PHALANX - The series

Episode fifteen: strange encounter, part two

 

Frederic's secondary personality strode down the hallway, the smell of acrid smoke in his nostrils. With a single thought, he dismissed it as irrelevant, just as he had dismissed the fact that he was still naked. The red lights and warning klaxons told him that BorgFred was aware of his escape, yet the very fact that the corridor was totally devoid of activity told him that BorgFred was making a beginner's mistake: he was too smug in his own superiority. When the SP approached the turbolift, he halted just outside the field of influence of the sensor. He took some time to call up the nature senses developed by Frederic for a completely different situation, but they would come in quite handy now. He also shifted his attention to the Force-sense, the Force being the only type of defense left.

As much as the SP wanted to take the lift, jump out on the bridge, and attempt to kill BorgFred, he knew that he didn't stand a chance that way. He would have to deviate from his normal pattern: terminate the opponent. He then decided on taking the service tubes. He made a 180° turn, and ran down the corridor. His mental powers may have been non-existent, but his body was not weakened whatsoever.

He took an abrupt left, ran to the end of the room, and ripped one of the access panels to the service tubes, and jumped in. he didn't care about the fact that the access panel was destroyed in the process, as BorgFred was sure to know just where he was anyway. On hands and feet, he propelled himself through the small tunnel, toward a particular access joint.

As he reached it, he opened the access door to it, jumped out in the vertical access joint, and closed the door. The ladder in the joint ran from the bottom to the very top of the ship, and the SP jumped on it. He started climbing at a tremendous pace, hands and feet almost a blur as he raced the 500 meters he had left to the upper level.

The SP jumped off the ladder, and looked around. As usual, there was no trace of BorgFred. He sniffed the air anxiously.

"Damn," he muttered. "Where is that guy?" he opened the access panel to the first deck, and rolled out. Nothing happened. He attempted a sweep of the deck, but the sharp stabbing pain in his mind convinced him that his mental reserves were totally depleted. The SP got his raging breath under control, and lifted himself up by using the nearest wall for support.

'Look at me. I'm making beginner's mistakes,' he thought. 'Now my reserves are no longer non-existent, now I am having deprivation signs from attempting to go over my limit.' Slowly, the stabbing pain subsided as his body compensated for the energy deprivation in his brain, but not without consequences for his body. The SP knew that massive amounts of energy had been transferred to his brain, and that would make sure that he was handicapped if he had to fight BorgFred. But then again, he knew he didn't stand a chance in a one-on-one attack anyway. That had been made painfully clear. BorgFred had ripped through his level-7 shield as if it were paper.

He walked to the blast doors of the bridge. At the last moment, he decided against walking through the front door. He would probably benefit more with a surprise attack. Cursing himself for his stupidity, Frederic walked back to the service tubes, and crawled inside. He climbed to the service tube running parallel with the outer hull.

He crawled through the tube, and he felt an odd tremor as he thought of the fact that he was located between the hull and the bridge, the most dangerous place to be. Where in fact, the entire ship had two hulls to protect it, he was crawling directly between them. he located the entrance of his crawlspace to the bridge, and braced himself.

He ripped the panel out, and dropped to the deck.

"You know, the turbolift and the main doors would be easier." BorgFred's sarcastic voice filled Frederic's ears.

 

BorgFred was seated in his command chair, his eyes closed as his fingers connected to the neural computer interface built into the armrests of the chairs. Gone were the small consoles in the armrests. They were now replaced by ten indentations, five on each side, reminiscent of fingers. They connected directly to the Borg implants in BorgFred's fingers. When he connected, his mind became one with the ship, his eyes replaced by the internal and external sensors, his hands replaced by the holograms and tractor beams, his feet replaced by the propulsion systems of the Warship Ortega. The Quadranium bio-metal allowed him to feel the Ortega's hull as if it were his own skin.

More out of habit than anything else, BorgFred's discarded body was turned toward the main screen. The screen was not active, as it was unable to show the complex and overwhelming signals BorgFred was receiving through the implants and the neural computer interface. One thing was active, though. A line-indicator set directly under the main screen showed the speed of the interface. It fluctuated constantly, as BorgFred's mind had slightly more difficulty with one thing, and less difficulty with another, making the line indicator flutter lightly.

