her.
"Seven, I need a favor."
"What is it?" She said, moving her head ever so slightly to face him.
Dale didn't respond, instead, he kissed her hard, feeling her lips press against his own. Seven had been taken unaware, but only needed a moment before returning the kiss with just as much force. They stayed like that for a moment, Seven's hands having strayed from the console to return the hug.
Dale was tempted to take her to the floor, but that voice in the back of his mind warned him of the consequences. Reluctantly, he pulled himself away. Seven's gaze was set on the floor as a feeling of peace washed over her.
"Why did you do that?" She asked.
"I wanted you to know how I feel about you."
"You don't need to kiss me to remind me." Seven said. Her mouth pulled itself into a soft smile. "I know you love me."
"I know, but sometimes it's important to show how I feel. Otherwise I'll just waste away with all these emotions and joys unexpressed to the person I’ve been given to love. Can you imagine that Seven? A world where emotions and feelings are unexpressed: Hidden away like some disease to rot from the inside out? Can you see these things as I've seen them?"
"Yes," Seven said, "I can see these things, but I'm here now and you don't have to worry about the past anymore." She looked up shyly from the floor. "Isn't that enough?"
"Yes," Dale said, "That's enough."
"Then come here. I want to show you something."
She stood up and took Dale's hand, leading him to the command chair. He sat down and Seven pressed herself gently on to his lap.
"I showed you how the ship's interface works already, but I want you to see something that expresses my own love for you." She said. "Put your hand on the console."
Dale did so without saying anything, not knowing what to expect. Without warning, his mind was flooded with the beauty of the universe, from the smallest creatures, to the greatest galaxies, his eyes were opened to all of it, to fill his thoughts and his feelings with the purity of the love Seven felt for him.
Dale smiled, and looked to where Seven sat, her smile lighting up his world in ways that no one had ever done before. He kissed her again, gently this time and without passion: A kiss that spoke of soft love.
"You wanted to see the universe didn't you? Under all that uncaring, your heart is soft."
"Thank you seven, thank you for this."
She didn't reply, only hug him, her face pressed gently against his chest.
When she was gone, Dale felt it to be too soon. Her warmth lingered in his hands and he wished it to stay there forever. Seven had gone back to her seat, pressing her fingers into the surface again.
Dale watched her for a while before putting his hands back on to the control plate. His fingers disappeared, replaced with the image of a vast and flowing series of lines, circles, and dots that seemed to follow no general pattern. It took him a moment to realize that these lines were a visual representation of the gestures and movements being sent to the computer by Seven. He focused back on Seven who was sitting in her chair, and sure enough, every line she drew was mirrored by the images he saw being displayed in his thoughts. He closed his eyes, picturing the things Seven was doing. At first, he was overtaken by the complexity of her actions, but slowly his mind adjusted to the speed and chaotic way in which she was working.
Seven was slowly but surely connecting the dots between star systems, planets, and galaxies to find trace similarities between Dale's home world and their location. As far as Dale could tell she'd scanned a vast amount of space, and only held a select few star systems in her quarantine for possible matches. Dale sifted through these quickly, not recognizing a single planet out of all the ones she'd already picked out.
"Why're you pulling so many systems out in to quarantine?" Dale asked.
"I need to find the path your ship took to get here. If I can find a direct line of systems that carry your ship's molecular trace then I can start pinpointing specific galaxies and star systems I think are relevant."
Dale pushed his fingers around until he'd pulled back on the map enough to see what she meant. At first, the points she'd quarantined were close together and random, but as they spread further from their location, there grew a very distinct line of points, growing further and further apart until the space between grew almost unimaginable.
"So you're doing all this with that particle resonance technology right?" Dale asked.
"Yeah, you're seeing a live feed."
"Why not just have the computer figure it out?"
Seven smiled, "That would take all the fun out of it, wouldn't it?"
"I suppose so. You are being very impressive right now, I'll admit that much." He said playfully.
"Well thank you, I do take pride in my skills, even if they're a part of someone else's list of long term attributes to add to our repertoire of capabilities."
