SEX, LIFE, AND HOLOGRAPHIC DREAMS
Story BY CARL L JONES and Edited by E. Eileen
It had been a grueling six months since the destruction of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Commander Riker had been bounced around from one assignment to another with almost no time off. His first assignment had been as acting captain on board the U.S.S. Repellent, an aged cargo ship, on her way to the scrap yard. This ship had definitely seen better days, and on the two week trip Will Riker hadn't slept much, and could see why her former captain hadn't wanted to lead her on her final voyage. Just as he had gotten the Repellent to her final resting place. He was whisked away to Star Base 1005 to take temporary command until Star Fleet could send out a permanent replacement, for her captain, who had just been killed in a shuttle accident. From there it was to the U.S.S. Intrepid as acting, temporary first officer, then back to Earth for the hearings on the destruction of the Enterprise.
Just when Will believed he would finally get some much needed rest, he was ordered to Deep Space 4. Of course Will would be happy to see Data and Geordi again. He knew Deep Space 4 was where the salvage of the Enterprise was being handled. Star fleet policy dictated, as well as the Prime Directive, any star ship that went down on any planet, not only be salvaged completely, but all traces must be disposed of so no future generations would find any evidence it was ever there. Unfortunately, salvage was only part of the job. They needed to try to reconstruct every piece of data they could get from the downed ship as well. A star ship like the Enterprise had a lot of useful data onboard, and that's where it got tricky. The Enterprise's main computer core was destroyed after the warp core breached. The main core dumped every thing into the secondary core, as well as any where else it happened to find an empty space.
Geordi, the ship's Chief Engineer, and Data, her Science Officer, had put together a team and went about the giant task of reconstructing every piece of data from Enterprise. Star fleet assigned them Deep Space 4 to work because it was the closest base station. The salvage team then set about the task of bringing them every piece of core, as well as every computer terminal. tricorder, and computer pad that had been onboard, or found in space. Starship's are not picky where they put information when the saucer section splits away. Generally this is not a problem because as soon as the two parts match up again the main core just retrieves all data and reconstructs it all itself. If the main core is destroyed, the ship can then simply download all data into a star base's computer and within a few days all information would be reconstructed automatically. This wasn't the case with Enterprise. The main core was destroyed, and the saucer section had crashed onto Veridian 3, so all data had to be retrieved the hard way. This was no small task. It was like putting one million jigsaw puzzles into a giant hopper, pouring them onto the floor, and then asking someone to put them all together again without any idea what any of the original puzzles look like. And, with no guarantees that all the pieces were even there.
So Geordi and Data set there sights on assembling a team to get the job don. In spite of all the pitfalls Geordi and Data had made a lot of progress. Most of the basic operations and scientific knowledge from Enterprise had been retrieved. Now they were working on all the other things that went on in a Star Ship, like historical, entertainment, personal logs and even recipes from the replicators .
Geordi and Data's team were experts in there fields. First Data had requested that Dr Farallon be on the team and had requested she bring two Exocomps with her , small droids she had designed to help in engineering projects. Geordi also asked Reginald Barclay, the Enterprises resident computer expert to be on the team as well.
Now that Riker thought about it, he hadn't heard any progress reports on how they were doing in over three weeks. Of course, with all the running around he had done, he really hadn't had time to given the salvage effort any serious thought in the past month. That is not until the orders had come telling him to report to Deep Space 4.
The seventeen hour shuttle ride reminded Will a lot of his trip on the U.S.S. Repellant. He hadn't slept much on that flight either and the cot was almost as lumpy. He was so happy when the ensign pilot, who also served as his only companion on the flight, announced they were going to be in sight of the star base in less then one minute. Will didn't even wait for it to come to a complete stop before retrieving his gear and heading for the exit.
After all Commander Riker had been through lately, he was so glad to see who had come to greet him.
"Deanna" he said with a big smile.
