Say you don't need no diamond rings
And I'll be satisfied
Tell me that you want the kind of things
That money just can't buy
I don't care too much for money
Money can't buy me love
– The Beatles (Can't Buy Me Love)
=/\=
On the surface, on our side of the pond, Rick made the introductions quickly. Then he and Deirdre got back into the Wells and took off.
"It's funny," Otra said, as they walked into the house, "but he said not to land in the garden."
"Almost like he had been here before. I just wish I remembered him," Lili said.
Tommy came over with Helen. "It's getting a bit late. We should, uh, we all should go in."
Lili and Malcolm glanced at each other, a kind of a private signal passing between them. They had been together so long, few words were necessary.
They opened the door to the house and Lili immediately went over to Jia. "Since we might lose our, uh, guest in the dark," she indicated Helen, "I'm afraid we've had to bring her inside. But God only knows whether she's dangerous. Tell you what, why don't you pack a bag for the baby and yourself and go, either up the rise to our house, or to Neil's place. Just, if anything happens, we've gotta protect little Jay and Jenny Lee." Jia nodded, and left to pack a bag.
"Now, isn't this cozy?" Helen asked, grinning and looking at all of them, "Yanno, it's strange to be here, kinda outside of time, in some ways. Things could happen, and ya'll wouldn't even know that they had. And you wouldn't know who to believe, or who to trust."
The only thing that Malcolm could think of was the cuff of Lo, which he wore on his left wrist. He did remember seeing Thomas Grant before – for in the new reality, it was Tom who had been there in 2161, and not Rick, and it was Tom who had landed there about a week previously. And so, at the very least, they knew him.
And Tom wore his own iteration of the cuff of Lo. While it was, technically possible for a copy of the piece to have been forged, it seemed unlikely. To Malcolm, this was evidence that Tom was some sort of descendant of the family, and that was good enough for him. But Helen, on the other hand, was nothing to him.
=/\=
Rick and Deirdre fired a pulse shot and flew the Wells through the gap between the two universes. Rick could, immediately, feel the weight of the dissonant radiation band.
"This place feels weird," Deirdre said, "I've never been to the mirror before. Is it always like this?"
"Every single time," he said, even though it had been a while since he had been there. That part just never seemed to change.
"Look over there, port bow," she said.
It was the Defiant.
She was patched, and needed a new paint job. Pieces had been awkwardly welded on, repair jobs that had not always been performed with a perfect attention to detail.
"Defiant, this is the Wells," Deirdre said, "We request permission to dock."
Tom heard, as the communiqué was patched through to the conference room. He kept his poker face.
"Friends of yours?" Hoshi asked.
"Not mine," Jennifer said, "I've never heard of that ship."
Yimar and the twins also shook their heads. "What do you think?" Hoshi asked Tom.
"Me? I'm just the pilot, ma'am."
"Maybe there's another bidder. Or there's another manufacturer," Arashi speculated. He smiled. Either way, he'd be sure to get a generous profit.
"Let them in," Hoshi said, "this should prove most interesting."
=/\=
And in 2192, a small Calafan time ship, the Light of Lo, crossed over from our universe and arrived at Lafa V. It had just been a hunch on Yilta's part. She had heard from her people that they were all going to the mirror. Communications were different with her species, as some messages could be passed through the use of group meditation and didn't need technology at all.
She had gotten the message, and then she had checked her people's history. And so she knew that, in 2192, the mirror High Priestess, Yimar, had successfully stood up to the notorious human, the Empress Hoshi Sato.
She didn't know the details, and did not know if she would be able to find Kevin again. But right now, the mirror in 2192 seemed to be the right place and the right time. She cloaked her ship and watched as the Defiant docked with a time ship from her lifetime. She even recognized the name – HG Wells.
=/\=
A guard escorted Deirdre and Rick to the conference room. Rick was pretty sure he recognized the guy, although the man had aged. Rosenblum? Rosenfeld?
No.
Rosen.
=/\=
Jia and Ines left with the babies and the rest of them sat with Helen. "Ya'll got anything to eat here?" she drawled, a little whiny.
Lili sighed a little. "I'll heat up some leftovers."
"What, no hospitality for lil ole me?"
"Save it," Tommy said sharply, "'cause we don't wanna hear it."
"You actually believe that other fellow?"
"I'm withholding judgment," Neil said, sitting between his mother and Norri, "I gotta call Ines," he got up.
