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"One Man's Trash" by A. Rhea King
Rating: PG CHAPTER 2 Keva walked into the ready room, watching Archer as he entered. “Please, have a seat.” Archer motioned to the chair across from his own. “I’ll stand. Thank you.” “For a quick get away?” Keva didn’t reply. “That was a joke.” “You didn’t call me here to joke, Captain Archer.” “No I didn’t. Keva, we just met some people looking for you and the children. Oddly, they don’t know what you’re traveling in, however. Did you steal your ship?” Keva didn’t reply. “Keva, you seem like a good father to--” “Grandfather; I do believe I’ve mentioned that. Amy’s parents were killed with the Yer and Darta’s parents, leaving them in my care.” “Speaking of Amy, why does she look like she does? She looks half human.” “She is half human. Her father was human and her mother was Suliban.” “As far as I know, we’re the first humans in this part of space. Was she another Suliban DNA experiment gone wrong?” “She certainly was not! You are not the first humans in this area. Humans have been here for nearly a hundred years. They arrived in a transporter and were the third generation of the original crew to leave Earth. They were--” “The Pegasus,” Archer said. “I beg your pardon?” “The transporter was called the Pegasus. They left Earth right after our last war, claiming humanity was destined for destruction. They were never heard from again, but that ship... It was using an experimental hydrogen fusion engine capable of sub-warp speeds. It couldn’t have possibly reached here.” “It could after three generations. Her father was well into his years when they reached our system. The transporter had some kind of malfunction and was forced to land on our planet. She was with the first generation on our planet.” Archer nodded. “So these people are after her?” “No. They’re after me.” “Why?” “I am a geneticist, but I refuse to do the work they want me to. Can you believe they actually want to speed up the Suliban evolution?” Keva didn’t wait for Archer to answer as he unleashed his anger and frustration. “We have been colonists on Dryad for nearly two thousand years and we have lived peacefully and content. We have caused no problems and we have not interfered with the development of other Suliban cultures. We have remained as we are and turned our backs on their ways! My work was to produce healthy livestock and crops with higher yields for the growing population. We have done work on Suliban, but not for the work that these Suliban wanted from us! We did it to lower the birth mortality rate and eradicate diseases. We have never wanted to hasten our evolution and then these Suliban come from who knows where and expect us to start altering genes. And when we didn’t...” Keva sank into the chair, dropping his head. “They all say they don’t blame us, but we do. We refused repeatedly to aid them and they attacked the colonies. They destroyed them and sent us to a detention center on a space station orbiting a methane planet and run they the Muir. They made everyone work; man, women, children, elderly, disabled...it didn’t matter. We were dying in droves. Then they started to force the humans to work harder and kill them for no reason. So we revolted. We made solar gliders that could get past the Muir defense lines because they had no technology or energy emissions that could be detected. They would look like asteroids and we would have to rely on the solar winds to get us somewhere. Anywhere. It scattered us, but at least we were free. The children still have nightmares, especially poor Amy. They nearly killed her twice when they began beating her.” Keva closed his eyes. “You have met these other Suliban, haven’t you Captain Archer?” “Yes.” Keva looked at him. “Why are they doing this? Why do they want these DNA changes? What is the purpose of them?” “I don’t know. I don’t understand it myself.” “They can’t have those children. Please, if you do anything, Captain, help me to spare the children.” Archer leaned forward, meeting Keva’s eyes. “They aren’t getting any of you, Keva. We’ll think of something.” Keva looked down. “Thank you. I’m glad that these repairs are taking unusually longer than they should now.” Archer smiled. “So am I.” Keva stood and left. Archer turned looking at space as he tried to decide whether he believed Keva’s story or not. # Amy looked up when Keva walked into the guest quarters. He stood for a moment, watching Darta, Yer and Amy color. “Darta, Yer, I need you to come with me.” “Me too?” Amy asked. “No, Amy. Stay here.” Keva stopped in the