Star Trek - DS9 - 03 by Bloodletter

Author:Bloodletter [Bloodletter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-08-07T10:12:46.092000+00:00

�Is that what you wish to do?� He heard the voice behind him. Turning his head, he looked over his shoulder and saw the image standing there. He had already opened the access hatch leading down to the engine compartment; he sat at its rim, legs reaching down to the rungs. �I don�t know,� said Bashir. �But I knew you were watching me�all of you. I couldn�t think of any other way to make you show yourselves.� A different voice, the angry one, came from the Kira image. �You see?� The image tilted its head back, the star-filled gaze directed toward an invisible audience. �So lightly this one threatens us! Our existence means nothing to such a creature!� �That�s not true. I would never have come here among you if�.�.�. if I didn�t think you mattered a great deal. Like all living creatures.� He craned his neck, trying to peer into the blackness of the image�s eyes, as if he might see all the wormhole�s inhabitants mingled in that small universe. �I wanted to understand you; that�s all. Curiosity is in the nature of my kind.� �That comes from being in time.� The softer voice spoke once again. �You are blind things, attempting to see. If you were outside time, you would know.� Bashir shook his head, sensing the gulf opening up between him and these bodiless entities. He could wander in that space for ages, trying to make himself understood by them in turn. �That may be. But we don�t have a choice about it.� �That is not truth. There is one of your kind who exists both in time and not in time.� The statement puzzled him. �Do you mean Sisko?� �Not that one. He is still of the same nature as you. But there is another�do you not know?� The riddles had started to make his head spin. �I don�t know�.�.�. and I guess right now I don�t care, either. You can talk metaphysics all you want, but you�ll have to do it without me. I�ve still got to figure out what to do about Kira.� Looking down at itself, the image studied the human form it had taken. �This one�� It laid a hand upon its breast. �That exists in your mind�that part you call memory�but not here.� �Yes. She exists somewhere else, though. Outside the wormhole.� He gestured toward the bulkhead and the space beyond the cargo shuttle. �Outside where you exist.� �The fate of this one concerns you. You are troubled that this one might cease to exist in time. Would this one still not exist in memory?� He took a deep breath. �Yes�.�.�. she would. But it�s not the same thing. Memory isn�t alive�.�.�. not the way I am, and she is. Memory is like your kind. It doesn�t change.� �Perhaps then it is a better way to exist. Changeless and eternal.� His shoulders slumped. �I�m not going to argue with you about that. Maybe our kind is wrong, and you�re right. But it�s just in our nature.

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