h1 style="color: #222222; text-align: center; margin: 0cm 0cm 3.6pt; font-family: Electrolize, sans-serif;"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"span lang="EN-CA"Chapter Twenty-four/span/span/h1
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; text-align: center; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;" /span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt;"emspan lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"Location: Kal's Shuttle, on the way back to Cromwell/span/span/em/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"emspan lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;" /span/span/em/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"Kal's shuttle was repaired within a day, the Cooperative were just as efficient as the Borg in some ways, having so many bodies it would be difficult not to be, although, unlike the Borg, they left plenty of time for pleasure as well./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"The Cooperative had informed Six and Kit that Kal was quite alright with them taking his shuttle, he wouldn't be needing it anymore./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"They had taken Kal's holoimage out of the shuttle though, Kal's lost family where emtheir/em lost family now./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"Six and Kit were sitting in the living room with May, ready to say goodbye. All of the bodies in the Cooperative had names, not designations, every new part of them that was born received a name as children born into any other society do./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;""Have you got any plans?" Kit asked May. "Your society, collective... do you have any plans for the future?"/span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"She asked mostly out of curiosity, the Cooperative had shown every sign of being technologically advanced. Their architecture were an unusual combination of ideas from the various cultures their collective contained, it looked strange and yet beautiful, the vast number of ideas from the Cooperative's mind, all inspired by individual cultures and blended together in fascinating ways./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"A lot of their technology was Borg or an adaptation of Borg technology, the interfaces they used to connect to their buildings for example, the Borg combined technology well and the Cooperative had used that, but they had holodecks and other forms of entertainment as well, and technology for growing food, things the Borg would have considered irrelevant./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"While Borg tech was often the basis of their devices, their technology was distinctly different from that of the Collective's, often built upon by the innovation the Cooperative was able to possess. The Cooperative could innovate where the Borg could not because all of their voices could express themselves. They were clearly capable of building ships but Kit had seen no evidence of any. /span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;""We have been considering that question for a while." May admitted "A good proportion of our mind wants to make ships, to make contact with the outside but another equally substantial proportion is afraid, we are safe here, safe from the Borg. If they ever discovered our existence it would likely mean our demise." /span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"Six considered a discussion she'd had with Kamaia a while back, she and the Captain had explained to her that the DFA 'assimilated' new worlds by asking them (rather than forcing them) to join. Her understanding of the diplomatic process involved was basic but she did know that you had to ask if you wanted to expand your collective./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;""Will you join our collective?" She asked suddenly./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"Both May and Kit gave her a look of confusion./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;""The Cooperative cannot come home with us." Kit said to Six, grinning at the thought of bringing more than 80,000 people home with her./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;""Oh we know that! They would not fit." Six sighed "We mean... would you like to join the DFA?"/span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"There was a pause, the Cooperative had been isolated for 50 years, all they knew of the DFA was what Six and Kal's interface had shown them./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;""We do not think that we want to join your organisation... not at present…" May replied, the Cooperative had a better idea of the politics involved than Six did and were not exactly keen on abandoning their splendid isolation to get involved with the powers of the Delta Quadrant. "However... if we ever decide to leave our planet, if we ever decide to explore, then you may consider us a friend."/span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"Six smiled and looked to Kit "Provide instructions?" she asked./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;""How about 'time to go home'?" Kit said. "Thank you very much for your hospitality, we hope to see you again sometime."/span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;""And thank you for the connection." Six said in earnest "We... we never expected to feel that again." A tear welled in her eye again but she wiped it away, Six wanted to belong to a Hive Mind... but she wanted to belong to Cromwell more./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;""You are always welcome to visit our mind." May replied, smiling at Six. "And you are always welcome to visit our planet." she said to Kit with a grin. She knew Kit would never be convinced to connect to them./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"The pair embarked in the newly repaired shuttle, Six assimilating what she needed from the Cooperative in order to fly the shuttle since Kal was staying behind. They'd been gone two days now and Kit was wondering if anyone had noticed their absence, she thought it very probable that they had, Six's schedule would have seen to that, DW123, Brinn or Kamaia would certainly have noticed the lack of Six and Kit's roommate and the rest of the Engineering team would have noticed hers, she hoped they'd not caused to much concern.. would the Major have sent someone looking for them?