..that mine? Or hers..uh, location?" ##Anomalous reading came from biobed one.## replied the computer. The engineer shifted himself over to the medkit and brought out the hypospray. The computer told him which color to dial its setting to and he injected it into Dr. Crusher's arm very quickly. ##Vital signs approaching stasis norms.## Geordi lay down in utter relief. The computer chimed once again, ##Occupant to remain upright in cases of extremity paralysis.## He dragged himself up against Beverly's bed, "...paralysis.. yes...yes..I kn--" He flared uncharacteristically, "You got some bedside manner you tin plated excuse for a...a.. You know that? If Beverly were awake she'd--" Geordi fought down a wave of sadness that he had been battling for almost two days running. It threatened to overwhelm him. Sleep offered the only respite.. "Computer, lights off!" The cabin lights extinguished. But a faint glow of green remained. It was coming from the shattered specimens on the floor. Geordi gaped at them. "Hey,... lights on full." He winced when the illumination hurt his swollen eyes. ##Power reserve failure in two months twenty eight days, seventeen hours, fort--## "Computer stop! Never mind that." He dragged himself closer to the plants, holding his breath when his face pushed into the foggy area they rested within. The plant matter was ....growing.. Geordi retreated back into the clear air, "Computer, what is the energy source active in the plant matter in front of me?" ##Illumination is cryonetrium derived.## "What is that?" Geordi asked warily. ##A theoretical substance that becomes gaseous at temperatures near zero degrees centigrade.## A horrible thought bubbled up in Geordi's mind, "What is its effect on bio--biol- ..uh,...systems like me?" ##Unknown. Further hypotheses are scheduled for the next Altine Conference on Aldetta Prime on Stardate 47209 point..## Geordi became frantic as he put two and two together. He got a single moment of perfect mental clarity. Sheer terror made adrenaline flow hard. He acted. "Computer!! Take no defensive action!" He grabbed the strange object that suddenly identified itself as a phaser to his own mind at last. He phasered the plants out of existence, "Flood cabin air with .02 parts per million of Narcan. Execute!" He heard the computer comply and the universal neutralizing drug began to hiss into the room. He shifted over to Beverly and studied her pale face. "Oh god, what if it's poison?" ##Probability of cryonetrium being pathologically toxic is 82.3 % based on projected analysis of all known botanical species on file.## Geordi was afraid to speak for several minutes. Then he did. "Based on those projections, what is the rate of deterioration in our bodies?" ##Metabolic nervous dysfunction will reach terminal endstage in two hours forty seven minutes.## answered the computer. Geordi was stunned. ::We're gonna die. Long before anyone finds us.:: He sat still a long time, watching the machines breathe for his friend. He didn't feel the tears coursing down his cheeks. Finally, he felt stronger when his anger was at a boil. ::It's not fair! There must be something I can do for us.:: Then the answer came in a tiny rivulet and turned into a raging torrent as his adrenaline cleared his thinking once more, this time fueled by anger. He added to his log, "I have no choice. This has got to be it! The answer I need has got to be where the signal came from, and those heat pockets are the only place a change is happening. I am rigging up the thermodeflectors to the primary shields in reverse. I'm going to freeze the ground where ever I end up using the transporter carrier wave, projected to the most recent heating spike area. But.... I can't walk.. Nor will I soon enough.. End log." |
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His anger was turning to its new despairing level as he pulled the medkit into his lap. ::Here goes nothing.:: "Computer, is there any known medication that might reverse my paralysis?" ##There are several substances on file. Acetycholine, Allin--## "Computer, hold. That first substance. Is there any of that in the shuttle's medkits?" ##Affirmative.## the computer replied. "WeeeHoooo..! How much do I need to counteract my paralysis?" Geordi felt his mind slipping again and he forced himself to wrap his brain around the difficult words before they were lost. ##Fifteen CC's. Results in a temporary reversal of nervous degradation using your current medical record history.