Epilogue - And Yet We've Just Begun...KES
It had been three years since Kes discorporated. It had been one year since she had forced the wailing energies that had been the Second Caretaker to take her now-aged form, beginning a time-loop that was painful for any being to contemplate.
But now the Caretaker had been released by Kes's dead body, having been confused and then turned around by Janeway's pleas. Kes would have to find some way--any way--to contain this being's hate. Time said that her final fate would be the so-called Funnel. But time was damned odd in how it went about things, and Kes knew this.
*Well, I can't let you wreck any more havoc in my reality.*
By focusing on the universe around her the way Tuvok had once shown her to focus on the flame of a candle, Kes saw a reality full of beings well capable of keeping high-level energy wielders in check. Grabbing the mass of hate, Kes entered that reality, and was surprised to see its own version of Earth.
*It must be near a locus of possibilities.*
A primitive space shuttle in the far distance told Kes that this was likely the planet's 20th Century, by some countings.
*There's a woman aboard it. She's dying.*
Radiation was killing her. She was sacrificing her own life to save her friends--as Kes had done. But this woman would die the true death.
Kes was impressed, both by the woman's love for her friends, and by the friends themselves. They were shockingly similar to the people on Voyager. The dying woman's love for one of them, though, was unlike what Kes had felt for either Tom or Neelix. It was for him, more than any other, that this woman gave all.
Kes made an offer to the woman.
*I can help you. I can save them. But I'll have to do it my way. Will you accept this--for him?*
"Lady, to save him, I'd deal with the devil himself!"
*Let's hope I don't come to that.*
Kes then placed the woman in a healing cocoon. As she guided the shuttle back, she formed a new body for the woman to inhabit. But then, as the shuttle set down in the Hudson River outside New York City, Kes did something she would regret.
This woman's love for and love from this man was something she wanted badly. So badly, she was willing to almost kill for it. She kept the woman in the cocoon, to heal, but did not transpose her spirit into the duplicate. Instead, she inhabited it herself. The glory of this woman's passion made her ecstatic; The guilt over stealing her life, even for a time, caused her to go into denial. Kes told herself she hadn't really stolen anything; She was the woman, merely transformed. Radically transformed. Ultimately transformed.
The woman's friends, now her friends, waited on the surface, fearing the worst. Her life was now subsumed by this woman, and her love for this man. Eventually, Kes would go back to her home universe, and the evil of the vengeful Caretaker would find its final fate. For now, though, both were merged and yet would still struggle. Rising from the water, the new being wanted to tell her friends that she was fine. But this was too much of a lie, so she shaded the truth which she hid even from herself.
As she rose, the man who loved her-or thought he did-looked up in shock. They all did. She said a few, simple words to these extraordinary people, before collapsing from exhaustion. For good or ill, she was quite reborn.
"Forgive me, X-Men. For I am no longer the woman you knew. Now, and Forever, I AM PHOENIX!"
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NEELIX
A new world. A new life. A wife, and a stepdaughter who held his heart as surely as Naomi had. Naomi, who hadn't needed him any more, she said. But the note attached to the ancient vid she had sent perhaps belied this. Neelix and his little heart watched and laughed as the tricksters were all defeated by the cartoonish green dragon on-screen. He also re-read the note.
*Neelix--please watch the part where Pete says goodbye to Elliot. It will say what I couldn't bring myself to.*
On-screen, that moment came.
*Elliot, I know you have to go. That somewhere, there's another child who needs you, just like I did. But I will always love and miss you. No matter how long I live. You took care of me, and I will remember you.*
Neelix was a full five minutes before he stopped crying. His step-daughter held him til he was all right, but then she had a question.
"That man who wanted to sell Elliot the Dragon? Are there really people like him in the universe?"
Smiling, Neelix avoided for the moment recounting some of her stepdad's antics.
"Oh, there sure are. In fact, I encountered one of the worst, while on Voyager. He was a lazy, conniving, and cowardly man named Doctor Zachary Smith. See, these people wanted to explore their universe, but Doctor Smith was somehow always in the way."
The little one laughed as she heard a tale of space pirates, walking carrots, duplicating machines, and monkey-like creatures, all containing an improbable man who just couldn't learn what not to touch.
Soon, all the children of the Talaxian colony wanted to hear this amazing story, though some did wonder why Smith was never pushed out an airlock.
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SEVEN OF NINE
Sighing, Tom looked down at Arachnia's deadly robot.
"You know, Seven, that the 'Captain Proton' program works best when you DON'T push the robot over--again?"
Seven shook her head.
"I have dropped my objections to its primitive nature. I now understand the basis of the concept called 'suspension of disbelief'. Yet I must continue to draw the line at this tin travesty. It does not look remotely like it could even conceivably present a danger to us."
Tom was about to argue the point, when a notion hit him.
"Then we'll just get another Robot."
