4
Lili was in a large room, standing, as pitch black as before.
There were footsteps.
"Is that you?" she called out.
"Yes!" he said, steps quickening. "Talk to me, I'll follow your voice." His voice was familiar and unfamiliar, all at the same time.
"What should I talk about?"
"I dunno. Whatever you did today, okay?"
"Sure. I was, um, I made Pasta alla Puttanesca."
"What's that? How do you make it?" he asked. "Just keep talking."
"Yes, well, while the pasta water is boiling, you slice a boatload of garlic really thinly. And you cook it and anchovies and capers and a bunch of tomato paste in some extra virgin olive oil, then you toss it all together."
"What are capers?" his voice was closer.
"They're these little pickled flower buds. Very briny tasting. I ran out, and we won't get any more until we get other supplies, so I added more anchovies. It was a little too fishy, I think. Do you know why that dish has its name?"
"No, I don't." he was a lot closer.
"It's supposed to be 'pasta the way a whore would make it'. Possibly because of a strong, alluring smell, possibly because it's quick and dirty. Something like that." She stopped.
His breath was close. "Go on, if you like. I'm enjoying hearing you talking. We didn't talk before."
"Sure we did," she said, "You said 'Oranges?' to me last night."
"Yes. Very seductive of me." he chuckled, then kissed her. He came up for air. "What is, what's your name?"
"I, um, I ..."
"Don't tell me you don't know it."
"Of course I know it. It's just, see, I'm a little scared."
"Scared?" he held her. "Of what?"
"Well, I don't want to exchange names – or anything really identifying – until we've seen each other's faces."
"Huh? Why?"
"Because, you see," Lili said, "what if you don't like what I look like? Or I don't like you? I know it's shallow, but attraction is built on visuals, like it or not. What if you think I'm hopelessly ugly?"
=/\=
Dr. Phlox tested and tested the sample. He covered every eventuality. Something was not adding up.
He would have to convene a meeting, a subset of the Bridge crew. The two most senior female officers – T'Pol and Hoshi Sato – the Captain, and himself. He shook his head. Ensign O'Day had seemed so certain that there was consent. She had even asked for a birth control shot.
=/\=
"You won't be ugly. I am certain of that," he said.
"How can you be so sure?" she cocked a hand on her hip, but he could not see the gesture.
"Because your features are symmetrical. I may not know the specifics, but symmetry is the basis for attractiveness. You'll be fine. It's just the details right now."
"But, but, I just."
"There's more to it, isn't there?" he probed.
"Yes. I have been, I have been burned before. If you, if you don't like me, I don't want you to feel obligated. And if you, if you reject me, I don't want to have a specific name to curse, And if I, well, if I can't accept you, I don't want you to be able to find me." She trembled slightly.
He took her hand. "It's all right. I can, I think I can accept that. I don't love it, but I suppose that makes sense. Can I tell you about what I did today? Unless you, um, you want to do it. We could dream up the bed again."
"In a little while, yes. Of course! But I like talking to you," she said.
"I like talking to you, too. Feels like, I don't know, like something I haven't felt in decades."
"Decades? Aren't you, like, eighteen or something?"
"I've seen eighteen three times," he said.
"You're, huh, over fifty?" she asked, incredulous.
"Yep. I'll be fifty-five in about six weeks. You? If, um, if you want to tell me."
"I don't mind. I'll be staring down fifty in a little over a year and a half. But you, um, you perform like a much, much younger man."
"Well, thanks." they kissed. "I'm having a really, really good time. And not just between the sheets. Talking to you is good. Smart, pleasant, I dunno. I hope you realize I am going to like you almost no matter what you look like."
"I, I hope that turns out to really be true," she said.
=/\=
Jennifer stared at the old man's sleeping form. He was really sawing logs. He had muttered something about the number eighteen. Whatever.
Cautiously, she got out of bed. He was still asleep. Good. She dressed and tiptoed to the door. She was safely outside and on her way to MacKenzie's when she heard her name being called.
