***The Hills of Time***
***by George Pollock, Jr.***


***Chapter 20***
***O Bloody Period***


   The turbolift hummed. And Patty thought.

   "We're really not bad people," she finally said quietly, then looked at LaForge. "Honestly, we're not."

   The Starfleet engineer shrugged. "I had no strong feelings about it, Commander. I don't know any of you well enough to make that sort of judgment."
   
   She shook her head. "I overheard people in engineering already talk about the yelling and fighting we did outside that ... mess hall. About the incident with Eluza - um, my captain - and ... your captain ..."
   
   "Gotta admit," the male said, "Captain Picard's probably been called a few things in his time - though I doubt 'coward' was ever one of them."

   Patty gazed down at the deck. The humming filled the lift again. "She wasn't herself when she said that, Commander ...," the Solnoid finally offered meekly. "She was ... disoriented ..."

   LaForge chuckled. "I guess that's what your first glass of wine will do - if you chug it."

   She glanced back at him, confused. " 'Chug'?"

   "It means drinking down quickly."
 

  "Oh ..." She sighed. "She didn't know ... it would do that to her. She's not a bad person. Nor is Lufy or Rabby."

   He shook his head slightly. "As I said, I'm not judging you or your comrades, Commander. In fact, want to know what's really on my mind right now?"

   "What?"

   "I'm wondering why the hell Doctor Crusher called me to sickbay so suddenly. I feel fine."

   Patty considered that. "Maybe she needs you to fix something."

   He seemed - for a moment - slightly indignant. "I'm the chief engineer, Commander."

   After a pause, she smirked. "You mean, 'chief fixer, cook and bottle-washer'?"

   And as her smirk blossomed into a smile, Patty swore that just above the humming, she could hear the hiss of a deflating ego ...

   An instant later, LaForge grinned. "Touchˇ ... But remember what I said: I leave the cooking to the replicators."

   She nodded. "Deal." Then after a thought: "Oh! I forgot Catty!"

   He seemed lost. "What about her?"

   "She's good, too. She's not a bad person, either."

   And then Patty caught herself suddenly: 

   Was that right? Shouldn't it have been "... not a bad android" ...? She wondered ... and then she decided she was right the first time:

   Catty was more than a machine. She was a person. She and her lost sisters. They're weren't bad people.

   Just like us ...

   We Solnoids aren't bad people ...

   ... not really ...


*******


   Catty awoke upon scraggly wild grass.

   She looked up: She was lying on her stomach on a sunlit slope. A slight breeze fluttered her lavender hair, and in the distance, she could see deeply dark storm clouds.

   The android slowly got to her feet and surveyed her surroundings. 
Behind her was a broad, empty plain stretching to brown, bare mountains. Before her was the grassy slope that rose sharply to a ridge she couldn't see over.
   
   Oh, Mother Nebulart, she thought, where am I ...?
   
There were no answer. Only the breeze that moved the lowering clouds. But in the breeze came something else:

   The sound. Catty listened. It was subtle but grew as she turned up her audio input.

   Digging. 

   The sound of shovels biting the ground, of soil and roots ripped from their bed, of dirt plumping loudly as it was cast aside. Over and over. Just over the ridge.

   She started up the slope. As she struggled to find a foothold in the ragged grass, she halted in shock.

   A voice. A Solnoid voice. "Awright, that's good enough ..."

   Suddenly, Catty clawed her way anxiously upward and stumbled onto the crest of the ridge.

   Before her was a slaughtered city. It lay dead at the far end of another plain that descended from the ridge. The metropolis had been huge and wide but now was blackened, blasted and leveled as far to the left and right as she could see. Beyond the ruins, she could see an entire mountain range that was scarred by the same destruction. 

   Not by mere war, either: Catty could tell the signs of a planetary bombardment.

   She tensed. Oh, Mother Nebulart ... where in unholy hell am I ...?

   A movement caught her eye, and she spun her head toward it. A makeshift cemetery spread before her. Rough graves covered the entire slope - thousands of them, her visual scan suggested.

   One plot had been freshly turned. Not to accommodate a typical Solnoid's dimension, though. It had just a hole in the ground. And by the hole stood two Solnoids in uniform.

   Catty gasped. Partly in surprise at seeing the women, but partly at their garments. They wore an ancient style of combat fatigue, helmet and boots. In fact, it was several millennia old. The clothes dated from the very beginning of Solnoid history.

   Nearby, the android saw another image from the times before time: a clunky, boxy vehicle that was badly beaten up. The ancient records, she knew, called it an "air car." It hovered silently above the ground - buoyed up, Catty supposed, by an anti-grav field. To Catty's gold-colored eyes, the antique vehicle was almost quaint.

   From the far side of the vehicle, another Solnoid appeared. She was a slim but harsh-looking woman, seemingly older than the others. In her hands, she carried a squat, silvery metal cylinder solemnly over to where the others stood.

