<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 — Shakespeare, Measure for Measure<\/i><\/p>\n If I must die \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 — Shakespeare, Measure for Measure<\/i><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n I\u2019d never wanted anything more in my life than to see the good ol\u2019 Enterprise <\/i>again.<\/p>\n That wasn\u2019t where our molecules reassembled themselves.<\/p>\n Jim was already giving orders.\u00a0 \u201cBones, Spock, we need to know what happened to the Cassandra\u2019s<\/i> crew, and see if they have any decent medical facilities.\u00a0 And hurry.\u00a0 Sooner or later, the Magna\u2019s going to figure out we didn\u2019t go where she intended.\u201d<\/p>\n The others were already off at a trot, to where a massive ship lay, lodged at a desperate angle, its loading dock gaping open.<\/p>\n The Cassandra<\/i> had plowed a long, deep furrow as it ground to a final resting place on a broad, barren plain.\u00a0 It was more or less in one piece, looking particularly ungainly out of its natural element.\u00a0 An escape pod sat maybe two dozen meters away, having possibly broken free during the violent landing.\u00a0 Other debris littered the area, ominous evidence of the impact.<\/p>\n I was still trying to frame a coherent question when Bones\u2019 voice came floating back toward us, \u201cDear God!\u201d he exclaimed.\u00a0 \u201cSpock, see if you can find some hazmat suits \u2013 we\u2019re going to need them.\u201d<\/p>\n Jim turned back to me.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re okay?\u201d he asked.\u00a0 I nodded, and he pressed on, tersely.\u00a0 \u201cTell me what you learned.\u201d<\/p>\n So I told him, as best I could, part information, part suspicion, part speculation.<\/p>\n \u201cBut you\u2026\u201d I broke off my spiel, \u201cHow do you feel?\u00a0 Any effects of\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d he shook his head dismissively, as if Fate couldn\u2019t touch him.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m fine.\u00a0 Let\u2019s just hope Bones and Spock can come up with more data.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut how did we get\u2026 here?\u201d\u00a0 I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cContingency plans, Hani, always.\u00a0 I arranged several\u2026 options.. with Scotty before we beamed down.\u00a0 Did you notice how agreeable the Magna was to our leaving?\u00a0 You don\u2019t think I was going to go back to the ship without knowing if this disease is communicable, do you?\u201d<\/p>\n Ah.\u00a0 That was what Bones had tried to tell him; what he already understood.\u00a0 \u201cSo can we contact Scotty from here?\u201d I asked hopefully.<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u00a0 But it did buy us some time to solve that problem,\u201d he smiled, not his usual beaming grin, but still heartening.\u00a0 Jim had a reputation for getting out of tight spots.\u00a0 I could only hope this wouldn\u2019t be the episode that ended his lucky streak.\u00a0 He was already working on it, I could tell.\u00a0 He told me to stay put as he jogged off to check out the escape pod.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t too long before a couple of startling figures emerged from the ship, clad in white.\u00a0 Bones and Spock peeled off the bulky headgear of their hazmat suits.\u00a0 The faces that emerged were grave.<\/p>\n \u201cGentlemen?\u00a0 Report, please,\u201d Jim\u2019s impatience was showing.<\/p>\n The two exchanged glances, as they carefully shed the rest of their protective gear, leaving it at a safe distance from us.\u00a0 It was Spock who launched in.\u00a0 \u201cCaptain, it appears that, with a few exceptions, the crew of the Cassandra<\/i> sustained only minor injuries from the crash itself.\u00a0 However, within approximately 20 hours, they were all dead.\u00a0 The ship\u2019s logs indicate that a party of Ardrossian women boarded the ship with emergency supplies, including food and drink.\u00a0 I think we can safely assume that\u2019s how the bio-weapon was delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWas the crew of the Cassandra<\/i> all male?\u00a0 That seems unlikely,\u201d Jim asked.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, not all male, but in the end it didn\u2019t matter,\u201d Bones took over, scowling.\u00a0 \u201cYou have no idea how bad it is in there, how bad it must have been for them.\u00a0 Not a single survivor.