Scotty led Rand back to the same room she had hid out in some minutes ago. As soon as they entered though, they ensured their safety by shutting the door behind them and locking it. The engineer used the inner mechanisms and recomputed its systems to their advantage, winking at the yeoman like she was part of this conspiracy and a helper as well. When he was finished, he turned to the metal fork. He recalled Mycoff speaking a language and allowing him to see a scene he did not expect.

"So, how does this work?" Rand asked, seeing that Scotty was interested in the device.

"Dunno, dearie," Scotty admitted, touching the cold material and shivering. "It's a part of this planet, from what Mr. Spock's research said."

"Well, what does it do?" Rand was curious, walking around it with Scotty. She put her hands on it as well, pretending to know what she was doing. In truth, she didn't have the foggiest idea. "I mean, if it was important, then there's a purpose to it being here."

"It shows things," the engineer said mysteriously.

"So…what does that mean?"

"That devil Mycoff showed the captain and the landin' party elsewhere."

"Elsewhere. Right. Where else could they be other than here, Scotty? Uhura mentioned that they were in the past."

"Right. They are in the past."

Rand thought the prospect ridiculous (even impossible) and even made her displeasure about the situation plain when she met Scotty back at the front. She still had no clue how else the thing worked, again pretending to know what she was doing by leaning against it with her back, arms across her chest as she repeated her question from earlier. "Mr. Scott, seriously. How did Captain Kirk and his landing party manage to get back in the past?"

"I canna say, Yeoman, but he is. Where else could he be? Why would Mycoff lie?"

"It could be some computer, a ploy he's playing. Some of them play images like those old movies in the twentieth century. Anybody can reprogram something to make it appear like you're seeing the real thing."

"I think not, Yeoman."

"Scotty, really, why would you believe in something idiotic as this?"

Rand shook her head. Filled with enough silliness for a day and quite annoyed that she was stuck on this planet, she went to leave. She hoped that she would actually find the captain, Mr. Spock, McCoy and Commander Elma and get the hell off of this planet before the Klingons took over completely. She went to the doorway, annoyed that it was still locked from the inside, and looked to Scotty to have it repaired. However, she stopped when she heard a voice in her head.

It is but a real image you can see with me. The words might not be in your heart or lips, but you can still be reassured that your captain is safe.

Rand stared at Scotty with wide eyes. "What…was that?!"

"What was what?" Scotty was confused.

"There's…there's a voice in there!" she screeched, pointing at the ceiling.

"Shush, dearie, before they hear us!" The engineer rushed over and shook Rand's shoulders to keep her calm, wishing she'd come to her senses. "There's no voice in here. There's only us."

Rand wanted to say that it wasn't true. She was never a believer in the extraordinary. Of course, she knew that alien words existed and different cultures evolved in faraway galaxies and all of them had different customs and religions. At the same time though, she never thought she would be listening to some unknown presence Scotty most certainly did not see with them. The wild look in her eyes told otherwise, calming down when nothing else entered her mind.

Maybe this was all due to the stress of the last few months. Maybe I was imagining it.

Rand kept those thoughts as her mantra, breathing deeply in and out so that she did not remain insane. Scotty released her when she transformed back to her normal self, relieved that he did not have to stun her somehow in order to keep their position a secret. In the meantime, the question of how this device worked remain. Confident that Rand was herself, he turned back to the machine, eying it and trying to recall the words Mycoff said in order for the thing to switch on. It was a strange language, something he attempted to sound off in his head, but none of it made sense to him. As he saw it, the only way they would be able to get through is to retrieve someone who knew the chant.

Scotty was about to tell Rand this new plan when something drastically changed in the room. The temperature dropped, more so than it usually was, and the fork began sparking from above their heads. Rand gasped, covering her mouth to silence another scream, and watched in horror with Scotty as vivid pictures rolled from their lifetime to another place in time, like it was going backwards to a another year in a distant galaxy. The two could not tear away, observing the machine work faster and faster until everything blurred in a whirl of colors. By the time it slowed down, it showed a picturesque scene. It was somewhere on Earth or at least similar to its climate and terrain, where somebody might farm.

