Nine Months - Changes
By Kudara
Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended.
Rating: Adult
Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.
Revision History: 11/17/05
Summary: Neither shortness nor friendship is quite enough for their captors.
Chapter 11 - Stardate 52518.84 (July 9, 2375 09:01am)
B'Elanna's mind raced frantically, trying to figure out why Seven was accompanying her, and whether or not the robots meant to harm her again. Though there was little, she bleakly acknowledged to herself, that she could do without making the situation worse, and getting Seven hurt even more. From the sound of Seven's uneven breathing behind her, she knew the blonde was probably wondering the same.
The robot leading the way turned and entered a room she had not been in before. It was square, and approximately ten foot by ten foot. In it was a single bio bed in the center, a chair placed beside it, and a sink in the corner with a washcloth and glass upon it. The walls were unmarked metal, no sign of whatever technology existed behind them given.
"B'Elanna Torres, you will place yourself upon the bio bed, you will not attempt to leave the bio bed until given instructions to do so. Your hostage will see to your needs between treatments. Today's treatment will be two hours in duration."
'Today's?' she thought, 'that implies there will be more tomorrow and maybe even longer, and treatments for what?' Uneasily she sat upon the bio bed, and lay down. Looking up into Seven's concerned face, she tried to give the blonde a reassuring smile.
"Torres Hostage, you will remain seated, in the chair provided, at all times during the treatment phases. You will not attempt to touch B'Elanna Torres during the treatment phases. After the each treatment phase is completed, you may leave the chair and provide for B'Elanna Torres's needs. There will be three treatment phases today, they will be announced 15 seconds before beginning."
Seven nodded jerkily, never taking her eyes from the half-Klingon, and B'Elanna found the obvious concern for her in them warming. Ever since the robot's attack on Seven, and her nursing the blonde through her recovery, the relationship between them had changed, first into a tentative friendship, and lately into a solid friendship. Their discussions during the evenings now ranged from the technical, to the personal.
What bemused B'Elanna most was how rewarding she was finding helping Seven; whether it was helping her understand why she was feeling a particular emotion, or discussions concerning her time aboard Voyager. What surprised and dismayed B'Elanna the most about the latter, was how well Seven had hidden how uncertain and lost she had felt, from the very beginning of her separation from the Collective, all the way up to the time they were captured.
B'Elanna suspected that not even Janeway had fully understood how alone and separate Seven had felt, or if she did, she hadn't done much about it that B'Elanna could remember, except to force the blonde to attend social events. Though in all fairness to Janeway, she suspected it would have taken a good psychologist, or a very sympathetic and patient person, and certainly not a hologram who was still figuring out how to interact with people, to have guided Seven successfully through those first months.
She had also started wondering about what impact things, such as Seven essentially living in the cargo bay instead of quarters like everyone else, had played in Seven's less than successful integration. B'Elanna knew that Seven simply saw it as the most efficient placement of her alcove, but upon thinking about it further, she wondered whether or not it had played a part in her, and other people's views, of the woman. After all things, not people, were generally put in cargo bays, and where she would consider it rude and unacceptable to walk into someone's quarters and stare at them while working or sleeping, she had never thought it wrong to do the same to Seven. After all everyone else, including the Captain, was doing the same thing.
"The first treatment phase will begin in fifteen seconds." A mechanical voice broke into her thoughts.
Brought out of her thoughts, she watched as Seven sat down quickly in the chair beside the bio bed, never taking her eyes off her as she did so. There was enough time left for her to note that both of them had gotten pretty good at expressing their emotions to each other without saying anything, as such sentiments were frequently taken as disagreement with their captor's actions.
The hum of some type of energy field caught her attention first, then she felt a sensation like something, or more accurately some things, were crawling around inside her. The sensation increased into an annoying itch, then to a painful burning sensation that escalated steadily into pure pain. Then noise filled her ears and the next thing she knew the robot was announcing the end of the first treatment period.
The room was spinning around, and her stomach was threatening a revolt, in short it felt like she was extremely drunk. Feeling the nausea rise, she struggled to sit up hoping that would help, only to find out once she achieved an upright position, that while it helped the nausea, it seemed to increase her dizziness.
An arm wrapped around her shoulders steadied her as Seven asked, "B'Elanna what is your condition?" in a distressed tone.
"Dizzy, nauseated," she explained and wondered why her voice sounded hoarse, and why Seven sounded so upset. "And my throat is sore."
"You screamed during the last part of the treatment phase," Seven explained, her voice flat in tone.
