Deanna, sitting side-saddle on her chair, lifted her hands, palms up, and shrugged. “Well?”
“Well...what? We can go now.”
Deanna was incredulous. “Are you kidding?”
Elexa said, “What happened?”
Smiling, Emily said, “That's between me, myself and I.”
She laughed nervously at her own joke, but the humor was lost on her friends. They simply exchanged puzzled glances.
"Look," she began, "I know what we need to do. My counterpart told me what I need to know. Unfortunately, I can't share that information with you. It's far too dangerous. Sharing this information with you runs the extreme risk of contaminating the timeline further. You'll be second-guessing your choices at every turn. That can't happen." She paused, allowing the weight of her words to sink in. Their expressions were contemplative. “You're just going to have to trust me. Our mission hasn't changed.”
Her eyes scanned the cockpit before settling on David. He was leaning into her.
“Do you trust me?” She was looking into his eyes, but the question was asked loud enough for all to hear.
David placed a supportive hand over hers. “I trust you.”
Emily smiled. She leaned forward, looking at Richard and George seated on the other side of the cockpit door.
Richard said, “I trust you.”
She looked to George. His eyes were downcast. He nodded reluctantly and looked at Emily. “Our fate is in your hands.”
Emily nodded and gave him a warm smile. She turned her eyes to Elexa and Deanna.
Deanna sighed. “I don't like this. No offense, Emily, but this is the second time we've flown off on a mission with you and encountered some kind of problem, to put it mildly, and you're withholding pertinent information to boot.” She looked pleadingly at her captain. “I can't be the only one who feels this way.”
Elexa nodded. “Mmm. No, you're not. I'm sorry, Emily. It's not that I don't trust you, but I have to concur with my first officer. I'm responsible for the safety and security of the crew under my command. I had reservations about taking you along on the expedition to Eden, and look how that turned out.”
Emily tilted her head to the left, her thick, raven black locks cascading over her shoulder. Forcing a diplomatic smile, she said, “Didn't we already have this conversation?” It was becoming difficult to contain her frustration, something that wouldn't have been an issue before leaving the Great Community.
“We did have this conversation,” Elexa replied evenly, “and nothing was ever resolved.”
Deanna said, “You've tried to sell us the claim that we all chose this mission for ourselves and that this is all for the greater good, but I see no evidence for that. In fact, it's a foregone conclusion that neither do you. You told us that you don't see a future for us regarding this leg of the mission. Neither you nor the Community of Light has any idea how this is going to play out, so you don't know if this is for the greater good. And if it isn't, why would we choose it?”
“You're here, aren't you?” Emily challenged. There was a tinge of hostility in her tone. She was becoming increasingly frustrated with Elexa and Deanna's bad cop-worse cop routine.
Richard was struck by the sudden change in Emily's demeanor. He knew that her separation from the Community of Light would have an effect on her. She had told him as much. But he had expected it to be a gradual process and the changes to be subtle. There was nothing subtle nor gradual about what he was seeing in her. She seemed scornful, potentially aggressive, like a cat biding its time, waiting to strike.
David noticed the change as well but quickly pushed the observation aside in favor of rushing to her defense. “Whether we know how this mission will play out or not, the effort to find the missing genetic information is the greater good. What's the alternative? And as Emily said, you're here. You did choose this path for yourselves. We all did.”
“Well, it took plenty of convincing,” Deanna retorted.
Richard stood. “Emily, while I don't understand your reasons for withholding whatever it is you discussed with...”
“Me,” Emily said coolly.
“Right. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that. You have your reasons for not discussing what took place in the airlock. I believe you when you say that telling us what you learned could cause us to second-guess our choices going forward, I know―”
“Why wouldn't you believe me?” Emily's eyes narrowed. She appeared to be glaring at him.
Richard was stunned by her expression, almost frightened. “I'm sorry?”
“You said that you believe me, as if that were ever in doubt. Why wouldn't you believe me?”
Richard raised his hands, palms out. “It was never in doubt. I have no reason to doubt you. You seem to be getting defensive. Are you all right?”
Emily was taken aback by the question. It suddenly occurred to her that there was a palpable tension in the room, particularly between her and Richard. Embarrassed, she dropped her eyes and nodded.
Baffled by Emily's seemingly erratic behavior but focused on the mission at hand, Richard turned his attention to the entire crew. “The fact remains that Emily is right. What choice do we have? We have a mission, the goal of which is to make sure that life on Earth flourishes once again. Failure is not on option.”
Elexa hesitated before nodding reluctantly. “You're right. What choice do we have at this point but to keep moving forward? Failure is definitely not an option.”
David said, "So...what? We go about our business, and they go about theirs?"
"And hope that the information conveyed to Emily will repair this little fissure in the timeline," George said without an ounce of criticism in his tone. Despite the roller coaster ride he and his crew had taken with Emily, George knew that he couldn't be openly critical of Emily if he tried. "That's our only choice.”
