CHAPTER FIVE
McCoy, Spock, Natalia, and Juan sat together in the same room, looking at no one, or anything, specific. Occasionally McCoy or Natalia were looking at Tammas as he rested in his bed. He continued to sleep deeply, his vitals all normal.
“When will he be going to Vulcan?” Juan asked, finally saying the unspoken.
“Aren’t we risking his being discovered if you take him away from here?” Natalia protested.
“Because he has been publishing music and stories, keeping him a secret is no longer an option,” McCoy said. “Misdirection is the new game.”
“I really feel I should take him,” Juan said.
“No, I will go,” Natalia said, though she knew she couldn’t go. And not because of her research.
“You have to stay here with Jovet,” Juan said.
“Then we’ll all go,” Natalia insisted.
“Spock?” McCoy asked quietly.
“I believe you are right, Doctor,” Spock said.
McCoy did a double take. “Excuse me?”
“I believe Tammas is more human than Vulcan. It would best serve him to find a more human approach to his mental and emotional needs,” Spock said.
“I did it,” McCoy said. “I finally lived long enough to hear you say the words, you were right.”
“I’ve told you that on a number occasions, Doctor,” Spock pointed out. “You were just too eager for an emotional response to hear the actual words. Vulcan is not the best place for Tammas at this time. But since he will need a psychiatrist who is endowed with telepathic abilities, I believe your suggestion of taking him to Betazed, where fellow telepaths can help him develop his individuality and psychic boundaries, is his best option.”
“Well, then, I will take him there,” Juan said.
Spock looked to McCoy, suggesting he would defer to his counsel, folded his hands together and brought his fingers to his lips.
McCoy shook his head. “In order for Tammas to develop as an individual, he must be free of the mental and emotional bonds he has created with you.”
“You mean Spock was right?” Juan asked.
“Um, Yes,” McCoy said.
“How can you even say that?!” Natalia demanded. “You asked us to provide him with a stable environment, give him love and security and you would have me just abandon him? Abandon him like everyone else has?”
“I hear that you are emotionally invested in his well being…” McCoy said. “As am I…”
“Emotionally invested?” Natalia shouted. “He’s a part of me!”
Spock lowered his hands. “That is precisely why we must do this and we must do this now. Preferably while he is still asleep. The emotional strain of your current separation will be extremely traumatic, the equivalent of doing a surgical amputation without pain killers.”
“This is outrageous,” Natalia said. “I don’t believe in all this mysticism. Uncle Bones, please.”
“Natalia,” McCoy said. “I came to you because I knew you had the strength to deal with a child that had challenges. His challenges have exceeded either of our abilities to cope with. I need you to let go. Just as I have to let go. This is when I need you to be rational and consider his greater well fare.”
“If it’s any consolation,” Spock said. “Your bond with him will never be completely broken. When it comes to psychic bonds, time and space are not limiting factors. There will be times when you mutually think of each other, or be reminded of something, and in this manner, your minds will have connected and shared the love you mutually share. You will be able to correspond with him, and, in time, eventually you can be reunited. But for now, it is necessary to sever your ties with him.”
“I’m sorry, Natalia,” McCoy said. “I must be getting old to have blundered so badly.”
Natalia stood, walked over to Tammas, and said a quiet good bye. As she left the room, she briefly paused to put a hand on McCoy’s shoulder. She didn’t say anything that might negate McCoy’s feelings of failure, nor did she lash out at him for the pain she was feeling. She simply touched him and then vacated the room. Before the door closed on her, she was sobbing hysterically. Juan stood up.
“I don’t know what to say,” Juan said. “I didn’t know any of this could be so challenging.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Spock said.
“I still feel responsible,” Juan said. “He used my work authorization codes…”
“No one would have imagined he would pull such a stunt, much less be capable of it,” McCoy said. “He was quite clever in covering his tracks.”
“But what kind of demon could have driven him so hard?” Juan asked.
“He wanted to win,” McCoy said. On saying that, McCoy remembered his closest friend, James T Kirk. He looked to Tammas searching for any resemblance. There was no one individual feature that suggested Kirk, or any of his other former companions whose genes Tammas shared for that matter. His skin tone was the beautiful rich color that only comes from a mixture of human races. His genome was truly representative of what humans would look like had humanity never divided themselves among superficial, surface features, like skin pigment and body types.
Juan shook his head. “God speed,” he said, and left with just a passing look at Tammas.
McCoy and Spock sat there in the uncomfortable wake of emotions that comes with difficult decisions, as if he had told the Garcia family that there son was terminal and they had to pull the plug and let him expire. Though it wasn’t as bad, it would feel like that to them, especially given the emotional and psychological bonding that had occurred.
“Well,” McCoy said at last. “Never a dull moment.”
“Indeed,” Spock agreed. “Shall we take a shuttle?”
“After all these years, you still have to ask?” McCoy asked.
“I’ll make the arrangements,” Spock said, stood, and exited the room.
McCoy got up and gave Tammas another once over. Satisfied that there was nothing more he could do, he patted him on the head. “Rest easy, son. Everything tends to work out, one way or the other. And if luck has a genetic component, well then, you’ve certainly been blessed with a lot of luck.”
