Mirror Universe - 002 - Obsidian Alliances by Star Trek

Author:Star Trek [Star Trek]
Language: deu
Format: epub
Published: 2011-02-06T10:07:11.106000+00:00

"To show you what you could be!"

"It was lies! All lies- !"

No. It wasn't.

Muck whirled and faced the tank and slammed a fist into it, accomplishing nothing beyond hurting his hand. "Shut up, McHenry! That couldn't be me! It couldn't!"

It wasn't. It was Mackenzie Calhoun. And so is this...

And Muck's head exploded with another image. This time he was still awake, but it imprinted on his mind the same way that a sudden intense, brilliant light would sear itself into one's retina. He saw another version of himself, younger, on Xenex, his hair long, his face newly scarred, his arms spread wide as he was shouting to his people, and they were gathered by the thousands, all shouting his name, hailing him as a great hero, and even D'ndai was there crying his praises, they all loved him, they all needed him, they all-

"Stop it! Stop it!" Muck fell to the floor, his hands over his ears, and he started to sob, feeling the last vestiges of his self-control slipping away. "That's not me! It's not!"

No. And it never can be. You are you. You are what you are now. What you wish to become...only you can determine.

He pounded the floor in frustration, his fury blasting in all directions, unfocused, like a wildfire, and suddenly there was a pair of arms around him. It was Soleta, holding him as tightly as she could. He struggled in her grasp, tried to pull away, but her strength was considerable.

"What do you want from me!" he howled. "What do you want!?"

"For you to be free of your rage. Of your hatred."

"And without those, what am I?"

"Whatever you want to be."

He had stopped struggling. Soleta braced herself for the likelihood that this was a trick. Instead, he said slowly, "I killed all those people on Danter. I can't be 'whatever I want to be.' I'm a mass murderer."

You didn't kill them, said McHenry's voice in his head.

"I know I didn't. You did. But- "

No one did. I fired on the planet's surface. I destroyed their military might. Their ships, their weaponry, the factories that they use to build them. And I annihilated entire surface areas that were largely uninhabited. I scared the hell out of them, true enough, and rendered them powerless. They'll probably spend the rest of their lives living in fear of the wrath of Xenex, which isn't a terrible thing. But they'll live. He paused. But now that you know- if you want me to- I will indeed kill them. You tell me.

Muck hesitated a long moment. Then, slowly, he said, "Those images...all lies...?"

"They represent other realized possibilities. The multiverse is full of them. Infinite diversities," Soleta told him, "in infinite combinations. And you get to choose what combination you want."

"I don't know what I want."

"Well," she said, "that's a start."

27

The Xenexians of Calhoun fled in fear as the massive ship descended from overhead like a vehicle of the gods. There was a cacophony of babbling and fear and praying and great certainty that they were all going to die.

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