Knowing II

Posted on 22 May 2013 @ 3:22am by

3,169 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: LTjg Liyar's Quarters
Timeline: MD6 0700

ON:

Maenad blushed. "I'm sorry," she said, embarrassed, then laughed. She wasn't really all that sorry at all. "What do you mean I felt you?" she asked. She grabbed one of his pillows and fluffed it up it next to him, then set it against the headboard. She lifted her legs onto the bed and sat beside him, putting her hands in her lap. She turned her head to look at him. He looked tired, she thought.

"You said that you knew something was wrong, with me. You asked the computer about me specifically," he answered. "You felt that I was in danger?"

"That's what it felt like," she said. "But, it couldn't have been real."

"Yet, you came," Liyar pointed out. "And here you are."

With a hesitant shrug, Maenad didn't know how it happened, but only that it did. "Coincidence?"

"Coincidences are unintended," Liyar said.

"Maybe I'm not as null as we thought, after all," Maenad joked. She touched him with her elbow. "When I saw you alive giving Andreus trouble, pretending like you were fine, it was one of the happiest moments of my life," she was smiling, but she seemed mournful, too. Worried. She set her head on his shoulder and took his hand in hers, rubbing the top of his knuckles with her thumb. "Can you tell me what happened?" she asked, hopeful that he would.

Liyar's hand shifted ticklishly under hers. Her mind buzzed quietly beneath her skin. "We arrived on the planet and made our way to the caves, where we utilized the Single-Rope Technique to safely abseil the pitch. We were to enter the interior cavern," he said. His words themselves were clinical and itemized, but he spoke quietly and met her eyes. "There was a foundational collapse. I attempted to guide Lieutenants Cho and Kohl to the nearest wall, to shelter them from falling rocks. Kohl was able to keep up, but Lieutenant Cho tripped." He gestured to the small silver object on his table. "I used the ra-de'kutha to generate shielding enough to protect us from falling debris as we escaped. I aimed it over Lieutenant Cho to prevent her from being impaled by a large stalactite. A smaller one punctured my arm as it extended. I pulled it out and cast it aside, then directed the rest of the team to the closest shelter." He fell quiet. "I recall thinking of you," he admitted after a while. "When the walls came down."

"Really?" she looked at him. He probably thought of a lot of people. Of his friends, of his family. When she had had her brush with death, she had no time to think - it was an explosion. But in a cave in, where what was happening was a slow enough process to see what was coming, there was lots of time to think about your life.

Liyar blinked slowly up at her and nodded. "Yes," he answered. He remained silent for a moment before continuing. "We needed to go deeper into the cave in order to find an alternate exit. We were confronted by a lifeform native to the planet, which attacked us. After my initial injury, my telepathic abilities became unnerving. I could hear and feel them all. Their fear, their panic, their horror. I could not shut it out," he said, tongue loosened by several milligrams of powerful analgesic medication. "Thus, clearer memories of the creature elude me. Nevertheless, we escaped," he assured her. He felt her worry and distress like flares bursting in the sky.

"Oh, Liyar," she put her head back onto his shoulder and moved his hand a little in hers. "I'm sorry," she sympathised. "You're very brave; you saved the away team. And Kiri, too." Maenad sighed. She was proud of him. "I'm glad you're my friend. I'm happy you're here."

He made a face. "I did not save the away team," he said. "Everyone acted admirably today. They were successfully able to deter the creature when I could not. Mr. Watt and Lieutenant Cho were responsible for mapping our way out. Lieutenant Kohl ensured we were all able to escape alive."

Maenad sighed, catching his tone, and lifted her head from his shoulder. She sat up straight and shook her head, not wanting to fight with him. "Well," she said a little defensively, "I don't think you're giving yourself the proper credit."

He laid a hand on her shoulder, where her skin met the collar of her wrinkled tunic. "It is not about credit," Liyar said quietly.

"That's not what I meant," she told him. "You saved Kiri from falling rocks, warned everyone before it was too late, told them which way to go, all after being injured so badly. Without you, things would have gone very differently."

"We survived." Liyar rose an eyebrow dryly. "That is enough credit for me."

"Forget it," she said dismissively.

He tilted his head. "I possess an eidetic memory. I do not believe that is possible."

Maenad smirked and tilted her head to rest on him again, but she recalled the night before and her reminder that she had become a little too comfortable with Liyar and that she was seeing things that weren't true. Liyar saying that he had an eidetic memory was not a joke; it was not meant to make her laugh. It was a fact, and that was all. "I forgot," she admitted with a smile in her voice.

"Then it is fortuitous that I am here to remind you," Liyar murmured hazily, burrowing down into his pillow. "What are you seeing?" he asked, blinking thoughtfully at the ceiling.

"Nothing," she looked at him. Liyar was injured and didn't need the stress of her emotions, and this was hardly the time for her to start talking about herself. "How are you feeling?"

