The Beginning of the End… (Part 1)

Posted on 10 Dec 2017 @ 4:41am by Ensign Sarah Kaminski (MIA)

811 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Errand of Mercy
Location: Hadronus III, Unknown Location
Timeline: ED5

For days there had only been darkness and silence, exactly as she had desired it. But without warning an electronic chirp aroused her from her slumber, her eyes unexpectedly adjusting to the beam of light now permeating the forward cabin of the runabout Cho Oyu. Of course, she hadn’t been asleep. She never truly slept. Not since the days preceding her rebirth had she fallen victim to the human weakness of unconsciousness.

At times of inactivity she, instead, allowed her mind to wander – to reach out and touch the minds of those near or around her, in the hopes of reconnecting with her kin. She had not heard their voices for nearly two Earth years. How she had not been driven insane by now was beyond her comprehension. Of course, she heard nothing except the occasional din of inferior telepathic beings on the surface of the planet designated Hadronus III, or those in close orbit.

The loneliness was unbearable.

As her senses adjusted to the new environment on board the stolen Federation vessel, she stood up and walked towards the now-active console. The familiar chirp was on repeat, awaiting instruction from her before deactivating. She extended one of her long, turquoise-tinged fingers and silenced the alarm. On-screen a message was flashing in the unnecessarily inefficient language preferred by the United Federation of Planets. Despite having once been her own natural tongue, she had somehow grown to despise its crudeness and inefficiency.

Synthesis complete, the screen flashed. What would once have been considered emotions began to stir within her. Hope. Excitement. Cautious optimism.

How she wished to be rid of the last vestiges of humanity that rotted from within.

Her fingers danced around the console, altering the display to show the progress of her latest invention – her latest attempt to be reunited with her people. A reflex within her was activated and she found herself grinning as she read the information now populating the screen: Predicted efficacy, 99.901 percent. Predicted fatalities, 10.374 percent.

“Yes,” she allowed herself to say, despite her indifference to verbal speech. At last she had perfected her research and the failures that had come before would be erased. In a few short hours, she hoped, she would be reunited with her people. Except, she had to remind herself, she would not be reconnecting with the individuals that had created her. No, instead she would be creating an all-new family to connect with. A new Ee colony.

There it was again: the feeling of excitement that threatened to bubble up to the surface and remind her of her inferior beginnings. She had, of course, felt this before. The first several attempts at recreating the virus that had resulted in her existence had seemed hopeful at first: the general symptoms had been similar, but the result had not been.

Her first synthesised virus had been created long before she arrived at the Hadronus system. In a small-scale experiment she had infected a transport vessel carrying mostly Trill along with a small number of Humans and Vulcans. At first nothing had happened to the hosts, but long-term analysis revealed that the virus was a complete failure. Well, not completely – the hosts had all, eventually, died. Much to her gratification.

A number of further failures followed. But with each new failure came more information, and improvements to the RNA sequencing. Significant progress was made when she had intercepted a transport vessel carrying a Starfleet officer attached to the Ee Research Institute. She had extracted all the useful information she could from the human male before separating him from his limbs and then snapping his neck. What remained of his carcass then became the perfect incubator for what had been her biggest success, and failure, to date: the mass release of virus beta-zero-nine into the atmosphere of Hadronus III.

One could consider Hadronus to be a failure, but she did not see it that way. Although the planet still did not walk with her brethren, the virus that was released had a significant and noticeable effect on its population. They were beginning to transform. Admittedly, everyone infected ultimately died – but she knew that the answer was not too far from her grasp. The Ee would return soon.

The console in front of her flashed again, querying the occupant of the Cho Oyu once again: Ready for atmospheric release of virus gamma-zero-one? Her right index finger hovered above the ‘accept’ button for a moment, almost as though the dying vestiges of Sarah Kaminski wanted her to consider the severity of what she was about to do. Less than a millisecond later her finger depressed onto the screen and the runabout erupted to life. Whatever conscience she had had died with the human host whose body she now inhabited.

She knew this was it. No longer would she be alone in this corner of the galaxy.

 

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