r_scribbles (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
r_scribbles) wrote2009-06-13 02:40 pm
r_scribbles) wrote2009-06-13 02:40 pm
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Rollercoaster - Roads Less Travelled Pt 2
Second half of Rollercoaster - Roads Less Travelled is here.
ROLLERCOASTER
-x-
Roads Less Travelled
-x-
Two
-x-
It had happened again. Well… something had happened, anyway. It would take him a while to work out precisely what that something was, however. If he were still capable of half the things he used to be; still swift and analytical of mind, still practically impossible to distract, then perhaps he would have been able to come up with a solution there and then. But things just were the way that they were. There was no changing matters, no going back…
From behind him in Engineering, Worf was calling his name. The Klingon sounded surprised and relieved. What was there to be relieved about?
He ran his fingers over his newly deceased best friend’s VISOR, and noticed that they were trembling slightly. Stupid emotions. Was he ever going to grow accustomed to them?
‘Data!’ Worf repeated, grabbing Data’s shoulder and pulling him around to face him. ‘At last. You’re alive again. You…’ Worf stopped stock still for a second, his mouth half-open in disbelief as he glanced Data up and down. ‘Oh.’
Data managed a tight smile. ‘You are not the version of Worf with whom I was speaking moments ago, are you?’
Worf shook his head.
‘It came as quite a surprise to him, too. In fact, from my point of view, this is the third occasion today in which you have been shocked at seeing me in this particular state of being.’
‘You’re human,’ mumbled Worf.
‘I had noticed that,’ Data replied, aping Worf’s hushed tone.
He stood back, aware that he was being unfair on the unfortunate, reality-hopping Klingon. It was merely that his day was going badly enough as it was without having to explain his circumstances three times to the same person.
‘I have been like this now for three years,’ Data explained. ‘I saved Q’s mortal life and he returned the favour by bestowing upon me a gift that I was not at liberty to refuse.’
‘You still sound like the old Data,’ noted Worf.
‘Yes,’ Data sighed, ‘my grasp of syntax remains the same. I have no way of ascertaining whether it is so that Q can claim that he did not entirely alter me from the being that I used to be, or merely his sadistic sense of humour at play.’ He paused. ‘I take it that your version of myself was thanked differently…?’
‘From what I’m aware, Q never so much as breathed a word of gratitude to the Data of my reality for saving his life.’
‘Then he had a fortunate escape,’ Data replied. ‘If you should ever be safely returned to your own reality, please do him the favour of advising him never to get into the “good books” of a member of the Q Contiuum ever again.’
‘You are not pleased to be human?’ Worf asked.
‘I never wished for the “magical transformation” that he facilitated,’ Data told him. ‘And, while humanity has its advantages, on days such as today it does feel like a burden.’ He felt a new swell of bitterness and grief rise up within him, but was able to bite it back down. His hands faintly trembling again, he held Geordi’s VISOR up to Worf. ‘Had I the mental capacity and speed of an android, would I have been able to save him?’
‘I can have no way of knowing,’ Worf replied. ‘Commander LaForge still died in the reality I was last in, but in that universe you had never existed, as an android or otherwise.’ Worf paused. ‘Since he died even when you were not present, it can be assumed that his death is, at least, not your fault.’
Data didn’t reply. Geordi’s name was just another that he could add to the list of people whose lives he believed he might have been able to save if left as his creator had intended. As an android, might he not have also saved Wesley, and Shelby? Might he have saved Picard from that fate worse than death? And if so, might not the Borg have been denied that further advantage that they now held over the Federation? He could not help but wonder whether his involuntary transformation into flesh and blood had made the whole universe a darker, more dangerous place in which to live.
He snapped himself out of it.
‘Time is of the essence,’ he announced to Worf, suddenly. ‘I do not know when you will switch realities again, and forget everything that I have just told you. I am certain that you will be able to acquaint yourself better with this version of reality as you continue to dwell in it.’ He sighed at the diagnostic array. ‘When you switched, something occurred to your RNA. Were I android, I would be able to process the information faster, but as it is, I will require time undisturbed to do so. Perhaps you should report to Captain Riker and inform him that you have yet again changed realities, and that I am working on the clues as to why.’
Worf stalled. ‘Captain Riker?’
‘Yes. Captain Riker. I take it that your Captain Picard was not abducted by the Borg.’
‘He was,’ Worf replied, ‘but we were able to retrieve him.’
Data looked back at him. ‘Then, it really would appear that your universe was bestowed with all of the luck.’
-x-
Matters had now reached a stage where Worf found it almost pleasantly surprising to discover that any one of his colleagues was still alive and serving with him. Besides the human Data and Captain Riker, he had been able to ascertain from his conversation with the Captain that Dr Crusher and Counsellor Troi were still present aboard the Enterprise. He was further relieved to be met outside the Ready Room by Tasha Yar.
Yar gave him a sympathetic smile. ‘So, what’s changed for you this time?’
‘Much,’ Worf replied. ‘Every time that reality changes, it becomes a little less recognisable from the one I’m accustomed to.’ He frowned. ‘Every time, yet more good people have been lost.’