Within seconds, the old clunker from the 1930's movie serial vanished, to be replaced by a sentinel of gleaming chrome and glass.
"Greetings, Tom Paris. It has been some time since you accessed my program. Who is your companion? Her circuitry is arranged in a pleasing and logical manner."
Seven turned, and looked at Paris.
"I approve of this one."
--------------------------------------
A MIXED MESSAGE
The young man from the Alpha Quadrant made his apologies.
"I had my doubts when Reg asked me to do this, Captain Janeway. I did at least think my time-stepping abilities could bring some of you home. But due to all the temporal anomalies you've encountered, no one here is chronologically stable enough to be moved by my methods."
The legendary earnestness of this young man had now been tempered by some harsh realities, both before and after his return to Starfleet. But he was a visitor from home, and so, awkward or invincible, he was welcomed with open arms.
"You did your best, Mister Crusher. That's all anyone can ask."
"Yes, Ma'am. Before I leave--here's a message I promised to deliver. Its for yourself, Commander Chakotay, and Lieutenants Paris and Torres. I can't say anything more about it, I'm afraid. I have to go before Voyager's time-field keeps me here, as well."
Crusher smiled as he put two fingers to his forehead.
"Wouldn't want to wish that fate on you, after all."
The self-deprecation on the young traveler's part was mildly amusing. But as he vanished, Janeway's chuckle turned to a gasp as she looked over the message. Chakotay saw this.
"Kathryn, who's it from?"
Torres looked at her copy, and spoke when Janeway couldn't.
"Its from the Robinsons."
-------------------------------------
THE DAY AFTER THE RETURN
TUVOK
"My wife. I am greatly pleased to see you."
"Husband, are you distressed? That greeting was highly emotional."
"That, my wife, is a long-term result, I fear, of our being--lost in space."
-----------------------------------------
BE'LANNA TORRES AND TOM PARIS
Tom's niece held the newborn Miral gingerly, and seemed to be smiling all the way from head to toe.
"Aunt Be'lanna! The baby's almost as pretty as you are!"
For Torres, so fearful of both her own appearance and that of her baby, these words from Tom's flesh and blood were welcome indeed.
"Thanks, Nicki."
"Hey! Where's my Mommy and Uncle Tom?"
In the distance, Be'lanna saw tears streaming down Sadie Paris Martin's eyes. A gentle hug and the mouthed words *Of course I forgive you* told an older sibling that the betrayal and hurt was all done with. Sadie had gotten the help she needed, and a brother and sister were reborn. She prayed silently for another set of siblings, whom she was to someday meet again, as by arrangement.
"They're just happy to see each other, Nicki. Its been a long time since they could ya know, just talk."
A very long time that was now done with.
-----------------------------------------
THE EMH
He grabbed his shoulder.
"Surrender it? Whatever for?"
Reg Barclay shrugged.
"Doctor, its 29th Century tech. We can't allow it to fall into the wrong hands. But you will have free run otherwise, and I'll see to it that not only are you never reprogrammed, but that together, we restore the other EMH Mark Ones."
After an hour, the Doctor gave up the portable holographic emitter. But while Reg kept his word in every way, the emitter did not exactly go to the right hands.
Jellico bristled at the presence of the 'dead' Luther Sloan. But he was still a necessary evil.
"What have you learned? Why did this 'Braxton' and his time authority allow the EMH to keep the emitter?"
The man from 31 popped open the emitter.
"To make sure we got this message, Admiral."
Braxton's image appeared, and began to speak.
"Gentlebeings, whether you be of good or bad intent is now irrelevant. I am risking a great deal to make you aware of an effort, based in my own time, to significantly alter critical events in the later part of the 22nd Century. Create a temporal-zone shield and then everyday, ask a library computer both inside and outside the shield the following question: When did Terrans first make contact with the Klingon Empire?"
Independent of Voyager, another series of events had been set in motion.
------------------------
HARRY KIM
Captain Terrence gave Ensign Kim the news.
"There is no space available for a lieutenant aboard the Apex. We simply have no position available--for a Lieutenant. Nor, I'm afraid, for an ensign, either."
Harry asked the obvious question.
"Then why am I here, sir?"
Terrence smiled.
"Because there is a space open for a Lieutenant Commander--as my ship's First Officer. You survived the real void, Mister Kim. I want that kind of experience aboard my ship. That is, if you're willing."
The first thing Lt. Cmdr. Kim did after accepting the position was send a highly affectionate but slightly sarcastic note to his former Captain. Tom and Be'lanna had already been promoted, and had their hands full on several levels. But he would pay back every single promotion joke, in his own time.
As he had vowed, Harry only read Penny Robinson's short note to him now that he was home.
*Harry--I've found a form of peace. Thank you for trying.*
Sighing, he placed it aside, wondering not for the first time just how Crusher had met the other-dimensional family. Assigned as he was to the Enterprise-E under Captain Riker, it would be a while before Harry could ask him.
