By Nyassa Kaiba
Chapter 5- FeralaeYup, Q had come to the Enterprise once again. In for a penny in for a pound weren't we?
"What do you want Q?" Picard was clearly annoyed.
"That's no way to treat a guest Jean-Luc." Q said with a smirk. "Especially when I bring you news. Why, I ought to turn around right here and now and not…"
"Just tell us what you want Q!" Picard growled.
I rolled my eyes. "It's about us Animorphs isn't it?"
"Right on the button!" Q said happily. "My somebody here has manners! But yes, mon capitan, I came about the Animorphs. I came to tell you that neither I, nor any of my species are responsible for their being here."
"That's all?" Picard asked, face twitching.
"Well that's not all. You see, I've detected an odd presence following the ship. It's not a malevolent one. But the frustrating thing is that I can't tell WHAT it is. It might be is a Q Ghost. But then again it might not."
"A what?" Deanna asked.
"Well, you see, we Q can't be killed. But sometimes we can be weakened to the point where we lose our sentience. We become shades, ghosts, and tend to trail ships or other objects, acting on instinct instead of reason. Ghosts can cause quite a lot of trouble, power failure, shield problems, weapons malfunction, things like that. If it is a ghost of course. I consulted some of the oldest Q I know and they weren't even sure what it was." Q explained.
"So it might be the ghost of one of your people?" Picard asked. "What do we do if it is?"
"Well, you see, the ghosts will eventually go away, or they'll cause trouble, or they'll disappear back to the Continuum. The only thing a mortal can do is hope that it goes away soon. But here's the reason why we don't think that it's a ghost. Another Q can read the mind of a ghost, read its intent and identify it. I can't get a reading or an ID on it." Q explained. "Its very frustrating." He checked a watch. "I can't stay long. I have urgent business in the Delta Quadrant. Janeway's gotten herself into a sticky again." He sighed, rolling his eyes tolerantly. Then without another word, Q disappeared.
"That's all she wrote." I rolled my eyes. "Oh well. He's omnipotent, he can't help it."
Picard chuckled. Deanna laughed. "You have quite a sense of humor. But what if it was this ghost that brought you here?"
"Q said that none of the other Q brought us here. That means no active Q and no Q ghost either." I said with a shrug. "Councilor, this isn't the first time I've been stuck at square one."
That was when Cassie's voice sang out into my mind. I'm glad you're home! I'm glad you're home! I welcome you with heart and voice, and hope you'll never leave!
Good to see you too Cassie. I said with a mental chuckle.
Don't you EVER worry me like that again! Cassie exclaimed. I thought you were gonna be trapped in wolf morph!
I had five minutes left before I would have been trapped. I stated.
That's cutting it awful fine.
It's not their fault. I know that no Starfleet Doctor could know how to cope with an Animorph. I explained as I walked out onto the bridge to retrieve my shoes and bag.
I felt Deanna's eyes on me as I hunkered down in my corner of the bridge. I felt her trying to touch my mind. Great, had she heard me talking to Cassie? "You know, we really should get you a chair." Deanna joked.
"I'm fine thanks." I said with a smile. I scooped up my work and went into the ready room. Fiercely independent, that was the impression that I wanted to give, even though I could sense her hurt feelings. I just didn't want my fellow Animorphs knowing about my link with Cassie. They would ask awkward questions about how it had happened, and I wasn't ready for that yet.
I sighed, pulling on my headphones and putting on the Killers, "Mr. Brightside." But the music didn't work, because the line, "It was only a kiss," got to me more than anything. It reminded me of how this whole stupid adventure started in the first place, with me stupidly bringing the blue box to school, where the controller Chapman spotted it. From there Chapman had told Visser One. Visser One had raided my house twice before he found out that I had always carried the box on me. Then he had kidnapped my parents, and would have gotten me too, except that I was in the barn. And I had time to morph to lion, then hork bajir, and gorilla in order to defeat the Visser.