## Somehow, after a half an hour, Geordi managed to fanaggle the right drug and dosage through an idiot manual in a first aid kit file. He injected himself immediately. "Come on. Come on!" Geordi's toes wriggled, "Heh. Hee. Computer..I think it's working.. How am I doing?" The computer came to life once more, ##Vital signs are: BP 82 over--## ::Now there is jargon I have figured out. That number is my clock ticking down, when it hits 60 over something, I'll black out for good. I'll be just like Beverly. And there's only one biobed here , one medical computer.:: "Belay that audio for now. Notify me of ANY change in Beverly's biobed readings no matter where I go." After twenty precious minutes, Geordi had pulled together enough gray matter to count. Terror once again made him ready to work. Soon, he retrieved the site to site arm band from Dr. Crusher and put it on. He glanced down at her and set a hand on her shoulder, "Hang in there, doc. We've got a chance..." He levered himself onto his tingling feet and ordered, "Computer, project Program Theta and energize." ##Command understood.## ------------------------------------------------------------ Ariel was a little ways away from her Guardian and the lost captain and the man of light, following their trail, little by little the child let that distance between them grow. ::I am losing control.. Soon no space will shield them from me.:: she thought with fright. ::My....wishings come even when I don't want them to.:: The unicorn girl could see them where they were walking across a field from under a clump of brush where she crouched. The Ariel felt another wave of heat rising inside of her. ::No. Stop...:: But the feeling grew stronger. Then, a buzzing song filled the air around her. A broad field effect froze the ground around Ariel as she fought down another involuntary intrusion of the still point under her feet. The relief from the strain was incredible and she fell to her knees. ::Another has come?:: She probed further. :: It is the one who heard me..:: Geordi materialized in front of Ariel. It was hard to say who was more startled, "Whoa.." he said. ::Who is that? She almost seems to be part of the snow itself. She's blending in with it chameleon fashion even down to the infrared level...:: "S-Stay away!!" Ariel warned.."I...I don't want to hurt you.." she cried. Her limpid eyes glinted fear even as they captivated Geordi. His own fear melted away under their lilac gaze. ::This man came from nowhere just as THEY had done from before.:: a part of her shouted. "But not from the Continuum.." she whispered... "What?" Geordi asked, without moving. Ariel froze in uncertainty. Instinctively, Geordi felt a return of the alien pulse inside his visor. ::Hey wait a minute. She's the alien who contacted me. She needs my help. Now I need hers.:: "It's ok,...I won't hurt you either. I promise.. See?" He held up his hands. "No devices." He took a step nearer to her making sure to stay on top of the thickest ice. "I got your distress call,...through this..." He pointed to his face. Ariel shot to her feet in alarm, backing warily, "Those are not your eyes..." Geordi crouched down until he was her same height. "Don't worry. My visor only helps me see. Sometimes I can see things what other people can't. Like the signal you sent me.. And... your changing form. Even now. You're blending to be more like the land. And...and I can see that you are scared...." He stood slowly.. "I am here to help you. That is why we came. Please believe that." Ariel wilted to the ground. "I know...I know.. The leading woman said that's why too. " ::Leading wo-- Janeway! :: Geordi suddenly remembered. ::This child's seen her.:: Ariel went on, "But the Guardian's sick. I brought Paradise too soon and now.. I can't stop it.." The sound of flowing water and thawing ice grew in the distance, louder by the second. "It's coming again... It's my fault, I wouldn't listen and now everyone is going to d--" A sharp crack of ice burst across the plain, startling both of them. It began to rain for the first time ever on Endicor, a harbinger of death. Geordi tried to make sense of what he had learned. "It's these temperature spikes? You've been following them. Haven't you? Listen.. You have to stay away from any place that's warm here. It's dangerous. The plants..." Geordi was seized in a cough. He fell to his knees and began to weaken as the temporary stimulant began to wear off. He looked down, trying to