Next, she waved her hand from left to right, and the ready room dispersed into a vast blue star field like that outside of the ship. Scott, Ginny, and Yue immediately became panicked, but Star held both of her hands up and said, "Wait! Calm down! This is just a picture, sort of like your holodecks but using energy from my home. I'm doing this so you can understand things easier. We are still in the ready room, and you won't be hurt"
Star waved her hand again, and a large sheet of paper appeared in front of everyone.
Another wave and a floating quill pen began scribbling notes onto the paper.
"First, I'll explain songs to you. The Songs I sing are for fun, but they also direct universes, transmit information, collect data, and 8 924 921 124 102 120 101 9989 other functions. In my home, my songs do not affect other things. Outside my home, songs can affect things depending on what effect I want them to have. I can do these functions with them, I can hurt things with them, I can make new things like universes with them, and I can destroy other things with them as well. It will take too long to explain everything that songs can do, but I hope you understand them a little bit better now" Star said, still floating.
The quill finished writing, and around Scott, Yue and Ginny, music played from some unseen force. The music was beautiful, peaceful, and tranquil. Ginny found herself relaxed for the first time in forever and felt at peace with everything in her life.
"If you could hear songs as I can, this is what my songs would sound like," Star said. Ginny noted that Star had disappeared, but was still speaking to them outside, not with the inside noise that made her terrified.
The music changed, the star field turned from blue to green, and a different tune played. The tune was more energetic, and exciting, something that made Ginny want to run and explore things.
"This is what Wanderer's songs sound like. He's very shy, but he likes to explore things and go to other places. He's a little bit like you are, Scott. He would never hurt things, even though he can hurt things very easily. That was not his song that you heard on the log entry" Star said again, her human form gone and her voice simply speaking into each of the human's minds.
The green-tinted star field around the three humans suddenly turned blood red, and new music played. Chilling, hateful music, which brought every ounce of anger, fear, and lust to the front of Ginny's mind. Her thoughts raced around her mind. She wanted to kill Scott with her bare hands. She wanted to rape Yue. She wanted to take a det-pack from her waist bag and blow herself to Hell.
The music was low, droning, and touching each of the three humans in the deepest parts of their souls. The volume, if that was the right word, was lowered, and Star spoke again, "This is a representation of what our songs sound like to other dimensions that cannot hear songs as I can. I'm still not completely sure, but I think this is why my songs cause other things such pain. Because the song you are hearing, which is the song you heard on the log entry, and the song you heard on Tranbir Nine, is not my song, and it is not Wanderer's song either"
The music stopped. The blood-red star field faded away, and the calming blue and peaceful music of Star's song returned.
"I'm sorry if I scared you, but that was the easiest way to explain it to you. The song you heard before belongs to someone else. And in most dimensions, that song drowns out my songs and Wanderer's songs, unless Wanderer or I sing directly to other things" Star replied, returning to her "human" form, and floating freely again.
Scott, still shaking off the effects, asked quietly, "I think I'm starting to get it. Who does the third song belong to, Star?"
Star shook her bald head, "He...doesn't have a name like me or Wanderer. He is, different. But since you need a frame of reference, I will call him Other"
Star waved her hand again, and the star field changed to a paved road in the middle of a desert somewhere, "Now, I'll try to explain what I am. Sort of how there is only one Yue, one Scott, and one Ginny, but yet you are all the same. There is only one Star, and I am Star. There is only one Wanderer, and he is Wanderer, but Star and Wanderer are the same"
Star waved, and a border collie and a tabby cat appeared on the road, sitting beside each other in perfect harmony, "You would call this a species or a race, but that isn't entirely accurate to describe me. Sort of like these things. The one on the left is a doggy, and the one on the right is a kitty. They are both animals, but they are not exactly the same. If the doggy is Humans, and the kitty is the Q, I am this" Star said, pointing up.
