On Second Chances

[primelogic]

A world without time.

Worlds upon worlds, eras intermingling. Species crossing who would never otherwise cross paths. Never ending, infinitely possible. All coalesced into one shared space where the impossible is not only probable, but for certain exists around every corner.

"Fascinating."

The young may come and go through this place with the purpose and rush that that they so often have, but for the particularly old Vulcan who has ended up here there hardly seems to be a hurry. He patiently strolls up and down the streets of the plaza, through the shopping districts, and round to more open areas with parks full of lush grasses of varying colors.

The summer weather is favorable for one used to a more arid and warm climate. Ambassador Spock finds a quiet sunny bench to take a seat at and relaxes against the worn wooden frame with the peeling paint. Ah, but that's right. There are requirements here for those who seek answers.

"If one found themselves in an opportunity to meet their past self, what words of wisdom would you feel obligated to impart?"

Comments

[attackpatternbattista]

Long odds or no, Delia's never one who wants to actually hear the odds until after the fact. Simply to know how absolutely ridiculous something is once she's actually done it.

To say she's... unconventional is putting it mildly.

Still, she's relaxed. Calm. Casually dressed in loose pants and lightly made, flowing top.

"A little bit of experience, yes," She made a face, "More of an accident with the warp drive than anything else. Fortunately we didn't really do any damage to the timeline as far as I can tell, and managed to avoid showing up on anyone's sensors or raising too many questions before managing to return home."

Still, though, she had to submit a report on it. And writing reports is always a fantastically annoying task.

"But I've read and heard about other incidents, and I'll be damned if I get swept up into some kind of temporal paradox or some other mess."

She said, while standing in the Nexus. The paradox of paradoxes to ever paradox.

[primelogic]

In some ways Spock wishes his own treks into the past could have yielded such benign results. Words cannot express the magnitude of his shame that Vulcan's destruction in the timeline he currently resides came as a result of his failure to save Romulus in his own time.

The what if's and could have done's are enough weight to crush the galaxy's mightiest into stardust. It is illogical to dwell on them. This Spock knows well. What is done is done.

"I have had to make a rather more direct interaction with my own past self. The timelines were damaged before I even arrived in the alternate past I now reside in. There simply was no way to hide myself if I wished to help where I could to ensure the continuation of my people."

[attackpatternbattista]

It helps, of course, when you work for the Klingons and you have a sophisticated cloaking device that older sensors can't penetrate with their narrower scanning bands. Delia doesn't come out and say it, however, as her relationship with the Klingons is...

Complicated.

Still, Delia's eyebrows raise at the Vulcan's admission that he's interacted directly with his past self, and the universe didn't implode or anything.

Damn it. She owes Strix fifty latinum. Figures her theory was right.

It makes her think, though, for a minute, about what he's said. "If the timeline's already changed, from.. what very little I understand about the theory when my Engineer goes on-and-on," and on is the implication, "About it, it kind of ripples outwards like dropping a stone in water. Information you have might be helpful, but it might also not be relevant due to alterations both ways."

Especially in Spock's case, where his timeline already involves time travel to begin with. Which is already headache inducing to think about when she's starting to realize who he is.

Ungh.

Stupid time travel.

[primelogic]

That very assumption has helped the aged Vulcan keep mum on more than a few things he had not wished to disclose to his past-companions. It is a bit of an unfair disadvantage when one knows intimately how someone else thinks better than they do thanks to years of experience.

"You would be correct. The best one can do in such a situation is to offer as little but as accurate advice as is necessary when such things from my past do factor back into the present of the new timeline to avoid further destruction and to allow their lives to play out as they see fit at all other times. The past self I have met will never become me. Our lives have gone on divergent paths in ways I cannot begin to forsee."

But when familiar foes do arise, ones that brought his companions to the brink of destruction in his time...then he has broken that vow and done his best to help them. It feels as though they are owed a better chance after everything they've already been made to endure.

"It is a very lonely life to be stuck in an alternate timeline, in any case. But not altogether without reward."

[attackpatternbattista]

"Admittedly, seeing how things play out differently, with the same people, but circumstances changed, is something of an interesting thing to bear witness to." Delia admits after some thought, tapping her chin with her forefinger in thought.

"All the same players, but a different game, and altered rules to boot."

[primelogic]

"It is, indeed. While the suffering that has been caused by the alterations to the timeline cannot be fixed, I cannot help but to watch the people who were once my crew carry on in spite of the difficulties they have faced."

Though sitting in James Kirk's hospital room every day for months while he recovered from his untimely demise at the hands of Khan Noonien Singh was not pleasant--far from it--the things this new Enterprise has accomplished in so little time brings Spock hope for their futures.

"Even if their futures will not be exactly like my past, I am proud to call them my friends."