In many ways, Betazed was very much like Earth. Looking at it through the lens of a camera, a human might not have been able to tell a modern day Betazed city from a modern day Earth city. People going about business, shopping, exchanging information, eating, or just every day normal social gatherings would not seem any different than any gathering of human beings from the untrained eye. Of course, if one observed closely, there were differences. Human communication, as measured by science, is approximately eighty percent body language and twenty percent verbal. On Betazed, verbal and body language was almost non existent, as might be expected in a population of telepaths. Their other senses, sight, smell, and hearing, were equally as good as humans, and, if one were a really good observer, one might notice that in the general population, the greater the distance between two Betazoids the more likely they would use gestures or verbal language to communicate, but up close and personal, those behaviors usually took a back seat. Even the greatest telepaths on Betazoid often used gestures to summon some one at a distance greater than their ability to send or receive telepathy. The only other time they might use gestures was when the other person was a non telepath, as Gart Xerx did when he saw McCoy coming out of the terminal.
McCoy adjusted his eyes to the noonday sun, saw Gart waving, and waved back. McCoy maneuvered around the crowd, with Tammas dragging behind. The boy looked to be sulking, and judging by his gait and facial expression, Gart got a good feel for the severity of the boy’s clinical depression. Up close and personal, it would have been overwhelming had he not been trained to deal with acute mental illness. Some of the telepaths nearby picked up on the depression and chose to give Tammas a wider berth, but none could resist looking at him to try and fathom how someone so young could be so apathetic to living.
Gart Xerx welcomed Admiral McCoy with open arms and a kiss on the cheek. Though he knew McCoy was uncomfortable was such affection, public or private, he knew that he could get away with it. “It is so good to see you again, my friend. Come, come, I have transportation to a restaurant waiting. You know, you just missed Chandra’s wedding by a few days.”
“Chandra got married?” McCoy asked. “I’m getting so old.”
“Nonsense, my friend,” Gart assured him. “Why, your mind is still as strong as I ever remember it… Why, who’s this? Tammas Parkin Arblaster Garcia, is it?”
“Tam,” Tammas corrected. “As in Uncle Tam’s Cabin.”
“You mean Tom?” Gart asked.
“That’s what I said,” Tammas said.
“No, you thought it. It’s hard to hear the distinction when you don’t speak,” Gart said.
Tammas ignored the response and studied the hustling crowd at the spaceport terminal. He returned stares for stare and noticed that his deliberate eye contact often hurried folks along, which only fueled his ideas that he was a monster. His eyes paused on a girl who was not observing him. She was Fleet and wearing the mini skirt option of the uniform. It’s yellow and black patterns reminded him of a bumble bee, her hose was sheer with glitter sparkling in the noon sun.
Gart repeated his request for Tammas to get in the car. Tammas had spent so many years not communicating he was now indifferent to any of Gart’s efforts to engage him. He frowned as McCoy gave a little push towards the vehicle and the woman disappeared from his view. He climbed into the vehicle and slid to the far side, letting his back pack come around to his lap. He held it to his chest like a security blanket, the stuffed ferret’s head sticking through the flap. Gart and McCoy climbed in after him.
“I hear you’re going to be eight years old next week,” Gart said.
Tammas frowned. “In Earth years. On Oran, I’ve got four more months to go.”
“Well, we’ll go by Earth years, then,” Gart said.
Tammas met Gart’s eyes.
“Yes,” Gart said, to the question McCoy couldn’t hear. “I’m speaking to you with my voice, as well as communicating with you telepathically. Can you hear the difference?”
“I don’t understand the game,” Tammas said.
To Gart, even Tammas’ thoughts were monotone, but he couldn’t help chuckling at Tam’s remark and how dry it sounded. “I think I can help you with that. How would you like to celebrate your birthday on Betazed?”
“Why would I want to do that? Not only was I born in the past, I wasn’t born on this planet. If there was a celebration, it was done along time ago, on another planet far away from here,” Tammas thought.
“I see someone has been hanging out with Vulcans,” Gart said, chuckling. “If I’m not mistaken, it is a human custom to celebrate the anniversary of each person’s birth. Did you not celebrate any of your birthdays while with the Garcia family?”
“Oh,” Tammas thought. “They played a game that I didn’t participate in. Besides, it’s illogical for you to ask me if I would like to celebrate it on Betazed, seeing how I have no choice in the matter.”
Gart smiled. “He seems well adjusted to me,” Gart said, turning to McCoy. “Driver, take us to Metsuine. Even if I weren’t telepathic I could tell you are both starving and you will love the food there.”
The driver of the electric car that was to take them from the spaceport to down town was obviously a robot of some sort, but Tammas wasn’t interested in its thin frame, or the animated face as it accepted instructions. Tammas closed his eyes and leaned back, not allowing himself the luxury of looking out the window. They could force him to come here, but they weren’t going to force him to like it.
