And Grow Roses

by ariom

The Liberator crew encounter Nerina Shaw, a retired Federation Commissioner

AND GROW ROSES...

I have no claims on either the series Blake's 7 or the original characters.

14330 words

As ex-Senior Commissioner Nerina Shaw, along with the other two thousand passengers and three hundred crew from the Bounty attempted to pile into their lifecraft to escape the stricken vessel she spared a brief prayer of thanks to the encounter several hundred years before between the Federation and the Trader Society, with their brilliant technology.

Among many other benefits, each and every space going vessel was now equipped with stasis capsules acquired from the Traders. These ranged in size from the individual, into one of which she was hastily cocooning herself, to large capsules capable of holding up to fifty people at a time. Uncounted lives had been saved since their acquisition. The smaller capsules were oddly shaped, almost cylindrical, with a narrowing protuberance at one end housing the drive, computer and support systems, and had been christened 'stubbies' by some long distant and irreverent Federation techno.

It was by chance she had arrived at the bay housing the individual capsules. She had been down near one of the cargo holds, where she had been letting her small pet xinbaa Yuri have some much needed exercise. At least, she thought he needed it; Yuri's preference, as always, was for sleep. Upon the alarm and the directive to abandon ship, she had hastily snatched up the animal, tucking him inside her jacket and hurrying to the escape tube she had noticed a short distance back. Inside her jacket the small mammal snuggled closer to her warmth and snoozed, as it did anyway for nine tenths of its life.

Nerina checked the tiny screen within the life support section, which indicated the closest habitable planet was several star systems away. At the comparatively slow speeds of which the capsules were capable, the trip would take five months. She pulled a face, set the navigational directions, programmed the auto-waken to revive both herself and Yuri when she was within two hours of planetfall, and let herself slide down into dreamless stasis.

Her tiny capsule shot off through space, headed for safety. It never reached there. Unbeknown to all the passengers including Nerina, the captain of the Bounty, hurrying Earthwards and wishing to save travel time and expense, had ventured into a dangerous area of space for which his charts were incomplete almost to the point of nonexistence. No one would ever know what had caused the destruction of the ship; the bridge had been ruptured and the captain was among the first casualties. Which doubtless saved him the ignominy of a trial afterwards.

Her lifesaving stubby was still well within the uncharted area when it collided with a rift in space; a hole in the normal space/time continuum. Through this the tiny capsule shot and was bounced across the galaxy and through time itself. Inside, she and Yuri slept on, but as she moved on through space on the other side of the hole, things were very different. Her safe planet was now many lifetimes away and she would never reach it. Nerina and Yuri had disappeared without trace. Her children and grandchildren would wait in vain for her return, eventually presuming she had perished on the Bounty. Of the twenty three hundred people on board, less than a thousand survived. It was one of the largest peacetime disasters of its kind since the Nova Queen, before the long previous destruction of Star One.

"Liberator's sensors have detected an unidentified space object."

"Put it on the main screen, Zen."

They stared at the tiny capsule, hurtling along at a velocity comparable with standard by three. Avon frowned.

"It appears to be headed somewhere in particular. Zen, scan and tell us its directional heading."

"The capsule is headed past all the star systems within navigational range. At its current heading and speed it will reach intergalactic space in two thousand years." A pause. "Sensors indicate two life forms aboard."

"What? Are they human?"

"One reads as human; the other is unknown."

Cally took several steps to stand beside him. She was uneasy; her encounter with the alien in the floating space tomb was just too recent for her to feel anything else. Avon half turned to her.

"Perhaps we should just blast it out of existence?" But he was not entirely serious. "Zen, are there any indications that this capsule and its contents pose any danger to us?"

"That information is not currently available."

Dayna, seated on the lounger, chuckled appreciatively.

"In other words, Zen doesn't know." Lithely, she rose to her feet and came to stand by them, watching the tiny object on the screen. She shook her head. "There is someone - a human - in that? It's so small."

Avon half turned his head.
"The capsule appears to be slightly larger than those carried by the Liberator." And they, as he was fully aware, certainly were not roomy.

Cally regarded Dayna.
"According to Zen, two life forms." She shrugged. "I suggest we take it on board, Avon. Two thousand years is a long time to travel. Maybe its navigational systems have been damaged. In which case, they would be unlikely to survive."

Avon gave her a cool stare.
"The same idea had occurred to me."

"After all, we are armed. We can ensure the human passenger is of no danger to us. Nor the other life form. That is, assuming they can be revived."

He grunted, non committal. He also had not forgotten their encounter with the alien who had attempted to possess Cally's life force.

"Zen, match the capsule's speed and direction, and take it in a tractor tow. Then return to our original heading and speed." They were currently en route for Callipheron, where it was rumoured there was a massed gathering of rebels wishing to fight against the Terran Federation, but in desperate need of both moral support and the more practical support of funds and weaponry. But at their current speed, they had estimated close to eighty hours to their destination.

Just as importantly to Del Tarrant, they were heading away from the United Planets of Teal.

Nerina Shaw sat up and looked around cautiously. The surroundings were not at all what she had anticipated upon awakening. According to her instructions, she should have been woken before, not after planetfall. Clearly she had not made it to a planet.

In spite of her lack of concern, she had however checked before opening the capsule that the ambient conditions were life supporting. They appeared normal for Terran life. Her hopes lifted; she had possibly been taken aboard another Federation or civilian vessel. She lived in peaceful times, and was unalarmed, but curious, about her situation. Any hostiles, she decided, would have simply blasted the capsule and her in it into oblivion, in which case she would never have awakened.

The stasis capsule was in a large cargo bay of some kind, pressurised but chilly. As she sat attempting to collect her composure a nearby door slid open and three people entered. She turned to look at them first with relief and then with fear. They were humans, and armed.

Then her eyes focussed on them and with recognition came bewilderment and fear. This could not be happening. It was not possible.

Appreciating the fact that whoever they had taken aboard could now be awake, armed and dangerous, Cally, Dayna and Tarrant entered the cargo hold with all due caution. Tarrant and Dayna held their handguns, although casually, as they approached the capsule, but Cally had chosen to go unarmed. They saw a woman sitting upright in the now open capsule. Then she turned to face them. Her face was smooth, unlined and very familiar, but with sufficient differences for them to stop for a moment in confusion.

Above clear brown eyes her dark hair was long, braided and piled atop her head. If she was clearly disturbed by their appearance, they were shocked at hers, reacting instinctively. Dayna raised her gun and Tarrant's mouth dropped open in shock. She stared, shook her head and spoke, her eyes on them and holding both her hands up so they could see she was unarmed. Her words were apparently for herself, but they were nonetheless audible and understandable.

"Hallucinations are not a normal after effect of stasis. They are real." And in a lower tone, even more to herself. "Oh, shit!" She swallowed, shook her head and raised her voice to address them. "I surrender. Don't shoot me!"

Cally shook her head.
/No, Dayna, this is not Servalan. Look at her. Look at her carefully. Tarrant, she is not who she looks to be./

Dayna stared, blinked and slowly lowered the weapon but she did not put it away.
"Are you all right?" Cally queried, coming closer to Nerina and the capsule.

"I - think so. As long as you're not going to use those on me." She rubbed at her face and the back of her neck, then slowly lowered her hands and moved her body in a series of exercises. She caught their expressions and explained. "I have been in stasis. I'm not sure just how long for, but I feel very stiff. And sore. I have a headache too." Cally smiled.

"That's understandable. Would you like a hand out?"

"Please." Nerina lifted herself upwards and out of the capsule with Cally's assistance, and was chagrined to find her stance unsteady. "I think - I'd better just wait for a bit." She eased herself backwards and rested against one end of the capsule, breathing slowly and steadily. Cally looked concerned; the other two remained alert. Then she looked up at them. Tarrant had walked around the capsule, examining it carefully from all angles. The other woman, Nerina noticed, was tense and suspicious, her weapon still drawn. Nerina wondered what it was about her own appearance that had disturbed them so. But then these people would have lived with suspicion; knowing what she did about them, she was actually surprised that she was still alive.

"This is a stasis capsule of some kind?" he queried and she nodded, smiling slightly.