"Yeah. It'll be the grand gathering of the Starfleet geeks."
He sat back, wondering if the eternal junior member of Voyager's senior staff could make it as an Executive Officer, really the ship's grownup.
"God, give me a sign that this good fortune isn't going to evaporate."
There was a knock on the door. Harry answered it, to find Seven Hansen standing there.
"Starfleet has offered me the post of Science Officer on the Apex. Chakotay and I had a falling-out over this matter. Since we are again to serve together, a consummation of our mutual attraction seemed in order."
Harry Kim's life was now in a happy turnaround--until he informed his waiting parents.
"Whatever-inherently deadly Federation enemy--makes you happy, son."
--------------------------------------
CAPTAIN JANEWAY & COMMANDER CHAKOTAY
The hearing was nearly done. Her accomplishments had been ticked off rather quickly. Her mistakes, as expected, took significantly longer to address. But this one last thing required the most direct examination.
"We, Admiral, made the grave mistake of thinking the Robinsons to be primitives. Coherent and determined and good people, but yet like cavemen to us. We looked at their technology, and allowed ourselves to believe their intelligence was similarly behind ours. This was both a mistake in protecting our secrets, and an insult to people we considered our friends. As Captain, responsibility for this potential trans-temporal disaster begins and ends with me."
Vice-Admiral Garrett Kirk, adopted child of Professor Kirk and Admiral Saavik, and daughter by blood of Captain Rachel Garrett, nodded. She had been put in charge of Operations after the Breen Incursion and the subsequent post-war resignations of Admirals Nechayev and Jellico. She intended to make her mark.
"Thank you, Kathryn. Commander Chakotay, before I arrive at my choice, may I ask your opinion of what happened to Cardassia, while you were away?"
Chakotay wondered at this question only briefly before answering.
"Admiral, the problem was, both Maquis and Starfleet turned out to be right. Cardassians wanted a better life. But they grew scared of what it took to do this, and so turned to the Dominion. They've paid for their sins. But they still possess a cultural hunger for power. Until that changes, an eye must be kept on the main Cardassian worlds."
Admiral Kirk now gave her decision on their fate.
"Captain, I must, as a result of certain policies you knowingly violated, albeit with cause, deny your promotion to Commodore. I choose instead to bring back the largely unused rank of Fleet Captain. Since my envisioned structure calls for fewer Admirals all around, this may be a way of keeping the 'five-pip conspiracies' from being quite so prevalent. I ask that you, with your intimate knowledge of complex and intractable situations, take command of Space Station Deep Space Nine."
Janeway recalled one of her briefings.
"I thought Captain Sisko's Bajoran First Officer was running things, there."
"With Bajor finally joining the Federation, Colonel Kira has chosen not to join Starfleet. She is currently seeking the highest political office possible."
Chakotay nodded.
"Leader of the Vedek Council?"
"No. President Of The Cardassian Union. Legate Ghemor's family is sponsoring her. It seems she's running neck-and-neck with a former Obsidian Order operative named Garak."
Admiral Kirk looked at Chakotay.
"Commander, you will be promoted to Captain and lead the Defiant group in keeping the peace in that sector. We're finally rid of the Jem'Hadar pockets. But now we need someone who can put his personal feelings aside for the greater good, but who can also keep his powder dry, in case the enemies of peace get ideas--which they always do. You have shown that you are that man. A number of Maquis are up for parole. Give me a list, and I'll see what we can do. Congratulations, you two--and again, welcome home."
As they left, Janeway smiled.
"So--its back to DS9? Think we can handle it?"
Chakotay nodded, feeling renewed despite Seven's choice.
"As long as we avoid the Badlands. My God, Kathryn--it'll be my job to patrol Cardassian space."
Janeway nodded.
"And keeping your Fleet Captain happy."
He looked stunned, but she just shrugged.
"We're back home, and if Seven is going to be that stupid, I'm not going to make the same mistake twice. After all--I'm not Queen Elizabeth. Not for a while now."
Unsure, he kissed her anyway, and decided to let things go where they might.
"I can testify to that."
----------------------------
THE UNIVERSE OF THE SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON
2004, RELATIVE TIME
A SMALL DISASTER
He had only been released for two hours.
Given a chance to walk about, the angry, dying man had done what he always did best. Sabotage.
Zachary Smith had used the very real post-cryo headache to his advantage, and listened intently as John and Maureen Robinson discussed the nigh-unthinkable.
"You were right, honey. Penny is feeling the tension worse than Will. Maybe its time we spoke to Don."
"We'd have to make it clear that his -services- would only be for an extreme situation like this."
In short order, the plan's obvious flaws had it well off the table. But Smith had all he needed. When the again-pregnant Judy passed by with the toddling Charlotte West in her arms, the viper moved to strike.