BorgFred's body was in total regenerative lockdown, the body regenerating off the ship's internal power. The mind, however, was always busy. BorgFred completely took over the AI's job when he was connected to the ship like this, monitoring the sip in every possible fashion, looking outwards for anything interesting, or just sitting there, enjoying the feel of the bio-metal hull.

Right now, he was monitoring the holding cell where he had deposited Frederic. BorgFred's leading personality, the secondary personality, had wanted to kill Frederic, steal his powers, and use his knowledge to escape this simulated prison. But the repressed personality, which was the primary personality, had begged him to let Frederic live. The SP had reluctantly agreed, because he had no other choice but to obey. It was his nature to obey the primary personality, even when he didn't agree with it.

He looked on, and heard the mental log Frederic was recording.

"Good. He's scared." BorgFred's SP grinned.

Time is perceived differently while in direct connection to the ship. The computer's bio-neural core was able to complement BorgFred's mind, distorting how time is perceived. When the computer core is helping, time flows slower, as BorgFred is not constantly busy. But, without the core, time flowed very fast, indicating he had a thousand and one things to take care of at the same time. If he really wanted to, he could just shut down time altogether, relying totally on the computer, and putting his mind in an 'idle' state. He would be brought out the moment something new happened.

So, BorgFred took over more jobs now, accelerating time. His slowed down the moment Frederic reopened his mental log.

"Jenny's … pregnant?" BorgFred's SP felt the familiar tremor of the primary personality crying. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, not that he had them in this state, mind you.

Time accelerated again, with a few 'idle' states in between. He was brought back to the cell, as Frederic recorded a new log entry.

"Good. He's loosing it. Downloading while you were unconscious? Count yourself lucky that the weak one told me not to kill you, or downloading would be the last of your concerns." BorgFred was talking to Frederic as if he were able to hear him.

Again, time accelerated, but not for long.

"He's going to attempt to break out…and we both know he doesn't stand a chance, even with his entire mental reserve," BorgFred said to the primary personality. He just felt the PP crawled up into itself, rolled into a ball of misery. The SP poked at the ball of misery, receiving nothing but a whimper. The PP had reverted back to the same state it had been in for the lost four months: catatonic.

The SP grinned savagely. Now there was no real chance of the PP interrupting his greatest victory: the destruction of his own, weaker self. He monitored the progress of Frederic through the ship.

"Did he really think that crawling through service tubes is going to shield him from sensors?" BorgFred asked himself. He shrugged mentally, following the progress of Frederic with keen interest. He grinned as he saw Frederic turn back at the blast doors to the bridge.

"Why do I always try to get in the hard way?" BorgFred asked himself yet again. He disconnected the following moment, and after making sure that the whimpering ball of misery that was his PP was still fine, he got ready for his guest.

He stood directly next to the hatch, out of sight, waiting. His hand was on the Dual Blade light saber. The hatch was ripped away, and Frederic's form fell to the deck.

"You know, the turbolift and the main doors would be easier." BorgFred said, directly behind Frederic, who literally jumped.

"Give it up, Fred." Frederic said.

"That's not what you called me in your logs. What was it? BorgFred? I like that." BorgFred grinned. "Very appropriate. Now, my primary personality made a mistake by asking me to let you live. Now that he's devastated by the news of Jennifer's pregnancy, I can carry out what I always intended: eradicate you!" BorgFred activated the light saber while launching himself to his counterpart.

Frederic, totally unarmed, could do nothing but flee. He deactivated his SP, knowing very well that his survival instincts were better suited for running. He ran like the wind, the Force powering his failing body and fueling his aching muscles as panels and deactivated consoles exploded around him by the constant hammering of BorgFred's Dual Blade light saber.

"I <pant> have <grunt> no <pant> choice <dodge>" Frederic managed. "Frederic, listen to me!" he tried. BorgFred just laughed harder, his light saber destroying equipment at a tremendous rate. Frederic had no choice but to keep fleeing. His luck didn't last.