   The women near the hole parted for her. The female with the canister approached the excavation, halting when it was at her feet. Finally, she knelt. Gently, she placed the cylinder in the hole, then stood up again.

   The Solnoids gazed silently at the hole for a while. "Awright ...," the serious woman said at last, "cover him up ..."

   No one moved. One of the younger women looked at the female who had spoken. "Shouldn't we ... say somethin' ...?"

   "What's ta say?" the first woman replied. "He's dead."

   Frustrated, the other sighed. "Well, for God's sake!" she snapped, 

   "He was the last man on this hellhole of a planet, Captain Jorn! We oughta say something!!"
   
"Watch yer mouth, lady!" the apparent officer snarled. "I don't give a shit if he was the last! Those bastards got us into this war, and now we're the ones who hafta to pay!! To hell with 'em! We don't need 'em anymore!!"

   The remaining Solnoid - small and very young, almost girlish - spoke up timidly. "What about ... babies ...?"

   The captain gave her a sneer and pointed at the hole. "Ya can't get pregnant from a can of ashes, kid!"

   "You tellin' us," the other soldier said, "there are no pregnant women right now here on Marsus - or in the space fleet? That's impossible!"

   The harsh woman glanced at the hole, then at the soldier who spoke - and she snorted. "How much goddamn free time do you think he had?!"

   "What about sperm banks? They hadta have planned somethin' like that!"

   "There's your sperm banks!" the captain answered angrily, pointing to the charred city. "Command said it's like that all over th' planet! Dead!!"

   "Jus' like us ...," the subordinate replied dryly.

   The captain picked up a nearby spade menacingly. "Shut up, lady!!" The other woman was silent.  

    "What about ...clones ...?" the girlish soldier asked.

   The officer spun around. "Huh?!"

   "Can't they ... clone some men, Captain Jorn? I mean, they got labs up in the space fleet ..."

   Slowly, the older woman bowed her head, shook it slightly and began chuckling. "Like I told ya, kid ... ya can't clone somebody from ashes ..."

   Cautiously, the first soldier spoke again. "Can't they clone men from cells from corpses?"

   The captain looked at her apathetically. "I don't KNOW!  And even if they could, you'd have to wait nearly a year for a kid, right?! And then ya'd hafta wait for the kid to grow up, right?! We don't have that kinda time left!! Those damn shellheads are closin' in! If we do any cloning, they'll be clonin' us for troops, got it? That's the scuttlebutt from command!"

   "Well, shit!! Didn't they save any men's cells when they saw the end was comin'?!"

   "Who th' hell CARES?! I'm gettin' sick of yer mouth, bitch!!" Viciously, she threw the spade she was carrying down at the first soldier's feet. "Bury th' son of a bitch! NOW!!"

   The younger woman looked sadly at the tool for a moment. Finally, she bent over and picked it up. Impassively, she stuck its blade into the pile of dirt near the hole, lifted some soil and dropped it in.

   "You, too!!" the captain ordered the girlish Solnoid. Then she started back toward the vehicle.

   The child nodded, scared. "Yes, ma'am ..."

   Catty watched silently as the pair filled the hole. When they finished, the older Solnoid tamped the dirt down with her spade and straightened up.

   Then barely, just barely, the android heard the soldier's pained whisper afterward: "Goodbye ... Rest in peace ..."

   As the two turned to rejoin the officer by the vehicle, Catty caught a glint of sunlight on the girlish soldier's cheek. Zooming in with her optical functions, she saw ... the tracks of tears ...

   The three soldiers got in the vehicle, which whined into life, hovered around and flew off in a spray of dust and dead grass.

   Catty stood alone in the cemetery. After a while in the breeze and sunlight, she felt something graze her cheek. 

   She brushed her face lightly, then looked at her hand.

   More tears.

   Hers ...

   ... moistening the fingertips of her white duty glove.



*******



   LaForge studied the displays on the sickbay's wall screen, then assessed the lavender-haired young woman on the diagnostic bed. He shook his head.

   "I'm sorry, Doctor - Captain," he said, nodding curtly at Eluza to acknowledge her presence. "I don't know what to tell you. In a way, I don't know what I'm looking at here. Her structure sort of resembles Data's, but she has some organic components - and some technological ones that throw me for a loop. I'd hate to just start tinkering with her. Could do more harm than good in her condition."

   Next to where Catty lay, Patty was gently stroking the android's hair. Eluza and Rabby stood nearby, silent.

   Across the bed from Patty, Crusher sighed. "OK, Geordi, thanks ..." She faced Eluza. "I'm sorry, Captain, I also don't know what to say. I guessing from your reactions that this isn't a normal occurrence with her."

   The pink-haired Solnoid leader shook her head. "I don't know ...," she said softly. "I don't know what's normal for her ..."