‘And there was me thinking you Klingons celebrated the deaths of soldiers,’ Tasha replied in a fondly mocking tone.
‘To die in battle is a great honour,’ Worf replied. ‘To never have existed, or to have been assimilated into the Borg’s slavery… that is a different matter.’
Tasha, it seemed, had no answer to that. Worf nodded at her red Commanding Officer’s uniform.
‘You are the First Officer?’
‘Ever since Shelby was killed,’ Tasha replied. ‘You’re the Security chief, by the way. I don’t know whether you’re used to that or not.’
Worf grunted and made his way over to the Tactical console. ‘I may have to familiarise myself with the controls. Again.’
He gazed at the console. It was different to the one he was used to, but much more recognisable that the one he’d been faced with in the previous reality. He was certain that he would be able to work with it.
‘Any further questions?’ Yar prompted.
‘Yes,’ Worf muttered. There was one large difference about the previous reality that had troubled him greatly. He lowered his voice. ‘Am I… married?’
Tasha beamed. ‘I should say so.’
It was as she smiled that Worf noticed the glint of gold on the third finger of her left hand. He balked. First Troi, now Yar?!? Who would he be wedded to next – Guinan?
‘You…’ he whispered, tightly, ‘you and I are…’
Tasha cut him off with her loud, joyful laugh. ‘You and me? Not that I don’t think the world of you, Worf, but… you and me…?’ She dissolved into giggles again.
Relieved as Worf was, he couldn’t help but feel more than a little annoyed at the strength of her reaction.
‘I’m sorry,’ Tasha gasped, wiping an errant tear of mirth from the corner of her eye. ‘With what happened to Geordi, if I can’t find something to laugh at, I’ll fall apart right now. It’s just that you’re like the big Klingon brother I always should have had. I don’t think reality’s ever going to get that weird. Besides, I just can’t imagine you with anybody other than Deanna.’
‘So, I am still married to Counsellor Troi.’
‘I think it’s generally the done thing to refer to one’s spouse by their first name, but yes.’
‘And you...?’
The Turbolift doors opened and Data stepped on to the Bridge. Seeing the being he had always known to be an android suddenly turned human was certainly one of the more unsettling changes to Worf’s concept of reality. Even though Worf knew that Data had always longed to be more like a human, something about him now didn’t fit. Maybe Data merely didn’t suit full humanity, or maybe it was just that being made human by Q had created an aura of falseness about him. Whatever it was, there was something uncomfortable about Data in this guise – as though he were wearing a costume that didn’t fit.
The former android headed straight for Worf and Tasha.
‘There you are,’ he announced, needlessly. ‘I believe that I may have discovered a clue as to why you are becoming unstuck in reality, Worf. I suggest that we meet with the Captain immediately, so that I may explain.’
Worf cocked his head a little at Data. Wet eyed and flushed, the new human was still as distracted as he had been in Engineering.
‘Can it be stopped?’ Worf asked.
‘I have identified what I believe to be a quantum flux in your RNA at the time of the…’
‘But can it be stopped?’ repeated Worf. ‘Can it be rectified?’
Data looked lost. ‘Um.’ He looked down at the floor. ‘If we can find the cause, then… um.’
He rubbed a shaking hand over his forehead. For a horrible moment, Worf thought that he was going to be witness to Data breaking down into a flood of tears.
‘Hey.’ Tasha put a hand on Data’s shoulder. ‘Pull it together.’
It had not been a command, but a gentle, caring encouragement. Tasha rubbed her hand supportively down Data’s arm, until he caught her wrist, gratefully. That’s when Worf saw it. His attention before had been so caught by the sight of Data as a human that he hadn’t noticed the plain gold band on Data’s wedding finger. Well, he reasoned to himself, that at least made some sense.
‘We’ll get through this,’ Tasha continued, ‘we’ll do what needs to be done, and then we can let ourselves grieve.’
‘Just as we always do,’ murmured Data.
‘Just like always,’ Tasha agreed, giving his arm a quick squeeze. ‘Let’s go and see the Captain.’
-x-
Accidents such as this are not supposed to happen. The paths criss-cross, and sometimes more perceptive beings are aware of how close the intersections come, but a total breakdown of the walls such as this is practically unheard of. However, nothing out in the endless black is entirely impossible, and if you journey into the unknown, then the unpredictable is likely to catch up with you. It was not the first tear in reality, nor would it be the last. It was highly unusual, however, for the same person to get caught up in the meshing of paths for a second time. This was probably why Tasha heard the voice as the ship fell through the quantum fissure into a void flooded with other versions of itself.
‘You don’t want to start slipping through parallel dimensions,’ Tasha murmured, instinctively approaching her husband’s post as she watched the screen fill with Enterprises, ‘you never know where you’re gonna end up.’
Data glanced across at her. ‘Are you quoting somebody?’
‘Guinan,’ breathed Tasha.
‘Who is Guinan?’
‘I don’t know,’ Tasha admitted, ‘but I know that, wherever she is, this’ll be giving her a killer headache.’