"One suggestion," Deanna said. "Can't we just leave Emily here and complete the mission without her? Without Emily, our chances of success go up by like one-thousand percent." She turned to Emily and winked. Imploring her with her hands outstretched, she said, "Forgive me, Emily. I kid because I love."
A sheepish smile curled Emily's lips, and with that smile, the tension was sucked from the cockpit.
“There's nothing to forgive,” Emily replied diplomatically. “I can be a genuine pain in the ass sometimes. I can't help it. It's in my nature.”
George said, “Well, now that everybody's sort of on the same page, I guess we should...” He gestured to the Captain.
Elexa smiled. “Let's get this show on the road.” She turned toward her helm. Feeling a tad giddy at the prospect of resolving the situation, Elexa said, “Lieutenant, get us the holy heck out of here. We have a wormhole to catch.”
Chuckling at the Captain's strangely worded command, Deanna said, “Aye aye, my dear Captain.”
Deanna slowly maneuvered Encounter up and away from its inbound counterpart. The crew silently watched the inbound Encounter begin its descent toward Earth. Deanna wondered about her counterpart, wondered if her counterpart was thinking about her, wondered if she was watching her ship's future counterpart pulling away to begin a mission that she and her crew had, presumably, already completed. Of course, the mission had inevitably changed to some degree. She assumed that the inbound Encounter had not had the same experience on the way out, had not encountered another Encounter. She smiled to herself. The ship's title had suddenly taken on a whole new meaning. Their encounter with Encounter had undoubtedly altered the timeline. The extent to which the timeline had been altered remained to be seen.
Could the timeline be altered to affect their outlook on their situation, on life itself? Was her future counterpart as angry and cynical as she was, or did the completion of her mission give her a fresh, optimistic lens to look through? She wanted to believe that. She wanted something to believe in, something to pull her out of the rut she was in. She was angry, bitter, and she didn't know why. Sure, she liked to blame Emily.
Her non-corporeal friend was an easy scapegoat, but in those moments of clarity, those moments of complete honesty, she knew it was a bunch of nonsense. She wasn't angry at Emily. She was angry at herself. She was angry at life. And she had felt angry long before the world as she had known it had been ripped away from her.
She was angry; she was lonely, but not as lonely as she had been before finding comfort in the arms of her beloved Captain. She had Elexa, and her relationship with Elexa went a very long way toward dealing with the pain. However, there was still a void there, and the void didn't exist in her relationship with Elexa, it existed within herself. If anything, her relationship with Elexa made the pain all the more difficult, because she was forced to acknowledge that it wasn't the lack of a companion that was causing her pain. The pain was inherent in herself. She was angry at herself. She was critical of herself. There were even those darkest of moments when she hated herself.
Ironically, all of this self-loathing, all of this pain, brought out one of her best qualities: her wry, sometimes sardonic, sense of humor. It was a genuine quality, one that she was proud of, but she often used it as a band-aid. It was her way of coping with the grief.
But it wasn't all bad, not all of the time. She had Elexa, and although the words had never been exchanged, not yet, she was in love with her. She hoped that, when she finally found it within herself to express that love, the love would be reciprocated. She snuck a glance at her Captain. Her Captain caught the glance before Deanna had a chance to pull her eyes away and smiled at her. They both quickly turned their eyes toward the viewport in the event that they were being watched. They had yet to let the cat out of the bag. All in good time, perhaps when the mission was over. For the time being, they were enjoying the secrecy, if their relationship was still a secret at that point. Deanna guessed that at least one of her crewmates had his suspicions. Of course, Emily was a different matter altogether. Who knew what was going on in that non-corporeal mind of hers?
“All right, Lieutenant,” Elexa said, shaking Deanna out of her musings.
She was just starting to feel good about her situation, just starting to appreciate what she had with Elexa. Oh well. There would be plenty of time for love, plenty of time for healing...she hoped.
“Prepare to make the jump,” Elexa commanded, “in three, two, one.”
Deanna tapped her console, engaging the warp drive. The sea of stars vanished, replaced by the faint, distant glow of the cosmic background microwave radiation. They were well on their way.
Chapter 13
Emily and David strolled through the corridor toward the lounge area hand in hand. They had a few hours to kill before reaching the anomaly. David had suggested they spend some alone time by the massive window, taking in nothing but each other. Of course, with the ship hurtling through the solar system at warp speed, there wasn't much to take in outside of the ship. All of the stars had been shifted out of their visual spectrum. Once seated, they would have to be content to look at one another. David was quite all right with that.
Emily surprised David by coming to a stop next to her quarters. He didn't say anything. He knew instinctively why she had stopped. It was evident in the look she gave him as she touched the panel next to her door. She was looking into his eyes, smiling seductively.
“Change of plans,” she said softly.
This was a different kind of Emily, one that he wasn't accustomed to, one that he hadn't had time to adjust to. The change had happened so suddenly. It was as if she had been replaced by an impostor after visiting her counterpart in the airlock. He knew it was silly, but he couldn't help but entertain the idea.
