DISCLAIMER: This work is not affiliated with Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda or Tribune Entertainment. This work is fan produced as free entertainment only and no infringement is intended.
SPOILERS: Ouroboros
A/N: Short missing scene from Ouroboros. I'm reposting this story and posting stories I never posted here previously. Comment if you spot any errors and I'll correct them. Thank you for the warm welcome back.
JUST ONE QUESTION
By Leah
"You might as well come in because I already know you're there," said Trance, giving a loving clip to one of her plants with a pair of tiny shears. My, how she had missed these quiet moments in the Hydroponics Bay! The future hadn't lent itself to many quiet moments.
Beka walked into sight and came to a halt, keeping her distance. She was wearing her force lance at her side. She watched Trance shape the green leaves on a branch for a moment. "Is that really you, Trance?" she asked at last.
"Yes and no."
Beka frowned, crossing her arms. "Yes and no?"
"Yes, it's really me and no, I'm not an imposter."
"I didn't say that--"
"But you were thinking it. I'm still me, only older."
Beka nodded, slowly. There was a perplexed look on her face. "Back on the Maru when things were so crazy and you were talking to yourself, you said you knew what went wrong. What do you mean?"
"Things were bad in the future. But knowing what went wrong increases the possibility of things going right. That's why it had to be this way, Beka. I can't explain any more than that."
"Well, some things don't change." Beka stepped closer and looked around at the plants. "So you still know all of us? All of these?"
"Yes." Trance smiled, but then grew somber. "It must seem very strange to you."
"That's an understatement." Beka eyed some greenery. "So, how's Walter today?"
"Nice try, Beka. But I do still remember that Walter died in one of Harper's experiments with the Perseids. I'm still the Trance that you know, only now I've known you a lot longer than you've known me."
"But you're not purple. Why aren't you purple?"
Trance's lips formed into an enigmatic smile that Beka recognized. "If you can tell me why I was purple in the first place, then I'll answer your question."
Beka frowned, thoughtfully. Of course, she couldn't fulfill that request. No one had ever been able to find out why Trance was purple, but Beka didn't allow herself to worry over it. "What are we supposed to call you now? I mean Purple Girl is obviously out of the question. And since you've grown up Tyr's term 'Little Girl' doesn't seem very appropriate either."
"That's true," Trance agreed. "But I hope you'll call me your friend."
"And are you my friend? Are you our friend? How am I to know that you're not some stranger that just looks like Trance that came back and fooled Trance into going wherever she went?"
"To the future," Trance supplied. "We switched places. It had--"
"I know. Had to be that way," Beka finished. "So you're the future Trance who came back to the past which happens to be our present and the present Trance went to the future. Doesn't that mean that someday the present Trance, in the future, will have to return to the past (which is our present) so that you, the future Trance can come back to the past which to us is still the present?"
"Like I said before, you can change the present. As for the rest of your question. Well. Time travel. New divergent time lines. Paradoxes. They're complicated."
"No doubt. There's no way of telling who you are--if you're really, Trance."
"All you have is my word. I'm Trance and I'm your friend. What more do you need to know? And you, of all people, Beka, should know about being given second chances. Besides," Trance continued. "If you really believed I'm not Trance at all, why would you be wasting your time talking to me?"
Beka was silent for a moment. "You saved Harper. In my book, that puts you as close to Trance as you'll ever need to be. But Dylan's a different story. The fact that a non-purple, grown-up Trance allowed a VIP, Very Important Perseid to stay dead, won't sit too well with him. He'll want an explanation."
"Maybe he won't want me to stay. I'll have to talk with him," said Trance, setting down her shears.
"After I talk with him," said Beka. She started to go, but stopped at the door. "Oh and Trance? Just one question."
"Yes, Beka?"
"I was curious. You see on the Maru, I ran into this future me. And, she looked--Well, I thought--Actually, I wondered how in the universe I ever ended up like...You know what? On second thought, I don't want to know."
(February 2002)