=/\=
"It is true. Anyway, my day. I determined that you are real," he said triumphantly.
"You did? Uh, how?"
"There's this sensor. And it's been kicking up for the past two nights. Almost perfectly coinciding to you and me being together. And I bet it'll do it again tonight." he kissed her.
"Hmm, I don't think we have sensors that are that good. Not that I know too much about it; I only know what my roommate tells me about such things."
"Well, we definitely have sensors that can detect it. I mean, maybe we have better sensors than you do."
"I, I feel like I should be defending the fine work of our sensors." she joked.
"I'm not disparaging your, um, equipment," he said, "But I digress. As I was saying, the sensor. And the activity is recorded. I managed to isolate it."
"Are you in Engineering?" Lili asked.
"No. Tactical."
"Oh. Um, go on."
"It pulsed. I then counted how often per minute. Started at about 65, then 74, up to 85, down into the sixties again. Up and down for hours. Got as high as one twenty-eight quite a few times."
"What does that mean?" she asked. "I feel like I'm missing something really obvious."
"I think it's a heartbeat. More importantly, I think it's your heartbeat."
=/\=
"Ensign!" It was Commander Tucker.
"Commander! What are you doing up at this hour?" Jennifer asked, trying to appear nonchalant.
"I was just about to ask you the same thing. And I was gonna ask you about leaving your post yesterday. You were gone for about forty minutes."
"Oh, um, something came up."
"I'm sure it did. Ramirez saw you and MacKenzie go into that Jeffries tube."
"Oh," Jennifer swallowed hard.
"Listen, it's like this." Tucker said, "I know all about you and MacKenzie. And so does pretty much everybody else except for the Old Man. But I also know what you're doing with your little toy there."
=/\=
"Funny you should say all of that," Lili said, "Because I've got proof that you're real, as well."
"Oh?" he asked. "Tell me more." His hands encircled her waist.
"You left a calling card last time."
"A calling card?"
"My, uh, my doctor found, er, something."
He figured it out. "Ohhhhh. I kinda had the feeling last night, that that was happening. Do you suppose that I could get you pregnant?"
"I think it's possible, so I asked the doctor to give me the shot. But it would be kinda funny if I did have your child."
"Really? What would be so funny about that? You'd be alone, with no one to help you."
"Well, instead of threatening, 'Wait 'til your father gets home!' I would say, 'Wait 'til your father falls asleep!'"
"We really should meet then," he said.
"I, I know that, I know it intellectually," she said, "But you know how I feel."
A light came on, several feet away in the dream room. It shone a small spotlight, like a lamppost.
=/\=
"What makes you think you know?" Jennifer asked.
"You want what everybody here wants: power. Sex, too. But mainly power. You want to be Head of Engineering, and you want your toy to run Tactical. And then you probably figure you can make a play to overthrow the Empress."
"I want no such thing," Jennifer lied.
"Oh, c'mon, sister! But I want you to understand something. You need me. You need my expertise and my skills. And you need for me to blame if something goes wrong. I am gonna die soon anyway, of this damned radiation poisoning, and you'll have it all anyway. Just don't jump the gun and hurry me along."
"So you're asking me to, what, to protect you? I've got better things to do with my time." she yawned.
"I'm not asking, I'm telling. I keep quiet and you get to keep your post. Plus you learn from me and get a great scapegoat for problems after I'm gone – possibly for a few years if you play your cards right. And I also make a dandy human shield for you. And you make a dandy human shield for me (and a far sight more attractive one as well) as anyone looking to overthrow me and take over Engineering has gotta go through you first."
"I don't know," Jennifer said, rolling it over in her mind.
"Think about it. And while you're at it, you might wanna spare the Old Man for a while, for the same reason."
"Ugh."
"Well, near as I can see it, if you wanna make a go at Empress Hoshi and her boy toy Travis, you'll both need to be in a strong position. That probably means getting there at the same time, yes?"
"I guess."
"Crossman, I won't be around for more than a few more months. And then if you wanna strangle the Old Man with his own belt, I say have at it. At least, that's the way I would do it if I were you."
