Through a Glass, Darkly

Posted on Wed 6th Dec, 2017 @ 10:38pm by Lieutenant Commander Lanis Dhuro MD & Purulence Addams & Lieutenant Anjohl Gaden MD
Edited on on Sun 10th Dec, 2017 @ 8:09pm

781 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: A Phaser as Deadly as a Candlestick
Location: The Addams House
Timeline: The Witching Hour, Day of the Dead

Previously, on Star Trek: Vanguard:

Chlamydia smiled and closed her eyes. "Sing, oh spirits! Harken, all souls! Every year on this date, we offer a clarion call: from generation to generation, our beacon to the beyond!"

Next, Purulence spoke. "Let us ransom you from the power of the grave. Tonight, oh Death, let us see your shades."

"Spirits within our home, I call to you from the dark. Ceoli couris, ferimani botani ... Come forth and speak!" Ischemia said in her turn. Eyes closed, she gave the final call, "I feel your strength, but if you cannot speak, knock three times!"

And now, the conclusion!

"There are yet clouds in the glass," Chlamydia said calmly. "The spirits have not departed. If you'll all return your concentration, we may proceed." She glanced around the table, smiling slightly as she observed her sister Purulence holding hands with Doctor Graves. It was a start, she thought. "Are there any present who would like to speak directly to the spirits?"

Lanis met Chlamydia's gaze, took a calming breath, and let it out slowly. "I would," he said.

"Speak clearly," Chlamydia answered him. "Even tonight, the veil is thick."

"All right, then," Lanis said under his breath. He inhaled once more, and then spoke toward the crystal ball.

"I...am sending greetings and well wishes to Scott Allen Breaux," Lanis said. "Son, you had a long, hard road, and I'm sorry you had to endure it. I hope you can find peace where you are. May the power you believe in guide and protect you."

Gaden too had things he wanted to ask. He'd not lost all of his skepticism, but he couldn't deny that something was happening, and if this really was what it claimed to be, he wanted to talk with his parents.

Ischemia watched others around the table. They'd come, some mocking silently, some unsure, and few with any belief that spirits would appear. Yet ... one had; now perhaps another, or more than one, would join them. Something inside her relaxed, in familiar territory even so far from home. Maybe there would be news of an Addams, as well.

Also glancing around at those near him, Reon saw that Serena had relaxed slightly, leaving his hand intact, but not letting go. Carlo didn't seem disturbed by what they'd seen so far ... more thoughtful. As for himself, there was a mix of doubt, disbelief and ... was it hope?

Within the glass, the fog roiled. Faces partially formed, and then dissolved, though none present would later agree on exactly what they saw. Familiar features, the arch of a mother's eyebrow, the shape of a grandfather's chin. Strangely, at least four of those present would later say that they saw an object described as a six-slice toaster by one of the restaurateurs. No face fully formed; no message came through.

Chlamydia let out a sigh. She hoped the silence meant that Lieutenant Commander Breaux had moved beyond the near shore; that there was nothing left tying him to the mortal realm. She opened her mouth to speak, but then a face did solidify; a face known to her, a face she had thought belonged yet among the living: her second cousin, Perverto Addams. Again, the face formed first, and then there was a perspective change. He was standing in a confusing space, half nursery, half laboratory. He turned to face the viewers, his lips moving as if he were speaking. He stopped, a look of horror and fear on his face, threw up an arm as if to protect himself, and eroded away in the fashion of a person hit by an energy weapon set to disintegrate.

Suddenly, Chlamydia remembered. She remembered everything. Perverto's death. The genetically engineered children he had created, Project Playground. Harry, and the sixty girls. The frantic rescue mission, the calls to Ischemia to help her hide the children. Her adoption of the child Perverto had used his own genetic material to create, Experiment Number Nine Addams. She remembered being assigned to a starbase, this starbase, and bringing the child with her. She remembered the terrorist attack which led to Nine's apotheosis, along with her sisters and her brother, becoming the Echo continuum. And she remembered the Echos turning back time, changing history, dissolving themselves out of this timeline.

Chlamydia Addams wept silently for the loss of the child she'd never had; the child she'd lost forever.

And then... she forgot again. Her eyes looked into the glass sightlessly, and she wondered why she'd been crying.

"The glass has gone clear," Purulence said. "The spirits have nothing further to communicate on this night."

 

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