Star Trek Voyager: Their Human Errors

Chapter 18

"I'm sure we could arrange for a fully qualified doctor to come and attend to the girl if you wish to return to your ship Miss Seven of Nine." Dr Favor said confidently as he entered the cave, studying its interior with barely disguised disdain as well as academic interest.

Seven didn't look up from where she knelt by her Ventu friend, firmly keeping her back to the man she had quickly categorised as a pompous irrelevance. "That won't be necessary; I have already received precise instructions from Voyager's Doctor." She glanced gratefully over at the complete med kit the Doctor had beamed down for her; they'd decided between them that it might enflame the situation if he joined her. The Ledosians were already displaying possessiveness over the land they had just "reclaimed" and Seven could tell that they wanted her back on Voyager as soon as possible, to let them conduct their "research" in peace.

Favor gave a slight chuckle behind her. "Isn't Voyager's doctor a hologram of some sort? I doubt he can be programmed to deal with the unique physiology of the Ventu..."

Seven bristled at the man's superior tone but skilfully hid her reaction by smoothly picking up a dermal regenerator and inspecting the girl's burns as she replied icily, "The Doctor's programme is ceaselessly adaptive, he managed to reverse my assimilation process. Can your doctors claim such a record?"

She'd caught him. "Well...no, no." He took a deep breath, as if recovering from a blow, "I meant no offence ma'am, I'll leave you to your nursing."

Seven smirked as she heard the man back out of the cave, seeing the Ventu around her visibly relax as his departure and grin at her in approval. "Thank you." She responded with dry politeness before turning the girl's hand in hers and healing the last of her, thankfully superficial, burns.

The girl gave a soft sigh of relief as new, healed skin weaved over the fiery rawness of the burns, but even as she did so she stared at her hands in astonishment before beaming at Seven in amazed delight. Seven normally would have felt a twinge of pity that these people didn't know of such technology, but today she was only relieved, even charmed, by the response. "I have repaired the damage, you will be fine." She told the girl softly, quickly giving an older woman she now knew to be the girl's mother a reassuring glance before beginning to rise from her knees. "I will leave now." She said solemnly, repeating the gesture she'd seen Chakotay use before he left.

The girl's face instantly fell and she plaintively grabbed hold of Seven's arm, holding her back. Seven was about to try to make her point again when the girl's mother began to sign to her quickly, her face understanding but firm. For a moment the girl appeared querulous, but then Seven guessed that her mother must've made a suggestion for the girl suddenly smiled brightly and ran off to the back of the cave. She returned with a large blanket folded over one arm, which she promptly placed directly in Seven's lap, making several signs as she did so.

Seven frowned in concentration as she struggled to interpret what she was being told. "You want me to have this?" she asked, almost entirely disbelieving, as she uncertainly fingered the blanket. It was unsophisticated, there were of course none of the poly-fibres ubiquitous on Voyager, but it was luxuriously soft and thick, deftly hand-woven and delicately edged with amber like beads which caught the light spectacularly. Even as she admired it however, she knew it would be wrong to take it. She wouldn't require a blanket, even one as beautiful as this one, on Voyager and months of works had obviously gone into making it perfect and useful for someone. "Our heating system is fully regulated, you must keep this..." She started to say, carefully sliding the blanket from her lap.

All of the Ventu in sight shook their heads fervently, none more so than the girl herself, who stubbornly pressed the blanket into Seven's hands. A reticent smile passed over Seven's lips and she found her grip on the blanket tightening as she observed the faces around her, a sadness expectedly prickling at her heart. "I will appreciate it and remember you all." She murmured as she stood up, now holding the blanket tight against herself along with the med kit. "Thank you." She added sincerely, signing the word at the same time and watching them say, "You're Welcome" in return before she swiftly tapped her comm. badge. "Voyager, one to beam up."