The Non-Corporeal Lightness of Being

by Jamelia

"Of course I'll come," Kathryn Janeway had responded, when Kes asked her former captain to attend the dedication of the new meeting hall of the Ocampan People. Kathryn's pleasure at receiving the invitation was limited, however, by Kes' image in the viewscreen. It was of a very tired and aged Kes - a Kes who was probably reaching the end of her days.

The last several months had been stressful for the Ocampan woman. The migration of her people to their new homes on New Earth was still in full swing, as it would be for at least another year. Kes, as the major architect of the move, had been under tremendous pressure from the outset of the venture, despite her advanced age. She had recently celebrated her eleventh birthday; the life expectancy of the Ocampa was traditionally held to be only nine years.

:::Command . . . I mean, your husband Chakotay is also invited, of course.:::

"I'll make sure his schedule is clear that day. I'm sure he wouldn't want to miss it."

:::Thank you, Captain. Afterwards, we'll have a reception for a smaller group in one of the other meeting places in the complex, for refreshments and a short presentation. Explanation. Maybe it will turn out to be a lecture! I'm not quite sure what I should call it, but I really want you to stay for that, if you feel up to it.:::

"If you want us there, we will be, assuming our pending addition permits me to stay." Kathryn smiled, stroking the expanse of her abdomen, which jiggled from the energetic kicks of the child within, so close now to making his entrance into the world.

Kes' dazzling smile lit her face, making her suddenly appear to be years younger. :::Oh, Captain, I'm so happy for you and for Chakotay. You're going to be wonderful parents.:::

"I'm afraid we're going to be doting, overindulgent parents! That's what usually happens with a late-in-life baby, or so Dr. Zimmerman tells me!"

:::The Doctor has always been one to over-research things! Oh, if he wants to come to 'monitor your condition,' please invite him, too. I've already invited several others from the original Voyager's crew, and I think he will be extremely interested in what I have to say to my people, especially at the gathering after the main event.:::

"I'm sure he'll be only too eager to attend. He never misses a chance to lecture me on something he thinks I need to be doing - when he isn't poking me, prodding me, or waving a medical tricorder up and down my body, clucking to himself. 'Just checking,' he calls it."

Kes laughed. :::I can see him now! Well, I hope your little one decides to stay inside you for the next several days so you can all attend, Captain. See you next week.:::

"Until next week," Kathryn replied, as the transmission ended.

"Social plans for next week? Cutting it a bit close, aren't you?" Chakotay asked, as he walked into their living area, carrying a large box filled with items from their bedroom drawers. He rested the box on the floor next to her desk and knelt beside her chair, placing his hand gently over her abdomen. "Our little Edward Kolopack is exceptionally active today."

"He must be looking forward to Kes' meeting, too," she said softly.

"I guess if the Doctor accompanies us, it will be OK."

"I'm not due for three more weeks, Chakotay, and we will be living on New Earth by next week."

"True. I guess I'd better get back to packing for our move. I'm finding all sorts of things I didn't realize we had."

"That always happens with a move. You don't realize how much you collect until you have to decide whether or not it's worth moving to the next place."

"Too true," Chakotay chuckled. "You still need to finish cleaning out your Ready Room, don't you?"

"I'm almost done with the personal items. Everything official stays for Tuvok's use, of course."

"Don't you dare carry that box of personal items! You know what the Doctor said!"

"I will yield to your superior physical strength when it comes to the picking up of boxes," she retorted. She wasn't the first woman to deliver her first child when she was well into her forties, and she doubted that she'd be the last. Uncharacteristically, she was listening to (most of) her husband's admonishments, not to mention the Doctor's medical advice. This baby was likely to be the only one she would ever bear. She intended to follow Dr. Zimmerman's most officious demands to protect her precious offspring. The Delta Quadrant had claimed enough of her own in the past. Hopefully, this new generation would have a much safer future.

Her maternity leave was to begin tomorrow. When Voyager II and Odyssey returned to the Alpha Quadrant, after the arrival of Columbia and Vanguard, the fourth and fifth transwarp vessels completed at Utopia Planitia, Kathryn would not be on the bridge of Voyager II. She had yet to decide if she would tender her resignation from Starfleet; Kathryn had been offered a job by her friend Ambassador Daeja Thev to serve as an attaché. The job was hers, assuming the position was approved by the admiralty. Dae had already submitted all the paperwork. It was as close to a sure thing as there ever was, as the opening needed to be filled. The position had belonged to Dae herself before her promotion to ambassador. The Andorian assured Kathryn she could manage things until she was ready to return to active duty. "It's not like I haven't already been doing both jobs since we got to the Delta Quadrant!" Dae had confided. "At least now I don't have to deal with my predecessor and his ego!"

The prospect of remaining in the Delta Quadrant delighted Chakotay. He was deeply involved in planning for the forthcoming University of New Earth, which was advancing swiftly. A career path on New Earth already existed for her husband.