move off the steaming ice onto the more chilled snow, but he slipped, falling only meters away from its firmly frosted edge. He yelled in frustration.. Ariel involuntarily drifted closer to him, uneffected by the cryonetrium gas pluming up from the warming ground. Shock was plain on her face, "You're like the G- Guardian.." she whispered, "You're being .. sickened too." Geordi rolled onto his back, fighting to just form words for speaking, "L-Listen.. I may know...what's wrong with your friend.. I- I've got it too. The earth is giving up a gas..th-- that's a poison to us." Ariel suffered a qualm and her suppression efforts wavered as she found herself unwilling to see the consequences of her actions in full light. "No!" A bomb materialized in the grass between them, its countdown was locked motionless in time, only ten seconds away from zero. "Wait a minute.. You did that!" Geordi gasped, "Like you caused the temperature spik-- Like you caused the whole PLANET to warm up.." Geordi realized. ::All of the ice everywhere will melt. And the plants will grow, killing all of us in a blink of an eye.:: "Ugh.." Geordi's head began to spin and his breath shortened. Ariel felt the man falter inside physically. Her will slipped a little lower. "...can't .I..can't stop it.." The tenacious power within her was released. The still point came in its full glory.. ---------------------------------------------- Out on the plain, steam vaporized most of the snow. The Guardian and Captain Janeway choked in suddenly thick and poisonous air. They fell to the ground. Kathryn was lost in a miasma of disorientation, but she could still see her entombed ship inside the pyramid, inches from her outstretched hand. "My ship! *cough* My crew.." Then the gas began to burn. Her eyes went totally blind in a searing blast of pain. "NO!" Her scream echoed across the plain. But no one heard her. The weaker Guardian was already unconscious and the doctor had been unconnected by the anti-lepton surge that came with the heat. Captain Janeway was left all alone. ::I ...am ..NOT..going..to die!:: But her breath began to flee from her mouth. ------------------------------------------------- The unicorn child was confused, standing in a shaft of pure golden sunlight. She held up a handful of mosses to her cheek, "But this is...Paradise.." She glared at Geordi. "It's the Guardian's home! It is where he has to be.. I can see that. How can it kill?" Her white hair billowed around her face like an angel's...and her lilac eyes filled with the purest of tears, "Why won't the Guardian come here?" Geordi did not hear her, "Your signal and lifesigns weren't detectable by our computer systems.. There must be a reason. Only I could see any of it.." He forced himself to his hands and knees. "Why?" Then it came to him. Ariel had been concealing her friend, protecting him from outsiders. Geordi felt he was close to the answer, "Why are you hiding?" Ariel got angry, "Quiet man thing!" The bomb in front of them activated and started its dire sequencing downward to detonation. Geordi's eyes were glued to the readout, "Listen to me.. Think back in time. Before the plants effected your friend." Ariel shook her head in denial, "There IS no time before!" she sobbed. "Yes there was. You two came here together, you must have. Maybe YOU brought the Guardian here to stay with you so you would no longer be alone. Then he fell ill. You tried to bring him home but suddenly something went horribly wrong and he was hurt. "Geordi grew dizzier and he swayed, "Only you can undo this harm.. Only you.. Maybe your Guardian is ill from the gas only while his home dimension is coming.. It should be fine once he gets all the way there.. Wait until he is well. Then take him.. Believe me.. Bring back the cold and wait. Bring it back. Make the land sleep and you'll see that I am right.." Geordi collapsed, at the end of his resources.. "I...I am right...." The unicorn child saw the man fading before her, "Guardian?..... I need you.!" Suddenly her teacher WAS there, an unmoving smudge on the ground in front of her. Captain Janeway lay right beside him, her hands at her throat, gagging on foul air. Geordi shouted, "Captain?!" He could still see that she was fighting the poisonous atmosphere hard, for she turned toward his voice, "C--Can't--Br--" she choked. He then saw the state of her eyes. They were filmed over in blisters. He knew she couldn't see him at all. He fought down his nausea. He needed the