In honor of Morgan Woodward
"Coming back from this will be hard," Dr. T'nar said this to Simon Van Gelder, right at the beginning of their therapeutic sessions. That was something Van Gelder had already known.
Before…Before Tristan Adams…
Before…
Van Gelder had been a psychiatrist; a well-respected, successful, psychiatrist.
He already knew coming back from soul-altering trauma was hard.
But,Van Gelder had never expected he would be the one in need.
So…Here we are…Three months to the day.
Three months ago, Dr. Tristan Adams had violated every ethical standard embraced by the medical/psychiatric community. Three months ago, Dr. Adams had…assaulted Dr. Van Gelder.
Mentally.
Emotionally…
"Your recovery has been remarkable," the Vulcan psychiatrist said.
"Yes," Van Gelder nodded. He didn't really know what else to say. He had somehow come through all of that with his memories mostly intact.
Mostly…
Adams had used the Neural Neutralizer, a device designed to erase painful memories, to destroy Simon Van Gelder's mind.
The crew of the Enterprise had arrived just in time to prevent Dr. Adams from doing…whatever it was he had been trying to do.
Just in time to save…me.
Now, Simon Van Gelder was faced with the responsibility of running Tantalus Colony, taking care of all the residents. All while dealing with his own personal trauma, his own inner demons…
The panic attacks were finally beginning to go away.
But Van Gelder realized he would probably have the nightmares for as long as he lived.
His diagnosis was simple enough to arrive at.
The Medical Profession still called it, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder…
Well…he knew what it was, and his training told him how to deal with it. But Dr. T'nar was right. It was hard.
So very hard…