"And that's exactly why I love you." He said smiling towards her. What if one day you woke up without these memories and thoughts in your head? What if you sustained a concussion, causing you to lose everything you've ever been taught and given to think?"
"Well, if that were to happen, I'm sure you'd be capable of filling me in on the finer details. I'm not worried." She smiled back at him, lifting his heavy thoughts for just a moment. "You'll take care of me, I don't have any worries about that. And besides, secretly, I'm madly in love with you so you'll know how deeply I care about you too."
"I guess I can't argue with that."
"You don't have to."
"I know."
Seven pushed herself away from the table and stood up, throwing her arms up in a quick stretch. "Dale, I'm done. I found your home planet but I'm exhausted. I'm going back to my cabin to sleep. Are you fine here? Or are you interested in joining me? There are two beds in two separate rooms, but if you want, I could give you some extra warmth."
"I think that would be great." Dale said. He stood up as well. "Which room is yours?"
"It's just this way. We passed it on our way up to the bridge."
"Okay."
Seven took his hand and led him out of the room. He followed just behind as they went down the flight of stairs, stopping at the second door way on the landing just below.
"Well, this is my room." Seven said, "Come with me."
They went in.
Just inside was a simple bed and a dresser. A door led out to what Dale assumed was the restroom and just beyond the door was a desk similar to the command console on the bridge.
Dale yawned widely. He hadn't realized how tired he was. Seven started to look through her drawers.
"That's fine. I'm not interested in going any further if that isn't what you want too." She shrugged and sat own on the bed.
"Seven there's no one I've found more attractive than you. There's no one who even compares."
Seven didn't say anything, just pulled the covers over and turn her back. Dale shook his head and went back to his room. He fell asleep shortly after.
It wasn't until much later that he awoke. Seven was gone by then and she wasn’t in her room. He went back up to the bridge to find Seven sitting at the console.
Seven turned when she heard Dale come in through the door. The first thing she noticed was the clothes he was wearing, the old spacesuit he'd landed in before they'd first met.
"Dale, you need new clothes." She said.
"And where can one find these clothes exactly?"
"Just go to your room. It's there in the dresser."
"Thanks." Dale turned to go, but paused for a moment. “Is this what one usually wears?”
"Pretty much." Seven said. She sighed. "Go get dressed. I'll be here when you're gone."
"Sure thing." Dale went back to his room.
The set up was just the same as Seven's room. The only difference, however, was the furniture was reversed in a mirror image of the other room. Dale checked the top drawer and found a set of clothes just like the one Seven was wearing: A
one piece jumpsuit not unlike the kind he wore back home between missions. He grabbed one along with a set of under clothes. From what he could tell, everything would fit perfectly. He turned to the door leading back to the bathroom and went in. It was simple, with a basic sink, a shower with some kind of spotted ceiling, and a basic toilet. He put his suit down and took his shower.
The water fell from the spots in the ceiling like some kind of cleansing rain. There was no soap or shampoo, but Dale felt refreshed by the falling water. He started to relax.
After he’d dressed, he found Seven sitting on his bed.
“What are you doing here?” Dale asked.
"Nothing," she said, "But if you're okay with it, I'd like to take the opportunity to just be with you for a moment. I'm trusting you Dale, please understand that." She stood up and came closer.
Dale put his back to her and closed his eyes. "Seven, am I doing something you don’t want me to do right now? I’m trying to meet your expectations as a synthetic. I get that it’s supposed to be hard but I want it to work out just as much as you do."
"I know how much you care about me Dale, I just wanted to talk. I'm here to get to know you better and I thought we could have a quiet moment to do it. I just wanted to talk to you."
"Okay, I understand." Dale leaned his head against the wall. "What do you want to talk about?" He asked.
"About you; what you love what you hate, your childhood, memories you have from your home world, things you want from me. We just need to talk. Talk about everything."
"That's true." Dale was silent for a moment. "Seven, I was born younger than most, prematurely, and it