From: "Catherine Allan" (kenandcath@earthling.net) Subject: ODOGEN: Multiplication, That's the Name of the Game...(1/2) Yes, folks, I'm going for the longest-ever-fanfic-name-out-No-prize :) Did I win? Disclaimer: While Paramount may have given up on DS9, we certainly don't :) Nevertheless, they own it, and would sue us in a cold minute if we didn't put disclaimers up :) ObInfo: Yep, it's part *11* of the Pit Saga [anyone missing bits can email me at cath@bab5.cx any time. I'm glad to help :) ] Multiplication, That's the Name of the Game... Catherine Allan "*HA*choo! *HA*choo! *HA*choo!" "Don't worry, Nerys, I've got everything under control." Odo turned back to Veral, now kitted out with everything he could need for his first day of school. "Now, remember; some people just don't like Changelings, or even *half* Changelings. You have to be careful, for the first few days, and let people get to know *you* as Veral, and not as 'the Shapeshifter'." "I understand, Papa," Veral grinned. "It's like that time I caused a riot in Quark's." "'Time'?" "Okay. *Times*. It's okay for some people to get scared, because they don't know me; but it's better if I don't scare them in the first place." "Very good. Now you'd better run along, before you're late. Papa's got to take Mama to see Doctor Bashir." "See you tonight, Papa," Veral hugged his father, risked embracing his sneezing mother, and dashed off for the schoolroom. "Have a good day," Odo murmured, more to himself than his retreating boy. _Our baby's growing up..._ >...squeeee-ak...< "Nere'al..." He rounded on his daughter. "I's holding him, Papa," true to her word, the month-old hybrid tot was holding Zot in both arms. "We was goin' play house an' need a baby." "*HA*choo! *HA*choo! *HA*choo!" "Zot won't make a good baby, kitling," Odo quickly explained. "He'll chew up all the baby clothes, and make messes in them. Why don't you make a dolly your baby?" "Dollies are boring," stated Nere'al. "They don't kiss." She held Zot up to her face and let the vole lick it from top to bottom. Odo gave up. "I'll tell you what; if you put him back in his cage for *five* minutes, I'll fix it so that you and Opaka--" "Opaka 'n' me," corrected Nere'al. "Opaka and you; can play with Zot in the playroom. All right?" Nere'al grinned and put the vole back in his cage. She then put her little hand out so they could shake on it. "Fife minutes." "Five minutes." It was actually only the work of two to add another 'child' to the playpen program they were running, but Nere'al needed a little work on her patience. *And* he needed to talk to Opaka. Kira Opaka, despite being the quieter child of the twins, was actually the dominant sister, and Odo had to check on a personal theory of his. In order to do so, he actually crept up on his daughter before speaking her name. "Opaka..." She whirled and looked up at her father with a look that read _Oops_ as clear as day. "Have you been getting Nere'al to fetch Zot all this time?" Opaka clearly weighed the options. "'es...?" Odo knelt. "Did you know you were getting your sister into trouble?" Shrug. He sighed. "Kitling; you don't have to do that, especially not now. I've fixed it so you and Nere'al can play with Zot *any* time you like. All you have to do is ask." "Please, Papa?" "Better," Odo smiled and hugged his little girl. He'd been worried about her silence, and was glad to hear her speak. "Now, I have to go with your Mama to see the doctor; you *will* play nice with Aunty Soshal, won't you?" "Yes, Papa." "*HA*choo! *HA*choo! *HA*choo!" >Be-boop< "That'll be Soshal. I'll get it." "You'd (hah...) better...*HA*choo!" "Thanks for coming on such short notice, Soshal, they're in the playroom." "It is *my* honour, Ambassador." "Do we *have* to go through this?" "I'm afraid so," Soshal grinned and went into the playroom with the kids. It was only then that Odo could devote any attention to his wife. Nerys still only had half her clothes on, the other half were either scattered about or held helplessly in one hand while the other attempted to defend from her triphammer sneezing. "Let me help." Odo went liquid, some of his body coating his bride, the rest gathering Nerys' outfit. In a matter of moments, her clothing was on, and Nerys was still sneezing. _I didn't know you could do that for *dressing* me..._ "Ale'al... We'll be late." _You might have to carry me,_ she told him. _I can't walk and sneeze at the same time._ "Fine by me." "AAA!" Y'thl wondered exactly what had come over her. She'd voluntarily participated in a Humanoid activity. Surely she hadn't been *that* bored; although the better part of a year in this place would bore anyone into doing *anything*. Perhaps Pulver's insanity was infectious, maybe that was it. Her philosophy, shared over their time together, had infected her somehow. Only the Link could purge that, and the Link was not an option. Pulver did talk a great deal, when she wasn't spending her time by cooking up various schemes and 'shows' as she called them. Once every two months, one of the inmates, usually Pulver or another mysterious lunatic called Spork; would