***
Written By
Michael Gray
***
Chapter 1 – Future Dreams
The soft growl of warp engines bending space filled Mei-Wan Lau's ears as she walked through the corridors of the Athena, the ship she and her team from the Kel-j'na Archaeological Institute used to travel to and fro on expeditions to worlds across the Milky Way Galaxy.
She caught herself smiling.
Mei-Wan loved this life she now had. Not only was it an adventure, but it was hers, the life she chose.
Over the past three years, she was doing the work she had always dreamed of—discovering things no one else could. Her team were all more than experts in their fields, but also had become a family. That was something she had lost and thought she'd never have again. Sure, they had their work to do, but when they played, they played hard and together.
Mei-Wan stopped at the door to her quarters which were more like a linen closet than true quarters, but she didn't mind. They were cozy, just like everything else in her life.
As the door closed behind her, she stopped.
No, that wasn't entirely true. There was one thing she was unhappy about, one thing missing—a person she thought of often who had been out of her life the past three years.
Mei-Wan shook her head and peeled off her clothes, replacing them with a t-shirt and a pair of shorts.
I have Dani now. I've moved on.
But why couldn't she move on from him?
Mei-Wan collapsed into her bunk, pushing her thoughts away, hoping for a good sleep.
In what seemed like the next moment, Mei-Wan felt herself gliding through a forest of trees. They had no real color to them, and were surrounded by small glowing orbs. The ground beneath her appeared to be dirt without grass, and occasionally a small pond of some liquid.
Despite the strangeness of her surroundings, it all felt so peaceful.
Several minutes later, Mei-Wan found herself walking in a grassy glade, the air about her temperate and moving due to a light breeze. The sun shined brightly, but it bare ly warmed her. Glowing embers as if from a burning pile of leaves floated through the air in front of her. It was as if hot snow were falling.
Quite a distance away stood a tree. It was tall and wide, its branches fanning out as if gravity had no power over them.
She tried to remember the equation for tree branching she'd learned at the Academy. The same kind of equation also applied to lungs, arteries, coastlines, and even the large scale structure of the universe.
Watching this tree, she felt the urge to take a nap. The phrase, “lazy afternoon” rose in her mind like an ocean wave coming to shore. Just the thought of it made her want to sit beneath the tree and stare outward for hours on end, watching the world go by.
But she couldn't remember where she had come from. And the thought of glancing back filled her with dread.
Only one word remained from the life she had left behind: Jack.
She continued walking.
The only sound present was of her own feet lightly crunching the grass she tread upon.
Wait... no, there was also the wind, and the rustling of the leaves hanging on the tree ahead. But both were so very faint.
She had thought she wasn't getting any nearer to the tree, but after walking for a while, she could see she was indeed closer.
Almost there.
Then she could rest.
A strange aroma filled the air, a mix of cinnamon and roses. There was no direction to the fragrance. It seemed to be coming from everywhere about her.
The breeze became stronger as she approached the tree. It now tossed her hair about, requiring her to brush it away as it occasionally got in her eyes.
After several more minutes of walking, Mei-Wan came to a stop. She had arrived at the tree.
“Magnificent, isn't it?”
Mei-Wan turned to the source of the voice.
He had bright red skin, and a humanoid face. She could tell this being was male because he had the standard male...
Oh god, he's nude! she thought.
But then she realized she couldn't feel any clothes against her own skin. A quick glance down confirmed it.
However, after the moment of shock, it didn't bother her.
Wait, she knew him. He was the thorn in the side of many archaeologists. He claimed to be one of them, but was more of a treasure hunter, tearing sites apart to get to the prize inside like some child tearing into a box of candy to get the toy at the bottom. He had left many sites ruined because of his carnage.
His name was Nardinian Yulox.
She looked at the tree again. “Yes, it is,” she said, finally answering his comment.
He smiled and looked at her. “How did it go for you?”
She shook her head. “Go?”
“I couldn't make it work last time.”
“Last time?” Mei-Wan felt like she should know what he was talking about. It was as if the memory were right there at the edge of her perception, as if she just willed it hard enough, it would explode into view for her.
Before he could answer, Mei-Wan heard squeaking from the ground, almost as if it were speech of some kind.
Both she and Yulox looked down at a patch of dirt where the grass had been worn away at the base of the tree.
Standing in the dirt was a small blue lizard-like creature. In front of it was a tiny mammal, smaller than a mouse. The lizard squeaked again at the cowering mammal.
“Should I push it away?” Mei-Wan asked. “It looks like it might hurt the little thing.”
“Nidhugur is trying to help poor creature. Leave them to their business.”
“But what will happen to them?”
Mei-Wan sat up. As the images in her mind swirled in a frothing sea, she realized she was in her quarters aboard the Athena.
It felt like a time shift, but different.
She rested her head back on the pillow, hoping to push the dream out of her mind. However, something about it felt important, as if she were missing some crucial piece of information which was right there in front of her.
