Making certain that all three Klingons were still unconscious, Josh went over to check on Kramer and T'Katha and was relieved to discover that both were still alive.
He shook Julie awake first. Unsteadily, she stood up and took a look around. "Well," she began woozily, "at least we're not dead."
"Yeah. T'Katha took a bad shot right on the chin. Can you have a look and see if there's anything you can do for her?"
Julie nodded. "I'll do what I can, but without a med kit there's not much that can be done."
"Understood. See if you can revive her, if nothing else."
"Right."
While Kramer was examining T'Katha's injuries, Josh turned his attention back to the recent series of bizarre events.
There was the fact that the Klingons had appeared virtually out of thin air. Not only that, but Josh had felt the entire situation entirely familiar, like he had been there and done that before.
Of course, that could be because he had seen the whole thing previously on the tricorder scan. This time around, he had simply recognized the situation and reacted in time. That was what the logical side of his brain told him.
But there was more to it than that. Even without the previous tricorder scan, Josh felt sure he would have known, somehow, that the Klingons were approaching. It had simply felt too eerily familiar. Furthermore, there was the issue of the tricorder scan itself. Clearly, he had witnessed an alternative history – before it had happened!
He – they – had seen an effect before a cause. Slowly, Josh's mind began to piece together the implications of that, and he didn't like where it was leading. Not at all.
Lastly, there was the sudden and unexpected appearance of the phaser. The 23rd
Kramer's musical voice interrupted his musings. "Sir, T'Katha is coming to."
Josh went over to take a look. T'Katha had an ugly welt on her chin where Kalor had smacked her with the bat'leth, and she was obviously a bit disoriented. Though she did her best to maintain her regal composure and her aloof demeanor, Josh could tell she was in a lot of pain. But – dammed stubborn Vulcan pride, Josh thought – she was refusing to admit to any of it, instead pretending that she was no worse for wear.
Carefully, he knelt down to face her. "Are you all right?" he asked, giving her a wry smile.
"I am fine. My injuries are minor and should not pose any serious difficulties," T'Katha answered blandly.
"I dunno," Kramer answered skeptically. "You took an awful shot to the head. I'm worried about the possibility of a concussion."
"I am certain I do not have a concussion," T'Katha replied. "The Vulcan body is not as fragile as a human one. Your fears are unfounded, Doctor."
Kramer glared at the Vulcan woman, suddenly annoyed. "Firstly, I don't really care how tough Vulcans are or how weak humans are. You took a bat'leth shot to the chops from a Klingon warrior. The possibility of a concussion or other serious head injury is quite real, T'Katha. Even for the god-like Vulcans! And secondly," she continued, ignoring Josh's attempts to intervene in the conversation, "I am a medical doctor and you are not. I am far more qualified than you to determine the extent of your injuries. I don't appreciate having my professional qualifications questioned."
"I was not attempting to question your medical skills, Doctor," T'Katha replied mildly.
"The hell you weren't," Julie snapped. "You blew me off like I was a first-aid trainee. Don't you ever do that again, understand?"
"You are being defensive and irrational," T'Katha stated calmly. "You must regain control of your emotions before you become more erratic and unpredictable."
Kramer's eyes flew open. "Err…erratic, am I?" she sputtered. "Unpredictable, is it? I don't care if you are the daughter of Spock, our very own Federation royal family! Who the hell do you think you are, anyway?!"
"Ladies," Josh broke in, "We're all tired and beaten up and not in the best of moods. For the sake of world peace, let's table the current conversation, shall we?"
"I was only stating an obvious observation," T'Katha protested.
Josh gave the Vulcan woman a stern glare. After a long moment, T'Katha replied mildly, "Very well. I shall endeavor to avoid this line of conversation for the foreseeable future."
Satisfied, Josh glanced at Kramer. The young doctor was still angry but managed to contain her outrage. "All right. I'm sorry I snapped. You're right, I guess I'm just tired. And stressed."
"We all are," Josh replied. "Now listen up. I think I have an idea about what's going on here."
"We're all ears. Let's hear it," Kramer replied, relieved to change the subject.
Josh licked his lips and glanced at both women. "Well, this is just a theory. And it's incomplete. But it would explain a lot of things.
"Please continue, Joshua," T'Katha urged.
"Well…" Josh began hesitantly, "I think we're stuck in some kind of temporal paradox."
"Fascinating," T'Katha replied. "If you are correct, it would explain our observing the Klingon attack before it happened, as well as the disappearance of the fleet."
"A paradox?" Julie asked. "You mean like the chicken and the egg?"
"Exactly. Effects are happening before the cause. If the entire timeline is like this then nothing outside the protected area of the Guardian would exist. The space-time continuum wouldn't exist in the way we understand it."