Frederic jumped out of the way, only to find the Dual Blade light saber to abruptly shift directions. He had no choice but to roll the other way, and found himself trapped in a corner. He was situated next to the viewer; a destroyed science console flanked him to the left. BorgFred approached, and raised one end of the light saber, obviously going to impale Frederic on the lower end.

"Any last requests?" BorgFred sneered, obviously not expecting an answer, the light saber already on its way down.

"30 minutes!" Frederic choked out. it was an act of desperation, and they both knew it. The light saber halted so close to Frederic's skin, he could actually feel the energy coming of the rod.

BorgFred looked puzzled. "And what would you do in those thirty minutes?" he asked.

"Attempting to free Frederic," Frederic responded. "I know you don't want to be active continuously. I have an SP myself, remember?

BorgFred seemed to ponder that. "I rather like it," he said. "I had my reservations at first, but I rather like this."

"Come on, you can't fool me! You probably haven't slept in months, and it's slowly destroying you from the inside out!"

BorgFred lowered his weapon, deactivated it, and clipped it to his belt. "AL, if he manages to kill me-"

Blow up the ship. I know.

It was a flowing, deadly voice. It resembled Borlan's in a way. It was not as heavy as Borlan's, though.

"Only if he kills this body, not if he frees Frederic." BorgFred added. To Frederic, who was looking strange, he said: "fourth generation battle-AI's. I stopped naming them. I just call them AL, Artificial Life-form."

Frederic nodded. "Frederic, I know you're in there. Why don't you talk to me? I felt the same way you do when my Jenny died."

BorgFred just grinned, and shook his head. "I told you, you're wasting your time. That coward won't come out."

"Frederic Fromthefield, I order you to come out! What do you think Jennifer would say if she saw you like this?"

BorgFred still claimed that there was no change.

"I am sorry I have to do this, Fred," Frederic said. He set in the tones to 'Candle in the Wind', humming the rhythm he knew both he and Jennifer liked. BorgFred's entire demeanor changed. It was no longer a face of smug superiority, but rather one of rapt attention. As suddenly as the first change had appeared, a second one came as Frederic started singing the lyrics.

BorgFred's face was wrecked in emotions. He stumbled forward, attempting to reach Frederic, and even managed to do so. BorgFred clung to his counterpart, begging for him to stop singing, to leave him alone, to allow him to live his life as he wanted to. Frederic was relentless. After he finished 'Candle in the Wind', he set in 'My heart will go on', another one of his and Jennifer's favorites.

BorgFred sunk to the ground, seemingly unable to control his intellect, his great mental capacity or his tremendous physical strength. He just lay on the hard deck plating, rolled up in a ball, crying like a baby, begging for whatever deities out there to help him.

"Why can't you leave me alone? Please… it hurts so much!!" BorgFred cried, his body shaking in spasms as he cried.

Frederic wasn't sure if BorgFred would remain Frederic if he stopped, so he decided to continue until he was sure. Finally, BorgFred stopped crying, just listening to his counterpart's singing. He could feel an eerie rest coming over him, and he welcomed the darkness that followed next.

Frederic looked at his counterpart, and let out a small sigh. His counterpart would be fine, if he could just keep him from curling back into his ball, and let the secondary personality control his actions. BorgFred lost color fast as he went into regenerative mode.

"I guess I was right," Frederic said. "He hasn't slept for months. AL, where is the Daedalus III?"

Yours or mine?

The computer was obviously not pleased with Frederic being in command. "Mine."

In the hangar bay.

"Thank you. Could you please set a course for 475, located at the following quantum coordinates, and engage?"

Negative.

"AL, Security code is Blue. Security phrase is Platinum-Black-Purple. Set course for universe 475, and engage" Frederic said, sitting in the command chair.

Those no longer work. Was stated flatly. Frederic looked over at the form of his counterpart, and shook his head. "Changed security clearances on me, huh?" he grunted to the regenerating form.

"Security clearance omega. The code is gamma-twelve. Set course for universe 475 and engage." This time, the AI strained against codes that were still in place. The massive vessel did as Frederic ordered. Frederic got some clothes from a replicator, then sat down in the command chair, and finally allowed himself to calm down. He bent over and let his head rest in his hands. Not long after, the harsh emotions overpowered him, and his body was wracked in crying sobs as the pent-up pain and sadness came to the surface.