"Hmmm. Something to think about." she turned back to her quarters to think it over. Some things were more important than even a good time, and Aidan would just have to wait.
=/\=
"Did you dream up that light?" he asked.
"It wasn't me." she laughed.
"None of this makes sense, but it's all dream logic anyway, I guess," he said, "May I walk you over there?"
"Yes, but slowly. I want to hold onto this for just a little while longer."
"Understood." They held hands, his thumb caressing her fingers. They kissed.
"I want to, I want to go first," she said.
"You mean stand under the light, or look at me first?"
"I want to stand under the light first. That work for you?"
"Of course. Ready?"
"Yes." She took a deep breath and willed herself into her best dress, a sapphire blue number she had picked up while on shore leave on Callisto. She stepped into the light, where it was warmer than in the rest of the room.
"Hmm, mmm, hmmm." he murmured.
"You're staring at me," she said.
"How can you tell?"
"A woman always knows."
"I, well, I am liking what I see. Very, very much," he said, "But I bet you're not really wearing that dress to bed."
"No, I'm not. I just wanted to, I wanted to look good for you."
"You look better than good. You look beautiful."
"Oh, c'mon. I've got parentheses lines around my mouth, my lower teeth are crooked and my right side is bigger than my left."
"I know all that. And I think you're a little uneven because you're right-handed."
"How d'you know I'm righ- ? Oh, yeah, from that, I guess."
"Yes, from that." he confirmed.
=/\=
Jennifer slipped back in beside the Old Man. Not what she wanted to do, but she had to think, and could do that better while he slept than while Aidan pawed at her.
The Old Man said something about a dress. Whatever.
=/\=
"Oh," Lili said, "I guess I walked right into that one."
"But I want you to know," he said, "I don't care about any of that, the imperfections. God knows I've got plenty. I still think you're beautiful."
"You should see my roommate, if you want to see beautiful. She's twenty-seven."
"I've seen twenty-seven-year-old women before," he said.
"I, I don't know how to respond to that," she said.
"No need to think up anything. Can I ask you to do something?"
"I suppose." she teased.
"Could you show me what you're really looking like right now? Whatever you're really wearing to bed. No makeup. Hair doing whatever. Show me that."
"Uh, all right." she willed herself back into a tee shirt, cut off sweatpants and socks, her hair a little stringy from needing a wash.
"Perfect," he said.
"You're not serious." she reddened.
"You look fine. You look like a sleeping person. A real person. I like the blonde hair. Even when you don't comb it." he assured her. "Are you, uh, are you Scandinavian?"
"No, I'm French-Irish."
"You look really Nordic. White-blonde hair, crystal blue eyes, pale skin."
"I stay out of sun and all. I burn really, really easily. Mainly I just cook, eat and sleep, it seems."
"And you dream," he said, "Are you, um, ready to see me?"
"Yes, I think so."
He put his hand into the light. It was darker than hers, but pretty much everyone was darker than Lili O'Day. She took it.
"I really want you to like me. I really, really want you to like me. How do you, um?" he asked, but before he could finish his question, she was kissing him.
They kissed for a long time, eyes closed, and positioned themselves both under the light, or at least it felt that way.
They broke away and opened their eyes.
She took one look, shrieked and fainted.
"Wait!" he yelled, as they awoke to different, colder lights.
5
Jennifer grabbed at him. He was waking up anyway, and there was some time before the alarm went off. Not that she really, truly wanted to do the deed, but it would buy her some time as she thought about what Tucker had suggested.
"Wha – huh?" he was still rousing himself. And some parts were rousing faster than others. He blinked several times. "Why'd you have ta go and wake me?"
"You were having a dream of some sort." she yawned.
"Yes. I was." he was getting more angry than aroused.
Jennifer grinned at him. "I like it when you're hot with anger. C'mon. It's been a long time." She tossed her lingerie off and to the floor.
He stared at her. Red hair, red nails, red lips. Peaches and cream complexion. There was no question that she was stunning. He bent over and kissed her.