Except the land was barren. What used to be fields of bounty were now bowls of dust that blew with the mild winds. Prosperity slowly disappeared as the pleas of a million voices demanded justice and right. By then, the pleasantness was replaced with the overwhelming aura of fire, death and callousness. It was real enough that Rand was startled into Scotty's arms once more, holding onto him as each historic passage ran through their eyes. By the time the familiar pictures of World War III came by, Rand knew that whatever everyone told her was the truth. Captain Kirk and his landing party were in the past.

"What was is never supposed to be," a female voice stated kindly. "When the wrong soon become the pathway to the right, then only determination and cunning thought can ensure that the future is secured."

"How?" Rand demanded, fear in her voice. "How is it that placing someone in danger is the right thing to do?"

Suddenly, when the sight of war became unbearable, a kind womanly face appeared. "Because sometimes when someone wants an ending so badly, they would choose the one pathway that would turn out the wrong way," she explained gently, much like a mother would. "In many ways, when one has control over destiny, then it becomes difficult to state the obvious."

"Who are ya?" Scotty asked. "Explain yaself!"

"They call me the Grace Guardian, as you know, Mr. Scott." The face smiled weakly, wearied. "The story is more complicated than you are led to believe. Once upon a time, I was a leader on this planet. I led my people from Earth many centuries before and found a way to settle in a world where its previous people disappeared and left behind their great wisdom on the ocean floor. Our bubbled world began in earnest since it was important for us to survive. That part was easy. The hardest was realizing how chaotic Synprilox is and the enemies it created before our arrival.

"What we did not know was that there was a curse on this planet. Whoever was claimed to be its first leader was to be bestowed powers beyond their limitations, but also have the sad task of watching over the successors. When I was chosen, I did not see what laid of me. I only enjoyed what was given to me as a part of this world. Good as the powers were supposed to be, I used them to many disadvantages, soon setting the stage for one of the most dependent and disastrous relationships ever to be told in history.

"My closest friend at the time was named Henry Mycoff. He had been with me since we left Earth. We had grown up together and envisioned the same utopian world, with our strong hands guiding the people to a better life. By the time we reached this planet, we had established our partnership in more ways than in governing. When our underwater bubble was established and the palace and gardens had been built and the people happy with us, we were organizing Synprilox to be a powerful place to be reckoned with. Sadly, events beyond my own control laid waste to these plans. Behind my back, as the first so-called chancellor, events conspired that I could not see. Unfortunately, the same happened to every elected person thereafter.

"Henry wanted me enthralled with more than just him and my powers. He introduced me to more than just leadership. He encouraged me to use the supernatural gifts given to me and to indulge myself in ways I never imagined, excluding our bedroom habits. It blinded me. I did not see that my actions were a direct cause of our people's suffering and that what we wanted to build was truly him wanting all of the power behind the chair. Instead of working towards a greater good, he positioned himself and his family as the victims, the advisors that informed the chancellor of the troubles of the land and were brushed away. He only had to prove it through my frivolous activities. Even our only son, born out of wedlock, turned against me and joined his father.

"After eleven years, the people had enough. In a palace coup that wiped from my the history books, Henry pretended that he was the mistreated one and watched as a mob of angry inhabitants dragged me from my bedroom during a midafternoon nap and made me kneel before the stairs outside. They forced poison to my lips. I drank it without a word of complaint, seeing for the first time how I was stupid. However, because of my powers, I did not die like I was supposed to. I was not mortal, you see. I was a spirit that did not know boundaries and refused to be remain in another body. The lifeless vessel that used to be Grace Brown-Mycoff was no more. Her ghost realized the bad and wanted to do more to ensure that anybody connected to it will survive.

"That was when Henry decided to rein me in and call for another man to be this planet's chancellor, the first, they said. Without my knowing, he had read an old spell book from the past. There was a way to contain the person who now roamed without a body, using the machine created by the next leader's wife to make me immobile. It was vacant and quite cold, the years stretching on forever. However, it allowed me a way to project far and into many universes away and without leaving. This way, I would never leave. I would be released only when Synprilox dies or when the keeper of the book, passed through my son, would say the words and I would be no more. I would be at peace."

