Chapter 3

About one week earlier in another dimension...

2285- USS Reliant

Berlinghoff Rasmussen had calculated his teleportation sequence perfectly, meaning that he had ended up exactly where he had expected to. The room was dark, and he thought he heard strong, measured breathing. He flattened himself against the wall, suddenly frightened and concerned for his own welfare. He was taking a risk, and would have to think fast and talk even faster. I'm on the USS Reliant...in the 23rd century! I'm really here. Calm down, Berli, it's going to all work out.

In his own silent thoughts he had missed a change in the sound in the room. The breathing had grown quiet. Suddenly his head was slammed back against the wall, and an edge of cold steel was against his neck.

"Who are you?" hissed the voice slowly.

"Lights!" Rasmussen managed to choke out, and instantly the room was illuminated.

"I am going to permit you just ten seconds," said Khan, not blinking in the now brightened room. "Before I slit your throat. Who are you?" he repeated without urgency.

Rasmussen tried to do what he did best; to think fast. Of course he'd had a speech prepared, but hadn't expected violence this soon. Of course, perhaps he should have. "I'm here to help," he said, trying to will his heartbeat to slow down.

He studied the face staring back at him with more curiosity than anything else. Thoroughly greyed hair, bushy black eyebrows, a handsomely lined face. And as the knife pressed against his throat, he noted the superhuman strength. Yes, it was the same Khan from all the holo vids he'd studied while in 24th century prison. But this time, the holo could not be switched off to comfortably view later.

Khan's arrogant expression was instantly amused by the thought that this lanky and apparently harmless intruder had come to offer him aid of some kind. "Then talk..."

Rasmussen gave a nervous laugh, and Khan's wrist adjusted slightly turning the edge of the blade into his neck. Rasmussen coughed, and then began talking quickly. "As I said, I'm here to help. You see...I'm from the future. And I'm on your side." He took a sharp breath in, wishing he had more physical room to escape Khan's grip and piercing stare.

"Go on," prompted Khan.

"Well...I hate to tell you this, but you're going to be killed. You're going to have the opportunity to kill Captain James T. Kirk, but you're going to pass up the opportunity, and it's not going to end well for you."

"Kirk will never best me," snapped Khan, letting go of Rasmussen with disgust. He turned his back and walked away, before turning to look suspiciously at the intruder again.

"Oh, but he will. You see you'll have a powerful weapon within your grasp, but you'll die thinking you've destroyed Kirk as well...but that's not what happens. Kirk survives, and beats you-"

"Enough!" Khan snarled, pointing the knife in Rasmussen's direction. Gradually, he lowered the knife with a cold smile. "Just how will you help me?"

"You will have the opportunity to obtain an extremely powerful device. I can make sure that you keep it."

Khan crossed his arms. "A powerful device..."

"Yes, it's called Genesis, and it's the only reason that Chekov and Captain Terrell stumbled upon you and your people in Ceti Alpha Five... the ship's memory banks should tell you the rest. All you need to do is help me to locate the Genesis project, beam it up, and I'll make sure that Kirk bites the dust."

Khan remained suspicious, but there was a look of interest in his eyes now. "And surely you want something out of this..."

"All I want are the designs for the Genesis device. That's it."

Khan narrowed his eyes. "I see. I will...consider your offer."

Oakland, California 2368

Geordi LaForge used his low center of gravity to keep himself from toppling over, as they climbed up through the surrounding hills. The tall stranger who had recently landed in the middle of Oakland with a strange story, and a request for assistance had been badly injured by the Augments out on night patrol. And to make matters worse, they had confiscated his small ship, which if LaForge recalled, was reportedly in need of repair anyway. But for now, Rasmussen, as the man had introduced himself, was in need of repair himself. And LaForge knew where to bring him.

