With a faint swirl of warped sensor readings the transwarp conduit collapses, and I quickly begin checking my surroundings. The first thing to become apparent is that I ain't where I aughta be. A faint yellowish star in the near distance is only a tiny bit brighter than the others around me, the computer quickly picking out a single midling small planet in its orbit. Subspace is dead, the normal chatter of dozens of living civilizations and a thousand dead ones absent, leaving only the faint thrum of the stars. Radio is unusually active, but there is nothing clear. A strange energy flash pops into being, and I have the 'puter focus in tightly on it. I blink at the sight, `A Babylon five style jump gate. Oh fun.' With that Miki starts rebanding the radio signals, and fairly quickly a dozen channels come clear, a few of them plain audio signals, but most the shrieks and hums of digital communication. `Let's see what we can see.' Miki localizes the signal sources, and sure enough they resolve into "ships of unknown conformation," the 'Fleet-speak almost making me giggle. I make a face at the sight of the biggest one, not a ship at all, but a giant station, the rotating section almost as large as a proper Gundam space colony. Miki notices, and re-labels things. `Well, I always had a faint desire to see this universe in person,' I grumble softly to ourself, then start us on the way in-system. That done I set to work on the transwarp data, telling the 'puter what I want to know about this last experiment, and what I've figured out, and why the two data items are important. Even with Miki helping it takes a little bit, so I'm almost to turnaround by the time I get done, almost half-way to the station at nearly three-quarters the speed of light. Braking thrust takes hold, pulling me forward against my seat-straps with about eight times the force of earth's gravity, since I have the inertial dampers tuned for optimum efficiency rather than comfort. About eight minutes out from the station they notice me, and I watch with amusement as a half-dozen Star Furies, the old, space-only kind, approach. I'm still traveling at almost a tenth the speed of light, and the 'puter hasn't mentioned . . . Grumble. Stupid user error, &Um, 'puter, adjust recent radio transmissions from the station,& &?& &big ship, labeled "Babylon 5"& &^^;& &right! for relativistic effects, and filter for messages addressed to us.& &^_^& She quickly flashes a page of transcribed messages across my view, from the arrival times the first one was at about the turnaround point. They are increasingly irrate, especially on the third and fourth page of transcriptions. `Babylon control, this is the unknown ship. I appologize for the confusion, but I did not have my communication equipment set for radio transmissions. I will reach a relative stop about six hundred kilometers from your station.' I watch to make sure the computer adjusts for velocity, then realize that I've another stupid user error to deal with. &Start decoding digital traffic between the ships. look for shared position and course data.& &!& `Unknown ship, could you please state your alliance and purpose for coming to Babylon Five?' Miki must have clarified. Good. `Babylon Five, I am Captain Suika Roberts of the U.N. Spacey, currently operating in conjunction with the Federation StarShip Voyager. I would like to do a little sightseeing while my ship's computer processes the data from my most recent set of experiments.' `Acknowledged.' suddenly the space in front of me is filled with colored lines, marking the courses of ships from a remarkable number of registries, or some such, although most are doubled, indicating a dual aligned ship. There are more of the pale blue that seems to indicate the Earth forces, the green, I quickly check, identifying one of the ships as Narn, and the purple, another check shows them to be Minbari. I come to a stop a safe two hundred kilometers from any ship's projected course, and the small cockpit of the Cosmo Zero goes weightless. `Babylon Control, I would like to request permission to set my ship into a geosyncronous orbit at this point,' I link the data onto the voice stream in the manner of the Earth-built ships, `for a period unlikely to exceed six months.' The time signatures on the Earth-ship transmissions indicate I've lost over a hundred years, so I should be able to get back about when I left, if I can get back at all. `Captain Suika, that would be acceptable. Would you require a shuttle to bring you to the station?' `No, I can get there on my own, but thank you for the kind offer.' I push the acceleration to 25G as I leave the relatively crowded vicinity of the station, keeping the inertial dampeners off. I bring them up about twenty minutes later, and slap the CZ to a sudden stop, then play with my orbit for a moment, getting it just right. I depressurize the cockpit, then open the canopy. Only a tiny bit of air remains, and it disapates rapidly into the even rarer atmosphere around us. I undo my straps, make sure that my removable weapons are stowed securly in the cockpit, and lever myself out. &Position?