Aleexa started to name off the vegetables she brought. Doctor Mora listened intently. Odo didn't miss his mentor's occasional glances towards the front door.
Odo let the whisk sit in the bowl and tapped his combadge. "Odo to Kejal."
"I'm fine, mother." Kejal answered, and Odo's worries eased away.
Doctor Mora jerked his head up. He clasped his chest in visible relief.
Kejal went on, "I just need a little time alone. I'll be back soon. I love you."
A smile touched Odo's lips. "Me too. Where are you?"
"Out by the Bajoran Institute of Science. It's quiet here."
If Odo had blood, it would have run cold. Of all the places Kejal wandered, he had to go there. He ignored Doctor Mora's concerned look.
"Don't be too long. It looks like the rain will start again in the next three hours."
"Mother, I'm fine. I'll be back in two hours or less, all right?"
"I'm timing you on that, starting now."
"Tch, really? You're paranoid. Kejal out."
The combadge went silent. Odo tapped it to end the communication and grabbed the whisk again. "Well, now we know he's fine."
"Yes. I'm glad to hear that." Doctor Mora said. His entire demeanor brightened again, as though a weight lifted off his mind. "This smells wonderful already, and it isn't even warm."
He reached for a piece of sliced tomato.
Aleexa tapped his wrist with a wooden spoon. "Ah, ah! No tasting allowed until it's done."
"My apologies, your majesty," Doctor Mora offered a mock bow, chuckling. He seemed to regret it when he hesitated after straightening.
"Are you all right?" asked Odo.
"I'm fine. A twinge, nothing serious. Let's make this soup. Aleexa, how can I help?"
She handed him the knife. "You, young man, can chop this lettuce. Make it nice and fine. It's a soup, not salad."
Odo moved over a step to give Doctor Mora room. He heard the knife clink-clink away on the stone cutting board. Aleexa hummed under her breath while she peeled some sort of onion.
"Phew!" Doctor Mora leaned back.
"Safe to say it's ripe!" Aleexa set it down in a bowl of water.
"Most definitely. Odo, how is the whisking?"
"Smooth." Odo found the whisk moving evenly through the bowl. "Aleexa, is it ready?"
"Hmm...not yet. Keep going. You're almost there. You have mud, and I need something closer to pudding."
"Pudding? Hm." Odo adjusted his grip to stir faster. The noise of it drowned out the sounds Doctor Mora's knife made when it hit the stone cutting board.
"So, you're Kejal's mother..." Aleexa put something else in the bowl of water.
"Mmhmm."
"If you don't mind my asking, how did you, uh...well, those holograms make me wonder how you..."
"Give birth?"
"Yes."
"Ah. It was quite an experience. I decided to give birth the Bajoran way, and I-- "
"I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it myself." Doctor Mora interjected, much to Odo's annoyance. "His morphogenic enzymes saturated his system, and Kejal emerged through the area of lowest density, which happened to be Odo's chest. He oozed out without a struggle. Easy as breathing. Right, Odo?"
Odo bit back a scathing remark. "Yes." He shot Doctor Mora a glare. "The pain was awful at first, but the birth itself was peaceful thanks to Nerys. She helped me relax."
"How sweet." Aleexa nudged Doctor Mora and smiled up at Odo. "How old is he?"
Talking about Kejal cooled Odo's temper. "He'll be thirty years old by mid-spring, but don't let the number or his appearance fool you. He is still a child."
Doctor Mora almost dropped his knife. He captured it again and resumed chopping the lettuce.
"I won't be here to see his birthday," he whispered.
Aleexa covered her mouth. "Oh, sweetie. Is the conversation bothering you?"
"Is it-- no. I'm fine." Doctor Mora wiped at his eyes. "That's a strong onion! Odo, you're lucky you can't smell this thing!"
Odo knew nobody with scent receptors could smell something underwater. Rather than come off as pedantic, he refocused on stirring the contents of his bowl. "Go sit down and rest, Doctor Mora."
"Actually, I think I'll take a shower. It'll get the scent out of my nose." His voice was quivering. "Excuse me."
Aleexa and Odo looked at each other when Doctor Mora nudged between them.