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t have time to do a vector analysis, but my best guess is that a only a small number of the crew may have originally been targeted.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe female crew members appear to have been infected only through secondary means.\u00a0 But the men who first ate or drank what they were given, clearly suffered a bio-chemical reaction within hours, causing cellular mutation, which spread from the source point outward through the body.\u00a0 The result is massive failure of all the vital organs.<\/p>\n \u201cEven worse, once it spreads into the endocrine and exocrine systems, it becomes communicable through normal bodily contact, through bodily fluids \u2013 blood, sweat, saliva, tears, urine, semen, discharges of all kinds.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I suspect happened to the women of the crew.\u201d<\/p>\n Bones\u2019 face was drawn; another man might have been in shock from what they\u2019d witnessed.\u00a0 Bones was simply outraged, and I could see his frustration even as he was doing his best to get a handle on this.<\/p>\n He continued, getting more animated as he did,\u00a0 \u201cThe damned brilliant part of it is, it\u2019s not necessary to directly plant the mass in everyone.\u00a0 They just had to seed it in a few people and let it spread. Thank God we didn\u2019t beam back to the ship.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know this much: It\u2019s lethal; lethal and damned fast moving.\u00a0 In an open population, it could potentially spread like any vector-driven disease, like the plague in the Middle Ages, or the Ebola virus in the late 20th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 I hope to God I never have to see again what we saw on that ship.\u00a0 You may have met your match this time, Jim.\u201d<\/p>\n I listened in horrified disbelief as Bones went on.\u00a0 I simply couldn\u2019t take in the possibility that this was something that could really kill them, so quickly, so devastatingly.\u00a0 And yes, here I was, with them in this deserted place, on this strange planet, without any means of escape, so the fear wasn\u2019t only for them.<\/p>\n Bones\u2019 cold voice continued.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that what killed the crew of the Cassandra<\/i> is the same as the bio-mass in the three of us.\u00a0\u00a0 Judging from the fact that I can still isolate it\u2013 isolate, mind you, not completely identify it \u2013 I can assume we\u2019re still have a little time left, though God knows how long.\u00a0 A few hours at best, I\u2019d have to say.\u00a0 Spock\u2019s Vulcan metabolism would normally slow down the effects, but his high body temperature must be nearly cancelling out that advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere must be something you can do, Bones.\u201d Jim demanded.\u00a0 With all you\u2019ve found out, can\u2019t you find some way to\u2026. attack this thing?\u00a0 Counteract it, somehow?\u00a0 Disarm it?\u201d<\/p>\n Bones shook his head, his face almost white with tension.\u00a0 \u201cNot with the resources we have, dammit, and not knowing how long we have.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing on the Cassandra<\/i> that could help us, even if the contamination wasn\u2019t a real issue.\u201d<\/p>\n He paused and I could see his warring emotions.\u00a0 He was still mad as hell with Jim, but his greater compassion was kicking in.\u00a0 Bones\u2019 natural nobility wouldn\u2019t, in the end, let his emotions rule the day.\u00a0 His voice sounded ever so slightly less harsh when he continued.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll tell you one thing Jim, I\u2019ve never seen anything like this, a purposely designed weapon so\u2026 straight out of some cultural prejudice.\u00a0 The Magna is completely insane, but dammit, for what she set out to do, she did it brilliantly.\u00a0 She\u2019s found a way to kill off men whenever she gets the notion, effortlessly, totally cold-bloodedly, through the most direct biologically male path – and any woman within infectious range, too.\u00a0 And apparently she\u2019s created it so that the only possible \u2013 the only possible<\/i> – cure\u2026 is as unacceptable as the disease itself.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a cure<\/i>?\u00a0 What cure?\u201d Jim caught on that word.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you mean, unacceptable?\u00a0 Dammit, Bones, explain yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n It was Spock, instead, who filled the pause.