& Ii yo, Miki responds, interpreting for the ship's 'puter. Close the canopy, and let's be off, then. I wait, unmoving relative to the bright colors of the CZ's paint, as the canopy closes and the green LED indicating a happily locked fighter starts its slow, steady blinking. That done I turn my attention to the distant speck of B5, brightly lit with reflected sunlight. I twist the universe just so, and the speck grows rapidly, filling my view in an instant. I come to a stop outside the C&C window, and smile at the woman standing there, her face a mask of uncharacteristic shock. I wave. Miki, speak this to them for me. Sure, what? Babylon control, I was wondering if you could direct me to an airlock? Kotae kikitai? Mochi `Captain Suika?' I nod, watch as Ivanova continues, `If you proceed to the center of this section there is a large rectangular entry. There will be a clear window of about three minutes, and if you proceed to bay seven you will find an airlock on the inner wall. A security team will meet you there.' "OK. See you in a bit, perhaps." She nods, and I take off at a sedate pace. "Miki, what are they saying about us?" Eh tou, "Strange person apparently perfectly comfortable in vacuum will be entering by the lock in inner bay seven." "what do you mean, perfectly comfortable?" "she just popped up in front of the window in C&C, waved at me, and started talking without moving her lips. So far as I can tell she is not wearing a presure suit, and her propulsion system, whatever it is, does not have visible exhaust." Hmmm I slow as I approach the lock, slightly less than my normal walking pace. The outer door is open, so I step inside. It closes as I walk in, and after a moment the presure inside increases sufficiently and the inner door opens. I step out into the view of a full squad of security officers with drawn weapons, although, politely, they are not pointing them at me. `Hello! Do all visitors to B5 get this treatment?' I smile at Garibaldi, who scowls back. `No, you're the first. Michael Garibaldi, chief of Station Security.' `Captain Suika Roberts, U.N. Spacey.' I hold out my hand, and he reluctantly takes it. `U.N. Spacey?' he asks, dubious, eyeing the patch on my shoulder. `So, you've seen Macross then.' `How,' he looks down at me, shakes his head. `Let's go talk to the Captain.' I pad after him, several security officers falling in behind us, the metal deck cool beneath my mostly bare feet. - I tap my toenails against the floor, the short thick claws almost silent against the thin carpet. `Let me get this straight, you were conducting experiments in an unknown FTL technology, somehow ended up on the outskirts of this system, and you expect me to believe you?' `Don't see why not. Some of the things that have happened here are pretty far into the realm of unbelievability,' I finally decide I might as well just see what they'll do, `besides, I don't think any of the peoples currently involved in this mess can do this.' I lock a tractor beam onto the PPG in one of the security people's hand, yank it into my grip, fold my ears back, then pause, remembering the things are rather more explosive than I really should attempt this with. I bobble it instead, dropping the frictionless sphere on the captain's desk. He stares at it, then reaches out with one finger to touch the surface of it. It quickly tries to escape, sliding across the desk, aided slightly by the corealis(sp) forces acting on all of us. I let my ears relax back into their more normal position. `What is this?' `A bobble. Spherical temporal stasis field, which should be collapsing about,' I look down for a few seconds, then look back up again, `now.' The PPG falls to the desk with a slight clatter. `I think you have proved at least that your technology is different than anything from around here. `Why thank you captain.' I smirk at him. - `I don't know what to make of her captain. She looks like an elf out of some fantasy game, she's almost impervious to scans, and she knows about _Macross_.' `What is _Macross_?' - San nichi kan gurai. Miki replies. Three days to go over the initial data. That leaves another two and a half days, then however long it takes to come up with a way to get home. Grumble. - `Ambasador Delen,' I greet the woman, who I really feel looked a whole lot better without hair, but . . . `Captain,' she turns. `I have done