Chapter 3
“So, how’s the Pathfinder?” Hammond asked, resuming his place at the head of the table. He held off sitting.
Duana and Ilona brought food and coffee to Garcia as he took a chair across from Jay.
“I’m thinking of changing the Path Finder’s name to Argo,” Garcia said.
Only Daniel laughed. Garcia was introduced to three new personnel, Cameron Mitchell, Jonas Quin, and Valla… who interrupted to introduce herself, drawing in intimately close.
“Boundaries,” Mitchell said.
“Oh, I am aware,” Valla said.
“I don’t understand. A new team?” Garcia asked. “What was wrong the old team?”
“That’s exactly what I was saying,” Mitchell said.
“Well, we’re busy with other stuff,” Jay said.
Garcia took his seat after Hammond insisted, and also sat. Everyone sat. Valla pulled her seat closer, preparing to help Garcia with his food.
“I got it,” Ilona said.
“Clearly he likes threesomes, can’t I join, too?” “Oh, I like her,” Duana said. “Can we keep her?” “No,” Garcia said.
Mitchell and Danielle together repositioned Valla’s chair.
“I’m just being friendly to the guest,” Valla said.
“We see,” Samantha said.
“It’s because he has a Starship, isn’t it,” Ilona said.
“Just one? I thought you had several, and in need of more crew,” Valla said. “I could serve under you. Directly under you.”
“We would actually pay you to take her,” Danielle said.
“Um, forgive me, but I am really distracted today,” Garcia said.
“More than usual?” Jay asked. “A little. You said you acquired new tech?” Garcia asked.
Jay pulled up a sleeve and revealed he was wearing a fashionable bracelet with tech. “I call it the Groundhog Day Device. If I die, it returns me to a designated set point, and I start reliving from where I pushed save.” “Seriously?” Garcia asked.
“Yeah,” Jay said.
“And you put it on willingly?” Garcia asked.
“Yeah,” Jay said.
“He does that,” Danielle said.
“We have three devices. We reserved one for you,” Jay said.
“Oh, fuck that,” Garcia said. “Once through life is enough and I already feel like I am repeating things…”
“How do you know you’re not?” Valla asked. “Maybe that’s why you’re so good at everything you’ve done it so much.”
“She has a point there,” Duana said.
“But, just in case you’re not, we should hook up so don’t miss out on anything,” Valla said.
“Subtle much?” Ilona asked.
“Subtle or sebtle?” Duana asked.
“OMG, if you two don’t stop, I will dematerialize you,” Garcia said. “Jay, where did you get it.”
“I can’t tell you,” Jay said. Garcia opened his mouth to say something. “And we’re still friends. Yes, it’s a typical sci-fi plot contrivance to keep you from asking further questions and just go with it with the illusion it was addressed even though it will never be addressed. Seriously, got it. Cliché. But every time I told you where to get it, something bad happens. Let it go.”
“If you want to wear the one reserved for you, I’ll fetch it for you,” Valla said.
“No you want,” Mitchell said.
“You said three, who’s wearing…”
Samantha smiled, and revealed she was wearing one.
“You both…”
“Have the same save point,” Jay said.
“And…” Garcia said. “Wait wait wait… You knew I was calling from the dwarf’s gate. You’ve already cycled!”
Jay and Samantha confirmed with a nod.
“You knew it was me, and still made me come up with a password?!” Garcia asked.
“Jay I knew it was you,” Samantha said. “We had to convince the others.”
“I really did like the Poppins reference,” Jay said. “Did you know, Marry Poppins was an assassin?”
“Oh, please, not that again, Sir,” Samantha said.
“I want to hear that?”
“Marry Poppins came to the Bank’s house and everything in motion in order to kill the bank president Dawes with capital humor. Once she completes her task, she flies away,” Jay said. “It’s such a genius plot, no one would ever expect she’s the grim reaper.”
“She’s not the grim reaper,” Samantha said.
“How many times have we watched it now?” Jay asked. Samantha smiled at Garcia. “He has his theories, I have mine.” “It’s a solid theory,” Garcia agreed.