Behind her, Worf was trying to hail the other ships in an attempt to find his own version of reality. Unfortunately, it seemed, everybody else had the same idea. The hailing frequencies were a gabble of voices. This was going to be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Images of the ship’s Bridge – always slightly different in design and crew – began to flash up on the screen as various Captains Picard, Riker, and at one point, Jellico, attempted to piece together what was going on. She watched the different crews as they popped up. Although it gladdened her heart to see Picard and Geordi alive in so many of them, as well as the occasional glimpse of the other friends she had witnessed the deaths of, she found it troubling that she herself was absent from over half of the crews that she saw. One of the versions of Worf they’d played host to since this whole incident began had mentioned that in his universe she had been killed years ago. More concerning to her still was that every time she saw an alternate version of her husband, he was still android. Whenever a crew appeared on screen that contained both her and Data, the other Tasha was never standing at the other Data’s side as she did at her husband’s Ops post. The other Tasha and other Data would always be apart… she always got the feeling that there was an awkwardness between all those other versions of themselves. From the comments this latest version of Worf had made, in his reality Data was neither human nor in a relationship with Tasha.
Tasha instinctively brushed hands with her husband as she wondered – certainly not for the first time – whether his enforced humanity and their marriage was linked. She’d always hoped not. She’d fallen for him before he was changed. Admittedly, it was during that upheaval after his transformation – when he wasn’t able to cope with his new biological needs; when emotions, physical pain, fatigue and slowed responses were still coming as unpleasant shocks to him – that they found themselves growing closer and truly realising that they should be an item. She couldn’t imagine though, had he not been made human, that him being an android could have prevented her from marrying him. Was she really capable of being that shallow? She’d told him the day she’d proposed that she’d always love him, no matter what – that they were meant to be together - and she’d believed it. The recent breakdown in reality, however, had made her question whether anything, even love, was truly “meant to be”. Worf himself seemed surprised and uncomfortable at the concept of being married to Deanna, and Tasha couldn’t imagine those two not being completely in love with one another. Perhaps love really was just down to circumstance, and dumb luck. The idea of that depressed her no end.
The void was continuing to fill with different versions of the ship. How many more could the fissure take before reality collapsed completely? One version of Captain Riker could be briefly heard offering a solution, as long as the correct Enterprise for their version of Worf could be found, but his voice was quickly lost in the confusion again. There were voices desperate to return to their realities… and voices just as desperate never to go back. As plagued as Tasha’s reality was by the Borg, the cries for sanctuary from other versions of themselves brought home to her just how much worse her situation could be.
Amongst the half-conversations being picked up came a spark of hope for a return to normality; the voice of Jean Luc Picard speaking about a remodulated shuttle, and the possibility that sending one of the Worfs back in it could mend the tear. Tasha shared a glance with her husband. It was both joyous and heartbreaking to hear Picard’s voice again. The voice of the old Captain mentioned that the remodulated shuttle had been Data’s idea – another Data, an android Data, no doubt. Her, human Data cast his eyes back down at his console. She knew that he didn’t need reminding that his mind now was nowhere near as quick or keen as it had been when he was electronic. As a human, he could never have come up with that sort of plan so swiftly.
In spite of the plan that had been suggested, the cacophony over the hailing frequencies continued abound. Some voices were still determined not to go back; most were either questioning the proposed solution or still, as they were doing, fruitlessly trying to find which ship it was that the version of Worf they were currently playing host to belonged aboard. After all, even if the fissure were sealed, what would that mean for everybody who had fallen through? Would the Worf with them remain unstuck in reality? Would they all now remain dislodged in this strange void? How could they ensure that they’d be returned to the correct reality, and even if they were, would they have any memory of what had happened? Would the strange events surrounding Worf’s reality jumping be undone? Would Geordi be revived? Tasha found herself instinctively trusting the plan that she’d heard – but was that because it made sense, or just because she’d longed to hear Jean Luc Picard’s voice again for so long that she’d automatically have faith in any proposal he put forth?
It was certainly better than any plan they’d come up with themselves, so maybe all that there was left to do now was wait.
-x-
‘Worf!’
Tasha beckoned the Klingon over to her table. He had entered Ten Forward looking lost and mildly put-out. He sat down opposite her with a pensive expression.
‘You OK?’
Worf frowned at her. ‘There was nobody in my quarters.’
‘Were you expecting anybody to be in your quarters?’ Tasha asked. ‘I thought Alexander wasn’t due back for another few days.’
‘I was anticipating…’ Worf trailed off. ‘After all, it is my Birthday…’
‘Why would we throw a party in your quarters? You’d hate that. We’re having a little get-together here at 2100 hours. Remember? It was all arranged before you left for the tournament.’ Tasha paused. ‘Guinan sends her apologies, by the way – she doesn’t think she’ll be well enough to make it by this evening.’
‘Guinan is ill?’
‘Headache,’ relied Tasha. ‘I imagine it’d be to do with this… what did you call it? A Quantum Fissure?’
‘That’s likely,’ Worf nodded. ‘I was beginning to wonder if I were the only one who was in the least bit affected by it after it was sealed.’
‘Well, Guinan’s perceptive like that. Frankly, I’m just grateful that it was somebody else falling through into the wrong dimensions for a change.’ Tasha smiled brightly before sipping at her coffee. ‘So what was it like?’
