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Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!news-e1a.megaweb.com!newstf01.news.aol.com!newsbf02.news.aol.com!not-for-mail
From: prbev@aol.com (PRBev)
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
Subject: New TNG Story: If They Be Two ch. 17, 18, and 19
Date: 13 May 1995 04:10:31 -0400
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
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DISCLAIMER: Paramount has the most toys, Paramount wins. The story is
mine, so don't mess with it, don't sell it, and leave my name attached.
Send all comments to PRBev@aol.com.
If They Be Two
Paisley R. Mason
Chapter 17
*********
"Try that, Data." Geordi turned to the main engineering console and
tapped a few keys.
"It is still not working."
"Darn." Geordi hung over the console, gazing at it as if he could find
inspiration in its shiny surface. Evidently he did, because his fingers
flew suddenly to the keypad again.
"I am concerned, Geordi."
"About what, Data?" asked his friend abstractedly.
"These energy beings. Is it possible that we will injure them by drilling
through the rock?"
"I don't think so, Data. If they have any kind of survival instincts at
all, though, the second we start drilling they'll get out of the way. I'm
not sure plain old energy is capable of that higher reasoning, though."
"It is not something I am looking forward to. We may be harming innocent
beings," said the android mournfully.
Geordi looked up. "Nobody wants to hurt them, Data, but we have to get
the captain and doctor out. The creatures will be fine. Actually, from
what we can tell, the phasers don't bother them at all."
Data sighed softly. He was very fond of Captain Picard and Dr. Crusher,
but he considered himself the self-appointed guardian of those who had no
voice and were alone in the universe. On occasion this had led him to
directly disobey the captain. However, this time Geordi was right. Even if
the phasers did harm them at all, and there was no indication that they
would, the energy beings, or at least most of them, would live. The
captain and doctor would not, unless they were retrieved from those
tunnels soon. He turned back to the wall display of the emitter arrays.
**********
Riker strode into engineering. "What have you got, Mr. LaForge?"
"I think the modifications are going to work, Commander. We should be
able to keep the channel open long enough to get a lock on their signals.
Once we've got that, I've rigged the comm frequencies to tell how far down
they are. Then we can drill down to that level. The sensors should be able
to pick up the signals and pinpoint the corresponding location on the
planet's surface so we know where to drill."
"Well done, Geordi. How long?"
"We're ready to go now."
"Let's do it."
The three trooped off to the Bridge.
**********
"I've reestablished the comm link, Sir," said Data. "You are clear to
report to Captain Picard while we attempt to lock onto their signals."
"Enterprise to Picard: do you read me, Captain?"
The link was still full of static, but it held. "We're here, Number One.
Can you find our signals?"
"We're trying. We need to keep talking until we've done so. Are you two
all right?"
"We're still fine. I have no idea even how close to the surface we are."
Data's fingers tapped out continuous searches for the comm badges of the
missing crewmen. Normally, the ships sensors would be able to get an
immediate lock on the badges, but, though they could now talk, they could
not find the signals. The voice relays were being carried from energy wave
to energy wave in the rock and the computer, assisted by Data, had to
search through each of those waves in its hunt for the signals.
A light flashed on the console and Geordi, looking over Data's shoulder,
jumped. "We've got them, keep talking!"
He darted to the next station and scanned the planet's surface for the
signals the computer sent up. There. "We got it! Here they are!"
"Are they anywhere near an entrance, Geordi?"
"No. They're a million miles from anywhere."
"Captain," said Riker, "we've got a lock and we know your coordinates.
We'll begin drilling soon."
"Well done, _Enterprise_. Picard out."
**********
"If we begin drilling here, that should be far enough away from them so
they won't be hurt, yet close enough that they can find it."
The senior officers were gathered in the observation lounge again,
listening to Geordi's plan of attack for extricating Captain Picard and
Dr. Crusher from the tunnels of Sitaar.
"Can we be sure the structural integrity of those tunnels will hold,
Geordi?" asked Riker.
"No, Sir," the engineer said honestly, "but the only other thing would be
to walk them out by tracking their badge signals. It would take too long
to get them to an entrance. This way, at least we only have to track them
to the drill shaft."
Riker shook his head. "I just wish they weren't so damn far down there.
We could have that option of an entrance, then."
"How can we be sure they can find the shaft once we do drill? Won't it be
too far away to find easily?" asked Troi.
