"Blinded Sight"

[Avery Tynte 0]

The world swirled and faded to black. It was disconcerting to say the least. To have sight, and then all at once having the world virtually disappear and leave behind only an empty void of sound and touch.

 

Aaron help Avery lean his head back against the biobed. He blinked a few times, still getting used to having his eyes open but seeing nothing. “What are you doing to do if your goggles do not work? Andrea asked Aaron. “Well then, we are essentially screwed, ma’am.”

 

Avery turned his head towards Aaron’s voice. “Oh, that’s wonderful to know now.” Aaron ignored the comment, finishing setting up all the equipment before he blinded Andrea.

 

“Yeah, that was just…weird” Avery heard Andrea say, obviously having been blinded. “You have no idea…” Avery trailed off as a cold chill traveled up his spine. Avery, came the sound of a distant voice. Avery turned his head out of habit, of course he saw nothing. He did not recognize the voice as Andrea or Aaron. No, it was a far more familiar sound.

 

No, it was not possible. That voice…that voice… Avery spun around in his mind, moving away from his corporal self. He began searching in his minds eye for the source of that voice.

 

His eyes began to physically move underneath his now closed eyelids. Avery… The voice echoed in his mind again. He spun in the direction it came from. And there she stood; draped in white from head to toe was his old friend Pa’yla. Of course this was not really her, she was aboard the USS Lamia.

 

What are you doing here? He asked, knowing full what see really was. She looked up at him, her face turning very serious. Avery felt a warm tingle on his left shoulder. Andrea, he smiled, she had laid her hand on his shoulder attempting to comfort him. His body must be making quite a fuss over this meeting.

 

Andrea’s hand offered him a link to his physical self, a way out of this mental plain. Pa’yla’s doppelganger continued to stare at him, and something in those piercing eyes told him to stay So that he did.

 

Almost as if on cue with his decision to stay, the blackness around him swirled into a flash of color and noise. Avery’s mind spun at the sudden change, he stumbled a bit, disoriented. As he turned his face back up, someone sideswiped him on his left, sending him reeling onto the deck plating.

 

He did not have to look up to know where he was. The smells, the sounds…the screams. Yes, he knew exactly where he was. Reluctantly, he turned his head up, the tears already forming in his eyes. “No, NO!” He screamed. “I do not want to see this!” His hair swirled into his face as someone ran past him. He knew what came next, tears now streaked down his face.

 

He tried to turn away, but found himself unable to look anywhere else. No, he silently repeated to himself. No… Looking to his left, he saw her again, Pa’yla’s double stood watch over him, holding him here. He was trapped.

 

He turned back to the scene unfolding before him, seemingly unable to tear his eyes away. Just as he was beginning to resign himself to the pain that was coming, he felt it again. That warm tingle, this time on both shoulders.

 

Andrea, he thought. She had taken a firm grasp on both his shoulders this time. She was trying to comfort his obliviously distressed body. In so doing, she had given him a link back to himself. She was offering him a way out once more, and this time he did not hesitant. As screams filled his ears from the terror around him, he fell backwards and away from it. Using Andrea’s touch as an anchor, he returned to the corporal world.

 

The lights, the colors, the noise …it all waned then faded away, once again leaving him in the dark void of blindness. His body relaxed, and Andrea let go. Breath escaped his lungs in a rush as he rested his head against the cold surface of the biobed.

 

“Sweep Completed.” The computer announced. “Well, that was painless, I think.” Andrea said. Still blinded, Avery hit his combadge. “Tynte to Westler. Are you still with sight Aaron?” Though the question was asked sarcastically, Avery was no less relieved when his friend answered in the affirmative. Avery felt more then heard Andrea relax beside him. He sat up gently as she reached for the reloaded hypos of Trhitiline. He heard the familiar sound of a hypospray as she treated herself, then he felt the tip of the hypo touch his skin.

 

It all came back in a blinding blur. It was no easier adjusting to sight, then it was adjusting to blindness, Avery noted as he turned to the blurred figure beside him.

 

Avery held up two fingers as the blob, aka Andrea, spoke. “Avery,” she started in a sarcastic tone. “There are three of you, there was five.”

 

“Well, there is only one of you,” he replied. “But your just a big blob.” He finished with a grin she probably could not see.

 

As he turned back to Andrea, her face now coming back into focus, he noticed she appeared a bit more serious as she spoke. “What was all our worrying about? That was not so bad was it?” She asked.

 

“You mean while we were blinded?” He answered with a question of his own. Her still slightly blurring head moved up and down.

 

Here was his chance. Should he tell her? Should he confide in her what had been bothering him of late? Sure, he trusted her. Probably more then anyone else on this ship. She stared at him, waiting for an answer.

 

“Just old ghosts Nothing more..” He said with the best fake smile he could muster. It pained him to lie to her, but as his latest theme pronounced: This was not the time, nor the place.

 

She sat there, considering him, obviously not completely buying it. Her faced finished focusing with a smile. A warm smile. “Alright,” she said. “Let’s get to work.” She handed him a hypospray as she hopped off the edge of the biobed.

 

He took it, the case feeling cold in his hand. “Aye, lets.” He knew she wanted to ask him what it really was, wanted to help him. But that was the thing about Andrea; she knew when to pry, and when to let the person come to her. And she knew this was the latter.

 

As she started to the door, Avery slide off the side of the bed. “Andrea,” he started.

 

She stopped at the double doors leading out of sickbay and turned towards him. “Yes, Avery?’

 

“Thank you.” Thank you for saving me, thank you for being there, thank you for bringing me back. He finished what he really wanted to say in his mind, leaving it unspoken, at least for now.

 

Her lips quirked back up into another smile. “Anytime Avery, anytime.” Then her face turned to mock seriousness. “Now come on, we have a lot of work to do.”

 

“That we do,” Aaron said as he walked back into main sickbay pulling his goggles off his face.

 

The three walked out of Sickbay together with one problem down, a galaxy full more to go.