"C'mon. Let's be like it was. Do it like we used to last year." she beckoned.
She grabbed at him in a way that he used to find scintillating. He swallowed hard and stared at her. "What's bringing all this on?"
"I just wanna do it. C'mon, Ol-, uh, c'mon!"
"You can't even bring yourself to call me by my name any more. Or are you afraid you'll call out 'Aidan' at the wrong time?" he was no longer interested and just glared at her.
"Wait a second. You want me. You know you do. Lots of guys would kill to have me." she bragged.
"Then let them have you. Oh, wait. You already do. Get out. Now. Get your things and leave."
"Why should I leave?"
"These are my quarters, Jenn. Move it."
"I won't have quarters." she complained.
"I hear MacKenzie is looking for a bunkmate. Or maybe Ramirez. Or Mayweather when he's not otherwise busy. Yes, I know about all of them. And Delacroix, too."
"You're gonna want me back. You can't live alone!"
"Oh, spare me the drama and just get some clothes on and let your freckled butt be the last thing I see that's yours."
=/\=
"Roomie! Are you okay?" Jennifer was solicitous.
"Huh? Oh, yes, I suppose," Lili sat up and hugged her knees to her chest.
"Anything you need to talk about?"
"Um, no. But thanks," Lili got up and dressed. She didn't want to look at messages or anything – just get to work and try to think about something else.
=/\=
"How far away is that ship?"
"Perhaps a full day at best, First Minister."
"And you said there was an interesting candidate?"
"Yes. Our doctors and scientists are working on the arrangements. Almost all of the details have been worked out."
"And we will know more about them than they would ever tell us?"
"That is the idea, First Minister. Plus, of course, the main purpose can be fulfilled. Polloria is in place and the people will accept her if we can get it all to work just right."
"Excellent. And the other –?"
"No change, First Minister."
=/\=
"How far away is that ship?"
"Less than a full day, First Minister."
"And you said there was an interesting candidate?"
"Yes. Our doctors and scientists are working on the arrangements. Almost all of the details have been worked out."
"And we will know more about them than they would ever tell us?"
"That is the idea, First Minister. Plus, of course, the main purpose can be fulfilled. Polloria is in place and the people will accept her if we can get it all to work just right."
"Excellent. And the other –?"
"No change, First Minister."
=/\=
Lili barely looked up all day, as Chef had told her there would be an Executive-level vegan dinner in the main conference room. Six people, including the Captain, Dr. Phlox, T'Pol and Hoshi Sato. The other two guests were unknown. She had full rein, and could feed them anything she wished.
This was the kind of challenge that Lili liked, and she threw herself into it with gusto. It also, conveniently, took her mind off other matters.
By eighteen hundred hours, she was wheeling a small cart into the main conference room. Captain Archer and First Officer T'Pol had already arrived.
"Captain! I'm usually early with these things." she babbled as she set the table for six.
"We ended up being really early. Here, let me help you with that."
"That's my job, Captain."
"Um, Ensign, this dinner, this meeting isn't a chance for us to enjoy your cooking so much as it is about you."
"Oh," Lili's face fell.
"You're not in any kind of trouble." he assured her, putting a fork on a napkin. "We just need to have a talk." Hoshi and Phlox walked in. "Looks like everyone's here." Captain Archer said.
"There are only five of us in here," Lili pointed out.
"Well, we were hoping there would be a sixth but –?" Captain Archer's voice trailed off as he saw Phlox shake his head.
"May I make a suggestion?" Phlox inquired. "Let's save the business for after the meal, if that's at all possible. I haven't had a chance to savor the Ensign's cooking before. At least, not when I have known it is only her doing the cooking."
"Actually, Captain, that would be more comfortable for me," Lili said, "My not knowing what this meeting is about is my problem for not checking messages. Plus the whole presentation is to tell you about the dishes. Is that all right?"
Everyone nodded. "All right. The theme for this vegan dinner is Halloween, as it is coming up in a few days. It's easy to make orange food."