Kathryn could not avoid the irony: it might be her destiny to become a permanent resident of the Delta Quadrant after all. She'd kept her promise to her crew. She'd gotten them home first. At least she would not be the one who would have to put up with the ranting of ex-Ambassador Shuba Diaza. He finally would get to take that long vacation on Andor he had told everyone constantly that he wanted. It might turn out to be a permanent vacation, if recent rumors Dae had heard from diplomatic corps contacts turned out to be true. Putting up with Diaza on the trip back to the Alpha Quadrant would be the problem of Captain Geordi La Forge, not Kathryn Janeway.

Poor Geordi!

On Dedication Day, the weather could not be more perfect. The sky was cloudless, the temperature mild. "It's too pretty a day to spend indoors," Kathryn remarked, as she walked with her husband to the place they were to meet the rest of their party.

Angelo Tessoni, the builder and chief designer of the halls to be dedicated on this day, had wanted his wife Tal Celes to be able to come see one of the chief fruits of his labors over the past few months. Tal was even closer to delivering her first child than Kathryn was, and she was extremely grumpy. Tal's pregnancy had already lasted months longer than a typical Bajoran one, thanks to Angelo's human genome.

Since Dr. Mark Zimmerman had insisted upon coming along to "monitor" Kathryn and had demanded site-to-site transport rather than risk a turbulent trip in a shuttle, Tal was able to travel that way, too. The Doctor had refrained from mentioning Chakotay's sad history with flying shuttles, but Kathryn was under no illusions. It was definitely a factor in his recommendation. The flight from the Federation colony's location, where both couples currently lived, to the new Ocampan settlement would last at least two hours. A virtually instantaneous trip via transporter rather than a long shuttle flight suited Kathryn just fine - quite literally "just what the Doctor ordered."

The transporter delivered them to what would soon be the central governmental complex of the Ocampan colony. Angelo was to give them a verbal tour of their surroundings before heading into the hall. He had specified their position on the transporter pad so that, when they arrived, they all faced east.

The new city rested upon a plateau, nestled against the foothills of the Caretaker Range. The name itself was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, yet the Ocampa did wish to acknowledge their Nacene entities. They may have been careless, ruining the environment of their original home world, but at least they were responsible enough to do what they could to help the Ocampa people survive until they were able to travel elsewhere, to a place where they could live and thrive. The peaks of the mountains would still be visible, Angelo assured them, even after the buildings around the square were completed. The city planners had taken care to situate the buildings so as to preserve the views as much as possible.

The mountains themselves were not particularly grand, but several were tall enough for the tops to be bare of trees, revealing the granite from which they were constituted. Green forests clothed the sides of the mountains below the tree line, down to the rivers which rushed through them on their way to the sea.

Angelo pointed towards the mountains. "They've already set aside three large tracts up there for wildlife and nature preserves. One area has a really pretty gorge cutting through a great many layers of rock strata. It's not exactly the Grand Canyon, but the varying colors are beautiful. There's another tract with a series of caverns laced through the lower reaches of the mountains. They took a survey during the planning stages, and just about every one of the responses mentioned they should commemorate their lives beneath the surface in some way. Kes told me the presence of the caves was one of the main reasons they chose this region for their settlement. They also liked that the area is fairly close to an estuary that leads to the sea. The Ocampa just love the water. You should see the construction crews when it rains. They don't stop working; they make excuses to go on errands to other worksites so they can walk around in the rain. They practically dance in it."

"They'll get tired of that soon enough," Dr. Zimmerman sniffed.

"I don't know if the generation born on Ocampa will ever take surface water for granted," Chakotay said thoughtfully. "When I was working with Mendeley and the rest of his team cataloguing artifacts, he mentioned that the lack of sufficient water for their growing population had worried everyone before Kes returned with her news about New Earth."

"I heard that from my work crews, too," Angelo replied. "It influenced the design of all of the buildings."

"Speaking of the artifacts, where are the natural history and art museums going to be located?" asked Chakotay.

"Right in front of you, on the east side of the square. We've only got the foundation for the first one laid out so far. Other buildings have a higher priority. As soon as we've finished at least one of the governmental buildings on the north and south sides of the square, we'll tackle the first museum building. The central library and archives will be on that side, too."

"Speaking of finished buildings, can we go into the one you've already finished, Angelo? I see more people arriving for this event, and my feet are starting to hurt," Tal complained.

"Of course, my dear. Turn around now for your first view of Martis-Benaren Memorial Hall."

The group obeyed Angelo, collectively gasping in appreciation. At the summit of a half-dozen broad steps, almost a meter deep and more like ledges than stairs, soared the main building. White duroplast walls sparkled subtly in the sunlight as they curved upwards to meet at the apex of the roofline.

"Angelo, it's beautiful!" Tal murmured, as the group stood for a while to examine and admire Angelo's handiwork.

"It looks like a huge, overturned rowboat, resting on the shoreline," Chakotay observed.

"That's the look we were going for. They wanted a shape to remind them of the grand height of the main caverns beneath Ocampa, but with plenty of natural light streaming inside through large windows," Angelo said. "Since their original world was so dry, I thought they'd appreciate something that looked like a boat which could travel on the rivers and oceans their people had lost, but now had found again. I came up with that idea even before I heard them talking about boats floating on the waters of their new home. They went wild when I mentioned the concept, so, here it is."

