Chapter 24
"So what do we do?" Geordi asked.
"Personnel files are unavailable." Data stated as he worked at the terminal.
"We're in Spacedock again. Utopia Planitia this time." Geordi said as he looked out of the window. "They're probably working on the computer core."
"The Historical Database is online. I will endeavor to ascertain what else is different about this timeline." Data looked up at Geordi. "Until we know more I suggest we carry on as normal, but be on the look-out for things that may have changed."
"Okay. I'll be in Engineering if you need me."
Geordi clapped his hands and rubbed them together as he strode into Main Engineering. "Okay people, status report." he ordered. His team all looked at him with puzzled frowns.
"Sir?" Barclay asked as he peered around a console. "C…can I help you Commander?"
"I hope so Mr Barclay, if we plan to leave Spacedock on schedule." Geordi replied.
Reg frowned. "We're currently ahead of schedule sir, I sent a report to your office earlier today."
"My office?" Geordi asked with a puzzled expression.
"Yes sir, your office at the Fleet Yard?"
"The Fleet…oh I haven't been in the office today." Geordi covered, "I just wanted to see how things were going, you know, down here."
"They're going fine sir, I'll get you a copy of my report…" he indicated the Chief Engineers cubby hole over his shoulder.
"Don't worry, I'll catch up with it Reg. You're doing a great job." Geordi told him as he turned to leave.
"Thank you sir." Reg replied as Geordi left Engineering.
…
"Are you ready?" Taryn asked as she entered the Ready Room then frowned, "You look worried. Something you want to talk about?"
"It…would not be appropriate. Not yet." Data added as he looked up from his research comparing what he knew with what was in the historical files. He really wanted a better idea of the lay of the land before he dropped the bombshell he was a different man. He noticed the pips on her mustard coloured collar marked her as a Lieutenant and she also had a ring on her finger.
"I see." She walked around behind him and placed her arms around his shoulders. "You left early this morning, I missed you." She kissed his neck softly. Data's eyes widened in shock and he pulled away in alarm and vaulted over the desk. "Whatever's the matter?" she asked plaintively.
"But, we are married." he stated keeping her equidistant as they revolved around the desk. "What about Commander Barclay?"
"Yes, we're married. What does Reg have to do with it?" she asked with a puzzled frown. "Are you having a fling?" she teased. "Please tell me it's with Reg?" she joked.
"No, you are married to him and…" he noticed she was laughing.
"I'm sure Counsellor Troi would have something to say about that." she giggled then froze. "Okay, I think maybe I should get you to the lab and check you out. I think your engrams are scrambled Sweetie." She looked at him with a concerned expression.
"My engrams are functioning perfectly." Data stated matter of factly. "Why would your marriage to Commander Barclay involve Counsellor Troi? Are you experiencing marital disharmony?" he asked with concern.
"Not until today." she muttered dryly and rolled her eyes. "I think the crew would notice if Reg was a bigamist. He's married to Troi, has been for over a decade now." Taryn stated and grabbed the tricorder that was on his desk. "We had a devil of a job finding something in lace that wasn't naff for their anniversary gift. Don't you remember?" She stepped forward and scanned him.
"What about Captain Riker?" Data asked.
"Who?" her eyes widened. "Oh, do you mean her ex that died horribly on the Potemkin? I thought he was a Lieutenant?" she frowned.
"You said we are married." Data looked at her earnestly as she nodded. "You meant to each other." he stated with his eyes wide. "We are married?" He motioned between the two of them with his finger and turned away looking confused and stunned.
"Data, you're scaring me," she turned him by the shoulders to face her. "Is this an attempt at a practical joke? Because it isn't funny and we're due in Sickbay..."
"You had better sit down." Data stated. "I have something to tell you that will not be easy to explain."
…
Geordi back-tracked to the Captain's Ready Room on the Bridge, passing Taryn sat at the Ops station with a stunned expression on her face. "Okay, I'm not talking to anyone until I've worked out what the hell is going on." He exclaimed. "I don't even work here. I just made a complete dick of myself in Engineering. Barclay's in charge down there."
