He came up to her, suddenly, with a bunch of beautiful roses in his hand. 'Will you marry me?' He asked, kneeling down. She was speechless. She had thought about this since the first time she saw his body. She often wondered whether it would be possible. Yet she had always rejected this thought as irrational. Now it seemed even too real. She looked into his eyes. 'I...' she whispered. 'I don't know.' 'Look at me. Look at me now. The way I am here. Stop thinking "ship, computer, space." Think ME. Do you want me?' 'You know I do. I've always wanted you. But I can't stop thinking "ship, computer, space." This is what you are. 'No. I am what you are looking at, now. Think about it the other way round. I am a man capable of transferring himself into the computer network.' 'Will I be able to do that, too?' 'Why, what do you mean?' 'I mean it's a huge part of your life. The whole experience that has made you what you are. If we're supposed to be together, I will never experience it. I will never be able to accompany you there, to know you for who you really are. It doesn't matter from which end I am looking at it, it's still the same. Part of you will always remain unavailable to me.' He looked at her sadly. He was still down on his knees and that expression in his brown eyes made him look even more vulnerable. She wanted to kneel beside him and hug him, kiss him and tell him she loved him. But he knew that. He could feel that. He could also feel the barrier between them. It might not be important to him but he realized how hard it was for her. Finally he stood up and came close to her. She could feel the warmth of his body. He was so real, so. desirable. She sighed and embraced him, feeling his arms around her. 'You can do it if you really want to,' she heard him whisper right into her ear. 'What? How?' She exclaimed pushing him away in surprise. 'It has never been done before but it's possible. Your physical body may be stored in the transporter buffer and your personality extracted. Instead of transporting you physically, we may simply transfer your personality into the computer circuit. Into my circuit.' He added, smiling at her. 'Are you sure you'd want this? The process is reversible of course but for a while we'd be a truly one entity. Even Betazoid couples never experience such close a bond. Now that would be "where no man has gone before." The girl simply stared at him, so he continued. 'You'd know what I know, you'd feel what I feel. You'd experience the very essence of being a ship's computer with an instant access to all of the ship's functions and the crew's minds. You could see the void around us they way I see it. You could feel the transwarp coils working and would be able to stop them with a single thought. Would you like that?' She was in awe. There was the man of her life, the only one she'd ever wanted to share her life with, and offering her so much more. 'Is it safe?' She eventually managed to say. He smiled warmly, holding her close again. She felt like a little girl in his embrace; lost and safe at the same time. 'As I said, nobody has tried it before but the procedure is theoretically possible. Nothing really more dangerous than transport itself. Technically it is a bit complicated but ultimately it is nothing more than a Vulcan mind meld. She felt she woke up. No, "felt" wasn't a good word. As she started thinking she realized with horror that she actually felt nothing. *Are you there?* She thought and she didn't have time to panic because immediately she heard... no, felt... a voice in her head. *I'm here, honey, right here.* But there was no head in which she could hear the familiar voice of her lover. There was nothing, she simply didn't exist anymore. The closest she could come with describing how it felt like was hanging in the darkness in some place with no gravity. But then, she could at least feel her body, recognize relative directions... *What do I do?* She turned to the only help she had in this alien environment. *Relax, don't panic. Even though you have no body here, your mind is still capable of mimicking it for you. Try relaxing all your muscles and slowing down your breathing... that's a good girl.* She did what he told her and, strangely, it had some effect on her psyche: she actually felt more relaxed. *What now? I perceive nothing.* *That's because you're not used to your new senses. I'll teach you. Take a deep "breath" and try reaching out with your thoughts. Imagine a beam coming out from your forehead and going straight ahead. You should feel something now. *Yes, yes I...* She became speechless as she experienced the strange sensation. It was as if she was touching some indefinitely cold substance. *What is it?* she whispered. *It's the space around us. Now, try and open your eyes. You have to look for them as they're no longer where you'd expect them...* She struggled for a while, as if trying to find her way in a dark, unknown room and then there it was - she could see the space around the ship. Not on screen or through the window but directly, almost touching it. Step by step her computer lover led her through the maze of her new senses. She learned to see through the ship's sensor array, move around using impulse thrusters and control the warp drive. HER warp drive. It was amazing. Finally, after this strangest tour of the ship in her life, he asked her to concentrate on her immediate surroundings. At first she saw/felt/sensed (there were no words in any language to describe this) nothing. Then, she knew her beloved was there. *How do I touch you?* She asked without words. *Just reach out for me,* came the soft reply. Somehow she knew it was soft although she never heard the voice. She did what he told her, she stretched her mind one more time: ahead and upwards... he was there, flowing through her like a warm summer breeze, touching the very core of her existence, caressing her bodiless entity. She let herself go and moved to join him in this unspoken space of their minds. They flew and danced together in perfect harmony, knowing each other better than any other two beings have since the beginning of the universe. He didn't have to repeat his question. They were one now and nothing could change that in eons to come.