   Data, who had been scanning Catty with a tricorder, finished his survey and studied the readouts. "Hmm ... interesting ..."

   "What?" Rabby asked.
   The male android addressed Eluza. "Captain, I scanned Lieutenant Shoumen when she came aboard the Enterprise. I used that data as a baseline for comparison with her present condition."

   "And?"

   "I can find no physical-mechanical deviation from that initial scan. Therefore, I don't think that her ..." He searched for the right term. "... hardware ... is the cause of her comatose state."

   "Her programming, then?"

   Data nodded. "My scan just now indicates that her central processor is not offline. It appears to be running some sort of deeply encoded program, the nature of which I cannot identify."

   "Any way we can tap into that ... program ... to see what it is?"

   "There might be," Data noted, walking over to the wall screen. He pointed to a tiny circular feature on the scan of Catty's head. "Geordi, I think the probability is high that this is a data port. Would you agree?"

   The chief engineer studied the schematic-like display. "Looks right ... See, there's what looks like a high-speed circuit going from it directly into the CPU. I'm thinkin' you're right about it being a data port. Looks like it's on the left side of her head."

   Crusher examined that area of the female android's scalp. Patty fell back as the doctor gently moved Catty's lavender hair around. "I don't see a port or a seam, guys. If you're thinking of accessing the port, how are you going to do it?"

   Data regarded the diagram on the wall again and headed for the diagnostic bed. It seemed to the Solnoids that he then focused long and intently on Catty's left ear.  He reached slowly for it.

   He stopped and faced Eluza. "With your permission, Captain Ortiz?" he asked. Eluza, unsure of what would happen next, nodded and made a gesture of confused acquiescence.

   Data resumed reaching for Catty's ear. He delicately grasped the lobe. He squeezed.

   Instantly, Catty's face - like a mask that went back as far as both ears - sprang open.

   LaForge and Crusher started. Rabby and Eluza gasped. Patty cried, "OH!!" - then covered her mouth in shock and was wide-eyed in silence.

   Data bent over slightly and viewed the smooth metal behind the female android's face. Circuitry lined the surface, and tiny indicator lights gleamed. And her eyes still lay locked behind gold-colored metal inner lids.

   The male android bobbed his head, searching the exposed structure. Finally, his fingers started to hover around what looked like a computer-download jack. "The data port," he noted plainly.

   Crusher collected herself after the shock. "OK ... now what do we do with it?"

   Data straightened up. "The lieutenant's positronic signature is relatively similar to my own, Doctor. I would propose we establish a link with her to determine her ..." Another search of phrase. "... mental state ..." He glanced at Eluza once more. "Again - with your permission, Captain."

   Eluza was silent. LaForge saw an opportunity to speak. "Could be risky, Data. For all we know, what's affecting her might transfer to you."

   Data turned to Crusher. "A risk I am willing to take." Then to Eluza again. "Ma'am."

   The Solnoid leader crossed her arms, gazed down at the deck for a moment and sighed. At last, she lifted her face to the doctor and chief engineer. "May I ask you two to monitor such a procedure?"

   "Of course," Crusher said.

   "Absolutely," LaForge replied.

   Eluza thought quietly a moment longer. "Then make it so." 
   And suddenly - out of nowhere - she recalled that she couldn't give orders to this pair ... So she spoke again, softly. "Please."

   The redhaired doctor nodded. "Commander," she said to Data, "if you'll prepare for access ..."

   And as Data went off to get a chair, LaForge smiled. "I'll go get the cables ..."

   "They're in the usual place," Crusher said, almost absently.

   As the brown-skinned male headed toward the doctor's office, Eluza motioned for Patty to join her and Rabby away from the diagnostic bed. "I want you two to stay here with Catty," she said after the dark-haired Solnoid arrived. "I want someone to be with her when she wakes up."

   "Right," Rabby replied.

   "What if she ... doesn't wake up ...?" Patty asked. Not unfeelingly.

   The two other women said nothing immediately. Then, "She's not dead, Commander," Eluza observed. "Her 'mind' is still functioning. Remember that. Catty is not gone."

   The younger woman gazed down, perhaps not convinced. Eluza reached out and touched Patty's shoulder tenderly. "Have hope. Have faith," she said warmly. "I think they'll do all they can for her. Especially that male android." She smirked. "Hell, if I didn't know better, I'd say he's sweet on her ..."

   Rabby blurted out a chuckle, then covered her giant grin with a hand. Patty looked at her friends again. She was smiling. "Yeah, I think he is, too ..."

   Eluza patted the engineer's shoulder in comfort. "Good girl. By the way," she said to Rabby, lowering her arm, "where the hell is Lufy?"

   "She went off with that Worf male," Rabby answered.

   The captain's expression turned harshly quizzical. "Do you think that's a good idea?"