EMH. Now. He saw the datapadd lying in the steaming grass but it was too far out of his reach. Limbo reigned in his mind and suddenly, Geordi knew what to do. He pulled the bomb into his lap. Ariel shouted, "Don't!" The land erupted in even thicker greenery. La Forge hugged the device to his chest, "Ariel, THIS is the illness. Make it go away...." The countdown arched into its final numbers. " ...3....2......1.." ------------------------------------------------------------- The unicorn child, the last of her kind, ..............grew.. The incendiary device faded from view and Ariel sagged to her knees. ::They are all.. free now.... they are all....:: She opened her light purple eyes. The snow was unbroken and endless around them. He was whole. Geordi sucked in huge lungfuls of frigid air, "You did it!" He was healthy. He got to his feet. Still gasping like a fish returned to water, he ran to Janeway and the Guardian. They were no longer burned. Both were recovering consciousness as well. He got out his tricorder, "There's no sign of illness or heat pockets. Not in us or anywhere around here." "Ariel.." said the Guardian as he opened his eyes. In a moment he was with her. Geordi helped Janeway to her feet, "Are you all right?" She nodded, revelling in the tears streaming down her face from the brightness of the blue sun above her. "I am now, How did you find us?" "I'm afraid Ariel managed that." Geordi shrugged. Captain and Engineer both looked over to where the little child was lost in a soothing hug inside the Guardian's deep embrace. She was apologizing over and over again. Captain Janeway suddenly realized that the Guardian was completely innocent of any wrong doing. She knelt by him, and waited for Ariel to face her, "Ariel, we need to talk.." she said gently. The Guardian was puzzled, "Captain?" "She has taken something belonging to me." Kathryn held Ariel's small shoulders in her palms, "He needed a special kind of energy didn't he? To get well?" Ariel's eyes seemed to shimmer, "He is going to finish the Change and go to Paradise." "Can he go home now? To the still point?" she asked. The child answered, "Yes. He no longer hurts. The pendant I gave him made him better." She smiled and tugged on his robes, "Guardian,...I need the gift back." Not quite understanding, he gave it to her. Geordi tensed, "Captain, that's--" Kathryn felt Ariel press the gold pyramid into her hands. "Yes,..it's my ship. It's Voyager." She stood, carefully cradling the jewel, "She needed charged tachyon particles of a very special nature to help the Guardian fight off the effects of the still point intrusions." "She locked onto the emissions coming from your holodeck all the way from the Delta Quadrant?" Geordi was incredulous. "Apparently so." Kathryn held onto the humming pyramid tightly. She couldn't ask about her crew out loud. "Don't worry." She felt soft hands on her head, "They're ok. I fixed the harm inside there, too." Ariel's eyes were the purest pale purple, sparkling into Janeway's soul, "I'll put them back where they were." Ariel promised. The pyramid vanished. Captain Janeway gasped when her hands went suddenly empty. She trembled, "Guardian," she said with her eyes closed, "My people are stranded far from home. ..Is there any chance--" "I'm sorry, Captain Janeway. The only way your ship will stay unaltered is to continue from the still point coordinate it fell through.." His expression softened, "However,..that is not necessarily true for you.." His amber eyes sparkled. Ariel took Kathryn's hand and looked at her questioningly. "Do you want to go home to your green world?" Kathryn was stunned....and torn. Here was a chance for her to end her long journey, to continue where she left off with her family..on Earth. ::Mark, Phoebe? And Oh, for the chance to hug my red four legged Molly love again. I wonder how many puppies she has borne for them..:: Then the Voyager captain thought of her sworn duty. To her crew. Her newest family on Voyager. Kathryn's face slowly resolved into decision. She had to be a true captain when it really counted. ::Like now.:: She felt tears well in her eyes. She crouched by Ariel, touching her chin. "I can't." She took a deep shuddering breath and sighed, "Take me to where I need to be, Ariel. To my ship.. in the Delta Quadrant." She turned to face Geordi, who handed her the doctor's data padd. Janeway looked at it with irony, "I've nothing with which to leave a message for Earth. There's no