"That's what I mean by tracking their signals. It's tricky. If we can
keep a lock on their signals we can tell them to turn left or whatever and
they can follow it as best they can underground until they get to where
they can see the shaft. Trouble is we may lose the comm signal once we
start drilling. That energy is unstable stuff. In that case they'll just
have to find it on their own unless we can reestablish."
Worf looked up quickly. "You do not think the energy would harm them? It
was outlawed as a weapon because of its instability."
"I do not think so, Commander," said Data. "It is unstable, but not so
much so that it would explode or otherwise damage them."
Riker looked around the table for a moment. They all looked concerned,
but reasonably certain. "Let's do it," he said.
**********
Once again Geordi opened the channels and Riker spoke to the captain.
"Riker to Picard."
"Picard here."
"Captain, we're going to start drilling now. We're going to do it at some
distance since we don't want to compromise the structure of the tunnels
you're in. We don't know if you'll be able to tell where we're drilling.
Basically, we're just hoping this works and that we won't lose the channel
altogether. But if we do, Sir, you'll have to try and find the drill shaft
on your own until we can reestablish.
"Very good, Number One. We'll be ready. Picard out."
On the Bridge, Riker turned to Geordi and gave the signal to begin firing
phasers.
Chapter 18
*********
After a little while, the captain and doctor could here the noise
faintly. It grew louder in the silence until it was a whine. It was
distant, so they must be drilling quite far away, but the sound was there,
and reassuring to the two people alone in the tunnels.
The noise ended abruptly. They waited for the sound of Riker's voice.
Picard tapped his badge. "Picard to Enterprise."
"This is the captain, do you read me?" There was not so much as a
crackle.
"Enterprise please respond." He sighed and turned to Beverly. "Well, I
guess we're on our own again. Come on."
It was difficult to tell where sound originated in these echoing tunnels,
but they judged it as best they could and started off.
**********
Beverly turned her head with a little gasp. "Did you see that?"
"See what?"
"That little movement. I just caught it out of the corner of my eye...
Never mind. Probably just a shadow."
"Beverly, don't start seeing things now," Picard teased. "We're almost
there."
Beverly shook her head. "I've been down here way too long. I'll start
thinking you're a rock monster next."
Picard gave a mock evil laugh. "Careful. I might carry you away, Doctor."
Beverly scowled at him. Couldn't she say anything anymore without
wondering how he might interpret it to her discomfiture?
Picard had the grace to look a little ashamed of himself. They came to a
branch in the tunnel and he stopped.
"Which way?" she asked.
"Here."
She, holding the light, went first. She didn't notice when he turned to
look over his shoulder, catching a movement out of his peripheral vision.
It was nothing, he decided. He turned around to follow her. She was around
a bend in the tunnel.
Beverly heard the deafening roar of falling rocks and jumped. She whirled
around. "Jean-Luc!" He was not behind her and she fairly flew round the
corner, terrified of what she might find. She careened into him as they
both rounded the turn running. "Jean-Luc!" She flung her arms round him,
nearly crushing him in her joy to find him still alive.
"Are you all right?" She looked him over worriedly.
"I'm fine. It appears that we are getting near the drill sight. The walls
are becoming unstable."
She looked behind him at the rubble-strewn floor. "Are you sure you're
all right? What happened?"
"I was just walking along and the rocks fell. It's a good thing I heard
them first."
"Here, you've cut yourself." She examined the small wound on the back of
his head.
"I'm all right, Beverly, it's a scratch." He pushed her hands away. "Now,
let's get out of here before we really get in trouble."
She did not see him cast a suspicious glance over his shoulder at the
wall. Why, he wondered, would it attack now?
**********
They eased their way step by step along the ledge. "Don't look down,"
said Picard firmly. "That's it. You've got it. Look straight ahead."
Beverly wanted to hit him, but she followed the sound of his voice ahead
of her.
"Here we are. Another tunnel. Just come a little farther, around this
bend. Here!" He caught her arm and she swung around the corner.
Beverly leaned back against the wall and slowly sank to the floor, about
a meter from the edge of the chasm. This was the largest such chasm they'd
yet encountered. More like a canyon, it was evidently deep because their
torch light just reached the bottom. Beverly had not been in the least
pleased when they'd discovered that this ledge was the only way to get
where they wanted to go, since the other tunnels were blocked by rock
slides.
Picard was resting, his head leaned back against the wall. Beverly got up
and wandered off down the tunnel, being careful to stay within sight of
Jean-Luc.