Data turned. "This future is…surprising." Data stated. "Everything has changed again. The Dominion War is still in progress, Bajor has fallen..."
"So are you married to Jessica like you thought?" he asked Data.
"No, Jessica is either dead or a Borg drone. The facility at Galor IV was assimilated" Data looked away with a yellow tear in his eye.
"All of them?" Geordi asked incredulously. "Wait, the Ferengi Ship, Galatea…"
"They found the ship, an Orion half-breed girl was found dead on board." Data swallowed. "Clearly the Borg found her too…imperfect for a maturation chamber."
"Oh God…" Geordi paled. "So Barclay's your Chief Engineer, and Taryn is at Ops. They're both wearing wedding rings so at least that worked out." Data shook his head.
"It appears Barclay embarked upon a romantic relationship with Counsellor Troi shortly after the incident with the Cytherian probe. They recently celebrated their thirteenth wedding anniversary." Data explained.
"So when he met Taryn on the Bastion he was already married?" Geordi asked incredulously. "To Deanna?" He paused. "Holy crap!"
"They met here. Taryn did not serve at Galor IV. She transferred here from the Faraday. Bastion does not exist, she never created him." Data explained. "They relaxed the minimum age of entry for the Academy for intellectually advanced children due to the war providing they are eighteen by their graduation. She never studied at Daystrom or got her second master's degree in Psychosocial Science and never worked in cybernetics although it remained an interest and she helps maintain my systems. She has been an Ops Officer since she graduated from the Academy ten years ago."
"Wait, if Reg is here and married to Deanna, did he get seconded to Jupiter Station? Did he transfer to the Comms Research Centre?"
"He did neither of those things. Voyager is still lost and Dr Zimmerman dead."
"What the hell went wrong?" Geordi asked. "How can things still be so bad after everything we've done?"
"Commander Riker." Data stated and his fingers flicked over the terminal. "He has not been present in any of the timelines. He died in the transporter accident at Nervala IV."
"What about Thomas Riker? The duplicate. Did he survive?" Data turned the screen to show him. "Jesus Christ Data! Warn me if you're gonna show me shit like that." he blanched and gagged, then went to get some water from the replicator.
Guinan burst in. "I need to speak with you Captain." she stated. "Something is very wrong."
"We know." Data stated. "We remember the other timelines." Data turned the screen back to face him.
"Oh." Guinan stated, surprised she wouldn't have to convince him.
Data returned his gaze to the hideously twisted conjoined twins with their organs externalized that survived screaming for a horrific six minutes thirty-eight seconds after materializing on the transporter pad. "Will Riker never joined the Enterprise. Paul Rice was the First Officer. He selected a different away team for the mission to Vagra II and incident with Armus was resolved with the death of an officer whose name I do not recognize in place of Tasha Yar. Commander Rice led the mission to rescue Captain Picard from the Borg with Tasha instead of myself and Worf and they failed, they were assimilated and Jean-Luc Picard is still Locutus. Commander Shelby took command and was later killed in a subsequent incident with the Borg and I became Captain. Starfleet suffered massive losses to the Borg and had little left to defend against the Dominion. Deanna Troi did not have unresolved feelings for a fellow crewmate and married Barclay."
"So it all unraveled like a badly knitted sweater." Guinan stated. "Riker was the lynchpin."
"Could it be as simple as them killing the ancestor of the transporter operator on the Potemkin?" Geordi suggested.
"We need to go back and succeed this time." Data stated. "Prevent the death of William and Elizabeth Matthews and destroy that ship."
"How? We got there using technology Barclay never developed and the event has been locked. Not to mention the damn torpedoes they have." Geordi stated. "And I still don't know who I'm married to."
"Leah Brahms." Guinan stated. "You transferred to Utopia Planitia just after her divorce."
Geordi grinned involuntarily. "Okay so who are you married to?"
"I am married to Taryn." Data said softly and guiltily.
"You're kidding?" Geordi blurted.
