First Contact
Chapter 8
Picard and his three officers grabbed their gear and prepared to journey to meet the queen. He notified the Enterprise about this development and that he would keep them informed of their progress.
Neither Picard nor his crew had any real idea of what to expect. Both Doctor Crusher and Data employed their tricorders to quietly scan the new fairy called Viola. The same readings were present as with Tinker Bell. Flying meant consuming pixie dust, or whatever it was, which generated the same energy signature as was found near the center of the island. However, more signatures were detected nearby.
They small group of five humans and two fairies began their trek. As they approached the edge of the palm trees, several more fairies appeared. These were dressed in drab clothing and wore walnut shells for hats.
"Who are these?" Picard asked.
Elizabeth replied, "These are scouts. They are the protectors of the fairy home world. They will escort us to the queen."
"Scouts?" Geordi asked Data, his friend.
"It would seem that any such community would require protection," Data replied. "However, it eludes me what they would need protection from."
Dr. Griffiths heard the conversation and answered his query. "Hawks, Mr. Data. They view fairies as prey."
"So this fairy home world is not a perfect place," Picard commented.
"No, there are many such dangers," she replied. "Wasps are dangerous to fairies as well. A sting has enough poison to kill a fairy in seconds. Also, a fairy cannot fly if their wings get wet. If a fairy is not careful, they can drown."
This brought so many questions to Picard and his crew. A benevolent intellect that wanted to protect her from traumas might not have created a world in which her "friends" could face dangers and death.
The scouts, eight of them in total, surrounded the group and guided the humans through the trees and towards their destination.
"Tell me, Doctor," Picard asked. "What is the name of the fairy home world?"
"They call it Pixie Hollow," she answered.
"That wasn't in the book," Beverly commented to Jean Luc.
"It wouldn't," Elizabeth answered. "The children Peter Pan brought never visited Pixie Hollow. Mr. Barrie was never aware of it."
"Then how did he know of a fairy queen?" Picard asked.
"Peter Pan told the children who in turn told Mr. Barrie."
"Fascinating," Data said.
The small group moved through the trees making good time. The fairy creatures were mostly silent. Whatever jingling sounds they made, Elizabeth simply nodded in acknowledgement. Picard assumed these were directions or small comments which were not relevant to the four Starfleet officers.
"Tell me, Doctor Griffiths," Picard said. "Why did the queen take so long to agree to see us?"
Elizabeth shared a meaningful glance with Tinker Bell and Viola before speaking. Almost as if asking permission. "She had to consult with her ministers, Captain."
"Ministers? You mean advisors?" he asked.
"Yes, Captain. Queen Clarion has four ministers. One for each season."
"Curious," Data said as he listened in on the conversation.
"Why would the queen need a minister for each season?" Picard asked.
"I don't think you are quite ready for that, Captain," Elizabeth answered.
"You broached the subject," Picard replied. "I think full disclosure is in order."
Elizabeth looked at each of the four outsiders. "You will think it is absurd."
"Now why would you think that?" Beverly asked.
Doctor Griffiths stopped in her tracks, bringing the entire group to a halt. "Because that is how my father first reacted when I told him that fairies were real. He did not believe me."
"Considering the wonders we have already seen, it is likely we will be more accepting," Picard told her diplomatically.
"I wasn't born yesterday," she said. "I know you have great difficulty believing anything I tell you."
"What you have told us so far is beyond the realm of known scientific knowledge," Data interjected.
"You said you were explorers. I understand believing the unbelievable is not part of what you do," she told them. "Yet only through believing will you come to understand."
This hit Picard squarely in the chest. As explorers he was supposed to keep an open mind. How often did he and his crew encounter the incredible while on deep space missions? Just because something unusual was found in their own backyard did not make it any less important. Yet, as a scientist and explorer it was his duty to look for scientific explanations for whatever they encountered. Doctor Griffiths was asking him and his officers to accept without proof.
"Dr. Griffiths, you are a scientist just like us. Scientific discovery, exploration and study are part of our line of work. To ask us to believe without it is…"
"Is to ask you for faith," she replied. "Are you not capable of having faith?"
Picard sighed. He had never been asked that question before. He decided to be tactful. "You are quite right, Dr. Griffiths," Picard informed her. "In our travels we have often encountered many inexplicable things, the details of which were finally revealed to us through scientific examination. Perhaps we have become too reliant on our science. Too cynical to accept what cannot be easily explained. Humans have a history of rejecting that which they cannot fathom."
