Space Seed: A Different Reality
Chapter 3: The Interview
Captain's Log Supplemental: Since the Enterprise is stationed here at Starbase 13 for the next few weeks until all the Augments have been reawakened, my Chief Medical Officer has given us, myself and Lt McGivers, the go ahead on interviewing our patient. I'm very curious myself as to what we can learn from her.
- Starbase Medical Facility -
The doors to the patient room opened and in walked Captain Kirk and Lt McGivers followed by two armed security guards. Upon seeing this, Amin looked up with curiosity. She looked to Dr. McCoy already there, and he nodded, "Jim, Lt, Ms. Amin is doing exceptionally well. She's ready for any questions you may have," he finished, "I might add, she has quite a few questions for all of us."
"Thanks, Bones, we hope to make this an easy affair," Kirk answered. Him and the lieutenant went and sat down beside the bed where Amin was laying. Kirk motioned for the security guards to remain at the entrance to the room.
"First of all, Ms. Amin, let me introduce myself and Lieutenant McGivers here."
Amin nodded, "hello, Captain. Lieutenant." Looking at the security guards raised her curiosity and suspicion about her interrogators.
"Ms. Amin, hello." McGivers added.
"So," Kirk began, "where do you want to begin? In all fairness, why don't you ask your questions first and we'll be able to answer what we're authorized to provide. Will that work?"
"Yes, that works, captain," she answered, "So, the basic question is: where am I, and most specifically, when am I? I noticed most of the technology around me is quite unfamiliar and very advanced compared to what I was used to before leaving Earth."
"Fair enough. Ms. Amin. You are in the 23rd century. It is the Earth year 2267. Your location is Starbase 13, which is approximately 210 light years from Earth."
At this, Amin interrupted, "…wait, what? You said, 210 light years…?"
"Yes, in this century, mankind has developed the ability to travel faster than light. We're spread throughout the galaxy and have numerous colonies outside of Earth's solar system. The ships we travel with, use a form of faster than light travel drive discovered in the middle of the 21st century. In perspective, Earth is about a three week journey from where we're at."
"Wow…didn't think that was possible. Physicists in the 20th century didn't think faster than light travel was possible. Anyway, OK. I guess all things considered, this can't be very bad. What are your questions for me, captain?"
"Ms. Amin, do you remember why you departed Earth?"
"It was to find another world to colonize. Another empire to build."
"What was the original heading if you remember?" He asked.
"It was the Proxima Centauri system, the nearest system to Earth at the time," she finished.
"Well, Ms. Amin, there is currently a flourishing civilization there and it's a member of our interstellar government."
"Oh, ok. By the way, where is Khan? Is he alive?"
"Very much so, but still in cryo-stasis, Ms. Amin. Lieutenant McGivers here recognized him," he nodded to Lieutenant sitting next to him, "In fact, she's an expert on your era and probably waiting on me to finish with my questions."
"Let the Lieutenant ask her questions, captain," she looked towards McGivers.
Kirk shrugged and nodded, "Go ahead, Lieutenant."
"Thank you, sir."
"Ms. Amin, in all my studies of your era, are you still the trusted advisor to Khan?"
"I am, lieutenant."
"Our main concern is how Khan will react to this future. What Earth is familiar with is the way Khan ruled and how it affected the current political situation on Earth."
"My own studies of your era, paint Khan as a benevolent tyrant during his reign on Earth. According to some documents from the nations he ruled, he was very much loved and adored. How much of that is true?" she asked.
"All of it," she simply said.
The response shocked the lieutenant, "What? You mean that what I've learned about Khan isn't true? How do you back that up? He wasn't the manically monster that history protrayed him."
"Easy, "Amin responded. "Khan was betrayed by the humans at the end of the war and forcibly exiled from Earth by the United Nations. I was his most trusted advisor, he had a conscience that prevented him from doing as much harm as his the other Augment rulers in other countries did. He tried to unify the planet peacefully, not by force. He only attacked the United Nations, when he was attacked first. Is that in your history books?
"Upon his defeat by those same forces, he was given a covert trial. In the name of so-called humanity, it was decided in secret by the United Nations military tribunal to ban all genetically augmented humans from Earth. The UN had enough blood on its hands and didn't have the stomach for more. With the assistance of covert operatives from the United States, we were safeguarded to a some remote location in Nevada and placed aboard some type of experimental space craft. The last thing I remember was being placed in that cryo-stasis machine on the space craft."
"I'd imagine due to the sensitive nature of what occurred, those events never saw the light of day and along with the other 84 captured Augments, we were exiled from Earth without as much as a 'good bye' but more of a 'good riddance.' Sort of swept under the carpet, per se."