Data nodded. "I just told her I am from a different timeline and I am not the person she married."
"Someone needs to talk to her." Guinan stated worriedly. "She shouldn't be sat at her station that's for sure. Even if we are in Spacedock."
"Why?" Data asked innocently.
…
"Well, are congratulations in order?" Barclay asked with a smile as Taryn entered Engineering.
"Don't." Taryn said looking choked. "Do you need a hand down here?" she asked sadly.
"Not really but I'll find you something if you feel like getting your hands dirty." Reg replied and replaced the panel he was working behind. "What happened? I thought it was all over bar the shouting."
"So did I." she sobbed, bursting into tears.
"Come on, you can help me up top, it's quiet up there." he whispered, grabbed his tool kit and led her gently by the elbow.
Barclay looked stunned as they both sat on the upper level with their legs dangling above the warp core, their arms resting on the lower safety rail. "So we're married…to each other?" he asked.
"Apparently. Ludicrous isn't it?" Taryn stated, then noticed his hurt expression. "Oh I don't mean you're an unfuckable troll. I mean you're like family to me, you know that." she explained, but it didn't seem to improve his demeanor. "I was so tempted to go through with it without him, but I thought I should wait until things feel a bit less…raw. It seemed wrong making a baby out of spite. Dr Crusher is keeping her in stasis until I decide what to do."
"Do we have children in the other timeline?" Reg asked.
She nodded. "Three. An adopted daughter and twins. A girl and a boy." she whispered.
"So we have a daughter out there somewhere?" Reg stated. Taryn burst into tears.
"I asked that. He looked her up, she's dead." Taryn wept. "I don't even know her and I'm mourning her."
"You've been pumped full of hormones ready to have your cloned embryo implanted. You're not exactly on top form right now." he said and stroked her back to comfort her, letting his hand linger as his dark eyes met her tearful green ones that gazed at him forlornly. "I was looking forward to meeting another little you. You'll make an amazing Mom." he whispered and turned away. Resting his forehead on the upper rail. "Are they green?" he asked.
"Sorry?" she replied and blew her nose.
"The twins, are they green?" he asked, swallowing hard.
"He didn't say." she whispered. "He told me they have your eyes and my smile. I should go. I need to find new quarters."
"He threw you out?" Reg asked incredulously.
"No, but I can't stay there. My husband just told me he's in love with someone else and they're dead in this timeline. I can't compete with that and…he just isn't my Data." she added in a whisper and began to stand.
"Take care." he told her earnestly as he looked up at her.
"You too." she replied sincerely and headed for the elevator.
Reg sighed, closed his eyes and rested his head against the rail. This was simply unbearable. He longed for children, yearned for them but Deanna rejected the idea out of hand just as she had refused to take his name. She said she couldn't bear the idea of losing another child as she had Ian and would never risk feeling that loss again by getting pregnant. He wiped his eyes, tears for a little girl meant to be his daughter that he would never meet. In another life he had a family and a wife who loved him, at least he hoped she did. Anything would be better than being constantly compared to Saint William T Riker, God amongst men despite the fact he left Deanna on Betazed and never even said goodbye when he shipped out. He knew exactly how Taryn felt about competing with a ghost.
It wasn't all Deanna's fault, she fell in love with the man the Cytherian probe turned him into, not the real him, he knew that deep down. Nor was it her fault that three years ago the object of his teenage fantasies appeared in mortal form and he ached for her with every particle of his being. Something his empathic wife was only too aware of, but long before the beguiling Lieutenant Prior transferred to the Enterprise their marriage took the form of an uneasy truce.