“You really should look at the scenery, Tammas. We take pride in our landscaping. The architecture of our buildings contributes to the ecology of the local terrain. Telepathic races prefer to live in harmony with nature,” Gart explained to him. “It wouldn’t make much sense to destroy the environment that nurtured your species and allowed it to evolve, now would it? Besides, being surrounded by nature enhances our moods and helps lay down a foundation for healthier lives.”
“According to Spock, Tam’s telepathic abilities are limited to people he has had physical contact with,” McCoy said.
Gart nodded. “I’ve already assessed his abilities and determined he is an extremely sensitive empath. I can sense that he has bonds, but I am unable to determine the numbers. At the moment, he’s relying heavily on you for emotional assurance that he’s safe. Don’t worry. I am confident I can help him develop appropriate boundaries. I suspect I will have him talking like a normal human child in a couple of weeks. With in reason.”
“Within reason?” McCoy asked.
“Most of his bonds have been with adults,” Gart said. “Though he clearly still has thought processes that have child like qualities, his thought patterns emulate adult thinking. It’s what you might expect of a child raised strictly around scientist without other kids to play with. Being bonded to adults has also influenced his physiology. For example, because the adults he has bonds with are and have been sexual, he has started puberty much earlier than he probably would have had he not been telepathic.”
“You’ll have to treat him as if he were abused?” McCoy asked.
“I don’t think so,” Gart said. “All of his bond mates, if you will, seem to have had reasonably healthy attitudes towards sex, so I wouldn’t compare him to a child abuse case. He was not the target of any sexual aggression. He was just more aware of sexual thoughts and emotions than a non-telepath would be. We see this particular issue a lot on Betazed. Most Betazoid kids simply ignore the adult thoughts until the onset of puberty, and then we deal with their curiosity relative to the child’s temperament. Of course, given Tam’s obsessive compulsive tendencies, had he fully entered puberty around adults without establishing better boundaries he would certainly have had some difficulties ahead of him.”
“I guess we came to the right place,” McCoy said.
“Absolutely. It seems he has experienced some trauma” Gart went on. “I’m guessing he witnessed the death of his parents and it was violent? But the most intriguing mental aberration deals with something pre-natal, which I don’t understand. There was a definite event which has affected the physical structure of the brain.”
“He has more developed neural pathways than someone his age might have,” McCoy said. “But I saw nothing in his brain scans that might suggest abnormalities.”
“It’s not an abnormality and it wouldn’t show up on a scan,” Gart said. “I can see it because I can feel the way the energy moves though his brain. And I’ve never felt this in a human that was socially functional.”
“What do you mean?” McCoy said.
Gart thought for a moment. “Are you familiar with the species Medusans?”
“Yes,” McCoy said, reminiscing. Every human who had ever seen a Medusan had gone completely and irreversibly mad. “I met Ambassador Kolios, ages ago, and he was accompanied by Doctor Miranda Jones. She was the psychologist who established the first successful telepathic bonds with a Medusan. She had avoided insanity due to her blindness.”
“I’ve read some of her work. Anyway, I attempted counseling humans who have had such an encounter in an attempt to cure their insanity,” Gart said. “That’s the sort of impression I get when I watch the energy flow through Tam’s mind.”
“He’s not insane,” McCoy said more than asked.
“No, he’s clearly not insane, but one could say that his predilection towards genius is a manifestation of that prenatal event,” Gart said. “I’ve been observing a number of recurring thoughts and patterns, which is part of his OCD. Based on this encounter, and his medical profile you sent me, I highly recommend he be fitted for an implant to help alleviate some of these symptoms of anxiety and depression, as well as control for the compulsive behavior and attention deficit disorder. The implants will help monitor more closely his glutamate, serotonin, and gamma-aminobutric acid levels, and add neurotransmitters when deficient.”
“I was afraid you were going to recommend that,” McCoy said. “It’s not the first time this treatment has been suggested.”
“It’s not a bad thing, Doctor,” Gart said. “With this implant, we can rely totally on counseling and biofeedback technologies and not be limited to psychotropic drugs. The device will only increase deficient levels of natural neurotransmitters and only under the guidance of a Doctor.”
“I know,” McCoy said. “I’ll authorize the procedure.”
“Can you share with me what happened to him?” Gart asked.
“Can you keep a secret from other telepaths?” McCoy said.
“Of course,” Gart said.
“Alright then, you have permission to read my mind,” McCoy said. He began thinking about Tammas and what he understood the Kelvan mind impression technique was like and what the expected results were supposed to be and what the actual results were. Gart now had enough information to understand. And, just for extra, McCoy shared his experiences with the Kelvans, from when he first met them to now. He also shared how Tammas is biologically speaking, McCoy’s offspring.
“So, though he may look human,” Gart said. “Thanks to this imprinting, he is in actuality a Kelvan. I have never met a Kelvan. I wonder if the imprint was a hundred percent affective or only partial. Well, we’re here. Let’s put this aside and enjoy our meal. You will be staying as my guest for a few days, right?”
“I would like that,” McCoy said. “If it won’t interrupt Tam’s progress.”
“He’s halfway cured,” Gart promised.