JP: Lieutenant Sevantha Saa & Ensign Vala Morton - Forever Changed
Sevantha Saa
((Arboretum, Deck, USS Octavia E Butler)) ((Time Index: Start of Shoreleave))
Sevantha had slipped out of sickbay, grabbing a life support belt as a temporary placeholder to the personal shielding to avoid technically breaking her quarantine orders, and snuck down into the Arboretum. When Sevantha was on the bridge, it’d been Vala who’d warned her to shield her mind, and it’d likely saved her from further transformation at the entity’s whim. Treading carefully, taking caution to avoid her roots, Sevantha peered up at the tall tree now the centre of the Arboretum, where Vala must have made her last stand.
After a minute or two of simply studying the structure and the branches, she knelt down, and placed on an exposed rooted.
Saa: ~Vala?~
Morton: ~ Sevantha? How are you? ~
Vala didn’t really need to ask. There weren’t many people who Vala knew who were telepathic, and as they had communicated telepathically recently, Sevantha’s mind felt familiar. Her presence was different to Assatas.
Hearing her response, she sighed in relief and lowered her head, thankful for the response.
Saa: ~ It is good to hear your thoughts…~ ::frowns:: ~I’m well, mostly confined to sickbay and quarantine shields.~
Aside from nurse Assata, Sevantha was one of few people who had been transformed by the entity and lived to tell the tale. Vala was filled with joy to connect with her friend. Telepathic communication was by nature more intimate that ordinary conversation, and while Assata was a great companion and help, nothing quite quenched her social thirst like connecting with a friend.
Morton: ~ It’s good to hear your thoughts too. I’m sorry for your suffering. How’s your recovery going? ~
Saa: ~ I cannot say I suffered as you have, though… it’s still a part of me, a piece of it, and I’m not the way I was before all of this.~
Morton: ~ That’s what worries me, too. It’s still a part of me. ~
Closing her eyes, she sighed, staring down.
Saa: ~I wish I’d known… ~
Morton: ~ Do you think that… that there’s any possibility it could come back? I mean, I feel like it’s gone. I feel like we ejected it good, but what if I’m wrong? What if that’s just what it wants me to believe? ~
Vala didn’t want to put fears into Sevantha’s mind but thought she probably already had those same fears, too. And what could either of them say to the other? Would words of reassurance ring hollow? This thing was so alien it was practically incomprehensible. So how could they ever really know for sure?
Saa: ~ …I don’t want to believe it can, but I’ve never been an optimist, I’m a realist~ ::She dropped her head:: ~It left its markers in us because it needed us and it still needs us… but I am sure Starfleet is assuring it never can.~
Morton: ~ The thought has crossed my mind as well. ~
Logic would win over the despair the transformation caused her. One thing she could trust was Peri’s science being implemented to avoid any more issues in the region. Maybe they would take her advice and transmit the protomatter into the starforming region and see what happened. She bet it’d be beautiful.
Saa: ~ It keeps the worst thoughts at bay.~
Morton: ~ I hope they’ve not had you hooked up to too many intrusive tests? ~
A slim vine twitched a little, tapping gently at the monitor displaying a multitude of readings for various tests. One of them was probably watching her activity levels to make sure she didn’t suddenly go berserk again.
Saa: ~ Not yet, though, it’s already been decided I’m going under observation at Deep Space 14 once Division 14 arrives. ~
Morton: ~ Oh! …I’m really sorry to hear that. I’ll miss you. ~
Vala’s heart sank. She was sad at the idea of losing a friend, a trusted confidant and someone she’d thought would be by her side throughout the undoubtedly long recovery process. Sevantha had her own recovery process to go through, and it would be selfish and unrealistic to expect her to continue her duties and be there for others at a time like this. It made no more sense than asking Vala to return to duties. The only duty she was capable of right now was managing the plants in the arboretum. And since the arboretum was largely off-limits to everyone else, someone had to look after it.
Morton: ~ Does the rest of the crew know yet? ~
Sevantha shook her head with a small frown.
Saa: ~ I haven’t had the heart to tell anyone yet, I understand why, but it doesn’t make it any better. I'm being removed from the ship. ~
Morton: ~ I might not be far behind you. I’m sure they’d uproot and move me if they felt confident it was safe to do. ~
There was still time for that, too. Regardless, Vala was sure that if they felt the need to monitor Sevantha, then they would want to monitor her and all the others who had been infected, too. Maybe they were already monitoring her and she didn’t even know it. Vala was hooked up to a lot of monitoring equipment right now, they were probably looped in on the feed.
Sevantha’s ring scarred eyes glowed with the sustained telepathic contact.