"Any creature existing in linear time would no longer be," T'Katha added.
"Right. But the question is: how did the paradox form? Did we help create it or are we just along for the ride?" Josh mused. "We just don't have enough information."
"Perhaps we do," T'Katha replied. "Let us examine the images captured by the tricorder again. Now that we know what to look for, we may be able to glean more useful data."
"Agreed," Josh answered. He and Kramer crowded around T'Katha to peer into the tiny device.
"Perhaps we do," T'Katha replied. "Let us examine the images captured by the tricorder again. Now that we know what to look for, we may be able to glean more useful data."
"Agreed," Josh answered. He and Kramer crowded around T'Katha to peer into the tiny device.
Josh shook his head and glanced up at the others. "Did you two just experience that?" he asked.
Kramer nodded, and T'Katha replied. "Yes. It appeared to be a momentary shift in time, causing us to repeat our most recent dialogue."
"Sir, look!" Kramer exclaimed.
Glancing in the direction Julie was pointing, Josh could see what had attracted her attention.
The Klingons were gone.
Instinctively, Josh pulled out the old phaser and quickly scanned the room, assuming that the Klingons had regained consciousness and somehow had slipped away without any of the Starfleet officers noticing. Cautiously moving about the chamber, he kept an eye out for corners and niches where his adversaries could be hiding.
After a few moments, though, it was obvious that the Klingons were nowhere to be found. A tricorder scan of the area confirmed this.
T'Katha suggested, "They may have been re-located within the space-time continuum during the recent temporal flux."
"Maybe," Josh answered. "But to where?" And how do we get rid of the paradox, if that's really what's going on. How can we hope to find the cause of all this?'
"A question!" boomed a voice from behind them.
Josh spun around. "Guardian – are you able to communicate now?"
"Yes," the Guardian answered.
"What happened? Why couldn't we communicate with you before?"
"The stream has been disturbed. All is not as it was. I am neither my own beginning nor my own end."
"The paradox," Josh realized. "You're talking about the paradox. It's affecting you, too, obviously."
"Yes. The flow of time has become twisted in upon itself."
"How does that affect your ability to communicate?" T'Katha asked.
"It is difficult to explain. Your understanding of the stream is primitive. Let us say I become…displaced. My form remains here, but my essence is to be found elsewhere."
"You're right. I don't understand," Josh answered. "What's happened that you can communicate now?"
"A shift. There was another shift in the stream," the Guardian responded.
"You mean that little hiccup we experienced a few moments ago."
"Yes. The shift returned my essence here, to this place. But I cannot predict how long this will last. When another shift occurs I may be displaced again. Things must be returned to the way they were."
"I couldn't agree more," Josh replied heartily. "But we don't understand how the paradox was created, or how to stop it. Can you help us?"
"Yes," the Guardian responded instantly. "Observe!"
Within the Guardian's portal, images again appeared. As Josh and the others watched, they saw themselves peering into the portal, only to be attacked by Kalor and the other Klingons. What followed was a virtual re-play of the fight they had just been in, complete with a phaser appearing through the portal, allowing Josh to stop General Kalor in his tracks.
"We already know this," Kramer said impatiently.
"Observe," the Guardian commanded.
The scene shifted, and now they were looking at the Klingons gathered around the portal, looking in. With a start, Josh realized they were watching him and the other two Starfleet officers, just as the Federation group had watched the actions of the Klingons.
Choosing their time carefully, the Klingons jumped through the portal, re-appearing in the chamber behind Josh, T'Katha and Kramer, attacking with their bat'leths. This time, the Starfleet group didn't seem to know the Klingons were coming, and the rest of the scene was ghoulishly familiar. With a kind of horrified fascination, they watched as the Klingons mercilessly hacked them all to death.
"So that's it," Josh mused. "The Klingons used the portal to watch events that had already happened. Then they must've jumped through and tried to alter the timeline again, in their favor."
"Fascinating," T'Katha remarked. "Look, there is more."
Now, the image was once again of the Starfleet officers peering into the portal. This time, they were wearing the burgundy "flip-top" uniform they had acquired during their trip to the 23rd century. Josh had the phaser in his hand, and was watching the portal carefully. Josh – the real Josh – could see that the Josh in the image was watching another image in the Guardian – an image of himself, fighting the Klingons. Then suddenly, he tossed the phaser into the portal. Disappearing, it re-emerged in the scene in the portal, and the Josh in that image picked up the phaser and fired, putting the General Kalor in the image out of commission.
"I don't remember you doing that!" Kramer exclaimed.
"Effect before cause," Josh answered. "A time paradox."
