"Departure"

written by

Michael Gray

18 January 2380...

I am going to be so glad to be off this planet!

Mei-Wan rushed with a two-fold fury toward the main doors of the Omaha Spaceport. The officials at the San Francisco Spaceport had been apologetic in the extreme for the rerouting of her flight, but their flailing protests that it wasn't really their fault didn't quell her anger in the least, it only fueled her rage all the more.

As it had been explained to her, the impossible had occurred.

The computer directed air traffic control systems at not only San Francisco, but New York, Paris, Mexico City, Moscow, Chicago, Miami, LA, and Seattle had failed simultaneously. Anyone who had been expecting to board a flight at one of those locations was being placed on a flight at other ports which so far had remained unaffected by the calamity.

But knowing a lot of other people were going through the same thing didn't at all help Mei-Wan accept the situation, or help her deal with the need to take a tram from San Francisco to Omaha.

She had arrived in Omaha only fifteen minutes before her new flight was to leave, and getting across town from the tram station to the spaceport had eaten up two thirds of the available time.

Mei-Wan quickly caught sight of a ticket counter and crossed the distance in a few seconds.

“Excuse me,” she said to the bright-eyed, dark skinned, twenty-something behind the desk. “I'm supposed to be on a flight that leaves in five minutes, could you see if they could...”

“Don't worry ma'am. All flights are running thirty to forty-five minutes behind schedule today to accommodate people whose original arrangements were changed by the computer failure,” she said with a far too pleasant smile.

“Thank god...” Mei-Wan exhaled. “So how long until flight 301 for Yed Post leaves?”

The ticket counter woman looked at a display. “Not for another forty minutes.”

“Thank you.”

“301 will be leaving at Gate Seven.”

Mei-Wan gave her a nod and a smile. She turned and took a much more leisurely pace through the spaceport.

She reached into her pocket to pull out a piece of the candy she'd bought in San Francisco, but instead her fingers touched metal.

“What the hell?”

Mei-Wan pulled the cold, round object out and stared at it.

Her wedding ring.

“How the hell did that get in there?” she asked herself, staring at the way the gold gleamed in the light.

It had been almost a full year now since she and Jack divorced. Most of the time, Mei-Wan tried not to think about it. She hated how their marriage had been a train headed for a crash neither of them could stop. It was almost a relief when it ended.

Almost.

There had been love between them, but it hadn't been enough. And some part of her kept trying to reject that. It contradicted what she wanted to believe about love... that it could win no matter the odds.

She must have left the ring in this pair of pants when she'd taken it off that last time.

What are you supposed to do with a ring from a failed marriage? Is it just another of life's trinkets to be boxed up or sold? Was that all Jack was to her anymore? One of many footnotes to be filed away and forgotten?

What do other people do? Bury themselves in work? Jump into another relationship?

Mei-Wan had tried the latter with Carlos, but she'd jumped too soon before giving herself a chance to examine the potential problems.

I did the same thing with Jack. It just didn't take as long before I realized things wouldn't work.

She shoved the ring back in her pocket, and decided she'd pack it away somewhere once she got to her apartment on Kel-j'na.

“Maybe I should find some lunch,” she murmured to herself, looking at a layout of the concourse on a large map hanging from the ceiling.

She quickly discovered the location of the food court, and headed off in search of a meal and a chance to relax.

Much to her surprise, and after only a few steps transit, Mei-Wan found herself stopping to stare at the flight arrival and departure display. She didn't understand why. She knew when her flight would take off, and she had plenty of time, but she felt compelled to stand in this very spot and look up.

Her feet began to tingle, as did her hands.

This is so familiar... it feels like...

It's happening again...

“How much longer, Mom?” a sweet voice asked from next to her.

She felt the warmth of his small hand in hers.

“They should have arrived ten minutes ago,” she heard herself say. “At least that's what the board says.”

“I could have gone with Jennifer.”

“And then I'd have to worry about what trouble the two of you would get into.”

“I never get into trouble.”

She smiled. “Make that reality and I'll be quite happy.”

He frowned. “What's for supper?”

She shook her head. “We'll figure that out once your father and brother get here.”

Whose life am I experiencing? The Mei-Wan from the other timeline, or another one altogether?

When she and Hank Evans had found themselves in another timeline, Mei-Wan had become aware of the memories of her counterpart whose place she had taken.

