"………and no one even knew Worf even on board the ship until they saw him and I introduced him." Deanna had made her way to Sickbay and was currently telling Beverly what had happened in Ten-ford. "It's strange. When I tried to read her, I felt sick, like there was so much going through her mind I felt my head would explode. I've never felt that before Beverly. She couldn't have know that."
"Maybe what Simon said was true. Perhaps she does have a good perception of people. I honestly don't know, but what I do know is that the brain scans I took from her, they're like nothing I've ever seen before. Someone has actually removed her amygdala. It controls autonomic responses associated with fear, hormonal secretions and emotional responses." Beverly was clearly upset, waving her hands around, her eyes wide with shock and disgust. "I can't believe any human being would do anything like this, let alone on another wise perfectly healthy normal girl."
"Beverly, you must remember, they don't come from this dimension. I hate to think about it, but this may not be as outrageous in their society as it is in ours, although I can definitely sense a lot of anger coming from Simon." Deanna tried to reason.
"They're siblings. Brother and sister. I think that's why they seem very close, and Simon is always standing right beside her, making sure she's ok." Beverly thought. "He told me he was a doctor, back where he came from. He was one of the best, but he suspected something wasn't right with his sister several months after she left for the academy. He said that when he tried to contact her or get any information about her, he was thrown into jail!" Beverly stopped, letting the absurdity of the actions taken against Simon sink in. How can anyone live in a world like that? She thought.
At that moment, her son Wesley stepped through the swishing doors, a concentrating look transfixed to his face. He looked up to see his mother and Deanna. "Oh, hi mom. I just came to get some padds I left behind, homework." He nodded in the direction of her office and made his way over.
"Did you get the chance to talk to some of the Serenity crew?" Beverly inquired simply, hoping the question didn't sound like she was scoping for information.
"Yeah." He replied timidly. "I just thought Kaylee said something odd." He shrugged, his eyes roaming the room. He felt his mother's eyes on the back of his neck, as he tried to locate his padd, his escape route. Obviously she wanted to know something, and Wesley had the suspicion it had something to do with their dimension jumping guests.
"What did she say?" Deanna jumped in.
"Oh, something about River getting her brain cut up." Wesley turned around to face his mother's boring eyes. "But you know that already, don't you. That's way you took all those brain scans and told everyone they were standard." He raised his eyebrows. "She also said something about River attacking Jayne with a knife. She didn't say why though. Ahh!" Wesley, locating his padd under an assortment of his mother's work, grabbed it quickly, muttering a small good-bye to both Beverly and Deanna and left at neck breaking speeds.
"She attacked one of her own crew?" Deanna looked at Beverly for some kind of expiation.
Sighing, Beverly turned back to the medical schematics of River's brain. "I'm surprised she's still able to talk to tell you the truth."
"Ohhh, what does this do? Can I press it?" Kaylee squealed in delight as she moved through the middle of engineering to the weapons console.
"NO! Not that one. This console isn't to be touched unless given the order to do so." Geordie re-directed her hand away from the torpedo launch sequence.
"Why? What does it do?" Before Geordie could think up an answer, Kaylee had already moved off. Now she hovered over Data as he realigned their targeting sensors, a standard procedure, but an eye opener when one was watching Data do it. The main reason being that one could barely see his hands as they moved so fast. "Wow" She breathed. Data didn't seem to notice.
Their was the quiet sliding of the doors and in stepped Mal. Taking a quick look around he caught sight of Kaylee and headed over her way. "Kaylee, what you doing disturbing these people. They got work to do just like you. Ship's been docked for nearly an hour. You got some engines to get going." He ordered. Kaylee's face dropped at the prospect of being stuck on Serenity while everyone else was left to roam Enterprise.
"Hey, why don't I give you a hand?" Geordie offered. "It'll get done quicker and I'm free at the moment."
"Ohh, really? Shiny. Right this way." Kaylee grabbed his hand and pulled him off, her smile back on her face as she disappeared from Mal's line of view.
"Sir may I ask you something?" Data asked Mal, who jumped. He hadn't even seen him there.
"Sure, what's on your mind?" Data looked somewhat confused but realized it was just a figure of speech.
"I am unsure to the purpose of the amount of weapons you and your crew carry. I do not understand the need for handheld fire arms on a cargo hold. Would it not suffice to place weapons on the outside of the ship to ward away a possible ambush?" Data asked raising his eyebrows.
"Uhhh." Mal thought hard. How would he be able to explain to people who used small little pistols that didn't even fire bullets and came from the world of 'la-di-da'. May as well just tell them straight. He considered. Of course he'd leave out the fact that he stole the merchandise. He'd just say that a lot of people wanted that which he transported but it was just his job to deliver, and sometimes those he ran into, had more then just fists below their wrists. "It can get a little shifty. Get jumped by someone in the mood for lootin who has a lota fire power and we're screwed, to say the least." He finally answered.
"Screwed Sir?" Data inquired, but Mal never answered that one. There was something odd with this guy, if the pale completion and stiff demeanor didn't give it away. Of course, they had been informed that he was just a robot. A very smart robot, who wouldn't hurt anyone unless certain circumstances were in play.
Simon and River were sitting quietly the room River had been given to stay in while their own ship was being repaired. It was a lovely spacious room, twice the size of their dining room and kitchen together. Soft couches and arm chairs were places in front of the window with a double sized bed to the right and an on suite that was her own personal bathroom beyond that. While she had taken a seat and was currently staring out into the open space, Simon was trying to figure out how to use the replicator. They had been told and quickly shown how it worked although Simon had already forgotten the complicated setup.
"Damm it." He muttered when nothing happened. All he wanted was a simple glass of water. He would have just been contempt to grab it out of the sink, but he didn't have a glass, he'd have to replicate one, if he could ever work out how to.
"Here, you do it like this." River appeared beside him, making him jump. He hadn't heard her make a sound. She quickly entered in quick commands like she had done it a thousand times. Where there was nothing before, there was a shimmer of light and a clear glass of fresh water appeared. "Of course, you could have just told it what you wanted. It works under voice command as well." River explained, turning around to sit back on her seat. Simon let a rare smile cross his lips. It never ceased to amaze him how much Knowledge River could absorb. But he still felt something was not quiet right. It had been like she had known this would happen, she didn't seem surprised at anything they were told.
"That window looks like its not there." He said, trying to start up a conversation. River's gaze didn't move from the stars.
"Not a window." She replied.
"Oh?" Simon walked over to it and moved his hand to touch it. His hand didn't come into contact with glass; instead it came into contact with something that made the whole glass like structure shimmer a light blue colour before returning to normal. "What was that?" Simon jumped back.
"Force field. Glass is too weak. Can't hold us all in." River was looking far away, at something only she could see.
"Force field?" Simon asked but River didn't answer. She was in her own little world, inside her head that seemed too big and vast for her young frail frame. She could hear whispering. She always could, and sometimes she could understand what the whispers were saying, if she listened hard enough. She could hear some of what these were saying. They told her many things, they gave her answers to questions that filled the Sincerity crews head, but she said nothing. To say something would admit to the 'Seeker' what she could do, and then they would have her under microscopes too. 'Seeker was the name she had dubbed the elegant brown haired out, Deanna. She had tried too look into her head. Had felt her try to sift through emotions even she couldn't comprehend, but then she had left, pulled herself out before she got as lost as River was. No matter where River ended up, everyone she meet was just itching to look at her brain, and for similar reasons. Even she didn't know what abilities she possessed.