Planet of Silence
Chapters Twenty-nine and Thirty
Chapter Twenty-nine
The three children were now two years old. Lydia was signing very well for her age and Laura was talking short sentences. Linda on the other hand had taken up the habit of biting and throwing more temper tantrums than most two year olds.
Today, the children were playing somewhat quietly on the floor in the LaForges' quarters as Deanna discussed Linda with Mriana. Every now and then a hand clap from signing or a soft coo would come from Lydia or Laura. Linda toddled around aimlessly and sometimes fitfully for the toys.
"Mriana, take her to Betazed and have her checked out." Deanna insisted telepathically.
"Deanna, she's just a frustrated two year old, that's all." Mriana sent back, even though she was starting to realize this was not quite true.
"Mriana, you can't stand there and tell me you haven't heard anything in your mind from this child."
"Just strange quirks. That's all. It could happen to almost anyone with our genes."
"Yes, but it's not suppose to be until puberty. You know this."
"Well, Deanna, have you ever thought, that we maybe picking up on her thoughts and not the other way around?"
"She can't form words if she has never heard them."
"What? Aunt Deanna doesn't thought send to her niece?" Mriana said sarcastically.
Deanna frowned and rolled her eyes. "Yes, of course I do."
"See? She has heard words. At least in her mind."
Suddenly, there was a sharp shrill "Mine!" in their minds and a blood curdling scream from Lydia.
Deanna and Mriana briefly covered their ears, even though the sound that was most painful came from within their minds. When they recovered they looked towards the three children.
Lydia had an injured finger. It was not a deep wound, but enough to draw blood. She was still crying when the two women rushed over to them.
"What happened?" Mriana signed and said aloud. She spoke for Laura's benefit.
"Me she bite." Lydia signed.
"Linda mean again." Laura stated allowed.
"Troi to Doctor Crusher."
*Crusher here.*
"We have a minor injury in the LaForge quarters. Can you come down and take a look at Lydia?"
*I'll be right there.*
"Thank you. Troi out." Then Deanna turned to Mriana and sent, "Beverly is on her way."
"Thank you, but she'll be alright." Mriana sent back as she cradled the sobbing Lydia.
"Mriana, you know as well as I do, Linda should not have been able to do that at her age."
"Do what? Bite? All children go through a biting spell."
"No. You know what I mean. Thought send. You have to take her to Betazed."
"And do what? Leave her there? Institutionalized for the rest of her life?"
"Mriana, you can't let her go on this way!"
"She'll be fine. It's just a coincidence."
"No, it's not." Deanna insisted. "Look at her."
Laura was in the corner clutching her prized possession she had snatched from Lydia with a smug look on her face.
"Face it, Mriana. You can't let her go on this way."
Doctor Crusher entered and quickly assist the situation. Then she went over to Lydia and Mriana to look at Lydia's finger.
"There." Beverly soothed with a sympathetic smile. Once she had laid the dermal regenerator aside, she signed to Lydia, "Should feel better soon."
"She'll be fine." Mriana insisted as she looked sadly at her daughter. "She has to be."
"Somehow, I don't think you really believe that."
Beverly knew there was a silent conversation going on between the two Betazoid women. "Excuse me." She signed and said aloud. "What happened?"
"It seems Linda bit Lydia over a toy." Deanna informed her.
"Mriana." Beverly said as she faced her. "You have to do something about her. This isn't the first time she has done this to other children. She can't stay in the nursery because of it. She needs more than I, you, or Geordi can give her. We've done the scans and it looks as though her meta-cortex is already active. There's nothing I can do. I've never had to deal with this condition before."
A tear rolled down Mriana's eye as she looked at her daughter. "But she's so little. I can't abandon her."
"You wouldn't be abandoning her." Beverly insisted as she touched Mriana's arm to draw her attention back to her. "You'd be getting her help that she needs. There was once a story, a true story, about a girl who was deaf and blind. She was human, but just the same, the right person helped her to adjust to being deaf and blind. Linda's case is somewhat different, but she needs the right people to help her and that's on Betazed. Not here."
"No. The specialists on Betazed would just institutionalize her. That's all we have for Betazoids who develop telepathic abilities before puberty."
"What she means is, most Betazoids who develop telepathy before they are ready never learn to function in society." Deanna informed Beverly.
"I know the condition and I know the procedures of treatment." Beverly retorted. "I just don't know how to treat it. My question is, how did a child who is only one-forth Betazoid develop such a skill in the first place?"
Deanna shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, but it is possible. Remotely possible, but still possible."
Mriana watched Linda toddle around the room again with her toy. The child was seemingly in her own world until she started banging her head on the floor and screaming.
Beverly rushed over to the child and tried to prevent the child from hurting herself. "Get me some cushions off the couch! Hurry! I can't hold her much longer!"
