Choosing to live on

Posted on Thu Oct 18th, 2018 @ 12:03pm by Chief Petty Officer Wendi Maberu

1,167 words; about a 6 minute read

"Its cold... Its ever so cold here... Why is it so cold?"

Wendi opened her eyes, she was surrounded by deep shades of blue, purple and black. She seemed to be suspended in this form of liquid darkness, as if she was underwater. She held her hands out in front of her, and clasped her hands together over and over again. She looked down, she had no clothes on. That would be why she was so cold.

"Where am I?" she asked herself. She tried to call out for help, but her mouth wouldn't move. She was deep somewhere inside herself, and she wasn't sure how to escape.

"Hello" A small voice called out from the darkness. Wendi looked around for its souce, only to find nothing. Slowly out of the darkness she saw herself emerge. She was looking at a mirror image of herself, as if there was some sort of invisible mirror in front of her.

"Who are you?" She asked, finally finding her voice. The other Wendi smiled and moved closer, pulling her in. Her body warmth slowly seeping into Wendi's.

"I am you. But you don't know me fully yet. You have so much left to explore" she explained as she held her tightly. She seemed to glow in the darkness, like a beacon of light and as if she was an angel. "You've never been to visit me before" she explained with a smile. She held out a hand as if to offer her to come with her. Wendi couldn't help but reach out. As soon as her fingertips touched she found herself in a different place. The room was one that Wendi recognised, but where did she recognise it from.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Don't you recognise this?"

Wendi looked down over the small safety barrier in front of her. "We're in... Engineering of the Starship Hyperion. Wait..." she leaned over to get a closer look. "Thats me, but... you're me and... I'm me?" she asked confused. She watched as she faced off the Romulan soldier who was holding his diruptor at her. Then came her act of defiance, as the room was engulfed in electrical shocks and every engineering console sparked out of use.

"You disabled all the Engineering systems on the ship" the other Wendi explained. "Then..."

There was a loud thud as the Romulan swung his rifle into Wendi's head knocking her to the floor. She watched from the upper balcony as she was dragged away. She could see the horror in the eyes of her engineering staff as they witnessed their chief being physically dragged out of the room. Then came the one thing she wished she never had to witness.

They ran, they tried to escape. They looked for ways out, they screamed, some of them cowered in corners and cried. Others plead for their lives. However Wendi watched each and every one of them faced their end at the end of a Romulan disruptor rifle.

She looked away closing her eyes.

"There was nothing more you could have done" the other Wendi explained as she took Wendi's hand again. This time they were transported to a different place, they were stood in the corridor. The ship was at Red Alert, smoke filled the corridor and shouting could be heard from down the corridor.

Wendi watched as Captain Theisman made his way down the corridor, carrying her limp and fragile body. "He's doing his best to get you to sickbay. You know he loves every member of his crew, he's not letting you die today. Thats why you are here" she explained.

She watched as the Captain made his way past her. She held out a hand to try and grab him, maybe reach out to him, communicate with him in some way. The other Wendi pulled her arm back. "Its no use. You're not really here"

"Who... what are you?" she asked. She was starting to get a little confused as to what was happening. "I am something unique to you, more speficially your mixed genetics" the other Wendi replied. "Humans call it 'your life flashing before your eyes'. However you're not fully Human Wendi Maberu. You have the more sensitive and powerful El-Aurian mind and body mixed in with the Human. You are sensitive to time and temporal events. What you are seeing is your body looking for a way for you to survive" she explained. "You're re-living your final moments before you pass on and join the rest of your people who came before you"

"You mean I'm dead?" Wendi asked as she began to feel fear run through her body. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stick up, sweat began to run down her forehead and she didn't like it at all.

"No Wendi. Not yet. But you soon will be" the other her explained. The scenery changed to that of sickbay. She saw herself laid on a biobed. There were people rushing around her.

"What if I refuse to go?" Wendi asked. "What if I choose to stay alive and not join the others that came before me"

The other Wendi smiled. "Its not often one chooses to return to the burden of life" she replied to her. "But it is your choice. You don't seem like the child who would believe in fate or destiny"

"Oh I do" Wendi replied. "However my destiny is to live. I have much more to do. I'm not going to die here, not when I just got promoted and definately when I'm still this flat!"

The other Wendi sighed with a slightly surprised look on her face. "Flat....?"

"YES!" Wendi said. "One day they'll be just as big as Lieutenant Val's! And then I'll most definitely score a boyfriend!" she shouted clenching her fist and showing a sheer force of determination.

The other Wendi just stared. "Erm... Ok?"

"I won't be seeing you again" Wendi replied. "But... thankyou. You've shown me the way here. Now its my choice"

Slowly she wandered over to stand over her limp body laid on the biobed. She was like a ghost, like a phantom. She looked down at herself, still heavily unconcious. "I won't let you die" she said softly as she placed her open palm on her own forehead. She was cold. "I will let you live some more" she explained. The Wendi in front of her seemed to begin to glow as if she was absorbing power and Wendi watched as her vitals began to rise.

She spotted the Captain. Finally she reached out to him and grabbed holf of his sleeve.

"CAPTAIN!" she shouted. "SHE'S GOING TO BE ALRIGHT!" she shouted hoping it would reach him. She could have sworn that for just a faint second she was visible to him, standing there in her uniform smiling and tears in her hazel eyes. "Thankyou..." she whispered before she faded out completely...

Posting by

Chief Petty Officer Wendi Maberu
Chief Engineer

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