Star Trek Hunter
Episode 7: The Great Mushroom
Scene 5: Temple on Mt. Seleya
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Temple on Mt. Seleya
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Kenny Dolphin lay on a bed in a room in the back of the temple on Mt. Seleya, putting his mind back together for what seemed the twentieth time. Several very old and very dignified vulcans had warned both him and T'Lon very solemnly and at great length and detail that the fal-tor-pan - the ancient ritual that might possibly, if it were there, remove T'Lon's katra from Dolphin's head and, even more remotely possibly, reinstall this unidentified and very loosely defined essence back into T'Lon - would be very dangerous to both of them.

In all of that discussion, they had somehow failed to get across how astoundingly unpleasant this process would be. Dolphin felt as if someone had run his brain through a cheese grater, balled it up, squeezed it and ran the remains through a sieve. He could tell something had been removed and hoped that they had taken the appropriate bits out and put the correct bits back in. Evidently it was up to him to knit what they had stuffed back into his head back into some sort of coherent whole.

He sat up, drank some water that clearly had far too few other chemicals in it and looked for some sort of pills that might help numb the pounding headache. Apparently vulcan priests were not long on providing pills or much of anything else for their victims.

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Then T'Lon walked into the room and suddenly everything was better. There was something about her eyes - she was back.

Dolphin leapt to his feet and almost tackle-hugged her.

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"I do not require holding," T'Lon said.

Dolphin released her in some embarrassment and stepped back.

"Lay down on your side," she said.

Without a word, Dolphin laid down on the bed, facing her.

"Other side," T'Lon said.

Dolphin rolled over. T'Lon laid down behind him, drew herself close and wrapped an arm around him.

"I thought you said you don't require holding," he said.

"The same is not true for you."

Dolphin teared up a little and was glad he was facing away from her. For quite some time they simply lay there. T'Lon was not in contact him telepathically - which was a relief. Over the past month far too many other people had been inside his head - only a few hours ago there had been at least a half dozen vulcans in there and Dolphin was very happy to have his head to himself for a while.

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After several minutes of silence, T'Lon said, "I have two sets of memories."

Dolphin just listened.

"I said I thought I should feel grateful to you. I remember saying that. And I remember seeing me say that through your eyes. And I wanted to make myself say that I do feel grateful to you. You saved my life. At least twice." She laid her face against his back.

She could hear the catch in his breathing. And felt him move slightly, just a little uncomfortably.

"I know how you feel about me, Kenny Dolphin. Conflicted. You loved being with me."

Dolphin responded quietly, "Yes… More than anything in my life…"

"But you kept conflating me with your daughter."

"Yeah, that was uncomfortable. I couldn't help it. Didn't know why. It wasn't just age.. Especially toward the end.." Dolphin said.

"I am not your daughter, Kenny Dolphin. And I am no longer your lover." T'Lon felt Dolphin relax, tension slowly leaving his body. "But I will always be your friend."

Dolphin took a slow breath. "Yeah, I never really figured out that whole… male… female… friend… bonding… platonic… sort of thing…" He was clearly exhausted, stumbling over and slurring his words. For the first time in more than a month, since his first night on Ocean, Kenny Dolphin fell into a deep, peaceful and desperately needed sleep.

T'Lon pressed her face against Dolphin's back, holding him as he slept. "You will," she said quietly.

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