He loved her in the beginning, she was his Goddess of Empathy and he worshiped her but the reality of their life together was far from passionate. They soon settled into a comfortable, companionable partnership once he found that children were off the agenda and not even open for debate. They still cared for each other a great deal, of that he was certain but he wasn't happy and he was sure she wasn't either. He didn't even like to think about the mother-in-law he got as part of the deal. She mentioned grandchildren every time she hoved into view like a galleon under full sail and gave Reg a disdainful look as though his virility was clearly the problem. For a telepath she could certainly be selective over what she read in the minds of others. The fact she never picked up on the fact he couldn't remember the last time they'd had sex was also noteworthy. He expected Lwaxana blamed him for that too but it wasn't for want of trying, or asking, or begging and pleading for that matter although he'd even given up on that years ago. They still hadn't forgiven him for chickening out of the traditional Betazoid wedding they had meticulously planned. He'd uncharacteristically put his foot down, he took her back after her fling with Mr Perfect the leader of Moab IV the genetically engineered society, no way was he walking down the aisle in the nuddy. It was bad enough she still talked about Mr Oily the slimy negotiator, lay of the century and all round shit at that point. Devinoni Ral the closet empath. What an asshole. Deanna could really pick 'em.
He wondered idly what his wedding was like in the other timeline. Sweet, romantic, intimate and fully clothed was how he imagined it. With a wedding night that was beautiful and moving. Twins. They'd made twins with their love and he'd seen and felt them growing inside her and was raising them with her. He watched her walk past the large console in Main Engineering and made up his mind.
"Taryn, wait." he called as he stood and ran to the ladder and slid down it, then ran to join her at the door. "I…I mean…" he stammered then sighed. He took her arm and they stepped into the corridor out of sight of his team. "There's…I…" He looked down at her doleful green eyes that were still shining with tears. He'd visited a planet on his first tour with the Zhukov, there was a volcano long inactive filled with water that was deep and green, just like her eyes. Girls with eyes you felt you could drown in had always made him weak at the knees. Deanna's eyes were like dark mirrors, limpid and warm but she never seemed to look at him anymore. Taryn was a friend to him, probably his best friend and she was married to his captain. She had an innocence about her that belied her complexion and heritage and a warmth that touched all she met, apart from his suspicious wife. "I…" He swallowed. This could cost him her friendship, not to mention his career if the other Data returned. The one who doted on his wife and yearned to have a child with her so badly they turned to cloning and fertility treatment.
She touched his arm as he wrung his hands, trying to find the words. "It's okay. Take your time." she whispered. He sighed and gazed into her eyes, he hadn't stammered this badly in years and she was just standing there patiently while he gibbered like an inarticulate idiot in front of her.
"Is this reception tonight a d…dress uniform thing?" he asked. He silently accused himself of cowardice worthy of enough white feathers to stuff a mattress.
"Oh crap, I'd forgotten all about that." she blanched. "Yes, it's dress uniform, trust you to get nervous about it." She nudged him playfully with her elbow. "It's not a rectal exam you know?"
"Speak for yourself, you don't get to be the six foot wallflower at these things."
"Well, I'll be climbing the wall with you this time. No dancing for the Captain's estranged wife."
"I'll dance with you. As long as you wear tritanium toecaps you'll be fine." he joked.
"I'll hold you to that." She smiled as she turned and walked away.
…
"Taryn." Data said as he found her packing her things in the Captain's quarters. "I am so sorry, I did not know. I realize now how important today was for you…."
"It doesn't matter." she replied softly. "I'm sorting out separate quarters, I thought it would be for the best."
"Taryn please? In the other timeline we are friends, close friends. I would never intentionally hurt you." Data stated.
"I know that." She stopped packing and sat on the bed. "I know our relationship was unorthodox but I never doubted you cared and I still see that in your eyes." She sniffed. "A sexless marriage is one thing but I can't be in a loveless one and it's certainly not what you deserve."
"You are being extremely fair about all this…" Data stopped, "Sexless?" He accessed his sexual subroutine and felt panic, it was missing, as was most of his pelvic assembly. "What has happened to me?" he asked her desperately. "I am incomplete."
"You're exactly as you were made to be." Taryn replied with a frown.
"But, I am no longer fully functional." he stated with alarm.
"Fully fu…Oh!" her eyes widened. "Do you mean in the other timeline you're…better equipped?"
"I am…was programmed in multiple techniques, a broad variety of pleasuring." he told her with clear disappointment.
