Chapter Text
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 1: Eye of the Beholder
Scene 33: Asylum
1.33
Asylum
“I knew your secret the moment I met you.” Captain Skip Howard was meeting with Captain Yui Song and Project Director Pel in Yui Song’s ready room following Pel’s return to the U.S.S. Mako.
“How did you know?” asked Pel.
“One old girl to another,” Howard said. “I have an instinct for when I’m being lied to. And your entire life is a lie. Don’t worry, I won’t expose you here, although Song will probably figure it out in time.”
Captain Yui looked quite annoyed, but kept her silence.
Pel was clearly ashen. The tiny ferengi took a deep breath. “I am here to formally request asylum, and safe passage to your first port of call outside of ferengi space.”
Yui answered with a single word: “Why?”
Pel seemed to deflate - making him seem even smaller than usual. He sighed. “There is a political movement among ferengi females, seeking increased rights. Clothing. Managing capital. Business ownership. Honored Mother - that’s what the movement is called. But there’s a splinter group, an apocalyptic religious cult that wants to restore the ancient matriarchy. Honored Grandmother. They believe our civilization has to fall back to a barbaric state before they can build their utopia. Intelligence says those females on that bird of prey were HG terrorists. They’ve been blamed for a lot of cybercrimes, taking down the exchange. But if they’re behind this…” Pel shuddered. His voice trailed off.
“That still does not explain why the Nagus is sending you into exile,” Yui observed.
Pel had a far away expression. “It has come to light that I facilitated a few business deals for some of the Honored Mothers who have now been identified as members of the Honored Grandmother cult. I made a profit, which has been confiscated. Most of my holdings have been frozen. The Nagus is a good man. If everything settles down in the next five years, he will allow me access to some of my accounts. Maybe someday I’ll even get to go home.”
Yui Song’s expression softened.
Pel took a deep breath and looked up. “So how did you do it? Jump a light year in less than a second to attack that bird of prey? Survive those brain thingies slamming into your bodies?”
“I’d like a few of those answers too, Skip,” Captain Yui added.
“Well, the technology behind those apparent ship movements is classified,” Howard said. “But I suppose you guessed that we had programmed the Puppy’s computer to return to the task force and surrender control to the U.S.S. Escort. We, the trills and a whole bunch of baby beholders were stored in the transporter buffer. Just before we beamed over to the trill ship, we injected ourselves with fungicide. At that point we had no more than an hour to live before that poison killed us too, but it killed the beholders on contact. Which was a good thing.”
Howard removed a grain from the corner of his eye with a lavender polished fingernail. “When they recovered us from the pattern buffer, each one of us had gained 3 to 5 pounds. That's how many of those little eyeballs passed through our EVA suits and right into our bodies. Dr. Uto and his team extracted the fungicide out of us too, but we’re still in for a few weeks of medical treatment to manage the toxic shock - and, in the case of the survivors of Hell’s Engine Room, 2nd and 3rd degree burns. It has not been pleasant.”
“I’ve heard the trills are recovering,” Yui song observed. “So now they can stand trial when they get home.”
“How did you know they would recover?” Pel asked.
“Like I told you,” Howard replied, “They’re trills. Their species co-evolved to share their consciousness with an intelligent parasite - the symbionts. If anyone can recover from infestation by an intelligent parasite, it would be a trill.”
Yui stood up, turned her attention to Pel. “Ensign Peterman will escort you to your quarters, Project Director.”
Pel stood up. “Not Project Director anymore. I’m afraid it’s just Trader Pel, now.” He walked to the door out of the captain’s ready room, turned just before exiting: “Thank you, Captain.”
Skip Howard stood as Pel exited. “Trader Pel,” he echoed.
“More like Agent Pel,” said Yui. “His left ear is a prosthetic. It includes a sophisticated transmitter…”
“Prosthetic ear,” Howard echoed. “You don’t say…”
Yui’s eyes suddenly opened wide. “You… He…” She facepalmed, then shook her head. “Am I blind? Or just that stupid? You knew right away, didn’t you?”
Howard giggled. Then sighed. “Humans tend to think of gender as something fixed. Immutable. Even when the biology of gender fluidity is staring us all right in the face. Our species has a marked deafness toward biology when it tells us something we aren’t ready to hear. And the follies that arise from those misunderstandings are many and not always amusing.” He lightly brushed his eyebrow with a lavender nail. Matched to his eyeshadow.
Yui continued shaking her head. “Well, our next port of call is Deep Space 9. We’re to turn the trills over to representatives from the Federation Tribunal and await our various new assignments. It has been quite the adventure, Skip.”
Skip Howard smiled. “Somehow, I don’t think the adventure is over with just yet.”
The Eye of the Beholder