TITLE: Dear Annie ("Rogue Planet")
AUTHOR: Mara Greengrass
AUTHOR'S E-MAIL: fishfolk@ix.netcom.com. Feedback is better than chocolate.
PERMISSION TO ARCHIVE: Yes, just let me know.
CATEGORY: Gen
RATINGS/WARNINGS: G
SUMMARY: Hoshi writes home after the events of "Rogue Planet."
DISCLAIMER: Enterprise and all its crew belong to Paramount and many other entities with expensive lawyers. I am making no profit from this story.
NOTES: Why did the translator give the pig things an alien name, but only name the Wraiths with an English word? Consistency, thy name is not Star Trek. Thanks as always to the charming and talented Captain Average for the beta.
DEDICATION: Once again, for Jessica. Because I miss her and I worry about her and she is searching for the apparently unattainable: peace in the Middle East.
* * * * *
Dear Annie,
When a member of a telepathic species talks to another member of that species, what language do they use?
Sounds like "if a tree falls in a forest...," doesn't it? Well, I was *this* close to getting a chance to test it, but we had to get out of Dodge before these hunters...
But, I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I? The abridged version: we found these hunters from a species called the Eska on a rogue planet and at first, we thought they were hunting these pig-like things. That's what they told the Captain, T'Pol, Malcolm and me when we found them. Okay, when they found us.
Then, after I came back up to the ship--there were nasty, fluorescent bugs, need I say more?--Jon discovered they were actually hunting these things they called "Binna," which the translator rendered as "Wraiths." They are sentient, telepathic shapeshifters.
I have to write that again, just because it amuses me. Sentient. Telepathic. Shapeshifters. "Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it's stranger than we *can* imagine." I can't remember who said that--JBS Haldane? Arthur C. Clarke?--but I can't help but think life out here proves it.
To make a long story short, Jon communicated with one of the Wraiths and Dr. Phlox came up with a way to confound the hunters and once again we saved the day.
I dragged most of the story out of Trip later, and apparently Jon's encounter with these aliens started with him chasing what he thought was a young human woman in a nightgown. (We're all hoping that she was using her telepathy to draw him out, and that he wouldn't *normally* chase women through the woods, especially on alien planets that couldn't *possibly* have a human woman.)
It's all kind of complicated, but the woman he saw (besides obviously being one of these Wraiths) represented an idealized vision from his childhood. Trip says Jon was pretty weirded out by the whole experience, but I think Trip is the one who was weirded out by Jon's calm reaction to having his head messed with.
In any case, the experience of encountering these shapeshifters made me wonder if the Vulcans don't have the right idea with vegetarianism. (Yeah, I know, you've been saying so for years, and why didn't I listen to you?) In the short time I was on the planet, I ate some of the pig-creature, but what if it had turned out to be one of these shapeshifters? What if we'd accidentally eaten a sentient being? It makes me sick to think about it.
Malcolm and Jon were having entirely too much fun traipsing around in the jungle. The testosterone level got a bit high there for awhile, and I was glad to have T'Pol there to keep them from going completely over the edge. Then, Malcolm asked if he could join them on the hunt, and I was really disturbed by how eager he was to go along, even if he did promise not to kill anything. It's one thing to like things that go "boom" and another...well, I guess we're back to the vegetarian thing again.
I was happy to get back to Enterprise and away from the insect life (did I mention the borers?), but I worried about the team the entire time they were down there. That may be the worst part, waiting for an away team to come back.
Then they called to sickbay, saying they had someone wounded, and I wanted to scream. I didn't even think it might be one of the Eskan hunters, I was just imagining Trip, Malcolm, Jon or T'Pol bleeding to death in the shuttle. Scary. I felt a little better when Travis looked nearly as scared as I did. Well, he's got that hero worship thing going with the Captain, so I'm not surprised.
Do you remember that Dr. Sindel we both had a crush on as undergrads? I wish he'd been half as worthy of our hero worship, as Captain Archer is of Travis'. Although, for the sake of our stress level, it would be nice if the Captain wasn't so prone to wandering off by himself into dangerous situations. Malcolm's not the only one who wishes he were a tad less hands-on sometimes, but good luck with *that*.