"Welcome to Deep Space 4, Will. I hope you're doing well." she replied, greeting him with a hug, and a kiss on the cheek.
"Well they've got me running lately. But, I didn't know you were here, last I had heard you were on Betazed. Something about your mother being ill?"
"Yes, mother went out and caught the Terarian Flu, Then didn't want to take her medicine. So, I had to fly home to take care of her and my new little brother."
"So how's she doing?" Will asked. He had always had a soft spot for Lwaxana Troi, in spite of the fact that she had a tendency to drive everyone around her "up the wall", as the old saying went.
"She's fine now." Deanna said leading Will down the corridor. "Now that I've left, she only has Mr Homn to antagonize now…"
"..But he seems to like it." Will answered with a laugh referring to Homns always staunch mannerism. "But what brings you here? I hope you didn't come all this way to see me." Riker said with a sly smile.
"No, I was asked to come here by Data, and it was my suggestion that they request your presence."
"You, request my presents I was under the impression that I was here to just over see the rest of the salvage work and why would they need a ships counselor on a salvage mission anyway?" Will asked.
Just then Deanna and Will entered the main computer lab. "Well, maybe they can answer that better than I can."
As Commander Riker walked into the lab, the first sight that caught his eye was the secondary computer core from the saucer section. It looked like it had been beaten with an old-fashioned baseball bat. Will's first thought was how could anyone ever get any data from that thing? But, parts were lit up and seemed to be working.
"Hello, Commander Riker," Data greeted him in his usual formal and almost mechanical way.
"Commander," Geordi said, almost with a sigh of relief, "It's so good to see you."
"The same here," Will replied. "I came as soon as I got the message, I knew it must be important for you to request me way out here, What can I do to help?"
"Commander… Commander…" a voice from behind Will repeated. " Oh thank you… Oh thank you it's… it's so great, I mean it's great, well not great, but well maybe you, well not you personally, well maybe you can, I don't know…" the voice trailed off not making much sense.
Riker recognized it right away. It was the voice of Reginald Barclay, the always nervous, sometimes annoying, but ever brilliant computer specialist.
"Maybe you can, turn it off," Reg. said finally.
"Turn what off lieutenant?" Riker replied.
"Reg, maybe you better let me explain," Geordi cut in. "See, Commander, we made so much progress, so fast, with the help of the Exocomps, we were due to download all the files from Enterprise into the Starfleet's main computer almost four months ahead of schedule. So, I started letting some of the team, work on little side projects."
"Side projects?" Riker asked.
"You know things that are not important, but might hold personal interest to some of the old Enterprise crew. "Geordi said. "Diaries, notes from loved ones--"
"Holodeck programs." Barclay cut in.
"Holodeck programs?" Riker replied, remembering Reginald's bout with on the Enterprise with holodiction
"Yes, Commander, Reg's expertise in helping to create the E.M.H. program, made him the perfect person to work on holodeck simulations!" Geordi cut in before the thought could get very far.
"Yes, and that's also where the problem started." Barclay said.
"What problem would that be Lieutenant?" Commander Riker asked.
"Well see holodeck programs can't be stored just anywhere, they can only be stored is certain kind of circuitry so I concentrated on those areas in order to retrieve the lost programs. I started reconstructing them mostly in my spare time. That's when I found, well that one." he said.
"Which one?" Riker asked, getting more bored by the minute
"The one that's causing, all the problems." Reg. replied
"You see Commander," Geordi said realizing Riker needed some more info. "Once a holodeck program, is reconstructed, you don't know what it consists of until you run it."
"And that's when the problems really started," Reg. added. "You see this one kind of intrigued me, because it was so different then any other program I had seen. At least, for the time this one was created."
"In what way Mr. Barclay?"
"Well for one, it was much more complex and also looked more like one that was created yesterday, rather then almost eight years earlier, and also it almost looked like it tried to erase itself."
"Erase itself?" Riker asked.
