Sixteenth Hour
River
Tam(Firefly/Serenity)
Even before she opened her eyes, River knew she was no longer on
Serenity. None of the other twelve minds she could sense were
of the crew she and her brother were travelling with. She jolted
awake, and looked around. Somehow the décor looked familiar, as if
it was from some vid-series from Earth-That-Was she had watched when
she was younger. She brought her hands up to her temples. “Wrong!
Very wrong!”
Many of the minds were human, similar to those on Serenity.
However two of them were more like her, but different. The two of
them were reacting in different ways to her presence. 'Leave me
alone!' she thought to the older one. She could also sense two (or
three) different AI, one more advanced than the other two. 'Wait,
there is a difference,' She had to go to the cockpit, or Bridge. She
quickly found a turbolift. “Bridge.”
“Intruder is enroute to the Bridge,” the computer said.
“Acknowledged,” Sisko said. He hoped that something like what
happened to the previous arrival wouldn't occur. He had told Bender
to not react like that in future. The robot hadn't exactly been
apologetic. With him on the Bridge were Daria, Ahsoka, Granny and
Waller. He had asked Waller what she had talked to Trump about, but
she wouldn't answer. He also didn't allow her to talk to young
Heffley. He was still in sickbay recovering from the shock. The
turbolift door opened, revealing a young girl who looked to be about
Daria's age, with long wild brown hair.
Her brown eyes took in everything on the Bridge in an instant.
“River Tam,” she said, indicating herself. She looked at the
dedication plaque. “USS Defiant. Star Trek: Deep Space
Nine. Most don't belong.”
“Very perceptive,” Daria commented.
“She's enhanced,” Waller said.
“How can you tell?” Sisko asked.
River stared at Waller. “Alliance!” she said, and adopted a
fighting stance.
“Wait!” Daria called.
“No, not Alliance,” River said, as earie as ever. “But very
similar.”
“Ms. Waller, please leave the bridge,” Sisko said.
“I can tell when a person has been enhanced,” Waller said.
“The people here have been arriving on this ship from other
universes every hour.”
“What is story in one place, is real in another place,” River
said. “All from stories written on Earth-That-Was.”
“Earth that was?” Daria asked, it was obvious that whatever
fiction River came from, it would be released in her future. 'I'm not
asking the computer in her presence,' she thought. She was sure that
Captain Sisko wouldn't either.
“Humanity used up the Earth. We had to flee. Found new homes,”
River still hadn't moved from the fighting stance, next to the
dedication plaque, her eyes shifting nervously between Daria, Sisko
and the Wall.
“Interesting,” Sisko said. “We don't know who would appear
next.”
“Hour by hour the tale continues,” River said.
Daria
didn't know what to make of that. She had already suspected that
something was responsible for their predicament. From Q to Mr.
Mxyzptlk...
Both Waller and Weatherwax moved towards River. “No!” she said to
Waller. “Stay out!” she said to Weatherwax. She turned and then
fainted.
Daria ran to her. “She's still breathing,” she said.
Granny joined her. “Her mind is full of pain. She will wake again
soon.”
Sisko stood up from the Command Chair. “I'll take her to Sickbay.
You have the Bridge, Ms. Morgendorffer.”
Greg Heffley was still in the sickbay. He hadn't left after writing
his diary entry a less than ten minutes before. Then the Captain
arrived carrying someone he hadn't met yet.
“Greg, this is River, our latest arrival,” the Captain said as he
placed the girl in one of the other beds.
Greg looked at River. She looked normal. Normal compared to most of
the other people on the ship anyhow.
The Captain took a deep breath. “Computer, activate Emergency
Medical Hologram.”
What happened next, scared Greg more. There was a hum, and a man
appeared out of thin air! “Please state the nature of the medical
emergency.”
“What's that?” he asked.
“She fainted,” the Captain answered.
“How soon are replacement medical personnel expected?” the man
said.
“I have no idea,” the Captain answered.
“Tricorder.”
The Captain handed a 'tricorder' to the new arrival.
“Oh my! This brain is a mess!” the hologram (as Greg had
realised) said.
“How?” the Captain asked/
“Her medulla has been completely stripped. She must be experiencing
sensory overload.”
“That explains why she fainted,” the Captain said.
“Even with our technology, there is not much I can do.”
Greg sat up. “What's wrong with her?”
While the EMH and Captain Sisko were trying to explain to Greg
Heffley what was wrong with River, Mark Watney and Gyro went up to
the bridge. “Where's Captain Sisko?” Watney asked.
“With our new arrival in Sickbay,” Daria answered. “She seems
to be from a universe where humanity abandoned Earth.”
Watney nodded.
“What's the problem?” Daria asked.
“President Trump is wandering again,” Gyro said.
“You did try to find out what he was doing earlier, right?” Daria
asked. She yawned. It had been a long day.
“Yes,” Gyro answered.
“Did you find out?” Daria asked.
“No, he was being too secretive and kept moving.”
“No answer there,” Daria considered. She turned to Waller,
wondering what she and Trump had talked about earlier.
“I don't have to answer to you,” Waller said.
“No, you're only out for whatever agenda you may have,” Daria
retorted.
Waller just scowed. “I'm still not telling anyone. It's between
us.” She then left the Bridge.
“Follow her, keep an eye on her,” Daria said.
“Understood,” Watney said.
Confident that the EMH was caring for River, and having sated Greg's
curiosity regarding River, Sisko left sickbay.
On the Bridge, Daria explained what had happened. “There's not much
we can do. We just need to be vigilent.”
No comments:
Post a Comment