"Should I...?"
"No. He wants to be alone for a few minutes." Odo paused until the shower hissed seconds later. He felt an eerie urge to shiver. He'd seen Doctor Mora shed tears before, but he never saw him actually cry.
"Two months doesn't feel like enough time, does it?"
Odo glanced at Aleexa. "No."
"Well, let's cheer up and get this soup going. The best way to make men happy is to feed 'em." Aleexa peeked into the bowl she gave Odo. "There you go, now it's perfect. Here, let's put this aside and I'll let you chop the onion."
"Of course." Odo set the bowl down. He took the onion out of the water, placed it on the stone cutting board and angrily hacked it in half.
In doing so, he felt shocking pain and realized he'd buried the knife in his thumb.
"Oh!" Aleexa turned on kitchen faucet. She grabbed his hand and moved him towards the sink. "Be still, I'll pull out the knife and put pressure on-- "
"Aleexa, wait." Odo tugged the blade out himself. His inner substance welled up to fill in the wound. He wiggled his thumb. "I'm fine."
She clutched her chest. "Oh my...you don't bleed?"
"I lack most of the body systems present in humanoids. I don't have a heart, therefore, I don't bleed. I can mimic the appearance of blood if I really need to."
"But you breathe."
Odo chuckled in amusement. Solids were so young now. "I imitate breathing, but there is no gas exchange." He resumed his work of cutting up the onion. "I don't really eat, I only appear to. I can't digest food, and I'd rather spare you the disgusting details of what exactly I do with food after I swallow it."
Aleexa collected the onion chunks and sprinkled them into the broth Odo mixed up. She finished slicing the lettuce Doctor Mora left sitting on the counter.
"You're so different from Kejal. I can't help noticing the tension between you and Pol."
"It's a long story. I'm sure he told you all about his experiments. He...did not realize he was causing pain and trauma in the beginning. How could he know a jar of goo was a life form?" Odo flexed his 'wounded' thumb. "It's been a source of pain between both of us for a long time. I prefer not to discuss it further. The memories aren't pleasant for me."
Aleexa squeezed his shoulder. "I'll drop it. Now let's change the subject to where we were before he interrupted you."
Odo smiled a little. "You mean about giving birth?"
"Yeah. That's where we left off." She poured the mixed broth into a large metal pot and added the rest of the ingredients. "I've never spoken with a man who's been through childbirth."
That won a soft laugh from him. "Birth for Changelings isn't dependent on gender...any one of us can do it in the right circumstances. It isn't sexual reproduction, but it is still considered a pregnancy and birth."
"Sooo...how did you give birth?"
"Well, uh, at first I didn't realize I was in labor. I resisted it." Odo shrugged. "I resisted until I was too exhausted to keep doing so, and my body just sort of took over the process. Nerys helped me relax, and the pain virtually disappeared once I did." He pointed out the hotplate controls when he saw her searching for them. "It was strange. The world shrank until I only cared about Nerys, myself and Kejal. I didn't want to talk, I didn't want to move, and I couldn't be bothered to respond to anything happening around me. I was so focused on letting my body prepare itself. The birth simply happened. No effort needed. I just...it was like a long, slow cough and there he was."
Aleexa's eyes softened at his words. "You should see the look on your face right now."
; Odo cocked his head. "Do you have any children, Aleexa?"
"No, I don't. Someday, though, I hope to have at least one." She patted Odo's arm. "You might find that Pol exhibits some of the same behaviors you did during your birth experience."
"Such as...?"
"The withdrawal from everything. He'll take less interest in outside affairs and focus more inward. Issues that used to be important to him fall lower on the priority list."
Again, Odo heard himself chuckle. "Doctor Mora? Withdrawing from his science? I don't know, Aleexa, it was his life for a long time. As for me, I was running a sting operation while I was in labor with Kejal."
"You what?"
"Mmhmm...two straight hours of keeping my body from giving birth while waiting to make an arrest. I'm sure Doctor Mora told you I used to be Chief of Security on Deep Space nine."
"He did." Aleexa giggled. "Was it the Yridians behind the fabric counterfeiting ring? You made that arrest?"
