Posted by Lieutenant Commander Janusz Korczak (Counselor) in Counselor’s Office - Alex Winters’ Boarding Assessment

Posted by Cadet Alex Winters (Doctor) in Counselor’s Office - Alex Winters’ Boarding Assessment

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Alex closed her eyes briefly. “Things had changed by the time I was old enough for school. My grandfather wouldn’t let me go. He said they would just brainwash me. I suppose that might sound like he was paranoid, but frankly, I believe he was right. There is a reason so many members of my family died young, and it isn’t just bad luck. It’s because the Elders refuse to accept that sometimes, even if a higher power has decided to bring misfortune to someone’s doorstep, it’s OK to prevent it from doing its worst possible damage. Both my grandmother and my mother died in childbirth, one from postpartum haemorrhage and the other from a relatively benign infection. Problems that, as I learned later, we learned how to deal with quite effectively centuries ago. It wasn’t divine intervention that killed those members of my family. It was dogma.”

She fell silent, not knowing what more to say after that. She supposed the Counselor might assume now that she was bitter towards her fellow Niolians. She wasn’t. She knew they were acting in accordance with convictions they very strongly and sincerely held. She’d just always known, from the time that her grandfather had first started reading from his book collection to her, that those convictions weren’t hers. And that she would have to leave eventually.

Cadet Alex Winters, Doctor

Korczak listened and when she finished he looked at her for a few moments. Whatever was going through his mind didn’t give a single clue on his face. When he finally spoke, it was to ask a question, not to comment. “Are you religious, Cadet?”

Korczak, CNS

Alex smiled at him. “I suppose that would depend on what exactly you mean by ‘religious’, Counselor,” she said. “I was raised by people whose fore-bearers considered themselves so deeply religious that they invested in terraforming and launched a ship into space, breaking one of the basic tenets of their faith just to safeguard that faith for their grandchildren. Even my grandfather, who was arguably the least religious person on Niol, had a deep reverence for the forces and powers of nature that I haven’t really seen in anyone since I left.”

She shook her head, realising only then that the Counselor’s question irritated her. Just three words. ‘Are you religious?’ He made it sound so simple, but it wasn’t a yes or no question. Not even close.

“Now, if your question is whether I share my fellow Niolians’ faith in God over and above science or technology, then the answer is quite obviously no. Look at me. I’m sitting on a starship. The Challenger, and hundreds of ships like it, can deposit people on a planet’s surface from high orbit in an instant, conjure just about any food item or object out of thin air, create invisible but nearly impenetrable barriers around and within itself, and pulverise its lesser adversaries with the push of a button. Arguably, a vessel like this one represents the pinnacle of human technological achievement, so far. And I am part of its crew. The color of my uniform communicates the fact that I’m a scientist, first and foremost. Given the choice between fervent prayer and solid medecine or engineering, I will choose door number two every time. But if you’re asking whether I believe that there are things in this universe that cannot be explained by scientific means or mastered through technology, then the answer is yes. Sometimes, praying is all we can do. So sometimes, I pray.”

Cadet Alex Winters, Doctor