"Yes, Captain. That is true. However, today you will need faith," she advised him. "That was something my father had to learn. Soon, though, he did come to accept Tinker Bell and her friends without needing to fully understanding them or their world."
"But you came here to gain an understanding of them," Beverly said, noting the contradiction.
"We would not have been invited if we did not trust without needing to understand," Elizabeth replied. "Only then did they allow us to explore their world. Not as a scientific endeavor to expand human knowledge, but to become part of their community."
"Faith," Picard repeated. "They trusted you because you were willing to trust in them."
"Exactly, Captain. As my fairy friends are apt to say 'Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust.'"
"Friends? How many friends do you have?" Beverly asked.
"Several," she replied. "All of Tinker Bell's friends are my friends, too. I met them when I first encountered Tinker Bell."
"How did you meet her?" Geordi asked.
"Yes, but first, why would the queen have one minister for each season?" Picard asked again.
Elizabeth sighed. "I'm sorry, Captain, but you are not yet ready for that."
"Dr. Griffiths, we just had this conversation," Picard said sternly. He felt as if Dr. Griffiths was giving him the run around. "We are willing to put aside our scientific expectations and accept what you tell us on faith."
"Then why are you still fingering your Tri-thingy?" she pointed out.
Picard looked down and saw that both he and Dr. Crusher were resting their hands on their tricorder devices.
"You see, Captain, you are willing in your head, but not in your heart," she told him frankly. "That is where faith originates. Your heart, not your mind."
She was right. Jean Luc had no choice but to admit she was quite right. Faith was something that occurred in the heart. Whether it was religious in nature or simply a willingness to trust in one's own crew, that was something that was felt, not intellectualized.
"My apologies, Doctor," he told her contritely, diplomacy winning out. "Please, go on. Tell us how you first met Tinker Bell and her friends."
Elizabeth began walking again. During the journey she related how on a summer afternoon in 1890, when Lizzy, as her father called her, was only nine, met Tinker Bell.
~O~
Her father and Lizzy had come to their summer home outside of London for holiday. She was an exuberant child who wanted nothing more than to find a fairy to justify her belief in them. She listened to any story and read every book she could find about fairies. Lizzy drew many pictures of them, imagining what a fairy might look like or how they lived.
For their holiday she had crafted a little fairy house made from a box of oatmeal and other items she had collected. Lizzy placed it in the meadow across from the house. Her point was to prove to her father that fairies were indeed very real. Martin Griffiths was a scientist who had problems believing in anything he could not see, study or measure.
Later that same day Tinker Bell found the little home. Being an inquisitive fairy she went inside to explore the house. But she became stuck inside. Her friend, Vidia, was worried that their presence might be discovered by humans, thus exposing their existence to the human population. Vidia had slammed the door shut to teach Tinker Bell a lesson, but it caused the door to come off its hinges and get caught in the door jamb and welcome mat Lizzy had pasted on.
When Lizzy came back to add a few more flowers, she heard the jingling a fairy makes and found Tinker Bell inside. She took the house, with Tinker Bell captive, into the summer house to show her father. But in his office there were several display cases with dead butterflies pinned up on the wall. She became afraid that her little fairy would end up just like those specimens.
~O~
"Yes, I would be concerned as well," Picard said. He twinged, his tone was almost dismissive, as if addressing a child. Elizabeth said nothing. Instead she kept walking. Picard had to alter his reflexes when it came to dealing with this unusual situation. His assumptions were bleeding through. If he insulted Dr. Griffiths any further he and his crew might lose any chance to discover what was at the center of this strange island.
Soon a terrific roar was heard. The group encountered a waterfall.
"This way, behind the falls," Elizabeth directed. "Pixie Hollow is hidden from the human world of Never Land."
"Why?" Dr. Crusher asked.
"The pirates want their pixie dust," Elizabeth explained. "The dust can make their ship fly. With it they hope to pillage every major city and port in the world."
"And a flying pirate vessel would allow them to do it with very little resistance," Picard correctly surmised. If these pirates were real then they would not know that the outside world had changed since the Victorian Era. "Unfortunately, today such a vessel would be greatly outclassed even by the most modest shuttle."
"Captain Hook isn't aware of the state of the outside world," she replied. "No one was, until now."