"I'm afraid you must take me at face value, I don't have any documents to prove this and if they did, the documents and or evidence was probably destroyed by those governments at the time, I assume," She looked at Kirk, "Do these governments even exist anymore?"
Kirk answered this question, "those governments do exist, but not in the fashion in which you're not familiar. They still administratively control the same areas of their former borders, but Earth is now under the jurisdiction of a United Earth council. I myself am from the state of Iowa in North America."
"As for any documents or evidence detailing your exile, so far, my science officer, except for what's in the history books, hasn't found anything yet. Much of the information from your period of time has been lost. To compound the problem, the data stored on your sleeper ship has been corrupted over the years and only some partial records have been recovered. Mostly, it's just navigational data which seems to back up your claim of the ship's destination," he finished.
"It would be nice, captain for me to come up to speed on Earth history. You seem to have me at a disadvantage on information," she countered. "Maybe, I can fill in some blanks where your historians, present company excluded, "she looked to Lt. McGivers, "have missed?"
"I don't see why that isn't a problem. Lt McGivers has an electronic PADD, sort of an electronic tablet as you might have known them, that has this information on it," he nodded to McGivers, and she handed it over to Ms. Amin. "Please read and enjoy. It's the history of Earth since your time and should bring you up to speed on current events."
"How do I know this isn't a fabrication?" she asked.
"You'll have to have trust and faith Ms. Amin in what I'm providing is accurate."
"Accurate from your point of view, captain. From my point of view, it seems that the world I knew is gone. You seem to know what and who I am," looking from Kirk and McGivers to the two security guards at the medical room door, she continued, "but, from the two security guards that are in the room, you very much understand my physical capabilities. Trust must go both ways, captain, so I give you my word, not all Augments were as blood thirsty as your history has described us. You'll have my cooperation, captain, for the moment," she finished.
"That's very reassuring Ms. Amin. I, on my part will do everything to be just as honest and trustworthy with you," Kirk replied. "Please review the history data and when you want to talk some more, please call the head nurse on that wall unit behind your bed. Someone will page either me or the Lt. will return and continue this discussion."
"Thank you, captain."
At that, both Kirk and McGivers got up from their chairs and headed out. Dr. McCoy who had been watching the whole time decided to leave with them. Kirk gestured for the security guards to follow outside the room.
As the party left the room and doors were closed.
Kirk stopped, "Crewman James, both you and O'Reilly post here outside the room. No one enters without authorization from either Dr. McCoy's medical staff or me."
"Aye, sir," James responded. With that, both guards took up adjacent positons outside the room.
Kirk motioned for McCoy and McGivers to follow him down the hallway. When they reached the medical office that McCoy had been working out of temporarily, they entered and Kirk had a few things to say.
"So, what's your view, Lt?" he looked at McGivers.
"In my opinion, sir, she's telling the truth as far as she knows it. She's very intelligent and despite her appearance as a small woman, as an Augment, she has five times our strength. Our two security guards are no match for her should she decide to escape.
"I think providing her information on history up to now was a good move. We need her to trust us before we even think about waking up Khan. He's the key to finding out exactly what happened back then. Amin may have been his trusted advisor, but may not have been privy to everything that caused them to be exiled from Earth."
Kirk nodded, "I agree, her trust is crucial. Only after we have some semblance of assurance that she can convince Khan on what to do, then we awaken him."
He looked to McCoy, "Well, doctor, what's your take?"
"Jim, from a medical perspective, she's in perfect health. Her metabolism is off the charts, but she could be deceiving us somehow in giving us the answers we want to hear. I don't like this genetics stuff, but from my interactions with Amin, it doesn't seem that all Augments were megalomaniacs.
"Talking with Dr. Phlox, he's very excited at the possibility at studying their genetic structure again. Historically speaking, he was the CMO on a previous Enterprise, the NX-01, I believe…"
"Ah, Captain Archer's Enterprise," Kirk says.
McCoy nods, "…yes, that's the one. Anyway, he was part of a mission during that time that pertaining to Cold Station Zebra where it had stored Augment embryos from the wars. Seemed that there were ungrown embryos left over. Something about an Arik Soong had stolen some embryos and actually had them grown on a colony outside of Earth's sphere of influence. Short story was that they took over the station, killed a few Klingons, humans and unfortunately Dr. Phlox's human colleague at the time. It is still classified, but he gave me enough information to explain to me that another opportunity like this shouldn't be taken lightly. Yes, he recommends caution, but not at the cost of their lives and he even says that we need to consider adding them to our society. It could benefit us in the long run.