"Yes indeed. They are standard equipment on all civilian and Federation vessels nowadays. They have saved a lot of lives since we first acquired them from the Trader Society. Everyone on the Bounty who got to one in time would be safe."

"Trader Society?" He frowned. "What is that? What are you talking about? And just exactly who are you? Where did you come from?"

"Ah." The woman rubbed her face and shook her head slowly. "I - think I - really do have a headache." Figuratively as well as literally, she thought to herself.

Dayna looked from Tarrant to Nerina, frowning. Then she looked a little closer and gave a startled cry.

"What is that moving there?" Nerina smiled and moved her hand towards her jacket.

"Oh, it's just - "

"Freeze!"

"Don't move!"

And she looked up, shocked, into the suddenly levelled weapons of both the warrior woman and the ex-Federation captain.

"All right, all right. It's all right." And then, muttered under her breath, but audible. "Bloody hell, you people are even more trigger happy than I had imagined"

Cally's voice was sharp.

"Put the guns away, both of you. She is not reaching for any sort of a weapon. There is an animal there."

"Thank you." Nerina moved her hand slowly, and lifted Yuri out carefully. He wriggled, opened wide yellow eyes and yawned, displaying sharp teeth. Dayna's face relaxed and she almost laughed.

"Why, it's a cat!"

"Almost," Nerina corrected. "This is Yuri, and he is a xinbaa, a genetically modified mammal. He has strains of feline, and also of several other extinct Earth animals." She stroked the creature, and he curled up in her arms and went back to sleep, purring. She looked down at him ruefully. "It appears stasis doesn't bother xinbaas. I wish I could say the same for myself."

Cally became brisk. "Come with us. We shall take you to our medical centre first, and check you over. That headache may be the symptom of something more than stasis hangover. But you appear to be in good health otherwise. Are you feeling better now?"

"Indeed. Thank you." Nerina was satisfied to get up again and go with Cally and Dayna. Tarrant was still regarding the stubby with undisguised curiousity. At the doorway she paused and looked back at him. "When I am feeling better, I shall come back down and explain this capsule and its controls and function to you, if you'd like."

"Yes." He continued to prowl around the capsule and she gave him a quick, cautioning look.

"Don't interfere with anything, please." She smiled briefly. "It's quite safe, but I shall show you everything of interest on it later on."

"Hmm. Right."

They left him looking at the capsule, his expression a mix of worry, puzzlement and admiration.

Leaving Tarrant in the cargo hold, the two women accompanied Nerina to the medical facilities. As they walked, they could not help but notice her reaction to the ship. When she was seated, with Cally checking her over, she shook her head to herself.

"If someone had told me when I boarded the Bounty to head home to Earth that I would end up on the Liberator, I would have laughed and said it was just not possible." Cally tilted her head slightly.

"You know about the Liberator?"

"I should. Ah, yes. I do."

Dayna looked suspicious.

"What did you mean, you should? Who are you? And this - Bounty? Was it a ship? A Federation ship?" She fixed the older woman with an intent stare and Nerina shook her head gently.

"I - am not a danger to you." She frowned to herself. "At least, I don't think I am. I just..." And she broke off, shaking her head again. "Don't be alarmed, Dayna, I really am harmless. I don't even carry a weapon."

"And you know my name. I suppose you know all our names?" Nerina gave a short laugh.

"You are famous." Infamous, perhaps, she thought would be more accurate. However she did not modify her comment. She was discovering rather quickly that what she thought she knew about the crew of the Liberator might not be exactly the truth. She did however want to know a great deal more before she told them all that had happened. In her own mind it was clear; she was not hallucinating and neither was she dreaming. Somehow, she was now in the past. What she could or should do about the situation she was not yet certain.

And in spite of her apparent ease and confidence, she was inwardly still very afraid. She had studied the past and all she had ever read and heard about these people had led her to believe they were ruthless criminals. More than that, they were dangerous, murderous rebels. Their prime aim - fortunately unsuccessful - had been the destruction of the Terran Federation.

"That's nice to know," Dayna said, the irony plain in her tone. "And your name - who are you?"

"I am called Nerina Shaw. The Bounty was a passenger cruiser headed from the outer systems towards Earth. We - ah - had some sort of accident and I think the ship was probably destroyed." She smiled at them and stood up, lifting Yuri out from her jacket. "I'll check Yuri over myself, I think. I do know his normal condition." She gave them a quick grin. "Asleep. He sleeps twenty hours out of twenty four, and more if he can. It's because I was exercising him that I ended up in a single stubby. That's what we call the stasis capsules. Not an elegant nickname, but the function is more important than the name."

"Yes." Dayna looked straight at her. "You said they were standard equipment on all vessels now. But we have never heard of them." She paused significantly. "Nor have we ever heard of the Trader Society."

"Ah, there is a reason for that." Nerina quickly checked Yuri over and, satisfied, she dug in one of the pockets of her jacket and pulled out a sling, which she hung around her neck, doing up ties so it hung in front of her, and tucking the small creature inside. It promptly went back to sleep again and all three of the women smiled. Then Dayna repeated her question, impatience creeping into her tone.

"The Trader Society, Nerina? Who - what - are they?"

"Hmm, yes." Nerina looked at them both in turn before she spoke again. "What I have to say concerns you all. I think you'd better take me to the flight deck so I can tell you all everything." Dayna and Cally exchanged looks.

"It is important. I really think it would be a good idea." Dayna looked at her thoughtfully.

"There is more to you, Nerina, than meets the eye."

"Yes," she agreed quietly. "That is true, Dayna."

And, she thought to herself, there was clearly more to these people than the facts - or were they facts? - she had absorbed in her education and research.

Back on the flight deck, Tarrant had wasted no time, but had strode to stand before Zen's screen.

"Zen, what do you have about the Trader Society? And do you have any information on a vessel called the Bounty? I don't know anything else about it, just the name."

"No information is available on the Trader Society. There are at present twenty three space vessels registered under the name of Bounty."

"Operating out of Earth?"

"Fifteen are registered with the Terran Spacefaring Association."

"Are there any Terran Federation vessels by that name?"

"Two. One is a single crew scoutship and the other is a deep space destroyer."

"Current position of the destroyer?"

"Currently in dry dock orbiting Mars undergoing repairs and updates."

"Present position of President Servalan?"

"That information is currently not available."

"Damn!" Tarrant scowled and sat down. Avon had stood silent and motionless during this exchange and now he regarded the other man ironically.

"Any time you'd care to tell me what all this is about, I'm listening." He waited. " Well, go on."

"Yeah, go on," Vila echoed from his present comfortable position on the lounger. "Has to do with that capsule, does it?"

"It certainly does." Tarrant swung to Avon. "That - thing we took aboard is called a stasis capsule. She called it a stubby, and said they were standard equipment now on all space going vessels."

"Not on the Liberator, they're not," Vila commented, but Avon raised his eyebrows.

"And who and where is she, may I ask?"

"My name is Nerina Shaw."

Accompanied by Cally and Dayna, the woman entered the flight deck. She stood for several moments, just looking around. The expression on her face was beyond them, like that of a child who had long been promised an impossible treat, and had then seen it materialise right before her eyes. Then she noticed the reactions of the other two crew members standing there. Had she not been so concerned, she might have found them almost, even if very briefly, amusing. They looked as bewildered as she felt. She let out a long sigh and walked down to the front of the flight deck where the three men were. She looked at them in turn. "Kerr Avon. Vila Restal. And Del Tarrant, I have already met."

Avon stared, his eyes narrowing. Servalan? No, there were differences. He regained his composure more quickly than Vila, who was quite frankly gawping. "You are familiar with our names. So?"

Nerina did not react to his taunt. She smiled faintly, almost secretively. Yet there was a touch of sadness in her expression as she raised her face to him.

"I am - very familiar with your names, your faces, and indeed all your histories. I should be. Ah." She went and stood near Vila. He recoiled, then shook his head.

"You're not - her - are you?"

"What?" She blinked at him and frowned a little. "Her? What do you mean?"

Avon looked at her coldly.

"You know who we are. Surely you cannot be unaware of who you seem - at least at first appearance - to resemble?"

"No." Nerina shook her head. "I have no idea what you are talking about. No idea who you are talking about." She frowned again and looked across at the others. "Wait - when they first saw me they reacted as if I was someone you know - and someone you certainly do not like."