"Surely you don't think we'd just magically accept you," Norri said to Helen, "you're a stranger to us."
"And he is, too," Helen pointed out, "yet you don't seem to have as much of a problem with him. Unless you've got some sort of a reason to trust him."
"And why would you ever imagine that we would give you any details about that?" Lili asked, her voice a little annoyed. She roughly dropped a plate of leftover elekai stew onto the table in front of Helen.
"You're a lousy waitress," Helen complained, realizing that no one in the Beckett house was ever going to be on her side.
"I am a professional chef," Lili said, "I haven't had to personally deliver food to anyone who isn't family for nearly three and a half decades."
=/\=
Tom nodded at Rick and Deirdre as they sat down. "We're here to talk to you about ship parts," Rick began.
"Oh? To counterbid or to offer an alternative?" Arashi asked.
"Neither," Deirdre said, producing a PADD, "instead, we're here to show you a bit of the future, and why you should buy from these people."
"And why should I care about what you have to say?" Hoshi yawned, "This is getting dull."
"We can not only show you the future," Rick said, "but we also know all about the Flux Capacitor. We know how to fly it. We know how you can replicate it. But we'll need to take it on a shakedown cruise, making sure it's working."
"I won't let you just take it," Hoshi snarled.
"Of course not," Deirdre said, "so have someone come with us. The, the security crewman, perhaps," she indicated Josh Rosen, who was standing at attention nearby.
The door slid open. It was Doctor Stone and Frank Ramirez. "Jennifer?" Frank asked.
"Yeah?"
"You, uh, it's been a long time. I remember the old man said you were dead."
"He must've been mistaken."
"I guess he must've."
"Who are you again?" Hoshi asked Rick.
He swallowed. Dammit, she knew him! It was unnerving, still. "Ritchie," he said, "Ritchie Daniels," using her name for him, the name he – after their affair – he always used while in the mirror. It was not out of love for her, but because she was a memorable piece. And, because, he wanted to remind himself of what he really could never have – any sort of a relationship with Jun.
"Oh," she said, "if anything's gonna be taken out for a shakedown cruise, I want my people there."
"I can go," Frank volunteered, "and you'll show me how to work it. The pilot should go, too. You'll teach her what to do."
"We'll take our ship, too," Rick said, "There's a tandem pulse shot we can discharge, and create a large temporal field."
Tom stared at him. This was all nonsense, but he figured he'd go with it. "It looks like ya'll will need passengers, too, to monitor the transmissions. Maybe send our own shuttle through to wherever and whenever."
"Why not my own people, and my own ship?" Hoshi demanded.
"If there's danger, Ma, well, that might not be such a bad idea," said Izo.
"Send someone expendable, and someone who knows what they're doing," Frank said, "say, Aidan and Susan."
"Susan?" asked Arashi, "she's nothing but a teacher."
"Exactly," Frank said, "and no one on the Defiant has a little kid anymore, so she's useless. Have Security watch, if you like," he indicated Josh Rosen, still awaiting instructions.
"You could put one of your people on each of the ships." Deirdre suggested, "And send out four ships – the Flux Capacitor, the HG Wells, the Calafan shuttle and one of your own shuttles. Once the shakedown cruise is done, we'll head over to where the contraband parts are being made. Negotiate a fair price and the HG Wells goes on its merry way. Do we have a deal?"
Arashi looked up. "If there's negotiating, I gotta be there."
"We'll all go," Hoshi decided, "and split up. So I'll go on the, what did you call that ship?"
"The Flux Capacitor?" Deirdre asked.
"Yes, that one," she said, "I'll go on it, and him," she indicated Milton, "he'll go on the Wells. Aidan and Susan will go on the Calafan shuttle with Rosen. Ramirez and Pike will go on our shuttle for now. And, actually, I want Doctor Stone, too, I want him on my own shuttle, and you two as well," she indicated the twins. "If you are really mine, I want to know that immediately. I don't want to wait."
"That's acceptable," Rick said, "my colleague," he indicated Deirdre, "and I will pilot the Wells; and he," he indicated Tom, "will do basic piloting on the Flux Capacitor. The others will split between the two time ships. It will be a bit crowded but you'll be able to see everything."
=/\=
Can't buy me love, love
Can't buy me love, oh
– The Beatles (Can't Buy Me Love)