Epilogue:
It was summer in Montana, but the breeze coming off the nearby Yellowstone River was pleasantly cooling. Not that our guests at the ranch cared. Charlie and Linda were newlyweds, and they only had eyes for each other. They were currently sitting on two of our mountain bikes, strapping their helmets in place.
"The nearest trailhead's only a short ride from here," I said, "and there's no shortage of other outdoor activities for you around Billings, too. You can try your hand at climbing the rim rocks, rafting on the river, horse riding, or anything else that takes your fancy. If you ride into town you'll find we have some top-flight local breweries."
"It's awfully good of you to invite us to honeymoon at your private ranch, Ms Lester," said Linda. "I still don't know why you did since we're both fairly lowly employees at Aragon Futuristics, but we really appreciate it."
"Call me Janice," I said, "and it's my pleasure. Now be off with you and enjoy your day. My chef will prepare you a gourmet dinner when you get back."
As they pedalled off so Cassie emerged from the main ranch house behind me. Everyone believed her to be my personal assistant, but she was so much more.
"Ah, young love!" she said. "They seem to be settling into the guest cottage nicely."
"Of course they are. Did you manage to put the drug in Linda's breakfast orange juice before it was served?"
"I did. It's working its way through her system now and will soon render her sterile. She'll never be a mother, and no doctor will be able to tell her why."
"Good. Years from now, when it's time to kill her, I can't have her leaving any brats behind."
"That would be...unfortunate."
"All this talk of murder is making me horny," I said, turning to Cassie. "Do you want to go to the barn?"
"With you?" she replied. "Always."
I studied her impassive brown face, her naturally pale blue skin having been rendered more acceptable to this era by melaninox, her eyes concealed by dark glasses as always, and smiled. Without another word to each other, we walked down to the barn.
A small structure beside the larger stable where we kept the horses, the barn was deceptively formidable. Inside that wooden structure lay a bunker strong enough to resist all known non-nuclear explosives. And inside the bunker, behind impenetrable tungsten steel doors, was something any government in the world would start a war to get hold of if they ever suspected its existence.
"A shame she no longer flies," I said, running my fingers over the surface of the shuttlecraft.
"She served her purpose," said Cassie, "and now she serves another."
Indeed she does. There are no shortage of beds in the ranch house but there's just something about having sex here, in our only remaining link to a future we'll never see again, that gets our juices flowing.
Cassandra removed her dark glasses revealing the golden 'cat-eyes' that only I was ever allowed to see and shook out her long silver hair. Taking my hand, she led me inside the shuttle and pushed me down on the bed we had put there in place of the passenger seats. Then she threw herself on me. The sex that followed was rough and passionate - just the way I like it.
"It's only taken five years," I said afterwards, as we lay in each other's arms, "five years to amass great wealth and destabilize a planet. I still sometimes marvel at that. Introducing new technology by reverse-engineering components taken from the shuttle, combined with your ability to foresee stock-market trends has made us fabulously wealthy. And we've put that wealth to good use."
Indeed we had. Quite apart from what Aragon Futuristics could legally do with its money, we'd secretly funnelled funds to candidates and organisations we knew would worsten international relations and increase conflict both here in America and across the world. We need to bring about World War III. Fortunately, with Cassandra's ability to see all the possible outcomes of our decisions we're able to apply our funds with almost surgical precision in furtherance of that aim. And it turns out one of the most effective ways of applying our money in this country is by using it to buy politicians. They can be bought surprisingly cheaply, too.
I look at America today, at the increasing internal strife, the growing disputes with its allies, and I can't help but feel a great sense of accomplishment. Before we arrived in this universe, so different from our own, there was an equal chance of Earth's future belonging to either the Empire or the Federation. That's no longer the case. We've tipped the balance decisively. The road we've put it on leads inevitably to the Empire.
"When we first arrived I thought I'd made a terrible mistake," said Cassie, "that this Earth had diverged too far from both yours and that of the Federation to be what we needed. But the longer we were here the more I realised that wasn't the case. Yes, the Eugenics Wars had never happened, and after getting to the moon they turned their back on manned space exploration, but these were less significant than I'd feared."
