Trekkies United: Going Boldly

"do you suppose we could go during free period?" brianna asked as she ate her first spoonful of tapioca pudding...dessert first, as always. "we need to talk to your supervisor as well as the station commander, right?" she really didn't know or understand the procedure for such  things, and surely they must be almost unheard of...and she shuddered slightly at the thought of the gossip it would cause, to have her and him return to earth so soon...they would certainly talk, these cadets, assuming all sorts of awful things, that they had washed out, or had disciplinary against them, and she was sure there would even be one or two rumors that would float around about her being accidentally pregnant, despite the complete impossibility of that EVER happening... she sighed heavily, her appetite waning before she could take a second bite. she was thinking too much.

"Mm, yeah, we should see about that, yes," Matrix agreed, still slightly distracted. He was getting snippets of her thoughts (though he wasn't quite aware they were coming from her), though luckily he didn't catch the last bit. "I hope the other cadets don't think too poorly of us when we leave... that would be a bit embarrassing, if they thought we had been sent back for disciplinary reasons, or something..." Oh, if he only knew...

"oh, they'll gossip, I'm sure. many humans seem to do little else," Bri commented, setting her spoon down and staring forlornly at her dessert. she sighed heavily again. "I just wish this all weren't so complicated...at least I don't have to get my shots again until tomorrow, so I'll have a bit clearer head for the conversation tonight..." she picked her spoon back up to poke at her dessert again. even though she was physically hungry, she had no appetite and really she needed to eat, but she didn't feel emotionally well enough to do so.

"Yeah..." Matrix mumbled, distracted himself. "Me, too." He was silent for a few long seconds before he seemed to snap back to attention at least a little, and noticed her picking at her food. "You need to eat, Bri," he murmured with a concerned frown. "You won't feel well later if you don't." He'd hardly touched the food on his own plate, but that was beside the point. He didn't have to eat. She did. However, in an effort to make her feel better, he took a bite, watching to see if she would follow.

she frowned at her food a bit longer, but started eating a couple seconds after he did, becoming a bit robotic in her nutrient intake until everything was gone and she felt full. she sighed again once her tray was empty and stood to go put it away, rather dreading the important conversations that were very soon to follow. she waited for Mat just outside the door and offered her hand again once he arrived, frowning softly with her eyes watering a little, clearly needing comfort in the extreme

Matrix gave a short nod of satisfaction and slight relief as she began to eat, continuing to eat as well in an effort to keep her going. Once they were done, he followed her to put away his tray, looking down and taking her hand again as she offered it, squeezing it a little. "It'll be alright," he reassured her softly, noticing her tears. "Everything will work out fine."

she looked at him in almost a tone of disbelief and asked him "how can you say that when you don't really believe it either?"

the station commander almost seemed to be expecting them, and it turned out to be a lot more painless than Brianna had been expecting. they were set to return to earth as soon as her mitten came off and her thumb was confirmed to be fully healed in two more days. that gave her plenty of time to pack up what little she owned and say goodbye to her teachers, if not her peers. they didn't seem to care she was leaving all that much, and they cared a lot less that Matrix was also leaving. by the last meal they had at the station, bri was seasoning her sandwich with her tears, angry and sad that the consensus among  the students was that she had washed out and was going home to be a farmer or something like that. she was downright miserable and trying not to sob

Matrix looked down at her solemnly as they walked. "Because I was trying to make you feel better. And, perhaps, I was trying to make myself feel a little better, as well."

As they ate their last lunch together, Matrix sighed, regarding Brianna with sympathy and a little bit of anger toward their fellow cadets for being so uncaring. "It doesn't matter what they think, Bri," he tried to tell her. "Don't pay them any mind. Besides, they'll find out it's not true next year, anyway, if they're still around."

she just sniffled and said nothing, doing her best not to turn into a mess of sniffling and tears. she managed to clean up and dry her eyes by the time the shuttle was being boarded, and she seemed to feel a lot better, or at least more neutral, by the time they were blinking in the sunlight the next morning (technically). they both barely got the chance to unpack before getting shepherded off to the counselors, but it barely took one session to settle Brianna right down. one of them was even a Betazoid and was able to explain to them both in much greater detail and depth what Imzadi was and how it worked, especially in their case, which was by their words "primarily, if not quite entirely, platonic". 

they were back about two weeks when an instructor pulled Matrix aside and said he ought to get a head start on his senior project and since he had such a willing helper who was practically hanging around the medbay enough they joked about getting her a blue uniform why didn't he ask if she needed some research done on her or something *wink wink nudge nudge*

Matrix was relieved when the counselor managed to get Brianna to settle down, finally, and began to explain more fully what exactly they were dealing with. When the instructor in the med bay pulled him aside, however, he was very confused. "Well... I already have done quite a bit of research on her conditions, but... if you so desire, sir..."

At lunchtime, he left to go find Brianna, his eyesbrows twitching up at the instructor's strange behavior. As they sat and ate, he brought up the odd encounter. "You know, one of my instructors pulled me aside earlier and said I ought to ask if you needed some research done on you," he told her, tapping his chin thoughtfully with one finger. "It was very peculiar."

