Chapter 4:
An hour or so later, Q1 and Q2a were talking a walk through the ship, out of phase with the inhabitants so they would not be seen or questioned about their presence. Q1 was still curious how the elder Q could know the confused blonde girl that had been in the portal, but he was keeping his questions to himself for the moment. They passed the arboretum for the second time in the twenty seconds it took them to go from end to end of this tiny ship, then Q2a suddenly stopped and just stood there in the garden.
Q1 was halfway to Astro Metrics before he noticed and turned back.
"Is something wrong Q?" he asked the elder.
Q2a just shook his head and then taking a more human like appearance, but still phased out, knelt and took a deep breath of the scents of the flowers beneath his nostrils. "Nothing's wrong Q," he whispered huskily. "I was just remembering my teacher, Quinn. I miss him Q."
Q1 nodded, remembering the anarchist Q that had kept wanting to kill himself, and finally succeeded when the Federation starship Voyager had released him and granted him asylum. Q1 had met him once, but didn't know him well enough to call him a friend. "If it's worth anything Q, I'm sorry," he offered sympathetically.
Q2a just nodded back.
"We never stop and smell the roses anymore Q. It's going to be the Continuum's undoing unless we learn to see the universe with the same enthusiasm that we did when we first started out. We need to spend more time appreciating everything, and I mean everything if we want to survive. The Civil War was only a catalyst point. There will be others, mark my words Q, there will be others."
Q1 looked confusedly at the elder. "What in all the omniverse are you talking about Q?" he near shrieked.
Q2a looked at him and just smiled. "You'll see. I'm sorry Q, but I'm going back to my family," Q2a apologized. "I might bring them by later, but if you want to stay and watch anything more, you have my permission to do so, but you are not to interfere. The moment my dear Jean Luc met those six, he adopted them into his crew, thereby putting them under the same rule as Jean Luc himself. Do you understand me?"
Q1 nodded, completely baffled by Q2a's behavior. "I understand Q."
And with that, both Q's faded from the existence near the Enterprise the elder Q going back to the Continuum, while Q1 decided to hang out around and see what turned out with the results from his dissolved portal.
On the Port side of the ship on Deck 13, Deanna Troi, Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Cordelia were being led to their new quarters. Cordelia had put up some amount of fuss, insisting that she had to stay by Angel's side, but Buffy, Angel, and Counselor Troi had assured her that both she and Angel would be safe, particularly her.
Willow and Xander however had put up little fuss and in fact readily agreed to getting better accommodations than Sickbay could provide. Deanna had then offered to freely show them to the assigned rooms, which were held for visitors or people that just showed up on the ship from time to time, and Buffy accepted for the group.
"Buffy?" Willow asked in a shy voice. "Are you OK? Ever since Spike changed his face you've been kind of quiet? Is there anything wrong?"
"No Will, I'm fine," Buffy immediately answered.
Deanna briefly looked back to the blonde, but said nothing. She decided to try something, and to show Buffy that she shouldn't hide things from those that genuinely cared for her, like these two did.
'That's not very nice, Buffy,' she thought to her in a way that she normally only had to do when her mother was visiting.
Buffy faltered in her steps a little, but kept walking, her face showing her shock at the sudden communication. Willow almost instantly started panicking. Xander was just offering himself for emotional support, but remaining quiet.
"Buffy? Omigod!! Buffy! I-are you all right? Do we need to go back to Sickbay? Do we need to get help? Buffy are you sick? Are you hurt? Buffy please tell…" Willow was babbling.
Buffy stopped her by putting her hands on the redhead's shoulders. "Will! Willow! Calm down! I'm fine! I just tripped over my own feet. I mean, I've been lying down now for how many hours? Really, I'm fine Willow," she comforted.
"Oh, OK. Well as long as you're OK, Buffy." Willow calmed. Buffy smiled and they continued on their way.
'OK, now THAT was not nice!' Buffy thought back at Deanna, who was surprised to hear it since she and Buffy were no longer touching.
'Buffy, how long have you been telepathic?' Deanna asked while keeping her face and body focused on directing them to Xander's quarters.
Buffy's face however showed her confusion at Deanna's message. 'What's telepathic?'
Deanna could almost burst out in laughter. 'Telepathy, mind-to-mind communication, like what we're doing right now. How long have you been a telepath?'
Buffy shrugged and didn't answer for several minutes. Finally, 'I'm really not sure. I…think that I know what you're talking about…and I remember…pain associated with that memory. As for what we're doing right now, it just kind of came natural the moment you touched me. Maybe…maybe the doc can explain it later. Right now I know we all want sleep.'