   Rabby sighed. "I think ... he understands her, 'Luza. And I think she needs that right now. She won't admit it to just anyone, but she's not sure how she fits in now."

   "Well, who of us does?" Patty observed.

   "True," the redhead agreed. "But she ... wants to know whether there's more to herself than just being an Attacker ..." She shrugged. "That's the best way I can explain it. And she thinks this Worf male can help her with that."

   "I hope to the Mother she doesn't get herself killed - or kill him," Eluza said. "That's all we'd need right now."

   "I honestly don't think that will happen, Captain," Rabby said. "I ... have faith in Lufy ..."

   Eluza pondered for a moment, then nodded. "OK, Rabs ... Anyway, I need to head out now. I'll get back here as soon as I can."

   "Where are you going?" Patty asked.

   Her commander's purple eyes fell slightly. "To Captain's Picard's 'office.' " Then she sighed. "He's asked me to make an announcement ..." 



*******



   Wherever it was, it smelled like science.

   Chemicals and starched lab coats. The slightly warm, acrid, ozone smell of electrical equipment that was always operating. And something that reminded her vaguely of ... lab animals ...

   Catty didn't know how she got there. But she was, indeed, in a scientific laboratory of some sort.

   She turned around. And  started in deep shock. A naked Solnoid floated before her. Floated in liquid and light. Floated in a tank. 

   She looked to be about 7, and her long blond hair swirled ever so slowly around her head and face in what seemed to be a semiviscous fluid. Her eyes were closed. Her face and torso were covered with circular medical contacts with thin wires flowing from them, and the wires converged near her feet and disappeared into the bottom of the tank.

   Next to the umbilical cord.

   That disturbed Catty the most: The girl's cord was still attached where a navel would be. And it pulsed regularly. As the android watched it beat, she became aware that the rhythm matched that of a small pump nearby. Looking over, she saw that the pump was part of a larger collection of equipment and monitors connected to the tank.

   A birthing center ...

   Suddenly, Catty knew that this was a birthing center, where samples from the Seeds of Life were grown into Solnoids ready for work and then training. Training for battle, she noted sadly ...

   She looked around the lab again. The tank was the only unit there. But birthing centers usually had hundreds of incubators - even thousands. A center with only one incubator was inefficient and unproductive to the point of being impractical.

   So she wondered ... what was this place?

   Whatever answer she might have come up was lost when a door slid open.

   A outstandingly beautiful Solnoid with long blond hair and oversized glasses entered the lab - carrying a data pad so antiquated, Catty thought, it should have been in a museum. She wore a white lab coat over military fatigues. 

   But there was something decidedly unmilitary about the woman: On her thin but fetching face, her blue eyes flashed with great intelligence. Yet, just beyond that spotlight, a maniacal quality seemed to lurk in the wings, waiting for a chance to jump screaming on stage. It frightened the android.

   The woman approached the tank. For a moment, she gazed appreciatively at the young floating Solnoid, then started taking notes from the monitors. As she did so, the woman started humming - faintly at first, then louder - a melody. It got jaunty, and she even began tapping the data pad's stylus against the pad in time to the tune.

   Finally, she sighed with a smile and put the data pad down. In front of her was a panel of electronic controls. One was red and labeled, "Recharge."

   She smiled again. The woman reached out calculatedly and pressed the control.

   A bright flash shot through the tank, and a loud "ZAP!" snapped, catching Catty off guard. Inside, the young Solnoid jerked violently, causing a swirl of bubbles. Her eyes never opened.

   The woman chuckled. And pressed again.

   Another flash. Another ZAP! Another horrifying spasm in the tank.

   A vicious grin slowly covered the woman's face. She started singing a song to the tune she had been humming. And when she got to an accentuated word in the lyrics ...

   Press.

   Flash. 

   ZAP!

   Spasm.

   Accent. Press. Flash. ZAP! Spasm.

   Accent. Press. Flash. ZAP! Spasm.

   Catty watched the tank go white with swirling bubbles. As they parted, she saw the girl's hair slowly settle down. Her body quivered for a moment before the twitching subsided. And still, the young Solnoid's eyes never opened.

   In the beautiful blond woman's eyes, the maniac had taken center stage. And it was screaming with joy.

   The woman grinned with pride. "My little dancing fool ...," she said happily.

   The android was disgusted. She was revolted. She was Catty - programmed to preserve life, not destroy it. But now she couldn't move. She had become paralyzed, she didn't know why - and could do nothing but watch the scene unfold.

   A door chime sounded in midair. "Come in!" the woman said.

   The door slid open again, and a slim woman in a military uniform entered. Catty realized that she knew this Solnoid: It was the officer from the burial she had witnessed. But now the female seemed a little older, and her insignia was different. She also seemed a shade harsher, a bit more impassive than before. As if she could watch misery en masse and then yawn. Catty was frightened again.