I was so wrapped up in gloomy self-pity that I didn't notice the door whoosh open. I didn't notice Deanna walk in, watching me from the doorway. My eyes flicked in her direction when I sensed movement next to me. She just watched me for a moment, trying to get into my head. I was unlike anybody she had experience with in her capacity as ship's councilor. She was concerned as both councilor and friend.
The song finished and I took off the headset, switching it off. "Yes?"
"Why didn't you tell anybody about your link with Cassie?" Deanna asked.
"Because it raises too many questions, ones that I'm not comfortable asking or discussing, with anybody." I stated. "Next question please."
"Feralae this is not a joke." Deanna was upset at the way I dismissed something like that. "Telepathic powers are taken very seriously in the Federation."
"No, it's not a joke it's called personal business." I replied coolly.
"Fine, if that's the way you want to play. Just don't wait too long to tell your friends, or us, about it. Because if you wait too long it could become a problem." Her words were almost prophetic. But at the time they merely made me angry.
"I won't wait too long. But I will keep my business to myself, please and thank you." I growled and put my headphones back on.
She growled and stomped back out, and I turned back to a history of the Bajoran/Cardassian conflict. Good idea to keep on top of things. About three hours later the door slid open again. "I see you've been busy." Picard said calmly. "Riker wanted to take you and your friends to the holodeck to show you how they work."
"Glad to get up and stretch my legs." I said, standing. The confrontation with Deanna was almost forgotten.
But when we made it into the turbo lift Riker asked. "What did you say to make Deanna so angry? I've never seen her that livid."
I growled in response. "I soundly hope that she doesn't carry grudges."
"She usually doesn't. But usually people don't spurn her advice." Riker chuckled.
"She was also prying into matters that I didn't care to discuss at the moment." I explained, hoping he'd get the hint.
Riker held up his hands in a sign of surrender. "Say no more."
Riker led us through a maze of passageways until he came to an archway set back into the door. The other Animorphs were waiting for him, trying not to look conspicuous.
The lesson that followed was very useful. As Riker showed us how to program backgrounds and costumes I compared what I heard to what I'd learned working on Erek's hologram programs. The Chee had a radically different form of holography. But when we finally came out into our first holodeck program, it was worth it.
The program displayed a forest on a bluff overlooking the ocean. As we watched I saw whales doing their dance in the waters beyond. The area looked like southern Alaska or the Pacific Northwest. It was tranquil and beautiful.
That evening I opened up a log feature on the data pad that Picard had gotten for me. The date came up automatically.
My name is Feralae. I wrote. This is my log. I am 22 years old, although some unknown force has turned me back into a child, about thirteen years old. This makes things awkward when I try to deal with the Starfleet Officers on the ship. I feel out of place in my gaudy blue Animorph Uniform. But I cling to it with pride because it reminds me of home.
Recently I've been having problems, remembering how my mother died. I remember how she committed suicide on the battle field, just moments away from freedom.
That's all for tonight. As the Andilites say, "From the rising of the sun, to it's setting, to it's rising again; we place what is hard to endure with what is sweet to remember and find peace."
As I fell asleep I had a REALLY weird dream. I was standing in sickbay. There was a pale white light around me, just like the dream when I woke up on the Enterprise. Dr. Crusher was standing to my left. Dr. Bashir stood to my right. "Keep an eye on Rachel." Said Dr. Crusher.
"Rachel is important." Agreed Dr. Bashir.
"How is Rachel important?" I asked. Once again the creatures, or whatever they were, were taking the form of people that I'd met, choosing scenery that I recognized. Who were they? Why did they do that? And why the Hell did this scenario seem so familiar?
"Rachel is important to the Trill." They said in unison.
"Why? How? Which Trill?" I demanded, greatly disconcerted.
But they were gone. I woke up, sitting straight up in bed with a soft cry. Nervously, I looked over to the room where the Captain was sleeping. He was sound asleep, not disturbed in the slightest.
"What the Hell was that?" I demanded to nobody.
The silent humming of the ship was the only answer I got.