Worf shook his head, vaguely. ‘There was a state of much confusion aboard the vessel that I found myself on in the fissure, so many of the details were not available to me. Another version of the Enterprise’s crew was able to locate the version of myself who belonged to their universe and seal the fissure. The events surrounding my dislodging in reality must have undone themselves. I found myself returning from the Bat’leth tournament once more as though nothing since then had ever occurred.’
Tasha set down her cup. ‘I meant, what were the other realities like?’
‘Strange.’
‘How?’
Worf eyeballed her. ‘Do you really want to know?’
‘Of course! Come on, I already know the sad fate of one alternative Tasha Yar – you’ve got to tell me at least some of the other ones were just a little bit happy.’
‘Some of them were content,’ confirmed Worf, warily. ‘Largely. From what I was able to tell.’ He paused. ‘In the first reality I visited, however, you were dead.’
Tasha’s smile dropped. ‘How?’
‘In many versions of reality,’ Worf explained, ‘it would appear that the Telemachus Tragedy happened to us instead.’
Tasha nodded, solemnly. ‘I never could shake the feeling that we really dodged a bullet when Deanna was too sick for that conference. She’d have been on that shuttle that crashed, otherwise.’ She thought back. ‘That all happened so long ago – I’d have barely known you guys. God, I’d have been so young…’ she trailed off. ‘But that was only in the one reality, right?’
‘Of those that I visited, yes. But there was another reality in which it had been Commander Data who lost his life on Vagra II.’
‘Poor Alternate Data,’ Tasha breathed.
‘Death in the line of duty is preferable to having never existed in the first instance,’ muttered Worf, quietly.
‘Was it really all that bad?’ Tasha asked. ‘Weren’t there any realities where people were alive and well and happy? No surprise babies? No surprise marriages?’
She caught a small, knowing smile playing around her Klingon friend’s mouth.
‘There were,’ she prompted, lifting her coffee cup to her lips once more, ‘weren’t there?’
‘In the final reality,’ Worf admitted, ‘both you and I were married.’
Tasha choked a little on her coffee. ‘To each other?’ she asked, incredulously.
‘When I asked you that in the other dimension, you laughed in my face.’
‘Really?’ Tasha winced. ‘I apologise on her behalf. It’s just…’
‘It’s just that I’m the big Klingon brother you should always have had?’
‘I couldn’t have put it better myself.’
‘You didn’t.’
Tasha wrinkled her nose, confused. ‘What?’
‘You were not my wife,’ Worf clarified. ‘You were never my wife.’
‘Well, you don’t have to sound so relieved about it,’ Tasha grumbled. ‘So, who was?’
‘Hmm?’
‘Who was your wife?’
‘I don’t see how that is any of your business.’
‘Oh, come on!’ Tasha paused. Worf had obviously made up his mind that the identity of this mystery wife of his should remain a secret. Which obviously meant that it had to be somebody she knew very well. ‘Well, at least tell me who I was married to…?’
Worf raised his eyebrows. ‘Who do you think?’
‘Don’t tell me there’s a dimension out there where me and Data actually made it work together?’
Worf nodded. She didn’t know why, but that knowledge suddenly made her incredibly happy.
‘Well, how did we manage to pull an impossible feat like that off?’
‘He was human,’ Worf replied, simply. ‘Q’s doing, after the Calamarain.’
‘Oh.’ Tasha pondered this. ‘Well, good for him, I guess. Got what he always wished for… I mean, I know he’d said no to Q turning him human with a click of the fingers before, but… but it worked out for him, right?’
‘Isn’t there an old human saying,’ Worf retorted, quietly, ‘that one should always be careful of what one wishes for?’
‘Weren’t we happy together?’ Tasha asked.
‘I believe that the marriage I saw between the two of you was loving,’ Worf told her, ‘and you did seem to be content with the situation.’
‘However…’ Tasha prompted.
Worf paused, before reluctantly answering. ‘He was miserable. He was in a situation where he was no longer himself, and three years after he had been transformed, he was still constantly struggling with his humanity. You were a comfort to him, but…’
‘But not enough,’ Tasha sighed. She wondered now whether every time she’d wished Data to be a little more human, she had been wishing the unhappiness Worf had described upon him.
‘That reality doesn’t affect ours,’ Worf added. ‘They were different lives, running parallel to ours. That is all.’
‘You really think that?’ Tasha asked. ‘You’re really not going to let all those other Worfs whose lives you lived, and all those different decisions they’d made affect the way you carry on with your own life?’
‘I am not,’ Worf resolved. ‘This is my reality, and it is shaped by my own will. I’d have it no other way. Neither should you.’
Tasha fell silent for a moment. Maybe Sela’s continued presence serving as a reminder of the ill-fated Other Tasha made her a little more concerned about the happenings of other dimensions, or maybe it was just that Worf’s description of her being married to a human version of Data, with her joy in his humanity coming at the cost of Data’s own wellbeing, had stuck in her mind, but she couldn’t help but feel particularly moved by the story Worf had just told her – as though it were a part of her own life, somehow. Still, what was dwelling on these matters going to achieve?
