From: Kim Toussaint (kimtoussaint_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Jul 26 2008 - 11:33:05 PDT
"Saturday"
( Continued from Justin's "A Father's Plea" )
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Location: GS2
Scene: Various -> Arboretum
Stardate: 2.70726.1125
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The uncomfortable thing about seeing alternate versions of people from different dimensions was the inescapable sense of connection. It could be both humbling and profoundly disturbing to learn a couple minor differences in the environment or a couple of times choosing to turn right rather than left was all it took for a person to evolve into something completely different. No one wants to believe they have it in them to be a monster and seeing an alternate who became evil proves that we all have the potential for exactly that.
Daisy patiently tolerated jokes about what a "Psycho slut" her counterpart had been. However, the attack against the Davidson family and the attempt to abduct Gavirosh hit Hunter harder than anyone else. He was the Dark Lord's alternate in this dimension.
Now, he had to live with the fact that he failed to sense the reappearance of his other self in time and wasn't able to stop the Dark Lord from traumatizing Daisy and her children. He also had to live with the "looks" people gave him as he walked down the promenade. He could see it in their eyes - the lack of trust and the fear that something could provoke him into becoming the type of monster. The damage the Dark Lord had caused affected Hunter's reputation and actually made people frightened of him.
He attempted to stop by sickbay to see how LJ was doing. The strange puppy in it's carrier yelped out fearfully as Gavi dropped the pet carrier and came running to attack Hunter, demanding he stay away.
The P'Narran couldn't bring himself to use any of his abilities to defend himself against Gavi's electrical assault. Though Gavi was strong enough to induce cardiac arrest in a human adult - with Hunter's quadruple helix DNA - the boy was only able to give him some nasty burns.
Daisy grabbed her son, trusting that Gavi would instinctively lower his voltage before causing her any injury and he did. She gave Hunter a weak, polite smile and thanked him for his concern about her children but suggesting he have a nurse treat his electrical burns and then be on his way.
Hunter declined the medical treatment. He felt he deserved the burns. Blaming himself, he didn't want anything to "ease" either the physical or emotional discomfort he was feeling.
Daisy's boys didn't want to go back to their quarters. Though LJ was ok to leave sickbay, he was still weak and sore. He would need exercise to gradually start getting his strength back.
They decided to take his new puppy to the Arboretum. Kyle, Tyler and the two boys they were
traveling with met them along the way.
LJ was out of breath by the time they got there. He lay on the grass with the three-headed puppy out of his carrier and sniffing the grass next to him. He started yelping because he was hungry.
Hunter watched from a distance, still feeling the pain of the burns Gavi had left him with and the knot of despair in his stomach. JT and Matt were thrilled for the chance to help feed the puppy. The alternate of Kate hadn't bothered lavishing her little creation with quality nourishment so, Lt. Varn had recommended continued bottle feeding as well as soft foods. Bottle-feeding would also encourage bonding with people and, because this dog could become large and formidable, it was important the animal bonded with and cared for people.
LJ and JT were able to set aside their personal issues while sharing the nearly comical struggle with Matt of holding three bottles for three mouths on the same dog. All of them rooted hungrily at the bottles and it was almost a wrestling match between the boys and the puppy. They were laughing.
Gavi still hovered close to Daisy. He was too nervous about another reappearance of the Dark Lord to notice LJ occasionally glanced at him and then muttered derogatory lyrics from a contemporary piece of music called "poof boy" and sniggered. Even though Gavi had brought LJ the puppy, the older teenager still judged him harshly for wetting
himself and cowering in the face of the Dark Lord.
It wasn't fair the Marine was left feeling a need to "redeem himself" because of the actions of his alternate but there
was no escaping that need as he continued watching the Davidson family and their friends. The beginnings of a plan came together in his mind - something that only he could do that would ease the suffering the Dark Lord had caused.
Then, Gavi saw him. The boy stood up and his hands began to glow.
Daisy flinched and looked confused. Then, she saw Hunter herself. She gave Hunter a tired look before firmly telling
Gavi to sit down.
The Marine smiled awkwardly and gave a little wave before turning to go. He needed to talk to a medical doctor and Kate MacNeil immediately came to mind. She would understand what he was feeling because she, herself, was still struggling with the horrors her own alternate had committed.
Gavi calmed down once Hunter left.
Cade came up behind Daisy and sat down, putting his arm around her shoulder. She teasingly pushed him away and
scolded him. "You're not touching me, buster - until I do a quantum scan on you and make sure you're *MY* Foster."
The older man laughed. "Don't flatter youself, darling. My alternate won't come anywhere near you."
She laughed. "Oh, so you tried to talk him into it, then?"
"He's a complete wuss." Cade sniggered. "Prefers Metaphysics to medicine except for the occasional charity case and
has no appreciation for the fun we both could have at your expence."