Vila sniggered. "An understatement, if ever there was one."

Nerina shrugged and looked at Avon.
"Tell me the date."

"What?" Tarrant blinked at her. Avon frowned.

"Earth date?"

"Yes, that will do."

"This is the third century of the second calendar." He swung to Zen. "Information, Zen. Present date, day, month and year on Earth, Central time."

Nerina's face as she regarded Zen's fascia and listened to its neutral tone state the information requested was impressed and awestruck. Her mouth opened in shock. "Oh hell," she murmured, then closed her mouth firmly again, her expression shuttered, almost secretive. For a moment or two there was silence, then she swallowed and spoke again.

"Thank you." She sat down automatically. "I was travelling from a planet called Nehemia towards Earth - "

"On the Bounty," Tarrant interjected and she looked at him.

"That's correct. And then - "

"There is a Federation destroyer by that name currently undergoing repairs around Mars," Tarrant said pointedly. Nerina nodded.

"That could well be so. The name has been used many times. Our vessel was destroyed and I left in a stubby - a stasis capsule - heading towards the nearest safe planet. But I ended up here and now instead."

She looked around at them all. Tarrant's face reflected hostility and the others various degrees of puzzlement and non committal.

"I'm not quite sure how this has happened. I need to go back down and examine the flight records of my stubby. I believe they will confirm what I already suspect - "

"And what is that?" asked Tarrant suspiciously. There was something about this woman, quite apart from the face she wore, that totally unnerved him. Nerina turned and looked steadily at him. She had always wondered what would have possessed the man to leave the Terran Federation and become a renegade. In person, she could see he would have been a problem for any commanding officer. He was arrogant and dominating and totally lacking in patience. That cocky attitude would have done little to endear him to any serving officers of her acquaintance.

She didn't like him, but was prepared to accept her reaction was coloured by what she already knew about him. As for the others, she was undecided. Cally seemed to have more human kindness in her than any of her companions, yet Nerina knew the Auron had been a fighter, even a terrorist before she had come aboard the Liberator. She knew - or thought she knew - about these people; she was fast realising that was not the same as knowing them.

And what, she wondered, would they do when they knew more about her? And who was it they had thought she was?

"I - would really like to be sure of my facts before I say any more." She was evasive, but undisturbed by their misgivings. "I do repeat, I am quite harmless to you all. I am not armed, and I have no intention of making any moves against any of you. I am rather bewildered as to how I got here, but believe me, if what I think has happened is true, then - " She broke off with a half laugh. "I don't know. I just don't know what will be the best thing to do." She shook her head slightly. "Um, tell me how it is my capsule came to be aboard your ship."

"It was going on a direct heading for intergalactic space," Cally said quietly. "You would have spent the next two thousand years in stasis."

Nerina blinked and made a short sound somewhere between amusement and shock. She rubbed at her face. It was a characteristic gesture, Cally had noticed. She had done it several times since leaving her capsule. Usually at the same time she gave some sort of wry smile. Now she was grateful and making no attempt to hide the emotion under any type of cynicism.

"I think I rather owe you thanks for taking me aboard then." She looked around. "Cally, will you - and Tarrant - come back down with me to check the stubby's records?"

"Of course." Cally rose to her feet. She liked Nerina, an instinctive feeling she could not have explained rationally to any of the others. Tarrant however felt suspicion. Which was exactly why Nerina had asked these two to accompany her. Telling him what had happened would not have convinced him. However, if he were able to see and handle the evidence he would come more quickly to an understanding.

As they started to leave the flight deck Nerina paused and reached down to undo the ties on Yuri's sling. She smiled and handed the small burden to Dayna.

"He'll sleep until I come back, if you could just find a safe place to put him"
Vila regarded the small creature curiously as Dayna smiled and put Yuri onto the lounger beside her. The xinbaa opened its eyes, lifted his head to look at its surroundings, yawned and promptly went back to sleep again. Dayna stifled a giggle as Avon looked on in distaste and disapproval.

"This is not an animal refuge," he said flatly, but to the departing backs of the other three. Vila moved over to sit beside Dayna, his fingers rubbing the xinbaa. It purred and stretched in total comfort. Xinbaas were very adaptable creatures; they had been designed that way.

"Where are you heading at the moment?" Nerina asked as they returned to the hold. Cally gave Tarrant a quick amused grin as he smothered a shudder.

"Anywhere, as long as it's away from Teal." He paused. "Callipheron, actually." Nerina thought for a moment and then smiled faintly.

"I see. Um, tell me, has Avon been acting particularly strangely recently?"

"Not any more than usual." Tarrant stopped dead and turned to her. "Why? Do you know something we don't? When are you going to tell us what's going on?"

"Not...yet." She shook her head slightly. "After I examine the flight record. Please"
He frowned as they continued downwards towards the cargo hold.

Trader Society Technology, commonly referred to in Nerina's time as TST, had equipped the human race with many advancements. It had proved beneficial in just about every area of society, and had been largely responsible for the era of peace they currently enjoyed. Or would enjoy, one day, Nerina thought wryly as she opened the capsule and climbed onto the small flight couch inside. Tarrant looked suspicious, his hand near the weapon he still carried. Cally was fascinated, and they both watched as Nerina tapped controls and brought up an image on the small viewscreen set in front of her.

"Ah. Look, this is the Bounty. Stubbies are set to record visuals when they are activated and ejected from a space vessel. Among other things, it does assist in discovering, later on, exactly what occurred. The Bounty was in an uncharted area of space, so it's likely they'll never find out why it was destroyed." She looked sad for a moment. "And it will depend also on how many other people managed - will manage - ah - whatever - to reach a safe planet afterwards"
Tarrant stared, missing Nerina's fumbling with tenses. Cally frowned slightly. It was as Dayna had said, there was indeed far more to the woman than met the eye. But what?

"I've never seen a vessel like that before."

"I don't suppose you have." Nerina smiled, and fast forwarded the images. "I was on a heading for a safe planet. According to the information when I went into stasis, it would have taken me five months to get there. But something must have gone wrong, and not very far along the way...ah...there - look!"

There was a brilliant warp and splash of lights and colours across the tiny screen. The readouts went berserk and then the directional readings changed dramatically. Nerina shook her head slowly. She sat and replayed the tape again. Close to the end of it the Liberator loomed on the screen and they all regarded it, Nerina with admiration and awe. "I would never have believed something like this could have happened." She turned it off and climbed out. "But - "

"What happened there?" Tarrant demanded impatiently, but she made no response. She blinked and put her fingers to her face again, and Cally could see the sudden tears glisten in her eyes.

"I - can't ever get back home again. But I don't know what will happen if I stay here."

"Here? What do you mean, here?" Tarrant demanded. "On the Liberator?"

"No." She was very definite about that. "I mean here as in now, Tarrant. In this time." Nerina let out a sigh and brushed away the tears abruptly, looking from one of them to the other. "You have never seen the ship I was on, and you've never heard of Trader Society Technology or stubbies, Tarrant, because they - and I - belong in your future."

Back on the flight deck, she looked around at their faces. They reflected a range of emotions from disbelief through curiousity and fascination. Yuri had made himself comfortable on Vila's lap, and he was absently rubbing under the small creature's chin. Beside him Dayna was wide eyed, smiling slightly, while Cally appeared serene and accepting of what Nerina had told them. Tarrant looked disbelieving while Avon, as usual, was attempting to mask his response behind a cold stare that he now directed at the woman.

"You are from our future, you say?" He tilted his head at her. "How far in the future?"

Nerina looked straight at him.
"Somewhere in the region of five hundred years, I would say."

"What?" Dayna caught her breath and then gave a nervous laugh. "Are you serious?"

"Oh yes. Believe me, I am totally serious. It appears the stubby hit some sort of warp or rift in space and time." She shrugged. "That would have put it off course, which is why it was heading for the edge of the galaxy, and it is pure chance it threw me to this time."

Avon looked at her thoughtfully.

"You knew who we were when you were brought aboard. You know about us - five hundred years in the future?"

She nodded.
"Actually, I know a lot about you all. Your life histories, so to speak." Far too much, she thought wryly to herself, and a great deal of it probably incorrect to some degree or another. The question was, what was she going to do with her knowledge? What could she do? What should she do?