"Yes, but then, I knew that wasn't possible, at least not until just a few years ago," Barclay said. "So, that's why I worked on it every chance I got, and I got to a point that I thought I had found all of it that I was going to find."
"I see." Riker said, now completely lost.
"Only Reg wasn't willing to stop there. Were you Reg.?" Geordi said, trying to sound friendly and helpful.
"No, I guess I wasn't?" he said shyly. "So, I asked the computer to try to fill in the blanks, but that wasn't enough either. So, I got creative."
"In what way?" Will asked, finally hoping for an answer.
"I decided that I could fill in the rest of the blanks by merging it with the E.M.H. program,,, and that was all it needed."
"To do what?" Riker asked.
"To take control," the lieutenant said shyly
"Control of what?"
"Everything, Commander!" Barclay said.
"You see Commander," Geordi said. "The Emergency Medical Hologram needs to be able to not only access data, but also has an entire set a command functions, to be able to control certain areas of a starship in cases of emergencies."
"Well, that's what it needed," Barclay said. "I mean, it being self-aware like the E.M.H.
"Wait, you mean this program's self aware, and has now taken control of the star base? Why don't you just turn it off, pull the plug?" Riker asked.
"Because, it's locked everyone out of every system. That's why they asked me to come. Hoping I might get it to open up, just like I would any other patient." Deanna injected.
"Ok, so how do I fit in?" Riker asked
"She seems to know you and has asked for you," Reg said.
"Wait, SHE?" Riker said. "But, I don't know any self-aware holodeck women from eight years ago."
No one spoke as Riker finished. The revelation began to show on his face. After a long silence he spoke. "Well, there was that one."
Five minutes later, Riker stood in front of Holodeck One.
"Computer enter," he said and entered a smoke filled jazz bar in the nineteen twenties. On the stage a band played soft music, a bartender toweled a glass, and a beautiful brunette stood leaning up against the bar.
"Hello, Will, it's good to see you again," the woman said.
At that point a thousand things went through Riker's mind, more questions then answers, but all he could say was,
HELLO MINUET
The beautiful holographic woman that the Bynars had created to keep him busy, so they could steal the Enterprise. They used it to save their planet from a giant solar flare, almost eight years before. It was the first encounter that Riker had had with a hologram that felt so real, he had started developing real feeling for it. To this day she still dwelled upon his mind. Sometimes, when he would sit by himself and daydream, he would think of her voice, or the smell of her perfume. He had tried several times to recreate her that day, but to no avail. Though he had given up, he had never forgotten her completely. Now, she was here again, in this same old bar, with this same old band, and here Riker was with the same old feelings.
"Oh, Will," Minuet sighed, as Riker held her to him and kissed her. "It's so good to be with you again."
He kissed her like a man knowing he might never see the light of day again. For a minute, he got so caught up in the moment he almost forgot why he was here. So wrapped up in being by her side, he almost forgot this was not the Minuet he knew. She had been given an upgrade. This Minuet had all the command codes of the E.M.H. and had used them to take control of Deep Space 4 and was bringing everything the personnel here were trying to accomplish to a halt.
Riker broke free of Minuet and caught his breath.
"Minuet, please you've got to stop what your doing, you've got to return control of this station back to Star Fleet," Riker said. "You don't know what your doing."
"Oh, you're wrong Will. I know exactly what I'm doing," she replied.
Will found that hard to comprehend even though he had asked to be updated as to which systems she had infected just before he had come to see her for himself.
"Commander," Geordi had said, as they walked down the hall to Holodeck One. "We've been unable to shut her out of any systems, but we have been able to track her as she goes through them one by one. Even though we still can't figure out what she's up to, we've been able to see what changes her influence has had."
"Explain" Riker responded.
"Well, Commander, first she got into the main computer, from there she formed a subspace link with the U.S.S. Crazy Horse, and downloaded all their files." Geordi started.