   "Doctor Marengold?" the officer asked.

   The other woman crossed over and offered her hand. "Major Jorn," she said brightly, "I've been expecting you."

    "Sorry if I kept you waiting," the major replied, shaking the doctor's hand.

   "Not at all. Just got here myself. I was just taking some readings and ... passing the time ... until you arrived ..."

   The officer strode over to the tank and assessed the girl floating within. "This a sample of your work?"

   The doctor joined her. "Yes. It's ... my own clone." She chuckled. "I call her my 'younger twin sister.' Used her to test the basic theories of my method."

   "Hmm ... well, the council has approved your proposal, as you know ..."

   "I'm honored."

   "I've been assigned as the military liaison to your project. The general staff likes your innovative method of rapid-growth cloning - in theory. We need as many troops as we can get as soon as we can. Damn shellheads are everywhere in the quadrant now ..."

   "I understand."

   Jorn turned slightly and raised a critical brow toward the blond woman. "But I understand your procedures aren't finalized yet. Is that correct, Doctor?"

   The blonde felt unsettled. "Um ... well, the basic research works out, Major  ... and ... we - my associates and I - were about to start developing mass cloning ..."

   The major was unimpressed. "But  ...?"

   "How to put this? ... It takes a lot of ... test subjects ... to perfect mass cloning. Especially at the rapid-growth rate we've demonstrated we can achieve." She grinned sheepishly. "Kinda need to work out the production kinks first. Takes a lot of ... factory seconds ... as it were. We predict a high initial ... loss rate ... with test subjects ..."

   Jorn looked back at the tank. The young Solnoid looked peaceful now. "What I'm about to tell you, Doctor, is a top-level classified military secret. Revealing such information without authorization is grounds for summary execution. I've had to do that twice in the last month and a half. If it's determined that you leaked what I'm about to tell you, you will die that day. Is that clear?"

   After a scared silence, the other woman whispered, "Yes ..."

   "Did you know, Doctor ... that some Solnoids don't want to continue the war with the Paranoids?"

   Marengold was truly surprised. "Really?"

   "A majority of the West Force in the tropical continents wants to sit down and negotiate with the shellheads. Better  to live as a conquered subject than die hopelessly as a hero - that's basically their view. Personally, it disgusts me." She turned back to the doctor. "We even know that some West Forcers in the space fleet might break away and fight us. They would fight their own people, not the shellheads, Doctor."

   "Could that happen?"

   "Actually, yes," the officer conceded. "If they break off, East Force couldn't stop them at first. We're too spread out in the quadrant. But here on Marsus - that's another matter: We outnumber them three-to-one. We could subdue West Force on the planet quickly, then mop up any traitors off-world later." She thought for a moment. "Admiral Fazier's working on those plans, in fact."

   The doctor considered the information. "So what exactly does this have to do with our mass-cloning development, Major?"

   Jorn smiled. It frightened Marengold. It frightened Catty.

   "I predict," Jorn said quietly, "there will be a lot of West Force prisoners, Doctor. I predict there will be more than enough prisoners to get your ... 'production kinks' ... worked out. Easily. Quickly. Do you understand?"

   The other woman was silent for a moment. Enough time for the maniac to take center stage again in her blue eyes."Oh, yesss ..." she hissed deliciously. "I do, Major ... And ... thank you ..."

   The officer nodded in agreement. "Your 'subjects' should start arriving in about two weeks." She chuckled. "Just so you can begin setting up your schedule ..."

   Jorn returned to studying the blond girl in the tank. "So ... what exactly does your ... 'younger sister' here ... do, Doctor?"

   Marengold smiled brightly. "Wanna ... see her dance ...?"

   Catty couldn't take it anymore. She shut her eyes tightly.

   An instant later, she heard  "ZAP!"

   Another instant later, she heard something even more terrifying:

   Jorn chuckling.

   And ...

   "Now, that's funny ..."

   Catty's darkness grew deep and silent and cold.



*******



   Calisthenics, Lufy had always thought, were for training and toning and sweating and stretching. They were for honing reflexes and strengthening the body. They made you a better weapon. And they were pretty much, well, structured.

   They were not about rock climbing. Not about half-hour runs through downpouring electrical storms. Not about grappling with a male who felt as if he could rip off your arms if really he wanted to break a sweat.

   And certainly not about being picked up by the male by your armpit and waistband and flung over a four-meter ravine to crash like a sack of trash on the other side.

   But that's what the male - the Klingon - called "calisthenics."

   Lufy swore she'd never understand males ...

   And as she got herself to her hands and knees after the crash, she also swore that she'd kill this male. After she stopped hurting. Which, she began to realize in her joints, might not be for a while ...

   Heavy feet landed next to her, and she looked up, gasping and soggy in sweat. Worf had leapt the ravine and scowled down at her.

