It started out like every normal day on the Enterprise. And no there weren't any killings or maiming or even any dark plots coming to surface. Now it started out like a normal day but it ended with a mystery.
In the middle of the many hallways lay a forgotten bundle, a missing escape pod, and milling around confused cadets.
Captain Jim T. Kirk stepped forward to the wiggling bundle, his first officer Spock trailing behind him, and Uhura staying close. The Captain poked at the bundle and was rewarded (or punished) with more wiggling and a soft muffling noise that soon escalated to wails. Still cautious, he slowly unwrapped the soft but faded blue blanket to find a squealing baby with rosy red cheeks, a slobbering mouth, and wide blue eyes that seemed to strike you down with curiosity.
"Ahb dub dubb," it cooed angrily, shaking its fists angrily.
"What the hell is a baby doing here?"
"May I suggest calling Doctor McCoy?" Spock spoke after many murmurs dispersed into the growing crowd. Uhura quickly scooped up the child and began playing with it, cooing baby noises and praising the oblivious child.
Bones quickly shuffled the crowd around, grumbling and what not until he reached them, slapping Uhura's hands away, and grabbing the child, "Are you an idiot?!" He exclaimed, "What made you think it was a good idea to touch a random, unknown, and unidentified child? This thing could be carrying disease!"
"What gives you the impression the child has disease, it is illogical to do so," Spock questioned, eyes narrowing at the doctor.
"Because!" He huffed indignantly, "We're in space and this child is most definitely non-human."
Uhura was concerned and confused, "What? Why? How?"
"Didn't any of you take notice to its rapidly changing eye color?"
Everyone stared in awe as the color of light and bright blue quickly descended into a different shade entirely, dark, unsuspecting green and the child seemed to get slimmer and larger as the seconds passed. Bones took the child back to the medical bay.
On the second day they discovered the child appeared to be the age of one.
The next day she was two.
The day after that she was three and word broke out that there was a child on bored growing a year older in just a day. "Like mayflies," one of the staff mutters and the doctor turns to them in surprise.
"Exactly."
The child's first word is mayfly.
-/Mayflies/-
Two days later the child was five, cling to Bones like a nuisance and would blabber and walk all over the place.
Uhura found an old shirt she could wear as a dress and the girl smiles.
They still hadn't given her a name.
-/Mayflies/-
The child was eight when they finally gave her a name: Kari. She was a beautiful young girl with sparkling green eyes, long curls of chocolate hair, and pale skin that flushed a rosy pink just after running around. She was filled with mischief and energy along with wits and kindness. Bones grudgingly didn't scowl each time he heard her approach. The child was smart and no one really understood how she knew how to talk or write or even think! It was very strange to the crew and no one understood it. But they were all too distracted by her toothy grin to comment.
Jim visited her when she was nine.
-/Mayflies/-
Spock met her when she was ten. He didn't think she was very logical, running around him in circles, cackling, and skipping off into her imagination. He saw no purpose of her until she sat down at his feet, looked up at the man with large green eyes, and said, "You're sad."
Spock was somehow surprised.
"Do you not have a mommy either?" she asked, having heard some of the crew members mention 'abandoned' and 'orphan' around her when they thought she wasn't looking. The girl continued on, reached out for Spock's leg and grinned, "One day I'll make you so happy you won't be sad anymore!"
Spock said nothing.
-/Mayflies/-
From the times that she was eleven, twelve, and thirteen, Kari followed Spock around obsessively with a growing mind, interest, and boldness as she attempted to make him smile. She told jokes, did silly things, and said the most outrageous things.
Spock ignored her even though Jim was rolling around on the floor laughing.
Kari stopped when she was fourteen.
-/Mayflies/-
When Kari was fourteen she began to notice things about the people had been her family the past few day (years for her) on the ship. She knew of no life before the spacecraft and knew none of what would happen next. She smiled and tried to help her friend Mr. Spock smile because he reminded her of a grumpy old goat.
When Kari was fourteen she began to realize that her body was not on the same page as her mind, becoming cognizant of her mortality and life. Kari simply chalked up her fast paced life as going through puberty.
When Kari was fourteen she took one look at Mr. Spock across the room, eyes landing on his ears. He has really nice ears. Kari blushed, turned around, and walked away leaving a confused Uhura and Bones (her only family-family) behind glancing at each other.
Kari didn't realize she had a crush on until she was fifteen.
When Kari was sixteen she told Uhura her predicament. Uhura and Spock had not been together for many months.
-/Mayflies/-
When Kari was seventeen, one of the many young men on the ship was staring at Kari. She had seen the same looks being passed to Nyota Uhura but Kari did not understand. Why was the man looking at her chest?
Bones seethed with anger and snapped, punching the boy when he wouldn't look away after his minutes of staring.
Kari was confused.
When Kari was eighteen, she was given a longer dress from Nyota and strict instructions that she'd best be wary of where she was when alone. Kari was still confused.