a little bit of research on the various peoples who work out of this station, and decided that the Minbari would not only be interested in an item I would like to sell, but also could be counted upon not to use the technology it represents without what I would consider good cause.' `And what might this item be?' she asks, tilting her head slightly to look at me. `I would prefer not to discuss it in the public corridors, so if I could set up an appointment that should be sufficient.' `Come with me, and we shall talk about this item.' - `My assistant, Lenier,' she indicates the younger Minbari. I return his nod, then take the seat she indicates. `So, what is this item that you did not want to discuss in the hallway?' I open a gate, atmosphere gushing into the CZ's cockpit, then reach through and fish the item from its box. I pull it back through, and hold it out to the ambasador by the barrel. `What is this?' she takes it from me, turning it in her hands. `It is a Kazon Disrupter. A type of energy weapon that is not available here, it would seem. I thought the Minbari would be the safest people to sell it to, so,' `I am really not an expert on weapons technology, but I will forward your offer to the council, and they will send someone who is to discuss the matter,' she looks up from the weapon in her hands, `Is that acceptable?' `That is quite acceptible.' She hands me back the disrupter, and I stuff it back into its box. - `Hey, thanks for inviting me over,' I tell Garibaldi, finding a seat on his couch and adjusting the blue wool of my poncho better. `You're welcome. Do you have any preferences?' `If it's Japanese I probably like it,' I look at Garibaldi, then clarify, `Unless the plot is just there to string together the sex scenes, those get pretty old pretty quick.' Garibaldi makes a perfect ick face, `The ecchi stuff doesn't do it for me either. I've got Gundam, Macross, Dunbine, and Dougram on my station account, and would be willing to rent other stuff if you've seen those.' `I've only seen Macross dubbed into English.' `Robotech?' `Pin pon.' `You poor thing. Let me just cue this up . . .' We watch the first eight episodes before I realize he's getting tired. `Hey, it's getting late, and you need to sleep. How about we watch some more later?' Garibaldi smiles, `Sure! It's wonderful to find someone who appreciates this stuff in this day and age. Almost everyone seems to think I've got romantic intrests in them when I try to get them to come watch something.' `Hmm, you might want to try getting a room somewhere, one of the conference rooms or an auditorium or something, and just posting signs about and showing things regularly. That way they won't have to worry about coming to your quarters or whatever.' `Yeah, that might work,' he looks down for a moment, thinking, `I'll have another couple hours free three days from now, would you like to come by then?' `Sure, I'd like that,' I smile at him, and he shows me to the door, yawning. - `Ms. Winters?' I ask the taller blonde woman. `Yes?' she blinks up at me. `I was wondering if I could talk to you about something for a little bit.' `Sure, have a seat,' she waves me into the seat across from her at the table. Miki runs a pattern of lines starts scrolling across my vision, fairly smooth steady curves which, occasionally, shift to a completely different pattern, with much sharper curves, and then return to the original pattern like nothing had changed. A waiter bustles up as I take the seat, and I order a cup of coffee, with milk. `I've been doing a little research on brainwave patterns, and I'm wondering if you could tell me something about yours.' `My brainwaves?' she asks, looking confused, `Where did you get them?' `I've got better technology for a lot of things than is readily available here, and I monitor just about everyone I come across, since Voyager's population is too small to get any real statistical data out of. Your brainwave patterns are really odd, unlike any others on the station, human or otherwise. I don't think it is because you are a telepath, since the Minbari telepaths have patterns very similar to the Minbari non telepaths, but I was wondering if you could take a look and tell me if you could tell me anything about them.' `I guess,' she looks unsure, as if wondering whether to be upset with me. `Thanks,' I fish a portable display panel, of local manufacture, out and display the results as a set of different colored lines, `Notice how there seem to be two different patterns?' every few seconds the lines shift to a different pattern, then return to the original pattern which picks up where it left off. The waiter arrives with my cup of coffee, and conversation pauses while I take a sip. `Yes,' the moments of "sharpness" begin occuring more frequently, and I keep careful eyes on Talia. `What I found most interesting is that, like with a time-shared program on a computer, the two brainwave patterns almost seem to ignore each other. The primary pattern continues on, totally unaffected by the secondary,' I separate the two patterns, displaying the primary pattern with the secondary filtered out, and the secondary with the primary filtered out. `However, the secondary pattern does react to the primary pattern.' The secondary pattern shifts almost to panic, coming to take up almost half of Talia's time. `This is very intersting, but I have no idea about why this is.' `Well, thank you for your time, Ms. Winters.' I finish off my cup of coffee, then stand. `You're welcome. Please, tell me if you figure out what is going on.' `I will. Thanks again.' I wave slightly, then walk from the shop. Well, that's interesting. Yep. Still don't want to try fucking with someone's brain, particularly for something this strange. Damned straight. - `Commander,' I greet the annoyed woman, prompting her to turn and face me. `Yes Captain?' she replies. A tiny smirk almost escapes, no one on V'ger seems able to remember my rank except B'El-chan, and even she thinks it is terribly silly, which, of course, it is. `I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time.' `I might be able to spare a little bit.' `Let's sit down for a moment, then.' A few moments later we've found seats in a convienient coffee shop, and I, with gains ill-gotten from the Minbari, have bought her a cup of real brewed-from-beans-imported-from-earth coffee. `What is it you were wanting to talk about?' `While I've been on the station I've been conducting some research, primarily to broaden my empathic programs.' `Empathic programs?' `I can monitor people's brainwaves. I cannot, currently, put together much more than a general emotional state from that, but, as I already told Talia, I noticed something very odd about hers.' `Does she know you are telling me this?' `No. I figure that since the two of you are sharing quarters it was appropriate, since it could be dangerous for her,' I give her the show and tell, same as Talia. Ivanova, however, looks scared at the data. `Could I have this?' `Sure, I'd like that display back eventually, though.' `I'll get it back to you soon.' - `Oh, blessed Eris!' I murmor, wanting to hit something, but not wanting to have to repair the wall. I pull a t-stop, rubber tires leaving faint streaks on the grubby deck plates. Where is Talia Winters? Asoko, she paints a spot someplace in Brown sector. I set off, bounding down stairs a flight at a time, very glad for my inhumanly sturdy bones as the centerflugal force increases. I contemplate the mess that would have resulted if I hadn't reinforced my skates with stasis fields, and shudder slightly as I bounce myself off the ceiling to stop when I finally reach the proper level. `Ms. Winters?' I ask, and she turns to look at me, `Where are you off to in such an unusual hurry?' `I need to speak to the captain, Captain.' she smiles at me, slowing a little bit. I skate up to her, `Let me accompany you.' `Sure.' As we approach the door I quickly scan Sheridan's office, detecting Ambassador Delen, several humans, and one not-quite human with Vorlon leanings. `Sorry 'bout this,' I say, and stun Talia, catching her as she falls and lifting her larger form across my shoulders. The door opens as I approach, and I step inside. Ivanova looks up at me, worry in her mind and anger on her features. I nod to the woman with orange hair, who turns and scowls at me. I smirk back, and she sways a little bit, probably confused by the mess that I call a brain anymore. `Lyta Alexander. What do you think of my data?' `It would seem to indicate the presence of the sleeper personality,' she doesn't look happy, and her anger is almost palpable. `So, you would rather risk a woman's life and another's happiness than accept that your method has flaws?' Her response might as well have been a shouted "Yes!" `Now that we have the traitor persona, what are we going to do with it? I know that I have no way of removing it from Ta- Ms. Winters. I would guess that the Vorlon may have the needed technology, but it would be simpler if someone from the younger races could bring about the repairs.' `This is a human being you're talking about like that!' Ivanova says angrily, and I can easily feel her worry and fear. `I know,' I say, and carry Talia over to one of the chairs, lift her still limp form off my shoulders and set her down. Ivanova quietly drifts over, sinks to her knees next to the unconscious telepath. `Minbari telepaths of the religious caste once performed such deeds. They may be able to remove the rogue