"The differences worried me, too," I admitted. "After the traitors who led the rebellion were hanged on my Earth and the Constitution of the United Colonies of America formally adopted, Governor-General Benedict Arnold was the first in a long line of Governors-General of the UCA leading up through people like Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Nixon. Those last four were presidents on the Federation's Earth just as they were on this one, but they also have subsequent presidents here whose names I'd never encountered in histories of either the Empire or the Federation. Ford, Carter, Clinton, Bush, Obama - who *are* these people?"
Another mystery that confounded me was why, in place of the UCA's northern territories, both the Federation's Earth and this one had something called 'Canada'.
"It doesn't matter," said Cassandra. "Thanks to the chaotic nature of that fractured area of Tholian space, I could see it wouldn't be possible to travel from our universe to this point in time in another until thirty years had passed since our first meeting. Even with all the differences we've encountered, my original plan to send you into the future so that you would still be young enough to bear children when we traveled here was still the correct one."
"If you'd told me that was your intention beforehand I might have refused and taken my chances with Empire security forces."
"Which is why I never did. Am I still hearing reluctance in your voice?"
"Does that surprise you?"
"No, but it does concern me. I can't have you getting cold feet, not now when we've come so far. I think you need a reminder of what's at stake. Computer, access history file on Zefram Cochrane. Project images on shuttle wall."
"Cochrane, Zefram," said its mechanical voice, "born March 12, 2030 in Billings, Montana to Charles and Janice Cochrane. In aftermath of World War III, constructed humanity's first warp-capable vessel, the Phoenix, in Bozeman, Montana, using a Titan II nuclear missile dating from 20th century. On April 5, 2063, made Earth's first warp flight. Phoenix warp signature was detected by Vulcan survey ship, T'Plana Hath, which then made peaceful first contact with humans, including Cochrane, at Phoenix launch site."
A picture of Cochrane shaking hands with the Vulcans appeared on the wall, with their Cochrane looking much older than his years, just as ours had. This was replaced by a second photo, one showing Cochrane as a teenager, with his father.
"Computer, freeze photo," said Cassie.
"I know what you're trying to do," I sighed.
"I know you do, but I'm still going to do it because you need to be reminded what's at stake. This is one of the few photos from Cochrane's childhood to survive the war in either universe. None survive of his mother. Janice Lester needs to become Janice Cochrane and give birth to him in this universe. As his mother you can raise him properly and shape his views so that, as in your universe, when the Vulcans land on Earth, expecting a peaceful first contact, Zephram will kill their leader with a concealed weapon. He and his people will then seize the T'Plana Hath. From that bold act, from that captured technology, the Terran Empire was born on your Earth. And from that same act, it will be reborn on this one. But only if you do your part. You swore an oath to protect the Empire. Do you still hold to that oath?"
"You know I do, damn it," I said, "and when the time arrives to do so I'll lie back, open my legs, and think of the Empire. What I won't do is marry Charlie Cochrane before I need to. Let him and Linda enjoy their time together. After her death, I'll be the friend who consoles him, comforts him, and gets him to fall in love with her. I'll play the part of a loving wife and mother for the sake of the Empire, but not a minute before I need to."
"I can live with that," said Cassandra, smiling and caressing my breasts, before leaning over and opening the small refrigerated storage slot where we kept a few bottles of champagne on ice. She opened one and poured us each a glass.
"If someone other than Spock had become Emperor none of this would be necessary."
"Or if your counterpart hadn't foiled his assassination on Camus II. The Aragonians could see the other Jim Kirk needed to survive beyond the time of his apparent death in order to achieve their aims, but not until recently could they or I see why."
"And Spock died in every other possible future? I can't believe their Kirk being there would be that crucial."
"And yet it was. The closer we got to that point in time, the easier it became for me to see that. As easy as the defeat of the Empire's fleet."
"With Spock at its head the Terran Empire won't survive."
"Not in your universe it won't, no," agreed Cassandra, clinking her glass against mine. "Fortunately, we have an alternative. The Empire is dead. Long live the Empire!"
"Long live the Empire!" I said, throwing back my champagne then grinning.
The future of this Earth would be glorious!
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The End
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