The group of humans began to walk behind the wall of falling water. The scouts flew away. Dr. Griffiths told her guests they would meet them on the other side. Viola and Tinker Bell took refuge in Elizabeth's clothing, sharing a pocket. She restated that a fairy cannot fly when their wings get wet. The heavy mist generated by the waterfall could ground or even drown either one of the fairies who was accompanying them.
The five moved into a long cave. A stark glow of daylight was visible at the far end. Data opened his tricorder and scanned the water, the rocks, the atmosphere and anything else he could. Everything he recorded was never out of the ordinary. It confused him that an island that was supposed to be "magical" according to varying accounts could be so normal.
Picard and his three officers stepped carefully over the uneven floor of the cave. They saw stalactites hanging from the ceiling. They also navigated the numerous stalagmites that stuck up from the floor. The ground itself was wet, with small pools and puddles everywhere. Water, which was moisture accumulating on the ceilings, dropped from above and into the small pools and puddles on the ground. Elizabeth bounded across the ground expertly. No doubt she had walked this cave numerous times, which would be in keeping with someone who had spent several centuries living on this island.
Very little was said except for the odd comment or observation by the four officers. When the group exited the other side they were joined once again by the scouts. Picard and his officers then saw a beautiful and lush valley. The sunlight seemed almost golden in hue. The colors were vibrant and enticing. Within the valley there seemed to be giant orchards of trees. One was green, another was pink and a third was reddish orange. In the distance were mountains covered in snow.
"What is this place?" he asked.
"Welcome to Pixie Hollow," Dr. Griffiths answered.
"Who tends to these trees?" Geordi asked.
"Why, the fairies, of course," she answered. "The fairy world is divided into four distinct areas. The Spring Meadow, The Summer Glade, The Autumn Forest and the Winter Woods."
"The four seasons," Beverly quietly observed to Picard.
"Yes," Picard whispered back. "And one minister for each season."
"But for what purpose?" Beverly added.
"We will found out soon enough," Jean Luc replied.
Both Viola and Tinker Bell took flight. Viola blew her horn again and jingled something. Elizabeth translated it as, "Please follow Viola to the presence of her majesty, the queen."
"Lead the way," Picard said. They followed the regally dressed fairy. Tinker Bell stuck close to Elizabeth, as if they had been best friends for most of their lives.
Jean Luc then spoke up, "Dr. Griffiths, please continue your story of how you met Tinker Bell."
"Yes, of course."
Elizabeth explained that Tinker Bell was initially afraid of her. But soon, Lizzy's inquisitiveness and enthusiasm for fairies won over the little tinker fairy. Soon, they had managed to bridge their language barrier and Tinker Bell began to explain about her world.
"First contact," Picard said, interrupting her.
"I beg your pardon," Elizabeth Griffiths asked.
"Dr. Griffiths, what you are describing is what we in the Federation refer to as first contact," Picard said. "It is the first meeting between two cultures which are previously unknown to each other."
"The fairies were very much aware of us," she said. "But we were completely unaware of their existence except through fairy tales and the firm belief of children."
"Children?" questioned Data.
"Yes, fairies are born of a baby's first laugh," she explained. "As the child grows, their explicit belief is what keeps a fairy alive. If a child stops believing-"
"A fairy somewhere falls down dead," Picard said, nearly quoting verbatim the J.M. Barry novel.
"That is correct, though it is impolite to interrupt someone when they are speaking, Captain," she replied.
"My apologies, Doctor."
"Thank you, Captain. Apology accepted." Dr. Griffiths continued her story. While Tinker Bell described her world, Lizzy wrote down all she observed and understood in a journal her father had given her. When she finally presented it to her father, Martin rejected it as nonsense. At least until Tinker Bell came out of hiding and presented herself to him.
Her father found Tinker Bell to be quite fascinating. However, Martin only viewed her as a scientific discovery and tried to capture the little fairy to present to his colleagues. Vidia seeing that her friend was in danger pushed Tinker Bell out of the way, but was trapped in the course of the rescue.
Tinker Bell and some of her other friends helped Lizzy to catch her father and stop him before he revealed the presence of fairies to all of the world. When he saw so many others he finally was willing to believe. To believe not just in their existence, but that they were intelligent creatures who lived in a society and possessed a sense of self and of community.
"Fascinating," Data interjected.