Even Gavi started smiling as Daisy smacked Cade across his chest. "You're a pig."
Cleverly implying that Daisy was a "wicked witch", Cade noticed Thomas Varn approaching and sniggered,
"Oh, look. Here comes your winged monkey."
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Location: Kate's quarters
Scene: Livingroom area
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Kate was allowed to practice medicine again. Though her XO duties left her very little time to spend in
sickbay keeping her skills current, she had a personal medical bag.
After only a few moments of talking with Hunter about his idea and watching the way he carried himself,
she realized he was in pain and she insisted on treating his burns before allowing the conversation to
continue.
This required the Marine removing his shirt. Kate needed a couple minutes to modify a dermal regenerator
to accomodate Hunter's physiology and then she started waving it over his blisters.
The P'Narran was relieved he'd come to her. She *did understand what he was going through. She had
noticed the same things because of her own alternate, the way some people looked at her strangely and
treated her differently. The woman she referred to as "Mirror Kate" hadn't attacked Daisy or her children,
but Kate's love of animals was profound and tiny humanoid embryonic stasis units had been discovered
hidden in compartments of storage units. The other Kate had secretly been experimenting with both
people and animals in ways that made her just as physically ill as what the Dark Lord had done to GATEWAY
and to Daisy's family did to Hunter.
Compassion for each other and a genuine friendship formed as they talked and she continued repairing his
burns. Then, the doorchime rang and Kate thought nothing of just blurting out, "Enter."
Grace walked in and found herself looking at what seemed like Kate sitting very close to a handsome young
man without a shirt on. It almost looked intimate and Grace knew Kate had history with men.
The Orion stepped back and nervously, muttered. "Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I'm interrupting."
Kate blinked, surprised and confused, as Grace turned and ran. For a second, she didn't know what to do.
Then, Hunter quickly grabbed his shirt and lightly tapped her shoulder.
"Go on, go after her."
Kate snapped to attention, gave him a quick smile. Then, she nodded. "Right. Sorry. Be right back."
Mary Sue, Kate's chimpanzee, launched herself into Hunter's lap as Kate scurried after Grace. The Marine
gave a weak, half-hearted laugh as the eager and friendly chimpanzee planted a slobbery wet kiss on his
neck and gently pulled away saying, "Ahem...ewww..."
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Location: Arboretum
Scene: Gathering around Daisy's friends and family
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The Stephens children joined Daisy's boys and formed a circle around the puppy. They gently rolled a ball
back and forth and watched the puppy, all three mouths barking and growling as it attempted to catch and
chew on the ball. The poor little thing was doing his level best to be intimidating and to sound fierce but
he was still a small animal and all three heads couldn't agree on what direction to move so mostly, the
kids just giggled and went "awwwww".
The alternate Cade once again came after Thomas and joined in on his conversation with Daisy about
possible medical assistance donations of DNA from Thomas could offer his alternate.
Daisy lightly teased, "Thomas, I could make it an order - just incase you want to make sure the guy doesn't
think you are actually, willingly being 'nice' to him."
Thomas rolled his eyes and groaned. " I'm not against being 'nice' to the guy but all of you are trying to make
decisions for him and nobody has asked him what he wants."
"Yeah, silly us." Daisy teased. "Taking it for granted this guy would probably like a chance to be as handsome
as you are."
Thomas almost sulked, "Well, it might not work trying to clone my DNA anyway - after the way the Cairons
altered us."
Alternate Cade laughed weakly and Daisy rolled her eyes. "I know you think you are the single biggest 'freak' in
the known universe but your DNA isn't that wierd. We can clone tissue for Hunter's quadruple helix. I think we
can clone your big, bad DNA."
Thomas blushed deeply, his jaw clenched and he gave Daisy a polite, "Aye Commander."
Daisy smirked, "How about if Cade 1 and Cade 2 and I meet you in sickbay tomorrow to have a chat with the
other Mr. Varn?"
Thomas, still sulking, muttered, "Fine."
Daisy glanced over at her kids and noticed Cochrane had joined their circle around the puppy. She could hear
the twins asking,
"Daddy, can we have a three headed dog,too?"
"Yeah, Daddy! We want a dog!"
LJ puffed up with pride and picked up the puppy, enjoying how they envied him his new and very unique pet.
Mr. Crichton approached, asking what the fuss was about. LJ held up his puppy and laughed as Crichton jumped back,
surprised, "Oh, my goodness....."
The engineer soon leaned down, his curiosity getting the better of him, and found himself petting the unusual dog.
"Got a name for him yet?"
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NRPG:
Tag - everyone
Kim Toussaint AKA Commander Daisy Byrne Davidson, M.D.
Commanding officer of GATEWAY STATION
From HyperNews_at_youth.net
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Nov 19 2008 - 03:10:55 PST