He felt, rather than saw, the thing behind him. He jumped up, away from
it, and with a shout he felt himself overbalancing on the edge of the
chasm. "Beverly!" He shouted. She had spun round at his first sound and
now came flying down the passage as he fell over the edge.
"Jean-Luc!" Beverly leapt to catch him before he went over, just grabbing
his hand, flung out to her in desperation. She held the hand so hard she
might have crushed it. Picard hung down the cliff.
"Give me your other hand, Jean-Luc." She looked at his face with its
controlled fear. For one moment her eyes wanted to look away from him and
look down into the chasm. She controlled the impulse.
Making a supreme effort, he let go of the rock to which he was clinging
and reached up for her hand.
The thought of his injured shoulder flashed briefly through the doctor's
mind. She caught his other hand and, holding them both, she managed to
pull him up.
Beverly collapsed against him, trembling in terror. He held her tightly.
"It's all right, it's all right." She repeated it over and over, to
reassure them both.
At length she pulled together her frightened wits and sat up, pushing him
away. She took a few deep breaths and gave him a weak smile.
"Thank you," he said. "That seems to have become your speciality lately."
"What are friends for?" she said lightly, looking away from him. "Is your
shoulder all right?"
"It's fine." He felt it experimentally. "Actually, it feels better now
than it did."
"Sometimes it's good to move it around. Helps it heal." she said
seriously.
"I think that did it."
They looked at each other and had to laugh.
**********
"How did you come to fall off the cliff?" she asked when they had
regained their breath.
He looked at her with a worried expression. "It was the rock thing
again."
"The rock? But I wasn't that far away. Just a meter or two."
"I know, but I felt it come up behind me. I was so startled that I jumped
up and forgot all about the cliff."
"Jean-Luc, if it's attacking while we're both here-"
Without another word they got up and started down the tunnel at a brisk
pace.
**********
"Beverly, look! Light!"
Beverly turned around and gazed down Picard's tunnel. Far away was a tiny
pinpoint of light. "I think you're right."
They walked as quickly as possible through the narrow passage. It was
covered with debris, no doubt from the shock of the ship's phasers.
Beverly tripped over a stone, and put her hand on the wall to steady
herself. She leaped back with a small shriek.
Picard ran to her. "What is it?"
"The wall - It's soft." She backed away from it slowly and jumped again
as more plasma touched her wrist from behind. "Jean-Luc!" From the
direction they had just come, the wall moved toward them.
"Run!" shouted Picard. He fired his phaser as he followed her down the
tunnel. Beverly tried to keep the light steady as she and Picard raced
along, tripping over rocks and bumping into the walls. Picard fired over
his shoulder as they went and it occurred to him that this was just the
scenario Beverly had undergone a day before. He ran into her as she
stopped, gasping for air. In front of them was a road-block. The tunnel
was filled nearly to the ceiling with rubble, caused, no doubt, by the
drilling. At the very top was a small hole through which the light came.
The drill shaft was on the other side.
Beverly began hurling stones away from the pile. Picard helped as best he
could with his injured left hand while firing the phaser with his right.
He hit his comm badge, praying it would work now that they were so near
the open air. "Picard to Enterprise!" he shouted. "Enterprise this is
Captain Picard: emergency beam-out now!" The energy being reached out from
all sides. Picard kept his back to the rock pile as he tried to keep them
at bay.
"Come on, Jean-Luc," shouted Beverly. The rocks were loosely piled and
she had gotten enough room at the top to crawl through. She half dragged
him up with her and they struggled through, tumbling down the other side
and rolling out into the open drill shaft. They landed in a heap. Beverly
struggled up and hit her comm badge. "Crusher to Enterprise: emergency
beam out!"
She was standing too near the wall. From behind her came the huge
extensions of the rock. Her right arm was abruptly encased in it.
"Jean-Luc!" she screamed. He reached out and grabbed her left hand. Their
eyes met in sheer horror as the plasma moved over her body. Then,
miraculously, the world disappeared in blue light.
Chapter 19
*********
Beverly was standing on the transporter pad. Her left arm stretched out
to Jean-Luc as they clasped each other's wrists. For a moment they stood
there and then they had their arms round each other in shared relief and
joy.
Riker came hurtling in. "Are you all right?" His face showed plainly his
relief. He looked as if he would like to have joined in the hug.
"We're fine," said Beverly, pushing Jean-Luc away with a slightly
embarrassed look. "Thank you, Will."