put on a 'show'. The majority of the prison inmates would be involved, once the show started, and little short of tranquillisers could get it stopped. The guards didn't usually bother with the harmless ones, like the time Pulver gave everyone hobby-horses and played the William Tell Overture over the speaker system. That had been the first time Y'thl had laughed in what felt like forever. Y'thl stopped herself smiling at the memory. A great number of Pulver's following antics had caught her interest - Spork's shows always bordered on the truly bizarre, sometimes even going into the suicidally insane. Spork was fortunate that none of the buildings, here were taller than one story, and that the ground surrounding them was soft. Pulver, on the other hand, was lucky she wasn't allergic to the tranquillisers. It was the sliver of alarm that ran through her being that truly frightened Y'thl. She was - worried; about this Solid? She *cared* about Pulver. She *liked* her. Y'thl paced in her little dark cubicle. What was one Solid to her? What did it matter that Pulver had a unique species-blindness that made the Universe her melting pot? What should it matter to her that the doctors here were trying to cure Pulver of it, and her other intriguing idiosyncrasies? What should it matter to Y'thl, self-proclaimed dominatrix of the galaxy, that one Solid had gone out of her way to help, with no expected reward but a friendship. _Double-curse it,_ Y'thl sat on the tiny bunk. _I consider that strange Human my - *friend*. I didn't join in the dance because I was bored - I joined because Mandy asked me to._ She'd been very young when the Vortas came into their service, but she remembered the experiences of the one who had been helped by them. Y'thl remembered the sense of wonder that something so frail, limited and short-lived would not instantly hate a Changeling for being so unlimited. Y'thl owed Pulver a debt; and paying it was going to be truly interesting. Nerys could see Odo's point in hating the little medical conferences that always started up every time he visited medical. Now she was the center of it, she detested them, too. This time, there were only two, which made her feel a little better. "This is astonishing," Bashir was saying. "It's almost like the baby's adapting to Nerys instead of vice versa" "It's not the baby," stated Koto, the first Founder who had come aboard the Station. "It's a fine layer of Odo's matter surrounding the Infant." "I thought I couldn't do that," Odo told them, staring anew at the readouts. "Never consciously," Koto announced. "You see, once a Changeling conceives with - someone; they have the innate desire to conceive with them again. The body craves young; especially when the population of the Link is low. With Changelings, our long fertility cycle means that the likelihood of conception is low, but humanoids..." "Are pretty much fertile all year 'round," Bashir continued. "And once a Changeling has conceived with a Humanoid; there'd be no going back." "Changeling physiognomy recognises success very readily, and refuses to surrender young to the void." Koto glared at Odo. "If you're going to prevent infants - use BC shots." "Speaking of which, Azal and Aroya are expecting again," Julian grinned. "I hope they don't follow your lead and have twins." "But I'm bored," complained Veral. His teacher, Kahaz Miko, smiled indulgently. "On your first day?" "I already know how to read, Mrs Kahaz. In three languages." "That's very good, Veral. Why don't you do some work in this year's book?" "I already did that, too." Veral showed her. An entire year's work was neatly laid out in the answers. "Ah. Can you just wait a minute or two? I'll get you next year's book." Veral waited, which had never been his strong point, and looked at some of the other children staring at him. They were, so far, treating him like a normal compatriot, though one or two seemed to be reserving judgement until later. Kahaz returned with two books, each slightly thicker than the first- year book. "These are the second-year books. One for maths, and the other for writing. You can work on these until play-hour." "Thanks, Mrs Kahaz." Vedek Etries was Boring for Bajor. Prophets only knew how he managed to get himself time in front of the Vedek Council, let alone the Kai, but now he found himself presenting his views to Kai Kadfyl. And what dull, monotonous views they were. "...and in the fifteenth Prophecy of Kadanja, we see the word /hroja/ translated to mean 'food'; rather than 'blessings'..." Kadfyl gave up. there was no way that the man was going to reach a point in this lifetime. He let his eyelids droop, and his body rest against the chair. "...yet in the *seventeenth* Prophecy of Kadanja, /hroja/ is taken to mean 'houses'..." >SKNXZ-ssssssssss...< This was his 'warning' snore; where most Vedeks with any sense riffled through their notes to look for the conclusion. "...and in the twentieth Prophecy, /hroja/ means 'enemy'..." >SKNXZ-kquarxckgfxzaxkz...