He had a couple of conversations via PADD with what would be his new team leader, a Dr. Maria Shostakovitch. He'd also been given a different design of PADD with a larger screen on which he could draw with a stylus. That was going to be immensely useful.
There had also been some fine-tuning of the glasses so that light didn't leak in round the edges. They looked a little odd, more like goggles than sunglasses, but they meant he could finally handle normal indoor lighting without getting a headache. That was worth a lot. Finally, it was time to go and meet the rest of the team. They were currently based in London, so that meant spaceflight.
He'd been surprised and a bit embarrassed to learn that he wasn't on earth already, but on a space station near Jupiter. How in the world had he failed to notice that? But between the artificial gravity, the lack of windows and the state he was in when he woke perhaps it wasn't surprising. He was rather looking forward to the trip. The last time he'd been voyaging through space he'd been cryofrozen and unable to enjoy it.
His minder, Connor Hathaway arrived outside the cell and unlocked the clear door, swinging it wide. "Everything ready?" Connor asked.
"Yes," said Khan. Khan slung the single duffel bag containing his PADD, clothes and a few odds and ends over one shoulder, and left the cell for the last time. Good riddance to THAT!
They wound their way through the rest of Section 31 station, going from the medical labs through one of the hangers and the living quarters for the staff before arriving at the docking bay.
The takeoff was very uneventful, given that they were leaving a space station and weren't fighting a planet's gravity to get away. The view outside, however... Jupiter loomed vast and aweful in the distance, the space station like an intricate piece of wirework diminishing as they travelled away. Moons, bright and shining across a black field sprinkled with more stars than he had ever seen before in his life.
Khan leaned towards the window around Connor. Khan's fingers itched for his sketchbook even though he knew perfectly well that even paint would never capture it fully. How Connor could remain oblivious to something so beautiful... ah well, it was his loss.
Eventually Khan became tired of staring out the window and rummaged through his carry-on for his PADD. He might as well do some work while he was here.
"You haven't been in space much, have you?" said a brown-haired woman on the other side of him, smiling.
"Just not seen... Jupiter in a while," said Khan, remembering that John Harrison had seen many different planets and star systems. For a moment, Khan felt an odd jealousy of his invented persona.
"It is a nice view," she agreed. "Where are you off to?"
"Kelvin," said Khan.
The woman looked confused.
"Kelvin Memorial Archives," said Connor from beside him.
"Oh," she said, sounding a little disappointed, that's nice. "I'm heading out-system."
She obviously hadn't the faintest clue as to who or what he really was. It was nice to deal with someone who didn't think of him as a dangerous animal, even if it was all based on lies. He missed his family!
Once they reached earth, they transferred at the San Francisco Spaceport beside Starfleet Headquarters. That was going well enough - the complexities of light and sound were confusing even with the glasses and earplugs, but he just followed Connor. Then there was a tremendous crash just behind him.
Instinct took over. Khan dived to the floor and rolled behind a family of Andorians with a very large luggage cart, grabbing for his sidearm with one hand. It wasn't there, of course. Khan peered around the Andorian family's cart to see an overturned trolley cart with a box of spilled communicators along with a lot of people staring at either him or the cart.
Connor hurried over and grabbed Khan by the arm, mouthing words Khan couldn't hear over the ringing in his head but that looked like 'calm down'. Embarrassed, Khan stood up and dusted his knees off. He allowed Connor to continue leading him towards the terminal for the London shuttle.
The rest of the journey was uneventful.
The Section 31 base hidden by the Kelvin Memorial Archives was only moderately well hidden. Khan sniffed.
They stepped through a door marked "Staff Only", and were greeted by a hatchet-faced woman who checked their ID's before waving them through. The base itself was a plain battleship grey, and contained many long corridors. Khan's headache had never really gone away and he was beginning to wish they would just reach his quarters so he could lie down.
Of course, that was when he ran into a couple of his new teammates, the leader Dr. Maria Shostakovitch and a Dr. Carol Marcus. They were both rather short for Normals, and Khan found himself looking down a good long way. He was interested to note that if Carol was related to Admiral Marcus she didn't look much like him. Pixie cute and very young, with white-blond hair, blue eyes and long legs, she looked more like a model than a doctor of physics. Never mind, appearances were presumably deceptive in this case.
They both wanted to talk shop at once and called over some of the other teammembers. When Maria commed a Temujin Genghis and told him to 'come over here and meet the newbie' Khan nearly did a double-take. Was someone playing a practical joke? But no one else seemed to notice anything unusual. Perhaps the man's parents had merely had an appalling sense of humor.
Khan was about to let himself be dragged of to look at the newest set of diagrams and some computer models of the warp engines despite his pounding head when his pain levels abruptly surged and his vision went black. Khan staggered. Connor yelled as Khan fell down, feeling someone try to catch him on the way.
A lot of blurred confusion later and he was in Sickbay with far too many people fussing at him. He finally got Connor to tell him what had happened. Some idiot had taken a flash photograph. Undone by a trifling photograph, of all things! Khan buried his face in his hands and wished the world would just go away.
They let him go after a couple of hours, instructing him to get some rest and take it easy for the next day or so - as well as to avoid bright lights and loud sounds, as if Khan hadn't figured that out the day he woke up.
He was glad to finally reach his quarters and close the door on the world, even if it turned out he was stuck sharing a bathroom with Connor, who was in the bedroom next to his.
A/N: Can anyone tell me where the names of Khan's coworkers are from? My brain apparently decided this story needed bad puns and strange references.