"well, did you tell him you'd already done quite a bit of research on me?" she asked him in interest. "actually, my instructor brought up senior projects in class today and said that I was doing well enough that maybe I should get a head start on what I want to research as well, so I can know what I want to actually work on and present or create. maybe that's what your instructor meant too." she scratched her chin a little. "I mean, I do make a great case study, since I have a lot of unique abnormalities that may or may not be curable in some way. you mentioned before that there might be a way to get my body to produce its own hormones so I wouldn't need shots anymore..." she sounded wistful...after all, that sounded amazing.

"Yeah, I did," Matrix said, taking a bite of his food. "He did mention that I should get a head start on my own senior project. Perhaps that was all he meant." He frowned a little in curiosity, though, not sure that was all there was to it; the instructor's behavior had been rather odd... "You know, you would make a great case study," he realized, his face suddenly lighting up. "Perhaps that's what I should do my senior project on. I could try to figure out what's causing your conditions and see if I can fix them."

"well, that sounds fantastic," she admitted, offering a smile and continuing to eat. "I really would like to know why I am the way I am..." she mused. "I don't really know what I can do for my senior project...I don't have a specialization quite yet..." she scratched her chin

"Well, if I'm doing a case study on you, maybe you should do one on me," Matrix suggested amusedly. "Cybernetics, perhaps? Of course, I don't know if you're at all interested in that. Still, it could be fun."

brilliant! she thought, sitting up straighter. "that's a great idea, actually. I could try to figure out how positronic nets actually work and do studies on artificial sentience...you know, as long as they won't bore you." she tapped her chin again. "the way you form attachments,  both familial and friendship, will make quite a fascinating study as well. you're the first android known of whose father was also an android, which, as I've said before, could get you classified as a species in your own right." she hummed, blushing slightly as she now played with her empty glass, running a finger around the rim and tipping it. "you might even get the opportunity to perpetuate your new species yourself, someday..." unlike me...

Matrix nodded, smiling as she sat up straighter, beginning to babble.  "Of course it won't bore me," he responded, though he blushed a little at her suggestion that he might someday create children of his own.  "Yeah... maybe..." he murmured, looking away, embarrassed.  "I'm not sure I'd want to.  It would seem a little... odd, somehow.  But perhaps someday I'll feel differently..." He paused. "As for your being unable to have children, I might be able to help with that, too. Who knows?"

she looked up in surprise. "really? but how?" she asked. and besides that, who would want someone who might be passing on impaired genes? she sighed a little. "well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, I guess. should I come by this afternoon for the first tests?"

"There's been some research as of late into a procedure that can clone organs using a person's own DNA. If I can repair the bit of your genetic code that caused the failure to create those organs, I may then be able to use it to produce new organs for you." He nodded. "Yes, that would be great. And later this evening we can start with your own project, too."

"sequencing DNA and figuring out what's missing will take months, even for you, won't it?" she asked, getting up to take her tray to put away. "and then, I'm no embryo...how will you fix my genetic code when I'm already almost an adult?"

(aaaand montage)

Matrix nodded. "Yes, which is why I should get started on it now." He stood, as well, grabbing his tray and putting it back after her. "There are some promising new methods just coming out that allow for small genetic recodes to fix some anomalies," he told her. "If I can locate the part of the DNA strand your conditions are located on, I may be able to repair them, with a little luck. If I succeeded, you would likely be one of the first to undergo such a procedure."

Over the coming weeks, Matrix slowly began to chip away at his new project, going over every strand of her DNA manually to search for anomalies. It was slow work, but made much quicker thanks to his android abilities. He hadn't found anything yet, but he felt it was only a matter of time...

they soon had a very good routine, with their regular studies taking up the mornings and personal studies in the afternoon. after dinner were the sentience and other such tests that Brianna needed to do her next set of analyses. 

"I think this is going well," she said one night as they finished the last test of the day and it was soon time for lights out. "I'm almost ready for a meta-analysis. I'm close to a breakthrough on something, I can feel it!" she packed everything up and realized it was later than she anticipated and she still had something left to finish before bed! she jumped up with a quick "thank you!" and pecked his cheek on the way past him, running out of the common room

Matrix had opened his mouth to speak when she suddenly jumped up, kissing him on the cheek as she ran out. He stiffened in surprise, mouth still open slightly and eyes wide. After a moment, he recovered enough to close his mouth, blinking once and frowning a little in bafflement at the intimate contact. She'd never done that before...

Shaking his head slightly, he stood, heading out himself. Might as well get a bit more work done before bedtime, since she seemed to have forgotten something.

there was  the faint purring of a tribble in its tank when he went back to his workspace. it seemed to like brianna better than him, but it probably mistook him for something to eat, at least at first. Um...Sorry about that earlier, I dunno what came over me, and I didn't mean to startle you... came a sheepish thought a few minutes later. you're not mad, at least.

(Omg Tribble no XD)

Matrix jumped slightly at Brianna's voice inside his head - it still surprised him on occasion. At her words, he blushed a little. Oh... it's alright... he thought back. It just... confused me a little... but it's fine...

I won't do it again if it bothers you, I promise... she assured him mind to mind. I really am sorry, I shouldn't have just acted like that without thinking...


Bri was still embarrassed the next morning as they met up at breakfast. she sat and ate her oatmeal without meeting his eye, blushing faintly all the while