Chapter 12
Ambassador Spock sat and looked out across the plain where the Talosian had come and gone. He was definitely of the same species as the Keeper, but the Vulcan had never before seen this one. This strange Talosian said they were aiding the enemy. What did that mean? Did this new Talosian consider one of the creatures of the menagerie to be an enemy? Was he an enemy of the Keeper? He reached out to the Keeper with his mind. He didn't know if he could find him, but he tried. He felt Picard, Janeway, Paris, B'Elanna… they all seemed to be as trapped as he was. Curious.
He couldn't find the Keeper, then he realized he wasn't really standing beside Spock… just an illusion of him. He reached farther, and found him on board Voyager, in sickbay, and his mind was as active as ever. Spock touched it gingerly. Because of the the appearance of the new Talosian, Spock was beginning to doubt that the Keeper had anything to do with their captivity.
Once Spock made contact, he requested a full link. The Keeper agreed, and their minds merged. In a moment, Spock learned more of Captain Pike than he had in all their time together. He saw, through Pike's eyes, himself as a young lieutenant, newly assigned to Enterprise, and still struggling to control his emotions. Had he really smiled like that? He hadn't realized, but then, perhaps Pike had read more emotion than Spock had really shown. 'No, Spock, you really DID smile that much.' The thought came from the Keeper's mind, but it was definitely Captain Pike's amused voice.
Interesting, Spock thought. The Keeper must have absorbed an enormous amount of Captain Pike's personality over the years. It's almost as if the Captain is still here, talking to me.
Yes, Spock, I did absorb much of Chris' personality, but that is not the reason you hear his voice. That was in the Keeper's own voice.
Indeed, Spock projected to the Keeper. What other reason is there? Spock knew that there were more pressing things to discuss with the Talosian, but his curiosity, never far from the surface, was asserting itself once again.
Later, Spock. Right now, we must figure out what is happening to us. I have probed the minds on this ship, and have discovered that each is being affected by the same illusion that I perceive.
Fascinating. Spock considered for a moment. Then, How are we acting as separate individuals in the meld? In my experience, a meld this deep involves a merging of consciousness.
Not for my people. We have a way of compartmentalizing our minds. You are joined to a section of my mind that I have restricted to use as a connection to you. It does not contain my consciousness. Just a few impressions of my choosing. I do not wish to overwhelm you with my thoughts, so I considered that this might be the best way of communication between us.
Indeed. Spock was mildly perturbed that the Talosian was condescending to him, but given the obvious power of his brain, he was undoubtedly correct that his thoughts could overwhelm him. I would assume that those of us who are underground are all being affected in the same way too. I saw a Talosian earlier. He said that we were aiding the enemy. Who is the enemy?
The Magistrate considered before he answered. There was the possibility that he was wrong, but he doubted it. Spock must know the truth. Chris had known, and he didn't think less of the Talosian for it, so it was doubtful that Spock would either. That will take some time to explain, Spock. Many years ago, Talos was at war. You know this, but what you don't yet know is that we were at war with ourselves. The 'pets' that beat us back… They were not just pets. They were not just intelligent creatures. They were us. There were those of us who did not have the ability to project illusions into the minds of others. They were looked down on, and treated as 'less than' the rest of us. At first, this prejudice was not the case, but as time went on experiments were performed on these people. These experiments were intended with the purest of scientific motives. We wished to learn why some of us had the ability and others didn't. Eventually, however, these people became less than people… they became simply test subjects. Then, horribly, they became the property of the laboratories that were performing the experiments. We fooled ourselves into thinking we were purely scientists by making life as comfortable for these people as we possibly could. What we didn't realize, however, is that some of them were born immune to our abilities. We couldn't project into their minds. These people went into hiding, and they started experimenting on us! They quickly learned how to shield against our projections, so we couldn't do anything to stop them. They developed a purely artificial means of projecting what we did naturally. And not only did they give themselves the ability artificially, but it was more powerful than our own. With the turn of a dial, they could amplify their abilities enormously.
The Keeper paused for a moment and Spock could feel the emotions raging through him. Finally, he resumed in his narrative. In the first strike, they decimated our population. We lost many good people in that attack. Years ago, we expressed surprise to Chris that human beings were so horrified at being kept in a cage. We had seen this horror before, however. We had seen it in ourselves. What we didn't know is that others shared this resistance. The Keeper stopped talking and simply "looked" at Spock for a long while, as if daring him to judge him.
Spock, for his part, was unwilling to judge. His own history was so violent that he refused to say anything. The Keeper finally broke his silence. This must seem horrific to you - that any race could do this to itself.
No, Magistrate. If you look into my mind deeper, you will see that Vulcans have a particularly long and bloody history. It is not my place to judge your race when mine was so badly behaved before we discovered logic to temper us.
Suddenly, both Spock and the Keeper sensed a new mind tentatively reaching out to touch them. It was fleeting at first, but the touch became more and more substantial. The Keeper recoiled in horror at the first sensing of this mind, but intellectually, he knew that this mind was safe to touch. Very carefully, the Keeper drew the mind in. Part of him kept screaming, artificial! But it was the artificial aspects of Seven that allowed the joining in which he now found himself.
The Keeper heard in his mind, but also with his ears, You were right, Doctor. Apparently, that was the correct frequency to use. I am accessing thoughts from the Keeper and the ambassador.