"AW!" Linda screamed outwardly. However, in her mind, she screamed, "Stop! Quiet! Stop! No talk!"
Deanna and Mriana brought the cushions over to Beverly and the fitful child. They tried hard to mentally block the screams of the little girl.
"Mriana, take her to Betazed!" Deanna pleaded silently as she placed a cushion in front of Beverly and Linda. Only to have it thrown towards her. "I'll go with you if you want, just take her, please!"
"Alright. I'll talk to Geordi and see if we can get a leave of absence to go to Betazed."
"Mriana, just agreed to take her." Deanna informed Beverly as the cushion Mriana tried to lay down in front of Linda was tossed aside violently.
"AW! AW!" Linda screamed as she silently screamed into Deanna and Mriana's minds. "QUIET! STOP IT!"
Mriana sighed as she tried to block out the child's mental screams. Then exhaustedly she said aloud, "You're right. We can't do this anymore."
That evening, Geordi walked into their quarters. Linda was violently screaming again, but it was begining to seem like it had been all day she had been screaming. At least to Mriana. She could not hear the verbal screams from her daughter, but she could sense the child's mental screams and see her mouth wide open with a scream frequently.
Mriana was begining to be worn out by the daily tantrums that occurred many times a day. It was starting to show on her also. Nothing she or Geordi did averted the tantrums. Discipline, consequences, nothing worked. Linda would never stay in the corner either during these tantrums and to try and restrain her took attention away from the others. The constant trying to keep the child under control was also taking it's toll on the rest of the family.
Geordi came up behind Mriana and touched her on the shoulder. Mriana released the angry child and turned around to him. She then threw her arms around him and sobbed.
After a few moments, he gently pushed her back to sign to her. "Mriana, I can't handle this anymore. We have to do something about Linda. This screaming is getting old. These several times a day and sometimes all day long tantrums are getting old."
"I want to take her to Betazed." Mriana blurted aloud.
Geordi was momentarily stunned. "Are you sure that is what you want to do?"
"No, but we as a family can't continue like this." She stated in sign. "We can't do this anymore. There's something out of the ordinary with Linda and I'm not the only one who realizes this. Deanna and Beverly know too. It's not just me."
Geordi pulled her close again and hugged her. Then mentally he said, "I know."
Mriana heard his thought, but said nothing.
As they held each other, Geordi felt as though he were being deafened by the shouts and screams of Linda. He felt like Linda's problems were partly his fault, even though he knew he could not help the fact he carried a gene for blindness. Just as he knew Mriana could not help that some of her genes had mutated to cause deafness.
They finally released each other and then Geordi signed to Mriana once again. "We need to get the children to bed."
"Why bother? Linda will probably be up all night screaming for everyone to be quiet, like every other night."
"She says what? She can't talk."
Mriana shook her head and signed. "No, she says it telepathically. It's one of the things that tipped Deanna and me off. She can sense people's thoughts. Beverly even said her meta-cortex is highly developed for her age."
"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" Geordi signed in frustration.
"I thought you understood that when Beverly explained the results of the scan."
Geordi shook his head. Then his demeanor soften. "I guess I should have or at least asked more questions. She's telepathic at her age? She's not even full Betazoid!"
"We're not really sure, but it appears that way." Mriana informed him. "We don't understand it either."
Geordi sighed. "I'll ask the captain for a leave of absence tomorrow morning. We'll ask Deanna to watch Lydia and Laura."
Mriana shook her head. "Deanna wants to come with us."
"Then who's going to watch Lydia and Laura?" He asked worriedly.
"Beverly?" Mriana inquired. "I could ask her tomorrow."
"I don't know. I hate to put her in that position."
"She parented before. It's not like she doesn't have experience."
"I know, but she's never watched children like ours."
"And what makes them so different that Beverly can't take care of them?" Mriana asked irritatedly.
"Lydia is deaf and Laura is blind."
"So? Beverly can sign to Lydia and Laura can hear Beverly. What trouble could she have really?"
"OK, but I have one question."
"Yes?" Mriana said allowed as she picked Lydia up from the play mat on the floor to carry her to bed.
Geordi started to pick Laura up and then quickly remembered he could not talk to Mriana that way. He placed her gently back on the mat and followed Mriana to the children's room.
"Where does this put us with getting Laura a VISOR in the very near future, like we had planned?" Geordi signed using his first two fingers in a V position and dragged them acrossed his eyes.
"We can still get her the VISOR. That shouldn't change." Mriana then laid Lydia down and kissed her good night.
Geordi did the same and then they went back to get Laura and the upset Linda.
"I don't know. We'll have to see how many credits this trip and all puts us back."
"Puts us back?" Mriana signed back to him.
Geordi realised that he had signed a figure of speech word for word. Which was a big mistake when signing. "Um, I'm sorry. I used a hearing figure of speech."
