ultimat4
CHAPTER FOUR


Elizabeth Raquel Chen opened wide her eyes to cast off the sleep as quickly as possible. What task should she take up first that day? Then she remembered that it was a school day and that she had failed her history test the day before. This wouldn't be so bad, except that she was homeschooled
and her mother taught her. With no way of hiding her grade, she was grounded. She threw her pillow over her head to muffle the day, hopelessly, for she had flung off all the sleepiness her first waking second.

At times like this that she hated being a morning person. She took her head out from under the pillow and got out of bed, less than eager to face the day.

She hopped into a forest green corduroy jumper and some matching leather shoes. Smoothing and brushing out her long black hair, she put a barrette in and stood back to examine her appearance. She decided she looked fine, so she went downstairs for breakfast. She fixed herself an egg, sitting down to eat.

She heard a beeping sort of noise in the next room and guessed its source.

"David, you know what Mom said. No Nintendo till after school."

"But I'm to the Klingon," complained a voice from the next room.

"David," Lizzie repeated, annoyed.

There was no reply. She stood and headed toward the family room, ready to take the controls from her brother by force, but halted midstep when she saw the TV screen melt into a vortex of color, shooting out orange beams of light in all directions. David, absent from the room, appeared on the TV,
flying through the vortex! Lizzie took a deep breath and dove in after him.

The sensation of flying was exhilarating. Much better than school, Lizzie couldn't help thinking. Bright orange and green swirled around her as she shot forward into the unknown.

Suddenly, reality reassembled around her and she stood on solid ground next to David, who wore an expression of utter joy and confoundment on his face. As the vortex collapsed behind them, Lizzie pushed her brother back through, despite his screams of paradise lost. It was only then that she
really took in her surroundings. She was on Voyager.

Q hovered near the starship Enterprise, commanded by Captain James T. Kirk, the first ship to carry the well-known name which Jean-Luc's ship also sported, and the subject of the first series of "Star Trek," as the Earthers in the parallel timeline called it. These facts made it a fitting last link
for the chain of events Q had set in motion. He had only to place the few atoms it took to create a temporal disturbance and wait a few days till the ship discovered it. And when they did, they were in for a big surprise.

Captain Sisko requested that the three "time travelers," as they now referred to themselves, meet him on the Defiant. As they trod down the corridor on the way to the powerful ship, Hannah spoke.

"So that means he believes us?"

"No," answered Anja, "It doesn't. In fact, it may mean that he doesn't trust us at all and wants to keep us within his sight."

"What's not to trust? We told him the truth," replied Hannah.

"Truth or not, he doesn't know that," Anja pointed out, "So we have to prove it."

"Aha." No one picked up the conversation after her, so Hannah continued. "Does Captain Sisko know about your book?"

"He should," Frau put in, "if it was written in the past and this is the future."

"Actually," mused Anja, "I don't know. Normally I'd say no, but Sisko and the people of DS9 have a way of coming up with the most obscure data. For all I know, I could've published my story after we left. Of course, there's always the possibility of a parallel timeline."

"A parallel timeline?" questioned Frau.

"You don't read much science fiction, do you?" asked Hannah.

Frau shook her head as Anja explained. "A parallel timeline is created when two possible futures split to become two actual timelines, each parallel to the other. That is, they run on the same linear time scale. And they have the same people in it. To start out with, at least. What I'm thinking is that we've entered the future of a timeline parallel to ours. In our time, 'Star Trek' was just a science fiction TV show. In this timeline, it's a reality."

Frau nodded slowly and said, "I see."

Hannah quipped, "Thank you, Mr. Spock."

"Live long and prosper," returned Anja with the Vulcan salute. "Look, up there's corridor 21 Alpha. We're almost to the Defiant." And indeed they were. Just a turn, then another, and a step through the airlock, and they reached the Defiant, coming face to face with Captain Sisko and a couple of menacing-looking security guards.

"Welcome aboard the Defiant," Sisko began. "I'd like to trust you, but your unlikely prediction of the wormhole's recent activity have made me a bit suspicious. May I introduce you to Lieutenants DeWhit and Hunter? Don't try anything, because they'll be watching you very closely. Otherwise," his tone grew friendly again, "enjoy the ride."

