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Star date 54274.9
Dear Mezoti,
How are you? I hope you're still doing as well as you were when we spoke over subspace a few weeks ago. It was so good to see you again before we were too far away to communicate by subspace. How are Azan and Rebi? I hope they pay attention to you every now and then. I know they like to speak subvocally most of the time with each other. If they do it when they are with their grandparents, that would be very rude of them. I'm sure you remind them to behave. You were always very good at that.
I have passed my Starfleet Entrance examination with what Tom - Lieutenant Paris - says are "flying colors." I think it has something to do with flag flying, but I'm not sure what that has to do with passing tests. Commander Tuvok has set up a schedule of classes for me. If I were on the campus in San Francisco, I would have more classes every day. Since Commander Tuvok has many other duties as head of Security and Tactical, the captain says he cannot afford to tie up too much of his time with me. He's set up additional courses which I pursue with other crew members or as independent study projects.
My studies with Commander Tuvok include physical training and a course called "Introduction to Starfleet Policies and Prime Directive Issues." He assigned Lieutenant Paris to train me in piloting and astral navigation on the Delta Flyer II. Seven supervises my course in "Astrometrics and Stellar Cartography," naturally.
I'm also taking an independent study course called "Essential Literature of Federation Worlds," which I really enjoy. Since I will be living in the Alpha Quadrant, I need to learn about many people who do not have a representative who is part of Voyager's crew. The readings are giving me a better idea about what some of these races are like. Lieutenant Paris set up a few holodeck programs based upon my assignments so that I can see the people in action. I think the most interesting species I have studied so far are the Horta, a silicon-based race who are called "natural miners." A few of them have become Starfleet officers. Their literature is filled with references to the taste, smell, and feel of minerals. In some ways the stories are alien because their lifestyle is so different from that of humanoids. The holodeck Horta Tom programmed for me looks a lot like a giant amoeba made out of rock and metal. They produce acid with their bodies to tunnel through rock. They eat silica as food. Then I read a story about wanting their "future generations," or children, to live long and happy lives, and they seem just like us after all.
While I haven't had any formal courses in fields like engineering, I've just started what Lieutenant Torres calls an "apprenticeship" in her department. Let me tell you how that happened. Lieutenant Torres has been asking (Tom says it was more like begging) Captain Janeway to land Voyager on an uninhabited planet for weeks now. She'd documented several problems with the ship which would be difficult to repair while we traveled in space. A few days ago, the captain found a planet that Lieutenant Torres said was "perfect." I'm not sure the captain is as enthusiastic as our chief engineer, now that we're parked down here. While there are quite a few substances available on this planet that can serve as raw materials for our repairs, Lieutenant Torres keeps finding more problems she says we need to fix. We've already stayed on the planet longer than the original estimate of time she told the captain we'd need, and Captain Janeway is impatient to get underway again. Since there's so much to do, almost everyone on Voyager, not just the engineering staff, has been pressed into service. Tom has been scrubbing conduits and wants to get back to flying. He was really upset when the captain assigned Harry to pilot the Delta Flyer on a mission to look for deuterium.
At first I wasn't asked to do anything in Engineering. Commander Tuvok kept me busy doing security reviews. Yesterday morning, I delivered a tactical report from Commander Tuvok to Lieutenant Torres when the EPS relays shut down power to Engineering. All the lights went out. I recognized the problem from our Borg cube days and took it upon myself to make a repair. I thought the captain and the chief of engineering might become upset with me, since I did this without their permission. Instead, they were glad I "showed initiative." Lieutenant Torres asked the captain to let me continue working with her staff until the repairs to the ship are finished. The captain and Commander Tuvok agreed. The environmental control system really needs work. It is very hot. The captain even made a joke about it, saying it's a shame we can't open the windows for ventilation (which we can't do, of course, since it's a space ship and the windows are sealed).
Seven left on the away mission with Ensign Kim a few days ago. Neelix went with them, but they're not back yet. I hope this one goes better than the mission with Ensign Kim and the Doctor. I think Seven has forgiven the EMH. She sometimes has her dinner in Sickbay and describes what the food tastes like for him to "enjoy vicariously." She says she's doing him a favor, but since he's a hologram and can't eat food, I think she's also getting back at him for taking over her body when he had to hide out from the Lokirrim, who destroy any holograms they meet. She had to restrict her caloric intake for several days after they returned to Voyager because of all the overeating he did when he was in control of her body. Her clothing was too tight until she lost a couple of kilos.(Seven complained about her diet restrictions but wouldn't tell me why she only consumed nutritional supplements for the next week. Ensign Kim told me all about the mission, though, so I already knew the reason.)
