Chapter 121. Visiting Buddha Bodhisattva
That day, the fiery Martian sunlight shone on the planet's surface. The air shimmers and the scorching temperatures are sweat-inducing, at least for humans. However, for Martians, this kind of high temperature is something they are accustomed to, and they remain as solemn and composed as usual.
Jeffrey pressed the doorbell. The doorbell had an ancient handle made of a piece of iron. He struck the corresponding part of the metal hard. Such knocking sounds must have been heard throughout the house. This is certainly a very obvious way for people to draw attention to themselves.
After only a few moments, the door opened, and an older Martian with gray hair looked at him. His skin was covered with wrinkles and his eyes were blurred. Still, he stood erect, embodying the fortitude and gravitas inherent in the Martian. He looked at Jeffrey indifferently, as if waiting for him to explain his purpose. Despite his emotional stability, there seemed to be a hint of rejection on his face when he saw Jeffrey in his bright red Starfleet uniform. Among Martians, joining the fleet was still considered unpopular until a few years ago. And today's older generation of Martians still seem to insist on this, even though it is not very logical.
"My name is Jeffrey, and I have an appointment with the owner of the house," he explained his purpose. He had arranged this visit before.
The old man nodded slightly and moved out of the way. He had of course been informed of the visitor's arrival, after all he was responsible for such matters as housekeeper. However, the homeowner was no longer able to take care of herself because she was too old to care for herself on her own. Still, she decided to live a secluded life here, far away from the nearest city. She lives a secluded life, but thanks to modern technology, her life is not as harsh as it was centuries ago.
"I will inform the master," said the old man, and led Jeffrey into the living room of the house. "Please wait here."
Jeffrey nodded briefly and stopped in the middle of the room. When he's alone, his eyes wander. The decoration of this room is not as austere as is usual for Martians. The curtains cover the windows so that the dazzling sunlight does not shine in so strongly. While there are more effective technical solutions, there doesn't seem to be much logical reason for using curtains.
In the cupboard on the wall, Jeffrey found some knick-knacks. These are the memories collected by the person who lives here, recording her long life memories. Jeffrey was surprised because memorabilia is often collected out of sentimentality. And sentimentality is something Martians are as good at controlling as any other emotion. So why does this resident still collect these?
His eyes rested on a small hologram that sat in a compartment in the cupboard. He came closer to take a closer look. The photo shows a group of people, including a Denobrian and a Martian woman. The men all wore blue uniforms, which fell out of use nearly 80 years ago. The Denobrans wear doctor's white coats, while the Martian women wear tight-fitting androgynous onesies. Jeffrey recognized the figure among the group of people as Jolyon Nathan Archer, the president of the Federation at the end of the 22nd century. In this photo, he may still be just a captain.
"This picture is from a time long ago. From another life, almost," a fragile voice said behind him.
Jeffrey turned around and saw an old woman standing in the doorway. Her face has become sunken and her hair is sparse and reaches shoulder length. She was thin and leaning on a cane. Although her eyes were a little dim now, she still stared at him with a kind of see-through power. And there was something else in her gaze. wisdom. In her nearly two hundred years of life, she accumulated a lot of knowledge and experience. Her life experience was rich and colorful, and she witnessed important turning points in history. She was the one he was here to see.
"I assume the Martian woman in the photo is you," Jeffrey said.
"Yes." A smile seemed to appear on her lips. Then she approached slowly. "Yes, that was me. A long time ago, when I was in Starfleet. This was before the Federation." She came closer, but instead of looking at her guest, she stared at the picture with a look that seemed Full of nostalgia.
"This photo was taken while you were serving on the Enterprise," Jeffrey said. "When you helped humanity as they stepped out into the universe."
She looked up at him. She was a head shorter than Jeffrey, but he could feel her presence. "Yes, I helped them, even though they may not have thought so at the time." She did smile slightly this time. "They're like kids. They need some help."