B'Elanna turned her head enough to look at the blonde, and realized how upset she was, her face was taunt and pale and her eyes were oddly bright. The dizziness had abated enough for her to feel steadier, "Water?" she requested.
Seven paused long enough to make sure she could remain sitting on her own, then went and filled the glass by the sink and brought it back to her. B'Elanna was ashamed to note how her hands still shook as she took the glass. It was a measure of how far their relationship had improved that she was thankful, instead of indignant, when Seven reached out and helped her steady the glass so she could drink without spilling it upon herself. When she had enough Seven took it back to the sink, and B'Elanna watched curiously as the blonde took the washcloth and wetted it after emptying the glass.
Returning Seven made a slight gesture with the hand holding the washcloth, "Your application of a damp cloth such as this one," she hesitated, "made me feel better, when I was injured."
B'Elanna gave her a weak smile for correctly using 'casual grammar' as the blonde was calling it. It was something she had been trying to teach Seven for the past few months, so the woman wouldn't talk as painfully correct all the time.
As Seven held the cold damp cloth to her forehead B'Elanna admitted, "I think it's as much that the coldness feels good when your sick, as it is that someone cares enough for you to do it." She was watching Seven when she said this and smiled at what looked suspiciously like embarrassed pleasure on the blonde's face.
After the third treatment phase, once some of the nausea had passed, B'Elanna was finally allowed to get up off the bio bed. Seven helped steady her and she just had time to notice that something seemed off, before the blonde gave her a startled wide eyed look.
"You are taller," Seven's said, shocked, "by approximately two inches." she finished.
Chapter 12 - Stardate 52524.6 (July 11, 2375 11:31am)
"B'Elanna Torres remove yourself from the bio bed and remain standing near it."
B'Elanna frowned slightly at the order to remain, that was the second difference today, the first one being the fourth treatment. She hadn't lost consciousness during it, it hadn't even felt the same as the others, there had just been the hum of the device, but none of the usual pain.
As she stood unsteadily, she glanced down at Seven who had slipped a supportive arm around her waist to help steady her. 'She's shorter,' B'Elanna thought in shock, it wasn't as if she hadn't been expecting it, yesterday after the treatments she had been just slightly taller than Seven, and she had known that she would be taller today. It was just that the reality of being able to see the top of Seven's head was…weird, as was knowing that she should be five foot eleven inches tall now, if she had indeed gained another two inches like the days before. She wasn't quite certain what she thought of all these changes, one the one hand she had always wanted to be taller, but everything looked off. It was really surprising to her how six inches made such a noticeable difference in how everything appeared.
"Torres Hostage, place yourself upon the bio bed."
B'Elanna reflexively clenched her teeth together, reminding herself that she could not protest as she wanted to. The only thing she could do was to give Seven what she hoped was a reassuring look, and quick hug, before the blonde released her supportive hold to obey the order.
As the treatment progressed B'Elanna relaxed somewhat, Seven was tense, but she wasn't showing any signs of pain, causing her to believe that Seven's treatment was like her last one. The question was what type of treatment was it? It obviously was not like the ones that had increased her height and mass, so just what was it doing? She knew it had to be doing something, for if there was anything she had become certain of about their captor, it was that she was sure that nothing was done to them without a reason behind it.
Chapter 13 - Stardate 52527.89 (July 12, 2375 04:22pm)
"Maintenance of your hostage's cybernetic systems is required."
B'Elanna looked over in surprise at the robot that was essentially a fixture in their quarters, as it seldom communicated with them these days. There was, as she had expected from what it said, an opening in its body. She glanced inquiringly at Seven who was kneeling on the floor in front of the stove. Seven had stopped cleaning the interior of the oven at the first word from the robot and now looked up at her, seeing B'Elanna staring at her Seven raised one metallic brow and nodded.
Slightly irritated that Seven hadn't mentioned that anything was wrong with her implants to her, she dropped the cloth she had been using to help Seven clean on the countertop. B'Elanna approached the machine and took the proffered tools, an engineering tricorder, and a general purpose recalibration tool, whatever was wrong with Seven couldn't be too difficult if this was all she needed to fix it, B'Elanna thought.
"Kitchen table alright?" she asked Seven.
"Yes, B'Elanna," Seven pulled out a chair and sat down. "I believe it is my optical implant that needs maintenance." Her eyes flickered toward the robot and she frowned slightly. "I have not mentioned it, because I have been able to satisfactorily compensate for the misalignment."