When Rasmussen limped his way to the crest of that last hill, he was thoroughly depressed. He had no ship, and only ten days to convince a bunch of people who had no inclination of who he was to travel with him into another dimension. The ship's computer had explained that in ten days a cataclysmic event was likely to send the Earth. Beyond that, he had little information about how it was supposed to happen, and therefore, even less information about how to prevent it from happening. The building that sat on the top of the hill didn't inspire him to come out of his depression. It looked like an old style residential house, much like something he'd seen when he traveled briefly to the 20th century. And then he remembered that if this building had been constructed by the Khan's Augments, why wouldn't they use an old style. They had come to power during 1990s earth, after all. As they approached the house, he saw that the door was made of wood. Real wood, not replicated wood.

"Where are we? Who lives here?" Rasmussen demanded, staggering forward through the dust.

Geordi glanced upward, as a security ship burned through the evening sky overhead. He yanked Rasmussen behind a tree, and they both stood completely still, as the bright lights from the ship searched the ground. Once LaForge was apparently satisfied that the Augments had left the area, he jogged toward the large brown wooden door, and not hesitating, reached out to knock on the door three times quickly. Pausing, he knocked three more times. He heard quick pair of footsteps approach the door, and then it opened just wide enough for the occupant to make herself visible.

"Beverly!" Rasmussen gasped. "It's you!"

The woman's intelligent eyes shifted from him to LaForge, and the back to Rasmussen, registering no recognition of him. "Geordi... I just discharged my last patient. There's no room here."

"Oh...well, maybe we can come back tomorrow,"said LaForge, sounding disappointed. "But the Augments really hurt him-"

"Of course they did," she said with little emotion. "That's what they do. And there won't be a tomorrow here."

LaForge shook his head in confusion. "What are you talking about? Are you leaving?"

She glared at Rasmussen. "Who are you? I don't discuss my plans in front of spies."

"I'm not a spy," said Berlinghoff. "I'm from the future-and in another version of this year, you and I have met. We're friends."

"I don't have friends," she said flatly.

"Beverly," pleaded Geordi, "Just let us in for a few minutes. The patrols are out."

"And you led them to me? Well, thanks for nothing, LaForge." She glared at them for a few seconds more, before opening the door and allowing them to enter. She kept her eyes on Rasmussen as he passed by. He ducked, nearly running into a bunch of dried herbs that was suspended from the ceiling. He looked around him. In fact there were bunches of drying herbs all over the place. On the floor was a large brown suitcase, which was open and in disarray.

Geordi looked at her solemnly. "Are you really leaving?"

She nodded grimly.

"Forever?" he asked, sounding very sad.

She nodded again. "I have to," she said quietly. "My days are numbered, as long as I stay here."

Her attention turned to the lanky stranger again. "Who is he? He seems to have some kind of mental illness, talking about separate dimensions and traveling from the future."

LaForge shrugged. "He's not an Augment, and he's not a Deficient-at least he's not like anyone I've met before."

"Then he'll soon find that strangers aren't welcome in this city." She looked him up and down. "Looks like a head wound, and a few bumps and bruises. I'll fix him up, as long as you both agree to leave tonight."

"Sure, no problem," said LaForge. "We don't want to get in your way."

"Actually," said Rasmussen. "I'm looking for someone-someone you knew in that other dimension. And I hope you can tell me where he might be."

She just stared at him as though he was insane, and he couldn't blame her, really. The whole thing really did sound insane.

"His name is Jean-Luc Picard," said Rasmussen. "And I need to find him as quickly as possible."

"Well...that will be difficult," she said slowly. "As far as I know, he's dead."

"You do know him!"

"Did know him," she emphasized. "Not anymore."

"So then...there is a chance he's alive? Perhaps in France, tending to his family's vineyard?"

Beverly broke into a smile and she looked at Geordi with an astonished expression. "France? There's nothing at all in France, it's just a desert. The Genesis Wasteland, they call it."

"But what if Picard was there?" Rasmussen pressed, now excited that she obviously knew the man. What luck? "Would you help me to find him?"

Beverly paused, considering it. Perhaps she could escape to the desert temporarily, just keep a very low profile until she could settle somewhere more conducive to living. "I just told you, he's dead. And if he wasn't, I'd do everything in my power to end his life."