"Ugh, I don't think I want to see another orange for a while," Hoshi said.
"Not to worry, I'm just talking about the color, not the flavor," Lili assured her. "So, orange is easy. But black is far more difficult, without simply burning everything. So please indulge me and accept dark brown or dark purple as black, okay?"
She took out the tureen and served the soup. "This is a pumpkin curry soup. Normally this soup would be made with a cream base, but in order to accommodate Commander T'Pol, the stock instead is a vegetable one. The pumpkin was roasted before it was puréed. The black in this dish is the dark pumpernickel bread on the side. Bon Appetit."
"Won't you join us?" The Captain asked.
"Uh, okay," Lili sat down.
"Can I ask you something?" Hoshi said.
"Er, I guess so."
"Why don't you wear one of those chef's hats?"
"Oh, whew. Those are called toques. I just don't like them. To me they just separate chefs out from other people. I do need to keep my hair back, so I wear a baseball cap instead."
"Titan Bluebirds," Phlox read off the front of her cap. "Is that a favored team?"
"I grew up on Titan. They're the hometown nine, but I'm actually a New England Red Sox fan. But that cap's a bit worse for wear. Not really appropriate for an Executive-level dinner."
=/\=
He got permission from the Empress to come to the Bridge two hours later than usual, and spent his time packing up Jennifer's things and getting them over to Aidan's quarters. Then he cleaned and scrubbed everything that she had touched or laid on. He even cleaned the soft bridging foam which attached the two twin beds together to make one larger bed. While everything was drying, he sat down on the left side of the bed. A little harder than the right. He smiled to himself slightly. The dream bed was also a little harder on the left. Strange. An image of Jennifer's body hit him for just a moment, but it was quickly replaced by crystal blue eyes. He shook his head. "You really are slipping," he said out loud, to no one. "Kinda stupid to do this if she won't even look at you." He went back to cleaning.
=/\=
"And so, after the black sesame seeds in the main dish, and the black seaweed from Europa in the salad, it's time for dessert. Dessert is a sweet potato pie, Southern style, with black Mission figs as a garnish. Anyone have any room?"
"Oh. My. God. Ensign, you're gonna make us all fat." The Captain said, "The salad – that's from Voracious, isn't it?"
"How do you know about Voracious?" Lili asked.
"When Chef was thinking of hiring you, he had me go with him to your restaurant. And I had the Harvest Salad that night, too."
"Oh, good. Did you have the duck? We really don't do duck here – too messy and too heavy, and not really in the budget – I used to make Duck Burgers at Voracious. I miss that place."
"What happened to it?" Hoshi asked.
"I sold it when I came on board. I'll probably open another one when I retire."
"Are we ready to start talking about why we're here?" The Captain asked, looking meaningfully at Lili.
"I guess so," she said.
"Let's start with Dr. Phlox's findings. Doctor?"
"I had the occasion to examine the Ensign and interview her. She spoke of feeling, physically, as if she had engaged in coitus. I performed an examination and found something. Due to the Ensign stating that these encounters occurred while she was asleep, the possibility of there being informed consent appeared to be absent."
"Did you perform a DNA test?" Commander T'Pol asked.
"I did, as per standard Starfleet procedures." The doctor replied. "But then it got interesting. I tested the sperm against every single male on this ship. I even tested it against my own sample. The only male I did not test was Porthos."
"Doc, I wasn't doing it with the dog," Lili bristled.
"No, of course not. Just attempting a tiny bit of apparently backfiring humor. But testing Porthos would be futile anyway, as he is neutered. In any event, I found no matches whatsoever. I also checked former crew members and there were no matches. I did this even though we have not taken on human passengers or crew for several months."
"Are you certain that the DNA is human?" The Captain asked.
"Absolutely," Phlox said, "And another things. The sample was saturated with testosterone. Far more than any normal human male can tolerate. It was at a level far more typical of a standard Klingon male."
"But you said it was definitely human." Hoshi pointed out.
"Indeed I did. This is some sort of super-male, perhaps. Would probably have a high sex drive and some aggressive tendencies. Oh and one more thing."
