Chapter Thirty-nine
The Desert Saga
The next morning S'Na approached the supervisor of his group. He expressed the thought that perhaps the management house would benefit from a feminine touch and perhaps a cook would be helpful. Finally the thought that he had one in mind was revealed.
The Orion brushed his bald head, and waved a dismissive hand and said that there could be a trial. If it worked, then they would get additional females to assist with the maintenance of the camp, and possibly less replicated foods.
He returned to the cabin and found her still asleep. He knew he would have to wake her to let her know she had been accepted on a trial basis. He touched her shoulder and she sat up wide eyed and frightened. As her vision cleared she recognized him and bowed her head as she gripped the bedding even tighter.
"You kept your word. Thank you."
S'Na nodded and looked into her eyes that were truly beautiful and as he looked at her he saw trust reflected in their dark color. He then advised her that she should go to the building that was….Then he said,
"Come, I will show you."
She visited the sanitary facility and finally cleansed her body and mouth. When she exited that room her hair was pulled back and high on her head. She wiped off her outfit an she then followed him out of the door. As they approached the building an older Vulcan, who was not of S'Na' group nodded and his eyes followed them up the stairs.
La'iv was introduced and a matronly female of an unknown humanoid species asked her a few questions and gestured for her to follow her. This female had been recently brought onto the planet to carry out some unknown duties. No doubt a younger person to assist her would be a distinct advantage. The older female was apparently brought from the female camp as a 'retiree'. Perhaps she had been a favorite of an older high ranking member of the Orion syndicate who now decided she could be relatively free of any carnal responsibilities. Perhaps the lady could instruct La'iv in housekeeping chores. S'Na was satisfied that he had done his best to insure her safety.
While walking to his job assignment, S'Na's male mentality peaked as he thought,
'She will have to be appreciative of my action towards her and reward my efforts.'
As he inspected the work line to check his group's progress, he licked his lips as he mentally rubbed his hands in anticipation. He continued the necessary survey that would allow him to report pluses and minuses to the level's supervisor.
That evening when he returned to the cabin he laid on the bed and as he anticipated La'iv's return he closed his eyes. With the sinking of V'tos' three sols, below the horizon, he became a bit concerned about the lateness of her return. It was then he heard scratching at the door. He walked to the door expecting to see some small animal who had lost its way but instead in front of the door, on the ground was a broken, battered body—La'iv's eyes looked up. Not the trusting eyes of earlier in the day but a look of loss, pain and shock.
S'Na picked up her light fragile body and deposited her on the bed. She moaned and under the glaring direct light over the bed he saw multiple bruises, scratches, a split lip and blood. These injuries were what were observable, under her tattered clothing he was certain there were more. He brought her water and propped her up so she could sip. He immediately felt ashamed of his previous thoughts especially as she said through trembling lips.
"Why did you let him do that to me. Did he give you credits?"
"No, no, I would not… who was it that did this to you?"
She sat up and pulled her knees up to her chin and bowed her head, Her body was trembling and he wrapped the bed linens more tightly around her. Her response was barely above a whisper in a trembling voice,
"The one…the one, with an appearance like you that watched us as we entered the house."
As he locked the door his instructions were,
"Open to no one."
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Spock voiced his concern about S'na to Sirin and as he finished his cousin said,
"He is deeply troubled about something in his past. I will approach him and see if he would agree to a mind-meld. He might have attempted to bury whatever is the source of his pain if that is so, it will only be a mind meld that will release these."
Sirin found S'Na alone in the embassy garden. His simple statement was,
"Brother, I sense you are troubled."
His gaze was steely. Sirin made no comment on the Vulcan's unrelenting stare and continued,
"You will not admit such but you are in pain. We as a people are taught Ka'dith, what is, is. Your particular experience has brought you to a very dangerous state. Allow me to share your burden."
Looking up S'Na said,
"I wish to return to V'tos."
Sirin's response was,
"Why? Is that the place where your burden was left and you wish to return to pick up its' entire weight upon your person again?"
Silence was the response to Sirin's question..
"S'na, you can contribute much to our Vulcan heritage."
"I am but one."
"While that is true, your life seed could become the foundation for hundreds."
"I am undeserving."
Then silence.
"S'Na, as a healer allow me to help you by joining my mind with yours."
He stiffened and then nodded.
Sirin positioned himself and closed his eyes. Once the connection was made Sirin's first observation was of fierce swirls of black. These were dangerous and would have to be released as soon as possible. Sirin had to determine the source ot those dangerous emotions and then a face, a beautiful female face that echoed Spock's Nyota appeared and S'Na's breathing became erratic. Sirin's comprehension became clearer as another face appeared, a Vulcan male who had features very similar to Spock. As a matter of fact, the similarity was uncanny.
Sirin was then privy to the conversation between S'Na and this Vulcan that had affected him so adversely.