   "Get up," he said, as if she should have expected him to say that.

   The Solnoid closed her eyes and swallowed air, more than breathed. She knew he was going to say that. "Can we ... can we ... rest ... a moment ...?"

   "There is no rest in battle," he philosophized, "only rest from battle."

   "Then ... who the ... hell ... are we fighting ... right now ...?"

   "Ourselves."

   Lufy looked down at the virtual ground in the holodeck. Damn, she thought, I knew he was gonna say something like that, too ... She chuckled. "Ya know ... I kinda like myself ..."

   The Klingon considered that. "You like dishonoring your commander?"

   Lufy looked up instantly. 

   "You like being an unthinking bully?"

   "That's not ..."

   "You like shaming your friends?"

   "I didn't mean ..."

   "Your people?"

   She was getting to her feet, angry. "Now, wait a damned ..."

   "Yourself?"

   "SHUT UP!!" With that scream, she lunged at the bulky male, fist drawn back for the attack. Worf was unfazed. He let the woman rage toward him, a blond fury exploding a fist at his face.

   She struck. She tried to.

   A dark flash crossed Lufy's eyes, and the flash - Worf's left hand - deflected her blow easily.

   Then she felt her stomach implode. Her breath shot out in a spray of spittle. The sharp, heavy pain flared immediately from her midriff, paralyzing her. She hung on the male's right fist for a moment, stunned. Then, slowly, she rolled off it to her left and crashed onto the unreal ground. The Attacker groaned in pain, curling up around her injury. Worf was unmoved.

   "An unthinking bully," he repeated by way of observation, then crouched down to address her. "You attacked," he noted. "But is your self worth fighting for?"

   "Damn ... you ..." she whispered, balled up in agony.

   "You will recover," the Klingon replied. "If I had wanted to truly hurt you, you would not be able to speak now."

   Lufy coughed. "Go to hell ..."

   "The purpose of Klingon calisthenics is to break down your resistance, to make you receptive to the way of a true warrior. You still hold onto your old self and its failings. Until you let it go, you cannot take the next step."

   The woman breathed deeply, still curled on the ground. She fumed - but she also thought. "... How ...?" she asked.

   Worf stood up. "Do you respect your commander? Truly?"

   "Eluza ...?"

   "Yes or no?"

   She looked into herself. And she remembered standing on a freezing bridge, giving a dark-pink-haired woman the Solnoid salute before, she had been certain, they were about to die. An honor ... to one hell of a lady ...

   "Yes ...," she answered at last.

   Worf nodded. "Then ..."

   He was cut off by a boson's whistle coming over the com. "All hands," a familiar male voice said, "this is the captain. Stand by for the following statement."

   There was a pause, during which Lufy propped herself up and sat. It hurt. But might as well take advantage of the break, she thought. She glanced up at the Klingon. He had never shifted his gaze from her, even during the announcement. Well, he's got focus, Lufy conceded. I give him that.

   "This is Captain Eluza Ortiz of the Solnoid Navy."

   The Attacker started at the familiar voice. Speak of the devil, she mused, and she appears ...

   "As commander of my people aboard this ship, I wish to ... apologize ... to the Enterprise crew for the ... disruptions ... caused by my people. We are ... guests ... here and are unfamiliar with ... Federation ... customs and procedures. We are striving to learn them. Please forgive us, and please be ... patient ... with us. Please ... teach us ... as we go along."

   Begrudgingly, Lufy nodded. Her Highness was taking a lot of weight on her shoulders.

   "I want to especially apologize to Captain Picard. Several of the Enterprise crew saw me ... impugn ... the captain's integrity and ... courage ... earlier today. I apologize to the captain. I also apologize to the crew present and, through them, the entire crew ...

   "I've learned that I was ... impaired ... when I said the things I did to the captain. They were unfair ... unjust ... untrue ... They were the confused thoughts of an impaired ... and scared ... stranger in your midst.

   "I cannot take what I said back, but I can sincerely apologize to Captain Picard and his crew for what I did. I want to repay in any and every way I can the hospitality and ... friendship ... that this crew has extended to me and my people.

   "I have made mistakes here. My people have made mistakes here. But please give us the chance to learn from them.

   "Thank you ..."

   As Lufy watched, Worf gazed away from her and seemed to reflect. To the extent that males could show that, she thought, that's what it looked like.

   Picard's voice returned. "This is the captain. I accept Captain Ortiz's statement in the spirit it was given. I ask you all to continue to help her and her people learn more about the Federation through its best representatives -  this ship's crew. I consider the matter involving Captain Ortiz and myself closed. Resume your duties. Picard out."

   Worf grunted and nodded slightly. "That," he rumbled a moment later, "was one of the bravest things I've ever known anyone to do." Then he glanced sharply back at the Solnoid on the ground.

   And he exploded. "WOULD YOU GIVE YOUR LIFE TO PROTECT THAT WOMAN IN BATTLE?!"