/span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; text-align: center; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;" /span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt;"emspan lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"Location: Kal's Shuttle, on the way back to Cromwell/span/span/em/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"emspan lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;" /span/span/em/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"Kal's shuttle was repaired within a day, the Cooperative were just as efficient as the Borg in some ways, having so many bodies it would be difficult not to be, although, unlike the Borg, they left plenty of time for pleasure as well./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"The Cooperative had informed Six and Kit that Kal was quite alright with them taking his shuttle, he wouldn't be needing it anymore./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"They had taken Kal's holoimage out of the shuttle though, Kal's lost family where emtheir/em lost family now./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"Six and Kit were sitting in the living room with May, ready to say goodbye. All of the bodies in the Cooperative had names, not designations, every new part of them that was born received a name as children born into any other society do./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;""Have you got any plans?" Kit asked May. "Your society, collective... do you have any plans for the future?"/span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"She asked mostly out of curiosity, the Cooperative had shown every sign of being technologically advanced. Their architecture were an unusual combination of ideas from the various cultures their collective contained, it looked strange and yet beautiful, the vast number of ideas from the Cooperative's mind, all inspired by individual cultures and blended together in fascinating ways./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"A lot of their technology was Borg or an adaptation of Borg technology, the interfaces they used to connect to their buildings for example, the Borg combined technology well and the Cooperative had used that, but they had holodecks and other forms of entertainment as well, and technology for growing food, things the Borg would have considered irrelevant./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"While Borg tech was often the basis of their devices, their technology was distinctly different from that of the Collective's, often built upon by the innovation the Cooperative was able to possess. The Cooperative could innovate where the Borg could not because all of their voices could express themselves. They were clearly capable of building ships but Kit had seen no evidence of any. /span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;""We have been considering that question for a while." May admitted "A good proportion of our mind wants to make ships, to make contact with the outside but another equally substantial proportion is afraid, we are safe here, safe from the Borg. If they ever discovered our existence it would likely mean our demise." /span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"Six considered a discussion she'd had with Kamaia a while back, she and the Captain had explained to her that the DFA 'assimilated' new worlds by asking them (rather than forcing them) to join. Her understanding of the diplomatic process involved was basic but she did know that you had to ask if you wanted to expand your collective./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;""Will you join our collective?" She asked suddenly./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"Both May and Kit gave her a look of confusion./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;""The Cooperative cannot come home with us." Kit said to Six, grinning at the thought of bringing more than 80,000 people home with her./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;""Oh we know that! They would not fit." Six sighed "We mean... would you like to join the DFA?"/span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"There was a pause, the Cooperative had been isolated for 50 years, all they knew of the DFA was what Six and Kal's interface had shown them./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;""We do not think that we want to join your organisation... not at present…" May replied, the Cooperative had a better idea of the politics involved than Six did and were not exactly keen on abandoning their splendid isolation to get involved with the powers of the Delta Quadrant. "However... if we ever decide to leave our planet, if we ever decide to explore, then you may consider us a friend."/span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"Six smiled and looked to Kit "Provide instructions?" she asked./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;""How about 'time to go home'?" Kit said. "Thank you very much for your hospitality, we hope to see you again sometime."/span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;""And thank you for the connection." Six said in earnest "We... we never expected to feel that again." A tear welled in her eye again but she wiped it away, Six wanted to belong to a Hive Mind... but she wanted to belong to Cromwell more./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;""You are always welcome to visit our mind." May replied, smiling at Six. "And you are always welcome to visit our planet." she said to Kit with a grin. She knew Kit would never be convinced to connect to them./span/span/p
p style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Varela, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 3.6pt; text-indent: 18pt;"span lang="EN-CA"span style="color: #000000; font-size: medium;"The pair embarked in the newly repaired shuttle, Six assimilating what she needed from the Cooperative in order to fly the shuttle since Kal was staying behind. They'd been gone two days now and Kit was wondering if anyone had noticed their absence, she thought it very probable that they had, Six's schedule would have seen to that, DW123, Brinn or Kamaia would certainly have noticed the lack of Six and Kit's roommate and the rest of the Engineering team would have noticed hers, she hoped they'd not caused to much concern.. would the Major have sent someone looking for them?/span/span/p