“And you are satisfied that this is possible?” Glenn asked.
“I am,” Conlon replied.
“And they are content to allow us to join them on this journey?” the Doctor asked.
“They are,” she replied. “There is, however, an alternative.”
“Which is?” Kim asked.
“They could modify each crew member as they have already changed Lieutenant Velth. We would then be allowed to remain here to live out the rest of our lives.”
“In open space?” Kim asked, incredulous.
“They don’t know another way to live,” Conlon said. “Just because we do doesn’t make it a ridiculous suggestion, at least from their point of view.”
“Are they open to discussing any counterproposals?” Glenn asked.
“Such as?”
“If they give us the benamite we require, we could use our slipstream drive to locate and rejoin the fleet. At that point we could take this proposal to Starfleet Command. I do not doubt they would be interested in working together to solve the Edrehmaia’s problem. It would be a fantastic achievement for both our species and theirs.”
“They will not allow us to do that,” Conlon replied.
“Why not?” Kim demanded.
“When I asked to make contact with the rest of our fleet, they offered to bring the other ships here.”
“No,” Kim said. “They can’t. We lost a dozen people the first time. There’s no telling how many would die if they attempted another transport.”
“They don’t see that as much of a sacrifice,” Conlon said. “They lost millions to their last attempt. We might be talking about a few hundred.”
“It’s not about the damn math, Nancy,” Kim said, his voice rising.
“It is only about the math, at least to them,” she replied. “Don’t confuse our ability to exchange more than our names with clear communication, Lieutenant Kim. They don’t think like we do. They don’t prioritize individual life as we do. They aren’t us. They don’t share our values, and it is impossible for them to grasp the concept of our refusal, let alone our reasons.”
“They left behind life-forms like ours billions of years ago. We are irrelevant to them,” Kim realized.
“That’s not entirely true,” Glenn said. “Superior though they may be in many ways, we have the solution to their problem. That makes us very relevant.”
“Could we take the benamite and calculate a jump back to the fleet’s last-known coordinates without their knowledge?” Barclay asked. “I’m not saying we should. I just want to know if it’s possible.”
“Once we make the appropriate changes to the drive, it will be inadvisable to attempt a normal slipstream jump. Without the added mass of the star as part of the equation, the new corridor we form would crush the ship,” Conlon replied.
“So, we are their prisoners and we have no choice,” Kim said.
“Correction,” the Doctor said. “The organic life-forms among us can choose to go with the Edrehmaia, or remain here in some eternal purgatory, transformed into a new state of being that, while alive, resembles in no way their normal way of living. I assume this option is not open to those among us who are holographic?”
“I would be required to remain with the ship no matter what,” Conlon said. “You could choose deactivation or to remain here, but no, you could not survive transformation.”
“What about the baby?” Kim asked. “She wouldn’t survive transformation either, would she?”
“I would recommend leaving her on the ship and allowing her to continue to gestate. Once her maturation is complete, she could easily be cared for by the existing holographic crew members or any humans who chose to take the journey,” Conlon replied.
“But what kind of life would that be for a child?” Kim demanded. “Human children have human needs.”
“She would survive,” Conlon argued.
“Only to face the most warped version of existence I can imagine,” Kim shot back. Turning to the captain he said, “We can’t do this. We can’t allow them to do this to us.”
“Then give me another alternative,” Glenn said.
“We go down fighting,” Kim replied. “We refuse and make sure they know that if they try to force us, we will take as many of them with us as possible before it’s over.”
Glenn shook her head. “You were the one counseling patience and understanding when all of this started.”
“That’s because I had no idea what they wanted. Now that I do know, I’ve reconsidered,” Kim said.
“Setting aside the going-down-in-a-blaze-of-glory option,” Glenn said, “can any of you think of an alternative?”
“We keep talking,” the Doctor suggested. “While it is true that we can’t presently make them understand our concerns, perhaps in time that could change. We have already come quite a way in terms of bridging the communication gap. Perhaps more progress would still be possible.”
“I was barely able to buy us enough time to take this meeting,” Conlon said. “Velth is waiting to begin the modifications and I don’t think he will wait much longer.”
“Let’s put the best possible spin on this for a minute,” Glenn suggested. “Say we choose to go with them. We would be agreeing to live the rest of our lives on this ship, limited to replicated food and the company of those who are now present. But we can survive quite well here. And we would be the first of our kind to explore the universe beyond our galaxy in this way. We would all learn a great deal.”
“A great deal we could never communicate to the rest of humanity,” Kim reminded her. “I agree, it isn’t the worst life I could imagine, but let’s not kid ourselves about it serving the interests of anyone but the Edrehmaia.”
“Still, it does seem preferable to dying now or submitting to their version of transformation, doesn’t it?” she asked.
Silence descended.
“I want another option,” Kim said.
“I do too,” Glenn agreed. “But there really isn’t one, is there?”
When