B'Elanna raised an eyebrow at the irritated tone, then grinned, she thought to herself silently, 'translation, I don't know why this is such a big deal, it isn't really bothering me yet.' "I guess you like going in for check ups about as much as I do." She commented aloud, her irritation at the blonde forgotten as she remembered that Seven was a fellow Sickbay hater.
Seven regarded her considering, "You are most likely correct." she allowed.
B'Elanna ran the tricorder carefully over Seven's body, "Only thing is I'm not sure exactly what measurements I should be seeing…oh never mind, the baselines for your implants are already in here." She commented looking at the readout. "Your right, everything looks good except for your optical implant."
She laid the tricorder on the table and picked up the recalibration tool. Turning to Seven she raised the instrument to the exposed exterior of her optical implant, her eyes picking out the three places on it's surface that she needed to make the proper adjustments. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Seven clench her hand into a fist and heard the blonde take in a deep breath and hold herself rigidly still.
Leaning back she took a look at Seven's face. Controlled and impassive, were the adjectives that came to her mind to describe the blonde's expression. "Hey I'm not the dentist," she jested uncertainly, not sure why Seven was acting as if she were afraid.
"Dentist?" asked Seven, first glancing out of the corner of her eye, then looking directly at her when she saw B'Elanna had moved away from the implant.
"Your acting like I'm about to do something unpleasant to you," B'Elanna commented.
Seven looked forward again, presenting the implant to B'Elanna, "It is not pleasant, but there is no other way to maintain the implant, please proceed."
"I wasn't aware that your implants were sensitive?" B'Elanna asked surprised, she had assumed that Seven would have no sensation in her implants as they were completely mechanical.
Seven turned and looked at the half-Klingon, "My implants contain pressure and temperature sensors, the sensations are not the same as those from my skin, but they are similar. My implant is actually slightly more sensitive than the skin around it." she commented.
B'Elanna absorbed this information silently, looking at the silvery implant in a new light, acknowledging that it wasn't just a mechanical attachment; it was an integral part of Seven's body. "There isn't anything else that I can use to recalibrate it properly." she admitted reluctantly after a few moments.
"No B'Elanna, there is not. It is not a painful sensation, merely unpleasant," Seven turned her head back around presenting the implant once again.
B'Elanna was not quite ready to proceed until she had a better understanding of exactly what Seven would experience if she did. She examined the sonic setting of the device that she would be using to reset the implant, and determining that it would not damage her, experimentally ran it over the inside of her forearm.
Seven had moved to see what she was doing and now looked at her wide eyed. "B'Elanna?" she frowned, confused at the half-Klingon's actions.
B'Elanna rubbed the skin of her arm, trying to wipe away the odd sensation that the device had caused. Seven was right, it wasn't exactly painful, but it certainly wasn't pleasant either. "Just wanted to see what you were talking about, your right that doesn't feel too good."
Seven stared at her for a moment then she smiled slightly in amusement, "No it does not." The smile faded, and she glanced at the robot in the other corner of the room, "Please proceed, there is no other choice."
B'Elanna glanced over at the robot; divining Seven's meaning and nodded. Seven tilted her head presenting the implant at precisely the correct angle for B'Elanna to work on it the easiest. B'Elanna made the first adjustment as quickly as possible, then impulsively gently stroked her finger over the adjustment point, reasoning that since it had helped her, maybe it would help Seven.
"B'Elanna?" Seven asked uncertainly.
She stopped, "I'm sorry, did that hurt?"
"No," Seven replied hesitantly.
"Did it make the other sensation go away?" B'Elanna asked uncertainly.
There was a moment of silence, then a surprised, "Yes, the motion of your finger across the surface replaced the data in the pressure sensors from the instrument." Seven turned and looked at B'Elanna admiringly, "An efficient solution, B'Elanna. Thank you."
B'Elanna completed the last adjustment and gently rubbed her finger across the area to reset the sensors, "There all done." She was feeling rather proud of herself, for coming up with a way of making the experience less unpleasant for Seven, and rather annoyed that the Doctor hadn't considered a similar one, as he was the one who had known the most about Seven's implants.
She was already thinking of several ways that the tool could be modified so that it wouldn't trigger the pressure sensors in the implant, but would still calibrate properly. How much trouble would it have been for the Doctor to have mentioned this to someone so it could have been done for Seven along time ago.
"Thank you, B'Elanna," gratitude was readily apparent in the blondes tone.
Slightly embarrassed by it, B'Elanna commented, "Hey, that's what friends are for."
"Yes," agreed Seven softly. "I believe I will no longer dislike this procedure if you are the one performing it."