Chapter 2: A Wordless Thing
"Your name!" Una said. "My name is Una Chin-Riley, for example. The Captain is named Christopher Pike, the nurse that tended to you? Her name is Christine Chapel. Get it?" The other woman stood in thought for a moment. "Una Chin-Riley." Was all she repeated back slowly.
"Yes," Una said, "but you know, we have two names. A casual and a formal. Sometimes we have more. The first name is casual, for friends or family or just closeness usually. The second is more formal, for strangers or for business." The woman stood still, further contemplating.
"We do not have this." She said finally. "Names are a wordless thing for us. It is where we come from. It is a knowing." Una furrowed her brow in confusion.
"So how do you call for one another?"
"Oh! We are telepathic. Between each other. And something like empathic, but not exact. I cannot read you though, or other strangers of our kind. I can sometimes pick up something from other telepathic beings, but it is not the same. It is something shared between us–between my kind. So we have a familiarity, a felt sense. And that is how we are called to or singled out."
"So your species…your planet…do they have a name?"
"No. They do not."
"What do outsiders call you? Like neighboring planets or visiting species?"
"There are no outsiders." She said. At this Una paused. No outsiders but the stranger was capable of entering space to leave her planet. Is this a Prime Directive issue?
"Your people have no space capabilities? How did you get out?"
"Oh no, we do. We just choose not to use them. And we are too far away from other planets for outsiders to come. And too far out in space–your kinds have not yet found a way to get to us. And those who live anywhere near are higher beings. Not interested in contact."
Una felt a sense of overwhelm or awe push up into her chest. Who was this woman? What knowledge did she carry? Before she could ask more questions, they reached Una's quarters. She decided it was best to save it for unmanipulated data during her interview at the debrief later.
The newcomer immediately took to looking around. She noted all the small details–the lack of clutter, the three vases, the over all sleek look. The blanket on the couch. She imagined the commander sitting there, lounging in her casual off-duty clothes, strawberries in hand–maybe a book. "Do you read?" She asked, at the thought. Una shifted around to look at her new companion. "Read? For fun? Oh yes. I do like to read." Confirmed. She thought. "Do you?" Una reciprocated. "I used to read constantly. Where I come from, it is a tenant. My people have dedicated our lives to learning, forwarding the knowledge in our hearts." Una frowned in curiosity at the word "hearts", but being overwhelmed and sensitive about having anyone in her quarters, let alone someone she doesn't know, she let the question pass through her without vocalizing it. She instead just nodded thoughtfully in response, as though she understood and moved on, gesturing toward the bathroom.
"I'll take you through here and show you how to use the shower. We have sonic showers here, are you familiar with those?" The stranger shook her head in dissent. "Okay," Una continued, "Well that's okay. You know we each get a water ration for a good old fashioned shower. Why don't you use mine. I have plenty. You seem like you could use it. For regulation!"
"Water is regulatory!" The newcomer glimmered thankfully. Una found herself smiling at her gentle and bright disposition. It was hard to imagine that this woman had been through so many awful things just moments before even.
Una demonstrated the shower and had the Computer get her measurements to replicate some clothing for her that would fit and feel comfortable. "What sort of clothing would you like? I recommend getting a few things. You'll be on board a while. We are way out from any starbase or Federation planet. Captain Pike has us heading there now though, for your safety." She noted something similar to disappointment or fear cross her new bedmate and found her own mouth in a downturn. I imagine it is an adjustment. Just finding people you can trust and now they're dumping you somewhere else. She thought.
"How will I pick? My clothes I mean. Is there a catalog?" Una gave a small laugh at her naivety and reference to something as archaic as a clothing catalog. She wondered briefly where this woman was from…what sort of things did they have there?
"Um, you sort of can just tell the Computer what style of clothes you want. If you are familiar with a time-period and location, you can do it that way. I am not sure otherwise…I can try and investigate more if you like, or just pick something for you."
"I would like you to investigate. I want to choose myself."
Una smiled again at her odd sort of honesty. "Okay, I will." She moved toward her closet and removed one of her off-duty standard Starfleet Academy training sweats and a blue cable knit letterman sweater with her last name embroidered in white on the back and white trim around the edges of the garment. "Here, these are mine, but you can try these on until I figure out how to get the Computer to make you a catalog. They are from my days at the Academy."
"The Academy is not of permanence for your people?" The nameless stranger asked.
