<\/p>\n
Prospero:<\/i><\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 –Shakespeare, The Tempest<\/b>, act 5, scene 1 <\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I\u2019m somewhere else, though still pressed close against Jim.<\/p>\n My body doesn\u2019t seem to want to detach from his.<\/p>\n I was detached though, passed off like a hot potato to the doctor, who steadied me on my feet as everything around us bucked and reeled, lights flashing, alarms sounding.<\/p>\n Shit.\u00a0 Wherever they\u2019d brought me, I was pretty sure I wasn\u2019t going to like it.<\/p>\n Lightheaded and woozy, I saw Jim go running out of whatever little room we were in.\u00a0 The doc\u2019s arm around my waist pulled me in the same direction, out into some weirdly curving hall.\u00a0 I felt like I was in some nightmare carnival funhouse, and I was pretty sure I was going to throw up.\u00a0 Another huge jolt slammed him against me, the two of us against a wall, hard enough to rattle my teeth.<\/p>\n Then, stillness.\u00a0 The sirens went silent.\u00a0 I could actually hear Dr. McCoy\u2019s breath release, feel it, hot on my face.\u00a0 In the sudden calm, his arm, still tight around me, no longer served any steadying function; it suddenly felt intimate instead of supportive, and he withdrew it, awkwardly.\u00a0 Instead, he took me more formally by the arm as he guided me through the funhouse hallways to what he called \u2018sickbay\u2019.<\/p>\n There, I lay down on a stark-looking but comfortable exam table.\u00a0 There was a panel on the wall above where I lay, which started flashing a display the moment my backside made contact with the table.\u00a0\u00a0 Dr. McCoy patted my arm again, with that reassuring smile, while a nurse on my other side rubbed my wrist.\u00a0 I thought maybe she was taking my pulse; I wasn\u2019t paying that much attention to her.\u00a0 It just felt kind of nice; comforting.\u00a0 But when I asked the doctor if he was going to do the transfusion, he told me the nurse had already completed it.\u00a0 I turned my head and saw the nurse was withdrawing something that looked like a small suction cup from the underside of my forearm.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t feel a thing. Was that it?\u00a0 No needles?\u00a0 Shit, where were they when Bob was struggling through all those transfusions?\u00a0 All those damned IV ports, his veins shutting down, insertion sites getting infected.<\/p>\n Get a grip, Hani. \u00a0Get a grip.<\/i><\/p>\n But now I realized I did feel better.\u00a0 I sat up and they gave me something to drink that tasted like tea, but was thicker, more viscous.\u00a0 I drank it, thinking for some reason about Alice through the Looking Glass, and that \u201cDrink Me\u201d sign.\u00a0 Whatever it was, it perked me up instantly; physically, at least.<\/p>\n Dr. McCoy looked pleased with himself.\u00a0 \u201cCome on, let me show you something.\u201d\u00a0 And I followed him again \u2013 more steadily this time \u2013 down more curved hallways, up another elevator, which opened into a large, circular room.<\/p>\n I had a quick impression of workstations all around the edges of this area, blinking lights, a sense of people doing purposeful things, but my eyes were instantly riveted to the scene straight ahead, through a vast window.<\/p>\n Stars.<\/p>\n We were traveling through stars.\u00a0 Space.<\/p>\n \u00a0Ho-ly shit.<\/i><\/p>\n I stumbled down a step or two to stand in front of the wide window; I felt my mouth gaping open like an idiot, but I couldn\u2019t quite close my lips together.\u00a0 I was utterly dazzled.\u00a0 Amazed.<\/p>\n \u00a0It was all real.<\/i><\/p>\n I don\u2019t think I actually believed any of this until now.<\/p>\n Really.\u00a0 Holy shit.<\/p>\n I turned to look at Dr. McCoy.\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t even seen Jim standing there beside him.\u00a0 Jim had thrown on his own uniform coat, though he obviously hadn\u2019t had a chance to fasten it all the way; it gaped open at the neck.