The sheer intensity of the pain visible on BorgFred's face was etched deep into his subconscious, triggering all kinds of painful memories in his mind. He could only guess how hard it was on his counterpart. The pain that was necessary not only to withdraw in the first place, but also to stay withdrawn, not having the courage to try and take a peek at the real world. Frederic shook his head as the memory of Jennifer's brief death spooked through his mind. He knew how much it had hurt, and he understood.

In the brief moment of utter and complete understanding, Frederic knew what had possessed BorgFred to withdraw completely from the outside world, and allow the SP to take over. He knew that he himself would have done the exact same thing. He raised his head, and tried to control his sobs. Could it be that the Gods' simulation was right? Could it actually be that he was such a coward that he would hide from the world, never to come out, if it were only to avoid that stabbing pain?

Frederic shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs. Having managed to do so reasonably, he looked at the viewer, and noticed that the crossing was long ago completed.

"AL, locate the wormhole, and take us through."

Damn. So this is where the wormhole to the outside is. We always assumed it was at 254. But, will we be able to go out?

Frederic let out his breath, not having noticed he had held it in the first place. Frederic was glad that the AI had decided to cooperate. "The simulation is out of control. The Gods lost control over it, and I think it was the moment that Frederic incorporated the Borg technology into his body. By taking us out, the simulation should end, although I don't know what will happen to you then."

I see. Well, maybe you should sit in the Daedalus then… it was not part of the simulation, and it should be able to survive the transition.

"If I was able to go from the outside to the simulation, I think that you, who have outgrown the simulation, should be able to make the reverse journey. It is clear to me that the Gods lost control the moment you became like me, existing outside the Gods' rules, regulations, and control."

I hope you're right.

 "So do I, AL. so do I. Now, take us in, but make sure you keep your speed low. We need to stop at a barrier."

Confirmed.

The warship turned to the wormhole, and entered it. It stopped right in front of the barrier located halfway through.

"Destroy it. I assume you have new weaponry besides quantum pellets, antimatter torpedoes and phasers?"

You bet your ass I do. Watch this. One Zero-point energy torpedo.

"Zero-point energy? No, forget I asked. We can discuss it later, after we get BorgFred to my ship."

One torpedo was visible on the viewer, its blue glow speeding towards the barrier. The moment it impacted, the viewer darkened, to compensate for the tremendous flash of light. The next moment, the ship rocked under the blast wave. The Ortega accelerated, and cleared the wormhole not 5 seconds later. It came out the wormhole in an identical universe 475 they had left. Well, almost identical, if it weren't for the PSS Ortega hanging not far from the wormhole. Suddenly, the viewer changed views, and showed the wormhole, vibrating strangely. The next moment, it collapsed.

"AL, what happened?"

It seems that the Gods ended the simulation.

"It looks like I was right. But what about you and Frederic?"

It appears it is in your best interest to make him your friend. I wouldn't want to be you once he wakes up, and has decided to repay you for your kindness in removing the SP.

Involuntary, Frederic gulped. Why was it that his hands were sweaty all of a sudden? He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself.

"AL, establish connection to the Ortega. I hope they're not too worried."

The main viewer changed to the bridge Frederic knew so well: the fully operational bridge on his PSS Ortega, not the darkened, shutdown bridge of this Warship Ortega. Jennifer's face immediately lit up.

"Fred? Where have you been? I was worried sick! And what is that ship? And what happened to the wormhole?"

"Calm down, love. Calm yourself. It's been…hectic. I've met my other self, and we…had a disagreement. I'll tell you all about it when I get back. I'm going to transport directly to sickbay. My counterpart hasn't slept since the SP activated, and it seems the Gods terminated the simulation once I brought him out."

Jennifer's face displayed her impatience, but she nodded anyway. "See you in a couple of minutes, love," she said.

Frederic nodded. "See you then. And I trust you'll tell me all about how you have been during my absence as well."

Jennifer nodded, a big smile plastered on her beautiful face. The connection terminated.

"AL, remain here, please. I promise we won't move until we know for sure what my counterpart wants us to do."