He smiled happily. "We should get you two to sickbay," he said, noting
their very dirty and, in Beverly's case, rather bloody faces.
The doctor smiled. "Yes, let's go to sickbay. I've missed the dear old
place!"
Picard and Riker laughed.
**********
The captain and his chief medical officer perched on opposite biobeds and
listened to Riker's story while they drank glass after glass of water.
"After we drilled we lost the comm connection entirely. The energy then
became just too unstable to use as a conduit anymore. We had plans to send
more teams down to search the area around the drill site. Meantime we were
scanning for you while we tried again to reestablish contact. We were
really getting worried when Geordi's scans revealed that the highest
concentration of scoria was right where we drilled. We knew the energy
beings wouldn't be real happy with you going over there. Then Dag picked
up your call and we were able to beam you out when you got into the open."
"So that's why it attacked us when we were both together," said Beverly.
"Right."
"Well, you have all done a remarkable job, as usual," smiled Picard.
"I'll bet Starfleet can't wait to hear about this metascoriac energy."
"Yes, and I'm putting in a special report on your recognition of it, Dr.
Selar," said Beverly.
The Vulcan inclined her head in acknowledgement. "Thank you, Doctor. You
and the captain are free to go, but I advise rest and a great deal of
fluids. I would like you to both take a few days off. I shall expect one."
The humans laughed. "One is all you're going to get, Selar," said
Beverly. "I've been away for so long I think I've forgotten where
everything is. I can't stand to be away too much longer."
"I'll be going back to the Bridge, Captain," said Riker. "Welcome home
both of you."
"Thank you, Will."
"Thank you, Number one."
Will Riker grinned happily at his friends and went out with a distinct
spring in his step.
Picard and Crusher exited a few minutes later and walked slowly down the
hall. It was the start of the morning shift and they garnered some
welcoming looks as they passed and not a few surprised ones. They were
both still filthy.
Picard walked Beverly to her quarters. "I had planned to ask you to have
dinner with me when you came back. The circumstances are a little
different than I was expecting, but will you?"
Beverly hesitated only a second before answering. "I would love to."
"Good. See you tonight then."
Beverly went into her quarters and headed straight for the shower. She
was glad she had accepted. She could hardly decline his every invitation,
no matter what she felt might be the outcome of an evening rendezvous
after such an adventure. Her feelings had been much tried during the past
couple of days. She stepped into the shower and instantly felt better.
Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!news-e1a.megaweb.com!newstf01.news.aol.com!newsbf02.news.aol.com!not-for-mail
From: prbev@aol.com (PRBev)
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
Subject: New TNG Story: If They Be Two ch. 20, The End!
Date: 13 May 1995 04:15:28 -0400
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Lines: 222
Sender: root@newsbf02.news.aol.com
Message-ID: <3p1pr0$fu1@newsbf02.news.aol.com>
Reply-To: prbev@aol.com (PRBev)
NNTP-Posting-Host: newsbf02.mail.aol.com
Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:10306
DISCLAIMER: Paramount has the most toys, Paramount wins. The story is
mine, so don't mess with it, don't sell it, and leave my name attached.
Send all comments to PRBev@aol.com.
If They Be Two
Paisley R. Mason
Chapter 20
*********
Dinner over, Picard rose and poured out their usual glasses of port. He
raised his, smiled, and said, "Life."
Beverly nodded. "Life," she repeated. She sat in her usual spot on the
sofa and suddenly smiled at how remarkably and beautifully familiar it all
was. Even here on the new ship, nothing much had changed. Jean-Luc's
quarters were much as they had been on the _Enterprise D_. Here she still
had her corner of the couch, he still sat in the chair across from her,
they still drank port from little port glasses much like his old ones. It
was good to be alive and to be here with her friend in this comfortable
and warm familiarity. She chuckled with the niceness of it.
Picard looked up and smiled, "What?" he said.
"I was just thinking how dear and familiar it all is. And how lovely it
is to be safe home."
"It has become home hasn't it? Surprising how quickly one makes a place
one's own. When we first arrived I thought I'd never get used to it."
"I know, I felt the same way, but now it's as if we never lived anywhere
else."
A comfortable silence descended and for a while they both sat feeling
happy and contented in each other's presence. Picard looked over at his
companion and said quietly, "I've a strange feeling of deja vu."
"Oh?"
"Yes, do you remember that we sat just like this after we got back from
KesPrytt that time?"