Deanna giggled slightly as she felt the earnestness behind that request and let go of her connection to Buffy for the moment. They soon came to Xander's quarters, where the Counselor stopped them and then pressed several buttons on the little touch pad by the door.
Curious, Buffy asked aloud, "What's that?"
Surprised, Deanna turned as the doors opened and asked back, "What's what?"
Buffy pointed at the touch pad and shrugged. Deanna looked and could barely stop herself from bursting out in laughter. "It's just a control pad, for the door. These quarters are normally never in use, so I had to input my access code in order to open the door. But don't worry, once we have them assigned to you in the computer, all you have to do is walk up to the door, and the sensors will recognize you and let you in. Now come on in, I'll show you around Xander, since this is your place now." The Counselor smiled as she said this.
Xander, a stunned look on his face, walked stiffly into the quarters and near-fainted as he got a good look inside.
It was, in Counselor Troi's eyes, completely modern and near state-of-the-art. In the four strangers' eyes, it was something out of a science fiction nerd's wet dream. The force-field enhanced windows showed a completely unobstructed view of the starscape outside the ship, proving once and for all that they were indeed on a starship. The furniture was smooth, comfortable looking, inviting, and mostly gray. There were two couches, one beneath the windows, and another facing them against the opposite wall. A couple chairs and what might be defined as "recliners" but that was iffy. And then there were two connecting rooms on either side of the "living room" if it could be called that.
They all more or less shuffled inside, the Counselor smiling at the feelings of awe, amazement, and piqued curiosity coming from her companions. "This is my place?" Xander asked, his amazement becoming tangible through his voice. "I mean this whole…place is really my place. Not some place that you'll move me out of when I don't pay the rent or whatever. My very own place?"
Deanna couldn't help giggling as she smiled and answered Xander's ramblings, "Yes Xander, this is your very own 'place'. And don't worry about paying us back or anything. If you become a drain on ship's resources, my fiancée Commander Riker will be more than happy to jettison you."
Xander froze stiffer than a duranium steel plate. Buffy turned a harsh glare on the dark haired empath. 'Now who's not being nice?' Buffy asked the same way that she had learned Deanna spoke to her in her mind.
Deanna just smiled brightly, and ignored Buffy's mental taunt and calmed Xander by adding, "I'm just kidding Xander. Seriously though, until you want to give them up, these quarters are yours. As for ship's resources, we're used to having a few extra passengers on board and having you six will hardly put a drain on power systems. For right now Xander, I'm going to show Buffy, Willow, and Cordelia their quarters, which are just around the corner actually. You can either stay here and explore your new home, or you can come with us to see where each of you will be staying. Your choice."
Xander was kept from answering as he was exploring his quarters at this very moment, in the room off to the right from where the door is, which seemed to be a bedroom with a bathroom-like connection as well. When he was done in there, he quickly ran across the way to the room to the left of the door, which looked like either a dining room, or had the potential to be another bedroom, but this one had a window in it.
After he finished his quick sweep, Xander dashed back into the living room where the ladies were waiting for his answer. He gave it to them with little delay, "Oh, I'm definitely coming with. Limits the random knocking on doors when there's a slumber party going on."
Willow groaned at that comment, while Buffy scrunched her face in confusion, and Cordelia just looked bored. Deanna also looked a bit confused as she asked, "Slumber party?"
Xander nodded and explained as they exited his quarters. "Yeah, you know. Bunch of girls staying up most of the night in their PJs talking about food, boys, make-up, boys, their favorite movie star, boys, who they wanna marry, boys, and did I mention boys? Oh, and in Willow's case other girls too."
"Xander!!" Willow screamed in the middle of the hallway.
Deanna looked even more confused. "I'm not sure what you mean," she said as they stopped in front of Cordelia's quarters.
Xander shrugged again. "Willow's kinda gay. So instead of talking about the boy she wants to kiss, or kissed or all of the above, she'd be talkin' about a girl," Xander spurted out without thought.
Until Willow slapped him, hard, on the shoulder. "Oww!" he shouted as the pain registered. "What'd you do that for Will?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe you're blabbing out for the whole ship to hear things about my personal life that at the moment I might not remember!!" Willow screamed.
Xander felt a sudden stinging on the back of his head, causing him to scream out in pain again. He turned around and saw Cordelia glaring dangerously at him.
