"I understand every word, Siobhan."
The doctor's whole body tensed up, a chill rushing down her spine. The voice... the voice was one she recognized. She'd heard the Captain's voice in various interviews on the news, taken before her fateful trip. But... she was certain Stone's lips hadn't moved at all. And the origin of the speaking... it hadn't been the speakers, she didn't think.
"I'm not using the microphone, Siobhan." Her eyes grew wide as she continued staring at the inhuman creature on the other side of the glass. "Don't be so surprised. You've seen so many strange things - surely a bit of telepathy can't be that unbelievable."
The doctor's jaw hung open as she pulled off her glasses, brow furrowed in shock. She'd seen studies on the potential for psychic communication, even observed an experiment or two into the idea, but... she'd never actually expected to experience it. "You... you can read my thoughts... how...?"
"Be honest, Siobhan. You don't care about the mechanics of it." Stone's golden eyes narrowed on the doctor, locking their gazes together irrevocably. "You want to know what I am. How I became what you see before you."
She had no choice but to slowly nod. There were no further words, but instead... images. Thoughts directly broadcasted into her mind. Memories playing back before her very eyes... but through the eyes of the captain. Every sensation Stone had felt was blasted into her own mind, fully replacing her own body's sensory input. The ultimate immersive playback, one in which she was helpless, able only to watch and feel.
Emotions surged through her as she watched the accident. A piece of space rock slamming into the viewport on the Artemis II, smashing it to bits. Panic at knowing she was doomed to die in space, unable to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. Coldness as she contemplated taking her own life. And then, warmth... comfort... companionship. Something from the inky black void crawling inside. Utterly alien, something never before witnessed by human eyes. An unknown creature, and yet... a loving one.
She could feel the shiver, the confusion as it cut open the spacesuit, letting oxygen rush out. Calm and focus, as she felt alien pincers sinking into her skin. A distant voice that soothed her, eased her pain, her worry. Its very essence seemed to diffuse through her, altering the very makeup of her cells wherever it went. Changing her - improving her. Providing her primitive human form with the benefits of a creature older than human civilization itself.
With a gasp, the playback ended, and Siobhan suddenly found herself staring into Stone's golden glare once more. Now, however, she did so with understanding... some confusion still, yes, but a great deal more comprehension than she'd possessed before. "You... that... that creature... it... bonded with you, like... some kind of symbiote."
"Bonds can be broken. It became me, and I became it." Her tail drifted towards the glass, the tip dragging a line across the bottom. "Two became one. The sum of two parts - a thing of boundless wisdom and might, something that had spent countless eons searching for a soul that would accept it. I was that soul."
She stepped closer, still staring into Siobhan's eyes. "They didn't understand. They couldn't comprehend what I've become. But you can." Her hand raised up and rested against the glass. "They think this is an infection, a disease, a parasite. It's not. This is kindness. This is power. This is the first step to a brighter day for all of us. Please, Siobhan - help me. Help me to show them. Help me build paraise."