The Mylar Cat: Star Trek Voyager (Complete)

Star Trek Voyager: The Mylar Cat (Chapter 5)

Tuvok had verbally appraised the doctor of the situation, so he was expecting them.

"Hello again, my young feline friend," beamed the doctor cheerfully picking up a medical tricorder as the three entered sickbay. He turned around to face them and got a glimpse of Aki in his human form for the first time.
He looked astonished.
"Well, you've certainly grown since we last met."

"Hello again, doctor," Aki smiled nervously.

Janeway walked over and patted the bio bed indicating for Aki to sit on it.

Dispite Tuvok's message alerting the doctor to the situation, the doctor seemed completely surprised and fascinated by the cat-boy's appearance as he ran the tricorder sensor over him. The last time he saw Aki, he was Just a little fluffy black and white kitten, now here he was, an almost fully-human boy in his very early teens.

"I've never encountered anyone close to your species before," he said, still scanning, "this is fascinating!" The excitement in his voice glaring, "your DNA is human, yet you also have significant feline DNA as well. Do you have the ability to switch between forms?"

"Sometimes, but not always. It is a bit complicated," replied Aki, doing his best to describe his transformational abilities, "I can only take human form when I am relaxed, nourished and do not sense any danger, like now. But I may instinctively change into my cat form if I become very fearful or sense sudden danger."
Tuvok, the doctor and Janeway all listened curiously, fascinated by Aki's description.
"An extraordinary defensive mechanism," commented the doctor, "I can see it could have many advantages."
"Unfortunately it is not all good, doctor," Aki continued, "transforming has a high price, sometimes a very costly one. It uses a lot of the bodies energy and resources. If the body is tired or lacking nutrients, transforming can be dangerous or even fatal.  My species can, quite literally, die of fright.  On Mylar, when you visited me each day, I wanted more than anything to transform into my human form so we could communicate better, but I just could not do it."
"Because you were so malnourished," asked Janeway.
Aki nodded, "yes, the transformation would have made me very sick or killed me.  It is one of the reasons all my clan stayed in cat form most of the time on Mylar.  Neko can turn human only voluntarily, by intentionally willing it, but it is not the same the other way around. When in our human form, our defensive instincts can automatically and unconsciously transform us to cat form, whether we want it to happen or not. If we are malnourished or even just very tired, an involuntary transformation could be disastrous. It is why we have to think very carefully before transforming into human."

The doctor continued his scans with a look of fascination etched on his face.
Janeway noticed he was taking an unusual amount of time with the scan around Aki's head.
"Is everything alright, doctor?" She asked.

"Yes fine, Aki appears to be in good health and no sign of any harmful pathogens," he replied, his eyes fixed on the tricorder readings, "his nutrition and general health levels have increased significantly since his last checkup."
The doctor looked at Aki, clearly pleased with his findings, "you're making excellent progress and the ship's environment appears fully compatible with your needs, and... I just have to say ..." he paused looking very closely at the cat-boy's big furry ears, a look of absolute fascination still struck on his face, "you have the most remarkable auditory system I've ever encountered, not just visually, but the internal structure is astounding, a work of evolutionary genius. I suspect you must have superb hearing abilities."

He showed the tricorder readings to the captain and Tuvok, "both the human and feline ears are working together in a tandem arrangement and with this conjoined configuration of both ear canals, and with the size and shape of the feline ears, I would surmise Aki's hearing, when in human form, is many times greater than that of a regular cat, which already have significantly better hearing than humans."

Aki smiled on hearing the doctor's enthusiastic words. It made him feel special.  He nodded, confirming the doctor's assertion, "My hearing does seem to be quite good, especially when I am in human form," he commented.  "I can hear your hearts beating, it is one of the ways Neko sense danger, however..." he paused, looking questioningly into the doctor's eyes, "I do not understand why, but I can not hear yours, doctor."

Janeway and Tuvok looked at each other both realising Aki was telling the truth. There was no way he could have known unless he really did have the super-hearing the doctor described.

The doctor was happy to offer an explanation about his holographic nature.

"I must say, I've never had a conversation with a cat before, this is a first for me." The doctor mused humorously, "for the records, do you know the official name of your species?"

Aki nodded, "I am Neko," he replied politely.

"Hmm, that's very interesting and extraordinarily coincidental," chirped the doctor, instantaneously accessing the historical database, "where we come from, back on a planet called Earth, Neko is the Japanese word for cat.  In the 20th and 21st centuries, it was also the name given to a fictional species of character from drawn literary and visual works, known as manga and anime that came from a region once known as Japan.
These Neko, or cat-people characters looked remarkably like you do, in fact, some of them looked exactly like you do, the resemblance is uncanny!" The doctor looked cheerfully fascinated as he explained. "Another extraordinary coincidence is that the name Aki, which means bright autumn, also originated from Japan. I have referenced several instances of these fictitious characters actually having the same name as you, Aki, assuming you are happy to keep being called Aki and you didn't already have a name?"

Janeway suddenly gasped, placing her hand apologetically onto Aki's arm, "I'm sorry, in all the excitement, it didn't occur to me to ask. We've all been calling you Aki, but I hadn't even considered the possibility you may already have a name."

Aki looked at them both, "My birth name is unpronounceable in the human tongue and, in truth, hearing it only makes me feel sad. It reminds me of living in fear all the time.
I really, truly love the name you have chosen for me," he smiled, "Aki is a wonderful name. So I am very happy to keep it and be called, Aki."

"Then I shall use Aki on your medical records, please let me know if you decide on a surname." chirped the doctor. "We're all done here for now, but, for the records, I would very much like to get a more highly detailed spectrographic scan of those ears, if you're willing?"

"For the records, doctor, or for your own curiosity?" Asked Janeway in a lighthearted tone.
The doctor raised an eyebrow, "you know me well, captain. Full disclosure, I would have to say, both. Such a highly defined scan is not generally required, but in this case, there is a certain professional curiosity, an admiration even, of the biology involved here. In short, Aki's ears are exquisitely evolved, there's so much to learn from them and I'd very much like the opportunity to study them further.

"Will it hurt?" Asked Aki nervously.
"Not at all," reassured the doctor. "it'll be just like the scans I did on you just now, just with a different scanning device that takes a longer time, that's all. He pointed to a bio bed on the other side of sick bay, you just lay down for a few minutes and the scanner slowly moves past your head scanning you while you keep still. As a bonus, you'll get to see a highly detailed picture of what your head and ears look like from the inside."

Aki seemed enticed by the doctor's explanation. He nodded and smiled. "I am willing to do it."
"Wonderful," chirped the doctor, "I will need some time to reconfigure the equipment to your physical parameters, so it cannot be done immediately, but if you drop-by sick bay whenever you're available during the next few days, I will be able to carry out the ...."
He suddenly stopped speaking, his expression turning to inquisitiveness as he felt something brushing against and curling around his arm. He looked down to see the end of Aki's tail gently wrapping and twisting around his wrist.
"I think he likes you, doctor," grinned Janeway.
Aki suddenly realised what his tail was doing and it suddenly pulled away, leaving the boy blushing, looking terribly embarrassed.
"I am very sorry! it does that sometimes," he gasped.