"Oh." She said as she lifted Laura.
Geordi picked up the again screaming and kicking Linda. "This has to stop."
"Well, if we stopped talking and thinking, she'll stop." Mriana replied. "I find that helps some, but not completely. She still has problems with the crew members outside our quarters."
"OW!" Geordi shouted as a foot landed squarely in a most sensitive place. He almost dropped Linda as he tried to keep from bending over in pain.
"You alright, Imzadi?" She could sense his pain as she put Laura down to take Linda from him.
"I get kicked between the legs and you ask if I'm alright?" Geordi shrieked, still very much in pain. "We're going to Betazed tomorrow."
"But the captain." She had to read his lips, because he was trying hard to comfort his throbbing manhood.
"Right now, the captain be damned." Geordi signed with one hand as he held himself with the other. He was still very much in pain.
"You don't mean that, Geordi. You're just hurting."
Geordi was slowly recovering. "I'd beat her butt if I thought it would help."
"Well, it won't, unfortunately or I would have done it myself."
"Well." Geordi began as he started to slowly stand erect. "Let's just get them to bed for tonight and deal with going to Betazed tomorrow."
Mriana nodded her head as she went to get Linda, again. Geordi picked up his very concerned Laura.
"Daddy OK?"
Geordi kissed her forehead. "Yes, Daddy's OK."
He laid her down in her bed and said good night to her. Then went to help his wife with their other daughter.
Chapter Thirty
The next morning Mriana and Geordi were heading to the shuttle bay to depart to Betazed with Linda, who was again throwing another tantrum. Both Mriana and Geordi were getting very tired and worn out by her behaviour.
Along the way they met both Deanna and Will. "Oh, she is not a happy camper again today." Will stated.
Geordi turned around to see who was talking. Mriana followed his motion and turned also.
"Will." Mriana said aloud with surprise. "Come to see us off?"
"Actually." Will began. "I'm also going with you."
"So, you'll both be joining us?" Geordi asked aloud and in sign.
"Yes." Deanna and Will said in unison.
"So, I assume you have already dropped Lydia and Laura off with Beverly?" Will asked.
"Yes, Sir." Geordi replied. "We have."
"Geordi, we're not on duty." Will stated. "You don't have to be so formal."
"I'm sorry, Sir. It's just habit." Geordi stated.
"I do hope for all our sakes." Mriana began aloud. "That Linda takes a nap on the way."
"NO NAP!" Linda screamed mentally into Mriana and Deanna's minds.
Mriana and Deanna grabbed their ears even though the sound was coming from within their minds and not from without. Even so, the pain of her scream was very unbearable to them.
When the pain subsided the party of five continued on to the Shuttlebay.
It was a long and tiring trip for the adults, but they finally made it to Betazed in a week's time from where the Enterprise was located. To add to the situation, Linda's tantrums seemed to have never ceased. She was constantly upset about something and screaming almost constantly. She threw her toys and mentally screamed into her mother and aunt's head from time to time.
No one, not even the two psychologist from Betazed knew what to do with the obnoxious child. Nothing in their training prepared them for a toddler with inate telepathic abilities.
Now they were at Breanna's home, daughter of the Sixth House of Betazed. Lwaxana was also there and both were making a fuss over the child, negatively and positively.
Grabbing their heads for the umpteenth time, Lwaxana finally said, "She's definitely telepathic. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't sensed the thoughts that she is definitely projecting."
"This is not good, Darling." Breanna sent to her daughter Mriana.
"Well, we see the specialist soon. There's still a chance that it's not early on set telepathy." Mriana replied aloud.
"No use denying it, Dear. The child is definitely telepathic." Lwaxana sent.
"STOP TALKING!" The child shouted into their minds again.
"And very rude!" Lwaxana said indignantly aloud.
Mriana was begining to really worry again. She had hoped Deanna was wrong about her daughter and other Betazoids would say that she was. Now it looked like she would have to leave her daughter in the care of others, in hopes that one day she would recover.
"There's no recovering from it, Darling." Breanna sent. "There's no cure yet either. It's unbelievable, but you may have to concede the fact the she maybe institutionalized for the rest of her life, unless we figure out a way to intergrate them into society."
"Mother, please! This is my daughter you are talking about, not some mentally ill person." Mriana sent back tearfully.
"Your mother is right." Lwaxana affirmed.
"Well, the appointment is in an hour." Deanna said trying to change the subject. "We'll just have to wait and see what happens."
An hour later the six adults were sitting in a waiting room. A Betazoid in the specialty of Betazoid Emotional Behaviour and Well Being took the screaming Linda back for evaluation.