Ginny looked up and saw the Sun hanging high in the sky. "That's you, right Star? Because you're pointing at the Sun, which is a Star"
Star smiled at Ginny, "That's right Ginny, very good. I am Star. The reason I'm using this example is to explain how I am different from you. The doggy and the kitty are different from each other, just like you are different from the Q. But you are both similar in that you are both animals. The Q are a different kind of animal, who exist in the 73rd dimension. They have abilities to do things that you do not, but they are not exactly better than you either. But both the doggy and the kitty are affected by the sun. Watch what happens if I make the sun a bit colder"
Star waved her hand, and Ginny felt herself shake as the light faded, and snow began falling in the desert. The cat shivered and froze in place, while the dog curled up in a ball and tried to make itself warmer.
Star paused time, and the snow stood in place, "By lowering the temperature of the sun slightly, the kitty is now unable to function in this dimension, and the doggy is now more concerned with its own survival. This effect is similar to what I am, and what I can do. If I lower the temperature more, both the kitty and the doggy will die. If I make it too hot, the kitty and the doggy will die as well. If I accelerate the life span of the sun, this road will be destroyed as the sun enters what you call the red giant phase. If I instead reverse time and take the road back to a point where the sun does not yet exist, the kitty and the doggy will also not exist. I exist outside this place, and so does Wanderer and Other. But we can make things happen on the inside of this place as well"
Star waved her hand again, and the scene went back to normal. The Cat and the Dog looked fine, and both animals returned to sitting in place. Star next pointed at the road, "This road represents your existence. Almost all dimensions experience time in a forward-moving, linear direction. You perceive one moment at any point, and once you move forward from that point, you can no longer return to that previous point without artificial means, and if you do, it can affect the progress of the forward direction. Ginny, walk towards me, and then watch what happens to the road."
Ginny started walking towards Star, and then suddenly, the road changed shape. An exit lane appeared to her right, going off in a different direction from the main road that Yue and Scott were still standing on.
Star pointed at Scott, "Note that by walking towards me, you have gone back in time, and the road, which represents your universe, has now changed shape. If Ginny keeps walking this way, the path of the road will change. Scott will continue down a path that is different from Ginny. Scott, can you now walk towards Yue a little bit? And Yue, watch what happens to the kitty and the doggy."
Scott moved closer to Yue. As he did, Yue watched as the cat and the dog changed shape and places. The dog became smaller, and grew a long tail, while the cat became larger, and grew a longer nose.
"Scott has moved laterally across time. By doing so, he has affected evolution as you would experience in this universe, and as most dimensions would experience. The Kitty has now become more like a doggy, while the Doggy has become more like a kitty. And, if you look at Ginny, the road has again changed direction and is now going on a different path than before. This is another example of what our songs can do, and what I am. What is the one thing that has not changed here?" Star asked.
"You," Ginny said simply.
Star smiled, "That's right. I'm very proud of you Ginny, you keep doing better than I expect you to. I haven't changed at all. That is because I, Wanderer, and Other do not exist in the same way that you do, or that the kitty does, or that the doggy does"
Star waved her hand again, and the scene changed to a flowing, green field of grass. A few feet away from the group, a bunch of children were playing a game, where they were chasing a ball.
Star pointed at the children, "An awfully long time ago, so long that It would take me more time than your universe will exist to write the number out by hand, there were many other things like me. These children represent us. Look at the one that is kicking the ball"
Ginny looked at the kicker and recognized the child instantly. She was bald, wearing a simple white dress, and had black eyes.
"That's you again, Right?" Ginny asked, holding on tightly to the only thing that made sense right now, her rifle.
Star nodded, "Mhm. That is me, as I was a long time ago. I don't change with the passage of time, and things that affect linear time do not affect me. But, after a while, the others, which here is the group of children, started going away. I can go to any dimension, and I can travel in any direction of time. Your universe has a flat shape and expands out at a rate of three light years per second. It began 16.2 billion years ago, and it will end in (90999 + 10765)9999 years from now, a noticeably brief time compared to the fifth dimension, or the eighth trillionth dimension"
Star sat on the grass and continued, holding a blade of grass up and making it change shape with her words, "Using the models of science that you understand, your universe will undergo two things at the end of this time. First, you will experience what you call heat death. Gradients, which are necessary to support information processing, one form of which is life, will become flat and smooth as they are pulled by continuous expansion. At that point, molecules will shoot apart from each other and no longer be able to maintain cohesion. This event will occur when the ambient background temperature of this universe reaches -8000° C. After heat death, your universe will undergo a process you call oscillation. The things you call Omega Particles will begin to appear in vast numbers as they absorb entropy built up by heat death since they can only appear in temperatures that low, which is also why your science cannot stabilize them."