It couldn't be the one where I marry Jian Xiào. The children's names were different.

These extra-temporal experiences were maddening. Beginning with the recent episode in Tehran, she was more and more concerned with what this meant for both her and the timeline. Why now?!

“How about pizza?” the boy asked.

She frowned. “We had that twice last week.”

Mei-Wan tried to free herself from the vision, but it was difficult to keep hold of herself from within the sensations, sights, and sounds of this other time and place.

It was the Omaha spaceport, or at least looked similar enough to be a match. The boy holding her hand was vaguely familiar, but she couldn't decide how.

The scene shifted. Now she found herself in what appeared to be a nightclub. The lighting was low, making it difficult to see any details. Music of a style she didn't recognize played near deafening levels in the crowded room.

Mei-Wan turned to the sound of laughter to her right.

It was the dark skinned man she'd seen several times the last couple of months.

“What is happening to me?” she asked.

He looked into her eyes. “The consequences of your choices.”

Just as she was about to ask something else, Mei-Wan found herself back in the Omaha Spaceport.

There was no little boy at her side, and no tall man with dark skin.

She took a long breath, and tried to steady herself.

“This is insane,” she murmured. But that was indeed her greatest fear--- that something was terribly wrong with her mind.

If she couldn't trust her own sanity, there was nothing she could trust.

No, this has to be a result of the time travel I experienced last year. It has to be.

Mei-Wan looked ahead, noticing a waiting area. She had to sit down and calm herself.

After walking the distance, she fell into a chair, too tired to care what the other people there thought.

But her moment of tranquility was short-lived.

“Mei?”

She glanced up and in the seat across from her, there he was--- Jack McCall, far more alive than she'd ever remembered him looking.

“Hello, Jack...”

Everything changed.

Her breath was gone.

But after a few moments, she realized that wasn't as troubling as it otherwise should have been.

Suddenly, the darkness of night became the brightest day Mei-Wan had ever seen. She rose from a chair and walked down a hill and across a field of tall grass. The air around her, and the grass at her feet were soothing in their warmth. She looked up to the sky and saw the stars of night. But light came from every direction, even from below. And a brilliant nebula filled the heavens.

The surrounding countryside looked so familiar. From the constellations above, she could tell she was on Earth.

Mei-Wan smiled. This seemed just as it should be, but she didn't know why. It felt right in the deepest part of her.

Everything had a semi-transparency to it, even her own hands and feet. When she looked down, she could see the stars on the other side of the world.

What is this?

Wherever it was, she knew she wanted to stay.

“Hello, Mei.”

She turned to the voice and found Jack standing in the grass. She couldn't help but smile. But unlike at the spaceport, here he had a full beard, and like her, he was semi-transparent.

“Have you been waiting for me?” she asked.

“In a sense,” he said with a chuckle. “I knew I needed to be here for you... more than anything.”

“How was the eighty-eighth century?” she asked, not knowing what it meant. Her voice formed words, but not of her own volition. She was living some other moment in time, or some other life in another timeline.

“I became something I never wanted, but I hope it served a purpose,” he said, his look distant and sad.

“Did you enjoy yourself at least a little?”

Jack laughed. “Not nearly as much as I'm enjoying this.” He walked up to her. “Take my hand?”

Mei-Wan reached out and took Jack's hand in hers. At the moment of contact, the two of them shined brighter than the entire universe.

“How does all of this work?”

“I don't exactly know.” Holding her hand tight, Jack looked at her. “We'll find that out together. You'll never be alone again, Mei.”

She looked into his eyes. “I don't think I ever really was.”

He nodded.

“Now what?” Mei-Wan asked, smiling.

Jack chuckled. “Now we teach each other to fly.”

Less than a single tick of the clock later, Mei-Wan found herself seated back at the Omaha spaceport, across from Jack. He was saying something, but she'd missed it.

“What?” she asked, hoping he hadn't noticed how she'd not been there.

“I said if you ever need anything, contact me, and I'll be there.”

“Thank you,” she said, wondering what they had been talking about during her displacement.

“So what brings you to this spaceport?” she asked, hoping they hadn't already explored that subject.

Jack grinned. “Some unfinished business.”

“Oh,” must have been something he didn't want to discuss.

