hormonal imbalance

[warpfairy]

They study Klingon. They work out a sleep schedule. They approach Betazed.

They are two days away from the system when Isabella notices something - troubling.

She takes longer than usual to compose herself that morning, and emerges from the living quarters with carefully measured steps, and avoids eye contact.

"Do you," she asks Lalita quietly, "have the ability to fly this class of ship?"

Comments

[dream_me_up]

"Why not? It's something I've never done before. And I like you."

[warpfairy]

"You have known me for just over a week and I spent most of that time less than - coherent. I am aware that you like me, but a willingness to break into a Federation prison to release me is a step beyond."

[dream_me_up]

"Not for me it's not."

[warpfairy]

"Why not?"

[dream_me_up]

"Because it's easy for me to care about people and hard for me to care about risk," he explains.

[warpfairy]

"This wouldn't be a matter of quietly changing identities. There would be a manhunt. It might go on for a very long time. Especially if I continued to steal fire from the gods."

[dream_me_up]

"Believe me, I know. I don't care," he says.

[warpfairy]

"I am somewhat surprised you have managed to remain intact and free for this long, unless you acquired this attitude recently."

[dream_me_up]

"Taking big risks doesn't bother me, but I don't do it for its own sake, either."

[warpfairy]

"Risk bothers me. But I think my reasons are sufficient ones." She looks up and smiles. "Do you want to see my very large number?"

[dream_me_up]

"Very large number of what?"

[warpfairy]

"My estimate of the effects of my fire-stealing."

[dream_me_up]

"Sure."

[warpfairy]

"Computer, run estimation program version twelve," Isabella says.

"Running," says the computer.

And then it offers her the number 21,476,912,443 ± 2,008,154,014.

"It doesn't count future generations. Those are people who are alive today, who will - according to my best guess, you can see there's a huge margin of error - who will now have access to Federation standard of living and live longer for it. Lives I've saved. It does count the Mirivanl, though, even though Starfleet has not yet picked up a warp signature from them."

[dream_me_up]

"That," says Lalita, "is a very large number."

[warpfairy]

"I look at it when I become concerned about the prospect of spending a much smaller number of days on some prison moon. I would willingly be inconvenienced for a day under those conditions to save a single life, and will live for dramatically fewer than twenty-one billion days. And I have not even been caught yet, by anyone apart from you. The math checks out."

[dream_me_up]

He looks at her admiringly.

Well. 'Admiringly' is one way to put it.

[warpfairy]

"PN-115 is not a cover stop. It will contribute, presuming the scientists I offer the equations to take the bait."

She may be shifting position slightly under his gaze.

[dream_me_up]

"Can I come with you?" he asks suddenly. "I mean - I have to rescue the Harlequin, but it's about time I left her in a museum for good. And then I wouldn't have a ship. But you have a ship."

[warpfairy]

She blinks.

"You want to come with me? On - it really is seventy-five percent surveying. Even the planting of warp plans is mostly a matter of learning to write numbers in the local languages and running a computer analysis of citation patterns to find someone inclined to pass mysterious research off as their own."

[dream_me_up]

"I could help with that for sure," he laughs. "And I've never done it before. And I like you."

[warpfairy]

"...It might be nice to have company."

[dream_me_up]

He grins.

"Especially if I stick around for at least another seven years?"

[warpfairy]

She goes very green at that. "I - would - find that agreeable."

[dream_me_up]

"You're blushing again," he informs her. "You know, you're only going to live to what, a hundred and fifty, hundred and sixty? Is one week every seven years really enough for you?"