She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind and gave her friend a bright smile.
‘Great to have you back, Worf.’
‘It is a relief to be back.’
‘Happy Birthday.’
ROLLERCOASTER
-x-
Roads Less Travelled
-x-
Two
-x-
It had happened again. Well… something had happened, anyway. It would take him a while to work out precisely what that something was, however. If he were still capable of half the things he used to be; still swift and analytical of mind, still practically impossible to distract, then perhaps he would have been able to come up with a solution there and then. But things just were the way that they were. There was no changing matters, no going back…
From behind him in Engineering, Worf was calling his name. The Klingon sounded surprised and relieved. What was there to be relieved about?
He ran his fingers over his newly deceased best friend’s VISOR, and noticed that they were trembling slightly. Stupid emotions. Was he ever going to grow accustomed to them?
‘Data!’ Worf repeated, grabbing Data’s shoulder and pulling him around to face him. ‘At last. You’re alive again. You…’ Worf stopped stock still for a second, his mouth half-open in disbelief as he glanced Data up and down. ‘Oh.’
Data managed a tight smile. ‘You are not the version of Worf with whom I was speaking moments ago, are you?’
Worf shook his head.
‘It came as quite a surprise to him, too. In fact, from my point of view, this is the third occasion today in which you have been shocked at seeing me in this particular state of being.’
‘You’re human,’ mumbled Worf.
‘I had noticed that,’ Data replied, aping Worf’s hushed tone.
He stood back, aware that he was being unfair on the unfortunate, reality-hopping Klingon. It was merely that his day was going badly enough as it was without having to explain his circumstances three times to the same person.
‘I have been like this now for three years,’ Data explained. ‘I saved Q’s mortal life and he returned the favour by bestowing upon me a gift that I was not at liberty to refuse.’
‘You still sound like the old Data,’ noted Worf.
‘Yes,’ Data sighed, ‘my grasp of syntax remains the same. I have no way of ascertaining whether it is so that Q can claim that he did not entirely alter me from the being that I used to be, or merely his sadistic sense of humour at play.’ He paused. ‘I take it that your version of myself was thanked differently…?’
‘From what I’m aware, Q never so much as breathed a word of gratitude to the Data of my reality for saving his life.’
‘Then he had a fortunate escape,’ Data replied. ‘If you should ever be safely returned to your own reality, please do him the favour of advising him never to get into the “good books” of a member of the Q Contiuum ever again.’
‘You are not pleased to be human?’ Worf asked.
‘I never wished for the “magical transformation” that he facilitated,’ Data told him. ‘And, while humanity has its advantages, on days such as today it does feel like a burden.’ He felt a new swell of bitterness and grief rise up within him, but was able to bite it back down. His hands faintly trembling again, he held Geordi’s VISOR up to Worf. ‘Had I the mental capacity and speed of an android, would I have been able to save him?’
‘I can have no way of knowing,’ Worf replied. ‘Commander LaForge still died in the reality I was last in, but in that universe you had never existed, as an android or otherwise.’ Worf paused. ‘Since he died even when you were not present, it can be assumed that his death is, at least, not your fault.’
Data didn’t reply. Geordi’s name was just another that he could add to the list of people whose lives he believed he might have been able to save if left as his creator had intended. As an android, might he not have also saved Wesley, and Shelby? Might he have saved Picard from that fate worse than death? And if so, might not the Borg have been denied that further advantage that they now held over the Federation? He could not help but wonder whether his involuntary transformation into flesh and blood had made the whole universe a darker, more dangerous place in which to live.
He snapped himself out of it.
‘Time is of the essence,’ he announced to Worf, suddenly. ‘I do not know when you will switch realities again, and forget everything that I have just told you. I am certain that you will be able to acquaint yourself better with this version of reality as you continue to dwell in it.’ He sighed at the diagnostic array. ‘When you switched, something occurred to your RNA. Were I android, I would be able to process the information faster, but as it is, I will require time undisturbed to do so. Perhaps you should report to Captain Riker and inform him that you have yet again changed realities, and that I am working on the clues as to why.’
Worf stalled. ‘Captain Riker?’
‘Yes. Captain Riker. I take it that your Captain Picard was not abducted by the Borg.’
‘He was,’ Worf replied, ‘but we were able to retrieve him.’
Data looked back at him. ‘Then, it really would appear that your universe was bestowed with all of the luck.’
-x-
Matters had now reached a stage where Worf found it almost pleasantly surprising to discover that any one of his colleagues was still alive and serving with him. Besides the human Data and Captain Riker, he had been able to ascertain from his conversation with the Captain that Dr Crusher and Counsellor Troi were still present aboard the Enterprise. He was further relieved to be met outside the Ready Room by Tasha Yar.
Yar gave him a sympathetic smile. ‘So, what’s changed for you this time?’
‘Much,’ Worf replied. ‘Every time that reality changes, it becomes a little less recognisable from the one I’m accustomed to.’ He frowned. ‘Every time, yet more good people have been lost.’
‘And there was me thinking you Klingons celebrated the deaths of soldiers,’ Tasha replied in a fondly mocking tone.