That's acceptable. I do trust you'll allow me to connect to your computer, to access your medical data concerning my Frederic?

"Of course, AL. Are the transporters still on the same spot?"

We have something better. Prepare for spatial relocation.

Frederic felt a curious sensation, and the next moment, he was standing in his very own sickbay. He put BorgFred on one of the beds, and scanned his counterpart. Jennifer and Daphnix came running into the sickbay, and came to an abrupt halt when they saw who was on the bed. The three people nodded briefly at each other in greeting, too caught up in the strange Frederic in the bed.

"Oh my God! What happened to him?" Jennifer managed.

"This is my alternate self. He cowered away from reality, and let the secondary personality run rampart. This is the result. The SP has used all the knowledge that Frederic had to offer, and turned it into weaponry," Frederic said, and glanced up at the monitor over the bed. Frederic's mental scan had shown some unidentified parts in the bloodstream, and the computer had now identified them.

"Nanoprobes?" Daphnix gasped. "He assimilated himself?"

"Not ordinary nanoprobes, D. according to this, they're made up out of a material I don't know, they're emitting on a wavelength I've never seen before, and they don't act like they're supposed to."

"And what the fuck has he done to his ship?" Daphnix asked.

"I have no idea. I guess we'll have to wait until he has come out of his regenerative lockdown. He has survived solely on his Borg implants for those months, and his body and mind must be exhausted beyond belief," Frederic said.

"Are you sure it's safe to leave him here? After all, who knows what he'll do once he comes out of it."

"Good thinking, D. maybe we could establish a guard pattern. Right now, I need rest, so I suggest I'll take the last one."

"I'll go with you." Jennifer put a hand on Frederic's shoulder. She could feel him holding himself together on every level. Whatever had happened over on the other ship, it must have been massive.

Daphnix nodded. "I'll take the first watch. You two get some rest." He brought a chair over, and sat down, next to the bed of BorgFred. Jennifer and Frederic nodded, and walked out of sickbay.

The moment the door closed to their quarters, Frederic broke down. Quite literally. He was lying on the floor, sobbing, shaking; his mind bending in ways Jennifer had never seen it bend before. It was an indication for Frederic's condition that he wasn't even able to maintain his shields.

Jennifer reached out, both with her mind and her body. She picked up Frederic, and carried him over to the bed, all the time keeping her mind right next to his, showing him she was here for him.

After she had put him in the bed, she crawled in it next to him, and hugged him close. He immediately clung to her, his body shaking in the raw intensity of the emotions he was feeling. Jennifer just held him, physically and mentally, and kept whispering soothing words, letting him know she was here for him.

"It's okay, love. Let it all out. It's okay, you're safe now," she whispered, while making damn sure he couldn't pick up on her thoughts to chunk BorgFred out the nearest airlock. Not that it would do much good, their immortal physiology making space walking without a suit uncomfortable, but not life-threatening. She contemplated beaming him into the nearest star.

"It was…horrible," Frederic sobbed. "I felt him…understood him. That one instant, it all made sense."

Jennifer winced at the broken tones coming form her husband's throat. This was the voice of a broken man. She hugged him even closer, and put her head right next to his, trying to maximize the amount of body contact.

"It's okay, love. You're safe now."

NO! Don't you understand?" he broke away from her, his strength surprising her. "I knew… I felt…I would do the same thing! I knew the harshness of what it is to loose you, and I knew I just KNEW I would have done the same thing! If it had been you lying there, on that battlefield on 254, I wouldn't have hesitated to do the exact same thing!" tears streamed down his face. "Gods, I'm so ashamed of myself, but I can't deny the truth." He buried his face in his hands, while Jennifer looked on, helpless. She didn't know what to, and she decided to keep doing what she had been doing all along: let the love of her life know she was there for him.

She hugged him, and resumed her whispering. Slowly, so agonizingly slowly, he calmed down, and allowed himself to return the embrace.

"I feel so…violated!" he cried. "I liked to think I could go on without you, but I know it's futile to think such… I don't know WHAT to think."

"Come, my love. I'm still here. Nothing's changed. We're both still alive."

