Chapter Text
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 16: And You And I Part I - Cord of Life
Scene 5: Seeds of Life
All complete in the sight of seeds of life with you…
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Seeds of Life
“What is that?”
To her credit, Commodore Yui Song had summoned Commander Rhonda Carter and Pel to her ready room just off the bridge of the U.S.S. Mako before blowing her stack.
The current object of her ire was displayed on the viewscreen on the wall of her ready room - the communications cube that John Jr. had sent to Professor Newellewell.
“Pel, did you provide this communication device to John Jr. or any of his siblings?” Yui continued.
“I did not,” the minuscule ferengi responded. “It is a device of his own manufacture.”
“Computer, replay tracking surveillance from 952.25 through 955.12.” Yui Song did not need to address the computer directly. She could simply have given the order and the computer would have understood it from context, but she had been a Star Fleet officer for a very long time and was accustomed to that formula from her decades of service.
The computer duly displayed the landing sequence and the retraction of the very large landing parachute into the device.
The commodore regarded both Pel and Carter with incredulity. “Just how was that community of mushroom-riding space-shrimp capable of building such a device?”
“You might want to recall their human and vulcan heritage,” Pel responded evenly. “I did not witness the construction of the device, however there is a lot of orbital debris, including a number of nearly functional satellites. I would surmise that they salvaged the necessary components.”
“And fashioned that thing with what tools?” Commodore Yui asked.
“Ah, well,” Pel took a breath. “I provided them a few basic tool kits. I used Lieutenant Salgado’s field tool kits as a guide. In all fairness, you were prepared to offer them some fairly advanced weaponry. Maintenance of those weapons would have required an even more extensive set of tools.”
“John Jr. rejected our offer of weapons,” Yui observed.
“But not the offer of assistive technology,” Carter opined. “We had offered a help package before you made the offer of weaponry.”
“And at the time, John Jr. said he did not know what tools we could provide that they might need,” Yui retorted.
“Which was an invitation to provide a presentation,” said Pel. “Not a rejection of assistance. But there’s something you’re not taking into account.”
Commodore Yui turned her attention to Pel. The ferengi was not a subordinate, but a consultant, the commodore reminded herself. She took that moment to calm herself.
“Several things, actually,” Rhonda Carter added.
“John Jr. and his siblings could be considered allies, but you have not established a formal alliance with them,” said Pel. “They are not members of the Federation and not bounded by any of your rules or laws. We are well over a thousand lightyears from the Federation and this place, is now their home. Colony or no colony, we are the visitors here. John Jr. and his siblings are the most socially and technologically advanced of the native populations in the ASA system.”
“I don’t think you have an adequate understanding of their abilities,” Carter added. “When I first met John Jr. and the others, they were essentially children. I’ve been talking with them every day since then and their intelligence has grown almost exponentially. I realized, maybe only a week ago, that they had already surpassed human intelligence potential and were having to think about how to explain things to me in ways I could understand. I had been their teacher. They became my teachers. They’re well beyond that now and I don’t think they’re anywhere near reaching their potential.”
Carter pointed at the viewscreen that was displaying the communication device sitting on the sand of Weifli Island. “Building that thing was child’s play for John Jr. We gave them the tools less than 12 hours before that thing landed. At this moment, my godchildren are gathering all the orbital debris over ASA 4 and helping us build the defensive installation that Krank designed. Before that installation is complete, they will have built more than 60% of it. And we don’t just have Star Fleet personnel working on Fortress Escort, we have a lot of engineers from Nakamura Enterprises, some of the best engineers humanity has to offer. They’re going to end up learning new problem solving techniques from John Jr., Steph Jr. and the others.”
Commodore Yui took a few moments to digest this information. Then: “Okay Commander. What is your point?”
It was the ferengi consultant who answered. “I think you might have dismissed John Jr.’s concern about first contact with the gorians. When he made his observation, he was already several times smarter than you, me and any two other people on this ship together. That intelligence has at least doubled since then. The godchildren communicate telepathically, sharing their problem analysis and resolution at speeds well beyond anyone on either of our ships.”
“Commodore,” said Commander Rhonda Carter. “We came to this place debating among ourselves how much protection we owe to my godchildren. We were debating how much assistance we should provide for them. How long we were obligated to put our lives on the line for them.”
Carter paused dramatically, then: “Now they’re having those debates about how much effort they should put into assisting and protecting us.”
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