By the time I got to the sickbay, the woman had lapsed into incoherence. Dr. J. was with her. Jean-Luc was already in the observation room with Gardner, and the three of us stood side by side, watching the two women through the one-way glass. The old woman lay on the bed, trembling slightly: Dr. J. was seated beside her, holding the woman's gnarled hand. The old woman whimpered through dry, cracked lips.
"It's all right Susan," Dr.J. said, her voice soft and comforting. "Nothing can hurt you here."
"Susan?" I said to Gardner.
He nodded. "She said her name was Susan."
I remembered the letters tattooed onto her arm---S.C. "Susan what?"
Gardner shrugged. "She didn't say. Or couldn't. Dr. J. asked the same question, ,but she didn't seem to understand."
We watched the old woman, listening, but nothing changed. Jean-Luc appeared rested and at ease, more so than he had in a long time. Had he finally quit drinking?
After five minutes without change, Gardner nodded toward the glass. "It looks like we won't get any more for a while. You can watch the recording of what you missed." He shook his head. "It was something."
"What do you mean?"
"I'll let you see for yourself." Gardner crossed the room to his console.
The old woman's eyes were closed now, but her hand still gripped Dr. J.'s: a pale, shaking claw that would not let go. Dr. J. adjusted her position, prepared to stay a while. The woman's face seemed to relax.
A monitor came to life above the one-way glass. The image jumped, then settled and the recording started to lay. Dr. J. was seated in the chair beside the bed, and seemed to be dozing. The old woman lay on the bed with her eyes open, staring up at the ceiling. The only sounds at first were of breathing.
The old woman's eyes widened; then she sat upright and croaked out, very distinctly, "Help me!" Her fingers clawed at the blanket. "Help----ahhhh----" Her voice trailed off.
Dr. J. had jerked awake at the woman's cry and now rose. She stepped to the bed, cautious, as the woman turned to look at her. "It's all right," Dr. J. said. "You're safe here."
"Safe?"
"Yes, you're safe now. Nobody'll hurt you." She reached out to her patient, but the woman flinched and Dr. J. pulled her hand back. "Safe."
The woman looked around the room, her head movements stilted. When her attention turned to Dr. J., she stared at the psychologist for a long time, hardly blinking.
"You understand me?" Dr. J. asked.
The woman hesitated, then said, "Ye-e-essss...." Drawing it out.
"You didn't speak when we found you."
"Where...?" the woman said. "Where am......?"
"You're on the Enterprise," Dr. J. answered.
"En----ter---prise." Then: "What.....Enterprise?"
"It's a starship. We found you aboard another ship."
The old woman closed her eyes and trembled. "Found," she whispered, her eyes still closed.
"My name's Julissa. What's yours?"
The woman hesitated for a long time, then finally opened her eyes and looked at Dr. J. "Susan."
"Susan." I saw Dr. J. glance at the woman's arm tattoo, thinking along the same lines I had. "Susan what?"
But as Gardner had said, the woman didn't seem to understand the question.
"Susan," she repeated. "Then: "How...." She stopped, grimaced. "How---how long have I been.....?" She couldn't quite finish the question.
"We found you three weeks ago."
"Week?" As if she didn't understand the word.
"Twenty-one days."
"How....how long was.... was I...how....other ship?"
"We don't know," Dr. J. said. "We have no idea."
"They....they rescued us," Susan said, trembling again. "They rescued us, then....then....died. They died."
"Who rescued you, Susan?"
Again, she either didn't understand the question, or ignored it. Instead, she shook her head slowly, making a faint, keening sound.
"We were on----Antioch," she eventually said. "Oh---God---all the----all the killing----the bodies, bodies hanging---we couldn't----couldn't couldn't couldn't get away, madmen----slaughtering us----slaughtering....." She was becoming more agitated, clawing again at the blanket. "....men monsters, they were men and women they were....madmen....madmen killing us...."
She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them she looked up toward the ceiling. "They came....they came. Then they rescued us....who were left, who were....took us onto their ship and..." She paused. "I....they...they saved us."
"Who rescued you, Susan."
She made a sound like a strangled laugh. "They did. Then....then something happened....happened to them and they died, leaving us all alone."
"How many of you were there?" Dr. J. asked. "Are there other still alive on the ship?"
Susan didn't answer. She held up her hand and studied it, turning it slowly. "I was---young, then." Her voice was soft, sad. "I'm old---old." Then she turned back to Dr. J., reached out with the hand she'd been studying, and gently touched Dr. J's hand. "I want to die now."
She lay back, closing her eyes once more. Dr. J. took Susan's hand in her own, then sat on the bed next to her.
"No," she whispered. "You're safe now, Susan, you're...."
"I want to die now," Susan repeated.
Gardner stopped the video. "That's the last thing she said. She's opened her eyes a couple of times, sat up once crying out, but not another word. Dr. J. has tried talking to her, but she hasn't responded in a long time." He shrugged. "Hopefully, there'll be more later."
Jean-Luc looked at me. "Your thoughts, Pavel?""
"She was there. And it sounds like it happened a long time ago."
"Yes, but what about other survivors? Do you think there are others still alive?"
"You saw the same thing I did, Jean-Luc. She couldn't answer. Or she wouldn't. If I had to guess, I'd say no. I'd say she was it."
He nodded. "I've got the same feeling." He turned to Gardner. "I think we should keep this to ourselves for now, until she talks some more. Until we've got something more definite. All right?"
"Whatever you think is best, Captain."
"Pavel."
"Agreed."521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzqJjiTqr5i
"Gardner, you'll tell Dr. J?"521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUZ2filSGjB
Gardner nodded. "She'll understand. She won't want anyone bothering the old lady anyway."
"The next time she talks, you inform only Pavel or me, understand?"
"Understood."
Jean-Luc and I left the observation room together. As we walked along the corridor, he said to me, "What else do you think, Pavel?"
"Nothing, really. I don't see how it changes anything. Survivors or not, we can't leave that ship behind."
"Her story of being rescued might defuse the bishop['s ranting about a demonic starship out to kill us."
"But the likelihood of no survivors might also erode some of the more fragile support we have. I think it's too risky. I think we should do just what we're doing. Keep it quiet."
Jean-Luc agreed. "Agreed, then. We keep this to ourselves."521Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiN4sKd1c85