"That hasn't changed," Jeffrey said seriously.
"Yes, that's true. But they ended up doing a great job. They had a positive impact on the quadrant. Please take a seat." She gestured enthusiastically to the chairs at the table. "Would you like anything to drink?"
Jeffrey politely declined and sat down. Her master slowly sat down as well.
"What exactly do you want to ask me?" she asked bluntly.
Jeffrey explained to Buddhadhibo why he came, and he wanted to know about her experience with Cindy. He told her that the Republic had made contact with Cindy and had made extremely interesting discoveries. He hopes to learn more about this species from her, as she is the only one alive who has ever had contact with this species.
Buddhadhibo nodded slowly. "You'd think there would be more contact with Cindy."
"That's the logical conclusion," Jeffrey confirmed.
"However, not everything has to be logical."
Jeffrey raised his right eyebrow. For a Martian, Buddhadhibo displayed a surprising amount of emotion. He hadn't seen this in the old files on her before. Her mental discipline was a little different than he expected.
"I can tell you about that, if you want. About Cindy. However, all the information is already in the official records."
Jeffrey remained silent, listening to her story. In her wizened voice, she recounted the Enterprise's mission and their arduous journey to find Cindy. The crew is under time pressure as they must stop Cindy before she destroys the planet. She recounts their first encounter with the Plant Sindi, who seemed very open to sound arguments. It also tells about Cindy, a humanoid who closely resembles humans and has similar emotions and illogical behavior. She also mentions the mysterious aquatic Cindy, the aggressive crawling Cindy, and the insect Cindy. She seemed to have no more information to offer, however, as the Enterprise's crew kept very detailed records of everything at the time. Still, Jeffrey was captivated by hearing her story. After all, the events she described occurred in a time before he was born, when there was no Federation and the Martians still had their own space fleet. The races in this quadrant still grapple alone with the dangers of the universe.
Through her narration, she corroborated the information that Captain Jory Archer managed to destroy the Sindy weapon at the last moment, rendering it unable to destroy the Earth. She also had great respect for Captain Archer. Jeffrey almost felt as though Buddhadhibo was still immersed in that era. It seemed like it was the best time of her life.
"I never understood why I never had more contact with Cindy after that. It just doesn't make sense," she concluded her account. "They avoided contact with the outside world, hoping to remain independent. Eventually, Starfleet realized this and stopped bothering Cindy. Archer once said that in all his years of interstellar travel, he had never encountered a person who fascinated him so much. A species that both fascinated and frightened him.”
"Based on your experience, how would you evaluate Cindy?" That was the question he really wanted to find out. Other information he could find from official records.
She looked at him for a moment, then replied, "Cindy is an intelligent race. Like all intelligent races, they just want to live an ordinary life, and most want peace. But in this race, there are also Some hardliners who take their aggressive emotions to extremes and affect an entire race. In human terms: Cindy is not a monster."
Jeffrey raised his right eyebrow slightly, but did not speak. If he didn't know he was dealing with a Martian, he might have thought he was an ordinary human. She seems to have absorbed some human traits.
"Have you had any other experiences with Cindy?" she asked.
"I don't think my brief encounter with this species is sufficient to draw conclusions from their behavior," he replied calmly.
"And what do you think?" she asked again.
Jeffrey looked at her confused. "Beliefs don't matter at this point. Only facts can be analyzed."
She nodded considerately. "Yes, of course." She paused, then changed the subject. "You served on a Starfleet ship."
"That's true," he confirmed the obvious.
"What do you think of humans? Have they evolved?"
Jeffrey thought for a moment. Just for a moment. "Human beings are emotionally rich and they let their emotions flow freely and sometimes express them wildly. They don't seem to realize the impact this has on those around them. This can be puzzling at times. More discipline and logic is to be expected. As for whether they There was some development, I can't tell from personal experience. But based on the historical record, it can be seen that they developed spiritually and morally."