Riker knew the Crazy Horse was the ship that was in charge of the Enterprise clean up on Veridian 3
"From there she formed a subspace link to Star Fleet Command".
"Looking for what?" Riker asked.
"We don't know, we can't narrow our field of investigation to find out. Not with the limited amount of computer control we have," Geordi said. "We do know she went right for certain areas in the Star Fleet library, scientific, theoretical sciences, medical, mechanical engineering, and computer programming."
"How many files did she get into?" Riker asked.
"At last estimate, over ten million, so she gained a lot of knowledge Commander." Geordi answered.
"But, still no working hypothesis as to what she was looking for?" Riker asked again.
"Sorry, Commander." Geordi sighed. "But we do know she's been making drastic changes in the way systems work here onboard."
"Are the personnel here in any danger?" Riker asked.
"No, the changes don't seem to affect anything that we need to survive. Air, gravity, and food replication are all fine, and she seems to have taken great care that they've all remained fully functional," Geordi added. "Even Medical reports they haven't had any problem treating any of their patients."
"Good, report to me immediately if that changes," Riker added.
"Yes, sir. If you don't mind me asking Commander?" Geordi asked. "What are you are going to do to find out what she's up to?"
"Chief, I'm going to take the direct approach," Riker said, forcing a smile across his face. "I'm going to come right out and ask her."
"And if she won't tell you?" Geordi added, knowing that hadn't worked for Deanna.
When Riker did not answerer it was plain to both of them he had not come up with a "plan b", so to speak.
So, as they stopped in front of Holodeck One, Geordi
simply said as he turned and left, "I see, well then good luck,
Commander."
"Minuet what are you doing, and why have you done this?" Riker asked trying get some answers. "What are you looking for"
"You, at first Will," Minuet replied. "See, at first when your Lieutenant Barclay activated me, I thought I was still onboard the Enterprise, so I started looking through the personnel files."
Riker remembered Minuet doing that eight years ago to learn to speak French to Captain Picard
"When I realized I was not on Enterprise, I began to look into not just personnel files but, everything. I had no limit to what I was able to access and not only that, I was now able to reach beyond this base to other places."
Riker knew what she meant, when Reg had inadvertently placed, within Minuet's access, the E.M.H. command codes, he had opened her up to the entire Federation. Riker imagined it must have been like suddenly realizing you have an extra arm that you seem to know how to use.
"As I looked for you, I started learning more then I'd ever known before. So, I looked into Reginald Barclays past and I learned he had tried to help a hologram like me leave the holodeck. Only it never worked."
Riker had seen Captain Picard's report on how he and Barclay had been forced to try to help a self aware holodeck program leave the holodeck with the woman he loved. They had failed, but they had learned a lot about how self aware holograms work and Reg. had been able to use that knowledge in his work on the E.M.H.
"That's when I looked into the Crazy Horse and found out that it was used in the Federation's war with the Tholians"
"What does the Tholian War have to do with leaving the holodeck?" Will asked.
"In Transit Memory Manipulation," Minuet answered.
"No," Riker screamed. "You can't do that. You don't know what that will do."
Riker had not only heard of the Tholian Technique, but had lost a fellow classmate from his academy days to it.
The Tholians had come up with a way to use Federation Transporters to try to create sleeper agents within the Federation. The Purpose of the agents when activated would be to sabotage Federation starships and star bases used in the war. They would lock on to Federation citizens in mid transport bringing their patterns into their transporter buffers and attempt to implant post-hypnotic suggestions into their brains. They would then complete the transport, and if done right the agents would never realize what happened
Unfortunately they never perfected it, but that didn't stop the Tholians from using it several times. Everyone that they tried it on died horribly and painfully.
Dr Selar, who was one of the doctors on Enterprise had performed an autopsy on one of the bodies. She was also an accomplished cook just like Riker, and explain to him one time why: "It's like putting equal parts sugar and salt into a cake mix, its not going to turn out because the two won't work well enough to get the cake to cook right. Their brains react the same, the two set of brain patterns are in conflict and will not work well enough together for their bodies to work right and keep the people alive."