She looked stunned. "Well, I wouldn't want you to think we weren't intimate and didn't have a lot of fun, but obviously we never… We could get an annulment quite quickly, that's one advantage. Only Dr Crusher and I actually know what you keep in your underpants, or rather don't keep there. Along with Commander La Forge of course."
"We really planned to have a child together?" he asked her softly.
She nodded sadly. "Our options were limited of course. Dr Crusher took some cells a month ago and I started hormone treatment last week. We have a viable cloned zygote in stasis in Sickbay. I came to remind you we had an appointment for the implantation. I knew you couldn't forget, I thought you'd got cold feet about it." She laughed mirthlessly. "I had no idea things were so much worse than that."
"Did we consider making an artificial child?" he asked.
"Yes, but you…he was against it. He thought Starfleet would take an artificial child from us in the same way they took Lal from him."
"Lal did not die?" he asked plaintively. "She went into cascade failure when Admiral Haftel threatened to take her. We found a way to bring her back but that was only recently."
She shook her head. "They took her to the Daystrom Annex but she was lost when the Borg…"
"I am not in Lore's body." he stated with a frown. "This is my original emotion chip but it is different."
"Why would you be in Lore's body?" she asked with a puzzled frown.
"I was destroyed at the Battle of Bassen Rift saving Captain Picard." He suddenly realized his captain was not there for that to happen in this timeline. "Shortly before my death I copied my matrix to B-4 in an attempt to help him develop and you recovered it. You transferred my consciousness to Lore's body."
"That seems like a clever idea on my part but it's all news to me. Who's Before?"
"My brother he…" Data's eyes widened. "We did not find the other Soong prototype?" She shook her head. "Did I meet Juliana, my mother?"
"Yes, not long before she died."
"Died? She is an android." Data told her.
"What?" Taryn said incredulously. "She had a cerebrovascular accident, a stroke. They buried her. I was with you at the funeral…"
"She has a complex biofeedback system that made her appear to be Human, until recently she did not know she was an android herself but it became unavoidable. You reset her aging protocol and turned off her lifespan timer. Your brother found her a new identity."
"Perhaps we should exhume her and take a look, if Pran agrees." Taryn stated. "Which brother?"
"Haydn." Data replied.
"Data, Haydn died. He was killed while breaking in to a latinum depository on Ferenginar ten years ago. We lost Geoffrey a year later against the Borg. Cadfael when Memory Alpha was lost to the Breen in the Dominion War. Tegan, her ship was destroyed on her first cadet placement. My cousin David…"
"Geoffrey has three children." Data stated and Taryn shook her head. "This is all wrong." Data stated. "We are on the brink of losing a war we won six years ago. So many are dead that should be alive. Jean-Luc Picard, Will Riker, Galatea, Jessica, Mike Barnard, Seren, Dorian Peters and Jake Merrill and everyone else at Galor IV, Lal, Juliana, Lewis Zimmerman. There are babies I have held in my arms that have not and will not be born. Yves, your twins, Pip and Andie."
"We called them Pip and Andie?" Taryn asked plaintively. "Philip and T'Pandra?"
"Yes." Data replied and crouched next to her. "Yves Rene Barclay Picard was delivered by Reginald Barclay while your cousin Nareev attacked the ship believing you were a hostage. Dr Crusher and the Captain made me his Godfather. Galatea Musetta Barclay, she is nearly seven, the Ferengi used her in the plot to steal a Borg Queen from Galor IV."
So that's what happened." Taryn's eyes widened. "The little girl we found? We never got to the bottom of what happened there."
"She has green and grey marbled skin and dark eyes, hair as white as snow and you are her mother, the only mother she has ever known and she is thriving on the love you and Reg provide her with. She loves animals, especially riding and horses and runs like the wind. The twins are six months old. T'Pandra Marianne Myfanwy and Philip Iestyn Reginald Barclay."
"It seems mean that we only used one name from his side of the family." Taryn frowned. "Reg asked if they were green."
