Post 370: Can I Get a Volunteer

Stardate:70809.2330
Title: Can I Get A Volunteer From The Audience?
Author: Dr. Jaine Hood
Scene: Surgical Waiting Room: Symbiosis Commission: Trill
Time: Hours after "All Alone" and "The Hikers Return"
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Ashlyn Quinn was completely exhausted. She had been on her feet more hours in a row than she could count by this point. She was running on empty.

She found herself inexplicably reciting in her mind the famous Frost poem that concluded with the words:

"But I have promises to keep,
and miles to go before I sleep."

She and Hood had managed to remove Plen's malevolent implant from the Grace symbiont's spinal cord. They accomplished this by first mapping out a careful plan for doing so, using the information contained on the mysterious data rod that had appeared seemingly from nowhere.

Trind believed this had to be Plen's own personal copy of his research- perhaps the only such record in existence. She just didn't know how the officials had found it, or if the Commission had known of it all along, choosing to look the other way.

This was one of the major reasons that Ashlyn, this Trind host, had chosen to leave Trill to practice medicine as far away from the Symbiosis Commission as she could get. She'd seen too much, and knew for everything that she'd seen that didn't seem quite right, ten things were going on beneath the table that were far worse.

She moved into the waiting room to give Gilmore and the rest of the crew assembled there an update on the condition of her patients.

Gilmore and Lily sat on a small couch in the corner, talking softly. Jariel sat in a chair, eyes closed and hands folded in silent prayer.

Blane and Biggs, who had returned from their hiking expedition, were playing cards to pass the time. Ashlyn was concerned to see that Simon had apparently been injured somehow. He seemed to be doing all right for now so she made a note to check in on him later, as soon as she could.

"What's the news?" Lily asked, standing up.

"We rejoined the symbiont to February half an hour ago, four hours and forty seven minutes after it had been removed. Just in time, too. She was brave and held on as long as she could, but she was fading fast."

"The prognosis?" Gilmore asked, his expression grave.

"Too soon to tell. But I'm guardedly optimistic. It seemed that as soon as we removed the implant that had so altered Grace's brain chemistry and began neural regeneration treatments, it seemed to improve. But we got to the point where we had to decide to either just let February go, or give the rejoining a shot. We chose to give it a shot, all of us. That includes Grace."

"You were able to communicate with it?" Blane seemed shocked.

"Not me. Rigin, the Guardian was able to reach Grace telepathically at last. It conveyed to him that it didn't have control over it's previous behavior. It said that it didn't want February to die if it could at all be prevented, even if in the end the attempt to save her cost its life too." Ashlyn rubbed her temples as she spoke. "It seems the symbiont has lost some memory function. I don't know if we'll be able to get it back. Ever."

"Function as in, lost host memories?" Lily asked, "Will she feel like she's missing the previous hosts when she wakes up?"

"I don't know yet. I know that Rigin is insisting that February perform the zhian'tara ritual as soon as possible."

"zhian'tara?" Biggs asked.

"The Trill Rite of Closure," Ashlyn explained. "It's where the current host gets to meet all of the symbiont's past hosts. To interact with them. It's a very important ritual for all joined Trill. For February and Grace, even more so now. Rigin believes it's imperative to her recovery that the zhian'tara begin literally as soon as February is able to stay awake for it."

"What do you mean, meet the previous hosts? They're all dead. . .aren't they?" Blane seemed extremely uncomfortable with this idea.

"Their memories, their personalities, are all stored within the symbiont. It is possible to telepathically channel these personalities, as it were, into a volunteer."

"Volunteer?" Simon gulped. He wondered if they were about to be drafted.

"Yes. Usually the volunteers are people that the current host feels safe with, and trusts. Then the Guardian telepathically transfers the memories of an individual host, say, Gentry, or Wen, from the symbiont into the volunteer."
"What happens to the volunteer while this is going on?" Gilmore inquired.

"They are completely conscious of everything that is going on, and they can reassert themselves at any time. It's not like being in a trance, or being taken over completely by another entity. It's a very unique experience, and one that will leave the person who volunteers feeling much closer to February afterward in an indescribable way. Almost as if they will always be a part of each other."

"Does the volunteer retain the host's memories after the ritual is over?" Lily asked.

"No, the memories and personality traits are all transferred back to the Symbiont, and remain a part of the joined Trill after that. But the volunteer will remember all that was seen, heard, and done during their experience afterward."

"It sounds. . .complicated." Blane remarked, leaning back in his chair.

"It does seem so, to those who aren't Trill. But to us, it's an expected, joyful, life-altering experience. Usually the current host will ask their friends if they would be willing to participate, but in this case I want to pre-screen volunteers because February is too weak to handle asking if she's going to be rejected by anyone." Trind looked each person in the room in the eye in turn. "So, what do you say? Will any of you consider it?"

"I'll do it." Gilmore and Lily spoke in stereo.

[[I would be honored,]] Jariel signed.

Simon thought a moment, and then nodded to Ashlyn. "If it'll help Bru, I'm in."

"Mr. Blane?" Trind inquired gently.

"I'd like to think about it, if you don't mind. Do you need to know right away?" TC was unsure if he wanted to turn his consciousness or his body over to anyone, ever, for any reason or length of time. No matter how temporary.

"You can think it over. There's still some time before we can begin."

"I'm afraid you will not be able to perform the zhian'tara here at all," a voice announced from the doorway. "I'm sorry."

Everyone turned. Standing there was the elderly woman who had given Ashlyn the data chip earlier.

"Rela Nev, what is it?" Gilmore asked, standing up and approaching her.

"It seems, Captain Gilmore, that word of this situation and your presence here has begun to spread around the hospital. I am afraid that if you do not leave now, soon the decision will be made that February Grace will not be allowed to leave Trill at all, ever again."

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Lt. Jaine Hood MD PhD
Consulting Physician
Starfleet

NRPG: Nope, we're not making this zhian'tara stuff up. It's cannon. . .