From the blue sky above the green field, a deep, purple light filled the group's heads, "Once enough Omega Particles appear, they will use their electrons to group together. As they group together, the friction effect creates heat. Once it is hot enough, the Omega Particles will explode, and your universe will experience what you call the Big Bang. This process occurs at the time scale I described before and keeps repeating over and over again. The universe you all exist in is the ninth such repetition."
Yue, who perhaps understood better than either Scott or Ginny, sat down next to Star and asked, "That's a ton of knowledge Star, and it explains a lot of things, but what does all that have to do with the songs or these children?"
Star picked up another blade of grass, and handed it to Yue, "It's important that you understand how your own universe works, so you can understand why this next explanation scares me so much. This model does not apply to me. We exist before your universe begins, and we exist after your universe ends. Actually, we existed before all universes began, and we will exist after all universes end"
Scott, taking another seat across from Star, asked, "Did you make all the universes, Star?"
Star shook her head, "No. We didn't start the process. That process occurs by itself. We can slow it down if we want, make it go faster, or destroy and create our own universes, but the process itself never stops, and we can't do anything about it. No one can, that is the basic truth of everything. All things will continue, forever. And you shouldn't be scared of things like death, or the end of linear time. Because your energy will also become a part of this process and will also continue forever. You won't be aware of the transition between forms, but you will continue to exist, Scott. Your wife, Clarice, continues to exist as well. She is now a part of the fourth dimension. She exists with Ginny's parents, Yue's grandmother and her pet snail from the Academy"
Scott suddenly went wide-eyed, "Can I talk to her? Or can you take me to her?"
Star nodded, "I can, later, if you want me to. But first, you have to let me finish, okay? The reason why I am so scared is that this continuation didn't happen to the others. I can go anywhere I want, at any time, across all universes and dimensions. So can Wanderer and Other. But the others like us are no longer here, and I can't find them anywhere, at all. And we can't die as you can. We exist as we are forever, and always will. But where there used to be a lot of us, there are now only three. Star, Wanderer, and Other"
Star pointed at the group of children, and there were now only two children left playing with the ball. Star in her white dress, what they thought was Wanderer, a boy in a green jacket, and a shadow following both that didn't have a form. The shadow was incredibly terrifying to Ginny, and she gripped her rifle even tighter.
"The Shadow is Other. I can't prove it, but I think he made the others like us go away. He was the last of us to be...I guess you would call it born, so he is the newest. His songs are different from all the others, and he likes to hurt things. Me and Wanderer don't like to hurt things, and the others like us didn't either. I think Other hurt them and made them go away, which is why I can't find them anywhere. The song you heard on the log entry, and on Tranbir Nine, is Other's Song. He tries to drown out all songs with his own, and it is starting to affect all universes. I think... I think he might be trying to stop the continuation entirely. That's very bad." Star said, with a tone that was suddenly sad to Ginny's ears.
Star waved her hand for a final time, and the group returned to the ready room of Black Sheep. Ginny took a deep breath, and convinced that she was still alive, she said to Star, "Fuck. That was, something fucking else"
Star hugged her leg, and the coldness that spread through Ginny's body confirmed that she was still alive, "I didn't mean to scare you, Ginny. I tried to be as careful as possible, but that is the best way to explain things to you"
Scott, checking his pulse to confirm that he was also alive, spoke up next, "So, you think this Other might have killed your people, Star? And I know that's not accurate, but I'm just using words that make sense to me"
Star nodded back, "I can also use those words. It's a simple explanation, but it's accurate. The only thing that could hurt or kill things like me is something else like me. Wanderer would not hurt things. I can hurt things, but I don't like to hurt things, and I wouldn't hurt all the others. I think that at some point after I built my home, Other disagreed with my people, as you call them."
Star suddenly closed her eyes, and a single black tear emerged from her left eye, "I'm sorry, I don't want to cry..."
