548: Name, Rank, Serial Number

by TC Blane and Admiral Lassiter
81001.23

-=Security Department, USS Serendipity=-



TC sat at the small table in the cramped interrogation room and stared across its flat silver top at the man in the black uniform. He sat straight up and stiff, observing the investigator, his hands placed flat on the shining surface. His cold blue eyes bored into the man, but his face gave away no clue as to where TC’s thoughts might lie.

“Nice uniform.” TC complimented.

"Nice...beard." The man replied, tapping incessantly on a PADD. Since he had barely said a word at this point, TC couldn't fathom why the TI agent had so much to type.

"Yeah, well, I asked if I could shower and shave before we did this but I was told there wasn't the time."

"Is that some sort of a joke?" Temporal Investigations agents were, Blane was discovering, notoriously sensitive about that sort of thing.

"No."

"Good." The man kept tapping, and TC sighed with frustration and crossed his arms over his chest. How Zanh and O'Sullivan had worked with people like this for so many years was beyond him.

"State your full name and rank."

"Thomas Cassius Blane. My rank is Commander."

"Current assignment?"

"Chief of Operations and Second Officer of the USS Serendipity NCC twenty-twelve."

"What year is it?"

TC blinked. "It's 2388. Why? Did you lose your calendar?"

The investigator ignored TC's remark and continued. "What is the exact stardate?"

"Stardate 81001.21," TC replied. Already, this was getting old.

"What is the last thing that you remember before you came to in the transporter room of this ship?"

TC stared at the man coldly. He had come to terms with the fact the O’Sullivan was alive and that the funeral that took place never happened, as well as the tattoo and the moments the he had spent saying goodbye. That moment was meant to be private, even if it was not real.

“Sharing a drink with a friend.” He finally answered.

"What year was it then?"

"It was 2388. Same as it is now."

TC leaned forward onto his elbows. “You know this will all be in my report.”

"I know." The man replied. He looked up at Blane disapprovingly. "Were you surprised when you saw that Keiran O'Sullivan was alive?"

TC leaned back, folding his arms across his chest. “To put it mildly.”

"Captain Zanh was overheard in the transporter room saying that she believed that she had attended Keiran O'Sullivan's funeral. Dane Cristiane has made similar statements, indicating he also remembered attending a gathering after the funeral." The man looked up from his PADD at last. "Are you saying that you have no recollection of that events?"

“Not at all.” He leaned forward once again. “Why are you so interested in something that never happened?”

"It's not that these events never happened, Commander Blane. It's that they happened, and in fact continue to happen even as we sit here. In another branch of space-time."

TC was growing impatient. “Look. Why would I CARE about some other timeline? A good man is alive rather than dead. That is good enough for me. Why can’t it be good enough for you twits.”

"Within the Department of Temporal Investigations, this sort of event is called an Alternate Continuity Paradox," The agent continued.

"What has happened to you and the others, Commander Blane, is that the Sylph used the Alternate Continuity Paradox created by the Cascade to manipulate you telepathically. That is why the events seem so real to you, even though you may not have any proof of having been there, if you believe any should..."

“If you are insinuating that I am withholding information that is pertinent to your investigation, you had better back it up or I will eat your lunch.” TC cut him off. “I know what I saw, and felt. I also know what I felt when I saw Captain O’Sullivan alive and well in the transporter room.”

The man looked at Blane with an expression that, for an instant, almost resembled sympathy. "I know it's hard to believe. But as you and I sit here now, there are many other 'realities' playing out in space- time. Usually, these timelines never intersect, meaning that the you of this timeline would never have any knowledge of the events that the you of the other timeline experience. But the Sylph breached that barrier between realities. They are, obviously, very powerful."

TC glared at him. “You think?”

The man shifted uncomfortably, starting to wither under the heat of Blane's intense stare. "I want you to know that you don't have to live with the memories of the alternate reality, if they are too troubling for you. You are eligible for memory resequencing.

He set his PADD aside for the time being and focused again on the Commander.

"The procedure has become much more precise over the years, and we've perfected it to the point now where, on someone such as yourself who has not had repeated procedures of the kind before, we can execute very precise, selective resequencing. We can extract the memories, and as far as you know, you will simply have a blank span of time, unaccounted for, between the rescue of O'Sullivan's son and your return to the Serendipity. It will be as if nothing happened to you at all. Like...the best night's sleep you've ever had. No dreams, just sleep."

TC suddenly had to resist the impulse the reach across the table and throttle the man in black, just for even suggesting it. He however found the willpower to resist that urge. He took a deep breath and smiled. “Unlike some, I find that all experiences, good and bad, make a person stronger and wiser.”

“Besides, I’ve seen first hand how well your resequencing works.” He smiled. “I’ll pass.”

"That is your choice," The agent shrugged, tapping again on his PADD a moment, looking up at TC through what he now thought of as the agent's 'beady little eyes.

"You should be thankful, since you choose to decline, that you have that option." The man put the PADD down again and pushed his chair away from the table. "If you were an active TI agent, you would be obliged to submit."

TC shook his head. “It would have been fun to watch you try.”

"The only other reason that it's an option you can decline is because these are parallel realities, happening currently and still in motion. If they were past events that had gone awry and could be damaging to the future as we know it...well, we would be having a much different conversation. Likely after you were resequenced."

The man tucked the PADD under his arm and moved toward the door. "It might interest you to know, Commander Blane, that Admiral Vox will be punished for starting the Cascade that created this Alternate Continuity Paradox."

TC frowned. “What do you know, there is a god.”

"He'll be sent to a detention facility. Albeit a pretty luxurious one, but he will be confined for a period of no less than six months. Then, he'll be sent in for resequencing himself."

"What's the point of making him serve time if he won't remember it?"

"Oh, he'll remember serving the time. He just won't remember what he served it for. That is the way that TI does these things. But you should also know that they considered resequencing him first, and decided against it. So he has to sit there for a good long while and think about what he's done."

"But will he still be an Admiral at the end?"

"Up to a review board after his resequencing."

“With any luck it’ll be open to public forum. I know I have a few things to say.” TC quickly added.

"I can assure you of one thing, though, if it's any additional comfort to you Commander." The agent stood in the doorway and nodded once. "He will never have oversight of The Alchemy Project entrusted to him again."

“Wow, and the good news keeps on rolling.” TC smiled. “Can I go and shower now?”

"You're free to go. Just, one more thing, Commander Blane," he held up an index finger.

"What?"

"My superiors wished for me to relay to you that, on all accounts, you have performed above and beyond the call of duty. Your work in the rescue of Carrick O'Sullivan has won you many friends at Temporal Investigations."

TC stared at the man. The comment was far from expected and he was immediately wary of it. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

--------------------------------
Commander TC Blane
Second Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012

and

Admiral Lassiter
Director
The Alchemy Project