They broke into a babble of questions and demands and she shook her head, somewhat sadly.

"I - really need to think about matters. If I tell you what I know, then that is going to affect your futures, and also that of many other people. I am not sure - "

"And how is it that you know so much about us?" Avon asked. Vila gave a little chuckle.

"We're famous, of course." He laughed to himself. "In five hundred years' time they're still going to be talking about us! How's that?"

But Nerina's face was unamused, and looking at her, Cally could see the woman's distress, up until that time well under control, was growing by the moment. She stood up.

"Nerina, I do believe that before you make any decisions about anything at all, before you tell us any more, you should have a rest and a sleep." She amended. "A proper sleep, not stasis. Are you hungry? Do you want anything to eat or drink? I shall find you a place where you can sleep. And Yuri too, if you can get him away from Vila"
Nerina relaxed and smiled up at the Auron.

"That is - very kind of you. Yes, I would prefer to rest. Thank you, Cally. I think Yuri is in safe hands. But he might want something to eat himself, even though I do not, at the moment." She rubbed the back of her head thoughtfully. "I never ever wondered whether the Liberator could supply something in the way of pet food"
Vila looked up at her.

"What does he eat?"

"Xinbaas are genetically modified mammals. They can eat anything humans can. However, he does prefer something with a fish or meat base. He drinks only water. And he's very clean, too," she added hastily. "He won't make a mess on you."

"Oh. That's nice." Vila smiled weakly. He looked at each of the others in turn and repeated, marvelling. "Five hundred years!"

But before they could reach the steps leading up and away from the flight deck Zen's cool voice interrupted them.

"Information. The Liberator is under attack."

Nerina blinked in shock as she and Cally swung back to the main screen. In all her research, she had never heard of any major attack upon on the ship between the time they left the Teal/Vandor conflict and Avon's receipt of the message supposedly from Blake. Neither had the members of the crew been quite as ruthless as many of the records had suggested. She liked Cally and Vila, was wary of Dayna and disdainful of Tarrant. About Avon, she hadn't yet made up her mind fully.

But, for the moment, the crew had other problems to deal with. Interested to see how they handled the situation, she remained on the sidelines, watching and listening. Avon and Tarrant hurried to stand before Zen's screen; the other three moved quickly to their flight consoles. The vessel on the screen was clearly recognisable as a Federation attack cruiser of the time, and as she watched the image changed to that of a woman.

At the sight Nerina's mouth dropped open and she frankly stared. The crew had half turned and as they caught her expression they realised Servalan's appearance was indeed a total shock to their passenger.

/President Servalan of the Terran Federation./ There was the faintest tone of amusement in Cally's silent message to Nerina and the woman froze in astonishment, then turned to her. She had read about Aurons and their telepathy, of course. To experience the cool voice inside her own skull was different. So this was Servalan...

Madam President was in a thoroughly foul mood. After the fiasco of her attempt to take over both Teal and Vandor and their accompanying systems for the Federation, her vessel had set off on a different heading from that taken by the Liberator. Nerina's tiny craft had been detected by their systems and for a moment Servalan had been tempted simply to blow it out of space as an outlet for her simmering rage. The Federation sensors had detected the life form aboard and she had stayed her hand, not out of humanity but out of curiousity. So she had watched the capsule go, but had tracked it until it crossed the path of the Liberator and had been taken aboard. Why should they have done a thing like that? Perhaps there had been something valuable on board? She was going to find out, in any case. And the heavy cruiser was a good match for the Liberator, if it came to a fight.
"Liberator? You have something that belongs to me."

"Oh?" from Avon.

"The capsule you took on board is the property of the Terran Federation. I demand its immediate return."

"And how do you figure it to be your property?" queried Tarrant.

"When we first detected the capsule we made an attempt to take it in tow."

"An unsuccessful attempt," Avon said flatly but she ignored the interruption and went right on, lying easily, almost as if it were second nature.

"It is ours by right of salvage."

Vila snorted in disbelieving amusement. "Just because she saw it first she reckons it's hers! No way."

Avon shrugged at Servalan.
"You heard the man. The capsule is on board our ship, it is therefore our property." He smiled at her, but it was not a friendly expression. "Unless you think you can take it away from us, perhaps?"

Servalan turned to the cruiser's captain and they held a murmured aside. Then she looked into the screen, her mouth curving slightly.

"There was a life form in that vessel."

"Indeed."

"An alien life form?" She queried. "Don't forget the Andromedans, Avon. It is possible there are still some of their craft around this galaxy." Nerina rolled her eyes.

"Is that the best she can do?"

Dayna grinned. Like Avon's expression, hers was not pleasant.

"Servalan is an avaricious, lying, cheating murderess."

"I am so very glad you, and not she, picked me up." For an awful moment Nerina had a vision of herself aboard the ship of the Terran President and she shuddered. "History does not do her justice. We - we have never had any visual records of her. I did not know - could not even have imagined -"

Avon half turned his head.
"Nerina, would you like to come over here?" She hesitated.

"I'm - not entirely sure that's a good idea."

"Come here," he repeated and she shrugged, then walked across to join him. Servalan's eyes widened in shock. Nerina made herself smile blandly back into the other woman's gaze. She felt it was probably more of a sickly grin than a smile but the President's eyebrows rose and her face registered her own shock.

"Who is she?"

"Nerina Shaw - President Servalan." Avon grinned. "Nerina is - our guest. Goodbye, Servalan." He terminated the contact and moved quickly to his flight console. "Zen, put up the force wall, raise the neutron flare shields and clear the plasma bolts for firing. Give them one blast, but aim to disable the ship, not destroy it. Then we'll get out of here."

"Yeah," Vila echoed. "Chatting with Servalan is not my idea of a pleasant way to pass time." He cast a quick glance at Nerina. "Nothing personal, mind you."

And to Servalan's chagrin the Liberator, firing off one shot and then turning gracefully, fast disappeared from their detector and weaponry range.

Nerina turned to Avon and shook her head gently.

"I never knew what she looked like. But this I can tell you - she really is an exceedingly dangerous woman. You might have been better off to blast her to kingdom come when you had the chance." Avon gave her a tight smile.

"Some other time." And then he showed a shade of concern. "You look very tired. Do as Cally said, go and have a proper sleep. We can survive until you feel better." Nerina gave him a long steady look, then nodded.

"I - think that is an excellent idea." She smiled as Cally came to her side.

"I shall show you to a cabin." She gave Avon an amused look. "I think one way and another we might have given Servalan something to keep her mind occupied for a while."

In the cabin to which Cally took her Nerina fell straight down in a deep sleep, which lasted for well over eight hours. She woke and lay in a drowsy state of comfort in surroundings she had really not taken in properly before she had slept. The room was larger than the one she had occupied on the Bounty, but was by no means luxurious. However, it felt secure.

The Liberator, she thought to herself. She gave a little laugh, rubbing her face in that characteristic gesture and smiling slightly. Well, there could have been worse places and times to end up. And then she remembered where the Liberator would shortly be heading, and the fate that awaited it there, and she jerked into full awareness.
Before she went anywhere, she made use of the ablution facilities adjoining the cabin, and put on the clean set of clothing one of the crew - Cally probably, had left out for her. She redid the complicated braids of her hair and regarded her image in the mirror set beside the door. She still felt tired, but the fatigue did not show. And she did indeed look like the President. She had grown her hair long and did it differently, and there was of course the age difference...

Was it possible, she asked herself, that she was in fact a distant descendant of President Servalan? Did she want to be? There had been mention, somewhere in the records, of a child Servalan was reputed to have borne long before she reached any position of power...She had never wondered enough about it to find out more details. Now she regretted that fact. She smiled ruefully at her image in the mirror. She regretted a lot of things, all of which it was now too late to do anything about. Or too early, depending on your point of view. Her mouth twisted in self mockery and for the moment she dismissed her possible ancestry. There were more important matters to consider.