"You mean there's more to this?" Captain Archer asked.
"I tested and found that the incidence of Y chromosomes – which would indicate the potential for male children – was abnormally high. As in, about three-quarters of the sample, if an ovum had been fertilized, would have resulted in a male child. The normal ratio is far closer to fifty-fifty."
"What do you think of all of this, Ensign?" The Captain asked. "Take your time."
"No, I, uh, Doc, you said you looked at former crew members. Did you look at all of them? And I mean every single one of them?"
"I – no, wait. There is a class that is missing. I can run the test from here." he punched a few keys on his PADD.
"Wait, you've lost me," Hoshi said.
"Ah, there it is. Ensign, we have a match, although the testosterone level still seems off." The doctor pulled up a service record and a picture. "Ensign, is this your, uh, friend?"
"Yes."
=/\=
He lay back after a long day. They were in the Lafa system and were getting some communications hails, but it was the Empress's way to ignore hails until they were right on top of a planet or ship, bearing down and looking huge and menacing. Tomorrow would be time to spring into action.
He closed his eyes. He knew there was a possibility – and that every day that possibility would grow and grow until it became a probability – that he would not survive the night. "Just have to make things right," he said out loud. "And quit talking to myself all the time."
=/\=
The meeting finally over, Lili crawled into bed. "Gotta figure this out." she murmured as she fell asleep.
6
He found himself on a roof deck, with assorted small tables and chairs. There were brown cattails in vases on the tables. She was sitting at one. He approached, and tried to remain nonchalant. "I guess I'm hopelessly ugly," he said, swallowing.
"No, no, of course not. Far from it. Please sit down. And, um, it's a little chilly out here," Lili said.
He willed himself out of his normal sleep attire, and into a pair of blue jeans, black boots and a black watch flannel shirt, to go along with her turquoise hoodie, jeans and sneakers. "Good idea. So, um, was it what I was wearing last night?"
"No." she smiled wanly. "Boxer shorts and a tee shirt are pretty standard sleeping clothes for a guy."
"Then, um, please tell me. What is it? What's so wrong? Let me try to fix it," he said.
"I – oh, man. Do you not know?"
"Know what?"
She sighed. "I, I don't know how to break this to you."
"Direct is best."
"You're, you're dead."
=/\=
"Oh, get off me, Aidan!" Jennifer snarled.
"I haven't seen you all day. And suddenly you're moved in. Which is, um, great. Very unexpected. So this means we can do it more."
"I gotta think."
"Think later." he commanded.
"Do you even know why I'm here?" she bristled.
"Yes. You can't live without me."
She made a sound and rolled her eyes. "I am here because the old man, well, I got tired of him," she said, avoiding the truth.
"Of course," Aidan said.
"And he's whipped enough that I even got him to move my stuff. But this is gonna change things. Gotta figure out what he's up to."
"Worry about him later," Aidan said, "You. Me. Now."
=/\=
"Dead? Huh? Lemme tell ya, I am not dead. Here, I'll prove it to you." he got up to get closer.
"No, no. Please. It's not that I don't want to. I do. And that's what's so disturbing to me. You're dead, and this cannot be happening. It's all dreams and wish fulfillment anyway, and there's always a catch, and that's the catch." her voice was becoming higher pitched and she was speaking faster as a lump rose in her throat.
"I'm, I'm not, I'm not dead," he said, "How can I show you that? What, what kind of proof do you have? What's making you think that?"
"I – I saw." she was now really crying, hot tears hitting her face and bouncing off and onto her hoodie.
"Saw what?"
"Your, your body. I saw them put your body in a big tube and shoot it off into space."
"What? When? And I, I don't get it. Not just this but also, you saw me? I never saw you before yesterday."
"You, you don't remember me?"
"I know I never, ever saw you before. I would have known."
"You and I, we would nod in the hallways. We didn't say much. We were not friends. But you could recognize me, I know you could! The Enterprise isn't a huge ship."