She grabbed both of his hands and pulled him into her quarters. The door slid shut behind him. He was at once excited and concerned. Excited for where this was heading, concerned for the same reason. It was a sudden departure for her. She was taking the initiative in a big way, something she had never done in matters of physical affection, ironic at that point considering that she wasn't even a physical being. Or was she? She certainly seemed to be acting with her physicality.
He smiled broadly, trying to play it cool, as she drew him close to her. Her hands on his shoulders, she brought her smiling lips to his. His heart raced as her mouth opened, urging him to open his. Her tongue found his tongue. Her hands slid down his chest. If he had been harboring any doubt about where this moment was leading, that doubt was obliterated when she began to unbutton his shirt. She swiftly reached the last button and pulled his shirt open and over his shoulders. He pulled his arms back, allowing the shirt to drop to the floor. Her hands slid under his t-shirt, caressing his torso. In one swift motion, she raised her arms, and he followed her lead, raising his arms over his head, allowing her to pull the t-shirt from his body, exposing his torso. She brought her lips to his neck, then to his chest. He closed his eyes and brought his head back, allowing himself to absorb every kiss. Her lips made their way back to his. They kissed passionately as his hands found her torso, caressing her sides and making their way to the small of her back. Their lips parted, and she took a step back, taking his hands, pulling him toward the bed. She let go of his hands and dropped onto the bed, her eyes penetrating his, her smile telling him to follow her. He stood over her, hesitating to tear down that last wall, finding the sudden and dramatic change in her demeanor overwhelming. He needed a moment to collect himself.
“Is this really happening?” he said whimsically.
She nodded slowly, seductively.
“Is this even possible?”
She dropped her eyes as if contemplating the question before meeting his eyes once again and saying, “It is. It's very possible.”
She lowered her upper body to the bed, her eyes locked seductively with his, beckoning him to join her. Any lingering concern he had for the change in her demeanor was pushed aside by her invitation. He wanted nothing more in that moment than to be with her. He followed her down onto the bed, allowing himself to embrace her, to feel her.
―
He watched her sleep. His head propped on his hand, he studied her naked form. On so many levels, he was seeing her as he had never seen her before. But in that moment, he was focused on her physical form. She was turned away from him, the sheet pulled down across her hip, partially exposing her buttocks. He studied her curves, the slow rise and fall of her frame with each breath. Yes, he was seeing something that he had never seen before, and that was the kicker. He was watching her beautifully curvy, naked form breathe as she slept. He was content to enjoy the moment, but every so often, reality would kick him in the teeth. She was a non-corporeal being, but what he was seeing was very corporeal. It was very natural; it just wasn't very natural for her in her current state.
After watching her for an indeterminate amount of time, he decided to go for a stroll and ponder yet another bizarre chapter in the seemingly long and very bizarre story of his life with Emily. He slipped quietly out from beneath the sheet, slipped on his pants and t-shirt and headed for the door, looking over his shoulder to make sure his movements hadn't disturbed her. He paused with a start as she turned onto her back, but her eyes remained closed. A smile curved her lips. Content that she was sound asleep, he opened the door, stepped out and nearly screamed when he came face to face with Richard who had his hand raised as if preparing to knock on Emily's door. His mouth was agape, his eyes wide. He looked as if he didn't know whether to play it cool or run away.
When Emily's door slid shut behind him, David said, “Oh...hi, Richard.” David felt his face getting warm. He had little doubt that he was blushing.
“David, I...sorry, I...hope I'm not interrupting anything.”
“No, not at all. I was just, uh...I was just going for a walk.” Any moment now, David, the ice is gonna break. Any moment now, this moment won't be so incredibly awkward. “If you're looking for Emily, she's, uh, out. I mean she's asleep.”
"Well, actually, I was looking for you. I went by your quarters, and you weren't there...obviously. The
n I checked the lounge. I was concerned when I couldn't find you." Richard smiled. The ice was finally beginning to break. "I guess I was having flashbacks to Emily's little disappearing act during the Eden expedition.”
David returned the smile, thankful that the awkwardness was beginning to lift. “That's understandable. Why were you looking for me?”
“We need to talk. I left George in the lounge. Would you join us for a little chat?”
“Top secret stuff, huh?” David was pretty sure what the topic of their little chat was going to be. “No problem. I just have to go.”
Richard furrowed his brow. “Go where?”
David smiled and gestured toward the bathroom at the end of the corridor. “I mean, I just have to go.”
“Oh, right. See you in a few minutes?”
“It's a date.”
―
Richard and George were seated at a table when David entered the lounge. David pulled up a chair and sat, eagerly awaiting the inevitable conversation to begin. He had assumed that Richard had told George that he had found him leaving Emily's room. He hoped that they didn't lead with that. He wasn't anxious to share the details.
"I assume you know why we're here," Richard began.
David nodded. “Emily.”
“Emily,” Richard confirmed. “I think it's safe to say that something has changed in her. What it is, I have no idea, but she seems...different.”
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