   Lufy recoiled slightly from the shock. Her brown eyes widened in fear that she couldn't explain. She didn't speak. She couldn't speak.

   It was as if the Klingon had expected that. He studied her silence to ensure that she was ready to hear what he had to say next. Then he pointed at himself roughly. "I would ...," he said quietly.

   Lufy had no answer. Slowly, she closed her eyes and bowed her head.



*******



   Where Catty stood had been a house, but now it was a ruin.

   The android was in what was left of a large room, into which sunshine poured from where half a wall stood. Shattered furniture and building debris littered the space. On the walls pockmarked with bullet holes, a faded drawing of flowers in a vase hang askew, it frame and glass still intact.

   It was hot. And humid. Catty glanced outside. The area that the house was in had been a neighborhood - a nice one - but now it was a wasteland. Similar smashed houses spread their detritus across their yards and into the street that ran through. Overgrown grass and tropical plants swayed in a warm breeze. She could see one tall palmlike tree rustle its fronds next to a shell of a residence across the road.

   From the tree's shadow across the wreckage-filled yard and the angle and intensity of the sun, she reckoned that it midafternoon in the hot season somewhere on Marsus. And based on the flora she observed, she assumed that she was in the tropics of the western hemisphere.

   Now the buzz of insects came into play. Which had struck her as strange: It had slowly entered her awareness, as if the intensity of the sound had been methodically increased. It got louder and louder, and it was building toward a seeming crescendo when ...

   The gunfire started. Catty was shocked out of her reverie and crouched instinctively for cover.

   The gunfire grew louder, and Catty assumed that it was approaching. Suddenly, a Solnoid voice called out: "Over there!"

   More shots, then more shouting. Orders. Warnings. And then: "You two! Halt!!"

   It was answered with more shooting; the android discerned it was from a different weapon from those she had been hearing. An instant later, from behind the half wall, Catty heard people running through tall grass, panting in panic as they did.

    From the ragged edge of the half-wall, they burst into view. A tall woman with skin the color of light choca pulling a girl with curly lavender hair and skin like medium choca. They smelled of sweat, which stained their dirty, torn clothes. Their eyes were wide with fear. The woman held a small firearm.

   Catty squinted at the girl. In her filth and fear, the child seemed somehow familiar.

   Amid her sharp, short breathing, the woman scanned the wrecked room quickly and saw an overturned table. She dragged the girl - terror in her dark-brown eyes - over to a corner, flipped the table on its side and nearly threw the child behind it. Then she slid both against a wall. 

   Pushing the girl's head down, she whispered earnestly: "Stay down, and keep quiet! Don't come out for anyone but me!" Catty saw the girl nod almost dumbly, then disappear below the edge of the table.

   There were voices then, and close. The woman spun around and surveyed the room again in a flash. She ran next to Catty but made no sign of seeing the android. Only then did Catty notice a dusty armchair next to herself. The woman scooted behind it, crouched down as best as she could and waited. She swallowed audibly and wiped her lips with a hand. Finally, she aimed the gun just past the edge of the chair's back.

   And focused on the half wall.

   Catty heard the rustling of the grass again, then the thumping pounding of heavy boots - many of them - as they approached the half-wall from behind. They stopped suddenly, and heavy breathing followed. The breathing almost immediately toned down, nearly inaudible. It was relatively quiet for a moment. Some quiet footsteps would be heard, then nothing.

   The woman waited. Catty waited.

   Instantly, gunfire exploded on the wall opposite the breached one. As it did, a Solnoid in a ground-military uniform rolled in a blur along the ground to nearby cover. She crouched behind it and fired more shots from an assault rifle. Catty noticed that all the soldiers' shots were too high. They were missing the height of an average Solnoid target. She wondered whether the soldiers were trying to kill the woman - or just pin her down.

   "You there!" The yell came from outside. Catty recognized the voice.

   "You!" the voice yelled again. "If you surrender, we won't harm you! Put down your weapons! Hands up!"

   To her side, Catty heard heavy, fearful panting. She glanced over behind the armchair and saw the woman, her eyes darting around the scene. They were panicked, unsure. They sought an escape and couldn't find one. Finally, they lit upon the table on its side.

   They became decisive. They became resigned. And - strangely, Catty thought - they became hopeful.

   "Mother bless you always," she whispered toward the table.

   And she jumped up and fired mercilessly at the single soldier. It was her last act in life.

   From the soldier came the sudden, invisible death of automatic fire. From the other side of the breach, another soldier swung her weapon closely around the half wall and added to the lethal rain.

   The woman's body instantly sprayed blood from more places than Catty knew Solnoids had. A stiff, jittery dance of animated slaughter followed as the woman spasmed from the bullets' impact. Her body slammed against the wall behind her. At that moment, a shot to her head exploded the left half of her skull. A lethal crimson flower blossomed instantly on the wall.