Ginny took a knee, and this time, she hugged Star. As cold as it was, she hoped that her friend might start feeling better, "It's okay. I cry too sometimes, Star. It helps to talk about it. Can you tell me what's wrong?"
Star opened her eyes, and more black tears came out of her black eyes, "It's just...the others were my friends. And they all went away, and now I can't find them anymore. I thought I'd never have friends again. But you came to my home, and you didn't run away. Now you are my friends. And I don't want Other to hurt you"
Ginny wiped Star's eye. The liquid that was her tears froze instantly on her glove, but she tried to cheer Star up anyway, "Hey, you stopped Q-Girl from hurting us. I owe you one now, so I'll do what I can to stop Other from hurting you. That's what friends do. But that also means I might have to shoot him, Star"
Star stopped crying, and instead pouted, "Shooting things isn't nice Ginny. But just this once, if you have to shoot Other, that's okay. But only once"
Yue took her own knee beside Star and placed her hand on Star's shoulder. But she drew away at the coldness, and asked, "Wow, why are you so cold?"
Star shrugged, "This is a side effect of taking a three-dimensional form. My...energy, I guess you would call it, matches the harmonics of this dimension so that I can interact with it, which here is the ambient background temperature of your universe. It is currently -200°C. I'll try to get warmer if I can, but it takes a lot of effort"
Scott was strangely quiet, and for a long moment, the ready room was silent. Finally, he broke the silence, "Ginny, I think...I think it's time that we re-visit the decision we made a year ago"
"What did you have in mind, Sir?" Ginny asked, standing back up.
"And what decision is this?" Yue asked in turn.
Scott sighed, "Again, Yue, I didn't mean to cut you out of the loop, but at the time this decision was made, you hadn't yet been briefed about Tranbir Nine. Ginny and I decided to keep the truth of Star's existence to ourselves. All of the information that we've been sending back to Starfleet is what Star told us. But in my reports, I've claimed that the information actually came from a Preserver library we discovered floating above Star's Home, aka the Iron Star"
"And don't get upset Yue. We made that choice because of what happened with the Tholians, which is something you said today that was right. Star is so powerful and so smart. Me and Scott trust each other, and we won't ever make a mistake like that again. But do you really think we can trust others with this? Imagine if the bad guys found her before we did" Ginny added, placing her gloved hand on Yue's shoulder.
"However, given what we've just learned today, and what kind of threat that Other might pose to... existence, if that's even the right way to say it, we can't control this ourselves anymore. If you agree with me, Ginny, I think it's time we brought both our bosses up to speed on this. Admiral Mitchell and General Castle can both bring in every resource they have to this problem" Scott said.
"But I need you on board with this plan as well, Yue. We have to be united about this. You're my XO, which means that if something happens to me, this will all end up on your shoulders. So, what's your vote?" He asked.
"What else can I vote for? I just saw that show too. There isn't any choice to make here Scott, we have to come forward with this. But I'm with you, 100%. Two impossible things happened to me today. I just learned the answer to everything," she finally smiled before speaking next, "And I got Ginny to kiss me."
The three of them shared a much-needed laugh. Ginny looked at Yue again, "It was an incredibly special episode of a show that doesn't happen very often, Yue. I hoped you enjoyed it, and if it helps your ego a bit, I'll admit that it wasn't the worst kiss I've ever had either"
Yue winked back, finally at ease, "It does Ginny. And keep in mind what Star told us too, there may be another universe out there where I get the second kiss"
"Alright, alright, XO. Keep your boxers on, we've still got a job in this universe to do. Head back to bridge with Star there and see about getting this old claptrap back underway. I need another minute with Ginny in private and don't worry, it's strictly personal" Scott said, sitting back down.
"Aye, Skipper" Yue replied, taking Star by her cold hand, "Come on Star, I want you to tell me how many universes there are where I get to kiss Ginny again"
As Yue and Star left the ready room, Ginny decided to try to keep the good mood going, "I don't mean to disappoint you, Sir, but I'm not kissing you next. One a day is good enough for me"
"You heard what Star said. Clarice is still out there somewhere. I'm almost positive she'd kill me if I kissed another woman, disappointment notwithstanding. But I do have one further question for you Ginny since it does involve the subject of kissing."
"How long have you been sleeping with Dean?"