“No, it was just a dream.”
***
February, 23, 2383...
Jack McCall strolled through the corridor on deck seven of his ship, the USS Chamberlain. As he passed the deck seven lounge, the tangy taste of barbecue hung heavy in the air like the scent of rain after a long thunderstorm.
“That smells so damn good,” he murmured to himself as his stomach knotted up, signaling hunger. But he'd eaten a big breakfast only two hours earlier. He shouldn't be anywhere near hungry again.
It had been so long since he'd had that aroma fill his nose. By his reckoning, more than four years, but by the universe's clock, five hundred.
The nineteeth century still called to Jack like a siren enticing Odysseus to his doom on the rocks. Or was Pierce Valley, Nebraska his Ithica? He'd like to believe the latter, but the former seemed much more likely.
Jack grinned, reacting to the humor of comparing himself to the hero of Homer's epic.
Was there a Calypso in his future to tempt him from his course?
Jack let out a snort as he turned a corner into another corridor.
Better to be Homer's Odysseus than Joyce's Ulysses, he told himself. Odysseus at least had a few of the gods on his side. Poor Leopold Bloom had no such support in his quest to return home.
Shaking his head, he chuckled. No, he and Melissa were far better off than Bloom and his Molly.
Melissa...
Fortunately, their marriage had improved substantially over the past six months, or at least reached an equilibrium they both could live with on a daily basis. For the first stretch in a long time, they were happy, not only individually, but together.
“Captain...” called a voice from behind him.
Jack stopped and turned, his grin turning into a smile as Melissa Vargas approached.
“Captain?” he asked.
Melissa's Vulcan features smiled at him. “It seems to be the name you respond to most readily.”
Once she was next to him, Jack resumed his cadence and his wife matched it.
“I've been trying to catch up with you for the last ten minutes,” she said.
“I was about to find a restroom,” he replied. “You'd have caught up with me there.”
“Not my first choice of places to find you.”
“Hmmm,” he murmured, still grinning.
She nodded as they neared a turbolift. “I saw we're due for some minor fixes to our recent refit.”
“It appears there were a few bolts and nobs they forgot to install while the ship was in drydock, ” he replied with a chuckle.
Melissa frowned. “I think it's got more problems than that.”
“You don't like the ship as it is now?” he asked as they stepped into the lift, its doors closing behind them.
“I know better than to get between a captain and his ship.”
Jack detected in her voice the strain of unhappiness which had surrounded his bond with the Chamberlain. Jack had thought they were past it, or rather that Melissa was past it. He'd let it go for now.
“You don't like it?” he asked.
“You ever hear of the ship of Theseus?”
Jack turned to her. “Are you aware of how often a humanoid body replaces nearly all of its cells?” A grin came to his face. “Which iteration of Melissa Vargas are you? The fourth? Fifth?”
Melissa looked down at the deck a moment. “Are you saying none of us are who we think we are?”
“I'm saying change is sometimes a good and a necessary thing, not something to be depressed about.”
“Is it?”
Jack was about to reply, but noticed there was something new in her eyes. Not playfulness, nor fear, but a deep sadness. There was something she desperately wanted to say, but something she'd been holding onto for some time.
“What's troubling you?”
Melissa cast a somber glance at Jack. “You realize what you said about this ship applies to the ranch as well.”
“What about it?” Jack asked, uncomfortable she was bringing it up.
“It's not like how you remember it,” she said. “It's changed over five centuries.”
“It sure didn't look that way when we visited a couple of years ago.”
She took a step toward him. “The people, the life you had back then is gone. It can't come back.”
Jack took a long breath. “I still feel the same way about it. That's what's important.”
She took his hand. “I just don't want it to be another disappointment in your life.”
“I don't have...”
She placed a finger on his lips. “I see it every time you look at me. You want me to be...”
“No,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “I want you to be you.”
“How I wish that were true. You were right to ask which Melissa Vargas I am. I don't think I'm the woman you thought you married.”
“You are,” he said. Jack looked down at her. “I'm not going to be disappointed by the ranch. I'm not looking to live there again, but just to visit a couple of times a year, and only for a few weeks at a time.”
Melissa smiled. “Are you sure?”
“I don't have much choice,” he said with a grin. “Anything longer requires me to deal with the Pierce Valley Historical Society.”
“Sounds ominous,” she said with a grin.
“They've taken care of the place for three hundred years, and have certain legal claims as to how it's maintained. Something to do with the preservation of historical sites.”
“Another bureaucracy for you to contend with?” Melissa said with a laugh. “I can't wait to see how that turns out.”
The turbolift doors opened.
Commander Celeste Purcell, Jack's Chief Staff Officer, greeted them as they walked onto deck one. “Captain, there is a coded message for you.”
“Who from?” he asked.
“The message doesn't say.”
“Always a bad sign,” Melissa said.
Jack frowned. “I'll take it in my ready room.”
