precise moment, however, Picard could have been a
million light-years away and Adm.
William Riker would not have noticed.
Instead Riker was staring at Deanna Troi
with a mixture of disbelief and shock. "Deanna
...," he whispered.
She took a step toward him, stunned.
"Will--?"
It was the fastest shift in emotion that Deanna
had ever felt. An air of despair and doom
had hung like a shroud over the man facing her ...
until he had set eyes on her. And suddenly
it had been ripped away, just like that. How was it
possible that one person--.one person--cd make
that much difference in someone's life?
He approached her, reaching out to her. Picard
and his Number One made no move, but merely
watched in pure amazement.
The admiral brought his hands up to her face,
hovered over it for an instant as if afraid
to touch her. As if afraid that if he made any
such movement, she would burst like a soap bubble and
all of it, all of this moment, would just vanish.
But then he did touch her. Riker put his hands
to her face, and they were shaking. "Oh ... my
God," he breathed.
It was like that moment in the Jalara Jungle,
except now he was the one who was trembling.
Deanna, for her part, reacted entirely on
instinct, putting her arms around him and pulling him
tightly against her.
His chest began to heave with pent-up emotion, and the
old man began to sob. He no longer cared where
he was, or who was watching. The ethics of his
actions did not weigh on him. All that mattered
was that she was there, and she was alive, and in his arms.
Years of agony and guilt and second-guessing,
washed away by the hot tears and first real emotion
besides grief that he had experienced for decades.
And she heard his thoughts, and it was as startling as that
first time had been. Oh, God ... Imzadi
... I'm whole again, echoed in her
mind, the prayer of thanksgiving from a man who had
given up on everything, especially himself. I
never knew ... what I had until you were gone.
"It's all right," she murmured, stroking his
back. "It's all right."
He drew back from her to look her in the
eyes, those eyes that had been closed in death for
years. They were as bright and transcendent as he had
remembered, and both of their faces were wet with
tears. Whether hers was wet from his or she had
generated her own, he couldn't tell. He also
couldn't care.
Standing to one side, Comdr. Will Riker watched
the reunion of two lovers and realized--
insanely--t he was jealous.
"Worf to Riker."
Riker the elder had to rein in his impulse
to answer, but instead nodded in the direction of w.
"I think it's for you."
Will tapped his communicator. "Yes?"
"We checked the cabin to which Ambassador
Dann had been assigned and found him
unconscious. Apparently the Chameloid had
accosted Dann at some point earlier this evening and
taken his place."
The admiral's head now turned, his attention
switching to the matters at hand. He released his
hold on Deanna and turned to Will, making a
throat-cutting gesture. Will said, "Thank you,
Mr. Worf. Make sure the Chameloid is
secure. Riker out." Then he turned to his
future self and said, "This Chameloid is one
of "themea"' isn't he."
"I believe so," said the admiral. "You
sure he's a Chameloid? Large? Brown
hair and furry?" When Will nodded, Admiral
Riker continued, "Well, unless I miss my
guess, he's an officer named Blair. There was
only one Chameloid on ... on the ship, and
Lieutenant Blair was it. I doubt ... they
could have gotten another one so quickly. It figures
that he would assume the appearance of someone close
to Deanna. If they anticipated my trying
to save her, then the logical thing was to take on the
aspect of whoever was with her at the key moment in
time. Simplest way to keep an eye on her and
make sure things progress smoothly."
been one of them. When you came here, you might have
been walking into a trap."
"I know. That's why I mentioned the lines of
poetry to you. I watched your reaction very
carefully. That wasn't just to convince you that I'm
you. It was also to convince me that you're me."
"I hate to break this up," Picard now said,
stepping forward, "but I, who am unquestionably me,
would be most grateful if either of you cared to tell
either of me what in hell is going on?"
"Watch your tone with me, Captain," said the
elder Riker with a half-serious smirk. "I have
seniority, and I outrank you."
Picard was not someone who was easily flustered,
but now he turned to his second-in-command with
utter perplexity. "Number One--?" And there was
a distinct tone of warning to his voice.
"Simply put, Captain," said Will, stepping
forward and gesturing to the gray-haired man, "this is
myself, from the future."
"I surmised that, Number One," said
Picard tightly. "Now what the blazes is he
doing here?"
"All right, Captain," the admiral told
him. "To put this as succinctly, and as
noncommittally, as possible--Deanna's life
was in danger. I came back through time to see her
through that danger. And there are some people who would prefer
that I didn't."