< Next: Etries gets a clue. He doesn't keep it long. Cath :) Who will kill her spell-checker shortly :) _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Message: 3 Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 17:20:10 +1000 From: "Catherine Allan" (kenandcath@earthling.net) Subject: ODOGEN: Multiplication, That's the Name of the Game... (2/2) Onward! Etries began to take something of a hint. "Obviously, more research needs to be made into the true meanings of some ancient Bajoran words; if we continue to try and understand bad translations of the ancient prophecies..." >SKNXZ-kquarxckgfxzaxkz...< It was hard to keep up any pretence against that snore. "Kai? *KAI*!" >Snort< "Mmmm? Have you reached a point yet?" "Uuuummm..." only now did Etries search through his notes. "I was saying how more money needs to be devoted to the research of Ancient Bajoran; given the multitude of bad translations for words such as /hroja/." "Is that *all* you were trying to say?" Etries looked to his colleagues for support. They weren't lending any. "Well, I -- yes, Kai." "You've got enough money now, so just sod off and look for the dictionary. Next!" Etries made a very small squeaking noise in the back of his throat while his political enemies sniggered. "That seems to be it for the day, Kai." "Good," Kadfyl sighed with relief. "Maybe we could leave a week or so before the next meeting? I'm sure you can all let me do *something* without tripping over yourselves in the rush to stab each other's backs?" "Actually, Kai; next week is bad." "And what is wrong with next week?" "There's a naming ceremony on Deep Space Nine - the children of Ambassador Odo and Colonel Kira Nerys. Their firstborn was named illegally by Vedek Tonsa - they were hoping that you could alleviate that little problem." "Those children have no right to be Named in a traditional Bajoran ceremony!" Drell stood and proclaimed his views. "They're an unnatural product of a pure Bajoran woman and an *offworlder*; and I have it on good authority that *she* wasn't even pregnant with them!" "Are you still here?" Kadfyl asked. "I thought I banished you to the Tonsa mountains for the good of the future." "They're *still* not *Bajoran* children!" "Well," said the new Kai, "We'll soon see about *that*. If they have a Pagh, they deserve the blessing of the Prophets." "That's true," said another Vedek. "A Bajoran Pagh signifies a Bajoran soul, no matter what its outside, earthly container looks like." "Go back to your books; offworlders have *no* place in the Celestial Temple!" "Weren't you *banished*?" "Weren't you?" "Oh, shut up, the pair of you!" "*You* shut up!" "Do we have to go through this *every* time we hold a council?" "Apparently so." "The writings of Naretil clearly state --" "The writings of Geris, however --" "What of Kadanja? *He* prophesied a union between Bajor and other worlds, *if* the translation is correct..." "Didn't you get the hint when he started *snoring*, you dry old fart?" "He's not snoring now!" "He's not *here* now!" Several were halfway through another riposte before they said, "You what?" "Kai Kadfyl has left." The Vedek council looked at the empty chair. It was, indeed, completely vacant of anything resembling a religious leader. Etries went up to the ancient throne and looked under it anyway. "*Etries*..." "He *could* have been hiding," Etries defended. "Kadanja *did* speak of a hidden Kai. Or, it could have been about an *invisible* Kai..." "Leave Kadanja in his grave, for once, will you?" "Is it not said somewhere that the lessons of history are the hardest to learn?" "Quoth exhibit A." "Shut your smart-alec trap, Bintong!" "Can't we just leave the petty bickering alone for a few minutes and start asking *relevant* questions, like; 'Where is the Kai'?" Kadfyl shook himself into his traditional brown-red robes of his old office. It might not be enough, since his face had been plastered all over Bajor in the last few weeks, but he'd suffered years of people looking at the robes, and not the man. Perhaps, this time, he could make the phenomenon work *for* him. He strolled out of the central temple with barely a murmur; just another humble Vedek being sent off to wherever. He calmly bought transport tickets, and waited in line like everyone else. It was all rather liberating, really. Except for the small girl on the shuttle ride up to DS9. She stared at him in an owlish manner over the back of her seat for about half an hour, before announcing in a loud, clear voice, "You look like the Kai." "Young lady, if I was the Kai, do you think I'd be riding on an ordinary shuttle?" "Yes." "Why?" "'Cause you're in-cog-neat-oh?" "You're a very clever little girl," Kadfyl lowered his voice. "You're absolutely right, of course; but it's supposed to be a secret. You see, I'm trying to surprise someone, so if you can keep quiet, it would mean a *lot* to me." "You're funny," the small girl announced. "Can you keep my secret?" She nodded. "Very good. You'd make a very decent Kai's secretary, when you grow up; you know the importance of keeping quiet." "You're silly." End. Next Ep: Guess who's coming to dinner? Cath :) Kadfyl versus Veral and the Twins... Any bets as to the winner?