Seated again on the bed, she went over in her head what she would say to them.
Vila had been impressed that they would still be talked about in five hundred years' time. He just didn't know what people would be saying about them... Nerina shook her head to herself, pondering. Then she left the room and made her way to the flight deck, blessing her acute sense of direction. It was a peaceful scene that greeted her, unlike the tension of the previous occasion when they had been standing against the Federation. Defending her, she thought wonderingly. After all she had heard and read about them in all her search, defending a total stranger, and especially one who wore Servalan's face, had seemed an action totally out of character. But then all the records had been written by Federation chroniclers. That they had possibly - probably - been biased in the extreme was something she was fast coming to realise. She hoped the Liberator crew would not regret encountering her.

There, she found them all assembled again. They looked up as she came down the steps onto the flight deck and towards Zen's screen. She paused at the sight of Avon bent over a small box of flashing lights and circuits.

"Orac," she said, murmuring to herself. He lifted his eyes to her.

"Does Orac - still exist - in your time?"

"Oh yes." She almost laughed. "I have, as a matter of fact, been able to use it on rare occasions, when I needed to find out something impossible to track down in any other way. However, as I am sure you are aware, Orac has - not to sound too silly - a mind of its own. It does not always give the information that is requested"
Avon looked rueful.

"I - have experienced that sort of a problem myself." Behind him Vila chuckled appreciatively. Yuri, she was pleased to see, had made himself very comfortable on Vila's lap and was purring in contented sleep. From time to time the thief's fingers crept down and caressed the small creature. She decided Yuri would not care where or when he was, as long as food and comfort were provided. Xinbaas certainly had been designed for their adaptability. Nerina continued.

"Orac survived a number of - events, I suppose is the best way to refer to them." They all looked interested, but she said nothing else. Dayna moved slightly on the lounger where she sat and beckoned, then indicating the table in front of her.

"Come sit down, Nerina, and have something to eat. And drink perhaps?"

"Thank you." Nerina sat down and helped herself to the food. She was hungry, not surprisingly. She had no idea how long it was since she had actually put any food into her stomach. That was one of the things, she decided, she would just never know. Finally she put the plate down and looked around at them all. She had been aware of their eyes, curious, thoughtful and calculating upon her while she ate, but even their watchful gazes had not distracted her from the food.

"Now," Avon said, his voice low but very firm, "we have things to talk about, Nerina."

"Yeah," Vila chipped in cheerfully. "Tell us again how famous we're going to be in your time."

"Uh, I'm not quite sure famous is the right word," she said slowly. Leaning back on the lounger, she looked around at them all thoughtfully. "I - had better tell you a little about myself first. I know all about you, you see, because history, specifically of your time, is my area of interest. I worked for the Terran Federation up until ten years back, when I left the service - "

"And why was that?" Tarrant demanded. She smiled at him gently.

"I - retired. I had worked for the Federation all my life, but - "

"Hang on just a minute," Vila interrupted. "The Federation? You worked for the Federation? Servalan's Terran Federation?" He sounded outraged. "But you saw her! We're trying to overthrow them all!"

Nerina shook her head gently.

"I'm sorry, Vila. The Federation is greater than you are. It will survive - "

"And we won't? Is that what you're saying?" Tarrant's voice was angry and disbelieving. She looked at him directly and coolly.

"You yourself were Federation, weren't you, Tarrant? I often wondered exactly why it was that you deserted."

"The Terran Federation is corrupt." It was Cally, her voice calm amid the mutterings of the others. Avon however had remained silent, his face concealing his thoughts. "Is it still corrupt in your time, Nerina - is everything we ever did - do - are going to do - for nothing? Is that what you are saying?"

Nerina's expression was full of pain.

"I am truly sorry, Cally. You - cannot defeat something that powerful so easily as you might all wish."

"Your being here and telling us this however, may change a great deal." Avon stood before her. "Does Servalan win - in the end?" He was bitter, and looking at him, Nerina felt helplessness and grief for them all. And still she wondered...

"My telling you may change any number of things," she said slowly. She frowned, silent and thoughtful. Then she sat up. "Listen. I am here, therefore I have been born and I do exist. Nothing that I say or do now - here - can change that. But if I advise you, then you may choose to act to avoid certain events occurring. This will change the future - "

"And you might not be born after all?" Dayna suggested. Nerina smiled.

"But I have been born. I am here. Let's be logical about this, shall we?"

"Go on," Avon said slowly. "This is getting interesting."

"Interesting, highly complicated and confusing," Vila muttered.

Nerina steepled her fingers before her face.

"Things I say here and thing you do may change your future. Then it will be a different future from the one I came from. It might even be a better one. But the future I came from will still exist, side by side with any new one you may make. It is not a new theory, as I am sure you are aware, that at major events a divergence can occur, and the time line may therefore be split."

Cally looked at her very seriously.
"It is a risk, is it not? To you?" Nerina laughed.

"I - am not going to suddenly disappear in a puff of smoke, if I say or do something which may cause me never to have been born." She shook her head slightly. "And as for Servalan, now I understand why you reacted as you did when you first saw me. I had no idea I so resembled her. In my time, you see, there exist no visual records of her at all. There were some of all of you - "

"Mainly mug shots, probably," Vila interjected and she grinned.

"Probably. But of Servalan herself, nothing. There have been any number of official purges since - the present time - the here and now. Servalan did - something very serious. She ceased to exist officially but she was able to take on a new identity - "
"Huh?" from Vila.

"Shush," Dayna said to him. "Nerina - are you sure that telling us all this isn't going to affect the future? Your future"
Nerina smiled at her.

"I think, Dayna, from what I do know, and from what I have seen so far, that changing your futures might be an excellent idea." She shrugged. "If my theory is correct, it will change nothing that has already happened in one time line - the time I came from will still exist, and their past will be unchanged. But you - you can create a new alternative future as well. That future will be different - and I hope better - than your future that is already my past."

Vila shook his head sadly.

"I get a headache just thinking about all these pasts and presents and futures. You're trying to tell us there'll be two sets of us - one that did everything you knew about - and one set, us, here, that can do anything different - but that it won't affect you or the time you came from because it's already happened..." He trailed off into silence under Avon's disdainful stare. "I just don't understand," he said plaintively. "If Nerina is from our future, and we all died, but she comes back here and changes things, then what about her own time? Won't it be changed? Maybe she wasn't even born, but then she wouldn't have been able to come back here and change things and - urgh!" he stopped, aware of their glances upon him. Tarrant was openly derisive, Cally and Dayna were exchanging smiles and Avon was looking bland. Nerina shook her head.

"I don't know, Vila. It's - " she hesitated, " - a conundrum to which I have no answers, only theories."

"Oh, no, no more theories, please."

Tarrant ignored his protests, eager to display his own grip of the situation, and preferably at Vila's expense.

"Think about it this way, Vila. What if you take one of the Liberator handguns and go back into the past and kill your grandfather while he's still a boy - "

"What?" Outraged, from the thief. "Why should I do a thing like that? Not, mind you, that I was ever very fond of the old boy, but shooting him does seem a bit extreme"
Tarrant ignored him and continued.

"So he never has any children. Then you come back to your own time - "

"But I can't. I wouldn't ever have been born," protested Vila. Nerina smiled and came to his rescue.

"But you have been born, Vila. You must have been born, for you to be able to go into the past. Preventing your grandfather - or if it came to that, any one of your ancestors - from having children would not affect you in the slightest. But in his time, you would be causing a divergence of futures. There would be a future in which you had never been born, but it would exist elsewhere." She grinned crookedly. "Elsewhen is perhaps more accurate. The past has happened and it cannot be changed...but a new different future can be set up through the divergences of - "

"Aargh. Go away! This is not something I really have to understand, is it? Because, I'm telling you right now, if it is, then we haven't got a chance." He turned appealingly to Dayna. "Do you understand what they're going on about, killing grandfathers and so on?"

"Of course I do, Vila," she said, lying cheerfully. Cally smiled at him.

/Relax, Vila. You are not alone, I assure you. It is possible not even Avon is certain of the facts of this./ He smiled in relief, casting a quick, almost smug look at Avon, who merely regarded Cally and raised an eyebrow.

"And what about Servalan?" Tarrant asked. Avon's face went cold.

"In a very short time, she will cease to matter. First we will find Blake, and then we shall take care of Madam President." Dayna nodded.

"Good idea."

Avon flicked his gaze back to Nerina.
"Go on."