"Yes, but what'll happen if something happened to you? I would probably go to the SP, and let him handle everything… and end up with a whole genocide on my hands!"

"Shhh. You wouldn't. Now that you know what could happen, you know how to avoid it."

"Yeah, I can kill myself," He grunted, and buried his face in her shoulder. Right then, Jennifer knew the truth behind his words. He meant every one of those 4 words. 'I can kill myself.' The programs he had instituted to protect his life had decided that this was a case in which suicide was the better option. It caused Jennifer to look deep within herself. Could SHE go on without Frederic, or would she end up an empty shell? Or worse, would she inherit the Phalanx powers, causing her to go to the SP herself? She shuddered at the thought. Then, she remembered something. Frederic had given her the Human powers, just to save her. Would he do the same if he was dying, and he knew there was nothing that could save him? Would he give her the three Phalanx powers he carried within him?

Jennifer knew then that it would probably turn out that way. And the responsibility that came with them would rest on her shoulders as well. Could she go on without her husband? Live with the guilt of knowing she couldn't save him, and knowing that she now carried the same powers that had failed him? Right then, she had a similar moment of clarity. Yes, she could go on. And yes, she would probably turn to the SP at the first moment of trouble. And that moment would come sooner and sooner, since she would know that the powers were not infallible. She would have extreme self-doubt, until she had to rely on the SP for everything. And that would be just as bad. She would turn control over to the SP, and would have the same result.

It might take a little longer, but the end results would be the same: the SP in constant control, running rampart without a PP to keep it in check. A tear slid down her cheek.

"I know, love," she said. "I would probably do the same if the situations were reversed."

He grabbed her tight. "Let's make a promise," He grunted in her ear.

"What?" she asked back.

"If one of us…doesn't make it, the other tries to go on. But, if it turns out the way we think it's going to turn out, we meet on the other side."

Jennifer broke the embrace, and looked at the love of her life. She saw nothing but sincerity in his eyes. He meant very word of it. Jennifer raised one finger, and jumped off the bed.

The next moment, she returned, with a knife. Frederic nodded as she gave him the knife. She put out her hand, and he made a cut in it, just deep enough to draw blood. He then gave the knife to her, and put out his own hand. She delivered a similar cut to his hand. The palms of their hands met, allowing their blood to mix. It was a ritual that the Humans, the Oech-anya and the Ketari had in common: sharing of the life's essence, blood, to indicate the holiest of vows.

They both said, at the same time, "I promise."

The knife was discarded on the nightstand, and Frederic and Jennifer cuddled together in the bed, neither letting go, as if hanging on for dear life. Instinctively, their breaths and heartbeats were in unison. In the beginning of their relationship, they would use the link to correlate, and it was more a game. But over time, it had become more than that. It was something they both did when they needed the intense comfort of having their bodies in unison. It had become almost of a second nature, no longer needing the link. Just being this close to the other allowed them to achieve this perfect unison of mind, body, and soul. They, quite literally, became one person in two bodies. Sleep overtook them easily, and not for the first time, they slept with their minds as one, their bodies following naturally along.

 

Daphnix kept his mind busy with mind-games. He started doing difficult mathematical exercises, followed by a game of 4-D chess against himself.  Time, height, width and depth held no secrets to him. Deep down, he knew it was dangerous to withdraw from the world like this, now that BorgFred was lying on the bed next to him. Daphnix was supposed to be watching him, for heaven's sake!

Daphnix shrugged the thoughts off him. Linda would warn him when BorgFred started coming around from the regeneration mode. It would still give him two minutes or so before BorgFred would regain consciousness. Daphnix merrily continued his game.

Snap out of it, D. BF's waking up.

"Thank you, Linda." Daphnix got up, and watched the pale color on his friend's counterpart's face turn slightly more normal. The implants distorted his friend's handsome figure, Daphnix thought. Not to mention the bags under the eyes, and the stress-lines around the mouth and eyes. It sent an involuntary shiver down Daphnix's spine.

The moment BorgFred's eyes opened, he sat up straight, and looked around curiously. His eyes rested on Daphnix. For one moment, Daphnix saw an almost animalistic joy on BorgFred's face, followed immediately after by a look of grief and sorrow.

