"The Water Baby"
by Robin E. Cook

The strange red lights and odd-looking consoles continued blinking long into the beta shift, after the science lab had been locked up. The baby changeling lay in a flask in the warm, spacious lab. It slithered up the side of the flask and then flowed effortlessly down to the table.

What marvels this new place held! Not like that old science lab, where it was kept in a dark room with a lid on the jar so it couldn't move anywhere, and where nobody noticed it was even there, and where there were no new shapes and no way to even try out these shapes. No, this was something different.

The changeling oozed to the floor and made its way to the desk on the other side. Wonderful, wonderful new shapes to explore there! It climbed up the side of the desk and crawled up to a strange-looking panel. Delicately, it ran one fingerlike tendril over the panel.

"Scientific files of Commander Jadzia Dax. Please provide proper access code."

New sounds too. Oh, what the changeling had missed. Why had it been kept out of the light for so long?

The changeling wanted to hear more. It crawled across the panel, which started blinking incessantly. Green and blue lights, red lights, strange silver lights.

"Research files of Dr. Mora Pol." Another new sound, a deeper sound.

"A breakthrough! I have evidence that the new sample recovered from the Denorios Belt may in fact be a life form. This is an exciting time for me, but also a troubling one. The Cardassians will want to know more about this discovery and--"

As the computer narrated Dr. Mora Pol's groundbreaking study of the creature dubbed Odo'ital by the Cardassians, the changeling slithered up the wall behind the desk.


"It's *gone*!!!!" Dax gasped.

Kira fumed. "Jadzia, you told me that this laboratory was secure!"

"It *is* secure," Dax replied indignantly. "The changeling couldn't have gone far."

From the desk against the wall came Dr. Mora's voice: "I've already run the sample through the centrifuge. Although it does in fact appear to be *alive,* I have yet to determine if it is *aware.*"

"Dammit! Who activated the computer?" Dax snapped.

"It could be the changeling," Kira said thoughtfully.

"How? It's an infant."

"It's supposed to be a fast learner. Maybe it figured out how to get out of its--"

SPLOOOOO-WIP! The changeling dropped from the ceiling and onto Kira's head.

"WRRIMF! Whuh thuh--" Kira bowed her head forward and the changeling tumbled to the ground.

It made a soft gurgling sound as it slid across the floor tiles. Kira dark eyes widened in amazement and curiosity. She kneeled down in front of it and it stopped moving all of a sudden.

Dax cooed, "C'mon, little guy. Back to--"

"No, wait!" Kira held up one index finger as she studied the changeling. . .and the changeling studied her.

More new shapes! More new life forms! And all unique!

Kira held up one hand and reached for the changeling. It occurred to her--with some incredulousness--that she had never in her life touched a changeling in its natural gelatinous state. The infant felt slightly rubbery, somewhat delicate, and not the least bit watery.

The changeling lifted itself up and began to form part of its body into an appendage with six loosely-defined digits. It appeared to be observing Kira's hand as it retracted one digit, leaving only five.

Kira's mouth opened, but no words came out. She lifted up her hand so that the creature could see--was "see" the right term?--her palm. The small blob rearranged its own "hand"; the fingers became slender and the thumb thicker.

Now the changeling brought the "hand" to touch Kira's own. Kira smiled and remembered a game Keiko O'Brien used to play with her children: "Patty cake, patty cake, baker's man, bake me a cake as fast as you can."

The changeling was overcome with wonder. A new shape! A shape that was part of another shape that was part of another shape! All kinds of shapes, all neatly fitting in together!

It *had* to explore these new shapes. Effortlessly, it looped itself around Kira's leg. A strange new texture, the feeling of fabric. And above the knee, another texture, the feeling of flesh, of ridged, bumpy flesh, vibrations . . .

Kira laughed as the changeling reached up and touched her nose. It wavered a little and then reached up for her hairline, bringing up one tendril to brush against the auburn bangs.

Dax grinned. "It did the same thing to me the other day," she explained.

Kira's smile turned solemn. "I'm going to talk to Captain Sisko," she declared. "We can't keep it here."


Sisko rolled the baseball between his palms. "Commander, I've got my misgivings. You want to move the infant changeling *out* of the science lab."

"It doesn't belong there," Kira replied. "It's a child and it's starting to become aware of its surroundings. It's starting to mimic shapes. You wouldn't dream of keeping a humanoid child locked away in a laboratory."

"Believe it or not, Kira, my skepticism comes from my concern for the infant's welfare," Sisko declared. "The Dominion nearly destroyed the Alpha Quadrant and people don't forget that so easily. How will people react to a changeling living among them?"

"Captain, the Federation has given asylum to people from enemy worlds before: Cardassians, Romulans."

"True. But these political exiles have also had to overcome a lot of prejudice and a lot of bad feelings that their own governments helped create. Ask Worf some time how *he* felt as a Klingon child growing up among humans. Do you think it's wise to expose a *baby* to this sort of hostility?"

"What other option is there?" Kira snapped. "Besides, there are now Bajoran couples who want to adopt changeling infants. People are *willing* to raise these children. Why is Starfleet so afraid?"

"Because we don't know the proper way to bring up a changeling yet," Sisko said wearily.

"Maybe not yet, but if we don't try to learn, we're no better than the Founders were when they stuck their own children in jars and dumped them on a remote outpost."

"Your point is well taken. I will make recommendations to Starfleet."

"That's it?" Kira was incredulous.

"Commander, it's all I can do, and I will keep you informed of what they decide."


Three days later. . .

"Hi there."

Kira placed her palms on the table and peered over the rim of the flask. The infant changeling lay still. Sleeping like a baby.

"My name's Commander Kira Nerys. You can just call me Nerys . . . as soon as you learn to speak."

There was a ripple in the flask. Kira felt a small leap in her gut.

"Ah . . . where was I? Oh yes. I'm going to take you on a guided tour of the station. You'll spend an hour or two each day with me getting to know everyone and I'll *try* not to get too verbose for you. So, on behalf of the Federation, I would like to welcome you to Deep Space Nine!"