persona.' `I have nothing better to do while the CZ's 'puter crunches on solutions, so . . .' I offer. `That would make things a little easier,' Delen replies, looking to Sheriden and Ivanova for objections. None appear, so it is decided. I gate a monitor unit over from the CZ, check it over, and slip it onto Winters' wrist, run a full backup, and check to see when she will awaken. `She'll be up in a couple minutes. I've a couple things I need to discuss with Delen before the trip.' - I blink at the voice, slip back into the real world, the illusiory control panel of the Minbari flyer vanishing. I scan back, find the words, `Are you ready to go?' `Yes, I think I am.' `I still do not completely understand why I am to accompany you to Minbar.' `I have business with certain members of the religious caste, and Delen suggested you as the proper person to aid in my business.' `They sure are paying a lot for this,' she says, glancing down at me. `True. However, it is important to several members of the command staff as well, so I think part of this is just a present from the ambassador.' `Perhaps. Do you need to get anything?' I shake my head, `I'm fine. You?' She hefts a small bag. - The Minbari flyer is a fast and responsive little craft, and I wonder if I can get more data about them out of the Minbari. The Kazon disrupter got me whole reams of data on jumpgates and hyperspace, along with enough local currency to keep me out of trouble for several months more than I hope to stay. Maybe I could trade them that petrified leola root; it's certainly scary enough. It is a little bigger than the CZ in outside measurements, but has a great deal more interior space, and is much more comfortable for people who can't run themselves off an antimatter power unit. `Ms. Winters.' `Yes?' she turns to look at me. `I often wonder what my mind looks like to others, so, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, I was hoping I could get you to do a surface scan and tell me what you see.' She blinks at me, then makes a concentrating face. `It is, odd. Most people have only a single train of thought, but you have two,' she relaxes, `Why did you want to know?' `One of the results of my, an experimental, of my exposure to an experimental drive unit was a shifting, reworking, of my mind, and my onboard computer, into a single system image mess.' She gapes at me. `It does make me a little odder than I was before, but I was rather odd to start with.' - `Ambassador Sinclair,' I greet Valen, mostly succeeding in keeping my amusement off my face. `Captain Roberts,' he replies, `I hear you brought Ms. Winters to meet with certain Minbari telepaths.' `Yep. They are attempting to integrate a secondary persona into her primary one, or merge its memories into hers, or something like that. They won't let me watch, either, so I get to wander around and climb buildings like the Eris-blessed ape descended person I am.' Or, to put that a bit more bluntly, take my boredom out on the small herd who are trying to keep an eye on me. `I would have thought your ancestory different if you had not claimed to be human.' `Well, I started out human at least.' `Indeed? Perhaps you could tell me of it,' `Perhaps.' - `Well, how do you feel?' I ask Winters when they finally let me see her again. `Like I just found out my mother was an axe murderer. No, it isn't quite that nice, more like I just found out I am an axe murderer whenever the moon is full.' `Ouch. So they integrated your memories?' What are her waves like right now? I watch them scroll along, a little sharper than her primary pattern was, but only the single pattern. `Something like that.' - `Watch the ship for a while,' I ask her, heading towards the airlock. `What are you going to do?' `Stick my head out and see what hyperspace feels like. Don't worry, I'll make sure the safety line is tight.' She looks at me, looks around the tiny cabin of the flyer, and nods. Outside is a little weird, but not quite as weird as high warp without a ship. Too long at that and I get a little strange, rather odd, since I never seem to notice that fact until I'm back to normal and wonder at whatever bit of strangeness I've come up with while I was under. I still haven't figured out what that one set of equations is for . . . - I float towards one wall, correcting occasionally as I try to adapt to the centerflugal force of the station's rotation. The bass line of yet another early twentyfirst century J-pop song flows through my bones at volumes high enough to stun most mammals, only the thick stasis-batting keeping the neighbors from complaining. The faint chime of the door slips into my mind, and I mute the volume to merely too loud. `Mr. Garibaldi,' I wave him into my quarters. `Captain?' he