"Way to go Lame-oid! By the way, if you care to remember anything personal about me, not that I think you could, take that as warning to keep it to yourself. My personal life, hell anybodies personal life is not to be blasted around like common gossip. Unless I'm telling it." And with that she walked into her quarters that Deanna had just unlocked. The door closed behind her, and none felt like venturing to open it and face what was on the other side.
Shaking themselves from Cordy's tirade, the group continued on to Willow's quarters, which happened to be right next to Xander's, just in the other direction from Cordelia's. Deanna then recalled what her line of questioning had been about. "I think you misunderstood me Xander. I wasn't talking about your comment on Willow, though I don't judge anyone on anything like that. I've never heard the term 'slumber party'. Is it a ritual that your culture observes?"
Xander burst out laughing at that last question, as did Willow. Xander was shaking his head. "Uh, no. A slumber party is…well now that I think about it, I guess it is a ritual observed by our "culture." It's when teenage girls get together with all of their friends of the female variety, and do what I said earlier. Stay up late, talk, eat, watch TV or movies, and talk a whole lot more. Maybe pull a prank phone call or two, and then eventually wear themselves down so much that they fall asleep. What, you mean to tell me that you've never been to slash had a slumber party Counselor?"
Deanna smiled briefly, if not somewhat embarrassingly as she now recalled what Xander was describing from what she understood of Earth/human teenage habits. "Please, call me Deanna," she asked, "And now that I think about it, I do know what you're talking about…and no, I've never had a slumber party. At least not one like you've described."
"Really?" Buffy asked. "What was the one you had like?"
Deanna stopped them. She seemed to be gathering strength for some emotional trauma or memory. "It was more of a hostage situation. The Doctor and I, and two other crewmen, who I hope you get to meet, were taken prisoner during an away mission. They held us in a cell together for several days. So I guess you could say I've had a night with the girls, it just wasn't as pleasant."
Willow, frowning with empathy for the woman, said, "Well, maybe we should have our own slumber party. One to undress old wounds as they say. Hey! Maybe we can get Beverly and the other two-crew persons to join in. Then it'd really be fun!"
"Yeah, hey! Maybe there'll be pillow fights too," Xander added enthusiastically.
Buffy rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Xander, don't you remember, you said it yourself. Only girls, no guys allowed, right?" Buffy asked, unsure of her observation. Though Deanna seemed to be the only one who noticed.
Xander, looking beaten, snapped his fingers and said, "Shucks!" in defeat. Willow just smiled knowingly and patted Xander's shoulder. Deanna just giggled once more at the antics of these strange people.
They came up to Willow's quarters, and Deanna unlocked them releasing the room into Willow's care. Willow wanted to stay with Buffy and find out where the blonde's quarters would be, but Buffy insisted that she wanted Deanna to show her alone, though she wouldn't mind it at all if either wanted to come by later. Deanna told the other two youths that Buffy's quarters were actually just down the hall from Willow's quarters, separated only by hull and a Turbolift access. After the brief and short argument, Xander went back to his quarters, Willow into hers, and Deanna led Buffy to the quarters assigned to her.
"Is something wrong Buffy?" Deanna finally asked as the two women entered the younger's living room.
Buffy sat down on the couch, which was identical to the ones in the others' rooms, and templed her fingers in front of her face. Her brow was creased with concentration and her eyes shown her worry so well that Deanna didn't need her empathic abilities to tell her what Buffy was feeling. Concerned, the Councilor sat down beside the girl and gently rested her hand on her shoulder.
"Buffy?" Deanna tried to reach the girl.
"I remember my mother," was all Buffy said.
Deanna started, feeling the pure emotion that Buffy was going through. "Oh Buffy," she whispered in sympathy. She sat down beside the blonde girl, waiting for Buffy to say what she had to say, not forcing anything.
Meanwhile, back in Sickbay, something was happening inside of Data. The energy bolt that had struck him through the destroyed replicator, while directed by the two Q, had very little to do with any of the recent events. In fact, as would be found out much later, Data was actually constructed for the soul purpose of containing the energy that had remained from the portal in Engineering. And that it was of little coincidence that he was at his stage of development at this juncture in time.
Data's inner pathways were flooded with the strange energy that remained unidentifiable by the doctors or even Geordi's scans. However none of it was in any way damaging the android. In fact the opposite appeared to be true, Data's systems were in better status than they ever had been before. The only problem was, he wasn't waking up.