“Hold up,” Duana said. “How is it possible you have already cycled when we haven’t arrived at the future yet?!”
“I asked that exact same question!” Jay said.
“Well, that’s rather an easy explanation if you’re willing to suspend with the normal linear progression of time perspective, which is actually an illusion…” “No it’s not,” Valla said.
Garcia interrupted by raising both hands, squinting. “How many times have
you…”
“Don’t ask,” Jay said.
“And do I…”
“Blow up our universe as we know it?” Jay asked.
“Yes,” Garcia said.
“Yes,” Jay said.
Garcia clenched his fist. “Can you stop me?!”
“Yes,” Jay and Samantha said.
“Well, do that,” Garcia said.
“The thing is, no matter what we do, this timeline implodes, blows up, gets derailed, however you want to look at it,” Jay said. “Whether you do it or not, it’s a done deal. We’ve not experienced a reality where the timeline doesn’t change.” “I don’t understand,” Garcia said.
“Me, too,” Ilona said. “How can you have cycled when the future hasn’t happened yet.”
“It has, it is, it will,” Samantha said. “It’s not linear, and it’s not parallel tracks running simultaneously alongside each other, though that is probably the easiest method of understanding time from a western philosophical perspective. Even I don’t understand this, but I suspect that consciousness is much more important than anyone has every calculated. It might even be a primary binding force from which all other quantum forces arise.”
“You’re converting from science to metaphysics,” Ilona said.
“Well, it fits,” Danielle said. “When I ascended and became a part of the Q continuum…”
“You what?” Garcia asked.
“Oh, we didn’t tell you about that,” Jay said.
“Stop,” Garcia said, rubbing his forehead.
“Would you like an aspirin?” Samantha asked.
“Or I could rub your shoulders,” Valla said. “I know all the right pressure points for pain relief…”
“Really?” Danielle said. “Then how come you have only caused me pain?”
“Tam,” Jay interrupted. “There are two eventualities. The Romulous star goes Nova, and all sentient life in the Milky Way Galaxy is extinguished.”
“Save two,” Samantha said. She and Jay clearly hold their arms up to suggest they’re the two.
“Or, you cause the Nova, and the timeline simply changes,” Jay said.
“It’s a darker time,” Samantha said. “But, we have evidence that if that timeline plays itself out, it will right itself. In addition to returning us to save point, they allow us to maintain the integrity of our origin timeline regardless of where we end up. You will find and install temporal shielding technology, and your ships will carry the message of our origin, like messages in a bottle.” “So, you’re telling me to blow up Romulous,” Garcia said.
“No,” Jay said. “I would never tell you that. If I could take that decision from your hands, I would. I can only tell you, if you don’t, it gets much worse than you imagined.”
Garcia rubbed his eyes, and left his hands hidden in his palm. “I can’t do it,” Garcia said. “I am not going to blow up a star and kill the hundreds of billions of people in that system just so the Universe doesn’t come unhinged!” He lowered his hands. “If life in this galaxy is going to end, then so be it. I will not become a butcher.”
“Good for you,” Jay said. “No matter what you decide, you will have our support.”
Garcia stared at the table.
“Colonel, can I have the room alone with Garcia?” Jay asked.
“We’re done here,” Hammond said.
Everyone got up but Garcia, Jay, Valla, Duana and Ilona.
“Valla?” Mitchell said.
“They’re staying,” Valla said. “No they’re not,” Garcia said.
Duana got up to leave. Ilona protested. “We’re going to be privy to the conversation anyway,” she said.
“Out,” Garcia said.
“Come on, we’ll go play with Valla,” Duana said.
“Did you have to say that out loud?” Garcia asked.
“You know it’s going to happen,” Valla said.
“Jay?” Garcia asked.
Jay smiled. “Do you really want to know?”
Garcia shook his head. The room was cleared but for Jay and Garcia. They sat there silently. Jay took some cigars from a box at the end of the table, handing one to Garcia. They both sent smoke into the air before they resumed talking.
