06-20-2022, 09:00 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-20-2022, 10:01 PM by FaceInTheCrowd.)
I think the "expect nothing" remark probably reflected that the Companion couldn't cure Hedford's disease, except by doing what she eventually did, merging with her and somehow converting all her energy-based powers into whatever could sustain a human life. So she's not going to be able to keep Cochrane or herself young for centuries, won't be able to put the shuttle back into space and won't be able to provide Cochrane with a fig tree, either. Maybe they've got them on the Enterprise. Or maybe just some fresh figs exported from Earth that could be used to seed one.
Trek was always rather nebulous about the nature of merged beings. Did one personality dominate the other? Did the personalities take turns being in charge? Did they coalesce into a single personality? Don't know. In Hedford's case, it sounded as if her life was flashing before her eyes as she lay dying and the replay wasn't all that satisfying to her, so maybe she just decided to hang back and experience the Companion's feelings about her new physicality. And her 150-year sort-of-romance with Cochrane.
Trek was always rather nebulous about the nature of merged beings. Did one personality dominate the other? Did the personalities take turns being in charge? Did they coalesce into a single personality? Don't know. In Hedford's case, it sounded as if her life was flashing before her eyes as she lay dying and the replay wasn't all that satisfying to her, so maybe she just decided to hang back and experience the Companion's feelings about her new physicality. And her 150-year sort-of-romance with Cochrane.