It was entirely understandable though. Data is now the vessel, the body for an entity older than the universe itself, which has its own memories, its own personality, it's own person. And after going from a biological body's few drops of blood, to tendrils of energy inside an android can be quite confusing, for any thing.
Finally, after nearly twelve hours of stasis, "Dawn" was waking up, and with her, so was Data.
'Unnghhh,' Dawn moaned in thought as she fought opening her eyes to the bright light. 'What?' she asked, 'Where am I? What happened to me? I…I don't remember…'
Data suddenly opened his eyes and sat straight on the bio-bed he had been placed on.
"Data!" Beverly and Geordi both started, rushing to the upright android.
"Are you all right, Data?" Crusher immediately asked.
"Data? How are you feeling? Can you remember what happened?" Geordi asked.
'What? What's happening? Did I do that? Who's talking to me?' Dawn was confused.
Data turned his head at the stimulus of the doctor and engineer speaking to him. He answered their questions rather monotone and machine-like. "I am fine Doctor. To my awareness, all my systems are functioning within acceptable parameters. My memory files of what occurred and brought me to this location, however, are not accessible."
"Data, is your emotion chip online?" Geordi asked curiously.
Data tipped his head to the side in a very artificial way and answered, "Negative. Diagnostics indicate that it is undamaged, yet offline at this moment."
'Hey, that tickles!' Dawn exclaimed in her mind as she felt a tingling sensation on the border of her consciousness.
"Tell you what Data, why don't you just try activating the chip for a moment or two, just to guarantee that it's working all right. Besides, I hate it when you talk like a machine," Geordi commented with a laugh in his voice.
"Ofcourse Geordi," Data answered shortly and then closed his eyes.
'HEY! What…what's going on? What's happening to me?' Dawn screamed as she felt her entire aura of sensation and perception shift at the same moment. Suddenly she wasn't just there in Data's body feeling and seeing and hearing what he felt, saw, and heard. She was Data, feeling personally every little thing in his body, from basic senses right down to the electrical charge that just carried along the current in her artificial body. And she wasn't alone.
:I do not understand. Who are you? Why are you in my body?: Data's personality finally responded to Dawn's presence.
'Who am I? Who are you?' she shouted back at the male voice that she recognized as the voice of this body.
:I am Lieutenant Commander Data of the starship Enterprise. I am an android. If I may ask, why have you possessed my body?: Data was sounding remarkably calm to Dawn's "ears".
'I…I haven't done anything!' she shouted back. 'I, I don't really remember that much before waking up here in…this body. What happened to me? Where…where's my real body? What have you done to me!!??!'
Data could feel, yes feel, the torment racing through the being that he suddenly found sharing his body. Yet he could also detect that at the moment, she (he could tell she was female, but not much more than that) did not control any of his motor functions, though she might have the capability, she obviously chose not to utilize them at the moment.
Data opened his eyes and looked at Geordi and the Doctor with a spark of personality that had not been there previously. "Hello Geordi, hello Doctor," he greeted politely. "If I may…how did I end up in Sickbay?"
Geordi just smiled at his friend. "Well, we were kind hoping you could tell us. As for how you got here, the Captain and Commander Riker swung by your quarters and brought you here."
Data's confusion shown on his face, but before he could respond, the female voice in his head interrupted him. 'Hold on! What's going on? Who is this? What is this place? What's happening?' Dawn demanded.
:Can you access my memory files?: Data asked her shortly.
'Files? Huh? What…oh! Memory!' Dawn exclaimed as she considered his request.
In the next instant, Data felt Dawn accessing all of his memory files, much the same way he would, but at a far greater rate. It did not seem to affect her however as she just got the answers to all of her questions seemingly all at once. After she had finished, taking up three whole seconds to read all of his memories, she commented to him, 'Wow, you sure do know a whole lot, don't you?'
:Yes, I suppose that I do.: Data answered her shortly.
"Data?" Geordi spoke up when Data hadn't responded for several seconds longer than it took him to be just confused.
Data, snapped out of his conversation with Dawn, looked up in surprise and continued his conversation with Geordi as though it hadn't ever been interrupted. "What were the Captain and Commander Riker going to my quarters for?" he asked.
"Well, as I understand it Data," Beverly Crusher began, "There were reports of a second power surge in your quarters. They were already on their way here, and they stopped by your quarters to make sure everything was all right."
Data's look of confusion returned. "Why were they coming here already Doctor? Was somebody injured?" Data naively asked.
