Aberrant: Stargate Universe - New Friends [Finished]

[z028 Riley]

Kyria sighed and tried not be annoyed as the nurse took another blood sample. It wouldn't have been so bad, but they had to use a fresh needle every time since she'd heal around the first one by the time the test tube was full.

"There, that's the last one for today. You've been very cooperative." The nurse smiled brightly at the young woman. She looks so normal. I wonder what she actually is. No one human heals that fast, but she doesn't have a Jaffa pouch.

"Thanks." Kyria ignored the stray thought. Her powers had been hot and cold since she got here; sometimes working, sometimes working in reverse, and sometimes leaving her feeling like someone had encased her head in lead. If that's how baselines live...

She smiled correctly back at the nurse and took the proffered cookie even though it made her feel like she was five. She took a quick glance around the room and sighed again as she saw a bed a few down from hers was occupied. Usually that meant another ten or twenty minutes of listening to someone gripe inside their head about pain or endlessly go over in their head whatever awful thing landed them in the infirmary and how they could have avoided it. The man missing the leg, that had been the worst. She had to admit the SGC people had cuourage; suicidal at times, but it was courage.

This one was different, though. No leaking thoughts, no emotions sloshing on to her like murky water. He was a complete blank to her, laying quietly on his bed. Before she even realized that she was breaking her promise to General Oneill, she reached out to him.

Hello?

[Adrian Moss]

Hello?

Well, who could this be now? Wait ...

Damien sits up and looks around. He sees a young woman looking at him. Someone new, he could tell. She looked awful young to be in the program. She was also looking at him as if she was expecting something.

Maybe I'm not Crazy.

The Captain sat up in his bed. He had the look of a man in the peak of health. His muscles were well-defined, his breathing was a controlled normal, and his looks were heartbreakingly beautiful. To put it succinctly, he looked the way a nova was supposed to look - more human than human.

Hello back to you. Is this thing on?

[z028 Riley]

Kyria blinked at the faint thought trickling through to her. He wasn't like her, or her father. He couldn't send back out, but he could keep himself to himself. But they said they didn't have any novas. Hmn. Maybe he's a weak psiad? She pushed back out to him again, taking a moment to maneuver around his defenses; she didn't want to hurt him.

Sort of. I can hear you. Are you from here or did you come from somewhere else like me?

[Adrian Moss]

Somewhere else? Hmmmm ... I'm from Earth.

He almost stood up, but stopped himself. Damien's eyes remained fixed on her though.

I'm Captian Damien Caine, US Army, Star Gate Command. What world do you come from? I mean, what do we ... Earthlings call your world.

What am I getting myself into? Does she have anything to do with the artifact on RL-1137? She's awful young looking for a spy.

You look pretty young. How old are you, and did you come here alone?[i/]

[z028 Riley]

Kyria looked confused by what he was saying, then thoughtful. She sat up on the bed and took a breath. Caine could feel something push out from her and then from him, a feeling like he'd be tagged by her and was now 'it'.

"They said there weren't any novas here." She watched him for a heartbeat. "I'm from Earth, too, just not yours. And I'm not alone." She motioned her head to the two guards that were chatting softly a few more beds down from her on the other side. "I have babysitters." Her opinion of the situation was quite clear.

[Adrian Moss]

In his mind, Damien chuckled. Only the faintest smile came to his lips.

"I don't have the minders, but I here you. I'm on restricted duty as well. Something ... happened to me while on a mission. I hope to get back on active duty soon."

"On this alternate earth, what were you? I mean, were in part of SGC, or your Earth's military? Or are you a civilian? Nah, you don't look like someone lost in the woods, but you don't look like a soldier. Are you a squit - scientist? Sorry, I know I have lots of questions, but I've been trapped down here for a while now. It's only been a few weeks, but to me it feels like a lifetime."

He looks up at one of the cameras then back to Kyria.

"Why don't I start over. I'm Damien Caine. I went on a classified mission on which everyone else died, but I returned unscratched with no idea what happened. Who are you, and how did you end up in this illustrious establishment?"

[z028 Riley]

Kyria smiled at his avalanche of questions. At least he seemed genuine, and it was kind of nice to know she wouldn't have to worry about catching his stray thoughts. She shook her head.

"There's no SGC on my Earth. I'm not a soldier. I'm...well, I guess I really don't know what I am." She looked away from him, lost in some private place for a moment. "My father raised me to be...whatever was needed." She looked back to him. "I'm sorry about your friends. Your team. I get the impression from people here that they're usually pretty close knit."

She was quiet for a moment then chuckled, "I'm sorry, I'm being rude. My name is Kyria. Kyria Donnighal. And I ended up here because I wasn't specific enough when I told a friend of mine I wanted to go somewhere interesting but very far away from where I had been." She tilted her head in a thoughful look. "Maybe this Earth is just a bit behind. Maybe you're just starting your nova evolution and you're one of the first. You are a nova. You've been really hungry since you got down here, haven't you?"

[Adrian Moss]

Damien listens intently, nodding when she finishes.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm eating for my whole team, yet I'm not gaining weight. I'm in the best condition in my life. I've never been stronger and I never get tired."

"Hmmm ... nova means new in Latin, right?"

That must be Helen

"Well, I guess I feel new, or renewed, but what does being a nova mean to you?"

"More to the point, something happened to me. They think that it may have been my genetic sequence that saved me while the others perished. Are novas genetically different?"

