Chris sat cross-legged on the floor of the meditation room in T’Pau’s home. She’d offered it when she discovered that Sentinels and Guides meditated regularly. It had fascinated her, which had amused Chris.
Two days later, Chris and Len were waiting to beam aboard the Vulcan ship. The Khio’ri-Tor—the Star Traveler—was T’Pau’s personal ship. According to Commander Spock, his great-aunt would, from time to time, travel to places she’d heard mentioned or read about in her extensive library. Just to see it in person.
The conversation with Chris’ family went on until dawn. They’d all had questions, but none of them appeared to be upset about the danger Chris had brought into their lives. They were all more worried about the impact of the situation on Chris and Len and their new bond.
True to her word, they spent more than 24 hours wrapped up in each other. When they finally emerged, Chris’ siblings had arrived, and Charlie and Helena were giving them fond, knowing looks. It was freaking Len out to be read so easily by people who didn’t have advanced senses, but she reasoned that they knew Chris so well that his walking around on cloud nine was notable.
After dinner, Martin and Gallatin took their leave, and Chris and Len retreated to the living room, where they settled on the couch in front of a roaring fire. It was nice, and not something Len had much experience with, having grown up in Atlanta. Most houses had fireplaces, but they were mostly there for show because the climate was warmer, so the need for extra heating was lower.
Chris settled into the chair behind his father’s desk, feeling a little awkward and out of place with the fresh perspective it gave him. Not just about all the times he’d sat there as his father lectured him or grilled him over some minute detail he’d gotten wrong on an exam, but also, just the odd feeling of being the head of the family and the weight of it that his father carried with ease.
After Helena’s check-in, Chris decided to go beard the lion in his den. He had questions that only his father could provide answers for, and he didn’t want to wait until later to get those answers.
Christopher Pike woke gradually. He kept his eyes closed as he tried to figure out where he was. The air smelled recycled and slightly chemical, which seemed odd for the afterlife. Though he wasn’t sure what he expected. Perhaps the afterlife was just a construct of his own imagination.
Len finally went home nearly 48 hours after her shift had started. She’d been so tired that she’d barely taken the time to strip off her uniform before she fell into bed. While the rest that she’d gotten in the pod at ‘Fleet Medical had helped, nothing beat sleeping in her own bed.
True to his word, Boyce had left a carafe of coffee for her at the Nurse’s station. That first sip was pure bliss. It was one of her favorites, so she took the carafe and her mug to the small break room around the corner and ordered breakfast from the replicator, even though it was the middle of the afternoon.
Len stood before the control panel for what everyone referred to as “The Machine”, inputting all the data they had about their patient. The machine was known as the Radiation Extraction Matrix, though there was a more technical, complicated moniker that the manufacturer had given it that she could never remember.
Doctor Eleanor McCoy was sitting in the closet affectionately known as her office, making notes on case files as her shift wound down. It hadn’t been a particularly difficult shift, thankfully. Just some minor injuries and a training accident that a few cadets were probably never going to live down.
Christopher Pike comes online as a Sentinel in the middle of a warp core accident onboard the USS Lucas—a training ship that he’d been warned years before would be the nexus of his fate: unavoidable and life-altering. Turns out, that was true in more ways than one. Upon his arrival at Starfleet Medical, he encounters one more life-altering moment: his Guide. Now, he and his Guide have to learn to navigate the ‘Fleet, the Sentinel/Guide community, and their late-in-life connection. Easy-peasy, right?
