<USS Avalon> Freedom by Li Vilya

If she didn't think turning cartwheels would cause people to look at her 
cross-eyed, Vilya would have done them.  Even though being an engineer meant 
being 
in a design lab, or a class room, or in a ship, she never felt that it was 
confining.  The forced inactivity while she was in quarantine was nothing like 
working, though.  It was totally useless.  It was dangerous.  It was boring.

"Computer, what is the location of Patrick Kabuki?" she asked, stopping in 
the middle of the corridor.

==Patrick Kabuki is in Sick Bay==

Perfect!  I want to check on all the others, too.  Prophets but I hope nobody 
told him about the baby yet.  The poor thing looked so upset when he visited 
us before.  I had to tell him it was a cold, she told herself even as she 
sneezed again.  He would have been a basket case otherwise.  Besides, I wasn't 
exactly sure until a while ago.

She sneezed several more times during her walk to Sick Bay, prompting many of 
the people she passed to add their congratulations after they'd expressed 
relief at her release from quarantine.  Even in the face of the knowledge that 
her crew mates and friends were still confined to Sick Bay and with the fact 
that she had no idea how they were, she couldn't help but radiate sheer joy.  
She 
had no doubt that some of the psi talented folks that she passed were getting 
a mindful, so to speak.
~~~~~
At first nobody noticed when she walked into Sick Bay.  It gave her a chance 
to take in the whole room, to see the five beds filled with the people who'd 
been on deck thirteen with her.  She didn't see Eli but she supposed that his 
odd reaction to the virus required that he be placed under a stricter 
surveillance than the main room.  

She finally spotted him in the corner, sitting between Josh and Anna.  The 
neat black braid hung down his back, over the equally neat black jacket he 
usually wore.  His back was to her, no doubt so that he could see the sleepers 
faces when they woke up.  She had to smile.  Even in the midst of his own 
worry, 
the Reverend Kabuki was still being a reverend and looking after people.  Then 
a nurse approached him, leaning to whisper in his ear.  The nurse's face 
fairly split in half smiling as Ming's head whipped around.  She only had a 
second 
or two to see his blue eyes widen before she felt herself swept into a strong 
embrace.

She buried her face in his neck, not caring if the whole staff saw her.  It 
surprised her to feel him shaking even in that bear hug.  "Put me down," she 
said softly.  "I can't breathe."

Once he let her go, she sneezed again, prompting Ming to say, "Thank God, 
you're finally out of there.  Since you're here, you ought to have that cold 
seen 
to."

Vilya felt the wells of laughter coming up again, despite the somberness of 
the rest of the situation.  The nurse walked by as Ming was talking and she 
smothered a grin as Vilya shook her head at her.

"Come, let's take a walk, Ming.  We have to talk," she said as she took his 
hand.

Li Vilya, Engineer
Lieutenant, junior grade
USS Avalon

I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief.
â Gerry Spence, HOW TO ARGUE AND WIN EVERY TIME

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