He shook his head. “You don't realize where we are do you?”

Mei-Wan looked about. “Omaha?”

Jack laughed, but then lowered his voice. “It wasn't too far from here that you came to rescue me some five hundred years ago.”

That's right, Jack's cattle ranch had been in Nebraska.

“Sorry, that seems like...”

“Yeah, I know,” he replied.

Mei-Wan forced a smile. “Ever think of leaving Starfleet to take up that kind of life again?”

“Maybe someday,” Jack said. “I'm surprised to find you here on Earth.”

“Family business,” she said. “Nothing important... not now.”

His only reply was a nod.

Her thoughts gravitated toward Jack and what might have been.

Why couldn't we...

But before she could ponder that any further, a blond woman strolled up to Jack.

“The agent just told me the flight to Fhloston has been moved up,” she said, sliding into the seat next to Jack. “We need to get going.”

She stopped and glanced at Mei-Wan.

“Mei?” Melissa Vargas asked. “What are you doing here?”

“Headed back to Kel-j'na.”

Melissa frowned, and turned to Jack. “We should get to our gate.”

A thin man with a small cup in one hand walked up to them.

“Are you Mei-Wan Lau?”

She rolled her eyes, certain he had to be a reporter. “Yes, but I have nothing to say about...”

“You will pay for your blasphemy!!!” he screamed. The man heaved his cup forward, tossing its contents into Mei-Wan's face.

A slimy liquid with chunks of warm semi-solid material splattered against her skin. It took several moments before Mei-Wan's nose provided a clue as to what it was.

She'd been sick enough times in her life to recognize the putrid stench of vomit.

Mei-Wan went instinctively to her feet to avoid another volley.

“The Ancient Progenitors will return to judge you!!!”

But before the man could move toward her, Jack had pulled him back by the shirt collar.

“You son of a bitch!” Jack called out, his fist reared back, ready to deliver a blow which would end the situation with a firm finality.

But Melissa placed herself between her husband and Mei-Wan's assailant.

“No, Jack! No!”

Jack McCall hesitated, looking into his wife's eyes.

But that gave two port security guards enough time to move in. They grabbed the man.

“Jack, they've got him!” Melissa cried out.

Jack turned to Mei-Wan. “You okay?”

“I think so,” she said, wiping the mess off her face.

“Do not think you can escape the wrath of the Progenitors so easily, you deceiver!” the man howled as the guards dragged him away. “The time will come when you will regret having spread your lies!”

***

Mei-Wan looked at herself in the mirror.

“Great. Just great.”

She turned the water on, splashing it on her face to remove the drying vomit.

Fortunately, the attack was delivered to her face, and not her clothes, allowing her to avoid the prospect of having to sit through the initial portion of her flight with soiled clothes.

Her face she could clean.

She was glad no one else was in the ladies room she'd dashed into. The last thing she wanted was to share this indignity with an audience.

Mei-Wan frowned as she heard the door open, then footsteps.

“You okay?”

She glanced behind her to see Melissa. “I'll be fine.”

“You sure?”

Mei-Wan shook her head. “Like that matters to you.”

“That's not fair, and you know it.” Melissa took a long breath. “We were friends... once.”

Looking at the mirror, Mei-Wan made certain she had removed the last of the mess from her face. “You should have asked those questions a long time ago.”

“I thought you had...”

“Gotten past it?!” Mei-Wan said, spinning about to face Melissa. “Betrayal isn't something you get past. You just learn to live with it.”

“God damn you! We explained what happened. We told you we thought you were dead. What more do you want from us?! Will you only be happy when we're suffering? Is that what you want?”

“Have you ever stopped to think how this hurt me? What it did to my life? Did either of you ever consider even for a moment that your happiness was built on my suffering?”

“The universe dealt the three of us a real pile of shit, Mei. We can either crawl out of it and clean ourselves off, or we can wallow in it. Jack and I have chosen to make the best of it.”

“Neither of you seems too tore up about it all from what I can tell,” Mei-Wan said. “You're still together.”

“We love each other.”

“Jack and I...” Mei-Wan couldn't say it, couldn't make it real by voicing what she knew was still a part of her soul.

But she had to admit, the sight of Jack rushing to her rescue... it turned her on. And for the first time in a year, she wanted him, not just this minute, though that would do, but the next day, month, year...

