Might as well face it, you're addicted to love
Might as well face it, you're addicted to love
Might as well face it, you're addicted to love
Might as well face it, you're addicted to love
Might as well face it, you're addicted to love
Might as well face it, you're addicted to love
Might as well face it, you're addicted to love
Might as well face it, you're addicted to love
Might as well face it
Might as well face it, you're addicted to love
Might as well face it, might as well face it
Might as well face it
Might as well face it, you're addicted to love
Might as well face it, you're addicted to love
– Robert Palmer (Addicted to Love)
=/\=
In 3110, an engineer made a call. "Enid Milton, on Callisto." That was the alias that Helen Walker had been using ever since her faked death.
"Speaking," she said, and then realized who it was. "You should not be contacting me directly. You need to be in a secure location."
"I am well aware of our protocols," said the engineer, "but I assure you that no one is listening in."
"All right, what do ya'll have for me?"
"Castillo and Yarin are dead, a murder-suicide. Her murder by him, and then his suicide."
"I see," she said, "has anything about us been revealed?"
"Not much, so far as I am aware. The area is in lockdown – anywhere Castillo lived or spent any time is going to be searched by Section 31," said the engineer.
"Can you get into any of it?"
"Not without rousing some suspicion. I did see that they had to send out all four remaining time ships. And Beauchaine was not one of those assigned to the Audrey II."
"Damn, I was hoping he'd be able to suppress or alter anything incriminating in there, at least. I do hope he realizes to get back as soon as possible."
"There is also a big thing coming up. A species is supposed to be on its way from Triangulum."
"Triangulum?"
"Yes. And they use a species of temporal displacement drive, coupled with making near-constant iterations of themselves."
"The perfect army," she said, "it has the potential to be near-infinite cloning – and without having to involve a medical professional at all – if done right. And if the soldier is becoming too old, a little temporal integration will set that right. Just have the two versions merge by touching and you end up with a younger version with the older one's memories and knowledge."
"The Zetal in Andromeda claim that the Varg-i-yeh are out to conquer all of the galaxies in the Local Group. They've already got Triangulum and Andromeda."
"If they like time travel so much," Helen said, "I bet we could work a bit together. They do their conquering – whatever they like, actually. All we need to do is keep a step ahead, and go back, either to make changes for our own purposes or, if necessary, to undo whatever they may damage. And not only will the Temporal Integrity Commission have their hands full, but so will Section 31, and the Federation, and anyone else who might have any issues with all that we are attempting to accomplish."
"Possibly," the engineer allowed, "but it's also rather risky."
"Life is risk," she said, "tell me when they get near you. Walker – I mean Milton – out."
What the engineer did not know was that Kevin had taken a break from giving Branch a thoroughly unnecessary tour of the Temporal Integrity Commission. Bored, Branch had thinned to the depth of a coat of paint, and mimicked the color in the engineer's office exactly. It only looked like another coat of paint, barely even noticeable, as it was a mere micron or so thick.
And so there had been a witness – several, if you want to get technical – to the engineer's conversation with Helen Walker.
=/\=
The Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral was a huge complex, but all they really needed was an out of the way computer terminal. They found a room marked Meteorology in one of the more remote buildings. The door was locked.
"Allow me," HD said. He produced a hand phaser and shot, using the lowest setting. The lock melted very, very slightly – just enough to get the internal tumblers to move and fall. He gently turned the knob and the door opened.
They walked in and he shut the door behind them. "Where'd you learn to do that?" Sheilagh asked.
"Music school," he replied, "I knew guys who also did magic tricks on the side, kinda hedging their bets if music didn't work out."
"Very nice," she said, and sat down in front of the room's only terminal. She ran her hands just over the keyboard, very lightly.
"What are you doing?"
"See the keys that are slightly more worn down than the others? Plus most of those have a little more, well, it's oil, really, on them. It's a bit of fingertip sweat, kinda. The letters with the most oil on them are, uh, A, M, T and R. And here on the keypad, the numbers with the most wear and sweat are five and seven."
"So?"
"So that means that the password is most likely some combination of those letters and numbers." She started typing. Tram75 did not work; neither did Marta57.
"I bet this picture is of the guy's kid," HD indicated a photograph of a little girl, about nine years old or so.
"Ha! I bet that her birth year is at least a part of the combination. And I bet that's either '75 or '77." She typed some more. Finally, TAMARA5775 worked. "So you're a Taurus, Tamara."
=/\=
"Okay, they're there," Rick said, in 2192, tapping his left ear to close the Communicator link. "I'll be right back."
He took off, and Melissa looked at Lili. "I trust him. And I want to trust that guy Tom. I just, I dunno, I get the feeling that time is really being messed with. Despite the fact that he's allegedly a descendant."
"Well, maybe time is being messed with, but not by him, Mellie," Norri said, "Y'know, if he is a descendant, do you think he's from our Tommy, or from Neil?"
"Well, Neil's already got a baby, Jenny Lee," Melissa said, "And our Tommy, well, he doesn't look like he'll ever find someone, male or female." She sighed. "I just want him to be happy."
"You worry about him like I worry about Declan," Lili said, "but I get the feeling that things will work out. After all, for Doug, and for Malcolm, and for me, we just took longer than most people."
Jia came out again. "I just heard from Joss. He'll be home soon. Stay for dinner if you like. Rick, too, when he gets back."
"Thank you," Norri said, "I think I can speak for all of us when I say that you, and Yinora and Ines are like three more daughters for all of us."
"Thank you. Y'know, it's amazing to see Rick Daniels, and then I look at little Jay and there is a tiny resemblance. Think we're related?"
"I can't say," Lili said, inwardly smiling.
=/\=
All the old paintings on the tomb
they do the sand dance, dontcha know?
If they move too quick (Oh-Way-Oh)
they're falling down like a domino
– The Bangles (Walk Like an Egyptian)