Nerina continued. "In any case, my existence may or may not be important in this new future. And I do exist. I am here, now." Dayna and Cally glanced at each other and at the others and Vila groaned again.

"My head is spinning." Nerina chuckled.

"I think I know exactly how you feel."

"So," Avon said slowly, "what do you advise, Nerina?" He gave her a sudden sharp look. "You said you were a Federation bureaucrat?" She nodded. "And you are retired?"

"Yes, that is so." She smiled. "I reached the status of Senior Commissioner - in charge of the Terran library." The smile became a grin. "As I said, it sounds important."

"You must have retired at a very early age," Dayna remarked. "How old are you, Nerina?"

Again, the smile and the gesture with her fingers to her face. Cally watched and smiled at the woman's words.

"Um, seventy five. Terran standard years, that is."

"What?"

She shrugged. All the women and men of seventy five in her time looked like the twenty and thirty year olds of previous eras, including this one. It was something she had accepted and never bothered considering seriously.

"Life expectancy in my time is higher than in yours." She grimaced. "Considerably higher. For more reasons than one. Trader Society Technology wasn't concerned only with stasis capsules. They did provide us with some rather wonderful rejuvenation drugs and treatment." She pulled a face. "In my time, I would be able to look forward to - accidents barred - another forty or fifty years of healthy life. Now, however, I am not certain how long is left to me. I still feel young. Anyway, that's beside the point." She shrugged.

Vila stroked Yuri.

"And this - Yuri - a xinbaa, you called him. A genetically modified creature? Is that Trader technology too?"

"No." She smiled. "The Federation carried out a great deal of genetic research. Xinbaas are bred using a feline base, but with strains from other species. I rather suspect he has a large measure of sloth genes." They all laughed appreciatively and she went on. "But getting back to you, I spent such a lot of my life reading and doing research...it is often difficult to separate the truth from what has been written. Centuries ago, a Terran once said history was bunk - nonsense - well, he may have been right. In your cases, I think what has been written has done you all a great injustice."

"Servalan's doing, no doubt," Cally said dryly, and they all concurred with various degrees of enthusiasm.

Nerina nodded. "When I woke from stasis and found myself here - and with three of you approaching me - " She broke off and regarded Tarrant and Dayna in turn, "armed and looking ready to use those guns, I was absolutely terrified. It wasn't until Servalan attacked and I actually saw her that I understood your reactions."

Dayna chuckled. "The resemblance is rather striking, at first appearance. But it was almost immediately clear that you were not Servalan." She gave the Auron woman a quick glance. "Cally saw it first, and I think I probably would have, very quickly. But you knew a lot about us anyway?"

Nerina nodded. "Yes, that is true. Reading, especially about the past, is not always encouraged in my time. But I was in a position where not too many people could dictate to me what I could or could not read." She raised her hand gently. "However, all that I had ever read or heard about you led me to believe it was possible that you might just have killed me out of hand. But then I started thinking. You had brought that capsule aboard, even after what had recently happened to Cally. So maybe what I had read about you all - what was ever written about you all - was rather less than accurate." She shrugged. "The winners, you see, are generally the ones who write the history books"
Dayna looked grim. On Sarran, she also had studied the past. Her father had insisted. History had however not been one of the young Dayna's favourite topics.

"She wins - and we all - die? And in the future - in your time - we are known as no better than terrorists. Is that it?"

Nerina did not look at her for a moment, then she let out her breath and met Dayna's expression.

"Yes. I'm afraid so. In the future I come from, at least." She lifted her hand. "But now - because I know your futures - and because I have had the chance to judge for myself what sort of people you really are - you may have the chance to circumvent anything she may attempt to do. For example," and she turned to look straight at Avon, who had been sitting almost relaxed by her side. "I do believe, Avon, that sometime in the very close future you will receive - or maybe you have already received - a message supposedly sent from Roj Blake."

He looked at her, blinking slowly and shaking his head gently.
"I - have been wondering for some time if it is genuine or not. I had just about decided on its truth."

"Don't wonder for any longer," she said quietly. "It is a trap. That woman - " and she did not need to name her, " - has set it all up for you. Attempting, that way, to find Blake will lead you all to disaster." Her eyes rested for a moment on Cally. "There will be death and destruction."

Avon regarded her steadily.
"Did your studies tell you where Blake really was?"

She frowned. She knew where Roj Blake had died - would die - no, make that would have died - in a little over a year's time. But history hadn't had much on his whereabouts at this stage...She rubbed her face tiredly.

Servalan might know. Perhaps. Or maybe Orac. She had become very well acquainted with Orac in her own time. The computer had struck her then as having a personality of its own. She wondered if she could convince this earlier incarnation of it to assist them. Presumably Avon had already tried that. But she had the knowledge of the future to assist her. She looked up.

"Ask Orac - to find for you whatever data is available on these places for a start. Terminal. Xenon. Gauda Prime." She stopped and shook her head. "A bad place, that one."

Vila shuddered.
"The name sounds bad enough."

Avon turned his head.
"Well, Orac, and have you been listening to all this?"

"I have indeed"
Nerina smiled to herself at the voice. Five hundred years later, in her time, he had sounded just as prissy and pedantic. Maybe even more so. "This is truly fascinating. Time travel and the results of tampering have been speculated upon, by many people and in many times and places. My own research - "

"Cut the lecture," Avon said tiredly. "Are you able to find data on these places that have been named to you?"

"But of course." Orac sounded indignant, and at the same time, smug. "As a matter of fact, with this minor assistance it is very probable that I shall shortly be able to inform you of the exact current whereabouts at this time of Roj Blake."

Nerina looked intent.
"And that is not the planet Terminal, is it?"

"It most certainly is not." Orac sounded mildly miffed. "Blake has never been to Terminal. All current available data however indicates that Terminal is the present destination of President Servalan."

"Oh really?" Dayna murmured. "Maybe we ought to go there and pay her a visit." Nerina looked across at her sharply.

"No, Dayna. I do not think that is a good idea." She returned her attention to Orac. "So, after all considerations, Orac, where do you suggest we may find Blake"
Avon stood up quickly and crossed to pull the small computer's key out. Holding it firmly, he turned to the others and held up his hand. Matters were proceeding entirely too quickly here for his liking.

"And before we hear it, do we in fact wish to find Blake? Think on it, all of you." Swinging on his heel, he started from the flight deck. "Nerina, I need to speak with you. Alone." Tarrant leapt up and started after him.

"Avon! Come back!" There was no response. He blinked and turned back to the others. "And what exactly has gotten into him, I wonder?"

Nerina looked grave and stood up slowly.

"May I?" And, not waiting for their response, she turned to follow Avon. She caught up with him not far along the corridor; he had been waiting for her. He took her by the arm.

"We need to talk."

"We do indeed," she agreed gravely and walked beside him till he slid open the door that led to his cabin. Inside, he pointed. "Sit down." He however remained standing silently near the door. Nerina sat and relaxed. His attitude was curious and not at all threatening. This man was far from being the murderous madman he had been portrayed to be, especially in the history of their final days.

"Don't you want to find Blake?" she asked gently and he frowned.

"I'm not sure."

"And there is no way you would admit to uncertainty before the others." She smiled. "I have studied you people, remember. I was always interested in this era. Although I do have to admit the records were very biased. Things are not as I had anticipated they would be." She was actually very glad of that, she thought to herself. Their reactions had convinced her that aiding them to circumvent their futures would be a right and proper move. They deserved a second chance. She doubted that Servalan did. She wasn't even sure any longer that the Federation did.

"I suppose not." He shook his head gently. "When you mentioned, earlier, my following the message - the message supposed to have come from Blake, you said death and destruction - and you looked at Cally."

"Yes."

"Tell me!" His voice was insistent. "You have told us little enough else specific, Nerina. Tell me that!"

She let out her breath and looked straight at him.

"According to the history I learned, and also all the facts I was ever able to unearth, Servalan set up a trap for you on Terminal. On the way there the Liberator was damaged - due to your actions - and it was totally destroyed when Servalan attempted to take it out of orbit. Cally - never left the planet. She died there." She paused and added in a low tone. "And you - were never the same afterwards."

"And the rest of us? No, wait - was Servalan killed?"

Nerina shook her head gravely.