Captain Kirk and Spock watched as Chekov, Sulu, and a few others muttered conspiracies to each other about why Kari had to wear one of the more conservative outfits. Mr. Spock felt a twinge of emotion and he did not understand why-it was illogical.
-/Mayflies/-
When Kari was nineteen, she was told what sex was. Kari blushed a furious shade of red and would not look at Mr. Spock all day-annoyingly lustful thoughts that she had not expected stirring inside of her. Uhura smirked, Spock was confused, Bones seethed, and Jim sat at his chair, watching everything unfold.
When Kari was nineteen and a half, one of the more jealous females told Kari that she's only been here for less than a month.
That was the first time Kari felt time.
-/Mayflies/-
When Kari was twelve, she remembered watching Mr. Spock go about his day. He did the same thing for years and no one had changed. But Kari felt change, she felt herself getting older and older, faster than everyone around her.
When Kari was twenty she spent the whole day, watching every minute fly by her. She felt each second age her skin and her mind learning something subconsciously without her effort. She watched everyone who was slower than her. Their reflexes were badly timed and Kari realized that they were really stuck in gel compared to her. None of them could keep up with her thoughts or her walk or even the way she talked-except for Mr. Spock but he was still slower.
When Kari was twenty she realized that there is a point in the middle of the night where her body just clicks into the next year. She's never noticed until now and her family-family are worried about her, she hasn't said a thing all day. Kari realizes that the utter sadness enveloping her soul is depression and that there is no way for her to fight it.
So when nighttime comes, Kari gets out of her bed, goes into the bathroom, and watches the time shift on her body. She is horrified to it.
When Kari is twenty one, Jim pours Kari a shot of alcohol. She greedily accepts it and later finds some more when everyone is asleep. She drinks more than she should. When Kari is twenty two, Nyota Uhura is surprised to find her child drowning the sorrows she didn't know existed in alcohol.
-/Mayflies/-
Mr. Spock realized that Kari was more than an annoying child when she was eighteen and Dr. McCoy punched that man for his 'daughter'.
-/Mayflies/-
It started out like a normal day on the Enterprise.
Kari was twenty four and was smiling for the first time since she was twenty. A real, true smile gracing her lips. Kari was laughing and dancing jokingly with Sulu, Chekov, Uhura, and Kirk in the main room when they'd all gotten back early from lunch, waiting for the others to join them. Kari had stumbled across one of the classics and insisted the majority of her family-family danced with her like fools. They complied because hey, it was one of those days with nothing to do but reminisce, joke around, and laugh.
Mr. Spock came across them and stood still when he caught the sight of the once baby dancing in ways that would not be legal on some planets with her friends. Mr. Spock was also surprisingly drawn to sway of her hips and the tapping of her fingers in the air, as if she was conducting a symphony with her mind.
When the others had returned Kari was flushed, laughing, and smiling with all of her friends in sight. She quickly excused herself and spent the rest of the year trying to make everyone smile. She wanted them to remember her in her happiest form.
When Kari was twenty three she had decided that she was a mayfly. Mayflies never lived that long so at twenty four she sat down at a desk and began to write letters to all those she held dear, thanking them for their love and care, wishing for their well-being, and hoping they did not forget the good she had brought.
When Kari was twenty four she strolled down the halls looking for the man she was in love with. She realized that they only knew each other for two weeks and that to him she was an idiot. But to her she was greatness and a grumbling goat. She knocked on his door, pleased for when he opened it up. "Kari," he greeted (surprisedly?), "To what do I owe the visit?"
"I wanted to come by and thank you."
"There is nothing for you to thank."
"That's what you think," she replied conspiringly, "But I wish to thank you none the less and offer you my best wishes."
"What? Why-"
He was interrupted by her arms wrapping around his waist, pulling him to her in a soft hug. She snuggled him for a moment and whispered sadly to his chest, "I never did get you to smile."
Spock felt as if he was missing something very important but those thoughts were pushed aside when she leaned up and place her lips softly to his cheek for a moment. When she pulled away she smiled (albeit sadly) at the flustered man before her, "Good bye Mr. Spock, it was a pleasure."
He didn't get to say anything for she had already turned around the corner.
-/Mayflies/-
When Kari McCoy and Uhura was twenty four when she stole one of the guns when no one was looking. When darkness fell and everyone fell asleep, Kari crept out of her bed and into the silent halls of the ship. She soon found where they had once found her long ago, bundled up in soft blankets, wailing for a mother that would not come.
Kari sat down in the dark and laid down on her back. Soft tears welled up in her eyes as she slowly pulled out the gun and placed it inside her mouth. The soft hum of the ship beneath her and the rushing relief was all that she felt when she looked up to the ceiling, closing her eyes one last time.
-/Mayflies/-
Kari McCoy and Uhura was twenty five when she pulled the trigger.
-/Mayflies/-
They found her body hours later when some poor woman began wailing and sobbing loudly, screaming for help when she saw the blood splattering the ground.
Captain Jim T. Kirk was the first on the scene, like some many years ago.