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think I\u2019d quite believed Jim, either, up until now. \u00a0I\u2019d met too many Washington bigwigs with that same air of natural authority, too few of whom had the goods to back it up.<\/p>\n But now, there was something about how he wore that sharp red jacket, and more, something about the whole aura of this room; you could feel the deference.\u00a0 Feel the trust.<\/p>\n Had I really not realized I was coming onto a military vessel?\u00a0 Is that what they called it?\u00a0 Geez, I didn\u2019t know anything about ships, space- or otherwise.\u00a0 Not even boats.\u00a0 I\u2019d only been sailing twice in my life.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know my starboard from my Starbucks.<\/p>\n I checked an impulse to throw my arms around Jim, some \u201cHey! We made it!\u201d <\/i>hug, celebratory, conspiratorial; the kind of hug everyone tosses around in the South, whether you want hugging or not.\u00a0 I\u2019d thought of him as a pal, a buddy, a literal partner in crime, really.\u00a0 Now I caught myself, stupidly shuffling my feet to cover for that awkwardly aborted move.<\/p>\n I was getting the whole vibe of a hierarchy.\u00a0 Yeah, here was Mr. Spock, too, off to the side, busy waving his Vulcan hands over some screen again.\u00a0 Even though they were smiling at my amazement \u2013 I felt everyone\u2019s eyes on me \u2013 they were definitely in work mode.\u00a0 Not exactly \u2018Hani\u2019s Excellent Adventure\u2019 here.<\/p>\n So. No hugs.\u00a0 Get a grip, Hani.\u00a0 Welcome to Wonderland.<\/i><\/p>\n Instead I looked back at the broad window again, now realizing what I was seeing, and what I wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere are we?\u201d\u00a0 I asked.\u00a0 \u201cWhere\u2019s Earth?\u201d<\/p>\n A brief silence descended like a power outage.\u00a0 I turned again, and it wasn\u2019t just me now, but everyone whose attention was focused on Captain Jim, who looked, for the first time in the 18 or so hours I\u2019d known him, distinctly uncomfortable.<\/p>\n It was Mr. Spock who spoke, as Jim gave him a studied \u201cgo ahead\u201d gesture.\u00a0\u00a0 Uh-oh, I thought.\u00a0 Mr. Spock\u2019s answers always seemed to be more complicated than I expected.\u00a0 Or wanted.\u00a0 And yeah, while every ounce of me craved some neat and tidy reassurances, the day was definitely not turning out like that.<\/p>\n \u201cWe returned here at precisely the same time we left, according to ship\u2019s records,\u201d said the Vulcan with his usual logical manner.\u00a0 \u201cHowever, it seems our re-appearance into this time line, and presumably the shifts sparked by our manipulation of events in your former time, caused the anomaly to collapse on itself.\u00a0 That was the cause of the turbulence we experienced as we beamed aboard.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are thus precisely when<\/i> we were.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it also appears that a collateral space\/time rift was created by the collapse, which has caused the ship to be spatially\u2026 displaced.\u201d<\/p>\n He turned to Jim for the next part.\u00a0 \u201cI am in the process of verifying our present location, Admiral.\u00a0 We appear to be somewhere near the border of the Beta Quadrant, but how far from Earth, we haven\u2019t yet determined.\u00a0 Our presence in the anomaly has slightly affected the power core, thus all instruments are slightly out of adjustment.\u00a0 As soon as Mr. Scott can re-set power core frequencies, I shall attempt to get an accurate reading.\u201d<\/p>\n Jim \u2013 okay, I\u2019m thinking I should call him Captain Kirk, now, but I just can\u2019t quite pull it off \u2013 was already responding with impressive crispness.<\/p>\n \u201cI want those readings ASAP.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to have to explain all of this, but not until we\u2019ve got our ducks in a row.\u00a0 Can you contact Starfleet, Lieutenant?\u201d<\/p>\n Uhura, now uniformed like the others, had slipped into a seat behind the Captain and taken up an earpiece.\u00a0 She flashed me a quick smile before responding.