‘To die in battle is a great honour,’ Worf replied. ‘To never have existed, or to have been assimilated into the Borg’s slavery… that is a different matter.’
Tasha, it seemed, had no answer to that. Worf nodded at her red Commanding Officer’s uniform.
‘You are the First Officer?’
‘Ever since Shelby was killed,’ Tasha replied. ‘You’re the Security chief, by the way. I don’t know whether you’re used to that or not.’
Worf grunted and made his way over to the Tactical console. ‘I may have to familiarise myself with the controls. Again.’
He gazed at the console. It was different to the one he was used to, but much more recognisable that the one he’d been faced with in the previous reality. He was certain that he would be able to work with it.
‘Any further questions?’ Yar prompted.
‘Yes,’ Worf muttered. There was one large difference about the previous reality that had troubled him greatly. He lowered his voice. ‘Am I… married?’
Tasha beamed. ‘I should say so.’
It was as she smiled that Worf noticed the glint of gold on the third finger of her left hand. He balked. First Troi, now Yar?!? Who would he be wedded to next – Guinan?
‘You…’ he whispered, tightly, ‘you and I are…’
Tasha cut him off with her loud, joyful laugh. ‘You and me? Not that I don’t think the world of you, Worf, but… you and me…?’ She dissolved into giggles again.
Relieved as Worf was, he couldn’t help but feel more than a little annoyed at the strength of her reaction.
‘I’m sorry,’ Tasha gasped, wiping an errant tear of mirth from the corner of her eye. ‘With what happened to Geordi, if I can’t find something to laugh at, I’ll fall apart right now. It’s just that you’re like the big Klingon brother I always should have had. I don’t think reality’s ever going to get that weird. Besides, I just can’t imagine you with anybody other than Deanna.’
‘So, I am still married to Counsellor Troi.’
‘I think it’s generally the done thing to refer to one’s spouse by their first name, but yes.’
‘And you...?’
The Turbolift doors opened and Data stepped on to the Bridge. Seeing the being he had always known to be an android suddenly turned human was certainly one of the more unsettling changes to Worf’s concept of reality. Even though Worf knew that Data had always longed to be more like a human, something about him now didn’t fit. Maybe Data merely didn’t suit full humanity, or maybe it was just that being made human by Q had created an aura of falseness about him. Whatever it was, there was something uncomfortable about Data in this guise – as though he were wearing a costume that didn’t fit.
The former android headed straight for Worf and Tasha.
‘There you are,’ he announced, needlessly. ‘I believe that I may have discovered a clue as to why you are becoming unstuck in reality, Worf. I suggest that we meet with the Captain immediately, so that I may explain.’
Worf cocked his head a little at Data. Wet eyed and flushed, the new human was still as distracted as he had been in Engineering.
‘Can it be stopped?’ Worf asked.
‘I have identified what I believe to be a quantum flux in your RNA at the time of the…’
‘But can it be stopped?’ repeated Worf. ‘Can it be rectified?’
Data looked lost. ‘Um.’ He looked down at the floor. ‘If we can find the cause, then… um.’
He rubbed a shaking hand over his forehead. For a horrible moment, Worf thought that he was going to be witness to Data breaking down into a flood of tears.
‘Hey.’ Tasha put a hand on Data’s shoulder. ‘Pull it together.’
It had not been a command, but a gentle, caring encouragement. Tasha rubbed her hand supportively down Data’s arm, until he caught her wrist, gratefully. That’s when Worf saw it. His attention before had been so caught by the sight of Data as a human that he hadn’t noticed the plain gold band on Data’s wedding finger. Well, he reasoned to himself, that at least made some sense.
‘We’ll get through this,’ Tasha continued, ‘we’ll do what needs to be done, and then we can let ourselves grieve.’
‘Just as we always do,’ murmured Data.
‘Just like always,’ Tasha agreed, giving his arm a quick squeeze. ‘Let’s go and see the Captain.’
-x-
Accidents such as this are not supposed to happen. The paths criss-cross, and sometimes more perceptive beings are aware of how close the intersections come, but a total breakdown of the walls such as this is practically unheard of. However, nothing out in the endless black is entirely impossible, and if you journey into the unknown, then the unpredictable is likely to catch up with you. It was not the first tear in reality, nor would it be the last. It was highly unusual, however, for the same person to get caught up in the meshing of paths for a second time. This was probably why Tasha heard the voice as the ship fell through the quantum fissure into a void flooded with other versions of itself.
‘You don’t want to start slipping through parallel dimensions,’ Tasha murmured, instinctively approaching her husband’s post as she watched the screen fill with Enterprises, ‘you never know where you’re gonna end up.’
Data glanced across at her. ‘Are you quoting somebody?’
‘Guinan,’ breathed Tasha.
‘Who is Guinan?’
‘I don’t know,’ Tasha admitted, ‘but I know that, wherever she is, this’ll be giving her a killer headache.’