door, quietly ordering the two children to stay where they were. He went back and knelt down beside Amy. “Amy.” She looked up at him. “Do you remember your brother?” “Not really. I haven’t seen him for a long, long time, Grandpa.” Keva sat a small PADD down by her arm. The picture showed an older boy and a man and woman holding a toddler in front of a domed house. He smiled. “You should find him some day, Amy. I bet he misses you.” “I miss him too.” Keva reached down, laying his hand on her head. “I love you, Amy.” Amy smiled up at him. “I love you to Grandpa.” Keva smiled, kissing her forehead. “Be a good girl.” “I will be. I’ll be right here when you get back.” “Yes. Of course.” Keva’s smile vanished. “Stay here.” “Okay.” Keva stood and left Darta and Yer. Amy turned back to her coloring. # “Captain, the bay doors with Keva’s solar glider are opening,” T’Pol said, “I’m trying to close them, but they aren’t responding.” Archer turned away from Malcolm “Is there anyone in there?” “I’m reading three bio-signs. All three are Suliban.” “You mean three Suliban and one human, right?” T’Pol looked at him. “No. Three Suliban. No human.” “Trip,” Archer said as he ran to the lift. # The two men ran into the control room above the loading bay, seeing doors were almost open all the way. The two turned to the controls and tried to shut the doors. “DAMN IT!” Trip yelled, “He’s locked us out of the controls, Captain.” Trip smacked the controls as he spun around. Archer turned, watching the glider drop out of the doors and be picked up by a solar wind. Archer reached toward the companel. He looked at Trip when he heard the engine’s whine down. Archer tapped the companel. “Archer to T’Pol.” “The engines have gone offline and the grapple lines are locked, Captain. He overrode all systems. There appears to be a delay on everything but there is no indication how long the delay is.” “Long enough for him to get away, I’m sure. And with no ion trail, we’d be hunting a pigeon in the dark. This area is full of solar currents. Are the scanners still on line?” “Yes, Captain.” “Scan his quarters.” There was a pause. “There is one bio-sign present. It reads as human.” “He abandoned Amy!” Trip said. “How could he do that to her? She’s a six year old child!” “Six year old, mostly human, child, abandon on a human ship, Trip. Do the math.” Trip looked down at the doors. “She’s going to be heartbroken. You want me to handle this?” “No. I’ll do it.” Archer left the control room. # Amy turned when she heard the door open and smiled, watching Archer walk up to her. He stood for a moment, his head cocked to the side so he could see her drawing. Archer sat down beside her. “This looks like T’Pol.” Amy smiled. “It is.” Amy looked at her picture. “She’s working. See the monitor here? And over here is Hoshi. She’s talking to this guy here on the screen. This is you.” Archer smiled. “We look busy.” “Yep!” Amy went back to coloring. Archer looked down, thinking for a few minutes. He looked up at Amy’s face. “How long have you been in here, Amy?” “I dunno.” “Have you seen Keva?” “Yeah. He came and had Darta and Yer go with him. They’re probably in trouble. Darta always gets in trouble.” “He didn’t say anything to you? Didn’t ask you to go with him?” “No. He told me to wait here.” “That was all?” “Yeah.” “Nothing else?” “He gave me this.” Amy sat up, picking up a PADD and showing it to Archer. “That’s my brother, and my aunt, and these two are my cousins. My brother gave it to him when we left the bad place on our ships. He told Keva we’d meet up some day and we’d live like a family again, even though dad wasn’t with us anymore. I bet we’ll get a house just like--” “Amy?” “Yeah?” Amy picked up another marker and started coloring. Archer reached down and slowly pulled the marker from her hand. She looked up at him. “What’s wrong, Captain Archer?” Archer didn’t reply. Amy got up on her knees. “Am I in trouble?” “No. You’re not in trouble.” Archer swallowed, looking down a moment. “Amy...Keva left.” “I know. He took Darta and Yer--” “No, Amy. They got on their ship and they left. They didn’t tell us they were going. He overrode the computer so we couldn’t stop him. He took Darta and Yer, they left, and he left you here with us.” Amy looked down. “Amy?” “He left me? He left me here?” “Yes.” Amy started crying. Archer gently pulled her into his arms and onto his lap, holding and rocking her. Suddenly she burst free and ran out of the guest quarters. Archer didn’t follow her. He could only imagine what being abandoned must feel like. |
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