"The bridge is this way," instructed Lieutenant Hunter, and gestured for the three time travelers to follow him.

"Well, so much for making our job easy," muttered Hannah under her breath.

Lizzie paced up and down the corridor, wondering what to do. She could go directly to the Captain, but would that set her up to be assumed some sort of spy? One thing was for certain, though: she couldn't stay in that hallway forever. Eventually, someone would find her.

She did not regret pushing David back through the time warp. Being the type of Trekker that craved action and adventure, he would have by now taken charge, and most likely landed them both in the brig.

Lizzie pinched herself again, wondering if this wasn't just the most elaborate dream she'd ever dreamt. But that theory seemed unlikely, since she could think so clearly, and felt very aware of the world with all five of her senses. She also had a bit of a headache, which further dispelled the
possibility of dreaming.

While she thought, the minutes ticked by, more slowly it seemed as they became more numerous. Finally, Lizzie couldn't stand it anymore and headed straight for a computer panel she had passed earlier. "Computer, locate Captain Janeway," she instructed.

"Captain Janeway is in her ready room," came the computer's droning reply. Lizzie nodded, if only to herself, and headed for a turbolift.

"Bridge," she directed as the doors closed behind her, growing apprehensive as the lift moved, but reminding herself that something must be done, only hoping it was the right thing. The lift stopped. It was now or never. The doors slid open, exposing the bridge and the Starfleet officers at their positions. Chakotay sat in the center chair, evidently in command at the moment.

Lizzie strode into the middle of the room, aware of the officers' questioning glances. Only Chakotay spoke.

"I don't recognize you," he stated. "You're not a part of the crew."

"I . . . I'd like to speak to Captain Janeway," Lizzie stammered.

"The Captain's off-duty right now. You can talk to me."

"Well, okay. No, I'm not a part of the crew. I'm from the past, actually, from earth. Somehow, I time-traveled here. I've been on the ship for about the past hour, wondering what to do. So finally I came here. You get my predicament." Lizzie stood still, it seemed like forever, waiting for a response.

Chakotay considered her for a moment and said, "Captain Janeway to the bridge."

In a matter of seconds the Captain emerged, heading towards Chakotay and Lizzie. "Hello. What's this?" she queried.

"Captain Janeway, I presume," Lizzie began. "I have already told--" she caught herself; an unsuspecting time traveler would not know Chakotay by name--"your duty officer why I am here. I seem to have found myself transported to your time. I am from earth of the late twentieth century,
1997 to be exact. I'm assuming this would warrant your interest?" Lizzie bit her lip and raised her eyebrows in askance.

"Yes, indeed it does. Mr. Kim," said Janeway, turning, "see if you can detect any chronoton particles or other anomalous readings that would evidence recent time travel."

"Aye, Captain." He continued directly, having already scanned the ship. "There is a slight buildup of chronoton particles on deck six. From the sensor records, they would have reached peak intensity approximately fifty-six minutes ago."

"Thank you, Mr. Kim," said Janeway, then turned to Lizzie. "You'll be given some quarters, and try not to learn too much. We can't have you inventing anything before its time when you go back." She did not state that Lizzie's return was more likely an "if" than a "when."

Lizzie, however, was full aware of that fact, but couldn't help but smile at Janeway's final comment. After all, she was a Trekker. Didn't she know too much already?

Frau watched in awe as the wormhole engulfed the starship Defiant, whirling blue static across the viewscreen.

"Great special effects, huh?" whispered Hannah. Frau just nodded.

"I always wanted to do this," said Anja, "but wait. The real show hasn't begun yet." As if on cue, several tendrils of blue light changed to green, then yellow, and on across the spectrum until there was a whole rainbow of visible light coming at the Defiant. For a split second it stayed that way, serene and dream-like, then it developed ripples that turned into waves, advancing until they broke on the Defiant. The ship lurched.

"The wormhole's losing its stability!" yelled Dax above the beating of the waves, which jarred the ship about like a cowboy on a bucking horse. "There's a rupture forming . . ."

A great white light engulfed the "Defiant," and all sound fell silent.