Part 6: All that is Tuula

Posted on 01 Sep 2016 @ 9:42pm by Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D. & Lieutenant JG Eelim Galan
Edited on on 09 Sep 2016 @ 1:41am

1,674 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 12 - Recluse
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 3, Sickbay
Timeline: MD -06 0500 hours

[ON]

Poor wandering one
Though thou hast surely strayed
Take heart of grace, thy steps retrace
Poor wandering one

Blinded by the bright light, Eelim could barely make out a song, one he had once heard in a comic opera of some sort. Taking a couple steps towards the sound, as it became clearer, the voice was unmistakable. With the Nordic accent, it could only be Tuula.

Poor wandering one
If such poor love as mine
Can help thee find true peace of mind
Why, take it, it is thine

After a couple steps, Eelim found himself shifted once again and he was in the Galileo sickbay. He was really getting motion sick at this point going from place to place. This death thing was...interesting but the he wasn't dead. He saw himself on life support and Tuula was by his side, looking up at the readings of his life support and softly singing to him. As Tuula gently stroked the other Eelim's hand, he could feel a faint tingle in his.

Time seemed to stop for a moment. He began to feel a breeze and then turned to find another Tuula standing behind him. Except it wasn't Tuula, he knew that. It was another Prophet. He bowed respectfully. This must be the one the others told him about the one that would tell him about Tuula. He wondered how they knew so damn much.

"Lift your head up," said the prophet Tuula, looking down at the bowing Cardassian. While she was definitely a representation of Tuula, this version looked different. She looked younger, perhaps early twenties, and her style was a lot less extreme. The only hint of her goth persona was in her makeup and the black tank top and studded belt. She had no visible tattoos, and even more amazingly, she could walk. "I can't insert the orbitoclast into your eye socket if you keep turning away."

Eelim jumped back. "Damn. You talk like her too."

"You're curious about her," replied the prophet Tuula, in a calm voice, stepping towards Eelim knowingly. "Fascinated, perhaps?"

Eelim sighed. "Yes. I am. I wish to know more about her. Sometimes she seems so vulnerable yet at other times she scares the living daylights out of me." He smiled.

"You ask about her, but it is yourself that you want to know about..." With that, the prophet Tuula reached up and placed a hand on the side of Eelim's face, and the room was bathed once more in a bright light.

"Enough with the light," he mumbled.

When the light faded, Eelim found himself in a sterile room, not unlike a sickbay or a hospital room. Inside, the younger Tuula was lying on a biobed as a couple doctors milled about. She had a fresh bruise on her cheek, from an injury the night before.

"This procedure won't take long..." one of them said quietly. "I'm going to give you some praxoline and then we will terminate the pregnancy..."

Eelim's eyes widened. "Tuula! He went to her side and tried to take her hand but his went though it. He looked helplessly at the figure that looked like the woman before her. "Why? Why can't you help her? why does she have to go through this?"

***************************
The white light flashed again, and next thing Eelim knew, he found himself lying on a biobed, surrounded by prophets in the form of the medical staff of the Galileo.

"She's lucky to be alive," said the Allyndra prophet.

"She'll never walk again," replied another.

"Can't you do something! Can't you help her!" He sat up and then pushed through the Bajorn Gods staring at them. "Tuula is a good person! Why must she have to endure this. You are all powerful!"

***************************

With another flash of white light, Eelim found himself in a bedroom. Outside the window, a bitterly cold winter's wind blew, kicking fresh snow up into the air. The room was not too unusual for the former bedroom of a couple twenty-somethings who had recently moved out. The bunk beds were still there, as were several boxes of stuff. But in the corner, at the desk, was Tuula in her chair.

She looked different. Instead of some bizarre mixture of fishnets, leather and spikes, she was wearing a frumpy grey hoodie and flannel pajama pants. Her makeup wasn't done, and the blonde roots of her hair were showing, a result of going months without a dye job. Empty tea mugs littered her desk, and she looked like she hadn't been outside in weeks.

The sad sight was interrupted by a chime from the terminal. Tuula sighed and pressed on the touch screen, glumly propping her head up with one hand. The logo of Starfleet Medical Academy popped up for a moment, getting her attention, before a message appeared on screen.