time.." The engineer understood, deeply. "It's been a pleasure serving with you, Captain Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager." He held out a hand. Kathryn took it..and smiled, blinking back wetness, "Tell your grandkids to watch out for us. We just could be that one mirage in a million..." She stepped away and handed the Guardian back his cloak. Captain Janeway took one long, last look at Endicor III and swallowed. It was so near the Earth she loved and longed for. Then she closed her eyes slowly, and nodded once. There was a sparkle of blue sunlight, and she was gone. --------------------------------------------------------- Ariel broke the spell of parting they all felt, "Guardian, You must go. As she did." Her statement jarred Geordi into the present. The Guardian knelt down before his small charge, "I don't pretend to understand what is happening to me.. The Change takes all of my people sooner or.." He broke off, suddenly reluctant. Ariel smiled, "I'll be all right with Geordi. I like him." She took the engineer's hand. The Guardian sighed, "You will protect her from the OTHERS?" Geordi raised a questioning look. Ariel spoke, "You know.... The ones from the Continuum.." LaForge chuckled, "Oh,.. uh right. My captain and I have dealt with them before. We know how to handle them as well as anybody can." he admitted. "Fair enough....." The guardian seemed to phase. Regular pulses of brilliance blinded Geordi as his body metamorphosed. Then the Guardian was a figure of glowing gold. "Hey.. I think I've met one of your people before. On the Enterprise..." exclaimed Geordi. For a moment, there were two suns in the sky. When Geordi opened his eyes, the new one had totally vanished. LaForge heard a sudden bleep. The computer came over Geordi's combadge, =^=##Occupant lifesigns failing. Initiating cardiac countermeasures.##=^= "Beverly!" Geordi's mind raced. He had forgotten about her. "Who?" Ariel was immediately caught up in Geordi's alarm. "My friend. She's a doctor. Listen!! We've got to get there. She's still dying from the gas." Geordi grabbed the unicorn child's hand. ------------------------------------------------------- Suddenly, they were in the shuttle by Dr. Crusher's side. The air was filled with a dissonant alarm from the monitor above Beverly's head. Geordi read the readouts, "She's near death. She's absorbed too much poison. You've got to help her!" "I--I don't know if...I" Ariel was very pale. "You helped us. It looked easy." he said. The lavender in Ariel's eyes was very dull, "Her light's almost gone. I'm not sure if I can help. I..." "You have to try!" Geordi shoved her forward, setting Ariel's hands on the doctor's chest. Ariel fought with herself mentally for long seconds. Sweat plastered her white hair to her even paler skin. She gestured, in a sparkle of gold colored light, in a circle around Beverly's heart. The life support unit flashed and suddenly, Dr. Crusher came to life violently, totally awake and gasping for air. Geordi grabbed her before she could fall back again and hit her head. "Easy! Easy. Easy. Take it slow.. You're gonna be fine.." Ariel collapsed bonelessly to the carpeting. --------------------------------------------------------------- The child felt hands around her face but she was in pain. Dr. Crusher looked up, "Geordi, she's coming around." Beverly shifted the tiny figure against one arm carefully, while she grabbed instruments with her other hand, "Ariel, can you hear me? If so, I want you to open your eyes..." Ariel wondered why this woman's voice was so tight. Then she felt a numbness in her body that hadn't been there before. Dr. Crusher took her hand, "I want you to do the same trick with yourself as you did with me. Cure the poisoning..." Ariel was confused. ::Poison? What was poison?:: Then her mind began to reject the communication of those above her. She began to call the blackness already reaching out for her. Geordi was anguished, "Is she going to make it?" "That's up to her....Ariel! Try! I can't help you any more than I already am." She saw that all the medication she had injected into Ariel's bloodstream was rapidly being rendered into useless water. Bev's bioscan on Ariel began to sour in tones as the girl child weakened rapidly. Ariel looked up at her rescuers, "I...am sorry.." She saw summer approaching.. "I...." A voice was calling her. "Guardian?" Then the blackness of the gas was no longer there suffocating her. A second later, Ariel