   "Cease fire!" the voice ordered.

   As the violence suddenly ceased, Catty heard the screams of frightened birds and the rustling of their fleeing wings. She watched the woman's body start to slide down the wall. It left a narrow scarlet stain - the stem of the death flower. The body ended on the floor in a sitting position. Then it fell slowly to its right, adding a red quarter-circle at the base of the stem.

   And Catty heard whimpering. So did the single soldier. She stood up cautiously from her position and aimed at the sound. It came from behind the table. With a curt sweeping gesture, the soldier waved her comrades out. More Solnoids appeared instantly from behind the half wall - guns at eye level, focused and aiming - and they swept the area, seeking danger.

  The whimpering continued. The Solnoids drew closer to the table, intent with the weapons. Finally, one reached out and pulled the table away. There was a cascade of movement as the women aimed all their power at one point on the floor.

   The girl. She was sitting, with her knees pulled to her face and her arms wrapped around her legs. Her face was buried in her knees. She was rocking and whimpering rhythmically. And she smelled of urine. A small wet stain darkened the wretched carpet beneath her.

    One Solnoid nodded shortly to another. The other called out: "Colonel Jorn! The older target has been taken out! We have the younger one!"

   Around the half wall - with two more soldiers - came a slim but harsh-looking woman, seemingly older than the others. Catty knew her: the Solnoid from the graveyard and the lab. Her insignia was different again. She also seemed a shade harsher, a bit more impassive than before. Catty hadn't thought that possible.

   She was frightened at the woman again.

   The older woman glanced almost uninterestedly at the corpse by the wall. "Hmph," she muttered, then turned to her troop. The others still had the girl in their sights.

   The woman looked down at the child, who kept rocking and whimpering. "Girl," she said quietly, "we won't hurt you. If you're a good girl, we won't hurt you."

   Rocking and whimpering.

   "I know it's been scary. We were chasing you and your friend to help you. It'll be all right now." She held out a hand. "Come with us. It'll be all right now. OK?"

   Rocking and whimpering.

   "Tell you what. You don't have to be afraid. We'll take you to a nice lady who will feed you, clean you and take care of you. She's really pretty, and she has blond hair, like a doll's. You like dolls, don't you?"

   Less rocking and whimpering. The sounds started to die off.

   "And she has a little sister. You'll have someone to play with. Won't that be nice?"

   The girl looked up slowly. Tears washed only a little filth from her face, but her look was slightly more hopeful.

   "I know it's scary. But everything will be OK." The harsh woman smiled, and Catty thought it was disturbing. "I promise."

   The child was silent and motionless for a moment. Then she reached out and took the woman's hand. The soldier reached down with her other hand and lifted the girl off the floor. She cradled the child in one arm and caressed her back with the other. 

   The girl sniffled. "Shhh," the woman reassured. "Now, don't cry. You're a good girl. Everything will be OK." She gently moved the child to another soldier's arms. "Now, she's going to take you to a place where there are other children, and you're all going to go to the nice lady. So you'll have even more friends. OK?"

   The girl nodded. "OK, then." Then the woman leaned over and kissed the child's forehead lovingly. "Just be a good girl. Bye-bye." The woman nodded to the soldier with the youngster. The pair left immediately.

   The commander waited until they were gone. "Mother in heaven," she snarled. "If I have to kiss another filthy brat who stinks with piss and shit ..." She sighed. "Damned Marengold better appreciate what I go through for her ..."

   "What about her?" another soldier asked, poking the woman's corpse with an assault rifle.

   The commander studied the victim and didn't care. "Leave her for the animals. Mother knows there are enough of them around here, too."

   A sudden electronic beep. Another Solnoid immediately put a hand to a headset she was wearing. "Roger," she said, after a pause. "Over and out. Colonel Jorn! Our people have just turned back the western flank. They're in pursuit right now. Command wants us to meet up with them at Area 6-8-2-Zed."

   " 'Bout damned time," the harsh woman said. "All right! Move out!" She moved ahead and disappeared around the half wall. Her squad followed, already assuming patrol posture.

   And Catty was alone again. Finally, she looked back at what was left of the woman's body. More blood than she thought a Solnoid could possibly have was soaking into the carpet, creeping slowly through the pile.

   A fly buzzed past the android and landed on what was left of the woman's head. It skittered in a circle on the bloody, blasted flesh. Its proboscis darted up and down instantly into the blood, and then the insect flew off.

   Catty gazed again at the death flower on the wall. Blood was already starting to drip down the surface.

   Suddenly, she felt something surge up through her that she had never experienced before. It was nauseating. Vile. Catty fell to her knees, crossed her arms over her stomach and bent over in a collapse.

   And then, for the first time in her existence, she vomited.


TO BE CONTINUED