"Will ...," began Picard.
Two Rikers said, "Yes?"
Despite the seriousness of the situation,
Deanna had to make an effort not to laugh.
"Admiral," Picard started again,
"Counselor Troi has been in danger before.
We all have. Why was this threat so significant
that it warranted your taking the extremely
dangerous step of coming back through time?"
"She died," said the admiral, trying not
to look at her. "But now she hasn't ...
except that I haven't returned to my own time.
Which means ..." And his voice darkened. "It
means the danger to her isn't over yet."
Picard leaned against a bureau. "How ... how
did you come here?"
The admiral gave Riker a long, hard
look. There seemed to be a great deal going through his
mind, as if he were coming to a variety of decisions.
"I can't tell you," he said finally.
Picard blinked. "Well, then ... tell us
why Counselor Troi was"--he found he
couldn't say the ^w and settled
for--?attacked. What happened as a consequence of
it?"
"I can't tell you that, either."
"Oh, for God's sake!" said Picard in
exasperation. "It seems just yesterday we went through
this with Rasmussen--and he turned out
to be from the
past, for that matter!"
"I know," the admiral reminded him. "I was
there."
"Well, then?"
The admiral placed the palms of his hands
together. "Jean-Luc," he began, and noted the
surprised expression of the Enterprise captain
upon hearing his first name spoken by the man he still thought
of as a subordinate. "Jean-Luc ... you
understand the tremendous risk I've taken by coming
back here. You know, as well as I, the
Starfleet regulations against any sort of
interference with the time stream."
"Of course. But since you are here, and since
you've already interfered ..."
"In for a penny, in for a pound? Is that it?" The
admiral smiled humorlessly. "I wish it were that
simple. I came here for one reason and one
reason only: to save Deanna. Violating those
regulations--taking the responsibility for a
universe on my shoulders--was the second most
difficult thing I've ever done ... the first being
when I had to leave you behind to be killed by the
Romulans."
The last time Will had seen Picard as white as
he was now was back when he'd been transformed
into a Borg. "I'm ..." His voice was barely
above a whisper. "I'm killed by the
Romulans?"
"You ..." Picard looked at Will and
Deanna, and then back to Riker. "You made that
up? Why? Why would you joke about such a thing?"
"It wasn't a joke. It was to make a
point. If I start talking about events--.any
events--bby my immediate goal of saving Deanna,
then I run the risk of saying the wrong thing. The
slightest slip could end up changing the time stream
beyond what I've already committed to. Making the
initial decision was already enough of playing God for
me. I'm not prepared, under any circumstance,
to expand on it. What if I accidentally talk
about someone on this ship--y, Worf, Beverly--in
the past tense? Let slip that people I know
now aren't around forty years from now. Then they get
to spend the next forty years, every time they run
into any sort of difficult situation, wondering,
"Is this it? Is this what results in my
death?"' Or the other way around. What if I
tell you, Jean-Luc, that in my time, you're
running Starfleet? That could result in your
becoming overly confident. You could go into dangerous
scenarios thinking that you'll definitely get out of
them because, hell, you know you'll be around four
decades hence. And as a result, you can get
yourself, and everyone else, killed. Time is very
malleable, Jean-Luc. And I'm just not going
to mold the clay any further. I'm really very
sorry."
The three younger officers looked at each other,
and then Picard--drumming his fingers on the table--
said, "If you don't tell us the bare facts we
need to know in order to handle the situation ... then
Deanna could still die."
Riker looked up at her grimly. "I know
that, Jean-Luc, but the first time, there was no warning.
Now ... forewarned is forearmed. That will have to do for
you. And I still have a few tricks up my
sleeve. I just can't show them to you, that's all."
Riker sat down and folded his arms in a
manner that made it quite clear he was not going to say
anything further.
Picard sighed. "Very well. I can't say that
I'm overly pleased with the situation. On the other
hand ... thanks to you ... Counselor Troi is
still alive. It would seem that I am going to have
to hope that the instincts of the man whom I
presently trust to be my second-in-command
... are still present in the man who is also--at this
moment in time--my superior officer."
Picard rose, and Riker stood with him.
"I'll need some sort of modern-day Starfleet
uniform ... and preferably some sort of
disguise, so I can move about."