Saa: ~ On Betazed, we worship Four Deities, not as beings but as concepts, but one of the four is Fana, nature itself. ~ ::She lightly touched the ground:: ~ In the Jalaran jungles, there are runes of old civilizations that depict women who could become one with nature, fierce and powerful, not just of strength, but of will and self… You reminded me of them when you fought against it.~
Vala was happy and excited to learn about Betazed cultural beliefs. She was no xenoanthropologist but that broad area of science was certainly of great interest to her. It was one of the reasons Starfleet was so compelling. The chance to meet and learn about countless other species and their culture, belief systems, philosophies and so much more, as well as saving endangered habitats, and meeting never before seen life. She thought back to the crystalline lifeform she had studied recently. It felt like a lifetime ago already. Well, at least she’d had the opportunity to do that.
Morton: ~ Oh wow, that’s amazing. Tell me more. ~
Sevantha smiled to herself and closed her eyes. How many times had she asked her father to recount the stories as if they were facts, eagerly determined to become one herself in childhood.
Saa: ~They are shrouded in mystery, some believe they are legends and others that they are historical figures. Many believe they were capable of communing with nature and animals in a way most Betazoids cannot any longer with their gifts, some say they were handmaidens to the Goddess Karawati and to Fana.~
Morton: ~ Fascinating. Haliians have similar concepts. ~
There were multiple belief systems active on Halii and yet more on Lolagi IV, which is where Vala was born and raised. Lolagi IV is home to many species, but is still predominantly a Human/Haliian colony and their belief systems carried influences from both species.
Morton: ~ We don’t speak of gods, but of essences. Living forces that move through everything. Names vary from city to city, but the one I learned first was the Living Essence, with the push to grow and endure. Your Fana brings it to mind. ~
Saa: ~ A beautiful belief, one that unifies the universe with a core element ~
Morton: ~ I’m starting to think, maybe there are other, better lenses, through which to view this experience. ~
She wasn’t going to be able to magically stop grieving for all she had lost, or drop the guilt, and frustration she felt. But perhaps there were other perspectives she could adopt that might, over time, help her come to terms with her reality.
Saa: ~ The counselor in me says that line of thinking is important but never forget you have every right to grieve ~ ::pauses:: ~ As a person, flawed and imperfect, I am envious I have not been able to find reason to it yet. ~
Morton: ~ Thank you. I will try to remember that. How are you feeling? ~
Saa: ~My face is both that of my parents but not the one I was born with, my eyes scarred with its images~ ::She laughs sadly:: ~Maybe I am upset simply because when it put me back together I look like my mother.~
Sevantha did not hide the simmering resentment she had for that fact. Grief had turned into bitter anger in this phase though she did not direct it at Vala, instead turning it all on herself. Still, she felt shame at letting the harsh emotion show through and instead turned her focus back to the plants. Ever since rooming with Gwen’ora on the Astraeus, there was something about the plants she found calming.
Vala heard as well as felt the response. She knew the resentment was not aimed at her. Non-reader species often treated their emotions very privately and did not like to express them. Being able to sit with someone and feel what they were feeling was an intimate window into their life but it made you more connected with them. When you could literally share your emotions with others, and did so regularly as a normal practice then you didn’t feel alone in them. Emotions weren’t good or bad. Right now Sevantha’s body and mind were just giving her strong signals that something was wrong. And factually, it was true. Vala stayed calm and held space for Sevantha and her emotions.
Saa: ~ Do you still feel the plants?~
Morton: ~ Yes. I am the arboretum. At least in the sense I’m connected with and can communicate with every plant in the arboretum. Even the ones on the upper level. They communicate to me. I can make a plant on the top of the arboretum grow fruits, if I want but the sensation isn’t so different to wiggling your toes or your fingers. Your brain just sends the signals when you will it. ~
This wasn’t by some form of magic. And it wasn’t as if every plant’s roots were touching the roots of another plant. Though it was close. The arboretum had a mycelial network. Mushrooms. Fungus. They grew in the soil all over the arboretum and they connected everything. Yes there was plenty of deck plating but beneath that was soil. Not everywhere, but every area was connected by soil highways. There was even vertical columns of soil, that connected the upper and lower arboretum. Why? Because the arboretum was designed and built by xenobotanists, and xenoecologists like her. Who thought of the arboretum as a whole, and wanted to create a connected ecosystem that not only housed rare, unique and important plants from all corners of the universe, but which worked as a whole too. Otherwise what did they have? A nursery of pot plants.