Mriana sat in the waiting room and cried. Her mother and aunt had continued to reaffirm the worst that Deanna had stated. In her heart she knew something was wrong with her child. She just did not want it to be the worse of possibilities and to her and the rest of Betazoid society, Early Onset Telepathy was the worst thing that could happen to a child, for they did not know how to handle or adjust to the ability as a child in puberty did. As a general rule, most stayed in institutions for the rest of their lives.
Geordi tried his best to comfort her, but she insisted he had no idea how bad the situation could be. Deanna tried to calm them both, but Mriana would not be consoled.
Five hours later, the Betazoid man returned to talk to them. "I've decided it would be best to talk to you out here where she will not be as likely to sense our thoughts." He sent.
"So, she can sense thoughts?" Mriana sent back to him.
"Unfortunately, yes." He sent.
"I knew it! See, Dear, we were not wrong." Lwaxana said arrogantly.
"Would someone mind filling me in on what is going on?" Geordi asked.
The man sighed loudly. "It seems your daughter, although very out of the ordinary for someone who is a quarter Betazoid, is telepathic. A trait the usually does not happen until puberty."
"I know the development of Betazoid telepathy." Geordi informed. "What I don't understand is, how? I mean, for my wife's and my daughter? I'm Human."
"We know, Sir." The man stated as though that was a lessor trait.
Geordi was not pleased by his attitude. "And she's half Betazoid."
"Well, there are a number of factors. Given the hereditary strength of Mriana's telepathy in her family tree and the combination of blindness and deafness, it is so far hypothesised that Linda aquired the trait due to that. We don't really know. We'd like to keep her here for an extended stay to test her further and if you all would not mind, we'd like to run some tests on the mother, father, and grandmother."
"Whatever for? You know I'm as strong of a telepath as Lwaxana, if not stronger." Breanna stated.
"I wouldn't say stronger." Lwaxana replied insulted.
"Well, I am!" Breanna stated.
"Humph! I can sense my daughter galaxies away."
"That's nothing. I can sense whomever I want, family and non-family on the other side of the planet or a galaxy away if I wanted!"
"Really!" Lwaxana said with her nose arrogantly up in the air.
"Ladies!" Will introjected. "We really don't have time for family rivalry."
"She's only family by marriage!" Lwaxana informed. "She, my best friend, married my husband's brother after I married Ian!"
"Please!" Breanna exclaimed.
"If you're best friends, then is it really worth this argument right now?"
The two women looked at each other. Then remorsefully and in unison they said, "No."
When everyone was quiet, the man continued. "The three of you will not have to stay here. We can set up an appointment in two days. It will take only a few hours."
"Why two days?" Geordi asked.
"We need time to get a doctor here that knows the human brain very well." He informed them. "You see, our specialty does not lie in human mental health. We have no idea of the intricacies of the Human mind. So, we need someone who does."
"Doctor Crusher is only a few days away." Will informed.
"Yes, but she's watching Laura and Lydia." Geordi added.
"Who are they?" The man asked.
"Our other daughters. They're triplets." Geordi told him.
"Triplets? This is perfect!" He exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, but we did not catch your name." Deanna asked.
"Oh, yes." He said. "Doctor Jehan Senon. As I was saying, we can have Doctor Crusher come with your other two girls and run tests on them too. Are they also blind and deaf?"
"No." Geordi informed, not sure if he liked the course of events that were transpiring. "One's deaf and the other is blind."
"So, they're not identical?"
"Yes, they are." Deanna informed. "Well, that is they look alike, but they just don't have the same problems."
Mriana began gesturing and thought sending. "What's happening? Will someone either send to me telepathically or sign what is being said?"
Senon stared at Mriana. "I'm deaf." She sent to him.
Puzzled he sent back, "I see."
"No you don't see. If you did you would be talking to me just as you do my husband."
"That's not what I meant, Mrs. LaForge."
"I know, but it's not the same."
"So, how did you become deaf? Where you born that way?"
"No."
"Doctor, why don't we see if Doctor Crusher can come and then you can get all the information you need about Linda's parents then." Deanna interrupted.
"Yes. It will probably be easier that way. Is she the family doctor?"
"Yes." Geordi, Will and Deanna answered.
"No." Breanna replied.
"She's our doctor." Geordi informed.
"Well, we'll see if she can come and bring your other daughters and then go from there." Sonen stated. "You can stay on Betazed for a while, can't you?"
"We'll see what we can do." Geordi replied. "Starfleet and all, you know."
"Yes. Yes. I understand. They may need you back on the Enterprise. We'll see what we can do." Sonen replied. "Well, we'll make arrangements for your daughter's stay here and see all of you in a few days."
They made arrangements for Linda to stay at the institute and for Beverly to arrive on Betazed in a few days. Then the six adults left. On the way out Geordi was a little disgruntled.
"I feel like a Human guinea pig now!" He stated.
Mriana rubbed his upper arm in sympathy. "It'll be alright, Imzadi." She sent to him.