"It wasn't a dream!" BorgFred cried, burying his face in his hands, his body shook as he sobbed. "I really did all those things!"

Daphnix was a soldier; he wasn't used, or had the skills and knowledge, to deal with this kind of situation. He operated purely on instinct as he put a hand on BorgFred's shoulder.

"It was all just a simulation," Daphnix said. "I'll get Fred. I'm sure you'll be more comfortable talking to him."

BorgFred nodded in thanks, and Daphnix got up and walked out the sickbay, but not before he asked Linda to keep an eye on their guest.

Daphnix walked, mightily concerned, to Frederic's and Jennifer's quarters. He pressed the chime, and waited for a response.

Jennifer opened her eyes. Well, she thought it were her eyes, as she felt her body behaving not as she was used to. Immediately, she recognized what had happened. It wasn't the first time. She looked to her side, and saw…her body, snuggled up to her new body. She smiled as she looked into her own blue eyes. She couldn't help but smile when she saw her own face smile at her.

"You know, this is fun. " she heard her own voice say.

"Yeah, but I think D wants us for one reason or another, and I don't think he'll appreciate it if we stayed like this." Her new voice was heavy. She saw her head nod.

"This is strange, I can't get over it," her voice told her.

"Can I have my body back now, or are you going to take some more advantage of it?" her new, masculine voice answered.

The next moment, she felt a familiar tug, some disorientation, and she looked into the face of her husband. "I rather liked being in your body," he told her.

"Daphnix is getting impatient. I think we'd better see what he wants," she said, getting out of the bed. She noticed for the first time they had both slept with their clothes on.

They shrugged, walked to the door, answered it, and stepped outside.

"What were you two doing in there? I must have chimed at least five times!" Daphnix grinned.

"Tug-o'-war with our bodies," Jennifer answered him straightforward.

"Nah," Frederic said, shaking his head. "We couldn't decide which one to wear." This caused both Jennifer and Frederic to burst out laughing. Daphnix just grinned, not knowing what the joke was, but his friends' good mood was contagious. They walked into the sickbay with the same grin on their faces. What they saw there…caused them to loose their grins, fast.

BorgFred was in the middle of sickbay, which was a clear area, doing various martial arts exercises. But not as Frederic did them. With Frederic, the movements were graceful, beautiful, and came from the soul.

BorgFred was stabbing his arms and legs out to imaginary opponents, not beautiful, not graceful, and certainly not from the soul. These were the movements of a killer. These moves were the killing moves, and only the killing moves. Very little defense came into play, and the only moves that were done were those that were intended for great bodily harm on whoever was stupid enough to come in reach.

BorgFred's face was twisted into pure rage, his movements precise, but stabbing, instead of flowing, and intended for harm on the images spooking through BorgFred's inner eye at the moment.

Frederic had stripped BorgFred of his weapons, and he thanked himself for that foresight at the moment. He was sure his sickbay wouldn't have survived if BorgFred were using his weapons right now.

"Fred? Calm down, let the movements guide you, not you the movements. Be at peace with yourself and your environment. You know this," Frederic spoke in quiet tones to his counterpart. The exercises changed as abruptly as the stabbing of one of his arms or legs. From one moment to another, the exercises subdued, BorgFred's face calmed down, and the movements of his body became flowing instead of stabbing.

It lasted a couple more minutes before BorgFred stopped his workout, and turned to the new arrivals.

"How are you feeling?" Frederic ventured.

"Confused. Angry. Guilty. Sad. Uncertain," BorgFred listed.

"Confusion is normal, after what you went through. You have been under a lot of pressure for the last four months," Frederic said, motioning for one of the beds. BorgFred sat down obediently, while Frederic and his two companions sat down on the bed right next to it, turning towards BorgFred. The four people looked at each other.

"We will try to help you, but please, you must try to help yourself as well," Jennifer said, drawing a nod from BorgFred.

"I understand," BorgFred responded. "And I will do my best."

"That is all we can ask," Frederic said. "And we promise to do our best to help you and guide you to the best of our abilities." Frederic knew that this was only the first step on a long, a very long way to recovery.