Like the visions, this story is not supposed to make sense or have an ending.
Chapter 1
She was running late for work. And that on my first day, she congratulated herself. Hastily she jumped up the steps to the Trill building and entered at exactly nine o'clock. She had a quick look on the emergency exit map on her right, but then decided to take the stairs. Just in time – at least she hoped so – she knocked on the office of Douglas Pabst. She was called in and entered with excusing for her lateness. He didn't seem to care as he was just shooing out one of his writers.
"You're Miss Taylor, right?" he asked and pointed to the seat in front of his desk.
She took a seat and nodded. "Yes, I'm here for the new job as secretary," she explained.
"Yes, yes, I'll show you around to the writers and then Darlene will work you in. She's going on maternity leave in three days so you'll have three days to ask any questions you might have." He stood up and led her through a side door into the writer's 'working place'. Valentina Taylor followed him and was surprised as she had imagined the writers to have a bigger room for their creativity. But actually it was just another small office with a lot of tables, newspapers and some typewriters.
"Everyone, this is Valentina Taylor. She'll take over the job as a secretary as long as Darlene is on vacation," Pabst explained and then introduced her to Albert, Julius, Kay and Herbert, the writers and Darlene and Roy, who drew the outlines to which the authors created their stories. Valentina was welcomed nicely and followed Darlene to the little office on the other side of the room. The others went back to work and the women were among themselves again.
"Already overwhelmed?" Darlene asked with a bright smile.
"Well, it's a lot of new impressions," Valentina admitted shyly.
"You read some editions?"
"Yes, I did. And I got to say it's quite exciting to meet the authors in real life. They're so much different than I expected."
"Especially 'K.C.', I assume."
"I…kind of guessed that…" Valentina admitted, but then added, "there's something secretive in her writing style. Something that she wants to bring to the reader, but doesn't want to tell."
"You're in expert in science fiction novels?"
"I read a lot. Especially the stuff that isn't for a woman," she added sarcastically.
"What do you think?" Kay asked when Darlene and Valentina had left the room.
Pabst only rolled his eyes and went back to his office. Gossiping had not been part in the job description.
"She's really cute," Julius whispered.
"She is…er…" Albert said, and Herbert finished the sentence, "married."
"Yes," he agreed.
"Well, but she is still cute," Julius defended himself with a childish smile. "I only hope she survives the three days with Darlene," he leaned back in his chair and faced the typewriter again. Reading the first two words, he sighed and scrunched up the paper where one paragraph had been written so far.
About one o'clock, the writers, Roy, Darlene and Valentina went out to the Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. It was cheap and with what Pabst paid all of them, exactly their budget.
"Darlene said you like to read a lot? Have you read other books than Incredible Tales?" Kay asked.
"Yes, I had started with some classics, like The Time Machine or that recent book by Orwell, 1984," she answered.
"That's quite difficult stuff," Julius mentioned.
"And difficult stuff is not for women, or what?" Herbert intervened. "You already sound like Pabst. And we're just having our 45 minutes break from him."
Valentina smiled. Douglas Pabst and Herbert Rossoff always seemed to argue. But somehow that made the working atmosphere more interesting.
"My husband proposed to read these books. And I really liked them," she explained.
"So – is he reading the Galaxy as well?" Julius asked teasingly.
"No," she laughed. "Or I wouldn't be here, would I? He refers to it as 'a little bunch of crap'."
It was two years after he had returned that his visions started again. Jake was the first to notice when he was cooking Bajoran potatoes for the dinner with Kasidy. Admiral Sisko suddenly collapsed to the ground and started to move hectically. Jake wanted to get help, but his father held his arm.
"Give me my pencil," he muttered and looked at his right hand, as if he was holding something. "Restarting just where everything still had been in order," he added and then started to talk in fluent Bajoran.