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Lessons Across TimelinesThe EdgeWhat is it that draws me to you?I really don’t know. Maybe I never will. I have read just about everything I can find to read about you.But it never seems to be enough.I have written my own line about you and still it is not enough.I cannot seem to get my fill of you.I have your image around me most of the time and gaze at you often.I dream of you.Oddly, in the last week, every night. But this was never so before.I cannot always retain what I saw, but that it was of you, I am certain.I wonder if I teeter on the edge of sanity.If I fall, will you be there to catch me?It seems only fitting, as you are the one that pushed me over that edge.Have you ever experience obsession?I think I live it.You are the first and last image in my mind each day and I have never even been in the same room with you...and I never will.I would imagine that this can’t last...but so far it has.I am growing old thinking of you.But I am not growing cold.I want you.I have for years.But what draws me to you?I still do not know.Chapter OneShe had been a fan for years. As a child her father, who had thought that watching cartoonswas a waste of time, had introduced her to Star Trek.“Why would you watch this garbage when Star Trek is on?” he had said once, and changed thechannel. That had been all it took. She was hooked in that instant.First Star Trek, then Isaac Asimov, Heinlein and all the rest of the sci-fi writers. As ateenager she had gone on to introduce Star Trek to her best friend, Lori. They went to conventionstogether and talked about the show endlessly. Her favorite character had been Spock and Lori’s hadbeen Chekov. In 1987, when the Next Generation had premiered, she was married and had one child.In a friend’s living room she crowded in front of the TV with ten others, including her husband anddaughter, to watch “Encounter at Farpoint”.It was awesome!What followed was a whole new world. Each of the new characters was so fresh andinteresting that she had trouble deciding on a favorite. At times she felt that her favorite waswhichever character had been featured in that week’s episode. She and the whole family immersedthemselves in the new chapter of the Trek universe and all were happy.That continued through the years until the unthinkable happened.It was a simple car accident. Head on and fatal. Her husband most likely never even felt amoment’s pain, but she did. Their daughter, Melody, had been thirteen at the time of her father’stragic death. The teenager seemed better able to handle the blow than her mother did.Two jobs were required to keep the family going. There was insurance and a settlement fromthe accident, but she put that money away for Melody’s college fund. Dating was out of the question.
 
She had no interest in any man she met and no time for them even if one could catch her eye. She hadsome friends, but most were on-line friends whom she chatted with about her only living passion.Star Trek.And at present there was a heck of a lot of Star Trek to chat about!She eventually discovered fan art and fan fiction. It was just after reading a story aboutLore, Lt. Commander Data’s evil brother, that she remembered a little fantasy story that she hadmade up years ago that involved Data. Deciding that her typing could use the practice, she began towork on pulling the story from her head and putting it on paper...well, disk.Being a hopeless romantic, her tale was a love story in which Data finally got the girl. As she’dhad the story in the back of her head for years it was by now quite involved, but 252 pages in, she gotstuck on a technical detail that she could not resolve herself. In frustration she pushed this storyaside and wondered what would result if she changed some of the details of her first story andstarted again. All the characters that she had created as well as the love interest for Data wherebrought back but the situation was different. Same music, different dance... Where as in her firststory they had met on the girl’s home world, this time they met on the Enterprise. It was amazing howdifferently the story unfolded.This caused her to think of another situation. What about the future? Data could live forcenturies! What would his next love be like? Twenty-five pages into story two, she began story threewith a second heroine. But parts of it also had problems...Story four only got to page five before she wondered if her premise was unseemly.Introducing Data to someone who was at the beginning of the story only four years old, but wouldgrow to be a love interest many, many years later might upset some people.Story five took place in the future, but involved Data never meeting the girl for story one andtwo.This one she finished. And she liked a lot!By this time, her daughter was 18 and in college. She still worked two jobs but any free timeshe had was taken up by her full-blown obsession with Data. Pictures of him made up her screen saver.Her desktop was also him. She had changed the sound to lines for the show that she had downloaded.Now when she turned her computer on, Data’s voice could be heard to say, “Honey, I’m home!” Whenshe turned it off, he said, “Data out!” She found new sound waves after a while and created a folderlabeled “Data” to store them in so that