"My personal gut feeling is to proceed with caution. I've observed Amin's demeanor, I don't know what Khan is going to be like, but she is the key to him."
Kirk says, "Noted everyone. I have to go make my report to Admiral Komack and the admirals at Starfleet command. Talk to Mr. Spock, Lt McGivers and see if he's dug up more information on the Eugenics Wars and if it can be of any help."
"Aye, sir," Lt McGivers said.
- Two Hours Later, Amin's Room -
Having finished reviewing the data on the PADD, Amin called for the return of Lt McGivers for additional questions...
As they talked, and as more and more information was being exchanged, trust was slowly being built up. Amin and Lt McGivers were discussing information on some of the key facts about what had transpired since Amin's time.
"So, you're saying that over 100 worlds belong to this Federation? Of which Earth is a founding member?" Amin asked, "…alien worlds?"
"Yes, humans were the driving force in creating this coalition. Many of the founding members of the Federation did not trust humans, but we eventually got through those misunderstandings."
"How would we fit into your society? It's very clear that human genetic augmentation is banned in your Federation, specifically on Earth."
"Those are questions that we honestly are trying to get through right now. The discovery of your people has brought up some embarrassing questions about our past. Hopefully, understanding what really happened and how you were exiled from Earth could hopefully shed some light on how we go forward with your people."
"Well, it seems that you have the ideals right, but looking here, your United Earth specifically bans a race from existing…a human race. Just because we are genetically augmented, doesn't make us any less human. Who gets to decide our rights, why does your society get to make the determination on what our rights are or will be? Normal humans of my time were doing the same thing based a human's ethnicity…seems that it hasn't changed much when it comes to genetics. From my perspective, it seems you haven't learned much since then. It seems humans are not as evolved as you claim you are," she finished.
"I agree," McGivers said, "we're not perfect, but we strive to better ourselves…"
"Really?" Amin interrupted, "It seems from what I've read you aren't or haven't tried very hard. You've denied yourselves something, our augmentation that could have made you better humans. Granted, your society has made tremendous leaps in technology, but have you tried to better the human condition? Diseases? It seems that you are still afflicted by some of the many genetic disorders from the 20th century. Is that progress?
"I've noticed in this history, you 'normal' humans are clearly physically and mentally out matched by many of the aliens you've contacted. It's very fortunate that some of these aliens were peaceful in their first contact with you, specifically, the Vulcans and Andorians. These aliens are much more intelligent and physically stronger than you."
"My question, what would have happened had these aliens been conquerors instead of explorers?"
McGivers looked down, "I have no answer for you, most likely, Earth would have been an occupied planet and slaves to these alien civilizations. I've studied enough history to understand that more advanced technological societies tend to destroy the less advanced ones. We were lucky that the Vulcans discovered us first rather than say, the Klingons."
"Yes, "Amin agreed, "very lucky, indeed."
Amin was tired of arguing, she liked this Lt McGivers. Very intelligent for a normal human. "So, what's your first name? All I ever hear is lieutenant this and that."
"It's Marla."
"Marla, a nice name. So, getting back to the topic at hand. Let's be frank, Marla. What is it that you want me to do? I'm smart enough to understand that your 'Starfleet' and its leadership doesn't want to wake up Khan right away. It seems that the humans in charge are just as small minded and just as prejudiced as their 20th century counterparts regarding genetic augmentation. I know enough to understand that they want some type of guarantee that he's controllable. Am I right?"
"Without revealing confidential information, that pretty much hits the mark, Amin. My leadership wants some type of assurance that we can convince Khan not to take over the Federation or become out of control."
Amin looked at her and thought, why not? Khan always was misunderstood. Maybe this is a chance for him to have his point of view heard. Hell, it's been over two hundred and fifty years and hopefully these future humans might listen.
"You have my cooperation, Marla. Go tell your captain and your admirals. I'll do my best to convince Khan to see your side.
"Marla, is there any place to get some good Iranian cuisine around here. I'm dying for it. Haven't had a decent meal in a few years," she smiled at Marla. "Oh, and I'm tired of wearing this medical smock. These things still haven't been improved in 3 centuries. Can I get some real clothes?"
Lt. McGivers smiled, "Sure, it would be my pleasure, Amin. I'll make some arrangements for the meal and get you some better clothes. Would you like a tour of this station if my superiors agree to it?"
"Yes, that would be fine. I'm getting bored just laying around," Amin smiled back at Lt. McGivers.
Author's Note: Thanks for the feedback so far.