The other Vulcan's words were,
"She is nothing but deposable goods. I am very adept in the act so if the parts fit or even if I have to force them a bit to make it work, I am successful. She was fresh and new so as I took her body, I took her mind. Is that what you were planning, My Brother?"
"You took her against her will," was S'Na's answer.
"Slaves like us have no say, no will, in such matters. I took her, and you did not take advantage of your opportunity. That is your loss."
The next action Sirin viewed was S'Na striking the older Vulcan, and that the male fell, hit hiis head. His injury was fatal. S'na disposed of the body in the 'bottomless pit,' the areas' garbage disposal. He listened to hear the thud of the body reaching the bottom, wiped his hands and went to return to the cabin.
Sirin's meld was able to reveal S'Na's experience when he returned to the cabin..
La'iv had cleansed her body and wrapped herself in the bed linen's again. .
She addressed him, "Now I am like the others. Disposable goods. What other purpose could I have in life? Now you must take me, also. You are male, you don't have to have honorable feelings towards me anymore."
"No, I could not take you in the way he did."
She wept and he held her shoulders. From trembling lips she said,
"You would not do as he did for you are indeed honorable. But if you take me tenderly, with compassion, as you would a wife, that experience would be my shelter, where my mind could hide during all that happens in the future. It would be the one worthwhile experience in my life.
She knelt on the bed a let the linen fall from her. Despite the bruises, her body was so beautiful. She took his hand and placed it on her breast. He shuttered as she touched him and she whispered,
"Help me, take me, give me my place of refruge."
He ran his fingers through her now loosened hair and gently kissed her lips, caressed her face, explored her body and she addressed his needs, she repeatedly whispered, "Thank you."
When he was satisfied he held her in his arms and said,
"Perhaps they will allow you to stay with me."
Nodding her head she said,
"Such a thing is unheard of. They must wear me out and then release me when I am useless to them. I don't even know if I shall see you again. I might be assigned to another group that visits another camp, but I will remember you as an honorable male who gave me a place where my sanity can dwell when all else is hopeless, and I thank you."
He kissed her and the feeling consumed him again, he could not identify it but the colors in his mind were dark and he took her again.
"The other females said for me to look for someone like you who was honorable. I feel fortunate that I found my place of solitude with you as the second joining of my lifetime. Some have never found what I have experienced. She went to the storage area in the cabin and found clothing that she could wear and cleansed and dressed herself.
She addressed S'Na again,
"You must forget me. I am deposable. With those words she leaned over and kissed him on the lips. We are slaves, you have your assignment and I have mine. This is what life has given us until we breathe our last."
He said,
"If I don't ask, I will not forgive myself. Perhaps I could purchase you by extra work. His last vision of her was with her head bowed, a defeated creature.
He was disappointed when he returned to find that she was gone as was the shuttle. As was the case with easily replaceable goods, the search for the Vulcan that he had thrown into the bottomless pit was short. Attempted escapes and suicides were not unheard of on V'tos, and there had been a visiting shuttle which to a misguided mind might have been seen as a mode of escape.
When he was asked he simply said that the last time he saw the individual he was near the bottomless pit, the site of many self-murders, this was in fact the truth.
After a period of time he questioned the female at the house, since she still had ties with the females, to see if she knew anything about La'iv's whereabouts. Without feeling, without even stopping her work she said,
"She killed herself."
S'Na later found she had been gang raped and shortly after sought 'a slaves ultimate escape'…death The refuge that she had requested, and that he had provided her had failed her. On many occassions he turned toward the surrounding wilderness to find isolation for his body and his thoughts as wandered the hills surrounding the camp.
Sirim withdrew from, the young male's mind and waited for him to recover from the physical reaction to a mind meld. As his breathing evened out Sirin said,
"S'Na, I grieve with thee. You should know that rape, whether physical or mental is a capital offense in our Vulcan culture. By our joining I now recognize the reason for your promiscuous behavior. But my young brother, you will be unsuccessful if try to replace her, to relive your experience with her. Such a search will only lead to disappointed. Each replacement will come up as inadequate.
Start anew, All Vulcans who come to reside at the settlement will be given the opportunity to bond with a female and start families. S'Na, I appeal to your logic, allow yourself time to grieve and then find another to fill your heart.
S'Na was silent, his breathing was ragged. If he had been human, at that point, he would have wept.
Sirin left S'Na with the words,
"At an of age of adulthood for a Vulcan male, here on Terra, you have the right to make any and all decisions about your future. But remember, time goes forward, never backwards and that healing requires time and that the Vulcan settlement will welcome you."
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With those words Sirin left to seek his cousin, he had much to reveal to Spock. What he would share included a narrative of what the mind meld had revealed and the counsel he had dispensed. Spock's response was,
"I thank you for allowing me the opportunity to understand the situation and possibly be able to assist S'Na. .Upon the completion of that conversation, Spock went to join Nyota and the other family members. He felt assured that the situation that could have become serious would be resolved.