Later Days {Star Trek Enterprise Fan Fiction}

Faith, Part 5

Dreams on Lafa II were vivid, magical things. It was all due to the presence of a native ore called callidium. It was found in the soil, the metals, the natural wonders, and even the people and animals. Heat diminished its natural properties but did not destroy them. Hence even a meal which included a pie enhanced with native olowa paste could provide even its non-Calafan consumers with incredible nocturnal visions. These would be of actions like diving into crystal clear waters on Risa, or shopping at a market on Tandar Prime, or soaring high above the Himalayas on Earth, with no special equipment whatsoever.

And on Lafa II itself – in the whole of that system, actually – dreaming was even more amazing. It was a communal affair, and affair was certainly the right word, for people would often meet lovers. Adding to the amazement factor, and upping the ante considerably, was the fact that the people who could be met could either be inhabitants of our universe, or of its imperfect mirror.

Declan had had such dreams for much of his life, having been brought up on Lafa II, near Fep City. He'd lived either in his mother's house, which Joss now owned, or in his father's, which he now owned, and was right up a little rise from his mother's. Both homes had a clear view of a field of amplifier dishes, made of pure, refined callidium, which sharpened dream focus even more.

As Declan laid down to sleep one evening, alone in the Reed house, with its turquoise exterior, its cheery yellow hallway, and the bluebird door knocker that his mother had loved so, he whispered to himself the old Calafan nighttime wish, "Be with who you desire." Except there was no one he desired, other than Rebecca, who was currently on Tellar. He would have to rebuff others' advances. Politely, yes, and no one was aggressive. But it was still a bit of a burden of being fully committed in waking life. And so he slept.

He heard a familiar voice calling his name and, amidst a crowded hall full of silver and copper Calafans, and some humans, Andorians, Xyrillians, and the like, he ran. It was a dream, and so he did not have to run far and was not winded.

His vision was of a dark-haired beauty. "Rebecca," he whispered. "But, how?"

She smiled at him and showed him her left arm. It now had a scroll-like tattoo, in silver-colored callidium, around her left wrist, made to look a bit like a bracelet. There were even tattoo charms on the bracelet. One was a MACOs insignia. Another was a daylily. Another one was a pineapple. Another was made to look like a book. And the last one was an oval with three circles in it. The symbols all stood for the five people in the earlier generation - Doug, Lili, Malcolm, Leonora and Melissa.

"That's the tattoo that Jia, Marie Patrice, and Ines sport," Declan commented.

"Don'tforget Yinora," Rebecca added, "Neil's nighttime lady. Although she doesn'treally need it like the rest of us do." 

"You, you did that for me?"

"Of course. Declan, I will do anything for you. I know you didn't ask for this. I just, I wanted to be as close to you as, as possible."

"Rebecca, it's funny you should mention that."

"Oh?"

"Yes," Declan confirmed, "for I am doing something for you – also, wholly unnecessary and unasked." She looked at him quizzically, so he added, "I am converting, and am embracing your faith. I want to, to say the blessings with you, and to understand them. I want our eventual children to hear the stories from both of us."

"There is a saying in Judaism," Rebecca commented, "let's see if I can get it right. It, um, it's that when Moses brought down the law from Mount Sinai, all of the Jews were there. Even the dead. Even the unborn. Even the completely unknown and unfathomable, like Vulcan converts, and Jews from the Mirror Universe, all stretching, in a chain, through all of time. And you know something?"

"What is that, my love?"

"I saw you there."

He smiled at her. "Allow me to take you somewhere. Here, I have a bit of control over my own dreaming. I've got some practice." She took his hand.

Instantly, they were flying, out of Lafa II's atmosphere and into deep space, without pressure suits. They passed Saturn, waving at Titan as they flew, and then by Jupiter, and then they wove through the Asteroid Belt. They orbited Mars once, and then the moon once, and then orbited Earth. Declan seemed to be looking for something.

"What is it?" she asked.

"A moment." They circled over Egypt, down a peninsula, near its southernmost end. "There, there it is."

They spent the rest of the dream kissing, soaring over Mount Sinai together.