Both Scotty and Rand listened to the story first with fright and then amazement. They parted from each other, more relaxed as the story began hopefully and then ended in disaster. The clouds parted though, making the research the engineer did clearer. More than ever, Scotty understood why Synprilox stood on the brink of civil war. It all began with power, corruption and greed and a woman's want to have her people be at peace. In order for one to be in charge, she had to be the sacrifice. For centuries, she had to face that sin, playing a goddess with the means to control the evil from overcoming the what was considered to be good.

Rand was the first to speak, shaking. "But…but…what does this have to do with us?"

"Many things," the guardian replied confidentially. "One of you was closely connected to me. She wasn't supposed to be a security officer on the Enterprise. Alyssa Hemmingway, who is now Alyssa Elma, was a twentieth century woman who traveled with her husband and infant son to find a better home in the coming war. Trapped by a Starfleet officer with nothing more than the same aims as my grandson many times over, she was brought back to the future."

"Commander Elma?" Scotty could not believe it.

"Yes, her." The face was soon grave. "She was used many times and soon was trained to be an officer of Starfleet. A record was falsified. She was brought to speed on the latest technology, history and people. As you are aware, Mr. Scott, she was also transferred from ship to ship with the hope that she would cover the tracks of the person who wronged her. By the time she was chosen for this diplomatic mission, it was too late for the aides here to cease their planning. They thought it the most convenient thing to happen. She was not supposed to be alive. Only the officer who loved her kept her under lock and key."

"And if she was dead, the schemes of this officer would continue?" Rand tried configuring the situation in her head. It was impossible to comprehend. An officer of Starfleet committing a crime that was beyond the usual corruption? It was unbelievable!

"Yes," the guardian confirmed, "and for the task to be completed and this planet to be in control of my family and the race named the Klingons, the head of the so-called serpent must be cut off."

"Captain Kirk must be dead." It was more of a statement than a question from Scotty. "I canna believe it."

"And yet, it must be believed, just as I am. Time is short now. It is the moment of action."

"How?"

"Well, Mr. Scott, for one, your captors are on your tail. I would think escaping would be your first order of business. Climbing out the window is out of the question. I must direct you elsewhere."

Scotty looked around the room, rubbing his arms from the cold as he smirked. "Where, lassie?"

The guardian smiled again. "There is a trap door in the far right-hand corner. Tap with your foot three times and wait a few seconds. It will open to a passageway that will lead out throughout this palace and eventually outside of this city. You have access to every room and a peephole for each in case you need to check first."

A knock on the door disturbed the conversation. When the voices outside exclaimed about it being locked, Rand and Scotty exchanges worried glances. They had to hurry before they were caught again. Rand most of all did not want to be captured. It was enough to keep confined in her quarters. It was another story to be the one hope everyone had and then stuck in the same situation as the rest of the crew. Uhura would never forgive her.

"Go now," the fading face told them. "You both are shining stars. Remember that."

They did not need to be told twice. Quickly, Scotty ran to the corner the Grace Guardian indicated and tapped it the required amount with his foot. About ten anxious seconds passed before a marble piece lifted up. Rand went in first, taking the ladder and sliding down, even if the friction hurt her hands. Scotty followed closely behind her, pulling the hand to the doorway closed behind him. Just as he did, the din above their head increased. The party started yelling and dispersed, thinking to check the windows and palace walls. By then, it quieted down.

Rand did not realize that she had been holding her breath and standing as still as Scotty. When she released it sometime later, she felt nothing more than relief. She stared back up at the hole though, expecting the guards to be rushing down and surrounding her and Scotty. When they didn't after fifteen minutes, she felt safer than she had since that night with Captain Kirk, before the whole crew found out. She then left herself in Scotty's hands, watching as he looked around in the darkness for a minute.

"Where's the light when you need it?" Rand asked jokingly. She did not walk without direction either, especially in corridors that did not seem to have been used in years.

"Gotta be here somewhere," Scotty said, fumbling for a few minutes before finding a switch and illuminating all pathways.

"Ok, now where do we go?" The yeoman saw several directions, all of them pointing to their freedom.

"Chekov and Sulu," Scotty immediately answered. "The most numbers, dearie, the better the chance we got to leave."

"Which direction then?"

"They were next to me, so that means left."

"Are you sure?"

Scotty grinned. "Lassie, when have I led anyone astray?"

Rand could not help but return the sentiment. "You're right. Let's go!"