Beverly laughed rather nervously. "We always sit like this."
"Yes, but that time was even more like this because then, too we had some
unresolved things to say."
Beverly sat pleating the folds of her dress. "Don't Jean-Luc."
"Beverly." He got up and came to sit beside her on the sofa. "Beverly,
look at me."
Beverly gave him a pleading look and reached out to silence him with a
touch of warm fingertips on his cheek. He caught hold of her hand and
kissed the palm. For a moment he was lost in the sensation of his lips
against her skin. He kept hold of the hand as he spoke. "Beverly, you once
said to me 'don't push it away.' Don't you push it away either."
She gently took her hand back, making it into a small fist in her lap.
"That's not quite fair, using my own words against me."
"It's not quite fair to either of us if you deny your own feelings," he
answered.
"I am not denying them," she snapped, stung.
"Then what?" he demanded, exasperated. "Beverly, I know you love me. I
don't need any implants to tell me that."
Beverly resorted to her usual tactic when very uncomfortable, she said
the first words that entered her head, "Of course I love you, but..." she
broke off, realizing what she'd just admitted.
Picard barely breathed. "What?" he finally whispered.
"Why, Jean-Luc? Why now, after all this time?"
"Because it *is* time."
Beverly sat still, twisting thin fingers in her lap. She licked her lips.
"Jean-Luc, we have been friends for so many years. What if- what if Q was
right?" She glanced nervously at the man beside her. He looked thoroughly
confused.
"Q? What do you mean? What's he got to do with any of this?"
"In the time line you experienced, we were divorced. Jean-Luc, I value
our friendship too much to ever put either of us through what we must have
gone through to get our relationship to such a point that we could no
longer stand the thought of being anywhere near each other."
Picard frowned. Was this what she was worried about? He sometimes cursed
having those damned implants removed. He was going to have to go carefully
here. "Beverly, that time line has been changed already in so many ways,
even if it was ever correct. And in any case," he leaned forward to look
into her face, "it could never happen. I refuse to allow it to happen."
Beverly looked up at him. "How can you be sure of that? Wouldn't it be
better to remain happy friends, than to be unhappy lovers?" She went on,
afraid to stop now that she had begun. "There have been times, Jean-Luc,
many of them, when I wished our relationship was far more than it is, but
I don't want to lose you like that. I would rather lose you to death than
a stupid argument." She got up quickly and stood looking out the window.
"I have never known you to run away from something because it involved
risk. Everything worth having has some measure of risk. This job, for
God's sake. We risk our lives everyday. I cannot promise you that it will
not turn out as Q's time line said it would, but I'm willing to lay you
long odds to the contrary."
"Risking your life and risking your heart are two very different things,
Jean-Luc."
He did not know what to say to that. It was a lesson he had already
learned. Picard had been in love many times before, but to say that he was
in love with Beverly diminished somehow what he felt. He considered
Beverly as herself before anything else. So often people speak of loved
ones as their dearest possessions. They speak of being one with the other
person. And he had felt that way, too, before. To love someone was to want
to posses that person, to have her for one's own. But to feel as he did
about this woman, was greater than love. It was to desire her not as a
part of himself, but as the counterpoint. To lose her would be worse than
his own death, but to demand her love would be the death of something
fundamental in their relationship. It would kill the respect they each had
for the other. It would be the death of the soul, far worse than the death
of the body. Beverly was dearer to him than any other woman had ever been,
but she was not his possession. Possession, Picard knew, makes the
possessed less than a person. A possession is not free, and therefore all
that comes of that is not free, either. Beverly, however, was not his and
never would be. She would not allow it. He knew that if she chose to give
him her love, it would be the truest love he would ever find, because it
was given freely.
"I don't know what to tell you," he finally said. "I cannot resolve these
issues for you. You must, as always, come to your own decisions. But,
Beverly, you said just now that you would rather lose me to death than to
an argument. That was honest of you. Honesty is one of your traits I most
admire and value. I am not asking you to love me for my sake, though I
want you to, of course. I do love you. Nothing you say or do will change
that. But I am asking you to be your usual honest self. Be honest *with*
yourself. Admit your feelings - to both of us. Then decide what you want
to do about them."
