Don't you fight it 'til you tried it, do that conga beat
– Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine (Conga)
=/\=
"Ah, you are here," said the mirror High Priestess, Yimar.
"I suppose I am," Lili said.
"We saw a rip in the septum between the universes," Yimar said, "a ship emerged on our side. It then beamed down a passenger and opened up another rip behind itself, very close to the ground. The passenger, she strode over, back to your side. That second rip then closed up and we do not know what happened to her, or where she went."
"We didn't see her," Lili said, "but we did see the ship when it originally appeared. Yimar, something is going to happen to time. That's a time ship. Time is going to; it's going to come apart somehow."
"We have seen the Defiant's return," Yimar said, "it has shown up on our sensors and will be here soon."
"That's Doug's old ship, from long ago," Lili said, "Empress Hoshi Sato is in charge of it, or at least she was."
"We know of the Empress. And there will be danger here, when she learns what has been happening," Yimar explained, "for there are some of her people here, still, who escaped years ago and hid out in our forests and in other secret places off the grid. There are two engineers here, Jennifer and Charles, among others. They have helped our people to create parts for that kind of ship. If the Calafan people can have Constitution class ships, we will not have to fear the Empress ever again."
"How are you producing it all?" Lili asked.
"One of our planets already has factories – Lafa V. We have hidden the parts manufacture, making it appear as if we are making metal jewelry and furniture."
"Turning out cuffs?" Lili asked, indicating a copper-colored cuff on Yimar's left wrist.
"No, no facsimiles of the Cuff of Ub, or of the Cuff of Lo, the one your husband wears," Yimar smiled, "it is earrings and such. There are species that would pay quite well for the parts we are making. The Vulcans, perhaps, would be the wisest choice for clientele, but the Andorians seem to be willing to pay more for our wares. It is an interesting problem to have."
"What about time? I wish I knew what we could do, or how we could even tell it was happening at all," Lili said.
"You will need to contact Daniels," Yimar said.
"I know, but how?"
"Leave a permanent record of some sort," Yimar suggested.
"I, I feel I am awakening," Lili said, "I'll think of something."
=/\=
From his nearby perch, Malcolm distinctly heard her say, "I'll think of something," just before she awoke.
"What happened?" he asked.
"I, I spoke with Yimar. And she said the Empress is back in their version of the Lafa system. So she's got that in addition to whatever happened with that time ship, wherever it went."
"That's tricky."
"Yes," Lili agreed, "they're, she said that on their side, I guess this is the right term, they're trying to reverse engineer an advanced ship design, called the Constitution class. That's the kind of ship the Defiant is."
"And that's from, well, it's from our future, and not theirs," Malcolm mused, "I wonder if that's the only way they'll truly be able to advance their technology – by stealing it from others."
"That makes some sense. I remember Doug once told me how different their first contact with the Vulcans was from ours. Zefram Cochrane didn't shake hands with the first Vulcan he saw – he shot him. And then they just took that Vulcan ship. They based the NX designs on it."
"Then they do engage in technological theft."
"Right," she said, "and right now, it's the counterparts to Tripp Tucker and Jennifer Crossman Ramirez who are leading the way in manufacturing the pieces of these Constitution class ships. Yimar says it's just the pieces right now, and they're being built on Lafa V, where there are already factories to begin with."
"Where are they going to assemble these ships?" Malcolm asked, "It is one thing to put together components into about the size of a shuttle. But once you get much larger than that, you're apt to attract some unwanted attention."
"Yimar mentioned they're looking to sell the parts. She mentioned the Vulcans and the Andorians were interested."
"For an advanced ship, everyone will be interested. With that time ship, they could even come here, yes?" He wore a dull grey cuff – the Cuff of Lo – on his left wrist, and he often tapped or patted it absently when he was nervous or upset. It was an old habit from when they'd been younger and apart a lot more. And he was tapping.
"She might try – the Empress, I mean," Lili said, "but I bet the rip – Yimar called it a rip between universes – I bet it's not big enough for an NX vessel, let alone one of the Constitution class types. I recall an attempt made many years ago with a scout vessel, maybe half the size of the NX-01. It's funny; they're completely bypassing the Defense class."
"Yes, the DC-1505, the Bluebird," he said, "my old ship."
"Yimar mentioned I should try to contact Rick, and I agree, we should make the effort. Her suggestion was to make some sort of a permanent record, use that as the message."
He thought for a moment. "Richard is a good thousand or so years from now, isn't he?" She nodded. "PADD messages can be erased."
"Or the technology could be lost. Hmm."
"Perhaps we could create some sort of fossil," he finally said, after they'd thought about it some more.
"Fossil?"
"Yes. Stone or bone, right? Either one would survive a millennium."
"How would he know what to look at? There must be a billion stones here on Lafa II alone," she pointed out.
"It'll have to be some sort of a special stone."
She got up and put on her shoes.
"Where are you going, Lili-Flower?"
"To, to talk to Doug," she said, "kind of ask him what he thinks."
He knew what she meant, and he knew to let her go.
She walked out to the garden, where Melissa and Norri were sitting in chairs under the four suns, near where they had planted the tofflin. She smiled at them but did not stop to speak, and instead walked down a little rise to her son, Joss's house, and to his own garden.
Malcolm came out, too, and said to Norri and Melissa, "She needs to have a bit of a conversation."
The three of them watched as Lili walked over to where there were two headstones in Joss's back yard, which had, when Doug was alive, been her back yard. One of the stones was Doug's. The other was Kevin's – the child who had not even lived for one month.
She first read the inscriptions aloud. "Kevin Madden-Beckett – 2177 – Adored brother and son. We hope he now has a chance," then she added, "Douglas Jay Hayes Beckett – 2102 – 2181 – Devoted husband, father and companion." She took out a handkerchief – a gift from Malcolm – and wiped her eyes.
She paused and stood next to Doug's headstone and spoke. "I need your help. Something is going to happen. And I feel it'll be terrible. I have to get a message to Rick, in some sort of permanent kind of a fossilized manner," she rested her hand on top of the stone, feeling a smoothed contour, "Can you tell me?"
She recalled when the stone had been carved and delivered, how it had reopened some of the wounds from the loss of Doug, but also had sewn up other bits. "Would you look at these stones? I can't deface them," she said, a little teary again.
There was a hand on her shoulder. It was Malcolm's. "What if we did something different?"
=/\=
And once it had been accomplished, it became what is called a pariotric event – an alteration in time that has a meaning. Otra – she of the Temporal Integrity Commission's Human Unit in 3110 – felt the change, and had a vision of an avalanche.
They were still in the meeting, and saw her collapse, and Boris made sure she didn't injure herself, for her visions were a lot like epileptic fits. The fit passed, and she opened her eyes, and recounted it, and they were unsure what it all meant, but then an alarm went off as the computers registered that a change had occurred.
=/\=
On Kronos, Darragh Stratton, Boris's wife, was busy listening to tales told by Marisol Castillo. She told Darragh of the many times and ways Boris had done it – in the backs of dark, crowded transports, on desks, in a park, in a love nest on Cardassia and in numerous hotels with no questions asked policies.
And the name of Boris's lover – that was the one untruth, but it was quite the vital one, for Marisol did not implicate herself. She told Darragh that Boris's paramour was not herself and instead was none other than Admiral Carmen Calavicci.
Darragh listened and took it all in. When Marisol was finished, she asked, "Well?"
"I'll think about it."
"We made a deal," Marisol reminded her, "don't back out just because you don't care for what I've just told you."
=/\=
Come on, shake your body baby, do the conga
– Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine (Conga)