"I can understand the appeal. It's not an accident they wanted to locate their colony along the shoreline of the sea. It's lovely. I must say, Angelo, " Kathryn said, "you have one thing necessary in a great architect: vision."

"I can't claim to be anything other than a builder," Angelo demurred, "I had plenty of help from some very skilled Vidiian architects. We also ran simulations with our Starfleet engineering staff to double check stresses and variances and such. A lot of the materials are starship grade. This building should stand here for a very long time, no matter what sort of weather New Earth throws at it."

"You may have had assistance with the technical end, but, to echo our captain, it is your artistic vision which makes this building memorable."

As he spoke, the Doctor held out his right arm for Kathryn while Chakotay offered her his left. Kathryn took hold of both of their arms and allowed the two of them to all but carry her up the stairway. Independence, for once, was of lesser importance than securely climbing the steps. She was well aware the Doctor could have insisted they transport up to the top step. It was a good thing he hadn't thought of it. If he had, she would have missed the full impact of the building as viewed from the center of the plaza, not to mention the view of the mountains and foothills Angelo had just showed them.

Angelo held out his arm to support his wife Tal Celes as they followed the others up the stairway. "You have no need to be at all concerned today, Tal," Dr. Mark Zimmerman reassured her. "I am just as prepared to assist with an emergency Bajoran delivery as I am to succor Captain Janeway, if the need should arise."

"Thank you, Doctor Mark. I'm sure that won't be necessary," Celes said. She tugged on her husband's arm to stop him from ascending the last step and turned to him, whispering, "If anything happens, please have me transported back to the colony infirmary, Angelo. Please?"

"I'll try," Angelo answered, "but you know how he can get."

Tal groaned in reply.

When they reached the top of the stairs, Angelo said, "If you think the hall looks good from the outside, wait until you see the inside."

"Martis-Benaren Memorial Hall." Dr. Mark read the name carved above the door, first in Ocampan script, repeated in Federation Standard to the left, and in Vidiian on the right side of the doorway. "It's named in honor of Kes' parents, isn't it?"

"Yes," Angelo answered. "The Ocampa wanted to name it after her, but Kes told them she thought her parents' names would sound better."

Kathryn had to agree. While Kes Hall would be an appropriate honor for her friend, that name certainly didn't have any aesthetic flair. Her parents' names did. Before she could comment, however, they entered the doorway. When her eyes took in the sight before her, all Kathryn could say was, "Ah!"

"You weren't kidding about the interior of this place," Chakotay said for her.

From within, a detail that was not very noticeable from the outside was hard to miss. Every third panel, from front to back, was constructed of transparent aluminum instead of the duraplast of the structural panels. The top third of every transparent panel was embedded with small shapes, each tinted in a different color, just below where the panel joined the central beam of the roofline. At the very top, the shapes were geometric and formed a ceiling of sorts, although the only line of demarcation was the change in color. The center of each panel, however, bore the colorful image of an animal. As the sunlight filtered through, those sitting in the seats below were splashed with alternating patterns of clear sunlight, shade from the outline of the figures, and patches of vivid color. While the shape of the panels created a building reminiscent of the Sydney Opera House on Earth, the overall effect more strongly reminded Kathryn of the grand cathedrals of Europe, with their stunning windows of stained glass.

Chakotay pointed to the images. "Angelo, those are the artifact animals, right?"

"Yes," Angelo replied. "You won't see any of them here on New Earth. Each design was taken from one of the works of art you helped catalog from that hidden closet in the caverns. They don't even know the names of most of the animals, do they, Chakotay?"

"The teams are working on that. They hope they'll be able to figure out most of them eventually from the literature. They've also uncovered a lot of previously unknown written records from before 'cavern time,' as they've started to call their underground exile. It's amazing what people find when they're packing for a move."

"It's breathtaking," Kathryn said. "Those windows look almost like illuminated manuscripts on glass instead of parchment."

Celes wordlessly squeezed her husband's hand; her face glowing with pride at her husband's achievement.

"Well, well, Mr. Tessoni, this is quite a lovely hall, I must agree," Dr. Zimmerman said approvingly. "How are the acoustics? With the shape of the interior, I suspect this would be an excellent venue for musical performances."

"Yes, Doctor. We had the acoustics checked out by the engineers, and they're great in here. This hall will be used for concerts, dramatic performances - for many purposes, whenever a large group of Ocampa need a place to meet," Angelo confirmed.

A number of invitees were entering the hall. Ushers directed the two couples and Dr. Zimmerman down the central aisle to the front, where they were placed in the third row, next to Neelix and his wife Sarexa, the Colony and Talaxian Ambassadors, respectively, and Captain Jixtan. An assortment of dignitaries from the Delta Quadrant surrounded them. A few minutes later, Captain La Forge, Lieutenant Commander Kim, Acting Captain Tuvok and his wife T'Pel, Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres were seated in the row directly in back of them. "Dignitary Row, I see," Tom remarked. "It's good to know the architect."

"We're friends of Kes, Tom. I think that probably has more to do with it," B'Elanna noted.