kona says:
"Well, it all started when I was but a boy. My papa would drink you see. Well one night my mama had had enough. He came home even more soused than usual, and she said to him, 'That's it Stefano, I've enough of you comin' home half drunk all the time!'
So papa, he says, 'I'm sorry Tesoro, but I keep runnin' out of money!'"
Zephyr looks solemn for a moment, and then without raising his head looks up at his Commander.
"Thank you. For saving me," he says with a hint of a smile.
A look of seriousness settles back over his face.
"I remember everything. From the point I woke up from sedation, until the end when I was about to fire that damn phaser and end the struggle. Being trapped inside was horrible. It was like living in a waking nightmare.
Imagine being paralyzed. You can't move your arms, you can't move your legs, you can't speak, all you can do is watch. Watch through your own eyes while someone else leads your life. Only this person is evil, or at the very least manipulative, and starts hurting everyone you care for. It is the most powerless I have ever felt in my life.
What do I remember? I remember it all."At first, Cass is certain that Zephyr is in an altered state, becoming alarmed until she realizes that he's actually telling a joke. That he's capable of joking after what he's just been through is the first blow she feels, and even though it's one of relief, it's still jarring.
When he thanks her for saving him, she doesn't even process it at first, because she's still coping with the pain of that relief.
Listening to his description of being a prisoner in his own body is the second blow, a slow burn of horror that steadily snowballs until she is having trouble taking a full breath. Nothing he describes is different from what she'd been imagining, and that doesn't make it better.
And when he finishes with "I remember it all," that's when her mind has finally caught up with the fact that he'd thanked her for saving him, and that's absolutely the worst blow of all.
Because he'd
thanked her.
For
saving him.
From the fate
she'd sent him to in the first place.
When she hears, as if from behind a thick wall instead of immediately behind her chair, Alex saying, "I'm so sorry. There should have been more I could have done," Cass is almost outraged, because Alex, a fellow prisoner of the parasites, couldn't possibly be more blameless. She raises a hand intending to run it through her hair, but when she sees that it's shaking pretty noticeably, she quickly lowers it.
Her lungs have somehow shrunken to about half their usual size, but she takes the deepest breath she can. She's acutely aware that there are a number of other people in the temporary medbay, and the acting captain can't be seen having a breakdown. Her voice is a little wheezy and she notices her lips feel numb, but she manages to ask,
"Was the mutiny real, Zephyr? Was the parasite inside you convinced that the captain was sincere in his diplomatic efforts?"
Last edited April 9, 2019 5:12 am