Answering a Call For Help

“How did you get in here ?” Doctor Hancock demanded as he walked into the medical centre where Rahel and Karissa were still lying unconscious.

They had been in their present state for seven days now and all efforts to revive them or break the telepathic link between them had proved fruitless. Now a strange man had appeared in the room and it wasn’t until he turned to face Will that he noticed just how young the intruder was.

“Doctor Hancock.” The young man stated.

Will was shocked, he’d never met this person before but somehow he knew exactly who Will was. Will nodded and moved closer to check on first Karissa and then Rahel, both were fine.

“Are you going to answer my question ?” Will asked, now standing between this intruder and the girls. “Or do I have to call Security and have you taken out of here by force.”

“I’m sorry Doctor.” The intruder apologised. “My name is Zack Dare, Lieutenant Zack Dare and I came to see how Rahel and Karissa were doing.”

“You’re Zack !” Will exclaimed.

He remembered the conversation he’d had with Logan McQueen about Zack, how he was somehow related to Rahel and most likely given the recent discoveries Karissa and Shara as well.

“What are you doing here ?” Will asked. “Did Logan contact you ?”

“ Logan…..” Zack said. “….Logan’s here !.”

“Not at the moment……he’s gone to Earth on some personal business.” Will replied. “But he’s now stationed on Serenity as the Chief of Security for the Lake Town district. Rahel’s the CMO for Lake Town. So did Logan manage to find you ?”

“No.” Zack replied. “I heard Karissa and Rahel’s call for help. I got on the first ship I could find and now I am here.”

“Call for help !” Will exclaimed. “How ?”

“There are many things that even I don’t understand.” Zack explained. “Like the fact that I was adopted by my own mother, but I have no memory of my time with her before I was adopted. I was eighteen months old when she came back for me and I was just turned on when the lab was destroyed. I should have some memory of my mother, if only the imprinting of her face.”

“That is strange.” Will said. “Usually a child will imprint on the faces of those around him within a few months.”

“I’ve tried everything, but it’s as if the memories have been totally erased.” Zack continued. “What I do have is a telepathic ability that spans the galaxy. I heard Rahel and Karissa call out as one, two voices calling to me for help.”

“So can you help them ?” Will asked. “Can you break the link between them ?”

“I don’t know.” Zack admitted. “I can’t hear them now, I can’t even feel their presence. It’s as if they have been locked in somehow……in another place.”

Suddenly Zack stopped and appeared to be puzzled. As Zack remained silent, Will realised that something was amiss.

“What’s wrong ?” He asked. “Have you made contact with Karissa and Rahel ?”

“No.” Zack admitted. “But I’m sensing another presence, very near.”

Just then Shara arrived in the room, coming to the medical centre as she did every morning to check on the girls. As she stepped inside and noticed the stranger with Will, she stopped in her tracks.

“Hello Shara.” Will said as he turned to see who had entered the room. “We’ve got a visitor. Shara this is ……”

“Zack.” Shara said finishing off Will’s sentence. She had no idea how she knew the name of the stranger, but somehow she did.

“Hello.” Zack said, staring at Shara as if he was examining her.

Shara couldn’t explain the feelings she was having, but she felt as if her entire body was being examined atom by atom. Finally the feeling subsided and Shara relaxed once more, moving closer to the beds.

“Your abilities are limited.” Zack remarked.

“I’m sorry !” Shara replied. “What do you mean ?”

“Your abilities…they are limited.” Zack restated. “You were not created in the Genitec labs like Rahel and Karissa, you don’t have all the abilities they have. You have their strength, their superior logic, but your telepathic abilities are limited. Have you never found it strange that both Rahel and Karissa went into the medical field, helping others in their own ways, whilst you went into Security. You’re a fighter Shara, whilst Rahel is a Doctor healing wounds and Karissa is a councillor healing minds.”

“I’d never thought of it like that.” Shara admitted. “I’ve always been a fighter, first against my uncle who treated me so bad, then at the Academy and now as a Starfleet officer.”

“Tell me do you remember your parents ?” Zack asked.

“Yes …..and no.” Shara replied. “I don’t remember much about them first hand, but I thought until recently that at least what my Uncle told me about them was true.”

“Would you like to know the truth ?” Zack asked. “I won’t lie to you, some of what you might discover could be painful.”

“I….I’d like to know the truth. “Shara admitted.

“Let’s sit down.” Zack suggested.

They moved across to room to a pair of chairs and sat down opposite each other.

“Take my hands.” Zack said.

Shara reached out her hands and held onto Zack’s.

“Now relax.” Zack suggested. “I’ll do all the work.”

Shara took a deep breath and closed her eyes, Zack did the same.

An hour passed before either of them realised something had happened. As Shara opened her eyes, she looked up at the bright lights of the medical bay. She rose up into a prone position and realised that she had been lying on a bio-bed. She looked over and saw Karissa and Rahel on the opposite side of the room, then Will standing over the fourth bed where Zack was lying unconscious.

“What happened ?” Shara asked, grabbing the attention of Will.

“I have no idea.” Will answered. “You were in some kind of mental link, from the scans I took it was similar to the state Karissa and Rahel are in now. After about five minutes, Zack broke the link and you both collapsed, you’ve been unconscious every since.”

“But I’m awake now.” Shara stated. “So why isn’t Zack ?.”

Suddenly a flash of memory hit Shara like a tidal wave. She reeled from the mental pain. By the time Will had moved across to her and scanned he head with a tricorder the pain was subsiding.

“Are you feeling OK.” Will asked.

“I remember.” Shara replied. “I remember everything…….”