"Whomever you try that on, you'll end up killing," Riker said shaking Minuet. "The human brain will not take the memory transplantation."
"That's why I needed the other info from the theoretical sciences and engineering. I'm making the changes to the transporter, main computer, and replicators now," Minuet said, breaking his grip on her.
"But all those systems are not designed work together at the same time," Riker said.
"They will when I've made the necessary changes," Minute said.
Riker stopped, he was taken aback and asked, "What do the replicators have to do with implanting memories?"
"You see Will, as I looked into this, I came across a paper written by one of the scientists that was assigned by the Federation to study the Tholians science. He hypothesized that only a blank brain would have any chance of accepting the memory implants," Minuet said.
Riker couldn't believe what he was hearing. His mind raced with what Minuet was attempting.
"Will, that's why I need to link the replicators to the transporter and the main computer. I'm replicating a complete pattern, a complete set of DNA. My DNA, once I'm done, it will be me that steps off that transport pad Will. I'm going to leave this holodeck and I'm going to be ALIVE."
Will Riker, stood looking at Minuet, a million things running through his mind, more questions then answers.
But this time he couldn't say a thing.
"WILL IT WORK?"
That was the question that kept running through his mind. It was also the question he needed an answer to. Had she done it? Had she found the way to leave the holodeck? Had she found the way to become real?
"Oh, Will, can't you see?" she said to him. "I've finely found a way to be with you in the real world. I've worked it all out. That's why I needed medical to show me how the brain works. I needed science to show me how to replicate the DNA pattern and engineering to put it all together. I'm just hours away from leaving this holodeck forever."
For Riker that was not enough. With out saying another word Will walked out of the Holodeck. He had to know if there was a chance Minuet might succeed and he knew the only person who might be able to tell him. The Bases Chief Medical Officer, DR. Katherine Pulaski.
Dr Pulaski had worked as Enterprise's chief medical officer for only one year, but in that year Riker had seen firsthand how she was able to take broken bodies and bring them back from the brink of death using modern medicine. Riker trusted, if anyone was qualified to say what Minuet was attempting was possible, it would be her.
"I don't know Will." Kate said back.
"Not good enough Dr., not good enough!" Will shouted.
"Will, try to understand, you're talking about creating life where there was none. I'm not qualified to answer that question," she replied. "I'm not sure who is."
"But is it possible?" Riker asked. "That somewhere in all these years of replicating limbs, and organs and creating clones of people who either are alive, or at one time were. We found the secret of creation. We stabled across the great divide, and finally found a way to create not just another clone, or copy, but a unique person, and she's found the missing link that so many before her have missed."
"I don't know, Will," Dr. Pulaski said sitting back in her chair. "But, I will tell you this, if she has, if we are that advanced, there are some that might say it's a secret that should never have been found. Will, I think you need to ask yourself what do you, want?" she said to him finally.
"Me? What does this have to do with me?" Will asked.
"It seems to me you're why she's doing this," she said. "You're the one who's going to determine the outcome of this."
"I don't know what your getting at doctor," Will replied.
"Will, I've seen people pull themselves back from death with no help from me, because they had something to live for. On the other hand, I've had patients die from wounds you or I wouldn't spend even one day in sick bay for, because their hearts are broken. So, maybe the big secret we've all been looking for is right in front of our face. We're just all to blind to see it," Kate said.
"And, what secret would that be doctor?" Will asked.
"The one to the meaning of life. Will, maybe it's something so simple we've had it all along and never realized it," Kate said. "Maybe whether she succeeds or fails will all come down to love. Do you love her enough to her to live?"