Behind her, Worf was trying to hail the other ships in an attempt to find his own version of reality. Unfortunately, it seemed, everybody else had the same idea. The hailing frequencies were a gabble of voices. This was going to be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Images of the ship’s Bridge – always slightly different in design and crew – began to flash up on the screen as various Captains Picard, Riker, and at one point, Jellico, attempted to piece together what was going on. She watched the different crews as they popped up. Although it gladdened her heart to see Picard and Geordi alive in so many of them, as well as the occasional glimpse of the other friends she had witnessed the deaths of, she found it troubling that she herself was absent from over half of the crews that she saw. One of the versions of Worf they’d played host to since this whole incident began had mentioned that in his universe she had been killed years ago. More concerning to her still was that every time she saw an alternate version of her husband, he was still android. Whenever a crew appeared on screen that contained both her and Data, the other Tasha was never standing at the other Data’s side as she did at her husband’s Ops post. The other Tasha and other Data would always be apart… she always got the feeling that there was an awkwardness between all those other versions of themselves. From the comments this latest version of Worf had made, in his reality Data was neither human nor in a relationship with Tasha.
Tasha instinctively brushed hands with her husband as she wondered – certainly not for the first time – whether his enforced humanity and their marriage was linked. She’d always hoped not. She’d fallen for him before he was changed. Admittedly, it was during that upheaval after his transformation – when he wasn’t able to cope with his new biological needs; when emotions, physical pain, fatigue and slowed responses were still coming as unpleasant shocks to him – that they found themselves growing closer and truly realising that they should be an item. She couldn’t imagine though, had he not been made human, that him being an android could have prevented her from marrying him. Was she really capable of being that shallow? She’d told him the day she’d proposed that she’d always love him, no matter what – that they were meant to be together - and she’d believed it. The recent breakdown in reality, however, had made her question whether anything, even love, was truly “meant to be”. Worf himself seemed surprised and uncomfortable at the concept of being married to Deanna, and Tasha couldn’t imagine those two not being completely in love with one another. Perhaps love really was just down to circumstance, and dumb luck. The idea of that depressed her no end.
The void was continuing to fill with different versions of the ship. How many more could the fissure take before reality collapsed completely? One version of Captain Riker could be briefly heard offering a solution, as long as the correct Enterprise for their version of Worf could be found, but his voice was quickly lost in the confusion again. There were voices desperate to return to their realities… and voices just as desperate never to go back. As plagued as Tasha’s reality was by the Borg, the cries for sanctuary from other versions of themselves brought home to her just how much worse her situation could be.
Amongst the half-conversations being picked up came a spark of hope for a return to normality; the voice of Jean Luc Picard speaking about a remodulated shuttle, and the possibility that sending one of the Worfs back in it could mend the tear. Tasha shared a glance with her husband. It was both joyous and heartbreaking to hear Picard’s voice again. The voice of the old Captain mentioned that the remodulated shuttle had been Data’s idea – another Data, an android Data, no doubt. Her, human Data cast his eyes back down at his console. She knew that he didn’t need reminding that his mind now was nowhere near as quick or keen as it had been when he was electronic. As a human, he could never have come up with that sort of plan so swiftly.
In spite of the plan that had been suggested, the cacophony over the hailing frequencies continued abound. Some voices were still determined not to go back; most were either questioning the proposed solution or still, as they were doing, fruitlessly trying to find which ship it was that the version of Worf they were currently playing host to belonged aboard. After all, even if the fissure were sealed, what would that mean for everybody who had fallen through? Would the Worf with them remain unstuck in reality? Would they all now remain dislodged in this strange void? How could they ensure that they’d be returned to the correct reality, and even if they were, would they have any memory of what had happened? Would the strange events surrounding Worf’s reality jumping be undone? Would Geordi be revived? Tasha found herself instinctively trusting the plan that she’d heard – but was that because it made sense, or just because she’d longed to hear Jean Luc Picard’s voice again for so long that she’d automatically have faith in any proposal he put forth?
It was certainly better than any plan they’d come up with themselves, so maybe all that there was left to do now was wait.
-x-
‘Worf!’
Tasha beckoned the Klingon over to her table. He had entered Ten Forward looking lost and mildly put-out. He sat down opposite her with a pensive expression.
‘You OK?’
Worf frowned at her. ‘There was nobody in my quarters.’
‘Were you expecting anybody to be in your quarters?’ Tasha asked. ‘I thought Alexander wasn’t due back for another few days.’
‘I was anticipating…’ Worf trailed off. ‘After all, it is my Birthday…’
‘Why would we throw a party in your quarters? You’d hate that. We’re having a little get-together here at 2100 hours. Remember? It was all arranged before you left for the tournament.’ Tasha paused. ‘Guinan sends her apologies, by the way – she doesn’t think she’ll be well enough to make it by this evening.’
‘Guinan is ill?’
‘Headache,’ relied Tasha. ‘I imagine it’d be to do with this… what did you call it? A Quantum Fissure?’
‘That’s likely,’ Worf nodded. ‘I was beginning to wonder if I were the only one who was in the least bit affected by it after it was sealed.’
‘Well, Guinan’s perceptive like that. Frankly, I’m just grateful that it was somebody else falling through into the wrong dimensions for a change.’ Tasha smiled brightly before sipping at her coffee. ‘So what was it like?’