"She escaped. A little over a year later Blake died - was killed - on a planet called Gauda Prime." She looked up at him, pain in her face. "The rest of you, and another woman who had joined you, were also killed." She made an abrupt gesture with her hand. "The end. For you all. By then Servalan had taken on another identity, and the Federation finally defeated you. There was a little more rebel activity from time to time after that, but none of it ever came to anything. There were no leaders left, you see, strong enough to make a stand and inspire others to follow. The Federation survived all your efforts to destroy it, although in the five hundred years between that and my time it has altered and is a little more benign. Less corrupt. But it is still a dictatorship." She sat in silence for a little while as he digested these facts. "I had always wondered about you all, even though history has not, on the whole treated you kindly. You all believed in what you were fighting for, and yet at the end, when you did find Blake, you - " She broke off and he looked at her steadily.

"When I - what?" She did not answer. "Nerina - what did I do?" But it was not until he took her by the shoulders and shook her that she answered, not meeting his gaze.

"You killed Blake. Yourself."

"What?" He gave a short self deprecating laugh, attempting to make light of her words. They were not, could not, be true. "Not, mind you, that I never felt like killing him, from time to time, but - you are serious? I killed him? I spent all that time and effort looking for him - even to the extent of getting the Liberator destroyed and Cally killed. Why?"

"A mass of - misunderstandings, compounded by all the terrible events that followed the destruction of the Liberator and Cally's death." She raised her eyes to him. "Events that now do not need to happen. Events that you can prevent." She stood up, briskly. "I suggest, Avon, you make a start by returning and asking Orac where you are likely to find Blake." She put her head on one side and regarded him thoughtfully. "You need Blake, you know."

"Someone to follow?" he queried sardonically and she laughed.

"No. Not to follow. Not exactly." She grimaced. "Someone perhaps to focus you. Blake always had an aim. He knew what he wanted, and he knew what he wanted you all to do."

"Yes. He certainly did have an aim. One aim. The rest of us were expected to follow on with what he wanted. Even if it got us killed doing that." Avon's tone was bitter and she looked at him, something like affection in her face. However, she did not hesitate to challenge him.

"And have you done any better without him? Have you achieved anything? Are you any closer to destroying the Federation? That was Blake's intention, after all."

Avon stared back at her, his eyes cold. But the anger he felt was directed inwards, not at this woman. She was, after all, offering them something like a second chance.

"No. I suppose not." He shrugged. "We may have been some sort of annoyance, but the Federation is still as strong as ever. And she is still in a position of power."

"Yes."

Avon sat down, in no hurry to return to the flight deck and the probably somewhat accusing stares of the others. He looked at Nerina thoughtfully. She sighed, and sat down again.

"I did ask Orac, while you were resting, to backtrack the trajectory of your stasis capsule." He grinned briefly. "That is, by the way, an excellent piece of equipment. Tarrant and I examined it thoroughly. I hate having to admit it, but some of the circuitry and components are beyond even myself." She smiled at this statement; it was honesty and not boastfulness. "However," and he became brisk, "Orac and Zen have examined the records of your flight. We tracked it back as far as a very dangerous and hardly charted area half way across the galaxy. It would appear to be the point at which you entered this space time continuum. Almost nothing is known about the area itself, except that vessels that enter it are seldom, if ever, seen again. Orac speculated upon it being a minefield of temporal and spatial rifts."

"A minefield?" she echoed. "As in - deliberately created?"

Avon grunted.
"No, not like that. Orac was, I feel, making a comparison. But there appear to be a number of temporal rifts - and other unexplained phenomena - in that area." He looked regretful, almost sympathetic. "What it comes down to, is that we have no way of returning you to your own time." Nerina sighed. She had expected no different than this; had not even in fact let herself really consider the possibility of returning home. She was an historian, and had found herself transported to an era she had studied. She was enjoying herself far too much to want to go home.

"I think - I had already realised that. Perhaps it is just as well." She stood up. "I do not understand fully the nature of time. I don't know whether anyone ever has, or ever will. Not one hundred percent. But think on it, Avon. You are making - if you wish - a new future for yourselves. The future I came from is different. They - I believe - can both exist, side by side." She grinned. "I get a headache like Vila does when I think about this, but in this present the future I came from no longer exists directly on from this time. There is a divergence, I'm sure of it. But...I do not wish to see the Liberator destroyed, Cally dead and you murdering Blake. For nothing. The risks of my tampering may be great, but ultimately great good may come of this." Avon sighed.

"I hope you are right." He smiled at her, a friendly and almost confiding expression. "Ah, don't tell Vila, but all this gives me a headache too." He was thoughtful for a moment. "So we will have another chance. We might even get to be the people ourselves who dictate history rather than having it written - incorrectly - about us"
"That could well be so."

He looked at her and gave a slow but brilliant smile that lit up his entire face.
"Nerina - thank you." He blinked. "How can it be that you can look so like her and are yet be so different?"

"I think - I hope with all my heart - that Servalan is unique."

"Don't we all." He opened the door and followed her back to the flight deck, where he looked around at the others, then moved very deliberately to push in Orac's key and address the computer. "Now, Orac, where do you recommend we go to find Blake?"

"According to the available data, and having followed the lines of cause and effect across the galaxy, I am able to state with some great degree of confidence, that although currently Blake is absent from there, his present headquarters are located on the planet referred to as Gauda Prime."

Vila rolled his eyes. Long winded was an understatement for Orac, he was sure.
"What?" Nerina looked shocked. "Already? Are you sure, Orac?"

"Naturally I am sure. You have asked a precise question; I have given you an answer."

"Yes, but where is Blake now? Right now?"

"His current position is on a vessel slightly beyond the system to which Gauda Prime belongs, and he is heading outwards. His present trajectory indicates the possible destination might conceivably be Callipheron."

Avon gave a laugh, and he and Tarrant looked at each other.

"Exactly where we were heading. We are still heading there, aren't we, Avon"
"Yes. We are still on course." He smiled faintly. "I had considered changing course to follow the directions supposedly sent to me by Blake, but as Nerina has informed me, that would be to take us all into a trap set up by Madam President herself." The smile became wolfish. "A trap that will now fail."

Tarrant looked at Nerina thoughtfully.

"Orac's information was a surprise to you. I thought you said you had studied us, knew all about us. Well?" Avon stared across at him coldly.

"Gauda Prime also, if you cast your mind back less than fifteen minutes, was one of the planets for which Nerina asked Orac for information." He rubbed at his neck thoughtfully. "And the other was - Xenon? What is on Xenon?" Nerina sat in silence for a little while, clasping her fingers and nibbling absently at her thumbnail. Then she looked up.

"Xenon is not a good place to hang around for long. If you do go there sometime you might find a young woman named Soolin. She would be a useful addition to your crew. There is, however, a man with her on Xenon whom you must be very careful of. His name is Dorian and he is not to be trusted for even a moment. Beware of him. He is dangerous. And he is evil. But Soolin, yes, she might consider joining you all. And she will be able to advise you also about Gauda Prime. She - ah - was brought up there."

They fell into silence, musing over what she had told them. Then Avon, who had crossed to carry on a low voiced conversation with Cally, at the end of which she had sat up straight and gave Nerina a very grateful smile, lifted his head.

"Zen, does the planet Xenon lie between here and Callipheron?"

"It is not on a direct heading, but lies at a slight variance from the direct route already requested."

Avon let out a breath.
"How slight a variance, Zen? Give me our travel time to planet Xenon at standard by three, if we were to change heading immediately."

"Sixty two hours, thirteen minutes and forty two seconds."

"And from there to Callipheron?"

"The distance between Xenon and Callipheron will take twenty one hours, seventeen minutes and nineteen seconds at standard by three."

"Well?" He looked at the others and they shrugged and nodded.

"Why not?" said Tarrant. "Zen, change course and head for Xenon, standard by three."

"It certainly sounds better than Terminal," added Vila. Beside him, Cally lifted her eyes.

/It certainly does. I am - most grateful./

Nerina sat up, casting the Auron a brief and warm smile.

"There is something else. Ask Zen if there are any Earth type planets, preferably independent of the Federation, but with - um - well advanced civilizations, between here and there, please." Tarrant looked at her.

"Are you planning on leaving us?"

"I - think that would be a good move."