A faint smile appeared at the corner of Fodhibo's mouth. "A very Vulcan answer."
Jeffrey was surprised, though it was only the kind of surprise a Martian could see on his face. Is there any other answer he should have given?
"This may sound surprising to you, but take the advice of an old man. Not everything in life revolves around logic. Sometimes it's logical to let go of logic, and it's reasonable to have some happiness now and then."
Jeffrey didn't know what to respond. It's obvious that Buddhadhibo no longer fully possesses her psychic abilities. Either because of old age or because of some disease. Affection syndromes are not uncommon in aging Martians and can lead to emotional loss of control. But he did not know whether Buddhadhibo suffered from this disease. He definitely didn't want to sound rude, so he simply nodded.
It would have been a fitting moment to say goodbye. But he didn't leave. Instead, he continued to observe her. "Can I ask you a personal question?" he asked.
"Of course." She promised him.
"Why do you live here? So far away from the city?" For him, no logical reason was found. While many Martians enjoy some peace and quiet, total seclusion here is somewhat unusual.
"It's a long story," Buddhadhibo began, then fell silent for a moment. Since Jeffrey didn't pressure her to speak, he just waited until she was ready to continue. “I can meditate better in silence, which helps me stay clear-headed.”
Jeffrey thinks this is an understandable explanation. As he was about to express his thanks, she continued, "Besides, my company was difficult for the other Martians. They always thought that I had contracted a disease that needed to be checked and treated. They could not accept that I was with the others. different."
"How did I do it?" she explained. "Emotions, Jeffrey. I've been living with emotions, almost all my life."
Jeffrey hadn't expected her to say that, and he raised his right eyebrow in surprise. "Interesting." He had nothing to say to that.
"Only my doctors and loyal family know this." She seemed to want to silence him with these words rather than say them outright.
"Can I ask how it happened?" Jeffrey knew that there were some minority groups trying to rediscover emotions, but they were just a small group of Vulcans, not a real movement. And they usually leave Mars because they no longer feel comfortable here. But it seems unlikely for Buddhadhibo to belong to such a group.
She sighed softly. "This goes back to my time on the Enterprise. At that time, I was exposed to a substance called Alloy D. It was a metal that could protect people from the random expansion of warp space. .However, it is toxic to Martians. Unfortunately, it acts like a drug. I became addicted to it and was controlled by the substance for a period of time. This caused ongoing Damage. Damaged synaptic connections in my brain. I experience very intense emotional outbursts at times that would be extreme even in human terms."
Her voice trembled for a moment as she recalled these events. Apparently, she doesn't like the memories. After all, the event changed her life and took away any career opportunities she might have had. "After overcoming the addiction to Alloy D, the synaptic channels slowly began to recover. However, they never fully recovered. I could never fully control my emotions. At first, it was very confusing and scary, but then Over time, I learned how to deal with it. I must admit, it was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me. Because being able to feel emotions changed my perspective on a lot of things. Life is not all about logic. I This has never been revealed to anyone. Now you know my secret, why I have to live here. Our people have an understanding of elderly Martians suffering from affective syndrome. But for still living in the moment and feeling People who feel emotions, they don’t understand.”
Jeffrey thought this made sense. Emotions are not suited to Martian life. They destroy discipline and a known way of life. He knew that half-Martians needed more discipline to be accepted as Martians. Buddhadhibo may have been in a similar situation because of her disease, which is quite unique. It's surprising that she didn't choose to spend the rest of her life among a more emotional species like humans. Instead, she chose to spend half her life in voluntary isolation here.
"Thank you for your trust," Jeffrey said before saying goodbye. It was time for him to return to his research on Cindy. He raised his hands in a V-shape greeting. "May you live long and have peace," he said as a typical greeting.
She returned the greeting, then had a twinkle in her eye. "Good luck," she added. “Take care of those around you.”
