Wake Up Call

"Good morning, Lady Nyota Uhura, of New Vulcan," a voice came through on a transmission, which caused the elderly human woman to stir in her bed. She had been awake for several moments, but was having some trouble focusing her mind. She arose, with difficulty, as the woman on the projection screen of the transmission continued to speak, "If I do not look familiar to you, please look at the nightstand next to your bed. There is a device called a mirror. I hope that you can remember what one is." The old woman picked up the mirror – of course she could remember what a mirror is! What kind of a comment was that? She looked at the mirror and startled a bit. The woman on the transmission was her, and yet, she could not remember making such a transmission.

The transmission Uhura said, "Don't be alarmed. I will explain. In the year of 2329, I turned ninety, and a well trusted doctor friend of mine discovered through a scan that I was suffering from memory loss, a rare mental disease which sometimes occurs in humans, though scarcely. I had been having trouble remembering little things, although I could remember bigger things. Yet, my doctor told me that eventually, I could forget even my own name." Nyota gasped when she heard this and began to look around the room, suddenly realizing that she had no idea where she was. She nearly panicked, but logically concluded that if there was a transmission of herself playing that these were probably her own quarters.

Uhura kept speaking to her, "By the time that I begin to watch this transmission, I don't know how badly affected that I will be by the disease. I have been seeing several human and Vulcan doctors, and all of them assure me that any assistance is only temporary. The disease is permanent. I did not want to forget who I am, or who I loved, so as soon as I realized that there was nothing I could do to stop this disease, I made this transmission for myself. I made it for you."

Now, Nyota climbed out of the bed and realized that her body was aching. She wondered exactly how old she was. Her reflection did not look much older than the version of herself on the transmission. She looked around. Where could she relieve herself? This was extremely unsettling. If these were her quarters, then the memory loss which she suffered from was terrible because she did not know which way to go. Suddenly, her door opened and two women with pointed ears entered the room. They looked vaguely familiar, but she could not remember why. One of them looked like a boy, with her brown hair cut very short, and the other looked like a younger, lighter version of herself, with her hair in a large ball, tied at the back of her head.

"Do you require assistance, Mother?" The one with the hairball asked. Nyota decided that she would accept this as her daughter, since she did not know what else to do.

She nodded and confessed, "The lavatory has been hidden from me."

The light brown woman took her by the arm and guided her through a door which led to the bathroom, while the other woman said, "Computer, pause," to freeze the transmission.

"What is your name, Daughter?" Nyota asked the woman as she helped her to mount the toilet.

"Sanaa, Mother. You named me."

"Sanaa. That is familiar," Nyota said.

"I do not expect you to remember me on a day to day basis, Mother. It is logical that with your disease, you can not remember events that are significant, even to you. If you are worried that I am upset about the fact that you can not remember me, let your mind and heart rest." Sanaa helped Nyota clean up and guided her back to the bedroom, where the other woman stood, waiting.

"Who is she?" Nyota whispered to Sanaa.

"Your daughter by marriage, Luxtria. Styik's wife," Sanaa responded.

Now, as it generally did when his name came up, a twinkle formed in Nyota's eyes, "Styik! Where is he? Where is my son?" She asked. Sanaa fought back a sigh. This was not her mother's fault, nor Styik's, but she became bothered each time that she had to explain who she was, but it was not the same when it came to Styik.

For whatever reason, Nyota was not forgetting her adopted son Styik existed, although she forgot about the two children that she actually gave life to, everyday - Sanaa and her older brother, Sytar. When Styik's name was mentioned, she could readily identify who he was, but she could not seem to remember much past the fact that he was her son. Sanaa answered the question, "He will visit you after you finish your transmission. Are you in need of sustenance?" Nyota nodded and Luxtria left the room, immediately. "Computer, play," Sanaa said.

As the transmission began again, she looked towards a minuscule recording device, that she knew her father was watching. He did little else with his time but watch her mother wither away as her mental capacities failed her, knowing that her body was doing the same, just at a slower rate. She felt tremendously sorry for her father. Tremendously sad. She seriously believed that he would be alone after her mother died. He could not realistically imagine himself with anyone else, and to be honest, she would never accept anyone else for him. She would tolerate it, but she would not accept it. She turned back to the screen and sat down next to her mother on the bed.

Uhura was talking, "The most important person in my life is and has been for most of my life, my husband and bond mate, your husband and bond mate, Spock. As of today, I have been married for sixty two years to a most wonderful husband."

"It is now sixty nine," Sanaa mentioned to Nyota, in real time. Nyota kept her eyes on the screen, but Sanaa knew that she had heard her. Her mother was calculating her age. Sanaa believed that she could still do so and knew that she would come to the conclusion that currently, she was ninety seven years old.

Transmission Uhura kept speaking, "By the time that I am watching this transmission, there should constantly be holos projector albums next to the mirror on the nightstand that chronicle our relationship – both of our wedding ceremonies, the births and childhoods of our children, the ceremonies for renewing our wedding vows, and other memories along the way that I never thought that I would lose, but still wanted to capture. Thank God that I did."

The woman on the screen looked so sad that Nyota felt herself about to cry. Before she could, Sanaa reached out and took her hand into her own. This helped, severely. "Our children are leading their own lives, now. Spock has ceased working to be at home with me, until..." her voice faltered and she let the sentence die. "This transmission is being given as a gift to the near future Spock. I made it to help you remember, so that he can have your love just as strongly as he always has, even if it is given only in the phases in which you can actually remember him." Tears began to fall from her cheeks, but she kept speaking, just as evenly as she had been, "So, Lady Nyota, please continue to watch and I will take you on a journey to remember the path that Spock and I have traveled together – ups and downs, so that you can remember how you love him, why you love him, and what you've loved each other through..."