This message is already longer than I expected to write. I have to get back to Engineering, but Ensign Lang promised to send the letter to you today. One of the old-style shuttles will be going out of the atmosphere, and she'll be able to bounce the message off the shuttle's communication array so it can get to Wysanti. I don't know how many more messages I will be able to send you after we leave this planet. We're almost out of range of this type of communication, too. I wish the datastream method could be adapted from Voyager to Wysanti. Seven, Lieutenant Torres, and Ensign Kim said they wanted to work on this, but for now, they have no time.
Before I finish, I do have to apologize to you. I wasn't honest about something during our last face-to-face communication. You thought I looked tired from studying too much. I told you I had a medical problem, but I didn't tell you what it was. I'm sad to say that when we meet again in person, I will be unable to speak with you subvocally. Seven's cortical node implant began to fail, and I donated mine to her. She's fine, and so am I. My cortical array works just as well as always, but I lost the communication function when I gave her my cortical node. I had to adapt to the loss, but it doesn't bother me anymore. I have to speak aloud with everyone else on the ship. I just have to speak aloud with Seven now, too. We never did use subvocal communications very often, the way you and I did. So I'm okay. What's important is that she's okay, too.
I'm keeping my own personal log now. If you still keep your diary, we can send each other excerpts once we establish long-range communications again. Naomi told me she would like to exchange some diary entries with you, too, if it becomes possible. I know she misses you very much. We have gone to Fair Haven a few times, and we play Kadis-kot and Durotta, but she tells me it's not the same without you. I know what she means. I miss you, too.
Say hello to Mazani and Arebi, and to the twins, too. Take care of yourself, Mezoti.
Your Borg brother, Icheb
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Stardate 24276.1
When Mezoti received the message from Icheb, she read it over and over. She read his letter out loud after dinner to everyone else, too. Mazani and Arebi told her it was a wonderful letter. The twins didn't have much to say. It was nice that Naomi also sent a letter about what she'd been doing since Mezoti left Voyager. She wished the letters had made her less homesick for Voyager, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case. She missed everyone more than ever. If she were still on the ship, she knew Lieutenant Torres would have let her help out in Engineering, too, even if it was just as a "go-fer," the way she did during the repairs to the ship after the last Borg attack. Receiving the messages from Icheb and Naomi brought all of those memories back.
She was a little ashamed that her last visual message to Voyager had been more wishful thinking on her part than fact. He said he hadn't been honest about why he looked weak. Now that she knew what had happened to him, she felt a little better about his Starfleet Academy studies. She was upset that most of her own communication had been just as dishonest. She had acquaintances at school, but she didn't have any real friends yet.
Sometimes she worked on art projects with Mazani. When Mezoti told her about her clay sculpture of Seven, which she'd left behind on Voyager, Mazani set up a table for her to do more sculpting. Mezoti had just finished another one of Seven's face, which Mazani said was wonderful. It did look more like Seven than the one she'd left on Voyager, but she wanted to do another that was an even better likeness. She also needed to do one of Icheb to keep in her room, to remind her of what the missing members of her family looked like.
Mezoti sighed sadly. She enjoyed her walks in the woods with Arebi, especially when they studied their ant colony, but she'd really like to go someplace else for a change. One of the reasons she decided to stay on a planet was so she could study insects. Maybe she should ask Arebi if they might go for a hike on a beach so she could pick up shells to bring home with her - the kind that don't disappear, the way they did when she left the holodeck. Now she wished she'd replicated more than the three she'd saved from the Fair Haven shoreline that she visited with Naomi. Mezoti put them in a little case on a shelf in her room. She looked at them every day, remembering the fun she always had with Naomi. She wished she could find another friend here on Wysanti like Naomi, but so far, no luck.
That night, after dinner, Mezoti asked Arebi about taking a walk on the beach some time.
"Of course we can take a trip to the beach, Mezoti! All you have to do is ask! Mazani, boys, what about going for a picnic at Raveini Shores next week?" The plans were made within minutes, although Azan and Rebi set the actual date. They had to work around the days their team had games. "So, one week from today, weather permitting, we'll go to Reveini. And if the weather there is bad, there are other beaches we can go to instead. This will be fun for all of us, don't you think?"
That night, as she set up her cubicle to begin her regeneration cycle, Mezoti thought, "Mazani and Arebi really are very nice to me. The only thing they aren't are Voyager people. I need to get over this! I'm here now. I must adapt."
But resolving to adapt and actually doing it are not the same thing, as Mezoti knew well. "I just have to remember to be brave again."
As she settled back into regeneration mode, Mezoti silently supplied the words she always said to herself every night. "Sweet dreams. Don't let the bedbugs bite." She closed her eyes, shutting away her view of her pleasant room on Wysanti, and revisited her memories of Seven, and Icheb, and their cargo bay. Borg Central. Her true home.
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