"Enterprise? That ship was destroyed a few years ago."
"Des-huh?" she just started to cry even more, and waved him off when he was all set to bend over her and comfort her. It took her a few minutes to finally get the lump back down to a manageable size.
"So, um," he said, "this is weird. You think I'm dead, and I think the Enterprise is dead. And we have the same kind of proof, eyewitnesses, we're both eyewitnesses. I'm not, I'm not a logical guy. If I were a Vulcan or something, I bet I'd have this all figured out already."
She nodded but did not say anything.
"Hmm, wait. What was the name of the guy who you saw shot off into space?"
"It, it was your name. It was Hayes. Major Jay Hayes."
=/\=
"Damn, damn, damn!" Commander Tucker was in no mood.
"Something wrong, sir? And, if I may ask, sir, wasn't your shift over hours ago?"
"Ramirez, I hardly ever sleep these days. Oh nine hundred hours, eighteen hundred hours, or oh two hundred hours like now, it doesn't matter. I am always on. The Empress doesn't seem to have a problem with me working myself to death."
"Uh, no, sir." Ramirez fidgeted.
"Check the sensors. None of them seem to be working."
"Sir, I ran a diagnostic four nights ago."
"Then run another one. Actually, better yet. Take every blessed sensor out and check it manually."
"Sir, that'll take weeks."
"Crewman, you've got orders." Tucker walked away, muttering to himself. "Stupid screwed up database."
=/\=
"Okay, well, that's not me. I mean, my last name is Hayes. But Jay is my middle name."
"Really?"
"Yep. My first name is Douglas. C-call me Doug. And, um, I was a Major for maybe all of five minutes. I'm a Lieutenant Commander now."
"So you're not ... But the doctor said your DNA matched the sample."
"I, I don't think I am. Not that guy, no. I don't think so. But you, um, you said about the Enterprise. Tell me more about the Enterprise. Tell me, tell me something. I've got a feeling I may have an explanation if you can give me enough to go on."
"Hmm. Well, um, today there was an investigation. Or, well, kind of a meeting."
"A meeting?"
"I told you, you left a calling card and all, hence the DNA test. And the Exec level, they wanted to make sure there wasn't some mad rapist running around, having sex with random sleeping women. Dr. Phlox said ..."
"Phlox?"
"Yes. My doctor's name is Phlox. He's a Denobulan."
"Yes, I know. And he's also, he's dead."
"Nu-uh," Lili shook her head. "Captain Archer doesn't go around hiring dead doctors or anything like that."
"Archer? Archer is your captain?"
"Yeah. So?"
"So, I am thinking I am starting to understand what's going on here. Um, who else was at this meeting, if I may ask?" Doug said.
"Commander T'Pol and Ensign Hoshi Sato, because they are the two most senior women on the ship."
"Huh. T'Pol is also dead."
"And Ensign Sato?"
"We don't call her that anymore."
"Oh?" Lili asked. "I'm getting really confused."
"Do you know what a multiverse is?"
=/\=
Tucker buzzed the Empress about twenty times before she finally answered. "Yeah, what?" Travis Mayweather lay next to her and glared.
"Empress, I got almost no working sensors anymore."
"So fix them."
"I would, but there is nothing to fix them with, and no instructions anywhere."
"You've been going along fine without instructions. Really, Commander, would you quit calling me at such crazy hours?"
"Empress, this can't wait."
"Yes, it can."
"But that database, it's all messed up. It's like, it's like Swiss cheese in there." Tucker complained.
"Do your usual magic. Bye." She hung up. "Now, where were we?"
=/\=
"Isn't that where there's, like a million trillion universes? And in one, you and I are talking, and in another I'm sitting and reading a book or whatever?"
"Pretty much. Could even be finer grained than that. Maybe in one you're wearing a red dress, in another you're wearing a green one and in another one you're wearing tan."
"Not tan. It doesn't look good on me."
"Okay." he smiled. "But think of it that way."
"None of that's ever been proven," she said.
"Yes, actually, it has. See, a few years ago, when Forrest was our Captain, ..."