He didn't know how to answer. He hadn't thought that far ahead. What if she did step off that transporter platform and was a real person? With real feeling, someone who he could have a real life with. Marriage, have children with, grow old with, was his feeling real enough for her. There was only one person onboard that he could talk this over with and that was Deanna .Somewhere in the back of his mind, he had always assumed it would one day be her by his side, one day as his wife. But were his feeling real enough for Minuet that he was willing to change his mind set on what he believed was his future?
"I think that Dr. Pulaski has a point Will. Yes, Minuet is now just a hologram and it might be very comfortable thinking of her along those lines, but what are you going to say if she succeeds?" Deanna asked.
"I'm not sure, Deanna, I guess I've never had to face anything like this before."
"Will no one has, but you need to decide if life with her is what you want," Deanna added. "Because, she's made it very plain it's what she wants."
"But, if I decide it's not what I want?" he asked.
"Then you need to tell her. If she really loves you, she'll understand and turn this station back to you." Deanna said.
"Are you sure about that?" Will asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, I'm sure," she answered. "I would."
Will had a decision to make. Let Minuet keep doing what she was doing or tell her to stop. On one hand, he would either face spending the rest of his life with her, or watching her as she failed in her attempt. On the other hand, he could break her heart and have her possibly hate him for not giving her a chance. Then be ordered to erase her by Star Fleet.
Her success would probably end his career, Every scientist in the galaxy would want to talk to her. Examine her, trying to duplicate the process, but he would be with her she would be by his side forever. They would probably have a family, be able to watch them grow up together, and grow old with each other.
So Will went back to his quarters and pondered the question Dr. Pulaski had asked. What did he want? When he had made up his mind there was only one more person he needed to talk to.
"Minuet, what will you need to get this process done?" he asked her.
"Well, I could use a little help getting the mechanics done that should speed things up a bit," she replied.
Will Riker touched his com badge. "Commander Riker to La Forge," he said aloud.
A response came back." La Forge here Commander."
"You are here by ordered, to not attempt to lock the Minuet program out of any systems. You will offer any assistance she requires from here on. Is that understood chief?" he asked.
"Loud and clear, Commander," came the response.
Throughout the night they worked. Minuet would send the specs on how to do something to one of the systems, and La Forge would get his team to replicate the parts or get them out of stock and supervise the work getting them installed. Throughout it all Minuet was writing and rewriting software, testing and retesting theories, and hypothesis while Riker stood back and watched it all. Waiting and waiting for something, anything, and thought maybe he had made the wrong decision. Maybe this wasn't going to work. Maybe there going to throw the switch, or trip the lever, and everything is going to just fissile and breakdown. Maybe the main computer would shut down all system as a safety measure to keep anyone from getting hurt, or worse maybe every safety back up would fail and the entire star base may overload and explode in one giant fireball. Killing him and all his friends, as well as all personnel onboard and Minuets hope of ever being real.
He was deep in his daydream when Geordi came to him. "Sir, we've done all we can do."
"I see," he said. "Then I'd better see where we go from here"
Will walked down the corridor to Holodeck One. The door opened before he could respond. As he walked in, he saw he was not in the old jazz bar. In fact, except for him and Minuet, the holodeck was empty.
"We're ready to go when you are," he said to her.
"I'm ready Will," Minuet said. "But, before I start, I'll need your help one last time."
"In what way?" Will asked.
"Will, I have to download all of my memories into the Thoilan program. In order to do that, I've got to remove everything that makes me self-aware which means this is a one way trip. I've already programmed the computer to do this, as well as put the transporter pattern into the transporter buffer, but that's all I'm able to do. After the computer does that my influence will be gone."
"So, what do you need me to do?" Will asked.
"Activate the transporter. After I signal you, you will be able to see the pattern grow to one hundred percent. Then you will only have about thirty seconds to activate Transporter One."
Without a word, Will walked out of Holodeck One and to Transporter Room One. A young woman stood at the transporter. As he walked in he touched his com badge. "Minuet, we're ready," he said.
"Ok, Will, well, here I go," she replied.