\u00a0 \u201cIt would seem that the Magna has specifically and deliberately created a fatal biological condition for which there is a\u2026 sexual cure.\u00a0 She has, I believe, attempted to achieve the ultimate irony.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy patience is running out, Spock,\u201d Jim snapped.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bio-mass lodges in the testes, the semen.\u00a0 Clearly, this is the Magna\u2019s deliberate design, given her culturally rooted revulsion toward males\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes,\u201d Jim interrupted, quick to connect the dots.\u00a0 \u201cHani thinks they use men for\u2026 procreation only, and then there\u2019s some purification ritual that may or may not involve actual human \u2013 male – sacrifice.\u201d<\/p>\n Spock took in this new information, looking equally thoughtful.\u00a0 \u201cIn which case, the motivation becomes even more powerful.\u00a0 When reinforced by the Magna\u2019s personal emotional wounds, a most potent combination.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut\u2026\u201d Jim frowned.\u00a0 \u201cIf that\u2019s the case, wouldn\u2019t the obvious solution\u2026?\u201d\u00a0 He gave that quick shake of his head, racing ahead of the information.\u00a0 \u201cNo, too easy.\u00a0 She\u2019s smarter than that.\u00a0 What is it, then?\u201d<\/p>\n Bones paused before answering. \u201cThere are physiological differences, you see, certain subtle chemical responses when\u2026 two people are together.\u00a0 This thing, as far as we can read it, is so precisely calibrated \u2013 the science of it is actually amazing, Jim.\u00a0 No one\u2019s done this kind of work.\u00a0 Then again, no one we know of is both this brilliant and this\u2026 deviant.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDeviant according to our own accepted norms, I might point out, Doctor,\u201d Spock added helpfully.\u00a0 Bones scowled at him, but Jim intervened to keep the discussion moving along.<\/p>\n \u201cClock\u2019s ticking, gentlemen.\u00a0 Bones, get to it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Bones focused again, sharp, professional.\u00a0 \u201cObviously, the cure would be to expel the mass, but she\u2019s essentially rigged the game, every way you look at it.\u201d\u00a0 He sighed, all too aware of the implications beneath his clinical terms.\u00a0 \u201cYou don\u2019t want the thing to, well, essentially detonate prematurely.\u00a0 But given its chemical composition, I believe they have allowed for expulsion into the female, a closed, chemically receptive environment.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut what about the woman, then?\u201d Jim asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m still analyzing, as best I can without more resources, but that\u2019s the point, Jim.\u00a0 As far as I can tell, there are just two potential outcomes: the man dies, or he somehow manages to transfer the thing sexually, in which case\u2026 the woman dies.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019d been listening silently to all of this, not quite able to take it in.\u00a0 Now I spoke; partly, I guess, just to work my own way through this impossible tangle.\u00a0 \u201cSo, the Magna has this cultural and personal thing about men.\u00a0 She creates this disease, knowing, I think, that men on her planet wouldn\u2019t have access to a woman anyway.\u00a0 They\u2019re almost totally isolated.\u00a0 And no Ardrossian woman would voluntarily have sex with a man, outside of whatever that procreation ritual is.\u00a0 If he tried it, that would get him killed anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n I thought some more.\u00a0 \u201cBut it\u2019s this complete cultural blindness, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 I saw it, in all those women.\u00a0 They haven\u2019t been exposed to other worlds, they don\u2019t even conceive that others might see things differently.\u00a0 The Magna\u2019s smarter than most, but she\u2019s still coming from the same place.\u00a0 She\u2019s operating entirely from cultural assumptions.\u201d<\/p>\n Spock was the first to follow up, though I saw them all considering this.\u00a0 \u201cSo, theoretically, even the scientific assumptions might contain possible flaws\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t thinking in terms of science.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure I was thinking at all, now.\u00a0 Some other wisdom was taking over.