"Well sort of," Crusher continued. "Apparently, at the same time that power surge occurred in your quarters, some…phenomenon happened in Engineering. Nobody was hurt, thankfully, however we did get some new guests out of it. Six humanoids, four of them actually human, and the other two…well they're calling themselves vampires."
'Vampires?' Dawn asked with fear in her "voice."
Data paused in his speech as he internally addressed Dawn. :I take it that you are familiar with the species that the Doctor is referring too?: he asked.
'Uhm, yeah. I mean, maybe. I'm not sure right now. My…mind I guess, is kinda foggy right now. Can you ask her for their names. Not the vampires, the humans.' Dawn requested.
:Ofcourse:
"Doctor, if I may ask, what are the humans names?"
The Doctor and the Engineer shared a questioning look. "Why do you want to know their names Data?" Geordi asked cautiously.
Data did the best impression that an android could ever do of looking sheepish. "Just curious is all," he replied in an equally sheepish tone. Dawn couldn't help from commenting on it, 'Oh yeah, that was convincingly unsuspicious.'
Beverly however didn't really se a problem in it and answered the android without hesitation. "From what they've been able to recall, their names are Xander, Cordelia, Willow, Angel, Spike, and Buffy."
Data felt the instant change in his "guest's" emotional state as the Doctor listed the last two names. Particularly the last one. Where before she had been confused, frightened, but overall calm, she was now bordering on desperate panic, and an overwhelming desire to find this "Buffy."
'Buffy?' Dawn whimpered. Then the panic set in. 'BUFFY!!' she screamed in both hers and Data's mind. When she screamed like that, Data's body couldn't help from jerking suddenly.
"Data!" Geordi exclaimed. "Are you all right? What just happened?"
"I am fine Geordi," Data answered as though nothing had happened. "As I recall, I had gone down to my quarters to investigate the damage done to my quarters by an unknown power surge. When I arrived, Spot immediately ran out of my quarters as I opened the doors, and I must say that I was relieved that she was all right. Inside, I had discovered that somehow the power surge had caused my replicator to explode, destroying half of my quarters, and nearly all of my paintings. Luckily, Spot was in my bedroom, so was safe from the explosion. I had investigated and attempted to understand what could have caused the replicator to malfunction, yet there was not enough salvageable components remaining to properly investigate the cause. I had turned to further investigate the damage to my quarters, when I heard a strange sound behind me, and then I woke up here."
During his speech, Dawn was becoming more and more irrational. 'Buffy! Buffy! BUFFY! I have to get to Buffy! I have to! Please, I have to find Buffy! BUFFY!' she kept screaming.
:Please, calm down: Data tried to speak with her, yet he found that she would not listen.
'No! I-I have to find Buffy, have to get to Buffy! Please! Buffy! BUFFY!!' Dawn kept screaming.
At that point, Data's body jerked once more, and then began to convulse, as though the android were having a seizure. "Data!!" both doctor and engineer screamed, trying to understand what was happening. Beverly pulled out a Tricorder and began to scan Data, but the only thing even remotely out of place was an unidentifiable energy coursing throughout his entire infrastructure. However what happened next, none of them could have expected.
Data felt a tingling sensation, despite suddenly having no control over his body. He looked down at the source, his right arm, and saw a strange green energy dancing all over the appendage. As it continued to cover his entire right arm, the tingling sensation only got…worse. Then, before their very eyes, Data's arm…changed! It shifted from his normal masculine green-skinned arm to a peach-colored feminine and youthful looking arm.
"That is…unexpected," Data commented as though looking at a science experiment rather than being in the middle of mass convulsions and looking at his arm change to something else entirely right before his very eyes.
This time however, the changed didn't stop at his arm. The tingling and the green energy quickly spread to the rest of his body. First, his legs and his other arm, both changing to a more feminine and youthful appearance, followed by his torso, (where obviously the most noticeable changes took place), and finally, his head became shrouded in the green energy.
Geordi shouted one last time as his best friend of who knows how many years now, began to change right before his eyes. Data's golden green skin changed instantly to the peach-soft human looking skin the rest of his body displayed, followed shortly by his gold eyes changing to a softer shade of hazel green, and last of all, Data's bone structure and his dark brown hair began to grown amazingly long and grew lighter in several strands. In less than a single minute after Data's convulsing began, he had been transformed into a young woman, looking about fifteen years old, whose entire posture radiated panic and adrenaline.
Before Beverly or Geordi could even react, the girl that had been Data stood straight and screamed at the top of her lungs, "BUFFY!!"
TBC…