"Yes, I did," Odo said proudly. "And then I gave birth two hours later. Er...is that supposed to bubble?"
"Give it a little stir." Aleexa handed him a wooden spoon. "Hm. Wow, that was quite a news story on Bajor. And, by the way, Pol said you're a grump, but you don't seem all that grumpy to me."
"Hmph." Odo stirred the pot. "It's an image I like to keep up," he added in a less serious tone. "Besides, it's hard to be in a sullen mood around Kejal."
Aleexa swept the unused leftovers off the counter and disposed of them in the replicator. "Odo, I couldn't agree more."
"Oh, but trust me. When Kejal is in a foul mood, it's contagious."
"Some people are like that. Pol said he and Kejal had an argument earlier." Aleexa left the kitchen and approached Doctor Mora's bedroom door. "Pol, sweetie, are you all right in there?"
"Just fine!" Doctor Mora called back. "I'm dressing. Brr, it's chilly!"
"I'll turn up the heat for you. Now keep your nose peeled, you're going to smell soup pretty soon." She adjusted the environmental controls and rejoined Odo in the kitchen. "Odo, you're going to get bored doing that."
Odo tore his eyes off the soup. "Doing what? I'm waiting to see it boil."
"Do you also entertain yourself watching paint dry?"
He arched an eye ridge, "Watching paint dry is quite interesting."
Aleexa snorted. Odo let out a snicker. They were both chuckling by the time Doctor Mora exited his bedroom.
.o
Singing was Kejal's favorite means of self-soothing. No matter his mood, no matter his current state of affairs, he could always count on music to silence the chaos in his mind.
"When you're weary. Feelin' small. When tears are in your eyes...I will dry them all. I'm on your side, oh, when times get rough...and friends just can't be found..."
He stood on the metal bridge between an outdoor restaurant and the Bajoran Institute of Science. The rain stopped for the moment, but the water under the bridge raged.
People didn't come to the restaurant at this hour of the morning. Nobody milled about outside the Science Institute building. Kejal had complete solitude, so he drummed on the railing and sang at the top of his voice. The song was centuries old. An Earth tune performed and re-performed by various people over the years.
Right then, nothing else mattered. All he felt was the music pouring through his very being. He treated it like a stage performance, and nature became his audience.
And for a few minutes, his mind quieted.
"...like a bridge over troubled water, I will ease your mind. Like a bridge over troubled water...I will ease your mind. I will ease your mind...ease your mind!"
He leaned back and put everything he had into the last note. The power of it rang throughout his whole body. He enjoyed the reverb he got from the Institute building.
Slow, subdued applause startled him back into reality. A lone figure sat at a table in the restaurant.
Kejal ducked his head. "I didn't realize someone was here."
The person rose, a tall form mostly concealed by a large, hooded blue and white rain robe.
"I stopped to listen when I heard your voice. I didn't know your race had the capabilities to sing." The person joined Kejal on the bridge. "A logical song choice, given the setting."
Oh. A Vulcan. Wonderful.
"It's my favorite song." Kejal muttered. "I sing it when I'm a mess."
The Vulcan leaned on the railing. His wrinkled old hands gave away his age. "Ah, so your mind is the troubled water."
"Ugh. You can say that again...about six hundred times."
"I see. What troubles you?"
Kejal folded his hands. He sneered. "The man who raised me is dying of Delfeya syndrome. He says the treatments quit working, so he gave up on them. What if there are more? What if something out there can save him? He would rather die than keep fighting."
The Vulcan didn't speak for a long time. Then, he said, "Your mind is torn by the notion of 'what if?'"
"Exactly! What IF? What if someone missed something that could have saved his life? He's Mora Pol, dammit! Men like him can't just die!"
"Doctor Mora Pol?" The Vulcan's voice rose enough to signify he asked a question. "I'm familiar with his work. His achievements are admirable, and his theories are fascinating. I would have liked to meet him while he still worked at the Institute."
"Now do you see why I can't stand it?" Kejal threw a rock into the unsettled water gushing past the bridge. "I should be doing something to cure him instead of sitting around, waiting for him to die."
