Homecoming - Christie Golden [69]
“Brave words. But I think they’re lies. I think you know something you’re not telling. And I think I know how to get that information out of you.”
Hands came out of the darkness. Several of them, all strong. Seven struggled instinctively but they overcame her. She was shoved into a chair. She heard a clang and felt metal close about her body, leaving only her head free.
“If you do not resist,” came another voice, this one soft and feminine, “this will not hurt. I have no desire to cause you pain.”
[205] Out of the darkness came the touch of fingers, curiously warm and gentle. They positioned themselves on her skull. Her mind slid open like a door and she felt the Vulcan’s presence inside.
“And of course,” said the first voice, chuckling a little, “we all know that resistance is futile. Don’t we, Borg?”
The Vulcan dove deeper into her mind. As if from a great distance, Seven heard the Vulcan’s emotionless voice recite details from Seven’s life as if reading from a not-very-interesting report.
After a time, the interrogator probed more deeply, into things Seven did not wish to share with strangers, and she felt the first few flickers of pain.
And when the Vulcan began to speak about the ravens, Seven started to scream.
Little Kevin Johnson whimpered in his sleep. Above him, a small mobile revolved, emitting soft nursery music. Inside his crib, the toddler tossed and turned. Beneath tightly shut lids, his eyes darted back and forth. His cheeks flushed, then paled, then flushed again. But he did not awaken.
Inside his body, racing along his veins, something alien went about its programmed duty. Microscopically tiny, perfectly constructed machines came to life, replicated, latched on to blood cells. With each passing second, more and more of them appeared and began systematically replacing human anatomy with machine.
And on his soft, fragile baby’s cheek, a spidery Borg implant erupted.
Chapter 17
JANEWAY WAS EXHAUSTED when she returned to her small apartment. Things had happened so fast. First the Doctor had been arrested, and now Seven and Icheb were in prison. Seven looked tense and strained when Janeway and Tuvok finally got permission to see her, but everything she said was clearly meant to put their minds at ease. It was Tuvok who noticed that there was no regeneration chamber available for either former Borg, and went to speak with one of the guards.
Janeway wasn’t too concerned about Seven. She’d demonstrated that she could go for several days without regenerating. Icheb was a different matter. Janeway was worried about more than the lack of a regeneration chamber for the young man. Icheb was quite silent and seemed troubled. Once she learned what had happened [207] to the youth, Janeway shared Seven’s outrage. She had bent the ears, or perhaps a better word would be “blistered,” of several important personages in the Federation already and had messages in to several more.
She’d also arranged for Chakotay to meet with Seven at some point. He had told her that Seven had called off their relationship so that she might better learn who she was here on Earth. Apparently, who she was here on Earth was a mistreated prisoner. She might welcome a visit from a friend who was once something more.
A soft sound from her computer almost as soon as she entered the room made her groan aloud. Who could it be now? It was almost three in the morning. Sighing, she eased into her chair. “On screen,” she said.
Carla Johnson’s tear-streaked, large-eyed face filled the screen. Before Janeway could speak, she cried, “What did you do to him?”
“Carla? What’s going on? What’s happened?”
“Kevin,” Carla said, sobbing now. “Kathryn, what did you do to him? Oh, my God, my God. ...”
She turned away from the screen as Mark stuck his