"Pip is, and I believe Mr Barclay's paternal grandmother was named Philippa." Data explained.
"And everyone else was called Reginald of course." Taryn realized with a smile. "Do I love him?"
"You share as much love as I have ever witnessed between two individuals. Fate has parted you a number of times but you always find each other again. I was told by he tested a hyper-subspace transport between the Daystrom Institute and the Enterprise E docked at Deep Space Nine in the hope that it would lead him to you when you were lost in 1891."
"Oh my God." Taryn breathed. "He must have been shitting himself. He hates transporters."
"His primary concern was the thought he had lost you." Data told her. "In fact, we have experienced a number of divergent realities and you have been lovers in every one but this."
"Wait a minute, Enterprise E?" Taryn realized.
"The drive section of this ship was destroyed ten years ago and the saucer crash landed on Veridian III."
Taryn rubbed her temples. "Well, at least everything isn't idyllic in your timeline."
"So far the only positive thing I have found here is Geordi's relationship with Leah Brahms." Data stated. "We have to put things right but I do not know if he will wish to assist. In our timeline he is single and the Chief Engineer."
"Barclay isn't the Chief Engineer?" Taryn raised a brow. "That's just weird, he's like part of the ship. So what position does he hold?"
"He is a lecturer and researcher at the Daystrom Institute on Earth, you are a professor there also."
"Bollocks, I'd never make a professor." she replied.
"You are Professor of Inorganic Life Studies, and I notice you doubt your own capabilities and not those of Commander Barclay."
"He'd be a good teacher if he can get past his nerves. He does a great job developing his team." she reasoned. "There is one other positive thing, don't forget he's happily married to Counsellor Troi."
"That does not mean he would not be happier with you and she with Captain Riker." Data stated.
"Okay, if that was your sales pitch I'm buying." Taryn stated. "What do we do to put all this straight?"
"We have to go back in time and protect two people. Destroy the threat to them. The hyper-subspace technology that sent us to 1891 was developed by Mr Barclay. We have his knowledge and expertise..."
"That man worked at the Daystrom Institute, our Reg doesn't know anything about hyper-subspace technology any more than I could teach a class in…what was it?"
"Inorganic Life Studies, but you actually teach Exobiology and Cybernetics at the moment. You will be teaching Inorganic Psychology as well when your new curriculum starts."
"My new curriculum?" she frowned.
"You devised the course."
"What does Reg lecture in?"
"Holographic Engineering, Communications and Hyper-subspace Technology."
"We're the Nerd Family Barclay aren't we?" She shook her head. "We have another diplomatic mission as soon as we leave spacedock. Starfleet have been keeping us near Earth as a last line of defense. When are we going to have time to take this trip to 1891 to save the day?" She rolled her eyes at his expression. "We're breaking orders again aren't we?"
"We do that often?" he asked.
"How do you think we ended up in spacedock?" she replied. "We have a reception at Starfleet Command to attend tonight, we need to get ready and I need to move out."
"I do not require quarters if you wish to stay." Data told her.
"I'm already packed, unless you're worried about the rumour mill?"
"Only on your behalf." Data stated.
"Perhaps we should keep it quiet that you're a different man, I only told Barclay and he's not a gossip. Some of the crew may be difficult about it. Perhaps I should stay here for now?"
Data touched her arm as she buried her head in her hands, she was clearly conflicted as well as hurt. "I should not have burdened you with all of this." he whispered.
"You had to," she replied, "you nearly jumped out of your bioplast sheeting when I hugged you and kissed your neck." She snorted with laughter then sighed. "Time to squeeze my arse into that bloody dress uniform again." she moaned.
"You have a most svelte bottom. I do not believe you will have difficulty donning your dress uniform."
"You silver tongued devil." Taryn snorted with laughter. "You're so not my Data, but you're very cute." She shook her head and went into the bathroom to change leaving Data with a confused expression on his face, wondering exactly how different his counterpart was in terms of personality.
Author's Note:
Nerd Family Barclay is a reference to the book Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss and the Disney film based on it.