"You have more patience than I, my dear. Not to mention more tolerance."
Thinking herself ready for any of Smith's games, Judy shrugged as she walked away.
"I love children, Doctor Smith. My patience and tolerance can hardly be tested by my own children."
Smith had her.
"I did not mean towards the dear little ones, my child. I referred instead to your tolerance of your sister sharing your intended's carnal company. Unless I was mistaken, she was most delighted to hear your parents' proposal. But then, she's always had eyes for the Major. Truly, there is no accounting for taste."
At first, Judy Robinson sought out her mother, merely to have someone gag the furloughed prisoner. But things went wrong from there, as Smith had surely planned.
"Mother! What are you saying?"
"Judy--while we did discuss this solution, we decided that...."
In a red rage, Judy sought out a sister who kept almost exclusively to her work--and to the company of their younger brother, who made sure he always had something to do. Life was in a rough balance, and that balance was about to be undone.
"Judy?"
The look on Judy's face had not been seen since her first major detox cycle.
"You pathetic, ugly little, would-be homewrecker! You can't get a man to even come within a parsec of you, so you dare to target mine? Well, forget it! If our situation weren't what it is, you wouldn't even have poor Will to whine and moan to. Stay away from Don, Penny. Presuming he would even have you, of course."
Judy was speaking from multiple levels of claustrophobia and exhaustion. Ironically, the upgrade on Voyager meant less need to stop for fuel, air and water. Less planetfalls meant that even the well-designed spaces of the Jupiter 2 had become tight and confining. Perhaps Penny even knew this. But it did not stop her from running off, crying to her room. Judy yelled after her.
"Hold up! This isn't over."
Will stood between Judy and the object of her anger. He glared.
"Its over. Its over, or I swear, it'll take Dad and Don and Mom to get me away from your throat. Don't you ever speak to her that way again. Don't speak to me, period."
He was seventeen, and his skinny frame had filled out. Even if it had not, the anger in his eyes told Judy he was capable of making good on his threat, and she withdrew.
In an hour, an explanation was offered that only made the accusatory Judy feel worse, for jumping the gun. Maureen and John oversaw an apology session that was wholly insincere between the siblings. Don administered his own brand of sedative to the well-satisfied Doctor Smith, who then rubbed his own bloody lip.
"Strike me as hard and as often as you like, Major West. But consider this: It only took a few well-timed words from a source your woman trusts not at all to have this family on the verge of civil war. I don't have to kill a single one of you. You'll do it for me. Oh, and do tell me. Have William and Penelope begun to shower together, as yet?"
Another blow had Smith back in dreamland, and Don snarled as he shoved him back in the tube.
"Don't you talk about them that way. They're good kids."
West took an extra Bridge watch that evening, in order to calm down. But Smith's words kept repeating in his brain, and would not be so easily put out.
--------------------------------
2006 - THAT FATEFUL DAY
Their number was now six. That worthless little man, blown up by one of his endless schemes. That noble, shining mechanoid, taken protecting the family he loved from Smith's last folly. All of it had happened during a bizarre interlude, and coincided with the meeting of other unexpected friends.
The Phoenix-model warp drive, like any wage of sin, had not worked as they had hoped. But because of it, they now had an artifact of great power and versatility. Perhaps, mused John, His punishing hand moved simultaneously with that of his merciful one.
"Don, is the portal to Earth opened?"
"Yes, John. Big enough for a broadcast--but not for us."
"Maureen?"
"The artifact is stable, John. But for now, this broadcast-link is all we can hope for."
"It'll be good enough. Judy, are we sure that's our Earth?"
Hoping desperately that Charlotte could keep her two younger daughters out of the way at this critical moment, Judy checked the files they downloaded from Voyager against her current readings.
"Vibrational frequency match is near 100 percent, Dad. That's home."
"Excellent, honey. Will, position the transmitter. Take whatever time you need to make it a precise shot."
Silence reigned mostly now, aboard the ship that was more tense than ever. Parent rarely spoke directly to adult child. The younger siblings rarely spoke at all to the two older pairs. Everything was favoritism, or bespoke dictatorship, or smacked of mutiny.
"Transmitter positioned, sir."
"Penny, keep the beam focused on whatever coherent reception source we find first. If we lose it, refocus quickly."
"I know my job, sir."
John was about to address her tone of voice when he remembered the last argument they'd all had, over nothing, long, and wholly counter-productive.
"Hopefully, young lady, we all know our jobs."
Don would keep the ship steady, come what may. Judy would watch the artificial portal for stability, and to ensure they were talking to their native Earth, and not an alternate one. Will would operate the transmission hardware, and Penny would keep the beam going where it should. Maureen would be the voice of the ship, when they made contact. John prayed that the others still had enough respect for him to keep civil while this epoch-making event took place.
