"Life, Death, Life, Things of That Nature"
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"Death is nothing more than a doorway between two rooms."
"That's nice, would you mind showing me that door? I would hate to go
through it by mistake."
- Conversation between the head of the Oltharian Religious Circle and
Oltharian Scientific Circle during a session of the Council of Elders
--==(/\)==--
While working on a safe and rapid way of reactivating the orbital
weapons platforms orbiting SURIAL III the Oltharian had bee given the entire
idea of life and death a great deal of thought. Although his people strongly
believed that all life, regardless of its shape, colour or size was a
precious gift to be cherished and protected, the Religious Circle had
long decreed that death had been a natural conclusion to life and that it
should not be feared.
The Klingons believed that upon death the spirit of a honourable
warrior would be brought to StoVoKor where he would be able to share in the
songs and celebrations of those who had arrived there before him. If on the
other hand the Klingon warrior had died in a dishonourable manner, he would
be dragged before Fekhlar who would consume the souls of the cowards.
Whatever fate awaited the soul, the body would be disposed of by those still
living as having become nothing more than an empty shell.
To the inhabitants of DRENEB IV on the other hand, the body of a
recently deceased individual was to be kept and taken care of for one full
local year, which equated in EARTH time to over 400 days. During this time
the body would be washed, dressed and made to sit along with the rest of
the family thus showing that although they had passed on their presence
still was important to the others. This practice had proven to be a
difficult one to follow prior to the discovery and implementation of anti-decomposing compounds which made these numerous days far more pleasant for those who had been left behind in the mortal world.
The primitive aboriginal civilizations of KWALAR III believed that upon
death the spirit was transformed into a wild flower or a cloud showing
the race's faith in some sort of continuation of the souls after the body
had no longer been able to sustain life. Of course this also reflected the
civilization's strong belief in their own interaction with nature, a
way of thinking which was shared by many other races throughout the universe
including the Oltharians.
Although each race had clearly displayed a unique perception and
acceptance of death, all seemed to agree on at least one thing; that life was a finite state and that as hard as it may have been to deal with there had been no other choice but to cope and move on. At least that general
understanding had been shared by most with the exception of the ANUBIS' Commanding Officer who had returned to this world with the hopes of plucking her wife from the clutches of death who had been given plenty of time to solidify it's hold on the ship's Intel Operative.
In many ways the Oltharian could understand and even share in the
desired of Captain Rikar to see Enaii be brought back to the land of the living, if only to insure that the young Talia would be given the opportunity to be with both of her mothers for a little while longer. Elan thought this
way because he knew that regardless of what amazing discovery might be in
the works in either the fields of science and medicine, death would still
be a natural part of life and would sooner of later claim them all. Yet
here they were orbiting SURIAL III, working on a way to scan all of the
planet's atmosphere so as to bring Enaii back from her shapeless grave.
The Oltharian could not figure out if he had been looking forward to
attempting such an unimaginable 'tour-de-force' or if he felt bad about
maybe taking Enaii away from an existence that might have been better
than the one she had left behind. All of this of course based on their
attempt to bring a few billions scattered atoms back into a coherent and
functional shape being successful in every way - a single miscalculation of atom out of place and all of their work and trouble would have been for nothing.
The spiritual debate was brought to a sudden halt when the ANUBIS'
Chief Engineering Officer saw several indicators come to life on his panel
triggering the giant to report on what he had accomplished to the rest
of the Senior Officers on the Bridge. "Captain, the subspace link between
the ship's computer and the orbital platforms has been enabled. We now
have full control and access to each and every satellite in orbit."
Radiating of a boundless happiness at the news which had only been the
first of many obstacles to cross, the ANUBIS' Commanding Officer focussed on
Annie, the ship's Avatar and the fastest way for her to know just how
successful the work done by Elan and the others had been. "Annie, what
can you tell us?"
The Avatar appeared as if a million things had been running through her
head, her once smooth and fluent movements having suddenly become jumpy
to the point of being *robotic*. "Give me a moment please," the android
requested as her head tilted to one side before moving to the other and
back again. "This would be like asking any one of you to play multiple
musical instruments all at the same time, I will need a few more seconds to get the hang of it."
Everyone remained absolutely quiet as they tried to imagine themselves
in the Avatar's position knowing without a doubt that none of them would
be able to even try what she had been in the middle of *mastering*. After
several seconds, Annie regained her composure and turned to look at
Captain Rikar who had moved to the edge of her seat. "Are you feeling all
right?" the Commanding Officer asked, wondering if the process had been
successful or if the ANUBIS' Avatar had been forced to abandon her efforts before she would suffer some sort of internal burnout of breakdown.
"I am doing fine Captain, thank you for asking," the Avatar replied
before she raised her eyes to look at the two officers working at the back of
the Bridge. "The experience is rather unique. Although I know that my
body is here on this ship, I feel as if my consciousness is spread all around
SURIAL III via the link with the orbital platforms. Through their sensors I
am able to scan all of the planet and I can even tell you exactly where
the HATHOR is, their speed and heading and that they seem to have found
something on the planet surface. My sensors say that it is nothing
more than a broken down hull of a Cardassian ship, another similar ship
having crashed on the planet several thousand kilometres away."
"Captain," the Chief Science Officer said from her station, "I do not
wish to rush this as there are too many things that could and still may very
well go wrong, but the stress on the ship's computer and therefore on Annie
herself is tremendous and we risk loosing them both if this link is
made to last much longer. We have control of the orbital weapons platforms, so I would strongly suggest that we use them now and attempt retrieving
Lieutenant Commander Enaii, in any case the longer we wait the lower
our chances of this being successful are, so haste would be beneficial in
many aspects."
The Commanding Officer spun back around and face Annie, her hopes all
too visible on her face and posture. "Do it!"
--==(/\)==--
Lieutenant Junior Grade Elan Talak Fairborn
Robotics Engineering Officer
NEW ALEXANDRIA 2006 post #106
Stardate: 60342.0845
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
Francois Charette {f_charette@hotmail.com}
Chief Engineering Officer
USS ANUBIS