found an unexpected peace and the essence she knew as herself and had commanded, gave up its call on life. Beverly's tricorder issued a steady tone. Suddenly, the small albino child faded out from underneath Crusher's hands quite literally as a blue effect dissolved the child's body completely. Geordi and Beverly were stunned and they just sat there in silence looking at the last place the tiny child had been. The medical tricorder had fallen quiet, so Beverly shut its lid closed and shivered. She whispered into the stillness, "Why did she have to give up?" -------------------------------------------------- They were on their way. Geordi was finishing up his preliminary report on their experience for the log, "........the Guardian's identity. Dr. Crusher is convinced he was Zalconian. Like the man she once knew as John Doe. I only half recall his being on the Enterprise. She said he spent weeks in sickbay trying to regain his memory and his health and that he saved Mr. Worf from a very grave injury in the shuttle bay before he "phased" completely away. Endicor III shows no signs of ever having been altered." Dr. Crusher had been listening for quite a while while he was dictating. Feeling a bit uncomfortable now in the pausing, she spoke. "Penny for your thoughts." Geordi gave a low chuckle, "Nah, I was just thinking how much fun the others are having on Talyas Moon right now. You know, with the stars, the tropicals winds..." "and the women.." she completed, baiting him on. He didn't fall for it. Nor did he elaborate further on her guessing about the Moon's appeal for men. Dr. Crusher stretched in her seat, "I have a feeling that every female being this side of the Sagittarius Arm feels the same way about that ..that... that..place as I do, knowing that it's hanging over their heads." she scoffed mildly. Geordi found that very funny. He threw back his head and laughed until his sides hurt. Beverly did her best to ignore him. He recovered, streaming rivers, "Your turn." He pantomimed flipping a coin to her. "Hhmmmmmm..... I was just thinking about something I hadn't thought about since I was very small." she mused. "And what was that?" he wanted to know. "I was thinking about the two Cassienne fish I had when I was six. They used to sing me to sleep at night." "Hmmm, nice. Too bad you can't change the past...." Geordi sighed. A surge of light flooded the ahead viewscreen of the Batai and the shuttle shifted, "What was that?" Geordi shouted. The communications panel spoke, ##This is the U.S.S. Kilamanjaro calling the Batai, over....It's 1300 and we're ready for Lieutenant Commander Geordi LaForge's transfer at your convenience.## Geordi scrambled madly for his board, "Uh ..how?! uh, ..right. I'll be right there..Don't go AwayYY!" The overhead clicked once more, "Shuttlecraft Batai. This is Captain Selve Aranti. Is there a problem?" a different but feminine voice asked. Geordi and Beverly exchanged a wide eyed look. He looked at his station chronometer, "It's 240920.7! That's..two days ago? But we were...gone ..for three...." Crusher toggled a switch, "This is Chief Medical Officer Beverly Crusher. Ah, our lieutenant commander is a little excited over finally getting underway to Talyas Moon. He'll be arriving shortly. Batai out." Captain Aranti remarked dryly, "I see. It's that place again, hmmm? Very well. We disembark in ten minutes." The viewer went dark. "We traveled back in time?" Geordi crowed, "I knew it!! She's alive!" Crusher agreed, "I should have known unicorns can't die." "Do you think Ariel is ...some...mythical beast?" smiled Geordi. "Not really. But legends always start from somewhere." Another flash of light made them both wince. A bowl of delicate rainbow fish appeared on Dr. Crusher's console. An ethereal singing filled the tiny cabin. Both officers melted under their influence. Crusher sighed, "It could have been worse. Before these guys, I was thinking about Sham, my grandmother's Arabian stallion." A shrill neigh boomed into the air. Geordi and Beverly sank into their seats in reflex. Cautiously, they looked over their shoulders. Nothing was there. They both laughed uncomfortably but with growing warmth, "Oh, heh. Joke.. just a joke. Nice sense of humor there, Ariel. Keep it up.. Heh, heh.........heh." Just to be safe, the two Starfleet officers checked behind their co-pilots seats once more, peeking only their noses over the backs of them. END |
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