"My father decided not to tell anyone about Tinker Bell or the other fairies we encountered," Dr. Griffiths continued. "Because we were willing to believe in them without reservation, we were eventually invited to visit Never Land and Pixie Hollow. It became our second home. Then it became my permanent home after my world saw fit to destroy itself."
As she described the events of her first meeting with Tinker Bell, the Starfleet outsiders were lead into a grove of trees. They were large and lush green specimens which bore apples. Both Data and Dr. Crusher stopped to examine both the tree and the fruit with their tricorders.
"You can try one if you like," Elizabeth told them. "They are quite delicious."
Geordi took one from the tree and bit into it. It was the most intensely satisfying fruit he had ever eaten. It was crunchy, juicy, sweet and tangy. Jean Luc and Beverly then sampled one. They also agreed that the apples were the best they had ever experienced. Not even the fresh grown apples on Earth nor the fruit from the Enterprise's replicator could match these for flavor, texture and sweetness.
"How do apple trees that grow wild produce fruit so succulent," Beverly Crusher asked.
"Oh, these trees don't grow wild," Elizabeth said. "The garden fairies tend to them. They always grow perfect fruit every time."
"Garden fairies?" Crusher asked.
Elizabeth explained that the fairies of Pixie Hollow had unique talents. Tinker Bell was a tinker talent. The flora here in Pixie Hollow were grown by Garden Talent fairies. The animals that lived here were helped by Animal Fairies. Dr. Griffiths then spoke of Water Talent fairies, Scouting Talent fairies such as those which were accompanying them to the queen. "There are a great many talents and each has their own guild and an overseer."
"To what end do these talents work?" Captain Picard wanted to know.
Elizabeth paused. Then she answered. "They bring the seasons to the mainland."
"They what?"
"The nature talents fairies bring each new season to the mainland and the world. Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, all the changes in the seasons occur because of the fairies."
"Doctor, the seasons of the Earth change because of axial tilt as the planet rotates around the sun," Data explained.
"Yes, that's what they want you to think," she replied.
"Is this why the queen has four ministers?" Captain Picard asked. "One for each season?"
"Exactly."
Presently, the group of five humans approached a giant maple tree. It had a strange glow at its center. Data scanned it with his tricorder. "Captain, this is the source of the energy readings we detected from the shuttle."
"The tree, Mr. Data?"
"That is correct."
Upon closer inspection, Data found a constant stream of the pixie dust flowing from the trunk of the massive maple.
"What do you make of it, Mr. Data?" Captain Picard asked.
"Unknown, Sir," he answered. "According to these scans, the dust seems to be a unique from of sap."
"You mean it is being generated by the tree?"
"Yes, Captain," Data replied. "However, further readings will be required to confirm my hypothesis."
The scouts closed ranks and formed a wall between the outsiders and the tree. Dr. Griffiths approached and spoke with Viola. The tiny creature flew into one of many holes in the tree bark. Moments later she exited and blew her horn again. She made a jingling sound as she spoke.
Elizabeth Griffiths translated. "All hail, Clarion, Queen of the Never Fairies. Ruler of all Pixie Hollow and the Winter Woods." She then genuflected. Picard and the others slowly followed her example, kneeling.
A second later, a tall, mesmerizingly beautiful fairy exited the tree. She had honey brown hair upon which sat a crown. She wore a dress that seemed to flow with pixie dust itself. Picard assumed this was the queen as she bore a regal presence. Most notably, however, were her wings. The wings of Tinker Bell and every other fairy they had encountered looked like clear insect wings. But this queen had large wings that glowed a bright golden color and were shaped like a butterfly's.
She was, in a word, queenly.
Viola blew her horn again. Quickly the air was thick with hundreds, thousands of winged creatures. Fairies with the same clear, insect like wings. They wore clothes of different colors. Beverly noted that the fairies seemed to be as diverse as the humanity itself. There were different races, ethnic groups, hair colors, eye colors and skin tones.
"Incredible," Geordi said, words failing him.
"What do we do now, Captain?" Dr. Crusher asked him.
"Whether what we are seeing is real or not," he said, "from this moment on we proceed under the Starfleet rules of First Contact."
I hope you enjoyed this new chapter. Elizabeth Griffiths' "recollections" of her first contact with Tinker Bell when she was nine come from the direct to DVD film Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue.
Thank you for reading. Please leave a review.