Saa: ~What did it feel like?~
Morton: ~ It was like being in a rowdy party to begin with. The plants were sending a lot of signals around in the aftermath of the entity. I’ve got things settled down now. It’s more like a busy office. Lots of voices, but they’re hushed and speaking with purpose. Say my name… ~
Saa: Vala ::in unison:: ~Vala~
Morton: ~ See, when you say my name, I can hear it. Sort of. It’s not hearing the way you know it. I can pick up the vibrations of the sound. I can differentiate one voice from another. In the same way that the Arabidopsis can tell the difference between the wind pushing through the leaves and the tiny tremors of an insect biting, I have learned to differentiate voices and even understand some words. Like my voice. It doesn’t ‘sound’ like ‘Vala’, but I feel the vibrations and know that vibration is my own name. ~
There was a beauty to be found in the discovery in such strange new ways one could experience their own name. Vibrations in the air that matched what one knew to be a signifier of themselves to others. She believed those vibrations were once how the Caitians hunted them and a contributing factor why for such a long time, many of her people, her family included, traditionally preferred communication through thought.
Saa: ~ You are experiencing the world in such a new way. ~
Morton: ~ It’s wondrous and fascinating. Maybe it’s a gift, but at the same time it’s not me. I’m so conflicted. How many botanists have wondered what it’s like to be a plant? I mean, I have! But those are pipe dreams. No one ever expects it to actually happen. Why couldn’t it transform me into a plant form more like a Dokkaran? Then I could walk, and talk, and hear. Then I might have a future. ~
Saa: ~ I've been wondering why we took the shapes that we did~ ::she runs her finger along the grass:: ~It was not a creative creature, it repeated patterns of what it had already seen. It spoke of servants that once could change their shape on will and it struggled with the concept, we could not do the same, it changed us, it altered pieces of my memory as if it was trying to preserve my mind when it realized it had damaged me, sustaining me for what it needed.~
She paused before looking back up to Vala, she needed to bring some optimism to the discussion, despite her desire to spiral into endless theory crafting.
Saa: ~And I have long wondered why your shape and I believe because the entity, saw all life as it’s to control, not just the people but the plant as well and wanted a beacon to them.~ ::She tilted her head:: ~You are going to have a future Vala, we’re all going to assure it, and maybe the Dokkaran have the key…~
Morton: ~ Huh, intriguing! I wish I was in the science lab right now. Tell me more. ~
She radiated a flicker of joy and amusement at that. If the science department was preoccupied studying blackholes or more tears between dimensions, it was of course fascinating, but she wouldn’t be so eager to step into the lab for that.
Saa: ~I know a human Starfleet Doctor who once mind melded with one and came out of it with reader species genetics… Though I think we should start treatment before any mind melding commences. ~ ::She mused:: ~I’m going to have to re-educate the entire crew about awareness of their Esper levels at this rate.~
Morton: ~ Seems reasonable to me. ~
Sevantha allowed a brief moment of silence to fall over her as she contemplated their situation. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she rested her chin on her knee, and then sighed.
Saa: ~Is there anything I can do right now?~
Morton: ~ No. Honestly, just having this time together and connecting like this has been really great. I was hoping you would stop by. ~
Saa: ~ Sorry it took so long, I wanted to talk when no one else was present…~
Morton: ~ Do you know when you’re departing for DS14? ~
Vala wanted to know whether she was likely to see her friend again. As much as she wanted to maintain a friendship, even at a distance, it could prove to be a little difficult in practice. She was pretty sure Nurse Asatta, as kind as she was, didn’t want to be her personal babysitter for the rest of her career.
Saa: ~A week, Division 14 still has to arrive and set up their equipment. I’m sure a few will come to visit you as well.~
Looking at the ground again, Sevantha felt the emotions well up in the back of her throat, and she was thankful she didn’t have to talk or she’d likely find her voice gone.
Morton: ~ I see. Well, hopefully we’ll see each other again soon, but just in case… thank you for everything. I wish you all the best in your recovery and every success for the future. I hope we can stay in touch, as best as we can. ~
Saa: ~ Thank you as well, Vala, for this moment now and for all the future ones we will have. ~
Clasping her hands together, Sevantha flattened her palms against the earth and lowered her forehead to the hands. Vala may not have been able to perceive the gestures but she would let the following prayer
Saa: ~By Fana, the feet are rooted to the ground as is our faith.
By Tholta, our spirits and words are inspired with truth.
By Imza, does our hearts hold love for all our people and all beings.
By the embrace of their siblings, do we find Altha, peace and stability.
May the Four be with you, Vala.~
Ensign Vala Morton
Science Officer
USS Octavia E Butler NCC-82850
O240205VM3
AND