Dreams of Exsistence

Chapter Five
A warm breeze enveloped Hoshi, causing the skin to prickle on the back of her neck. She was instantly aware of the presence and shrank back, withdrawing into herself, knowing she would be unable to control it. She feared for the lives of her friends and crew. She sat back on her haunches with her shoulders slumped and her headed. ed. She started to cry, begging and pleading that this would end. “Please, no more. Please, don’t do this. Please don’t hurt anyone. Please don’t make me…”

Hoshi was interrupted by a light touch on her head. A small hand stroked her silken hair. Hoshi looked up to see a three-year chi child with long dark hair and crystal blue eyes, its complexion lighter than her own. The child was crying. “I am so sorry. I won’t harm you again or anyone else for that matter.” The child continued to stroke Hoshi’s hair as though trying to memorize the texture.

Hoshi pulled back, trying to collect her thoughts. “Who are you and what do you want of me?”

“I am that which we created on the planet – a child, your child. I am your child only if you allow me to be,” the child pleaded.

Hoshi shook her head, backing away from the child who looked so much like her. Realization hit her that she and Malcolm had created a child during their interlude on the planet – a child who had forced itself upon them. Causing her to hurt someone she cared about very much. She straightened; resentment and anger surged through her veins. She put her hands over her ears, not wanting to hear anymore. “I don’t know how much more I can take of this.”

The child felt Hoshi’s devastation -- devastation over the violation, the fear, the anguish over hurting Malcolm. The child wept, her shoulders realizing defeat over its existence. The breeze around Hoshi turned bitterly cold, despair and regret circling within. “I-I understand, mother. I was bad and you can’t forgive what I did. I don’t blame you for hating me and being angry with me, for I will love you for what you have given me.”

Hoshi looked up, feeling the cold and desolation and she realized a truth – she had been dealing with a child, a child with no guidance, no morality, a child who acted on feelings and instincts alone. She remembered looking into the child’s crystal blue eyes and realizing they were the same color as Malcolm’s. The same color of the eyes she had fallen in love with long ago. Suddenly, a roughly pointed knife with an opaque handle appeared in her hand.

“Please make it quick,” the child whispered, holding a rope up to Hoshi. “By cutting this rope I will be able to leave you alone. Before you do, I have one last request from you. Please forgive me for the distress I have caused you and Malcolm,” the child pleaded before she closed her eyes.

Hoshi blinked, unable to believe the request. Pity crept into her anger and resentment as she loosely held the knife. In her heart she saw the desert that awaited the child upon her return to essence. She realized how much the child had given up just to be as she is – living. Living a life of sensation. Hoshi realized the child was a spirit unable to fer exr experience the senses, guilty only of curiosity. Hoshi looked into the child’s eyes brimming with tears and felt the connection to Malcolm she yearned for in her soul. She dropped the knife. “I can’t do it,” she whimpered.

The child looked up with hope in her eyes as Hoshi surrounded her in her arms. Hoshi found forgiveness in the embrace and accepted her destiny.

--

Hoshi woke to the sounds of voices, one with an English lilt and the other with a Denobulin inflection. “Is she going to be okay, Doctor?”

“Of course she is, Lieutenant. Reed,” Doctor Phlox stated with reassuring calm.

“What I don’t get is why you called me,” Malcolm asked, trying not to give any indication of how much he really cared.

Noticing movement on the bio-bed, Dr. Phlox brightened. “Ahh, Ensign you are awake.”

“I’m keeping her,” Hoshi stated, placing a hand on her abdomen.

“Keeping what?” Malcolm voiced irbly.bly. His posture was one of ignorance, confusion and irritation.

“I took the liberty of scanning the genetic makeup and have determined that Lieutenant. Reed is half way responsible for your condition.” The Denobulin smiled.

“Condition! What condition?” Malcolm sneered.

“I’m pregnant,” Hoshi whispered, grasping the sheets and looking down at her hands.

Malcolm felt the blood drain from his face and the air expel from his lungs. “Easy there, Lieutenant. One fainting at a time today.” The doctor stood next to Malcolm and grabbed his arm once he saw his pallor.

Malcolm collected his thoughts quickly and sat on the bed next to Hoshi. “Hoshi?”

“Malcolm. I know this is going to sound crazy but this baby was conceived the other night. It is what had control over me…” Hoshi attempted to explain.

“Hoshi, this isn’t a baby we are dealing with at all. Don’t you remember what it did? It violated both of us. Think of the danger it represents to the crew… How far along is she doctor?” Malcolm rambled, the cogs in his brain forming a tactical plan to deal with the intruder.

“She is seven weeks along,” the doctor replied, watching the interaction with great intensity.

“Hoshi, this thing inside you is not normal. You have got to abort it. Don’t you see? It was conceived fours days ago, and you’re seven weeks along,” Malcolm said in disbelief. "It’s dangerous. Think of…It could kill you.”

“I knew you would think that, Malcolm.” Hoshi looke wit with determination in her eyes. “But I am keeping the baby. It means no harm. It only wants to live. I have forgiven her and I hope eventually you will too.”

Malcolm saw the determined set of Hoshi’s shoulders and knew he was pleading his case after the verdict was already in. He wondered if she was in control of her own faculties or if the entity had taken her over again. His sense of duty came to the front, winning over his love for Hoshi. “Doctor, other than the pregnancy, have you detected anything else unusual about Ensign Sato?” Malcolm questioned coldly.

“Such as?” Phlox countered.

“Altered brain activity, different chemical reactions, deadly organisms… I don’t know.” Malcolm waved his hands in the air as he spoke and paced back and forth in sickbay.

“All I do know is that the thing inside of Ensign Sato was conceived exactly four days ago. It tover ver Ensign Sato and forced itself on both of us. It caused Ensign Sato to stun me with a phase pistol and to … restrain me. From this moment on, you are to treat Ensign Sato as a potential hostile," Malcolm stated calmly.

Phlox looked stunned.

Malcolm walked over to the door and hit the comm button. “Reynolds and Spacey report to sickbay,” he barked into the speaker.

Hoshi jumped up. “Now just wait a damn minute, Lieutenant,” she said, disdain creeping into her voice. “I am in complete control of my faculties. This child represents no harm to me, or the crew.” Her voice trembled.

“Doctor Phlox, do you understand what I have just told you?” Malcolm’s tone of voice sent chills into the air.

“What exactly am I supposed to do with her, Lieutenant?” Phlox’s stated in disbelief, questioning the sanity of the tactical officer.

“Don’t let her leave sickbay. Restrain her if you have to,” Malcolm demanded as he walked out, Reynolds and Spacey hearing the order as they walked in. They took their security positions by the door.
*****