The Best of Both Worlds
Part Five
By Serendipity
Kathy sat miserably in her flat. She had built up a picture of Jean Luc Picard from what Guinan had told her. Now all contact was gone and she would never know if he was safe. After all he had told her about his spirit being crushed she felt an immense pain at his plight. If only there was a way to find out…
She knew it was wrong and stupid. What had Guinan said? That the Borg people were sending information to Barbara's main computer via Kathy's workstation? Well that didn't mean anything as far as Kathy could see. No one in Britain at the moment would know how to build a race of cyborgs. It was the stuff of science fiction.
She drank about three cups of coffee. It was no good. She had to speak to him. She rushed out of her flat at around midnight, her own selfishness stopping her from thinking rationally. She would tell the security guard that she had left something at work.
To her amazement he believed her. She had no idea how flaky she seemed to people sometimes. The guard often told his colleagues that it seemed as if Kathy lived on a different plane to everyone else.
'Doesn't that bloody woman need sleep?' Kathy asked herself, exasperated to find that Barbara was still in her office. Kathy crept past, hoping that Barbara was too involved in her work to see her.
"Jean Luc, are you there?" Kathy typed quickly. No reply. She looked towards Barbara who seemed to be rubbing her hands with glee, as if something exciting had just happened.
"Jean Luc, please speak to me." Kathy needed to speak to him.
"I am here, Katherine." He replied. "I told you not to contact me again." She almost heard the reproach in his voice.
"I just wanted to tell you I know how you feel. I know what it is to feel as if your spirit has been broken, with all the poetry gone from your heart. I feel like that all the time, sitting at this workstation, day in, day out." Kathy was surprised to realise she was crying as she typed.
"At least you can get out Katherine." She sensed he was angry with her. "You can be free if you want to be. In your time you can choose your own destiny. If the Borg…."
The transmission ended suddenly. Kathy heard a whoop of joy from Barbara.
"Jean Luc?" Kathy must have typed it about a dozen times but he was definitely gone this time. She sat with her head in her hands, hardly aware of faint whispers nearby.
He was right. What right did she have to complain about her lot? She was still fairly young. Only thirty five years old. She made her own destiny. She mentally kicked herself for her selfishness.
She looked up slowly and looked around the massive office. She didn't have to come here at all. She could choose a different path. He didn't have that luxury now. She stood up to leave, but stopped when she saw Barbara, the military man and a couple of young male soldiers heading for the lift. They got in and disappeared from sight.
What on earth? Kathy made her way to the elevator and noticed that the display indicated that the lift had gone down deep into the basement. She pressed the button to recall it and waited.
"What is she up to?" Barbara said to Bowler as she saw the display in the lift light up.
"Why don't you let her come down and we'll find out?" Bowler said coldly.
"Good idea." Barbara replied, catching onto his meaning very quickly.
Kathy stepped into the lift about five minutes later and pressed the button for the basement.
She was amazed when she stepped out. Instead of the dark, dank cellar she expected, she found a room as high as a cathedral with computers lining the walls. A group of people stood in the centre around a long table. Two were young soldiers, looking on horrified as a procedure was carried out on their comrade.
Kathy took one look at the body on the table and almost fainted. Blood was pouring from his temples and various other pressure points on his body. He writhed in agony.
"I told you we should have used more anaesthetic." Barbara complained.
"You know as well as I do that it dulled their senses so we were only left with zombies." Bowler snapped back.
"I thought that's what you wanted." Barbara said archly.
"Not quite. They need to be able to think to a certain degree." Bowler explained. "Just not their own thoughts."
Kathy felt sick. She would give anything not to see this.
"What the hell…?" she murmured, barely above a whisper.
"Ah Kathy. There you are. Now you can find out exactly what you've been helping us to do for the last few days." Barbara smiled serenely, almost oblivious of the young man dying on the table.
"Yes," Bowler cut in. "It was a sub-space beacon. It gave us all we needed to complete our work. Of course we always deny that such things as U.F.O.s exist but we've learned a lot from our friends in space." As he spoke the soldier on the table died. As if by magic the table was flipped over and the young man was tipped down a chute, like rubbish going into the dustbin. That's all he was to them.
Kathy's brain was racing. There would be only one reason they were telling her this. That's because they planned to kill her. She ran back to the lift but was prevented by two more soldiers who had crept behind her and blocked her path. They had machine guns resting across their chest.
"I won't tell anyone." Kathy promised, turning to Barbara. They both knew it was a lie.
Kathy ran to the other side of the room, vainly looking for a way out. Barbara came after her and the two women struggled, with Barbara gaining the upper hand and pulling Kathy towards the operating table. They struggled more, Barbara picking up a syringe.
Oh God, thought Kathy. They don't want me dead, they want to…what had Jean Luc called it? Assimilate?
For once Kathy gained the upper hand, knocking Barbara flying. Barbara hit her head on the table and hit the floor with a crash. It was the last thing Kathy remembered as she felt a syringe from another direction hit her in the arm, then there was blackness…..
End of Part Five