Penny made the announcement.
"Sir-I've locked us on to something in New York City. Its code-signal identifies it as The South Tower Memorial Transmitter."
Don looked up.
"In memorial to what? Did something happen near the Towers?"
Very near to a supremely tragic fifth anniversary, the Robinsons and West would soon have their answer. But for now, contact had to be made.
"Will, reposition the transmitter 3 degrees to the west."
"Gotcha, sis."
Penny frowned.
"Judy, is the portal stable? I'm just asking."
Perhaps the disclaimer was not needed, for Judy responded without any hint of anger.
"Its good, Penny. Oh, wait. Are you trying for Houston Control?"
Penny then remembered.
"Which probably isn't there anymore. Will, Washington will be more difficult to reach. We can't do the equivalent of a geosynchronous orbit. But its a lot more likely to have someone at home."
Don raised a finger.
"Will, if you can bounce the signal against the hull of the ship, it can hit a more obscure target. Its like aiming a remote control at a blank wall."
Will smiled.
"Don--everyone--we're being received. That last shift did it."
The tensions would not evaporate. But John felt that this day at least proved they could be turned back, if only for a time.
*Unknown User--You Are On A Pentagon Restricted Frequency. Please Identify Yourself.*
They would be required to provide massive amounts of proof that they were who they said they were. But Maureen spoke some words that would prove the turning point in their long, long journey.
"Be advised--we are the staff and crew of the Earthship Jupiter 2, launched in 1997. We are still determined to be the first humans to colonize the fourth planet orbiting the star, Alpha Centauri. We are still, despite loss and strain-The Space Family Robinson."
One year later, a full sixty years before the first touchdown in Kathryn Janeway's universe, the Jupiter 2 saw the marriage of four-time parents Don and Judy, on the world to be known as Alpha Centauri Four. It also declared via broadcast the immortal words:
First Primary Mission Accomplished.------------------
2008 - THE DISAPPOINTMENT
Upon receiving the news of the Jupiter 2's recovery, the people of the Earth demanded a return to space. But the vox populi is often hard to translate into reality, as the First Family Of Space learned that day.
Using the artifact that had enabled both their transmission home and sped through their journey to Alpha Centauri, John had opened the local portal just outside their new home's solar system. Allowing for the time to depart Earth's own solar system, this was the day that two new Jupiter-class ships, held in abeyance after the Robinsons' presumed loss, were to arrive, new colonists in tow. Two siblings stood in anticipation. The end of a long drought was near. Penny elbowed Will.
"You'll be the native guide. Show no mercy."
Will nodded.
"Time we did some things worth getting punished for."
The ships landed, but after ten minutes, when no one disembarked, John and Don drew their blasters, and made a careful check. An hour later, Don emerged from the first ship.
"Everyone--you better come in here."
With Don, Jr., holding on to his Uncle Will's hand, and each of the other children carefully accounted for, they boarded the Jupiter-class ship--and heard its recorded message.
*There was simply no time to train new astronauts. Many of our older ones still feel betrayed, or fear being stranded if the program is cancelled again. You will have your companion pioneers. We simply don't know when. We are sorry. Your courage and steadfastness deserve a like response, and we cannot yet give that.*
John looked around at the crestfallen faces.
"These ships contain the kind of material we'll need to make this world habitable. We knew there would be some heavy lifting involved. There are three ships, and three major continents to terraform. Owing to the responsibilities of raising the children, Don and Judy will take the smallest. Maureen and I will prepare this next largest one and the future landing point. Will, Penny---"
Will cut him off.
"I welcome the work, sir. I feel I speak for Penny in this, as well."
Penny found that she could not speak at all.
John pointed at the original ship."I don't want whoever might eventually show up seeing the alterations Kathryn's bunch made on the Jupiter 2, first thing. Also, you'll need its more advanced capabilities to farm that rocky land."
Needing the space, the once-close family almost joyfully went their separate ways.
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2010 - The Night Of The Storm
JOHN & MAUREEN
They had completed a good amount of work, though no one had accomplished the miracle that Will and Penny had. Turning, or perhaps sublimating, the restless energies of a hard decade, they had completed their continent's work in record time.
But John and Maureen were not happy to hear this, any more than they were to hear the storm that raged outside. Their equipment, protected by crude but workable forcefields, would be protected. Both prayed for God to protect their younger children. They held each other, the physical and emotional problems their marriage had suffered a memory that time alone together had erased.
"John, why did we send them out there? Alone?"
Maureen heard only silence for ten minutes, before he gave an answer.
"There is sin. And there is watching your children die inside, when fate conspires to deny them one of the things that makes life bearable. Like when we stole the warp drive, Darling, we made a choice."
"And what happens when we see the results of that choice?"
He shook his head.