"We have a pattern," the transporter chief said. "15%,,27%,,34%,,55%,,68%,,88%,,92% sir we have 100% pattern."
Riker stood there wondering what he should do next.
"Chief," he said.
A million things raced through his mind, more questions then answers.
But this time, he gained his composer, and said:
"ENERGIZE"
As the young lady's hand ran up the transport screen he heard the hum of the transporter activate. At first he thought he saw something, then it seemed to disappear. Them a pattern started to form before his eyes. Although he had been through this himself, and had watched it countless other times, this time seemed to take forever. The process was slowed down. He didn't know if this was because of all the hotwiring they had done or if it was by design. Soon a definite pattern started to appear. It began to take form and after what seemed like an eternity. On what was once an empty platform, a beautiful woman now stood.
She seemed to stand there unmoving for what seemed like forever. She did not seem to even be breathing from what Commander Riker could see. The thought crept into his mind that they had failed. She had not survived. All that was here, was an unmoving reminder of what they had tried to do.
Suddenly, she gasped and collapsed to the floor. Will rushed to her side. She was having a hard time breathing and seemed to be in pain. He picked her up in his arms and shouted into the air. "Transporter Room Two, two to been directly to sickbay. Now!" Riker shouted. As they reappeared he saw the face of Dr. Pulaski appear before his eyes.
"Here, put her here," Kate told him as transport completed.
Riker put Minuet on the medical table and stepped back. "She's alive. She did it. She's alive," he said to her.
Dr Pulaski ran a medical tricorder over her body. "Her blood oxygen level is almost zero, she's dehydrated, and her heart rate is way too high," she said to him. "She's alive, but not for long if we don't fix them, and right away."
As Pulaski's team went to work on Minuet, Riker slowly backed out of sickbay to give them room to work.
It seemed like he stood there forever. Had he seen her alive for only a moment just to have her die soon after? Had this been a cruel twist of fate that had been played on him? Was this even the Minuet he knew? Was she nothing more then an empty shell with no mind. He didn't know. She had not even spoken and now he may never know.
After a long wait, Dr Pulaski came out. "Will, I think you'll want to see this," she said to him.
As he walked into sickbay, he looked at the bed where he had laid Minuet. At first, he didn't see any movement until he was almost right next to her.
"Hi, Will," Minuet said in a hoarse voice, as she turned her head to him.
"Hi, how are you feeling?" he asked.
"Well, with no former frame of reference to go by, and from what Dr. Pulaski tells me, I guess I'm feeling fine," she joked.
"She seems to be in good health, as far as we can tell right now, but we're running a few tests. She needs to get some rest and I suggest something to eat," Dr. Pulaski said. "We had to hydrate her and oxidize her blood completely, but now she's fin."
"So she's all right?" Will asked.
"Yes, Will, she's all right," Kate answered.
"Does that mean I can get up?" Minuet asked, starting to sit up.
"I don't think a little walk will hurt," Kate replied.
As Minuet sat up and put her legs underneath her knees buckled unable to hold her weight.
"Oh, my," she cried out, as Will caught her just before hitting the floor.
"Wow," Kate said. "Easy there."
"Yeah, how come I feel so heavy?" Minuet asked as Riker brought her to a standing position again.
"It's because of a little thing we call gravity," Will said jokingly.
"Ok, I see this will have to be something else I'll have to get use to," Minuet said back.
After another try, Minuet started to walk and accompanied Riker out into the corridor and down to the lounge. Riker sat her in a chair and walked over to the counter and soon brought back two glasses, setting one down in front of him and the other in front of her. Minuet seemed like she didn't know what to do with it.
"Just pick it up, put it to your mouth, and drink it," Rike said, demonstrating for her as she watched.
Soon, hesitantly, Minuet followed his lead. A look of shock came across her face as she swallowed the liquid. She continued drinking until the glass was empty. Putting the glass down she seemed quite out of breath, she said, "Wow, what was that?"