asks, looking me over. `Thought I'd do a little cosplay for the next showing. You like?' I do a quick turn on one toe, long green hair swirling around a taller, more gracile frame than I normal use. `Lum?' he asks, noticing the small yellow horns. `Yep. Pretty good, huh?' `Impressive. Is the mass the same?' `Yep, but the bones have been rearranged a little. I'll be another five centimeters taller by the meeting, which should pull off the look properly. I hope to have adapted better to the spin of the station by then, too, which will let me fly about, as well,' I pull my feet up and flit about him, then hang for a moment, letting him watch as I drift slowly counter-spin. I shake my head, `What'd you come by for?' `I was wondering if I could get you to buy me a cup of coffee,' he gives a warped half-smile. `Sure, I'm still pretty flush,' I flit out the door in front of him, hang there until he come out, then, is it locked? Ha! - `Oh wow,' I murmor, and follow the strange creatures and mister Morden. I ponder how I could catch one of the strange people, and what I would do with one when I cought it. It is that second question that keeps me from just running in and seeing if I can stun them. Worst come to worst, I'm sure I could manage a transporter lock from the CZ and just buffer them until I could figure out what to do, but I wait, following at a slight distance, trying to figure out their camoflage. Unlike the camoflages I use their's seems to work best in the main band of humanoid vision, from the infrared to the very high violet. They show up plain as day to my sight, and I wonder again just what kind of person originally designed my current set of eyes. We arrive at the airlock into the strange-air-breather's quarters, and I suddenly place their presence with the recent uproar in the central corridor. I step forward, give mister Morden's neck a firm twist, and cut one of the Shadows down with a stasis field blade. I leave the corpse on the ground and approach the other, still pondering what I'd do with one of them. I grab it when it tries to run, picking it up with a firm grip between its walking legs. I back out of the airlock, dragging the squirming person with me. It keeps complaining in its hissing, rattling voice, and I wonder for an instant what it is saying. I carry it up the hall, and people turn to watch as I struggle slightly to keep the nearly invisible insectile person in my arms from escaping. After a time I back into the security office, dragging the creature behind me. I turn, seeing the bank of monitors. Stupid user error. I quickly beam a monitor unit into Kosh's quarters, and give thanks for an instant that everything is fine. `Mister Garibaldi?' I ask the person behind the desk, who just stares at the almost invisible form in my arms. `I'll get him, Captain.' - `Yes?' `I brought you a present, since I thought you might have a better idea how to deal with it than I would,' the Shadow thrashes in my arms, trying to knock me in the head and escape. `What is it?' `You probably found its friend mister Morden and its companion in the airlock into the strange-air-breather's section.' `Oh, we were wondering what had happened to him.' `It seemed to me that his neck was broken, and this one's companion was in a couple of pieces, almost as if it had been cut open with a blade. I grabbed this one and brought it here to see if you could get any sense out of it.' `Ms. Winters might be of assistance in this.' [and here all of the rest of this thing should go. Later, I guess] - `Well, the CZ's computer is finally done with the data, so I'll be heading home now. It was fun.' I go along with the whole rigamarole of leavetaking, saying goodbye to everyone before heading to one of the outside locks. With a last wave, a quick handshake with Winters, and a peck on the cheek for Ivanova, followed by a roll on the floor at the comical sight of her trying to wipe it off, I step into the airlock and cycle out. - As the transwarp conduit closes and I feel V'ger's familiar IFF transponder signal waft over the CZ, I realize something. Coffee plants. Oh well, at least I got back before they could worry 'bout me. --- 1999 July 28: Got inspired and wrote this up. I've been wanting to muck about with the B5 universe for a long while, and I finally hit upon a way to do so without totally overpowering things. The dread Pirate Roberts in this is from the fourth season of Voyager. 1999 August 24: Editing, plot hole filling, still need to add in several scenes. Oh well. 2000 Febuary 12: worked on it a little, a few wording tweaks. I fear I've forgotten the scenes I was going to add, so I won't be working on this for a little while. 2002 December 2: updated to match the current state of TrekMar.