“There are some things I should probably tell you, but it does influence the future,” Jay said. “I recommend, you just keep doing what you’re doing and trust the end to work itself out.”
“What I am doing? I am failing,” Garcia said.
“I know it looks like that from your perspective,” Jay said.
“Maybe if I shoot myself, that will solve everyone’s problems,” Garcia said.
“It didn’t change what happened,” Jay said. “And, if you try and take your life again, I will shoot you.”
Garcia was solemn. “I took my life.”
“Tam, I don’t expect you to believe me, but you need to know, no matter what happens, you’re not alone,” Jay said.
“Did the people that gave you that tech tell you that?” Garcia asked.
“Yes, actually,” Jay said. He sucked on his cigar for a moment. “Imagine for a moment, you lived a full life time. Let’s say it wasn’t the greatest life. Maybe you suffered lots of injuries, illness, felt isolated, lost loved ones, but you met one person who was to have such a huge impact in the future world to come, that if you were forced to relive your life, changing one thing would change everything; that person would cease to exist. Would you live it again without changing a thing knowing you would have to suffer?”
“I don’t know,” Garcia said.
“I do, Son,” Jay said. “I will live my life a million times over, and not change a single thing, if it means I get to meet you again. Samantha would do the same for you. I dare say, most of your people would do the same. We’re not supposed to say these things, Tam. My culture is the worse about saying these things, but I am going to say it. I love you. When it’s all said and done, I’ll be there with you.”
Garcia smiled, wiped a tear. “I was hoping you wouldn’t join me in hell.”
“When God’s done with us, we’re not going to hell,” Jay said. “He invested too much in our redemption to let us fail permanently. Come on. I’ll walk you to the gate.” Garcia got up, put the cigar in the tray, and zipped some wine. Jay pointed to his belly pack. “It’ll filter one sip…”
And they walked. They opened the gate direct to the Pathfinder and exchanged codes. They were given a green light. Duana and Ilona proceeded up the ramp. Garcia followed. The three stop when they heard Garcia’s name called. Suzanne was present, on the threshold, wearing an ankle length dress, and an army jacket. It was evidence she was still living in base housing. Duana hooked Ilona’s arm and they went on through. Garcia held, mid ramp. Suzanne rushed to him and hugged him.
“I am sorry,” Suzanne said.
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Garcia said.
“You’re out there saving worlds and I am being selfish,” Suzanne said.
“No, you’re surviving,” Garcia said.
“Stop being so reasonable! It just makes me more the heel,” Suzanne said.
“I have two heels. I couldn’t stand without them,” Garcia said.
“What do you expect from me?” Suzanne asked.
“I expect you to live your life and be happy,” Garcia said.
“What does that mean?” Suzanne asked.
“What do you want?” Garcia said.
“You know what I want,” Suzanne said. “And I can’t have what I want. Can you do one of those mind things and remove yourself from my memory?” “No,” Garcia said.
“But…”
“Yes, there are memory suppression techniques, and they work if you have no reminders. You have something that would unravel any suppression techniques,” Garcia said. “As for actual memory deletions, well, we can do that, but I would have to erase a full year of your life, and that’s wrong.”
Suzanne put her head in his neck and cried. “I don’t want to do this alone.” “Come with me,” Garcia invited.
“I’d still be alone, in a new place. I’d see you more, but I’d have to share you?”
Suzanne asked. “I am just not advanced enough. I can’t do that. I wish we’d never met!”
“Suzanne,” Garcia said gently. “I am sorry.”
“Don’t!” Suzanne said. “Just go.”
“It’s due next week. Do you want me to…”
“I want you to go and never come back. I don’t want to ever see you again,” Suzanne again.
Garcia nodded, almost pushed her hair out of her eyes, but she pushed his hands away. He turned and proceeded up the ramp. He paused, wondering what words or gestures, hoping to catch one last glimmer of her in the shimmering surface of the portal, and then he stepped through the gate. Suzanne took one step forwards, then turned and headed out. Jay and Samantha accompanied her.