rotating them would be easier.All and all, she had a full life...it was just filled with a being who did not exist!Melody worried, but it wasn’t as though this would cause her to jump off a bridge or rob abank, so who was she hurting? She still went to conventions and had hoped, one day to meet the actorwho played Data, but she had decided that one obsession was enough and she was sticking with the onewho was not real.The year was 2002 and a friend of hers was editing story five, as she knew it was lousy withrun on sentences. She was again working on story two and had completed over 100 pages.It was Saturday, late fall, 12:53 PM. She had taken the day off from her second job and wasbusy typing with cold coffee on her desk and music that she had downloaded flowing from thespeakers of her computer. She was now up to over 400 of her favorite tunes.She was dressed in jeans and a black and white horizontal striped collared shirt. She wastyping furiously. Lore was about to make an appearance in this story and the girl and Lore always hadinteresting arguments. Unable to decide on Lore’s opening jab, she got up from her chair and headingfor the kitchen. Making lunch would allow her a few moments away from the words on the screen andhelp her to see Lore’s face and hear what he wanted to say.Her vacating the chair and the room was fortuitous. Had she remained, the flash of light thatfilled her living room may have temporarily blinded her. The odd pop the accompanied the white flashdid, however, cause her to come running. What she saw when she got there caused her to believe thatshe must be asleep and dreaming. Either that or someone had paid Brent Spiner a hell of a lot ofmoney to play a joke on her. Except how did they get him into her living room?
 
When she’d run back into the room, he had been looking around, with a blank look in his face.At her entrance, he turned to face her.If this was an actor, or a fake, he was a damn good one!He had a tricorder in his left hand and a phaser at his side. He moved to touch the phaser,but she threw up her hands in submission.“Unless you find kitchen towels threatening, I don’t think you’ll need the phaser,” she gasped.With the tricorder still in his hand, he made use of the device and scanned her.“Human,” he noted.“100%,” she agreed.“May I ask where I am, please?” Always polite...but still?“Earth.” She told him. He frowned. He didn’t believe her.“That is highly unlikely. We were on-- Where on earth, please?” he asked, kindly.“About an hour outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Don’t you want to know the year?” This was herfirst question, but it had quite an affect. His composure could not have been more shattered if shehad stripped naked right there.“Yes, please,” he asked weakly.“2002, old earth calendar.”He opened his mouth, but closed it again before saying anything. How familiar that looked, shethought. She wondered how far this dream would progress before she woke up.“Why have you brought me here?” he finally asked. Now it was her turn to look shocked.“Unless wishful thinking has given me a new ability, I don’t think I had anything to do with your arrival here. I take it you were not trying to get to 2002?”His expression became speculative. “Why did you use the year in that question and not thelocation?”“Isn’t it easier to travel from one location to another than it is from one time to another?”she asked innocently.He looked very unsure as to how to answer. Of course! The Prime Directive!“Maybe we should start with something simple. Hi, I’m Harper Talenger.” She extended a handand he returned his tricorder to his belt and took her hand for a precise shake.“I am called Data,” he said smoothly. From behind him, Harper noticed that her screen saverhad just popped on.
Oh, God! 
She thought. Reaching past him, she lunged for the off switch to the monitor. Butshe suspected he probably saw. Turning back to face him, she folded her arms behind her and tried togrin innocently at him. She knew that she was failing miserably and a blush was rising to her cheeks.“Sorry, but that’s going to take some explaining...” She tilted her head toward the computerscreen and sighed. He looked very suspicious.“Perhaps now would be a good time to start the explanation, Miss Talenger.” He looked veryalert now. He had definitely seen the picture of himself standing in front of the turbo lift, holding thehand of the little girl from ‘Pen Pals”. Harper sighed again. What would he have concluded from that?That she was lying and that she had indeed brought him here?“This is going to take a while. Why don’t we sit, because I think about now, I need to.” Shewas feeling a bit light headed and woozy. This could not be happening! She had read, “Visit to a weirdplanet, revisited.” And even an unfinished TNG version of this story, but this was...happening in herliving room, damn it!She made it to a chair and collapsed, he followed cautiously behind. He sat on the centercushion of her couch. God but was he handsome! In story five, one of the first things that the womannoticed about Data was the way he moved. The female character had found him attractive in the wayhe moved from day one to the end of the story; at this moment Harper realized just how accuratethat sentiment truly was.
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