I thought... It's over!

Or was it?

“He almost destroyed his career because of you!” Melissa cried.

“What?!”

“If he had thrown that punch... he'd have lost everything.”

“Melissa it's not my fault that Jack rushed to my defense?”

“Isn't it? Every time you're around, every time he knows you'll be near, he can't help but come to your aid,” She turned away. “He can't stop blaming himself. You haunt him.”

“I didn't plan on meeting the two of you here.”

“Please Mei, just leave us alone. Can you do that? If our friendship meant anything, please...”

“It meant far more than you'll know. You and Jack, you... both of you were everything to me.”

Melissa shook her head. “Please, stay away.”

“I didn't...”

“I saw how you were looking at him. It's over. He's my husband now. Please, let us have our happiness.”

“Husband?” Mei-Wan had for some reason never imagined that they'd actually go through with it. Or maybe it was a simple case of denial.

“We were married a few days ago,” Melissa said. “We're on our way...” Melissa laughed. “Why am I telling you this?”

“To drive the dagger just a little deeper?”

“Please, Mei, just leave us alone.” Melissa turned and left the restroom.

Suddenly, Mei-Wan felt as if she had just awakened from a dream, and more than anything she wanted to apologize to Melissa, so much so that she almost chased after her. She hadn't been at all fair to her former best friend.

Melissa, why can't we be like we were?

But she knew the answer.

Mei-Wan rinsed the soapy water off her face and stared at the reflection in the mirror.

“Who are you?” she murmured.

***

Twenty minutes later, Mei-Wan sat in an atrium enclosed area of the spaceport. It had two advantages over the regular waiting area. First, it kept her from looking at the flight status board. Given that her flight had been delayed another forty minutes, she knew being close to a display would drive her insane after awhile. Secondly, it was in a section of the port farthest from where Jack and Melissa were.

What in the hell is the matter with me?

She'd been asking herself that question for the last ten minutes, and so far, no answer had presented itself.

Mei-Wan sat on a bench, staring out across the lake in the hundred foot diameter circular enclosure. Above, windows allowed sunlight to stream down on the small island at the center of the lake. It was covered in lush green grass, and at its center, a single tree stood digesting the life energy from Earth's star.

“I'm over Jack,” she told herself. But her hand, which had been firmly buried in her pocket touched the piece of metal she'd forgotten about. She pulled the ring out and gazed at it.

“Then why am I still carrying this damn thing around?”

But she knew why. She was holding on to old images of the people in her life--- old fantasy images.

That's why Jack coming to her rescue had been so alluring. It affirmed the fantasy she'd always had about him... the one he could never really live up to. That vision she'd had a half hour ago wasn't some portent of things to come. It was simply her mind refusing to let Jack go.

“This poison is destroying my life,” she whispered.

Mei-Wan let the ring rest in her palm. The small piece of gold had made her place in the universe seem sure and set. When wearing it, she'd met every day knowing who she was.

Mrs. Jack McCall...

But that woman no longer existed.

She knew the way out. She always had. The problem was she didn't want to let go. No matter how much she told herself she had moved forward, her heart was still holding on to Jack McCall.

But holding on didn't mean love or joy now. It only would bring pain and suffering for her, and Jack, and Melissa.

Oh Melissa... why can't we...

Mei-Wan took a deep breath.

It was the same as with her parents. She wanted to believe that things were as they always had been, as if there had been a time when nothing changed.

But it was an illusion. Things were always changing, especially her. Nothing was constant in this universe.

She could never have things back the way they were.

Her choice was about finding her own happiness, or drowning in the pain she had known for the past year.

She knew what she wanted... but she also knew what she didn't want to give up.

She couldn't have both.

The universe demanded a choice be made.

Though it had been hard at the time, the choice to stand against her parents' wishes seemed so easy by comparison.

Mei-Wan's fingers closed on her wedding ring.

Goodbye...

She raised her hand and flung the ring out toward the tree at the center of the lake.

But rather than watch it land, she turned away.

And finally, after she was sure it was gone, she let the air out of her lungs.

It was done.

Mei-Wan heard sobbing.

They were the tears of someone enduring the tortures of hell.

It took Mei-Wan almost a minute to realize they were her own.

* * *

Dark Horizon Story and Characters Copyright ©2009 Michael Gray

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