Chapter 4
Tatiana Kletsova was not a Klingon, and she had no problem not hiding the fact. Pound per pound, she was as not as strong. Could she hold her own in a one on one fight, maybe. She was tactically smart, had a high pain threshold, was double jointed, and held black belts in some of the same martials arts as Garcia that utilized the strengths of the opponents against them while extricating themselves in order to flee, but she was not Klingon and she decided it would be unwise to bluff her way through second in command of the Tempest by puffing up and pretending. She would be herself, and allow her crew to make their assumptions. Her quarters were appropriate size for her station, and she had a mattress on the floor. She wasn’t going to sleep on beam of steel and she wasn’t going to sleep on a mat, but neither was she going to make a full bed. Her work station was something she pieced together, an egg chair with controls in the arm rest, and multiple screens on a desk. Each monitor held multiple windows of information and text, some of which displayed live feeds of different departments and status lights. Her primary object of study was the planet they were rushing towards, with copious notes she had made. She also had access to had viewed their assigned readings, which was everyone. Klingons were quite studious when it came to understanding their adversaries; they were also opinionated, and not shy of writing their own thoughts on the subject.
The enigma of Pyris VII had been overlooked for generations. It was the seventh planet of a dimly lit sun, existing just on the outer cusp of the ‘goldilock’ zone. It held a human compatible atmosphere, yet hosted no indigenous life forms. Though it was in the realms of possibility to have a planet evolve into being starting with an oxygen nitrogen atmosphere, it was highly unlikely to find oxygen without life as we know it after billions of years of evolution. Had the nebula that spawned this system been rich in oxygen, maybe one planet would have captured enough in its formation that four billion years later it might just have the right mix… but there was no evidence for this scenario in the rest of the system. The sun was a dwarf star, its makeup fairly common. None of the other planets in the system had oxygen atmospheres. Pyris VII didn’t have any of the indicators on its surface that suggested oxygen had been present in abundance for the entirety of its life. The best explanation proposed was that the planet’s atmosphere was terraformed to human specifications. It wasn’t until the Kirk incident that anyone suspected it was a trap. (Someone on the crew held a survey, to a one, they agreed it was a trap.)
The Federation: it wasn’t a trap. Based on the analysis of the Kirk incident, it was just an outpost for an alien species to study and understand the Federation. Not just humans, but ‘the Federation,’ and since the predominant members relied on oxygen nitrogen atmospheres, it simply made sense to terraform a planet for the majority. The first two representatives that took human form, (to our knowledge, Kletsova agreed,) didn’t fair too well. Either they were not prepared for how a change in physical form would change how they think, or they did not believe it would change them to the degree it had. (A linked subscript, and seemingly random quote attributed to Garcia, but not confirmed: ‘this appears to be a common theme among aliens who can technically transform, biological shape-shifters, and spies; empathy lies at the heart of imitation, you cannot see without becoming.) It didn’t help them any that their method of ascertaining knowledge was to communicate with the unconscious mind of their subjects, which gave insight into how alien they were; (at the same time, it illuminated the hidden archetypes that still lay within the ‘modern’ human. “Would they have chosen Klingons, there would have been a different story…”) This was definitely Garcia: “Imagine for a moment a human population, any population, and imagine further that instead of normal means of communication that this population only spoke through unconscious means, so that the whole of them operated as one, as if Jung’s treaty on the collective unconscious was describing a real thing, an entity greater than the sum of its parts.” That was one analogy proposed for this species strangeness, but it was a theory without confirmation, and without a live member to speak with, impossible to verify. It was not known if they were telepathic by nature or by tech, which was two very different things, but it was possible that it was both, as telepathic races have been known to enhance their abilities through tech. If they were telepathic by nature, their telepathy was clearly more substantial than say a Vulcan’s telepathy… Vulcan society allows for individuality, perhaps not as great as human societies, but it does allow for independent agency; they encourage selfsuppression of emotions, not an external suppression. A species that communicated through subconscious channels would likely express less individuality, again, a theory, but which might explain Sylvia and Korob had such difficulty assimilating, beyond getting use to human sensation.