"We'll yell at them, decry them, condemn them--then we'll remember that they are still the children we took into our hearts. I can't imagine them actually harming each other."
Maureen closed her eyes.
"Should we tell them they're adopted?"
"No. Because while we accept this turn--I can not in good conscience do a single thing to encourage it. I am still their father. Only their happiness allows me to stomach a solution that our beliefs scream out is an evil one."
Maureen held her man, who felt not so steady at all. For the first time in her life, she tried to force images of her two youngest children well out of her mind.
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JUDY AND DON WEST
She stared out the port at the storm, and then closed her eyes.
"Honey, what're you doing?"
She felt Don touch her shoulder from behind. Judy took his hand.
"I'm imagining them together. It'll make it easier, when we all 'find out'."
West was getting sick of this unspoken discussion, and made that plain.
"Y'know, the scandals aside, there are priests who spend their entire lives never being with anyone. If they can get through, then so can two kids I love like my own brother and sister."
She hugged him, but made her opinion plain.
"They're not priests, Don. They're two lonely kids who, if they haven't figured out how not to be lonely already, are going to. Could you or I have done without the other, these past years? Its not just physical stuff, either. Could we have borne being alone?"
He fell silent as he held her. Judy stared over at Charlotte's room, and prayed to God that other humans would make it to their newborn colony before she failed her own baby as she felt she had failed the ones God sent her to protect.
------------------------------
WILL AND PENNY
"What do you want?"
He looked at her, hunched against the wall, holding her pillow.
"I heard you cry out."
She had been crying.
"I cry out a lot. That never brings you running."
He gulped.
"The storm is pretty loud. I just wanted to see if you were okay."
She shook her head.
"I'm not okay. I'm lonely, and I'm scared as hell. The noise is cutting through my last nerve."
Will looked at her.
"I should go back downstairs."
Penny looked at him.
"Why are you scared of me?"
Will closed his eyes.
"Because for the past month, I've been setting up the seventh maintenance tier of micro-robots to back up our terraforming robots. Thing is, even for a storm like this, we only need four tiers. But if I don't find something to do--I'll think of you."
Penny wiped her eyes.
"I've seeded every corner of this continent with conifer trees, wildflowers and grass. And even when I'm doing all that-you are all that I can think of."
The noise of the storm did not diminish, but nor could they hear it any longer. Somewhere in the midst of the great storm's fury, the worst fears of two crews came to pass. What occurred and what followed broke the dread pattern in that it was not abusive. But nothing would be the same between them, ever again.
-------------
2025, RELATIVE DATE
ALPHA CENTAURI FOUR
REUNION, REVELATION AND RECOUNTING
Two captains and two admirals, none of them native to the universe they beamed into, looked about at what the Robinsons had accomplished. It had taken two centuries for their Alpha Centauri to look quite this good. There were perhaps tens of thousands of humans, and almost as many of another species, bald with wide heads and Trill-like markings on their scalps. Some hybrids were even in evidence. Janeway was flatly astonished at this. Miral Paris, aged fourteen, tugged on her father's hand to see a people wilder-looking than any of Be'lanna's family. A few of the humans stared over at the Starfleet contingent, perhaps a residual memory surfacing of that old venerable series, finally to be retired after its seventh sequel.
The Paris family made for a house on top of a small hill. The first family of space had never asked for special favors, but they had obviously called dibs on the prime locations.
Admirals Janeway and Chakotay headed for a fateful meeting with John and Maureen."Are we supposed to say anything about what they are? I mean, I never met anyone in this kind of situation. I just know I'm gonna step in it, and then you'll both be upset."
Be'lanna squeezed her daughter's shoulder.
"Miral, we have no idea how we're going to act. Just be polite, play it by ear--and don't ever be deliberately harsh. These are our friends."
Tom looked at the still-unanswered door, feeling haunted by what could have been for him, once upon a time.
"I couldn't believe it when they told us. You'd think they would have found any other way. That--they would have been given other options."
Captain Torres lightly punched her man's arm.
"I took the only real option available to me. Earth took too long in getting to this place, Tom. To ask them to give up what they had found would have been the even greater sin."
Paris looked down.
"Miral, you're wrong. I'm gonna be the one to step in it. I used to pray so hard that those two would find other--"
The door opened. A young man who could have been the twin of Will Robinson as they had known him on Voyager smiled. His jet-black hair was combed to the side. An infant girl in a walk-about played behind him, red-haired and freckled.
"Hi. I'm Peter Robinson. The drool-queen is my little sister Viki--short for Saavik. You must be the Parises. My folks have told me all about you."
Miral then did as she had feared and promised.
"What's it like having them as parents?"
Peter C.K. Robinson appeared to take it in stride.
"Well, I've developed a thick hide for dumb jokes, if that's what you mean. When that doesn't work, I know martial arts. Heh. Try this one: My family tree has no branches!"