"Hungry," Liyar blurted honestly.

"What do you want?" Maenad didn't know how he could eat right now. Pain and hunger didn't mix for her, anyway. But Liyar was stubborn.

"What?" Liyar pressed his hand against the edge of the bed and tried to sit up.

"To eat," she said. "What do you want to eat?" When Liyar tried to get up Maenad prevented him from getting very far. "No," she scolded. "You're staying right here."

Ill at ease with the idea of Maenad attending him as if he were an invalid, Liyar stared at her moodily. He did not appreciate being weak. He could get his own food. He was not a child. "I assure you, I am perfectly all righ-" he tipped over on his side and ended up flat on his back on the bed once again. What had they put in that hypospray? He opened and closed his eyes a few times. "-Maybe I will just stay here."

Maenad let go of his hand and got out of bed. She wasn't enjoying him being unappreciative of her helping him. She understood it, but she didn't have to like it. Him falling over, though, it was a sight for sore eyes. "What do you want to eat?" she asked for a third time, laughing at him. "Stop trying to get up."

Liyar placed his hand over his lips and chin ponderously. "Yishiran ke'fedra," he finally told his ceiling. "The replicator will know it." He had programmed it specifically to accommodate food items from Miran. "I do," he said just before she left the room. He had righted himself a little way by the time she looked back. He gestured with his proper hand. "Appreciate it. It is only that I am unused to requiring such assistance."

Maenad gave him a distant smile and lingered in the doorway for an extra few seconds. She hoped that he hadn't picked up her selfish thoughts about him, but he hadn't said anything about it. A minute later, she returned with the plate of food; it looked a lot like a salad, but made of celery, string beans, and lettuce. It was covered in a seedy brown sauce that was exceptionally thick, like a chocolate syrup of some kind. "Here," she set the tray down on his lap and sat down next to him after she put a glass of water on the side table."Do you need me to help you?" she asked. It looked like a two-handed meal, but she didn't know.

"Help me with what?" he asked incredulously, looking to the side of the tray and picking up the two yem'fek which resembled chopsticks. He maneuvered them quickly and deftly, promptly devouring two of the textured ke'fedra without incident. It was as if he hadn't eaten a meal in days. He recalled the last time he had eaten - the day he had fallen asleep on Maenad's bed, after Kestra's coma. Two days ago.

She ignored the question and slowly shook her head. It was sad, she thought. At least he would only be like this for most of the day. He would be healed by the evening, for the most part. Maenad folded her legs beneath her on the bed. She looked at her fingernails as he ate, paying as little attention to him as she could. A few of her cuticles were red with dried blood, she noticed. One of her nails looked longer than the other ones by a little bit, too. She raised her eyes to the Vulcan who was too proud to ask for help, and she eyed the strange dish. With a sigh, she laid down on the bed sideways, facing him, and drew her legs up into her chest. The early wake up call was starting to take its toll on her, she could feel.

"If you wish to rest," he said after eating another bite of the soft-block sakri bean, "you may. I cannot imagine that this morning has been easy on you." He could feel that she was frustrated, exasperated that he would not allow her to help him. What she hoped to assist him with, he could not fathom. He certainly wasn't going to let her feed him like a pre-kahs-wan child. He took the pillow from behind him and gently slid it under her head. "Rest," he told her simply.

She took the pillow, but passed Liyar the one she'd been using before, the one that was beside him. "On me?" she almost laughed. "How about on you? Don't worry about me."

"I do not anticipate needing to," Liyar replied mildly, "as I am certain you will take sufficient care of yourself in the wake of this most recent stress." He innocently began eliminating the rest of his meal.

Maenad didn't say anything. She just laid there, clutching the pillow. It carried Liyar's scent, which made her wonder if she should be there. It made her wonder, again, whether she was acting inappropriately, whether she was lying to herself. She had just told him that she was glad he was her friend, he said nothing back. She stared at the side of his leg beneath the covers; she had to report for duty soon, but getting up so abruptly and leaving would have been awkward. She didn't move.

"You do not need to stay for my benefit. I may not be capable of walking more than two feet under my own power," said Liyar dryly, "but I can tell that you are uncomfortable."

"Fine," she said hastily. She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

"That is not the word I would use."

Maenad sighed. Somehow this had gotten suddenly very tense, and she didn't know how or why. She stared intensely at where the wall met floor, jaw clenched. "Liyar," she said quietly, "can we just..." she exhaled. "Nevermind. I am not uncomfortable," but she was. She looked over her shoulder at him. The sight of him in his t-shirt and with his bowl of weird Vulcan food, he looked like he was twelve years old, and she laughed. "Is that any good?"