"What will you do, here and now?" Dayna queried. "Assuming we are able to find a suitable planet between here and Xenon?" Nerina shrugged.

"I'm really not sure. I know so much about this era - or at least I thought I did. However, all the time I am finding out things are different." She smiled. "I learnt all my history, you see, from books and records of the past. Even though I had access to all the records, I still received a somewhat biased view. Reading about a time at second hand - or even further - is certainly not the same as living in it. But it will be fascinating, seeing just what differences there will be from now on. I have meddled, I suppose, far more than I ever should have. But it is done. For better or for worse, I appear to have set you all off on a different tangent, started a new future, I suppose."

"And we are very grateful for that, believe me." Cally's voice was gentle. She, of all of them, had an extra lease of life and she intended not to waste it.

"I therefore think the best thing is for me to find a nice secluded planet somewhere. I have always wanted to have a small house with a garden where I could grow roses." She shrugged again. "Yuri and I shall get old and die in this time, but I shall never forget this - or any of you. It has been the - experience of a lifetime, I think you could say."

Dayna tilted her head and regarded Nerina thoughtfully.

"You could always stay here, and observe even more at first hand what is happening. Will you?"

Nerina sat in silence for a few moments.

"No," she said finally. "I appreciate the offer, but I don't think I am suited to this type of life. I am a bureaucrat, Dayna, not a fighter. I love books, and old records, and finding out things."

"Orac could supply you with any information you want," Avon said and she looked at him.

"True. But there is a difference between asking that box of smarty circuits a question and getting an answer, and looking for the facts myself." She grinned. "Sitting and reading through old books and records. I don't suppose there are any vacancies on the current staff of the Terran Library?" Dayna chuckled appreciatively.

"I would love to see the look on Madam President's face if she went there, and saw you." Then she became serious. "Ah, no, Nerina, there is very low priority placed on the establishment and upkeep of libraries, or even of reading, and historical research, on Terra. I'm not even sure if there is a Terran Library as such"
She smiled and shook her head.

"I am - pleased that all of this has happened. You have a place to go now, to search for Blake. I trust you will find him, and you can make a new beginning. You do have that now. Make the most of it, please."

Tarrant had been considering her gravely while she had been speaking. Now he spoke up, voicing something he had been thinking of ever since discovering she was from their future. The resemblance between her and Madam President might be sheer coincidence, but...And he had to admit it, he was curious.

"Nerina, have you considered the possibility that Servalan may be one of your ancestors?"

She inclined her head gravely. She was clearly not enthused at the idea.
"That could be so." She went on. "I have studied her life in some detail, although unfortunately no visual images of her exist in my time. If there had been, I may well have considered this possibility myself before now. There was considerable documentation, some of it extremely difficult to get at. But I do recall having seen mention of a child Servalan had when she was very young herself."

Avon nodded slowly.

"Marieka Vlad."

Nerina's eyebrows rose.

"You - know about this?"

"Yes." He looked at Tarrant, who was watching with unconcealed curiousity. "I do know, and I do know the name of the father, although I believe Servalan herself personally ensured no record of that remains anywhere." He pulled a face, switching his now cold gaze to the ex Federation officer. "I will say this only once, Tarrant, and I do not wish ever again to be bothered by your petty - and very inaccurate speculations. The man who is Marieka's father called himself Keron Vlad - and it was not I - "

"But you do know him?" Tarrant's eyes gleamed with malice. Avon gritted his teeth.

"Yes." He brushed aside the man's reaction, and both Cally and Dayna, who had remained silent but very alert during this exchange, grinned at each other.

/Poor Tarrant. He has always imagined something had gone on between Avon and Servalan when they were very young, ever since we encountered Marieka./

Dayna smiled as Cally regarded Nerina.

"How do you think she will react to having seen you now?" She shrugged.

"I am not sure that I really care. Maybe it will give her some sleepless nights. She may even suspect I am a clone. After all, there was a clone of Blake made for her at one time. Several, I believe. But I never found any information about what happened to them."

"Hmm, yes." Avon leaned back comfortably.

"Now there's an awful thought," Vila remarked. "A clone of Madam President." But Cally shuddered, remembering just how close such a disaster had come - and at such cost. Auron was still not all that far behind them. Zen's cool tones interrupted.

"Information. There are two Earth type planets fitting the requirements you have stated between Liberator's current position and the planet Xenon."

"And they are?"

"Lexxia One and Alexandria." Nerina smiled to herself.

"Alexandria, I think. There was an ancient Terran city named that."

She sat and listened as Zen intoned details, considered and asked for the details on the alternative of Lexxia. Then she sat up and smiled.

"Definitely Alexandria." It had a planetary library.
Dayna looked at her curiously.

"You will remain in this timeline, Nerina. Does that - bother you? You must surely regret being unable to return home?" She frowned slightly. "Do you have - family? Children?"

Nerina smiled at the woman.

"I have three children and seven grandchildren, Dayna. I told you I am seventy five. But my children's father is no longer alive." For a moment there was a flash of grief in her expression. "They will probably believe I died in the Bounty. It looked very ugly, from the record in the stubby. I suspect there may have been a lot of deaths." She shook her head. "They will survive without me." She was silent for a little while. "I do regret that I shall never see any of them again. But I think this era is going to be very interesting to watch. Ah, from a distance," she modified the statement. "I still have the feeling being too close to you people could be dangerous."

Eventually, they were in orbit around Alexandria. The planet was outside the sphere of influence of the Federation, its inhabitants originally from Earth and with a civilization comparable to that of old Earth itself. Rather more peaceful, if anything. There were blue skies, mountains and rivers. Nerina had studied all the information Zen and Orac had been able to supply and had picked one of the smaller cities to begin her new life.

In the teleport area, she hugged the two women and then Vila. She looked Tarrant up and down coolly, then stood erect and saluted him, Federation style. He blinked and then responded.

"You had almost forgotten," she said softly. "I told you I was part of the Federation in my time. I also attended the Academy, although I rather suspect I concentrated on different subjects from you. Rather - ah, less aggressive ones." The others fought, not particularly successfully, to conceal their amusement at Tarrant's discomfiture.
Avon looked at her blandly.

"I shall accompany you to the surface of the planet. Ah, Nerina - I suggest you keep the teleport bracelet. It may be that one day in the future you might wish to contact us, or we might wish to contact you." He smiled faintly. "After we visit Xenon and Callipheron perhaps."

"I do hope so."

She had a small bag of belongings, clothes and so on with which they had provided her, and a small pouch containing a selection from the treasure vault of the ship. Nerina had accepted this with thanks but without any second thoughts or misgivings; she had not been poor in her own time and saw no reason now to live in poverty when she could be assured of her physical comfort. And with the stasis capsule to examine and study with Orac's and Zen's assistance, who knew what the crew of the Liberator could do? On the surface of Alexandria, she surveyed her new surroundings and turned back to Avon.

"I think I am going to enjoy this. It is a new beginning for me as well as for all of you. Goodbye, Avon, and thank you." He looked at her and smiled wryly.

"I trust you do not plan to salute me farewell?"

"No indeed." She stood up straight and put her arms around him and kissed him, briefly but affectionately. Then she stood back and looked at him thoughtfully. "Be careful, please."

"We shall." He hesitated. "Nerina - did I become insane? After - whatever happened on Terminal?" It was a fate he dreaded; even now he woke from occasional nightmares on the Liberator, fearful of his future without Blake to steady and direct him. Not for the world would he admit it to Tarrant or anyone else, but yes, he did need Roj Blake. Always had and always would.

"I think - for want of a better word - yes. But now, with what you know, you should be able to find Blake, and defeat Servalan." Maybe not the entire Federation, she thought ruefully; that might be too much even for these people and their determination. But it was a start, and like hers, a new and better one that otherwise. Five hundred years along in this timeline and the history books might have better things to say about Roj Blake and the crew of the Liberator than in her time. She hoped so.

She checked that Yuri was comfortable in the sling around her waist and turned away. "And now, I think, it is a good time for me to go find a nice place to grow roses. You can all always come and visit, you know."

"We will do that."

Marieka Vlad is a character in a B7 fan story I wrote over twenty years ago. (The Long Past) Possibly the story will find its way to this site some time in the future, now I've got the hang of this.