CHAPTER 10
Since you've been gone
All that's left is a band of gold
All that's left of the dream I hold
is a band of gold.
And the dream of what love could be
If you are still here with me
- Freda Payne (Band of Gold)
=/\=
"Feeling ready?" Kevin asked Tom.
"I am," he drawled.
"Oh, wait, shots!" Kevin recalled at the last second, "It's kinda silly for us to be doin' this, but it's still the rule. You and I gotta take birth control shots," he explained.
"I don't know what you plan on doing, but I'm just gonna watch the bomb get dropped," Tom said.
"Well, me, too. But it's still the rule. If we forget this time, you might forget some other time, when you really need it," he went over to the replicator and had it produce the two shots.
"I take it this is a Rick Daniels rule," Tom said.
"It is."
"Not that I wanna gossip but, uh, you figure it's anything more than a precaution?" Tom asked.
"That's all I know about such things," Which was true – Rick had not shared the truth about the Empress Hoshi Sato's pregnancy with anyone but Carmen and his sister, Eleanor. And then Carmen had had to deal with the fallout with the delegation from that side of the pond. She had gone to bat for him, so he owed her.
Shots done, Tom looked at Kevin and said, "You might wanna tighten your collar up. I can see a few scales."
"Ah, thanks. I need to think with my mammal side, not the reptile side right now," Kevin said. He was almost two meters tall and about a quarter of a metric ton, but he was a sweet soul. His late wife, Josie, had referred to him as a gentle giant on more than one occasion. It wasn't just a few dermatological scales that could potentially give him away as not belonging to Phillip Green's band of ruthless eco-warriors.
=/\=
"So, Sheilagh, tell me about this mission," Rick said.
"All right. This is a protest, right?"
"Yes, it's anti-war."
"Uh huh. The Viet Nam War is going on, and the United States President – uh, Richard Nixon – he wants to extend the war to Cambodia."
"Actually, he has – he announces it on, if I recall correctly, April thirtieth."
"Ah, okay. And there's this nationwide student strike going on. The students are unhappy about all of this because they had thought the war was winding down. Now they realize it's really not, and they're gonna have to go out and fight it."
"Yes, but only the men."
"Really? How strange," she said, "Anyway, they march and whatnot and this is not the only place where these demonstrations are going on."
"Yes, but this one gets ugly."
"Right. And it doesn't start on May fourth; it starts on May the first. And it gets violent rather quickly. Kent State University's administration calls in the police on the first; by the fourth, the National Guard has arrived. And that's when things really go haywire."
"And?"
"And that's when the shooting begins."
"That's correct. What are the casualties?"
"Um, nine wounded, right?" Rick nodded, "And four die, mostly immediately."
"Computer," Rick said, "access master time file for Ohio, May the fourth, 1970."
"Ready," Answered the device.
"Show pictures," A picture popped onto the screen, of a young girl, anguished, kneeling over a body, "That girl isn't even a student – she's a young runaway. But it doesn't matter. The act, and this photograph, in particular, they helped to galvanize the anti-war movement."
"But Nixon is still reelected in '72."
"Yes, although that's under somewhat false pretenses. It does change hearts and minds. It does help to prevent the United States from continuing on, and eventually going into China."
"Where I take it they would have availed themselves of the nuclear option?" she asked.
"That's Otra's theory – she says, I've got a note from her – she says that it was tragic what happened at Kent, but things would have been far worse if it hadn't happened. Then we'd be talking about a tragedy on the level of millions of deaths."
"How does she see that?"
"I don't know," Rick admitted, "Between you and me and the replicator, I'm not so sure that Marisol really has the gift."
"Oh?"
"Well, it's just so difficult to balance all of the variables. I mean, in theory, I suppose that anything is possible, except the chances are virtually zero that, on May fourth, the population of the Earth will suddenly start breathing tricoulamine gas."
"Or that the war in Viet Nam would end during or immediately after the protest we're going to witness."
"Exactly," he said, "Say, do you want to, maybe, go in a day early?"