It was like looking into a hall of mirrors. The Starfleet officers would watch the portal to see where the Klingons succeeded, and then used that information to manipulate time to prevent it from happening. For their part, the Klingons did precisely the same thing – and then the circle would repeat itself endlessly. Trapped in a circular loop where neither cause nor effect preceded one another, the two parties seemed doomed to continue to stare at each other through a hall of mirrors into endless eternity, the only beings in the entire universe that would experience that eternity.
Overwhelmed, Josh flopped down onto a nearby rock and breathed heavily. He and Kalor had somehow created this monstrosity of a timeline. The burden of that knowledge pressed on Josh, oppressing his spirit, clouding his mind.
Closing his eyes and exhaling loudly, he tried to focus his thinking. Wryly, he thought, Temporal Investigations is gonna have my ass for this one…
Opening his eyes, he stood up and faced the Guardian once again. "Guardian, how can we break the paradox? How can we prevent this from continuing into eternity?" he asked.
The Guardian hesitated for long moments. Breathless, Josh waited for a reply, all the while thinking, what if there's no way to stop the paradox?
No. He couldn't think like that. There was always a way.
Finally, the Guardian answered, "By your actions, you and your adversary have become focal points. Time has converged around you, and the actions you take."
"You mean me personally and General Kalor?" Josh asked.
"Yes. To eliminate the shift and restore the flow of time, one of the focal points must be terminated, in a time and place before the events that occurred here."
A tight, pinching knot began to form in Josh's stomach. "What…what are you saying? That one of us has to be killed?'
"The existence of one or the other must be terminated," the Guardian verified. "For the flow of time to be returned to what it was, either you or General Kalor must die."
Josh stared at the Guardian for long moments in disbelief. Then, finally, finding his voice, he objected, "No. There's got to be another way. Some way we can resolve this without somebody getting killed."
"No," the Guardian replied firmly. "You and the Klingon, through your actions, made yourselves the focal points of time. Your use of the stream to frustrate each other's ambition had brought the circle into being. Only by terminating the life of one of the focal points before these events occur, can it be broken and the normal flow of history restored."
No one said anything for long moments. Josh's head spun wildly, as if trying to ward off the incredible revelation he had just received from the Guardian. It was one thing to kill in self-defense, but to actively seek to kill another person…
…that was murder.
Julie Kramer broke the heavy silence. "Captain, what are you going to do?"
Josh sighed. "I don't know. What can I do? There's only one way out of this mess. And I don't know if I can do it."
"If you do not," T'Katha reminded him, "we will be doomed to exist in this paradox for all eternity, forever playing a game of 'cat and mouse' with the Klingons."
"Easy for you to say," Josh snapped. "You're not the one who has to do the deed…or do you?"
"Guardian," he asked, "Let's say for a moment, just for the sake of argument, that we decide to kill General Kalor, to restore the timeline." Josh felt slightly ill speaking in such callous terms, but he needed this information. "Would it matter who kills Kalor?
"One focal point of time must be eliminated. It does not matter who achieves this," the Guardian replied.
Josh glanced at T'Katha. "So, theoretically, you could do it. Any of us – or all of us – could."
T'Katha shook her head. "No. As you know, Joshua, I have sworn an oath of non-violence as part of my adherence to the Khorava Discipline. I cannot kill another person, even in self-defense."
Julie asked, "What's the Khorava Discipline?"
"An extensive system of thought designed to guide one's actions in everyday life. The concept, though not the content, is similar to Earth systems of thought such as Confucianism. The Discipline stresses at its core the sacred nature of life, and in particular, forbids its adherents from taking the life of another individual, even in the most extraordinary of circumstances. In return, adherents to the Discipline are exposed to many truths and secrets that, when acted upon faithfully, greatly enhance the quality of one's life."
Josh eyed the Vulcan woman with disbelief. "The space-time continuum is at stake! Are you telling me you're not willing to bend your personal convictions even in these circumstances?"
"I admit the circumstances are highly unusual, and the stakes are very high indeed. However, by breaking my oath I would put at risk my own personal spiritual well-being. I do not wish to jeopardize this, even under circumstances such as these. I will assist you as I can, but I will not kill another," T'Katha stated flatly.
Josh gaped at her in disbelief. After all they'd been through, the experiences they had shared, he thought he knew her. At least a little bit. But this,
"Fine," he said. "In any case, it doesn't really matter. I have to be the one to do it."
"Why?" Kramer asked.
"Because," Josh began, licking his lips, "this way I can guarantee that the timeline will be restored."
"Guarantee? How?" Kramer asked slowly, not liking the sudden turn in the conversation at all.
Josh looked over at T'Katha, who answered the doctor's question.
"Because either General Kalor or Joshua will die," she stated flatly.