"No. We graduate and move on to Starfleet. To be on ships like this one. It's called the Enterprise." She gestured around the whole room, it occurring to her the newcomer may not have caught the name of the ship this whole time.
"We are lifelong students." The guest replied.
"Oh, well many of us are in a sense too." The newcomer nodded and seemed to drift into contemplation. Then she turned to Una and said, "I will shower now." Una stepped back out of the doorway to the bathroom in a start, "Oh! Okay, sorry, sure. Sounds good. Shout if you need anything or ask the Computer. Just say her name." Una smiled and winked.
While her new companion was in the shower, she asked the Computer if it could make a catalog of women's fashion, a sampling across planets and time periods for a humanoid woman. The replicator whirred, forming a small book.
The woman emerged from the bathroom wearing Una's Starfleet Academy clothes, a towel wrapped around her hair. She smelled fresh–like peony and orange. A soap she must've asked the Computer for. She looked admittedly cute in Una's clothes, moving toward the couch where Una sat going over some data on the PADD and nibbling red berries. Those must be the strawberries. The newcomer walked toward Una and gently sat down next to her, finally bringing herself into Una's awareness. Una shuddered a bit as she sat, "Oh! You're done. You're so quiet." She laughed a little. "I'm not used to living with anyone."
"Your people do not share companions?"
"Well, we do. Just not all of us or not by mandate. It's by…sort of by chance meetings. You know, meeting someone you feel a connection and attraction to? For most of us, it is not arranged. For Humans, that is. Some species in the Federation have cultures that view partnership or mating differently. What do your people do?"
"We share bonds, like you say." She gestured to the strawberries and asked, "What are those?"
"Oh these are the Strawberries I told you about earlier. Try one?" She extended them toward her soon-to-be "bedmate." The woman took one in her hand, running her finger across the bumpy surface, bringing it to her nose to smell. "They're my favorite," Una said. "I always try to get them fresh when we are someplace that grows them. An Earth fruit. They're sweet."
The woman put it to her mouth and took a smile bite and smiled and hummed as the flavor hit her tongue. Her eyebrows raised, "Mmm! Those are wonderful fruits! I will have more! Is that okay?" Una grinned and pushed the container into the woman's lap. "Have as many as you like. In about an hour we will have to head down to the Ready Room to meet with the others. I had the Computer make this for you." She grabbed the newly formed catalog from the side table and handed it to the woman. She smiled, licking the strawberry residue from her fingers, and began to flip through. Una handed her a pen. "Here, circle the one's you like and I'll have the Computer synthesize them. When we get to a good planet or starbase, you can get something made of organic material."
"Mmm. That would be nice." She placed her hand over the Commanders and, with a gentle sincerity, gave it a squeeze and said, "Thank you, Una." For a moment, the Commander considered correcting her–having her call her Commander Chin-Riley, but in the end, she decided it both too complicated and not necessary. The woman would be off their ship in a few weeks anyway. Una smiled in response. The Computer chimed overhead and Captain Pike's voice rumbled over the loudspeaker. "Commander Chin-Riley?"
"Yes, Sir?"
"Can you and our guest come ahead to my quarters please? I know I said 1800 in the Ready Room, but I would like to move ahead with the interview as soon as possible and decided it would be nicer over dinner."
Una rolled her eyes a little looked at her companion who gave a small nod. "Sure, we will head that way now."
"Thanks Number One. Pike out."
The comm quieted and Una glanced over toward the woman who continued to nibble strawberries. "Captain Pike loves to cook. Well, unless you have something picked out that we could have the Computer synthesize quickly, I guess you'll have to go in that."
The guest ran her tongue over her teeth, clearing it of strawberry seeds, and flipped the catalog over to Una and pointed. "You have lots of names." she mused. "Can I have this, please?" She was pointing to a dark navy shawl that was almost black and had a slight glimmer to it when it turned–like stars. "And also these." And pointed to a pair of calf-high cowboy boots the color of rich sand. "And this." A mid-length dress the color of dulled thistle flowers with three-quarter-length sleeves. It was made of a gauzy fabric and draped and cinched at the left waist. The top was gathered and pleated, and the sleeves puffed and flowed. "Oh and could it make some sheer tights this same color?" She asked, pointing back to the space-colored shawl. Una smiled at the unique specificity of her choices and sort of laughed to herself at the clothes the Computer had pulled together in the catalog. "Your Computer friend has good taste!" The woman chimed. Una laughed, "Yes, it would seem so!"
She instructed the Computer to make the items and waited patiently as her new companion got dressed