Miral and Peter laughed. Tom and Be'lanna looked utterly creeped out. They moved on to the living room while the children exchanged wilder and grosser quips. The baby was scooped up by Miral, and placed into her crib, the jokes never stopping or getting any better.
"Tom?"
"I see, honey. I see."
Tom had perhaps thought that, upon seeing, he might go hysterically blind, or even hyperventilate. But in reality, it was merely a happily married couple kissing. It still threw him, though.
"Be'lanna!"
"Tom!"
Running up from the couch, Mr. and Mrs. William and Penelope Robinson hugged their beloved guests. In all the multiverse, only the dear friends they'd named their children after could be more welcome. Penny saw how tense the Voyager alumni were, and tried a bit of her own gallows' humor.
"Well, I didn't have to change any of my stationery or checks..."
Torres angrily interrupted.
"Stop it! Just-just stop it! How could you two do this? How could you allow as sacred a thing as your sibling relationship to fall so completely away?"
Paris thought about restraining his wife, or apologizing for her words. But that isn't what he did.
"Guys--I think I'd like to know that, too."
Will sighed.
"There are people who ask us whether what we think what we did was right. We have to say no. They ask us if finding out about our being adopted made it any easier. We have to say that it only helps in that our kids won't have any blood or brain diseases. We were still raised together. For all intents and purposes, all we knew of each other was that we were family. They ask, sometimes more seriously than others, if what we did should be allowed for as a hazard of space travel. We have to say no. We tell them to send out ten families at a time, if they have to, but don't put any two kids in the position we found ourselves in. Finally, they ask whether having this attitude while not living it makes us hypocrites. Again, we have no choice in the answer, which in this case is yes. But if our ordeal tells them all to be ready for anything out here, then its well worth it."
Penny picked up, while also taking his hand.
"No other Terrans, Human or Tencton, showed up here until six years ago. By that time, our relationship was no longer a sin, a mistake, an act of desperation, or a sign of insanity bred by isolation. It was a fact. A friend of ours--the one we named our son for, showed us that we truly were in love. Even if we had stopped being together, we were now a couple. Not good? Probably. But we aren't an alternative, or a stopgap, or even a nightmare. We just are. My name is Penny Robinson, and this is my husband Will. If you want to know how we met, we'll tell you. Just be prepared to go 'Ooh-Ick' --a lot."
Torres looked down.
"I didn't mean to judge you."
Will took Be'lanna's free hand. He smiled.
"We want you to judge us, Be'lanna. Don't you two get it? We don't ever want to have anyone consider us to be a normal couple. Today, we are a fact, like Penny said. But we started out as an incipient disaster. This relationship could have turned abusive or pathetic at the drop of a hat. We were in such pain and guilt. That took a long time to fade. But we don't ever dare look at how we started as a good place to be. We weren't a healthy couple, then. We were two good, God-fearing kids who thought certain we were
going to Hell while breaking our parents' hearts. But by that time, ten tons of hormones, loneliness and despair had made us just not give a damn anymore. We were so afraid that Peter wouldn't comprehend the wrongness of how we came to be, we waited until the other colonist families finally arrived, and he had one or two girlfriends, before even thinking of having another child."Penny nodded.
"I still have nightmares of him getting married, pulling back his bride's veil, and its one of Don and Judy's daughters. And I'm actually relieved before I wake up, because at least she's only a cousin!"
Tom tried to smile. It was of course, very difficult.
"I think you two did a hell of a job. You made the best of a very bad circumstance. You helped build a world. But I still wish you could have stayed with us. Found--other options."
Will nodded.
"Not a day goes by that we don't what-if ourselves to death. On occasion, we even still fight like we used to, as kids. Again, not a healthy place to be. If we didn't love each other--we wouldn't even have what we do."
Be'lanna looked around.
"Speaking of kids? Where are Miral and Peter?"
The two odd couples would speak of many things. Borg. Q. Malon. Hunters. Holo-insurgents. Multiverse travel. Parabilities. But for then and there, they stewed in the fact that four seasoned space travelers had just left two teenagers alone.
As Tom and Penny laughed, Will and Be'lanna got up to find what they feared."Miral--if it snaps, snap it back on! If it raises, lower it, if it lowers, RAISE IT!"
"Peter--listen to me, young man! Whatever you're touching on her, I will chop off the equivalent part on you!"
Outside, the two wondered what the hubbub was about. They shrugged, and kept right on. Miral held up a potato chip.
"Oh, yeah? Well, we Klingons have ridges, too!"
Peter raised a finger.
"My---heh--grandpa just grounded my folks for not doing their chores!"
Many a bad pun passed through the cosmic ether, on that long night.
While their spouses searched for an assignation that was not occurring, Penny looked at Tom.