Thinking of things we'll never succeed with, I can't stop thinking about the Wraith's parting words to the Captain: to keep searching for the unattainable. I don't know if that's what we're doing out here, but I'd hate to think so. Maybe it was supposed to sound noble, but it just sounds hopeless to me.
It strikes me as so fatalistic, but maybe I'd be fatalistic if I were part of a species that had been hunted for hundreds of years. Ugh, what a horrible thought, living on a planet that never sees the sun, and every few years a bunch of over-muscled, heavily-armed beings lands their ship and tries to kill you for a few days.
I wonder what the Wraith saw in Jon's mind that translated to the concept of searching for the unattainable. What *are* all of us searching for out here?
I guess I'm searching for more data, more languages, more understanding. That may be neverending, but it's not unattainable. T'Pol, well, she's hard to read, but I think she just might be searching for understanding as well, understanding about what makes humans tick. Difficult, tricky even, but not unattainable. The same is true for Dr. Phlox, I think he sticks with us for the occasional glimpse into the human psyche, or the alien psyche for that matter.
Jon, Trip, Malcolm, and Travis have always made me think they were looking for adventure, excitement, new experiences. Jon is living out his father's dream, exploring the universe and representing humanity. Trip wants to make his beloved engines work better, and find new toys to play with, like the Vulcan tractor beam. Malcolm wants to find things to blow up, I suppose. Travis just wants to go farther faster than he could on his home ship, see more than just a small corner of the universe.
That's really true for a lot of the crew. They're in it for discovery, for excitement, for adventure out here on the frontier of the known human universe. I'm not sure I'm quite as sanguine about the whole adventure thing, but I'm learning. I'm hanging in there, getting used to space travel, I suppose.
I've been missing you a lot lately, but I'm sure you're keeping busy, especially with Amanda in your life. She sounds really nice, but I wish I were there to check her out. Can't have someone hurting my best friend, can I? I know...I'll have Mark check her out for me, because he's *so* subtle. No, you're right, that would be cruel to her. I'll just have to trust you've made a good choice. (Which reminds me, send me some details on Jerry and Rowena's wedding. I didn't expect them to ever go through with it.)
Stay safe, don't follow any beautiful women into the forest (it would annoy Amanda), and keep in touch. I hope you find whatever *you're* searching for!
Love,
Hoshi
AUTHOR: Mara Greengrass
AUTHOR'S E-MAIL: fishfolk@ix.netcom.com. Feedback is better than chocolate.
PERMISSION TO ARCHIVE: Yes, just let me know.
CATEGORY: Gen
RATINGS/WARNINGS: G
SUMMARY: Hoshi writes home after the events of "Rogue Planet."
DISCLAIMER: Enterprise and all its crew belong to Paramount and many other entities with expensive lawyers. I am making no profit from this story.
NOTES: Why did the translator give the pig things an alien name, but only name the Wraiths with an English word? Consistency, thy name is not Star Trek. Thanks as always to the charming and talented Captain Average for the beta.
DEDICATION: Once again, for Jessica. Because I miss her and I worry about her and she is searching for the apparently unattainable: peace in the Middle East.
* * * * *
Dear Annie,
When a member of a telepathic species talks to another member of that species, what language do they use?
Sounds like "if a tree falls in a forest...," doesn't it? Well, I was *this* close to getting a chance to test it, but we had to get out of Dodge before these hunters...
But, I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I? The abridged version: we found these hunters from a species called the Eska on a rogue planet and at first, we thought they were hunting these pig-like things. That's what they told the Captain, T'Pol, Malcolm and me when we found them. Okay, when they found us.
Then, after I came back up to the ship--there were nasty, fluorescent bugs, need I say more?--Jon discovered they were actually hunting these things they called "Binna," which the translator rendered as "Wraiths." They are sentient, telepathic shapeshifters.
I have to write that again, just because it amuses me. Sentient. Telepathic. Shapeshifters. "Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it's stranger than we *can* imagine." I can't remember who said that--JBS Haldane? Arthur C. Clarke?--but I can't help but think life out here proves it.
To make a long story short, Jon communicated with one of the Wraiths and Dr. Phlox came up with a way to confound the hunters and once again we saved the day.
I dragged most of the story out of Trip later, and apparently Jon's encounter with these aliens started with him chasing what he thought was a young human woman in a nightgown. (We're all hoping that she was using her telepathy to draw him out, and that he wouldn't *normally* chase women through the woods, especially on alien planets that couldn't *possibly* have a human woman.)
