Disclaimer: Earth: Final Conflict Universe is from Gene Roddenberry.

No copyright infringement is intended. The idea is mine.

Author: Mithril ([email protected]) 1999.

Open Your Heart to Me

"...And that is all, folks, directly from Rockefeller Center, Kay O’Bannon for CNN. Merry Christmas and a--"

Zo’or rudely waved his hand and deactivated the data stream. With a disgusted smirk on his face, he leaned back on his throne-like chair. Each year it was the same stupid thing. Each year, at late December, humans turned crazy celebrating that... that... Christmas... and, each year, the Taelons had to give the humans that worked for them, the day off.

The alien turned his delicate hands into fists. What a waste of time and resources! If humans knew about the incoming Jaridian threat, surely all their irrational excitement and joy would vanish.

Ah, if only they knew...

Shaking his head in annoyance, Zo’or rose from his seat and decided to go to Or’rel’s laboratory to check on his new pet project.

Three minutes later, Zo’or entered the lab and, waving a hand over the terminal, he began to read the information displayed on the stream. Suddenly, he was interrupted by an infant’s wail. Curious -and obviously annoyed- as no infant was supposed to be in that part of the ship, Zo’or followed the noise. It led him to a closed door. He opened it and found the source. In the middle of a small room, all alone in a transparent cradle, lay a human infant... a crying human infant. He approached the cradle and looked down at the clearly distressed baby.

"Shut up," he ordered dryly. "Your scandal interferes with my work!"

The child stopped crying, fixed his brown eyes upon the serious Taelon, waved his little hands... and burst into tears again.

Really annoyed by now, Zo’or muttered a few words in Eunoia and turned to leave, but the infant wailed even louder... as if calling him back.

Frustrated Zo’or sighed and faced the child again, wondering how such a small being could bother so much.

"You, noisy, little human, I--"

The Taelon abruptly stopped as the baby extended his short arms towards him.

The alien blinked in surprise... and soon found himself extending his own slender arms and lifting the child up.

The baby giggled and seemed to melt against Zo’or’s chest. He gave a last look at the startled Synod Leader and fell asleep.

Zo’or stared at the now quiet infant and felt strangely attracted to him. He looked so... so... innocent...

He blushed blue and, unconsciously, he began to sing softly in Eunoia. Feeling suddenly very tired, Zo’or carefully sat on a nearby chair. The baby stirred a little and opened his eyes. The child made a baby smile and met the Synod Leader’s eyes, and so tender was the infant’s stare, that Zo’or lost his façade.

The baby giggled and fell asleep again.

Zo’or sparkled brightly and, gently, he stroked the baby’s head.

In spite of being so young, the presence of the child was so soothing... and, even though it was Zo’or who cradled the infant, the Taelon felt so safe... and loved. As strange as it was, it was as if the baby were cradling him...

"I am so tired, little one," he whispered, bowing his head... and before that he unconsciously reach a state of Sam’had, he heard a soft, tender voice in his mind. "Open your heart to me..."

******

The next day, Or’rel, one of the main Taelon scientists, returned his lab and, to his surprise, he found Zo’or seated on a chair, apparently in state of Sam’had.

"Zo’or," Or’rel said. "Zo’or," he repeated, slightly worried. "Zo’or!"

The Synod Leader recovered his façade and opened his eyes. He looked around and blinked in surprise. What was he doing in Or’rel’s lab? A second later, he remembered and blushed blue. He looked around the room and stiffened. There was not a single sing of the child. What had happened? Where was the human infant?

"Where is the child?" Zo’or asked, rising from the chair.

Or’rel tilted his head, puzzled. "A child?" he repeated.

"Yes," Zo’or said dryly. "Where is he?"

"But Zo’or," Or’rel respectfully began to say, "there has never been an infant here. All the hybrids are kept in Lo’rel’s laboratory. You know he is in charge of the hybridization project. If you wish so, I can call him."

"That would not be necessary," Zo’or said seriously and without another word to the confused scientist, he left the lab and hurried to his chamber. He urgently needed a time under the energy stream! He was the Synod Leader, he could not be hallucinating!

Once inside his room, Zo’or went to his chair and, to his surprise, there was a sealed envelope laying there. Curious, he picked it up and took out its content. His façade slipped away. It was a Christmas card. Who would have dared to send him such a thing? Still, he was unexpectedly pleased. He sat and slowly opened it, and when he read the inscription, he sparkled furiously...

"Open your heart to me. Merry Christmas."