“That seems a tad excessive,” McCoy said. “I can see whitewashing O’Herlihy’s misdeeds out of the history books, but why suppress major scientific discoveries?”
“Consider the times,” Kirk said. “The economy is in trouble, World War III is on the horizon. I can see how the powers that be might fear that news of an unknown alien artifact tampering with our solar system might alarm an already jittery world. Or perhaps the Western powers simply don’t want to share their secrets with the Eastern Coalition. We can’t underestimate how paranoid people in this era are, sometimes with reason.”
“It is a pity,” Spock observed, “that the secrecy of the times will cause so much fascinating information to be lost to history.”
“Until now.” Kirk imagined that the ship’s historian would want to debrief him thoroughly at some point. What was her name again? “I have to ask, Spock. What becomes of Shaun and Fontana? Do they end up together?”
Spock sighed, as though such unscientific matters were beneath him, but he had clearly anticipated the question. “History records that they will marry in 2021, almost immediately upon their return to Earth. They will have two children, one of whom, there is reason to believe, will be conceived during their long voyage back from Saturn. James Kirk Christopher-Fontana, to be precise.”
“You see, Bones?” Kirk grinned at the doctor. “It seems everything’s turned out just the way it’s supposed to.”
“Except for one persistent loose end waiting outside in the hall,” McCoy said. “She’s been asking to see you.”
Zoe. Kirk had almost forgotten about her.
“What about her, Spock? What does history tell us about Zoe Querez?”
“Curiously little, Captain. In fact, there are no references to her after this date and scant few before then.” Spock sounded mildly vexed that she had eluded his research. “Of course, records from this era are notoriously incomplete. Much of the data was lost during the ensuing world war.”
“True enough.” Kirk hoped that Zoe’s future anonymity didn’t mean that she would be thrown into some secret government prison after her antics in space. She deserved better, even if she did know more than she should. “All right, Bones. Send her in.”
McCoy paged security. Moments later, Zoe was escorted into sickbay. He saw, with some amusement, that she had borrowed a red yeoman’s uniform from somewhere. She twirled, showing off her legs.
“You like? If I had to wear those same old clothes one more day…”
“It suits you,” Kirk said. “I mean it.”
She squinted at his unfamiliar features. “Is that really you in there, Skipper? I admit, I’m still getting used to your brand-new face.”
“Depends on which Skipper you mean. I’m the other Shaun you knew, the one after the probe. The more ‘interesting’ one, remember?” He smiled at the memory of their zero-g grappling in the airlock. “I hope the new face doesn’t put you off too much.”
“Nah.” She winked at him. “It suits you.”
He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and got to his feet. It felt good to have a young, capable body again, well adapted to artificial gravity. McCoy and Spock backed away to give them some privacy. “I appreciate your help with the rescue mission.”
“No problem. I hear you folks pulled the doc’s kid out of the fire?”
“She’s fine, thanks in part to the intel you provided.”
“Good,” Zoe said. “I liked Marcus, even if he did try to kill us all.” She glanced around the sickbay, taking in this peek at the future of medicine. “So, what now, Skipper? You beaming me back to the Lewis & Clark?”
“I’m afraid our transporters aren’t quite that powerful. We’re still orbiting Earth, using our deflectors to avoid detection, which raises an interesting possibility. If you’d like, we can drop you off anywhere on the planet. There’s no need for you to spend the next three months in transit back from Saturn, especially since you weren’t supposed to be on that flight in the first place. Plus, it might make it easier for you to evade the authorities if you aren’t on the Lewis & Clark when it gets back to Earth in January.”
She shook her head. “Thanks for the offer, Captain, and I’m sure Fontana and the real Shaun will appreciate the alone time, but it’s not necessary.” She stepped away from the bed. “You see, Earth isn’t really my home.”
She shimmered before him like a mirage. Kirk’s eyes bulged, and Spock and McCoy rushed to rejoin them, as a familiar golden veil formed over her features. The red yeoman’s uniform vanished, replaced by twenty-third-century business attire. Kirk immediately recognized the petite figure standing before them.
“Qat Zaldana?”
“Hello again, gentlemen. It’s good to see you once more — in this persona, that is.”
“Wait a second,” McCoy blurted. “Am I getting this right? Zoe Querez and Qat Zaldana are one and the same?”
“So it appears, Doctor,” Spock said, “albeit separated by more than two centuries.”
She shrugged. “Time doesn’t mean a whole lot to beings like me. We’re not constrained by the fourth dimension the same way you are.”
“But which one is the real you,” Kirk asked, “and which is the disguise?”
“Both. Neither. That question kind of misses the point, Captain. You can call me Qat or Zoe, whatever feels natural.”
Kirk felt as if he was talking to an unusually glib Organian or a Metron. Clearly, this entity was far more than she had appeared to be — in either of her guises. No wonder she had been able to stow away aboard the Lewis & Clark so easily. She could probably go anywhere she wished.
“I don’t understand,” he said. “What have you been doing among us? Why did you conceal your true nature?”
“To avoid spoiling the game, of course. It’s been a nail-biter, but you came through with flying colors… in both centuries.”
“A game?” Anger flared inside him. “Is that all this was to you? Some kind of sport, an entertainment? We almost died out by Saturn. People did die at Klondike VI!”
“That wasn’t my doing. I was just playing along, watching as events unfolded according to the choices made by you and your fellow creatures.” Her veil shimmered and evaporated, exposing Zoe’s face underneath. “It was the doc who went off his rocker, remember, and the colonists on Skagway who panicked and rioted.”
“But if you’d been honest with us,” Kirk insisted, “revealed your true nature, couldn’t you have fixed things yourself, before things reached a crisis? You obviously have knowledge and abilities beyond our own. Why didn’t you use them to help us instead of watching us run around like rats in a maze?”
“More like adorable puppies learning a new trick,” she teased him. “Seriously, it wasn’t my place. Your plane of existence — your challenges, your victories. Think about it. Would you really want higher-level busybodies like me meddling in your affairs all the time?” She turned back into Qat again. “And honestly, material beings and worlds all seem fairly ephemeral from our perspective. Whether the rings collapse now or billions of your years from now doesn’t really matter to us; they’re still gone in a blink.” Zoe emerged from beneath the shimmering veil. “The fun was in seeing how you all coped with that twisty little temporal puzzle at the center of your respective missions.”
Fun? He was starting to wonder if she was less like an Organian and more like a Trelane. Come to think of it, Zoe’s mischievous, frequently immature attitude bore a slight resemblance to a certain self-styled Squire of Gothos. He wondered if he should call for security — and if that would make any difference.