Eelim read the letter. She'd been dismissed from the Academy! He looked at the Tuula before him. Poor woman.

Not even halfway through the message, Tuula let out a cry and swung her arms in a fit of rage, sending the tea cups clattering to the floor where they shattered into thousands of pieces. "It's not fair!" she shouted. "My whole life is ruined!" She leaned forward, burying her head in her arms, and began sobbing uncontrollably. "This damn chair... I can't even walk, I can't do anything! I'm useless. I wish I were dead..."

Tears rolled down Eelim's face. "Please don't say that Tuula! Please don't say that."


********************************

One more flash of white light later, and Eelim found himself back at Starfleet academy on a warm autumn day. It was the week before the start of classes, when students were moving in and getting used to their quarters. As he squinted in the sunlight, he saw a silhouette of two people near the fountain he recognized from the entrance to the medical campus. There was Tuula, of course, in full-on goth mode, with her spiked collar, fishnets, and black hair with metallic silver highlights that glistened in the sun. Next to her was a woman carrying a large duffel bag.

As he approached, he could make out some more details. Tuula was sporting some fresh ink on her chest that he recognized from the redness had to have been a couple days old at most. And the other woman standing next to her looked almost identical, as though she were a twin, except instead of goth and spooky, she was plain and blonde.

"Thank you," said Tuula, looking up at her sister, with a big smile on her face. "For everything..."

"Don't mention it, what's a sister for?" replied Jaana, a look of satisfaction on her face as well. "Though did you have to pack so many pairs of platform boots?"

"Of course," exclaimed Tuula, joyfully. "You know how the song goes; these boots were made for rolling..."

Jaana managed an awkward chuckle at the joke, before changing the subject. "Say, I got you a present... it's from mom and dad. They asked me not to give it to you until we were unpacked, but I'm just too curious. They didn't even tell me what it is either." Reaching into her bag under her arm, she pulled out a box wrapped in a teal wrapping paper, almost matching the colour of the science and medical department of Starfleet.

"For me?" asked Tuula, as she took it into her hands and began ripping off the wrapping paper, revealing an oak box. "Is it..." As she lifted the lid, she gasped, her eyes lighting up with joy.

"What is it?" asked Jaana.

"It's a bone saw! Authentic, from the American Civil War! It's what they used to perform amputations on the battlefield! See!"

Jaana took one look at the guesome instrument and turned away.

"Isn't it awesome!" exclaimed Tuula before closing up the box again for safekeeping. With one hand, she pushed herself towards Jaana and wrapped her arms around her sister tightly. "Thank you... for everything. I wouldn't even be back here if it weren't for you..."

Ahhhh, thought Eelim. That's where it came from. He smiled. Tuula was scary but then she'd had a frightening life as well. He sighed and then smiled at Tuula. He felt the light coming back.

*********************************

One more flash of white light and Eelim was back in the Galileo sickbay, watching Tuula watch over him.

Eelim stood watching her. She was now talking to his unconscious form. He moved closer to better hear her.

"...I promise, you'll be all right," whispered Tuula, staring at Eelim's unconscious body. "You'll be back in the sauna in no time..." Pausing for a moment, she glanced over at a large case in the corner of the room. "You don't mind if I practice my harp, do you? There have been a few studies that showed that comatose patients respond well to auditory stimuli, especially music..."

Eelim smiled. He again tried to put his hand on her shoulder but this time it worked. His form seemed to shimmer beside her. "Tuula...."

Feeling a hand upon her shoulder, Tuula looked up. "Eelim?" she asked, surprised by his ghostly presence in sickbay. But as soon as they made eye contact, Eelim was whisked away by the prophets again.

This time, it was not to a specific place or time, but to an endless void of white light. In the background, he could hear the sounds of music being played on a harp, a melody that was almost angelic.

"You ask about the one called Tuula..." said one of the prophets, appearing beside him.

"Yet you are much like her..."

"She felt imprisoned in her chair. Your prison is your loneliness..."

"You make your own prisons..."

His mind whirled. This was the strangest thing he'd ever been through. Everyone seemed to disappear and he was alone, feeling lonely, somewhat raw, and broken.

[OFF]

Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

&

Lt. JG Eelim Galan
Security Officer
USS Galileo

RSS Feed