SYMBOLS

CHAPTER 8

"What is it, Doctor?" Janeway asked, as she entered sickbay.

The Doctor signaled for her to approach his computer terminal and pointed his index finger at the two separate strands of symbols displayed on the screen.

Janeway immediately recognized the semi-helical strands represented DNA, but even she couldn't determine the origin of this unique form.

"It's the child's DNA," the Doctor said, as the captain stared at the screen. "The top line is Anawin DNA, the same as the other young woman's, but the bottom line has definitely been altered from its natural state. Although the strands might at first appear Anawin in origin, if you take a closer look, you'll see there are markers scattered haphazardly throughout the entire base pair sequence. Given enough time, I know I can decipher the original code. I'm already running it through my known DNA databases. But for now, I just wanted you to know there's been a lot of fiddling in the physiology of this child, both genetically and structurally."

The healed, but still unconscious child lay stretched out on the examination table; the Doctor pulled back a section of her long red hair so the captain could see the pale line of scar tissue that disappeared into the child's hairline.

"At some point, I believe she's suffered massive fracturing of the skull. There are minute join lines everywhere as if the shape of her head was remolded. I don't believe this level of scarring could possibly result from a naturally occurring incident, which leads me to conclude it was a necessary part of her transformation."

"Transformation?" Janeway stared back at him, uncertain about his theory.

"Captain, it's my belief someone has gone to great lengths to make sure the child looks Anawin."

"But why would they need to do that?"

"I'm not sure yet. Although I can tell you there's something surprisingly familiar about the underlying bone structure of this child."

The Doctor used the transporter records to create an undamaged duplicate of the child's white sleeveless dress and draping white robe, and gently placed them on her. The little girl then looked almost angelic as her sleeping chest rose and fell with each silent breath.

***

Janeway returned to her Ready Room. According to the chronometer, she still had an hour to go before her recuperation period would be complete.

"Captain's log stardate 54344.3," she began. She outlined the events of the day. Yawning part way through her transcript, she took a sip from her coffee cup. At least the nausea had gone. With her log updated, she changed tack and used the computer terminal on her desk to make a summary report that covered everything she'd learnt about the Anawin culture so far. The list of information was fairly extensive and she looked forward to questioning the young Anawin woman when the Doctor finally got around to waking her.

Her eyes were itchy and her mind ached. She stopped in the middle of her transcript and asked the computer to repeat back the last few words, hoping they would trigger the next sentence. But her mind was blank and she cradled her forehead in her hands, before standing up to walk over to the window. The landscape was filled with rushing stars.

Back in her hometown in Indiana, a blanket of stars like this would only appear at night. Yet on Voyager, it was only late afternoon. She wondered how much longer she'd be able to fight off sleep. For a few minutes, she paced the floor before sitting down on the pale green lounge. The Doctor could talk rest and relaxation all he wanted, but to stay awake she needed something productive to do.