"Early? Why?"
"To get a feel for the place – the fourth is a Monday, so Sunday there's no classes and things would be a bit different on the campus," What he didn't want to add was, maybe find some companionship, at least for the night.
"Well, it is my first mission," she said, "But we'll need a change of clothes."
"You can beam up, change, and be back down on the morning of the fourth."
"What'll we do with all of this time?"
"This is a college campus. Even without the protests, there must be a thousand things to do. Just, uh, keep your mouth shut about who you are, and where and when you're from, and you'll be just fine."
"What if I screw up?"
"Laugh and say it's a joke. Or, uh, try to hang around drunk or stressed out people. They won't even notice."
"Uh, okay."
=/\=
Carmen and Marisol materialized in a dark corner of the ISS Enterprise's mess hall. They didn't seem to be noticed – at least not initially – so Carmen felt confident enough to leave the room and walk in the hallway.
Together they walked, and were leered at by a few stray crewmen, "They're acting liked they haven't seen women in weeks," Marisol said to Carmen quietly.
"They have seen women – the Emperor Charles the first loves his women, so they're actually treated a bit better during this time period than they were during the time of Empress Hoshi. So we're not unique. But we are new."
"Looking for someone?" asked a crew member. By the color of his uniform top – red – he belonged to the Security detail.
"We're looking for the Captain," Carmen said. She and Marisol were wearing blue uniforms – tagging them as members of the Science detail.
"Actually, I bet you want Mister Spock," The crewman replied, indicating their uniforms.
"Yes, yes, of course," Marisol said.
"I can get you there – can tell you're new. It'll cost ya, of course," he said.
"Oh?" Marisol asked, coming closer to him.
"Yes. I've often wondered about, you know, two at once. Would you do your friend while I watched?"
"Your price is too high," Carmen said.
"But what if I sweetened the pot?" the fellow asked. A few other male crewmen were coming, and he could tell his big chance was slipping away, so he talked more quickly, "I've got an A ration card. Meat every day, if it's available! And, and, I could protect you a little when you needed it."
"We can take care of ourselves," Carmen said.
"You'll regret it if you pass up the opportunity," he said, overly arrogant, especially considering his low station on the ship, "Now, what's it gonna be?"
The other crewmen were close enough to hear, so Carmen said, more loudly, "All we want is to get to the damned Bridge."
"Turbo lift's over there, through that doorway," said another crewman.
"Good to know," Marisol said to him.
The two of them began to walk away. The first crewman yelled at the helpful one, "What are ya doin' that for? You're too soft, Kyle."
"Kyle," Carmen said softly, "Come in here," she said to Marisol, and they ducked into a room label Laboratory.
It looked like a chamber of horrors in there, but at least they were alone, "Change of plans?" Marisol asked.
"It looks like we're a little earlier than expected. I recall Crewman Kyle is running the Transporter during the interuniversal crossover. And he's not there yet."
"How do you know?"
"The men – not the women – carry around these devices called agonizers. When the transference occurs, Kyle is punished. His is used, and he's most likely incapacitated by that, I'm thinking for the remainder of the day."
"You're not sure?"
"The master time file doesn't have everything in it – it can't – and we have even less for the mirror side of things. But we do have records like duty rosters and pay stubs and the like. And I had checked, as it was known that Kyle had been involved. He only was given credit for part of the day. He hadn't died, so there was some reason why he missed time. Plus it makes sense that he would be punished. It all points to use of the agonizer, and enough to knock him out for the rest of the day," Carmen said.
"You said only the men are made to carry agonizers. Uh, how are women punished?" Marisol asked.
"It's, uh," Carmen sighed, "this is a time of a lot more controlled punishments in the Terran Empire. So, well, women who have to be punished, it's usually taken out in trade."
"You mean sexual favors."
"You betcha," Carmen said, "Now you see why you got a birth control shot before we beamed over?"
=/\=
Stop! Na na na! You'd better save it!
Stop, stop, stop, you'd better save it!
- The Jackson Five (The Love You Save)
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