\u00a0 I looked at the three of them; felt myself trembling, the way you do when you\u2019ve just made a life-changing decision, the kind of trembling that happens when your body has to run to catch up with your heart.<\/p>\n It must have been my heart that spoke now.\u00a0 I can\u2019t imagine my brain ever managing it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Magna assumes we\u2019ve gone back to the ship.\u00a0 She\u2019ll assume the Enterprise<\/i> will go the way of the Cassandra<\/i>.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you see, though?\u00a0 The one thing she could never anticipate?\u00a0 The one thing that would be truly inconceivable to her?\u00a0 The one advantage we have?\u201d\u00a0 Three sets of eyes zeroing in, suddenly aware that I wasn\u2019t just babbling out loud.<\/p>\n The words came out of my mouth on their own.\u00a0 I felt them reverberating through my entire body, felt the gravity of them falling into the space between us.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s only one option.\u00a0 If it\u2019s the only one, we have to try it.\u201d<\/p>\n I looked from one to another, not quite ready to think too far into this.\u00a0 I knew what had to happen.\u00a0 That was enough.<\/p>\n \u201cShe assumed you wouldn\u2019t figure out the cure in time, or, even if you did, that you.. couldn\u2019t do anything about it.\u00a0\u00a0 But, don\u2019t you see?\u00a0 That\u2019s where she went wrong.\u201d\u00a0 I took a deep breath and completed the thought.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m here.\u00a0 I\u2019m your cure.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Three faces.\u00a0 Jim\u2019s expression was stunned.\u00a0 Bones looked horrified.\u00a0 Spock, as always, was unreadable, maybe more unreadable than usual.<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d Jim said flatly, instantly.\u00a0 \u201cNo, Hani. Unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n I moved over to him, put a hand on his arm.\u00a0 \u201cNo, Jim, think about it.\u00a0 It\u2019s only\u2026 logical.\u00a0 The Magna would never predict this, never believe a woman would do this.\u201d<\/p>\n I found myself smiling into his frown as I went on. \u00a0\u00a0\u201cLook, I don\u2019t know why I\u2019m here, why I came to be in this life.\u00a0 Maybe this is it.\u00a0 Maybe this is what I came here to do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI won\u2019t allow it, Hani.\u00a0 End of discussion.\u00a0 We\u2019ll find something else, some other option.\u00a0 I won\u2019t trade your life for ours.\u201d<\/p>\n Some reservoir of certainty was propelling me.\u00a0 I heard my own voice, soft but utterly knowing.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not afraid of dying, Jim.\u00a0 I\u2019ve already lived more than most, just in this lifetime.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be back.\u00a0 We\u2019re all just passing through, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n Jim just stared at me, temporarily speechless.\u00a0 I knew that he wasn\u2019t accustomed to arguing the fine points of philosophy.<\/p>\n Spock, though, was.\u00a0 \u201cReincarnation,\u201d he nodded thoughtfully.\u00a0 \u201cA fascinating argument in favor of an ethical choice.\u201d<\/p>\n In the silence, we all seemed to realize at the same time Bones\u2019 failure to weigh in.\u00a0 That uncharacteristic silence was enough for us all to look in his direction. \u00a0He was busy again with his data.\u00a0 He stared at his screen for so long, Jim finally prodded him.<\/p>\n \u201cBones?\u00a0 What is it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDamnation,\u201d Bones muttered.\u00a0 It took him a long time to speak further.\u00a0 Finally he said, \u201cYou want the good news or the bad?\u00a0 Though frankly, I don\u2019t have a clue in hell which is which.\u201d<\/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\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 next ><\/a><\/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\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 next > What’s yet in this, That bears the name of life? Yet in this life Lie hid more thousand deaths: yet death we fear, That makes these odds all even. \u00a0 \u00a0 … 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>What’s yet in this,
\nThat bears the name of life? Yet in this life
\nLie hid more thousand deaths: yet death we fear,
\nThat makes these odds all even. <\/i><\/p>\n
\nI will encounter darkness as a bride,
\nAnd hug it in mine arms. <\/i><\/p>\n