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FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER
Hateful day when I recieved life!...Accursed creator! Why did you form a
monster so hideous that even you turn from me in disgust?"
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
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Alone.
Silence. Creak, creak, creak. Only the walls make any sound at all.
Alone.
It is cold, here. She shivers and rubs her arms, but it doesn't do any good. The creaking sends a thrill of fear down her spine.
Little lights outside, little stars, diamonds on black velvet. Light.
It is not enough. Her hand on the window blocks them out like a great cloud descending over the sky. She pokes at the little shining light on the console, but it doesn't do anything. She doesn't know how to work the ship.
Space shall win.
Alone.
It is cold, here; yet the cold is infinitely warmer than the hate in her heart.
Alone...
What's this? Something new? Her eyes cannot focus on the shape. A huge gray silhouette slides into full view from the little window, and a sharply exhaled breath breaks the silence.
Then a crackle, a stutter, over the frozen instruments. She tries to reply, even though she doesn't know how, but her wordless voice freezes before it can leave her lips.
A thud outside...
The shape...the ship... draws closer to her little lifeboat, insignificant and puny next to the great hulking thing above. Are they coming to her? Or she to them? Either way, they are coming.
Not alone.
*************
"The pod is inside the shuttle bay," Lieutenant Reed informed the captain matter-of-factly. "There is one lifesign aboard." He scowled. "I couldn't tell before, sir; the thing's registering temperatures at nearly15 degrees below zero."
The captain, chin resting on his hand, looked up.
"Hoshi, come with me. T'Pol, you have the bridge, and tell the Doctor to meet us there," he said. "Malcolm, you're with me, too. No telling what this thing might have inside it." A swift jerk of the captain's head, and the lieutenant leapt smoothly from his chair and followed Archer into the turbolift.
"That thing looked like it had been out there a good while, sir," said Reed. He swallowed nervously, and added, "It's all covered over with ice."
"Well, there is a lifesign inside," said Archer, more cheerfully than he felt. "And it was broadcasting a distress signal...we have an obligation to help whoever or whatever is inside."
The turbolift stopped with a slight jerk, and the captain strode off purposefully. Reed swallowed again and followed. Hoshi stared at their retreating backs for a second and then ran after the two men.
"How cold did it get in the shuttlepod, Malcolm?" Hoshi asked Reed in a low voice as they slipped through the shuttlebay doors. He cocked an eyebrow at her.
"Too cold. I think we were unconscious through the worst of it," he replied just as softly. "Whatever is making that lifesign in there is probably just as badly off. Or worse." The ensign gulped, and looked sideways at the little pod, melting ice running off of it in rivulets and puddling on the floor.
Dr. Phlox, as cheery as ever, fluttered around the pod as two crewmen and the captain worked the latches, trying to get it open. Hoshi imagined herself inside the pod, unable to move more than a few centimeters in any direction, and shuddered. Reed spared her a glance as he went to help the crewmen, but didn't say anything.
Archer leapt backwards as the entire top half of the little ship swung open and a cloud of gas hissed into the shuttlebay. "There is someone inside!" exclaimed Phlox, and darted through the gas as Malcolm struggled with the straps holding the person in.
"It's like a coffin," said Hoshi softly. She wasn't even sure if the words had really left her mouth until Malcolm turned and gave her a look that plainly said, That is not the best thing to say at the moment.
It was becoming more and more obvious that her talents would not be needed here. Reed and Phlox backed away from the pod, bearing between them a small alien with long yellow hair whose head nodded onto Malcolm's shoulder. Hoshi squinted, but she could not tell whether it was male or female, or something else altogether. Whatever it was, it sent a chill down Hoshi's spine.
"Crewman, please bring the stretcher. I need to get my patient to Sickbay at once," said the doctor, all his cheer replaced by decisive action now that a life was involved.
Hoshi stood back as they loaded the little alien onto the stretcher, Phlox fussing and bustling all the while, scuttling through the hyposprays in his medical bag. She shared a glance with Lieutenant Reed and noticed that the man had gone pale. The captain ordered them both back to their stations.
"I doubt either of you will be needed for a while," he told them, glancing at the alien as Phlox and his crewmen quickly wheeled the gurney toward the door.
"What's wrong, Malcolm?" Hoshi asked on the turbolift.
"Nothing," said the lieutenant. "She was...she was so cold coming out of there...I keep seeing myself and Commander Tucker in Shuttlepod One."
"How do you know it's a she?"
"I don't...it just seems right," he said. "Her...it, if you prefer...eyes were open
when I got that thing apart. Great yellow things like a cat's, almost.
And its...her...lips were moving, but I couldn't hear anything. Then Phlox came
and she...it..went unconscious."
Hoshi patted him on the back. "I'm sure Phlox will be able to help," she said as the lift stopped and they walked out onto the bridge. "Don't worry, Lieutenant."
***************
Phlox at that moment was indeed helping; the alien's temperature had shot up by about six degrees already, and the signs of hypothermia were disappearing. He smiled happily as he found sex organs and identifed the alien as a female. What was her species, though? Phlox was quite sure he had never seen any race quite like this. He scanned over the patient's body and then stopped in front of the the display, murmuring under his breath.
"What is it?" asked Captain Archer, coming up behind the doctor.
"Well, Captain, it is very curious," said the doctor. "I would have said anything like this would be impossible..."
He scanned the patient again and shook his head in disbelief. Archer raised his eyebrows, waiting for the doctor to tell him what was the matter.
"Captain," said Phlox, no trace of his customary grin on his face, "I would say that this woman looks as if someone has put her together from several different species. And then reanimated the pieces in some way."
"You're saying they built her?" said Archer incredulously. He turned and stared at the unconscious alien.
Phlox looked too, his eyes grim.
"Yes, Captain," he answered. "Someone has been playing god."
****
A little bit of rewriting has been done here... a little simplification... but if you're reading this for the first time I won't tell you what I did because it would ruin the story to come.