Deep Space Four, Stardate 2292.246
"So you call them aunt and uncle because they were your father's friends?" Amanda asked. Naalem's story had made her even more curious.
"No, because they are my aunt and uncle."
"You mean they married into your family?"
"No, when I was born my father made them my uncle and aunt."
"Oh, you mean they are your godparents?" Amanda thought she finally understood.
"What's that?"
"Godparents? Where I come from, on Earth, godparents are friends of a child's parents who help with his or her religious education. They might care for the child if something happened to the parents but usually they were more like an aunt or uncle."
"Oh, I see," Naalem replied, nodding his head. "In Hakar they are called lel and kle. These are the same words we use for uncle and aunt. When a baby is born, the parents choose a lel and kle. They will be the guardians if the parents die… or if they can't care for the child. It is necessary because we have had many wars and many people have died."
"Ah, I understand now. I'm sure you'd like to check on your uncle so I don't want to take up any more of your time."
"I've just seen him. I don't want to sit in there all day. He doesn't know I'm there." Naalem sighed.
"Would you like me to stay here with you?"
"You don't have things to do?"
"Not a thing. My husband will be busy all day with his negotiations."
Amanda spent most of the rest of the day in Naalem's company. He was outgoing, curious, and mature, at least mature compared to a human child the same age. It had been a long time since she'd been around children and she found she missed them. She also found that Naalem was very easy to like. They talked about Senes, Earth, Vulcan, and some of the other planets she'd visited. Naalem had heard about many of these places from his uncle and aunt, who was a travel agent. She specialized in romantic vacations (honeymoons and trips for a Hakaran holiday that was similar to Valentine's Day). She was on Risa at the moment in order to visit a new resort.
Amanda wanted to know more about Naalem's uncle but she didn't want to pry. She learned that he was frequently away working as a cargo load officer on various Seenan starships. Naalem lived at school since neither his aunt nor uncle were home on a regular basis. Losha's trip to Deep Space Four had coincided with a school break so he had brought Naalem along. It was his first trip to space and he had been very excited until the accident. He asked her many questions about Vulcan; he wanted to know more about the planet that was the home of his uncle's ancestors. Losha, he told Amanda, was not particularly interested in Vulcan. He had told Naalem that since he would never be able to go there, there was no point in thinking about it.
They spent part of the day in sickbay, where the Seenan captain, first officer, and medic all made visits throughout the day. Naalem had never met any of them prior to boarding the ship on Senes but they were nonetheless concerned for his as well as his uncle's welfare.
When she spoke with Sarek that evening after dinner, Amanda learned that he was already aware that Losha may be blind. Dvir had spoken to him about it the previous afternoon.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I did not see the need to inform you of something that it is not yet determined."
"That figures." She sighed. "Naalem also told me that Losha is a stateless person, not a citizen of Vulcan. She said he's never even been to Vulcan."
"Yes, Dvir informed me that he is a stateless person and, as such, will need special permission to travel to Vulcan."
Amanda had thought that stateless people were refugees who couldn't return to their home planets. Obviously there were no refugees from Vulcan so she could only presume that if Losha's story were true, he could be descendant of Vulcans who had been exiled from their home planet. During the previous century a number of V'tosh ka'tur, or Vulcans without logic, had left the planet because they did not accept all of the teachings of Surak. Her own stepson, Sybok, had been exiled for the same reason. She wanted to ask Sarek more but she did not want to breach the subject of exile from Vulcan with him. It had been over fifty years since he'd last seen his oldest son and five years since they'd learned of his death, but even now she dared not bring the topic up. There was also the possibility that Losha's parents were criminals. Perhaps he did not wish to speak to Naalem about Vulcan because he didn't wish to discuss his parents' crimes. Or perhaps his parents really were Romulans and everything he had told Naalem and the Seenans was a lie. There was no point in bringing that up with Sarek either because he'd already dismissed the idea two nights ago after she'd encountered Losha in the observation area.
The following morning Dr. Naik was waiting with Dr. Dvir when Naalem arrived per her request. She wanted him to be present when Losha regained consciousness.
"He may not remember what happened just prior to accident," Naik informed the boy, who nodded in reply. She administered a hypospray and then studied his response on the wall screen. When the screen indicated he was conscious, she spoke.
"Losha?"
"Ina." He responded, turning his head toward her.
Naalem looked at her expectantly. She nodded and then he spoke. "He says, 'yes.' "
"Naalem?" Losha asked.
"Yes, Losha, I'm here. We are on Deep Space Four."
"You're here in sickbay, Losha. I am Dr. Naik and Dr. Dvir is here also."
"What happened?"
"There was an explosion in one of the cargo bins. You injured your head." Naalem continued.
"There's something on my head," Losha said, reaching up to touch the bandages wrapped around his eyes.
"Yes, your head and eyes are bandaged. Don't try to take them off," Naik advised.
"Naalem, are you alright?" He asked.
"Yes, I'm fine."
"You came with me into the cargo bay. That's the last thing I remember."
"Yes, but I'm fine. I was in the bay, not in the bin with you."
"I don't remember going into the bin. Was anyone else there?"
"No," replied Naalem.
"No one else was hurt?"
"No."
"But what happened?"
"Captain Jemel said he thinks it's something to do with something in the bin being improperly stored."
"The chemical oxygen generators in bin three."
"You remember now?" Naalem was hopeful.
"No, but that's the only cargo we took on here that could have caused an explosion."
"Yes, I think that's what Captain Jemel said." Naalem informed him.
"How long ago was that?"
'It's now 9:17 a.m. on Wednesday," Naik said, glancing up at the display on the wall. "So you've been here almost two days. You've sustained a serious head injury and your eyes were exposed to a great deal of oxygen." She paused, considering the best way to deliver the news. "I have to tell you that your vision may be severely impaired. You may have total vision loss."
"I might be blind?" His reply seemed as emotionless as any Vulcan's to Naik.
"The hyperoxia, the exposure to excess oxygen, may have caused temporary blindness though it's unlikely it lasted more than a few hours. Still, there could be lingering effects from it such as blurriness. It may be several days before your vision is back to normal. But we are more concerned with vision loss that may have occurred as a result of your head injury. The force of the explosion caused your brain to hit the back of your skull, bruising the occipital lobe, where the visual cortex is located. This may cause vision loss as well."
"How long could this vision loss last for?" Though she was accustomed to delivering bad news to both patients and their families by now, Naik had to remind herself that nothing was customary about this for the patient.
"At that point we would look into surgery."
"I see. When will you be able to remove these?" Losha gestured toward the bandages.
"Now, actually. We need to give you eye drops for the hyperoxia and change the bandaging. We'll have to do this every eight hours. Computer, dim lights by forty percent," she instructed. The lights dimmed and she carefully removed the bandages as Dvir and Naalem looked on. "Even with the lights being dimmed, it may take your eyes a moment to adjust."
"I understand."
Naik removed the last of the bandaging along with eye pads, revealing bruising on his forehead. It was healing well, however, thanks to his Vulcan physiology. She and Dvir would need to examine the rest of his head but she was most concerned about his vision.
"You can open your eyes now," she instructed.