There was a long silence in the room. Beverly stood still as if she'd
been turned to the proverbial stone and stared out at the familiar
starscape. He was right. She had to at least be honest. She owed both of
them that much. There were great arguments to be made against changing
this relationship, not least of which were their working arrangements and
the fact that he was her commanding officer. More, that they made very
good friends, and she wasn't sure how they'd be at being lovers. They also
were, as he'd said, not in the safest of professions. Should she lose him
as she had Jack... However, she had told him the truth. She really would
rather see both of them die than see them descend into petty bickering and
end years of friendship that way. Still, he was right. He was not asking
her to do any of this for himself. He might want it for himself but he
left her the choice. Whatever else he would do, he would never force her
into anything. Rather the reverse. He would always insist she make her own
decisions without regard for himself. If this was his attitude, it was
unlikely that petty bickering ever would be part of their relationship.
And then Beverly Crusher realized that her entire future had been thrust
unceremoniously into her own lap. She was standing idly by allowing a
possible version of the future, which was hardly set in stone, to
influence one of the most momentous decisions of her life. She had never
felt quite such a fool. She was not going to let Q, of all creatures,
dictate what she did and did not do. Jean-Luc himself had just said he
would not *allow* that to happen. She could be as stubborn as he could.
She had been attracted to Jean-Luc the first time she ever met him. She
had come to love him more than she had ever loved any other creature
before or since.
She glanced at Picard. He was sitting quietly, watching her, waiting for
her to decide. She took a deep breath, walked to the sofa and sat down
beside him, looking at her wine glass on the table and feeling suddenly
shy with this, her friend of so many years. She swallowed and took another
deep breath. There was one thing to be made very clear first. "Jean-Luc,
if we are going to do this, if we allow such a change in our relationship,
I will not do it halfway. It is all or nothing."
Picard felt as if someone had set off a series of sparks in his stomach.
They rose in little pops to the top of his head and made his skin tingle.
He did not trust his voice to speak, so he just nodded at his knees; an
action entirely lost on Beverly, who was not looking at him.
"I suppose it wouldn't be too drastic a change," she said. "I mean, we
spend so much time together already. Breakfast, often dinner..." she broke
off and glanced at him shyly.
The sparks were multiplying. Jean-Luc looked up at her and there was just
a suspicion of a twinkle in his eye. "We could - make it a very gradual
change," he said slowly. "Plato thought that mindful contemplation of life
and love without sexuality is superior to a sexual life."
For a moment Beverly was silent, her face sober. Then a mischievous smile
tugged at one corner of her mouth. "He was wrong," she said.
*****
*****
The old man leaned on a vine stake and looked out over the fields,
denuded of their fruit and ready now for winter. It had been a good
Vintage. Time now to tend to the casks in the cave and enjoy some of the
fruits of his labors. He heard the shouts of his grandchildren above the
song of a late bird and was comforted by their presence in these, his last
years. He thought of another child who had run in to his dinner in that
house. That child was a child forever now. He had long ago lost the chance
of becoming a starship captain as he had dreamed. Another little boy had
lived that dream for him. Now there were children in the house again,
dreaming of the stars.
The breeze blew cooler against his cheek, reminding him of the coming
winter, and the vines glowed softly red-brown in the dusk. He looked up at
the first star of the evening, just as he had when he was a boy and had
wished upon it, that he would see it close-up one day. He had seen it
close-up. With the gentle nostalgia Autumn evenings are apt to bring, he
looked back upon his life. He had lost friends and gained them. He had
loved and had lost his loved ones. He had traveled through the galaxy,
going where no one had gone before, and had helped the Federation to which
he had dedicated his life to find more peaceful times. Now he was home and
was happy to tend his vines and coax the ancient land of his people to
yield up the beautiful grapes which made the old vintages of the house.
Behind him he heard footsteps. He turned and smiled. Along the grassy path
between the vines came the person who had been a constant through it all;
who had seen the early years, and remained through the late ones; who had
been for him always, his compass and his comfort. She was still beautiful.
Her hair still streaked with red through the grey, still tall and graceful
despite her years. She smiled as she came up and put her hand in his.
Together they walked back toward the house.
If they be two, they two are so
As stiffe twin compasses are two,
Thy soul the fixt foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if the other doe.
And though it in the center sit,
Yet when the other far doth rome,
It leanes, and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.
Such wilt thou be to mee, who must,
Like th'other foot, obliquely runne;
Thy firmness draws my circle just,
And makes me end, where I begunne.
-from John Donne's "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"
My heartfelt thanks to Ali Benore and Damon Carella for being my irascible
editors. I am eternally in your debt and adore you both!