Guest Posted December 13, 2011 Posted December 13, 2011 (( Temporal Affairs ))KELLS: And yet I wonder: why now? The only part of my career I really regret, the only place where my actions carried mortal consequences for others. Why would I have come back to now?:: Aron's archetypes weren't worth much. The temporal affairs office in Geneva had windows on every wall but its north, and the agent in charge of Aron's case was a casually-dressed Betazoid, Vyrix. ::VYRIX: It is a good question, Aron. Why now?KELLS: I can only assume that it was the doing of that machine from the Ring. VYRIX: Yes, that was our hypothesis as well. Would you like to know what we found?KELLS: Very much so.VYRIX: So would we. The Ring is long-gone; the so-called consciousness that inhabited evidently has no wish to communicate with us; and its original construction date - or perhaps its original inhabitation of the planet - evidently happened so far in the past that our sensors cannot penetrate back far enough.KELLS: They can't? It must have only been a few thousand years.VYRIX: Maybe, and maybe not. In any event, time is not a river; Aron; if you insist on metaphors, it would be easier to visualize a gross of spiders weaving enormous webs - and we are the flies.KELLS: But you can see into my future. You can see 2396.VYRIX: That's easier. Yes, we can, and we can see how it's likely to change. There are no certainties, but things certainly have changed.KELLS: Like what?VYRIX: You, for one. You are 43 then, not 35. And your career - well, I won't tell you what's likely there.KELLS: Well, it's simple. Just send me back. I guess I've done what I came to do.VYRIX: Impossible.KELLS: Look, I know you have rules, but-VYRIX: No, I mean it is literally impossible: You returned and ensured that Dantin-Vex, Hya Reddem, Anna Harkin, Somak, Paul Chester, Vasily King, and Renae Sullivan were not killed; you made certain that Dr. Fay Cricket did not create the compound that would retard the growth of the bioweapon the Drake's logs call "the Fungus." KELLS: And isn't that good?VYRIX: There really isn't a good or a bad, Aron, not in my line of work. You did what you did and now we have to adapt. But in any event, the degree to which you participated in the present means that your future has effectively been annihilated. If we tried to return you to your time, you would die. Or, worse, you would return to void.KELLS: ...What does that mean?VYRIX: You would die without being dead. That's the easiest way to think about it. Purgatory, forever. KELLS: Oh. (beat) Oh. VYRIX: We will need to brief the Drake's command staff regarding your unique position, but I see no reason that you can't continue working for Starfleet.KELLS: If I still want to, you mean.VYRIX: Why wouldn't you want to? I've read your depositions. You are a 'fleeter, through and through, by your own admission.KELLS: I've just lost eight years of my life. I view a wasted day as unforgivable. How can I even begin to think about eight years?VYRIX: That's one way to think about it. But you can imagine it this way, too: you have gained eight years of knowledge and experience in one mission, while your shipmates only gained a few days' worth.KELLS: I suppose.VYRIX: Do you want my advice?KELLS: I don't know. Do I?VYRIX: You do. Make use of this odd happenstance. We'll continue looking into the Ring and its machines; I understand the Drake ejected the one you brought aboard, so maybe it's still floating around somewhere. That's our job. As for you, don't act as though your life is over. Go and live, son.KELLS: Were you a motivational speaker or something?VYRIX: I'm a Betazoid. I know what people want to hear.:: And she smiled. It was supposed to be warm, but he found it ... disquieting. ::TBC! Lieutenant Commander Aron KellsChief Science OfficerUSS Drake
Recommended Posts