What he wanted to ask was if novas read people's minds, but he somehow felt that breaking that confidence wouldn't help the situation any. If they didn't know ... well he would have to report this to somebody in security as soon as she left. This was too much of a gift to go unwatched. He might as well bring this out because he knew he couldn't keep quiet about it.

"Okay, you seem like a smart girl so I'm just going to bring this out in the open. I would have to bring this up to my superiors anyway. Can all novas read minds? Is that were our evolution is going?"

Am I going to end up reading people's minds and not just the minds of the dead?

[z028 Riley]

"Novus sapiens. The new man or new thinker. Yeah, I suppose that is where it came from. And yes, novas are genetically distinct from homo sapiens. Andrew could...well, no I guess he can't. Nevermind. If you erupted because of a life-threating situation, which is pretty common for first generation novas, then it is most likely what saved your life. And no, not all novas can read minds. You can't, can you? I mean, you're hard to read than most people. We call that psychic shielding. But you can't reach out and touch my mind, can you?"

She'd stood up while she was talking and made her way over to the Captain. She wanted someone to be friends with, someone who wasn't a part of her past, and here was a nova. She could relate to him; she'd always had some trouble dealing with baselines, if just for because they were so fragile. "Other than being hungry and feeling healthy, have you done anything else? Anything that a normal human just can't do?"

She caught herself, remembering something he'd mentioned, and blushed. "Um...could you maybe not so much mention this to General Oneill? He, um, already knows what I can do and when he gets upset...well, I spent the first few days after he found out with every way he could imagine a lobotomy running through my head. Unpleasant doesn't even begin to describe it."

[Adrian Moss]

"Well, the enemy we are fighting are clever at infiltration and have technology that is akin to magic. Then there is the Ancients. You would do better to ask a Tech-head about them."

Caine stands up and stretches his body.

"As for anything else, nope. I had some shadows of the minds of my team mates but that has faded. I didn't even know my mind was shielded until you told me."

"They will know now that you read my mind, but I don't think much will come of it. You can always claim my mind was ... different. I definitely think a lobotomy would go against the Geneva Conventions," he grins. "We want to keep this place secret, but we aren't into torturing people. Now, you could end up being stranded on some distant world, out of reach of the Goa'uld. Then you would have to figure out how to work the StarGate on your own. We are smarter than normal, too, aren't we?"

[z028 Riley]

She blinks, "What are the Geneva Conventions?" A pause, "Goa'uld. Those are the aliens you are fighting, yes?"

She nods. "Some are. Novas become anything and everything. We are the expression of the limitless potential of human existence." The last sound a bit rote, like a nursery rhyme, but still sincere.

She shrugs and glances down at the guards again. "I'm not sure I'd mind that, being stranded I mean. It'd have to be more entertaining than this place. And after working with Lorean, I'm pretty sure I could suss out these Stargates without too much of an issue."

[Adrian Moss]

"By all means," he smiles broadly, "you should bring that up. Familiarity with Alien tech is a real plus around here. Otherwise you ... well, something really bad could happen."

He crosses the room and extends a hand to Kyria.

"Pleasure to meet you. You've give me something to think about, this whole nova ideal. I should bring it up with command. It can better help us in the fight to save Earth."

"Before you go stranding yourself on another world, wouldn't you get lonely? Wouldn't you miss people?"

[z028 Riley]

She shrugged at the comment on loneliness. "Someone'd be along eventually, or I'd figure it out an leave. With everything so strange here, it'd be nice to be in a place where I'm all by myself inside my head. Or at least not getting yelled at for other people thinking so loudly it feels like I'm being constantly shouted at."

"'Something really bad could happen'? What do you mean?"

[Adrian Moss]

"Oh, we hear horror stories about devices disintergrating people, or turning them inside out, or erasing their minds. And those are only some of the things. There is so much out there we don't understand. We've only been in this game, that we were aware of, for a short time - less than a decade. The other races have millenia on us, if not millions of years. Being a part of the Command can be very humbling, seeing what a small parat of the universe we really are."

Damien seems to look past Kyria when he speaks, as if he is channeling another presence. He focuses back on her.

"Your tough for a young kid, or at least you like to act it. Being alone isn't healthy. We are social creatures and lonliness wears on the mind. Especially in your case, were you are used to the com ... presence of minds about you. Being alone has its place for a time, but not for too long. Besides, a pretty girl like you would be missed at all the base parties."

He is grinning again.

[z028 Riley]

She had frowned at the 'young kid', looking annoyed, but then smiled at the last comment. "Really? The way everyone's been treating me, I'd figure they'd say it was past my bedtime. As for feeling like the new kids on the block, don't worry about it. New kids are usually the ones with the best ideas."

[Adrian Moss]

"See, you are like me. You are in the We don't know how to treat you phase. If you were in trouble, you would have your own nice little room and all the base personnel would have to come see you. Keep selling up your smarts and experience and maybe soon your position may change. Not everyone here is military after all - providing you would consider working here."

"For me, this is the best assignment I've ever had, present circumstances not included. Still, I can't think about leaving knowing what I might see on my next trip out. Don't you want to see what's beyond that next horizon?"

[z028 Riley]

She thought about that for a moment, then smiled. One of those genuine, complete smiles that can make anyone beautiful. "Yeah, I guess I would. I'll think about that."

She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, a casual move that probably meant it was normal for people to do that where she came from. "Thanks."