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m unable to establish communications, Captain.\u00a0 Wherever we are, we appear to be beyond normal communications range.\u00a0 Once Mr. Scott has reset the frequencies, I can try to patch something through.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTell Mr. Scott I want a status update in five minutes.\u201d\u00a0 Jim circled the captain\u2019s chair impatiently but managed not to snap at anyone.<\/p>\n I was standing through all this conversation \u2013 which I reconstruct for my reader, as at the time I was only following a fraction of it \u2013 my mind screaming questions, feeling confused and oddly extraneous to all the goings-on.<\/p>\n Part of me was still buzzed.\u00a0 I wondered if that weird transporter thing had done something to my body, maybe not put me back together quite the way I was before.\u00a0 Looking back at that window again, with stars silently flowing by us, I could hardly contain an excitement, a sense of inevitability<\/i> that threatened to overwhelm me with wonder.<\/p>\n Then again, the thrill was interrupted by a little stab of something else.\u00a0 I\u2019d trusted my life to these guys, and so far so good, yeah, but now what?\u00a0 I was really here \u2013 wherever \u2018here\u2019 was \u2013 but now there was this little matter of being a stranger in a very strange land.\u00a0 Everyone but me in a uniform.\u00a0 Everyone but me having a job to do.<\/p>\n What had I thought?\u00a0 That we\u2019d all just be hanging together?\u00a0 That life would be just one endless string of adventures with tidy and dramatic episodic endings, like some \u201860\u2019s TV series?<\/p>\n Jim\u2019s next words kind of fed both those emotions.<\/p>\n \u201cAh, Hanalie.\u00a0 I\u2019m sorry.\u00a0 I know you have more questions, and I promise we\u2019ll get to them.\u00a0 But for now,\u201d he waved to a fresh-faced kid at one of the consoles, \u201cEnsign, would you escort Ms. Surat to the quartermaster?\u00a0 She\u2019ll need\u2026 well, Wovaki will know what she needs.\u00a0 And tell Wovaki main guest quarters, please.\u201d<\/p>\n He turned back to me, but I could feel his attention already off in another direction.\u00a0 \u201cOur quartermaster will get you settled, show you to your quarters, get you some fresh clothes.\u201d\u00a0 Though they\u2019d meticulously washed the blood off my hands in sickbay, I was still wearing the bloodstained jacket from\u2026 before.<\/p>\n \u201cTake a little while to decompress.\u00a0 We\u2019ll call you as soon as we\u2019re caught up here.\u201d\u00a0 I moved to follow the skinny young man, whose fitted uniform only made him look more like the kid he obviously was, all the while feeling like I was being cast adrift in some epic and unnerving way.<\/p>\n Doctor McCoy smiled benignly.\u00a0 Jim \u2013 dammit, Hani, it’s Captain Kirk<\/em> –\u00a0 was already conferring with the two crewmen who sat at some kind of control deck in front of what was clearly his chair, but then he turned back to where we were stepping into the elevator.\u00a0 \u201cOh, and Hanalie, welcome aboard.\u201d<\/p>\n Again, that mischievous grin.\u00a0 And I swear he winked<\/i> at me, which did nothing to ease my general disorientation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n < previous\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 next ><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" < previous\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 next > Miranda: O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world That has such people in’t! Prospero: ‘Tis new to thee. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 –Shakespeare, … Continue reading ![\"300px-The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17\"](\"https:\/\/hanilives.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/300px-The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>Miranda:<\/i><\/strong>
\nO wonder!
\nHow many goodly creatures are there here!
\nHow beauteous mankind is! O brave new world
\nThat has such people in’t!<\/i><\/p>\n
\n‘Tis new to thee.<\/i><\/p>\n