"Life is full of dualities...what is your name?"
"Kejal."
"Kejal, then. Life is full of dualities. When emotions take over, people have a tendency to let one side of a choice blind them to the other."
"Uh-huh, sure. What would a Vulcan know about emotional choices, hm?" Kejal felt the anguish in him rise. "Well?"
"A lot more than you think," said the man, his tone coming as close to amusement as a Vulcan ever did.
"Yeah, right." Kejal tossed another rock. From the corner of his eye, he saw the Vulcan push his hood back.
"I speak only the truth."
Kejal prepared to give his companion a piece of his mind. When he turned to stare into his eyes, he recognized the wise, craggy features, and his anger collapsed into total embarrassment.
"Oh...I-I'm incredibly sorry. I meant no disrespect to you, sir."
"I know." Ambassador Spock tilted his head and looked down his nose. He wasn't much taller than Kejal, yet his presence made him seem gigantic. His dark eyes were full of emotions that remained tempered like a newly forged sword. "Kejal, if you spend your time chasing an impossible 'what if,' you will miss what already is."
He started to walk away.
After a moment's hesitation, Kejal called after him, "Wait, Ambassador!"
Ambassador Spock glanced over his shoulder.
Kejal could not believe he was doing this. "Can you spare an hour, sir?"
Chapter 7: Unexpected Visitor
Hot showers and new information solved everything.
Mora heard his stomach turn over at the scent of Aleexa's soup. He relished the pleasant smells while he read his PADD.
When the population is in severe decline and a Founder is ill, wounded or otherwise near death, they possess the capability to rejuvenate themselves through literal rebirth. The weakened Founder casts away its mass and injects a portion of itself into a willing parent unit, and there it is carried until its morphogenic enzymes become self sustaining once again, triggering the birth. Founders are reborn carrying their previous knowledge and need only to grow.
There are occasions in which the ailing Founder's memory is wiped, such as the Hundred who were sent out as blank slates to learn of other species. Genetic memory persists. Once the morphogenesis enzymes activate for the first time, this memory comes forth like an instinct. These specially-grown Founders always feel an urge to return to the Great Link where they may share their knowledge. Through them the Founde
rs learn not only the appearance of other solid species, they also discover their customs and the possible threat these races may pose.
The process of conception and birth can, on rare occasions, result in a completely new individual. We learned this when we examined Kejal...
Mora squinted and leaned forward. This was the information that would prove or disprove his theories about Kejal's existence!
In a normal case, a Founder's original genetic material remains intact during such an injection. The one called Kejal is highly unusual. His genetic material suffered massive breakdown after exposure to tetryon radiation, and could not sustain life on the molecular level. A quantum scan of samples taken from Odo and Kejal was able to reconstruct Kejal's conception.
Kejal's broken DNA latched onto Odo's as Odo shifted from a solid to a shape shifter once again. Their genetic material linked forever in that instant, and Odo became Kejal's progenitor. This explains Kejal bearing such resemblance to Odo and the protective instincts Odo displays towards Kejal. A birth such as this has not occurred since their ancient ancestors traveled the universe.
Diagrams came up on the PADD screen. Mora smiled at them and felt his heart beat faster. He was there the moment Kejal conceived himself in Odo's body, and no one had any idea!
Mora knew he could write a paper on this information. It proved the theory he suspected about Kejal ever since he heard about Odo's unusual pregnancy, and it added to the question he mulled over since his diagnosis ten years ago.
What is life?
He looked up and watched Odo pull the dining table out of the wall like the drawer.
"That soup smells delicious," said Mora.
Aleexa beamed. "It's almost done."
"It's making my mouth water."
"Don't drool on your PADD," she replied playfully.
"I won't." Mora helped himself up with the grab poles. It felt good to stretch his legs.
The front door opened just before he reached the kitchen. Kejal stepped in looking much happier than he had when he left.
"Father." Kejal hurried to Mora's side and embraced him. "I'm sorry about earlier."
"Shhh, Kejal, it's all right. This is an upsetting time for you."
Beginning: A Star Trek Novel (New Frontier Reloaded Book 2) Page 9