It's all kind of complicated, but the woman he saw (besides obviously being one of these Wraiths) represented an idealized vision from his childhood. Trip says Jon was pretty weirded out by the whole experience, but I think Trip is the one who was weirded out by Jon's calm reaction to having his head messed with.
In any case, the experience of encountering these shapeshifters made me wonder if the Vulcans don't have the right idea with vegetarianism. (Yeah, I know, you've been saying so for years, and why didn't I listen to you?) In the short time I was on the planet, I ate some of the pig-creature, but what if it had turned out to be one of these shapeshifters? What if we'd accidentally eaten a sentient being? It makes me sick to think about it.
Malcolm and Jon were having entirely too much fun traipsing around in the jungle. The testosterone level got a bit high there for awhile, and I was glad to have T'Pol there to keep them from going completely over the edge. Then, Malcolm asked if he could join them on the hunt, and I was really disturbed by how eager he was to go along, even if he did promise not to kill anything. It's one thing to like things that go "boom" and another...well, I guess we're back to the vegetarian thing again.
I was happy to get back to Enterprise and away from the insect life (did I mention the borers?), but I worried about the team the entire time they were down there. That may be the worst part, waiting for an away team to come back.
Then they called to sickbay, saying they had someone wounded, and I wanted to scream. I didn't even think it might be one of the Eskan hunters, I was just imagining Trip, Malcolm, Jon or T'Pol bleeding to death in the shuttle. Scary. I felt a little better when Travis looked nearly as scared as I did. Well, he's got that hero worship thing going with the Captain, so I'm not surprised.
Do you remember that Dr. Sindel we both had a crush on as undergrads? I wish he'd been half as worthy of our hero worship, as Captain Archer is of Travis'. Although, for the sake of our stress level, it would be nice if the Captain wasn't so prone to wandering off by himself into dangerous situations. Malcolm's not the only one who wishes he were a tad less hands-on sometimes, but good luck with *that*.
Thinking of things we'll never succeed with, I can't stop thinking about the Wraith's parting words to the Captain: to keep searching for the unattainable. I don't know if that's what we're doing out here, but I'd hate to think so. Maybe it was supposed to sound noble, but it just sounds hopeless to me.
It strikes me as so fatalistic, but maybe I'd be fatalistic if I were part of a species that had been hunted for hundreds of years. Ugh, what a horrible thought, living on a planet that never sees the sun, and every few years a bunch of over-muscled, heavily-armed beings lands their ship and tries to kill you for a few days.
I wonder what the Wraith saw in Jon's mind that translated to the concept of searching for the unattainable. What *are* all of us searching for out here?
I guess I'm searching for more data, more languages, more understanding. That may be neverending, but it's not unattainable. T'Pol, well, she's hard to read, but I think she just might be searching for understanding as well, understanding about what makes humans tick. Difficult, tricky even, but not unattainable. The same is true for Dr. Phlox, I think he sticks with us for the occasional glimpse into the human psyche, or the alien psyche for that matter.
Jon, Trip, Malcolm, and Travis have always made me think they were looking for adventure, excitement, new experiences. Jon is living out his father's dream, exploring the universe and representing humanity. Trip wants to make his beloved engines work better, and find new toys to play with, like the Vulcan tractor beam. Malcolm wants to find things to blow up, I suppose. Travis just wants to go farther faster than he could on his home ship, see more than just a small corner of the universe.
That's really true for a lot of the crew. They're in it for discovery, for excitement, for adventure out here on the frontier of the known human universe. I'm not sure I'm quite as sanguine about the whole adventure thing, but I'm learning. I'm hanging in there, getting used to space travel, I suppose.
I've been missing you a lot lately, but I'm sure you're keeping busy, especially with Amanda in your life. She sounds really nice, but I wish I were there to check her out. Can't have someone hurting my best friend, can I? I know...I'll have Mark check her out for me, because he's *so* subtle. No, you're right, that would be cruel to her. I'll just have to trust you've made a good choice. (Which reminds me, send me some details on Jerry and Rowena's wedding. I didn't expect them to ever go through with it.)
Stay safe, don't follow any beautiful women into the forest (it would annoy Amanda), and keep in touch. I hope you find whatever *you're* searching for!
Love,
Hoshi