Saying these creatures were alien was an understatement. More alien than anything the Federation had ever experienced, but in some ways, were a great deal like the Kelvan, aliens of vast intellect with little experience in human like emotions, with tech capable of modifying their form on a whim, as well as their environment. The transmuter was likely thousands of years ahead of replicator technology. Biologically, they were ornithoid like, with the only information about their form coming from an autopsy performed by Doctor McCoy. Though they were alien, it was decided they were, at last and simply, explorers, from a distant galaxy, simply trying to understand and relate to the most established, sentient life forms. Humans were less likely to assign maliciousness to an alien than Klingons. Since there was no evidence of tech outside a broken transmuter, which could not be backward engineered, it was decided to establish a federation outpost of their own; in short, they brought in a welcoming party to try and communicate with them.
The Pyris VII complex was commissioned and was well established, and fully staffed by the year 2328. It was designed to be welcoming, and took the form of a university, and it held representatives from almost every Federation species. There was a main dome that housed parks with themes such as children’s playgrounds, nature walks, statues hopefully communicating peace, and communal buildings, with the most central tower ascending up and through the dome, and on the tower was a rotating structure that held a restaurant, and the very top, an enclosed dome where representatives would go periodically to read, sing, or do something artistic in an educational sort of way. It was believed they were being examined from afar, and if the aliens were truly hostile, they were so technologically advanced that there that there could be no secrets, so ‘just be real.’ Someone who could spy on you from another galaxy and then send representatives through, well, if they wanted you dead, you would be, and so this gesture of being open and willing to share became the central theme of community life.
Around the dome, connected by tunnels, were a dozen other, smaller domes, each representing a member state of the Federation, and the internal environment that matched their home worlds, host to plant and animal life of the same. Every aspect of the complex represented a desire for peaceful interaction. Their mission was to contact a superior alien species. And consequently, a philosophy emerged on their campus that they were being observed all the time, whether it was true or not. There was initial debate about whether that was true or not, but the debates faded in favor of it didn’t matter if they were or not, they would proceed as if they were, and life at the complex began to resemble life on a kibbutz run by ‘60’s peace loving, hippy like’ people. The complex was self-sufficient. There was insufficient light from the sun for optimum solar power, so horta were brought in to carry the complex deep into the earth, so heat and energy direct from the mantel could be utilized. Dilithium mines were established because of the horta, providing the community a modest trade resource.
Over time, with no apparent contact from distant aliens, colonist wanting to be a part of the community, began to settle coming either because of the ‘loving’ nature of the community, or coming to be close to family that had already settled. Individual family domes, private habitats, were erected over the landscape at further and further distances from the dome. From orbit there was a condensed scattering of light, while most of the planet remained untouched, minus the robotics seeding germs of life that would be compatible with the planet, making its future more hospitable outside of domes, as it was still, and mostly, a lifeless, sterile planet.
Star Fleet had received an innocuous report that there had been recent activity, unusual energy readings of some sort, and the community at Pyrus VII had some concerns. Garcia had been ordered to investigate, but he had sent the Pa Nun to do a quick survey and report back. The Pa Nun was lost. Not long after it was lost, the Pyrus VII complex went silent. The Tempest was due to arrive any moment. Kletsova slapped her last weapon into place, locking it onto her body armor, examined herself in a holographic mirror, complements of her personal computer. She admired the meshing of Klingon and Federation design which indicated its Path Finder origins. Some old school options, like the skirt, which was actually preferred by the Klingons, was her favorite. She had always favored her legs, reflecting beauty and strength. A quick survey of her life, going back to being a run-away teen joining performing arts circus, even learning to fly, wearing the most outrageous but fun outfits to present… Still wearing amazingly fun, but now functional clothing. There was no visible signs that she was pregnant. She patted the armor and spoke softly.
“This will keep you safe,” Kletsova said. “I will keep you safe.”
She pushed through her image heading for the door before the alert told her it was time. She arrived in the