"It isn't like with your Sadie, Tom. And you don't bear any responsibility for this. Like humans for millennia, we found a way to survive. It wasn't the best or most proper way, but we did. Nowadays, trying to conceive of life without him makes even damnation not seem so much."
An older, wiser Captain Paris spoke from a part of himself that he rarely ever did.
"What with all the spousal abuse, murders, marriages-in-name-only, and real family disasters--I think he'll understand."
Penny grinned.
"*He'll* Understand? And you're from the 24th Century?"
Soon after, living lives that their much younger selves could never have imagined, two families sat down to dinner.
---------------------------------------
Admirals Janeway and Chakotay arrived at the other Robinson household, a split-level that looked something like two Jupiter-class ships placed atop one another. Maureen and John were waiting. No one looked any older than expected, and so nothing was said of it.
"Are you going to punch me out, Admiral Janeway? Or are you going to just arrest us for theft?"
Janeway looked, and saw another mother who had done what she had to for her mission, and for her family. She hugged Maureen.
"Why don't we just skip both and sit down for dinner?"
The two men chatted as they went inside.
"John, who are all the non-Terrans I've been seeing?"
John closed his eyes, opened them, and spoke. It was, as they say, a long story.
"Chakotay--never call those folks non-Terrans, or Newcomers. See, shortly after we left, Earth had an influx of immigrants. That was part of why the space program was cancelled. Racial tensions made people turn inward. But when the call went out, the Tenctons were fully half of our colonists. They've formed the backbone of what we've built here. Of course, their religious leaders had a fit over Will and Penny. But our Chief Constable, a former LAPD Vet, talked them down. Now, they evangelize against ever sending out less than four families at a time."
Chakotay laughed. He noted, without comment, that John said nothing of what human religious leaders' reaction to his children's life together.
"You even had first contact sixty years before us."
Dinner was served, and then--it was brought out. The working model of the Phoenix. Maureen pointed.
"Take that thing away. It was a sin to take it, and its brought nothing but heartache."
John seconded.
"Our own scientists have nearly broken the warp barrier, independently. It helped when we told them we knew it to be possible. But we never showed them this."
Janeway looked at Chakotay, then back at their hosts, puzzled.
"You mean you never used it?"
John sat down, and rubbed his eyes.
"Once. And it nearly ended our journey forever."
The Doctors Robinson began a sorry tale.It involved more good people, who became their friends--and more tragedy.
-------------------------------------------
MINNESOTA, 1902 - JUPITER 2 RELATIVE DATE 2005
Don West moved the last of the loose trees into place.
"That's it, John. Except for the solar panels, the entire ship is hidden. But it'll be months before we can recharge enough to try for a higher elevation."
John did not take it as a good sign that Don had stopped saying *I told you so*. He didn't need to. The experimental warp drive had drained the ship, and left them a century back, albeit on Earth. The abandoned property had bad land for farming, although Will felt he had an idea for that. But as Judy attempted to clean up the inside of the house, and Penny locked down the equipment they'd need, Maureen came running up.
"John--we have a problem! I went to release Doctor Smith from cryo--and he was already gone."
A viper had escaped into the prairie paradise they saw around them.
In the town's mercantile, Doctor Smith bartered a pair of boots for his supplies.
"Thank You, My dear lady. I hope in the future to avoid such lowbrow exchanges."
The mercantile's owner had never seen such a pair of boots before. They almost seemed to repel dirt and water.
"Well, Doctor, you speak so very well, I'm forced to accept your word that you fell in with the wrong crowd, for a time. Lord knows this town has enough of the wrong element."
"Again, thanks, my lady. You are the epitome of your shining reputation."
When Smith had asked, she had been called a snob, busy-body and a power-hungry witch. In other words, she would be as pliable as dear Seska had been.
Back at the site of Jupiter 2's descent and landing, a man now rode up, in the company of the young woman who'd spotted them earlier. He had longish, shoulder-length hair, salt and pepper from the gray. He wore clothes one might expect of a gentleman farmer, and a broad brim hat.
"My daughter tells me you folks are trying to make a go of this land. Now, its legally abandoned, so you can try it. But even for folks who know farming, its plenty rough. Not the place for--pardon my saying so--city folks who just want to get away from it all."
Maureen almost spoke, but didn't know what sort of man they were dealing with, and so let John speak for them.
"Well, sir, we are grateful to know that. But we do plan to move on, in less than a year. For here and now, we're kind of stuck. By the way, I'm John Robinson, and this is my wife Maureen."
The man accepted John's handshake.
"Pleased to meet you, Mister Robinson. Now, that's my daughter Laura, the local schoolmarm, and she's married to Manley Wilder. Myself, well, I'm just Caroline Ingalls' husband Charles, to hear her tell it."
Hiding inside the camouflaged Jupiter 2, Penny heard, gasped, and dropped her favorite set of books--written by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
"Not again..."
Yes, again. But that is a story for another day.
THE END