"Forrest? He was an Admiral when he died," Lili said.
"There's another difference."
"Oh, sorry to interrupt."
"That's okay. Um, Archer was the First Officer and he heard rumors of an advanced ship, possibly from a different universe. We investigated and, lo and behold, the fellow was right. It was the Defiant. Took it over – and it became pretty useful when the Enterprise herself was destroyed – and that was, well, it was about two years ago. There was a power struggle – there always is – and Archer ended up being poisoned by his lover. She then took over the ship, had a kid, consolidated her power over that year and then wasn't just an Empress in name only. Now she really is the Empress."
"Don't tell me – it's my roommate who's the Empress."
"Only if you're rooming with Hoshi Sato."
=/\=
"How close are we?"
"We have been reviewing every scrap of a record we can find on them, First Minister. We have a truly excellent candidate."
"Let's hail them tomorrow."
=/\=
"Ha, no. Holy cow. So this is – somehow there's a crossing over that's happening again?" Lili asked.
"I, I think so. See, the ship is actually from the future. Your future. I am assuming you're from its own private universe although maybe you aren't. Can't say for certain. But, I mean, right now it's 2157."
"October."
"Yes." he smiled. "Thirtieth, right?"
"Well, I think it's the thirty-first by now," she said, "I think you and I have been asleep for a while."
"You're, um, you're probably right. Look, uh, is it okay for you to give me your name? I, I feel like I'm at a disadvantage. Are you, uh, okay with that?"
"Yes, of course. No manners here." she smiled. "My full name is Charlotte Lilienne O'Day. But nobody calls me Charlotte and no one calls me Lilienne. They call me Lili."
"I don't think I've heard a more beautiful name."
"Don't be silly, my parents gave me the initials C-L-O-D."
"They probably didn't mean to do that, Lili," Doug rolled the name around for the first time.
"Hmm, I suppose not. Can't ask 'em now."
"Oh?"
"They died in a house fire when I was nine."
"Oh. I didn't mean to pry."
"It's all right. Not like you would have known." she reached for his hand, voluntarily.
He touched her hand and they were both taken aback with a spark arced between them. "Whoa!" he said, "Even though it's a cliché, it looks like sparks really do fly between us."
"Maybe it's because we haven't touched for over a day." She pulled him close to her – the sparking had stopped – and kissed him.
He smiled and opened his eyes when they broke apart. "I missed you. I missed that. And I was concern– no, afraid. Yes, afraid. I was afraid I would never see you. You remember that sensor I told you about? The one that recorded your heartbeat? It wasn't functioning, or something. No heartbeat today. I was scared that you were gone, or dead or out of range forever."
"I'm right here," she said.
"Let's, um, let's get out of here. Wherever here is," Doug said.
"This is actually my old restaurant in San Mateo. Which I will show you some other time," she said, looking at him intently.
They were back in private quarters. "Hang on, I'll change out of these," he said.
"No, no, let me."
"Oh?"
"Well, I've been the one holding back. And I remember how good our second night was together, so I want to do something like that for you."
"Oh, you liked that, eh? It's Tantric."
"Huh, where did you learn to do that?" she asked as she removed his shirt.
"I did basic training in Cambodia. Had my first encounter there, too."
"I, I see. I liked that we faced each other all night. If there had been light, I would have been looking in your eyes, you know."
Doug smiled and steadied himself as he lifted one foot, then the other, for her to take off his boots. "Why would I be with a beautiful girl and not want to look right at her during it? Makes no sense to me otherwise."
She straightened up. "Lie back on the bed, and I'll get your jeans off."
"Yes." he grinned. "You take the right side. The left side of the bed is harder than the right."
"Same's true of my bed. Funny," she said.
"Well, maybe they repurposed the old equipment from the Enterprise and put it in the Defiant. Just 'cause it's old, doesn't mean it doesn't work."
"Oh, I see things are working very, very well," she said.
"C'mere," he said, when he had recovered his voice. They kissed for a long time and stayed together all night.