More Than a Lifetime #8: The Edge of Heaven

Chapter 7: Just Jon

Dani walked along the blue shoreline of Risa. She'd come here before in her own time, and she was surprised to see that in 200 years, not much about the planet had changed. It was still beautiful and promoted a carefree atmosphere. It had only been a few days after Dani's dinner with Captain Archer in the mess hall, and she was grateful for the opportunity to sort things out.

Dani sat down in the sand and looked out at the gently lapping waves, the sun rising behind it. The scene reminded her very much of a West Coast sunset on Earth.

'What if I really am stuck here for the rest of my life?' she asked herself. It had been weeks since she'd arrived, and the Enterprise crew was no closer to cracking the temporal transporter's code than when she and Kyle had first arrived. It was beginning to look like she'd never make it home. She knew in her heart that Will had tried to keep his promise to bring her back. She knew because she knew him and knew that he still cared for her, as she did for him, and he would never willingly abandon her. But given the circumstances, she was beginning to think going back 'home' was becoming more and more of a distant probability.

Dani jumped when she felt something brush against her back. She turned around and looked down. A beagle nudged at her back and walked around in front of her as she began to stroke the little dog's head.

"Hey," Dani said. There was something familiar about this dog, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was. "Where did you come from?" The dog barked. Dani looked around her for any sign of the dog's owner. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw him jogging toward them in the distance. She looked down at the dog again. "You're a fast one, too fast for your owner."

The dog took off in the direction of his owner. As the owner gradually closed in on his beagle, his image became clearer, and Dani realized that the dog's owner was Jonathan Archer. She stood immediately.

"Porthos!" he scolded as he caught up with the pooch. He crouched down to the dog's level. "How many times have I told you not to run off from me like that?" He picked Porthos up and finally looked at Porthos's 'victim'. He was surprised to see that it was Dani Janeway.

"Hi," he said, walking toward her.

"Hi," Dani said.

"I'm sorry about Porthos," Archer said, closing in the last few feet between himself and Janeway. "He doesn't usually behave like this." He placed Porthos on the ground and fastened a leash onto his collar.

"No, it's alright," Dani said. "It gave us a chance to make proper introductions to each other."

Archer chuckled and sat down in the sand. "So, what do you think? Is it very different from the Risa you know?"

Dani sat back down and looked around at their surroundings, nodding slowly. "It's pretty much the same as I remember it, actually, which is pretty surprising. I mean, you would think that 200 years would make a difference, but I guess that's not always the case."

"Time doesn't have to change everything, especially if there isn't anything that needs to be changed," Archer said.

"Don't try to fix it if it's not broken."

"Exactly," Archer agreed.

They both turned their attention to the ocean in front of them. The sun was rising from behind it, creating a reflection across the water that consisted of nearly every color imaginable.

"I was just thinking, before Porthos here joined me, that this beach reminds me of the West Coast, except it's a sunrise here instead of a sunset," Dani said, stroking Porthos . "And except for the rainbow effect here, of course."