@Hope for Love: Yes, the end is near, but there are still things that need to be said/done.

Echoes of future past, part 46

Trance couldn't help but laugh: trust Harper to be Harper. She looked over at Dylan and Rommie: they where so caught up in the emotion of the moment that they where oblivious to what was going on around them. She walked over to Beka and the others, "I'll explain everything in the briefing room: I think Dylan and Beka could use some time alone." When they where out of the landing bay, she turned to Rev Bem, "Would you mind?" The Wayist Monk nodded, "I will remain and explain things to Dylan the best I can." Trance nodded, and after looking at Uxulta for permission, led the way along the corridor.

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Dylan was finally able to compose himself enough to pull back slightly and look Rommie in the face, "I thought you died?" Rommie nodded sadly, "I think I did. It's not that clear to me: Trance tried to explain, but there wasn't enough time. Who or whatever she's been working for told us that you where in danger, and that we had to get you help. Trance was somehow able to cut across cords in slipstream, and bypassed the block the Vedrans had erected. I don't know what she said to them, but they agreed to return to the known worlds, and Admiral Uxulta was sent to help."

Dylan looked deeply into Rommie's eyes, and taking the sides of her face in his hands, kissed her deeply. After what seemed like an eternity, he broke away, "I still can't believe that your back!" Rommie smiled slightly, "That's not the only amazing thing: I'm human." Dylan blinked, not sure if he had heard correctly, "What?" Rommie blushed slightly, "I'm human. I don't know how it happened: I remember being on the Maru with you, and you telling me that we had defeated the Spirit of the Abyss, and then nothing until I woke up yesterday, alone. I was so scared, I called for you, and Trance came. She put her hands on the side of my neck, and her fingers touched my pulse." Dylan moved his own hands, and was shocked to see that it was true. Rommie smiled, "The doctors confirmed it when we reached Tarn Vedra: I'm as human as you are. So are Rev Bem and Trance." Dylan blinked, "How?"

"I may be able to explain that better." Rev Bem said from the doorway, "Forgive my intrusion: Trance has taken the other to the briefing room to explain things to them, while I stayed to answer any questions you may have." Dylan nodded, "Then please, explain." Rommie shifted round so her back was to Dylan, but held his arms tight around her body, seeking safety and comfort in his arms.

Rev Bem sat on a cargo pod, "Trance told you of her home world, of her people, and how they where all but destroyed by the Spirit of the Abyss." Dylan nodded, "Yes, but she didn't tell me the whole truth: there where parts she missed out so I would do what she wanted." Rev Bem sighed, "Sometimes, you must seek to do the grater good: had Trance told you the truth back then, you would not have trusted her, and that would have been the end of us all. It is true that, for the most part, Trance's people are just as vicious and deadly as any other race, maybe more so because of their powers and skills, but like any other race, there are the exceptions: am I the same as any other Magog? Is Tyr the same as most Nietzscheans? No: all sentient beings have the ability to grow beyond what they are, to what they could be. Trance was sent to infiltrate the crew of the Erika Maru, so that she would be there when the Andromeda was pulled from the black hole. She was then meant to take control of the ship and deliver you to a pre-arranged pot where her people would turn you into a weapon." Dylan nodded, "Trance told me about the Spirit of Light."

Rev Bem motioned them to a cargo crate opposite his own, "Yes, the leader of her people, who is also her farther, would have used you against the Spirit of the Abyss, then turned you on the known worlds, and take over. But, before he joined the Maru, a being that knew of her mission approached Trance, and that she did not want to perform it. She offered Trance another option: work towards the grater good, the 'perfect possible future' that she was so obsessed with when she was younger. Well, relatively younger. Trance acted as your guide and your concisions, leading you, leading us all, to this point."

Dylan nodded, "But what about Rommie? You? Trance? How can you all be human? Why?" Rev Bem smiled, "Trance never wanted to be a solider, but her farther was obsessed with the concept of becoming a god, and he ordered his people to seek out the Engine of Creation. They managed to find for of the fragments, the last being the one you recovered from Shintaida. Trance knew how powerful the devise was, and decided that it could be used to bring Rommie back. She took the Maru and returned to the ship her people have been living on since their home world was destroyed, and forced her farther to hand over the pieces in his hands. From what she told me, there is some very bad blood between the two of them. She then cane and found me, it takes two people to activate the Engine of Creation, and we went to a point in space that the being Trance has been working for had decided on, years ago, and assembled the Engine of Creation. It activated it's self, and we where sucked into the energy vortex."

Rev Smiled, "As to the how, I don't remember what happened, I was unconscious for most of it, but when I awoke, Trance was with Rommie in the crew quarters, and we where all human. The why I simple: it was our reward for helping make the universe a better place, and for becoming more than we had been." Dylan blinked, "Reward?" Rev chuckled, "Yes Dylan, a reward: for me, it was no longer being a Magog, a chance to put that all behind me. For Rommie here, it was the chance to live a life with you that would not have been possible had she remain an Android. As for Trance?" He smiled, "I think a curtain engineer is going to find his life a lot more complicated, and happy, from now on. Come, let us join the others."

To Be Continued