The Bester of Both Worlds, Chapter 14
Roberta thought that nobody in the room understood that she was still very frightened by what had happened to her. She had tried to put up a brave front, but she was a bundle of nerves, and was now hoping that the nightmare was over. When Chekov emerged from the transporter, however, she gasped and turned pale, seeing him in the Psi cop uniform instead of his maroon colored one, which he apparently had left in the other universe. She felt her legs turning to rubber and the person standing closest to her, an attractive auburn-haired telepath named Scarlet, caught her as she passed out again. McCoy saw that this Chekov looked much older than the young navigator on the Enterprise, but he could tell that the new arrival was not Bester, even with the black uniform. He could understand Roberta's reaction, however, and realized now that she would need some psychological help. Like many victims of violence, she was obviously suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, called 'shell shock' in this day and age. Spock carried the poor girl back to the leather couch as Chekov, very concerned for his young friend, started to go towards her. It was now very crowded in the room, with the ten telepaths and Clare looking on. The one who had caught her had caught McCoy's attention. She reminded him of Yeoman Barrows, only she had much darker hair with red highlights and large expressive dark brown eyes. He felt her probing his thoughts and then shook his head with dismay. McCoy had an eye for beauty, to be sure, but her probing disturbed him. He did not let her distract him from tending to his young patient, however. Spock had an even stronger reaction, and stared at her in astonishment. Her telepathic ability was as formidable as Miranda Jones, but he could also sense that there was something very different about her. He had a strong sense that Miss O'Neil was not human.
"No, Pavel, don't!" The doctor called out. "She thinks you are Bester. It would be good if you didn't approach her just yet. Give her time to adjust to that black uniform that you are wearing. By the way, you look like a member of the Gestapo. Whatever possessed you to wear such a thing?"
"I did it to fool Bester's superiors, so when he gets back to his universe, he would be blamed for letting these telepaths escape. I'm very sorry I frightened Roberta. It wasn't intentional. Is she all right?"
McCoy was waving the scanner over her head again and nodded in the affirmative. It didn't take long for her to return to consciousness, and she watched as Isis, in an effort to convince her that the man in the Psi cop uniform was not Alfred Bester, but a much older version of her friend, approached him in cat form and rubbed against his legs and purred. Roberta, still unsure, stared at Isis for a moment, and then at the doctor, who smiled at her gently and nodded reassuringly. Her lips started to quiver and she started to cry, her tension starting to melt away.
"You look like you need a hug, my dear."
"If…if you don't mind, Doctor, I would rather you didn't."
"I quite understand. Pavel…you look old! I didn't know that you were recruited by Seven when you were an ensign." He observed, removing some red pills that looked very familiar to Spock from his medical bag. "Miss Lincoln, Spock and I have to leave pretty soon. I want to give you something that will help you."
"Wh…what?"
"Relax, honey child. These won't hurt you. They are a special kind of sleeping pill. You are probably concerned about having bad dreams from your ordeal, and these will help suppress them. Take one tonight when you go to bed, and don't worry. They aren't habit forming." He handed the bottle to her, backed away, put his hand behind his back and crossed his fingers. Spock said nothing, but raised an eyebrow. The pills he was giving her were sleeping pills all right, but there was no such thing as a dream suppressant in their century. The telepaths smiled and kept their mouths shut. They also all knew what Ambassador Delenn had just been through with the man in their universe who called himself Jack the Ripper. However, he was a bit different than the one in Chekov's universe. Their Jack the Ripper was abducted by aliens known as Vorlons and claimed to work for them for centuries. They came to the conclusion that the man they knew named Sebastian was insane, and was probably possessed by the real entity when he was torturing poor Delenn. There was no doubt in their minds that the nineteenth century Englishman the Vorlons had abducted was probably a copy cat criminal and quite delusional in his belief that he was Jack the Ripper.
McCoy and Spock stepped into the transporter and soon dematerialized from Seven's apartment. They found themselves back in the transporter room of the Enterprise, and saw Captain Kirk at the controls. He asked them if their mission on twentieth century Earth was a success and they both nodded in the affirmative. It was then that McCoy remembered that the woman Mr. Seven described to him and Spock when he called Starfleet Temporal Medical was probably none other than a much older version of Roberta Lincoln. If that was true, it would be amazing. She would obviously have some clout in the future to get both him and Spock to appear in Gary Seven's transporter. Spock studied his face for a moment, and then asked him why he had lied to the young Miss Lincoln about the little red pills. McCoy smiled at him and told him that he was just applying psychology. Doctors in her era were trusted implicitly. If she believed that the red pills suppressed bad dreams, then they probably would. Spock thought that was very sneaky of the doctor, but also very ingenious.
Sonny Clemons soon realized that his mission was concluded, even though he really could not do anything to stop the Ripper, and Seven ushered him into the safe-like enclosure after he said his goodbyes to Clare and Ralph, hoping that he would never encounter the latter again. He soon found himself at the secret MIB headquarters deep inside the planet Aldea.
***
The Guardian of Infinity was very proud of its accomplishment of wiping Mr. Bester's memories of it and the disposition of the telepaths he had been pursuing. The female Guardian had placed him on the floor of his quarters, where he had passed out the night he attended Molari's party. Giving him back his 'hangover' was an added touch, making him believe that all he experienced on twentieth century Earth was a dream. However, there was one thing she overlooked. When he got up from the floor, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped when he saw a neatly folded maroon uniform on his bed. He, of course, remembered his counterpart from the other universe, but he had no idea how he got back to his quarters on Babylon Five. One thing he knew for certain. He did not feel the presence of the rogue telepaths on the station. His intercom, sensing that he was back, informed him that there was a recorded message for him from the 'new and improved' Talia Winters, aka Victoria. She told him that she had infiltrated the group and was hot on the trail of the one telepath Psi Corps had been pursuing for a long time; Scarlet O'Neil. Miss O'Neil had a gift that the Corps wanted to use to its advantage, and they planned to capture her and question her, and, if necessary, dissect her, in order to find out how she got the gift of invisibility. Since Miss Winters was posing as her non-existent twin sister, Victoria, it would now be a simple matter to abduct Scarlet and take her back to their universe where she could be studied. Miss Winters also told him about how the Guardian of infinity had transported him there.