She was uncomfortable, he knew, and had decided not to push the issue. Much to his own chagrin, he did not enjoy this tension. But just like that things seemed to resolve themselves of their own accord. Liyar shook his head to himself. Today was a weird day. "I try not to eat terrible food," he said with a smile in his voice. He held out the dish and the two chopsticks. "You may try it, if you like."

"No," she flicked her wrist, "thank you." Maenad looked him over again and put her hand on the blanket over his foot. She gave it a playful shake. "I'm really glad you're okay. I would have missed you."

"If I had died," Liyar finished her sentence. He studied her for several long moments, finished his last yishi root and placed the tray aside. He hesitantly shifted forward on his hands. "I -" he reached out for a moment and then withdrew his hand. "Can I attempt something? I am curious." Make sense. Make sense, he reminded his woozy brain. He blinked a few times in a row. "You knew. That I was in danger. I think I may know why. I would like to show you something. To see if you find it familiar."

"Sure," she said. Curious, she asked "What is it?"

Liyar didn't immediately know how to describe what he was asking. "A mental touch. It is a very shallow form of telepathic resonance. I wish to see if you recognize my mental signature. It will not harm you, nor invade your privacy. And it will be brief."

Maenad hesitated a second, but conceded. "All right," she said. "What do you want me to do?"

"Just relax. It is a simple matter." And it was. He breathed out calmly and was there, like a breeze of warm wind blowing through an open door in her mind. Maenad, his voice came a few moments later, but it wasn't like speaking. It was presence, altogether different from the severe tones he used in life, but distinctly and objectively him. "Do you recognize this?" he asked as he withdrew, closing the door gently behind him.

Maenad felt his presence of mind. But, he wasn't telling her anything or trying to communicate with her. It was the same feeling as she'd had this morning, but it was less intense. He was just there, he was inside her. "I do," she insisted. "It's the same, only now I am not worried."

Liyar nodded. "The other times that I have been in telepathic contact with you, I did not form a link. A link can be shallow or it can be deep, but each link has one thing in common - a mental signature is detectable. Like a face, you can identify it regardless of its expression." Liyar looked slightly puzzled. "If you recognize it, I must have reached out to you; created a small, brief link in order to communicate with you in some manner." He had barely enough time in those caves to focus the energy of the ra-de'kutha and yet, unpredictably, he had pushed forward all the way to Galileo. "It would have been necessary, to communicate over such a distance. It was unintentional. I have no recollection of doing this. But it may explain how you knew our team was in danger."

It was a relief to have her world fall back into place. It wasn't supernatural, it wasn't a bizarre coincidence. She sighed something of relief. "Why me?" she wondered aloud, turning to look at him. Why not any of his other friends? Why had he never done it before? There was nothing that she could have done, either, and they both knew it.

"I do not know why." Liyar was confused, perplexed and contemplative. Why any of this? Why was his mind so incomparably out of control? Why could he do things that other Vulcans largely could not? What other friends did she think he had, exactly? He did not know. "I have no answers," he shrugged his hand and set it back against his leg. "It is not something I intended to do."

"Hm," she said, turning back around. "Weird." She thought for a moment, then turned to look at him again, folding a leg beneath her. "How did you find me?" she asked, frowning curiously.

"I do not know," he repeated. "It is not precisely a matter of your physical location. The same way that, when one uses a communications device, one does not need to know the location of the device, only the specific calling code. I know your mind, I am around it frequently. You are the person I am closest to on this ship. Therefore, it is not unfeasible that if my mind were to reach out instinctively, it would reach toward you."

Slowly, a smile crept onto Maenad's lips. She swivelled at her hip, to look round at him. She blinked once and, somewhere in her mind, it was like Liyar had popped a balloon in her head. All the thoughts she had had last night, the letter she'd burned, the ire at her parents. Her doubts, her second-guesses, her self-hatred, it had all vanished. She took his hand, not caring if he picked up on whatever was on her mind, and she leaned forward to kiss him quickly on the cheek. "That's very sweet of you," she told him, blushing. She let go of his hand and replaced hers in her lap.

Liyar blinked a few times up at her. He didn't know the source of her sudden affection, but he thought it was much preferable to her earlier discomfort and distress. It was as though someone had let up their vice grip on her lungs and she could breathe. Easy, simple. An emotion he wouldn't acknowledge in any other circumstance than extreme painkiller fog welled up in response. Satisfaction. He wasn't sure what had happened or why, but it pleased him. "As I am composed of largely oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium and phosphorus, I do not believe sweet is the adjective one would use to describe me." His lips quirked in a lopsided attempt at a smile, which looked more like a frown.

Maenad shook her head. "It means kind, Liyar," she said dryly, then got up. "I have to get ready for duty, but if you want me for anything, tell me right away." She smiled down at him. "And, please, stay off your arm and get some rest."

OFF:

Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer, SSC
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Liyar
Diplomatic Officer, VDF/SDD
USS Galileo

RSS Feed