"What you will need, Admiral, is some reading
material to keep you busy. I have no interest in
marching you around the ship--I think the fewer people who
see you, the better. These quarters are going
to serve as your personal brig. The doors will be
sealed with an override that only I can command, and
guards will be posted outside. You are going nowhere,
Admiral."
"You can't do that!" said the admiral angrily.
"There are things I can do that you can't!
Things I know to watch out for."
"Maybe," said Picard. "Then again, maybe
not. As you have made clear, time has already slipped
into another stream. From here on in we are all of us
improvising, Admiral, and to be blunt, I can
tap-dance as well as you. You will stay safe and
secure here so that I don't have to worry about a
random time factor running about my ship. You,
Counselor," he said to Deanna, "will go nowhere
without Lieutenant Worf as a security
escort."
"Won't he question why you've given him that
full-time assignment if, as far as he knows, the
danger is past?" said the admiral.
Picard, Will, and Troi looked at him in
surprise.
He grimaced in chagrin. "What was I
thinking? Of course he won't question: he's a
Klingon. Forgive me. It's been a while
since I dealt with ..." He stopped. "Well
... it's been a while. Captain ... believe
me, you're not pursuing the right course here. You've
got to give me freedom to move."
"Number One," said Picard calmly,
"kindly check him for weapons."
The first officer went to Riker, who stood
absolutely still, glowering at Picard. Will took
off him the phaser he'd taken from the guard, as
well as another, much more diminutive phaser that
he found hidden in his jacket. Will held it up and
whistled. "Small. What'll they think of
next?"
"You'll find out," the admiral informed him
dryly. "Jean-Luc ..."
"Save it, Admiral." Picard tapped his
communicator and summoned two security guards
to be stationed outside Riker's cabin. As they
waited for the guards to arrive, no ^ws were
exchanged between the four of them ... until finally
Picard broke the silence and said, "Can you at
least tell me ... is there still a vessel named
Enterprise?"
At that, Riker smiled slightly. "Is it
important for you to know that?"
"I would like to."
"All right. The answer is yes," said Riker
quietly. "And she carries the name as nobly as
her forebearers did. You ..." He paused and then
said, "You see? I was either going to say that you will be
proud of her, or that you would have been
proud of her. Very easy to make mistakes. Like
the one you're making by cooping me up in here.
"
"As with all mistakes, Admiral, we
learn to live with them."
Riker looked at Deanna, his dry skin
crinkling around the eyes. "Some of us never learn,"
he said in a bittersweet voice. "And some of us
will move heaven and earth to change things for the
better."
She looked down, her cheeks reddening
slightly. The admiral picked up on it
immediately. "I'm sorry. I'm embarrassing you
... because I'm being so overt about how I feel for
you, and you've gotten used to the nice, easy,
comfortable relationship we developed while on the
ship."
She bobbed her head. "Yes," she admitted.
The admiral turned and slapped Will on the
chest. "You idiot," he admonished the
surprised younger man. "You're choosing the tidy,
easy path instead of the more difficult but
ultimately more rewarding path. You aren't even
smart enough to know when you have a good thing." The admiral
made a noise of utter disgust and dropped down
into a chair.
Picard, Will, and Troi slowly backed out of the
quarters, leaving the sullen admiral to himself.
Once in the corridor, they received the security
guards, whom Picard instructed to stand outside and
listen for signs of problems. If there were
problems, they were to summon Captain Picard at
once. They were not to enter under any circumstance.
The guards nodded in obedience, if not in understanding,
and then Picard issued an order to the computer
to keep the doors sealed unless he himself should order
them unsealed.
They moved away from the guards, who had taken
up their position outside the doors. "I
apologize, Captain," said w. "And to you,
too, Counselor."
Picard looked at him in surprise, as did
Deanna. "Good heavens, Number One, why?"
"Because of his attitude."
"Yes, but he's not y--well, he is you,
I suppose. But there are significant
differences, Number One, not the least of which is
years and experience. You shouldn't feel badly."
"Well ... I do. Seeing someone who is,
to all intents and purposes, me, acting that way
..."
"I don't know," said Deanna with a shrug.
"He didn't seem so bad to me."
"You're kidding," said w. "I don't know
... I mean ... I know how much I owe him"--
he looked at her--?for everything. But there was still
something about him that just ... just rubbed me the wrong
way."
"But he's what you'll become, Number
One," pointed out Picard. "You must have seen