Seven of Nine - Christie Golden [6]
Trust him to be the one to come find her. He seemed to be both afraid and protective of her. There was a slang term-behaving like a mother hen with with a single skorrak chick.
"Ah!" She gasped and pressed her fingers to her temples.
"Seven, what is it?"
Fear rushed through Keela. Where was she? Where was her mother, the brightly hued skorrak? Something had happened. Something frightening.
The ugly face peering down at her, which had hardly any proper muzzle at all and was stripped of its beautiful fur, was still somehow familiar. Comforting. She could trust the owner of the unsightly face.
Keela launched herself upward into the stranger/friend's arms, sobbing.
Fresh horror ripped through her as she realized that somehow she had been transformed from her proper, graceful feline shape into this bizarre and alien one. The thing's paws went around her, warm and strong. It uttered words she knew and did not know "Kim to Voyager.
Emergency medical beam-up now.
"I'm afraid I'm at a loss to explain this," said the Doctor. His brow furrowed. Clearly, it irritated him.
Kim fought back a wave of irritation of his own. It had moved him more than he cared to admit when Seven of Nine had reached for him, tears-tears! wet on her face, her eyes wide. He had gathered her in his arms as they beamed back to Voyager and gently placed her on the diagnostic bed himself. She was still looking about with terror on her beautiful face, whimpering.
"Is it the same thing that happened to her before with the Raven?" asked Harry, his eyes glued to the image of the proud and competent woman caught in the grip of something he couldn't understand.
"If it were," replied the Doctor crossly, "I'd know what it was, wouldn't I? There are some similar symptoms-the agitated hippocampus, for example, Fortunately, this time the patient is crouched in a fetal position on the diagnostic bed, not slamming security guards into bulkheads and breaking through closed shuttle bay doors."
Kim didn't say anything, but silently, he thought he'd prefer the latter. Seven's anger, her arrogance, her-her Borgness-he understood, to some extent.
This, he didn't. And it scared the hell out of him.
Then, even as he watched, something passed over her face. Her body straightened out, relaxed. Her face settled into its usual expression, a combination of calmness and near-disdain.
"Doctor." Not a plaintive call from a frightened patient, just a blunt statement.
"Yes, Seven." The Doctor replied in kind.
"I am in sickbay?"
"Yes." The Doctor's gaze shot to Harry, then back to Seven.
"I am damaged?"
"Depends on how you look at it." He pressed a button and the diagnostic bed's curving metal are receded. Seven set up, her back perfectly straight, as usual. "Do you remember anything about what happened?"
Something flickered over her face, like a cloud passing across the sun.
Then she was again composed.
"I believe I was hallucinating."
"Was it the same experience as the last episode?
When you were drawn by the Borg resonance signal to the Raven?"
"Yes... and no. Have the dormant nanoprobes been reactivated?"
The Doctor shook his head. "Thank heaven for small favors," he said.
"Physically, you show no signs of damage, disease, or anything out of the ordinary, except for a higher-tharmormal production of adrenaline and endorphins. And I believe that was triggered by this hallucination. Were you in danger? Were the Borg chasing you?"
"No. The Borg were not present at all. I was-my name was Keela. I was a felinoid being, hunting birds with my mother. It was very pleasant, until. .."
She broke off. Harry saw her swallow, saw her hands clench almost imperceptibly. He ached to put a supportive arm around her shoulders, but didn't dare.
"Until Ensign Kim spoke to me."
"Why was that bad?" asked Kim, trying not to let the hurt show.
"Because it made me aware of my human form.
Physically, I was Seven