Worf shook his head, vaguely. ‘There was a state of much confusion aboard the vessel that I found myself on in the fissure, so many of the details were not available to me. Another version of the Enterprise’s crew was able to locate the version of myself who belonged to their universe and seal the fissure. The events surrounding my dislodging in reality must have undone themselves. I found myself returning from the Bat’leth tournament once more as though nothing since then had ever occurred.’
Tasha set down her cup. ‘I meant, what were the other realities like?’
‘Strange.’
‘How?’
Worf eyeballed her. ‘Do you really want to know?’
‘Of course! Come on, I already know the sad fate of one alternative Tasha Yar – you’ve got to tell me at least some of the other ones were just a little bit happy.’
‘Some of them were content,’ confirmed Worf, warily. ‘Largely. From what I was able to tell.’ He paused. ‘In the first reality I visited, however, you were dead.’
Tasha’s smile dropped. ‘How?’
‘In many versions of reality,’ Worf explained, ‘it would appear that the Telemachus Tragedy happened to us instead.’
Tasha nodded, solemnly. ‘I never could shake the feeling that we really dodged a bullet when Deanna was too sick for that conference. She’d have been on that shuttle that crashed, otherwise.’ She thought back. ‘That all happened so long ago – I’d have barely known you guys. God, I’d have been so young…’ she trailed off. ‘But that was only in the one reality, right?’
‘Of those that I visited, yes. But there was another reality in which it had been Commander Data who lost his life on Vagra II.’
‘Poor Alternate Data,’ Tasha breathed.
‘Death in the line of duty is preferable to having never existed in the first instance,’ muttered Worf, quietly.
‘Was it really all that bad?’ Tasha asked. ‘Weren’t there any realities where people were alive and well and happy? No surprise babies? No surprise marriages?’
She caught a small, knowing smile playing around her Klingon friend’s mouth.
‘There were,’ she prompted, lifting her coffee cup to her lips once more, ‘weren’t there?’
‘In the final reality,’ Worf admitted, ‘both you and I were married.’
Tasha choked a little on her coffee. ‘To each other?’ she asked, incredulously.
‘When I asked you that in the other dimension, you laughed in my face.’
‘Really?’ Tasha winced. ‘I apologise on her behalf. It’s just…’
‘It’s just that I’m the big Klingon brother you should always have had?’
‘I couldn’t have put it better myself.’
‘You didn’t.’
Tasha wrinkled her nose, confused. ‘What?’
‘You were not my wife,’ Worf clarified. ‘You were never my wife.’
‘Well, you don’t have to sound so relieved about it,’ Tasha grumbled. ‘So, who was?’
‘Hmm?’
‘Who was your wife?’
‘I don’t see how that is any of your business.’
‘Oh, come on!’ Tasha paused. Worf had obviously made up his mind that the identity of this mystery wife of his should remain a secret. Which obviously meant that it had to be somebody she knew very well. ‘Well, at least tell me who I was married to…?’
Worf raised his eyebrows. ‘Who do you think?’
‘Don’t tell me there’s a dimension out there where me and Data actually made it work together?’
Worf nodded. She didn’t know why, but that knowledge suddenly made her incredibly happy.
‘Well, how did we manage to pull an impossible feat like that off?’
‘He was human,’ Worf replied, simply. ‘Q’s doing, after the Calamarain.’
‘Oh.’ Tasha pondered this. ‘Well, good for him, I guess. Got what he always wished for… I mean, I know he’d said no to Q turning him human with a click of the fingers before, but… but it worked out for him, right?’
‘Isn’t there an old human saying,’ Worf retorted, quietly, ‘that one should always be careful of what one wishes for?’
‘Weren’t we happy together?’ Tasha asked.
‘I believe that the marriage I saw between the two of you was loving,’ Worf told her, ‘and you did seem to be content with the situation.’
‘However…’ Tasha prompted.
Worf paused, before reluctantly answering. ‘He was miserable. He was in a situation where he was no longer himself, and three years after he had been transformed, he was still constantly struggling with his humanity. You were a comfort to him, but…’
‘But not enough,’ Tasha sighed. She wondered now whether every time she’d wished Data to be a little more human, she had been wishing the unhappiness Worf had described upon him.
‘That reality doesn’t affect ours,’ Worf added. ‘They were different lives, running parallel to ours. That is all.’
‘You really think that?’ Tasha asked. ‘You’re really not going to let all those other Worfs whose lives you lived, and all those different decisions they’d made affect the way you carry on with your own life?’
‘I am not,’ Worf resolved. ‘This is my reality, and it is shaped by my own will. I’d have it no other way. Neither should you.’
Tasha fell silent for a moment. Maybe Sela’s continued presence serving as a reminder of the ill-fated Other Tasha made her a little more concerned about the happenings of other dimensions, or maybe it was just that Worf’s description of her being married to a human version of Data, with her joy in his humanity coming at the cost of Data’s own wellbeing, had stuck in her mind, but she couldn’t help but feel particularly moved by the story Worf had just told her – as though it were a part of her own life, somehow. Still, what was dwelling on these matters going to achieve?
She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind and gave her friend a bright smile.
‘Great to have you back, Worf.’
‘It is a relief to be back.’
‘Happy Birthday.’