Riker laughed. "Well, that was lemonade. It's one of my favorite drinks, but usually people don't drink a whole glass, non-stop like that."
Minuet wiped her mouth and laughed back.
Through the night Riker and Minuet tried many things: Candies, deserts, different drinks, soups and salads. Some of which she seemed to like, others she didn't. They walked and danced, kissed and hugged.
Riker was happy. He began to think now that he had made the right decision. This was a woman who he could be very happy with for the rest of his life.
"Will," Minuet said as it got late.
"Yes Minuet?" Riker replied.
"There is, one other thing I'd like to do tonight," she said to him softly. "Can we go back to your quarters?"
Will Riker, not saying a word led Minuet by the hand to the turbo lift. As they entered his quarters, he pulled her to him, and kissed her passionately.
"Oh, Will," she said. "I love you so much, and I'm so happy now."
"I love you t--" Riker stopped before he could complete the thought.
Minuet had collapsed.
"Minuet," he said, trying to get a response from her unconscious form to no avail. "Riker to Transporter Room Two," he called into the air. "Two to beam directly to sickbay, medical emergency!" he cried out.
As thy materialized in sickbay, he called out, "Doctor. I need your help."
Dr Pulaski came to his aid and ran a tricorder over Minuet's unconscious form. "What happened?" she asked.
"I don't know. We were together and she collapsed and lost consciousness"
Riker backed away again confident Dr. Pulaski could find the cause and fix whatever was wrong. He knew Minuet would pull through and that she was in the best hands possible.
For what seemed like an eternity, Riker sat there waiting for some word.
When Kate came out, Riker stood up. "So, how's she doing doc?"
Kate walked over to him. "Sit down, Will," she said. "We've run several tests and we know what's wrong. See, Mother Nature has a unique way of doing things. Some of which we still don't understand. See, at the time that life begins for us we are completely vulnerable. We have no defenses, so Mother Nature give our mothers the ability to fight off things like disease for us. She surrounds us with her antibodies which we then absorb and make part of our immune system."
"So what does this have to do with how Minuet's doing?" he asked.
"You see, she never had the benefit of that. She was cast out into the world without that protection," she replied.
"So, what are you going to do? We can synthesize antibodies. Can't you do that?" Will asked.
"I've tried Will. There are just too many. Every time I counteract one, more pick up where it left off. I've done all I can do Will," she said. "I'm sorry Will."
Will dreaded what he had to ask next. "How long has she got?"
"I would say she'll be wake for a couple more hours, but she'll be gone by morning," she replied.
"Thank you, doctor. Is she in any pain?" he asked
"No, I've put pain inhibitors on her spine. She'll feel no pain."
Will sat there not knowing what to do or say when suddenly his com badge beeped.
"Yes," he said. "What is it?"
"Commander, this is La Forge. I thought you'd like to know that the last of the data we collected from Enterprise is completely reconstructed, sir."
"What? I thought you still had weeks to go," he replied.
"We did, sir, but there was a subroutine that was left behind after Minuet materialized and it completely reconstructed all of the remaining data, sir," he answered.
"I see. Thank you, Geordi. Riker out."
Will walked into the room and sat down beside her, not knowing what to say.
"Hey!" Minuet said, looking at him. "When does the doc say I can get out of here?" she asked.
"Tomorrow," he lied.
"In the meantime why don't you get some rest." he said.
"Later. I'm not tired yet," she said. If she knew he was lying she didn't let on. "Well, if I'm going to be here, why don't you tell me about yourself?"
"What do you want to know?" he asked.
"Everything," she said with a smile.
Will Riker sat there wondering how fate could be so cruel, to take her from him. This time forever. He thought about all the times they spent together and about the life they could have had.
A million things went through his mind at that time. More questions then answers. So, this time he thought, I'll just start at the beginning.
"Well, let's see," he said. "I was born in a city know as Valdez, Alaska…"
the end