It feels appropriate that I post the final chapter of this on the night I return from Destination Star Trek London. Thank you, Bill, for signing my stories – it made my birthday.

-oOo-

It was night of strangeness. But the strangest thing was that afterwards I had no memory of how I found myself upon the stage. No memory of how, beside me, Arris raised his arms and stilled the drums and brought a restless quiet to the shouting crowd.

And it was only later that I learned that, as the ruling family waited to take their place upon the stage, the guards had blocked their way and ignored their fury. And how Arris had caught the attention of the crowd and spoken of change and better times and lies that had been told.

The memories begin as pictures - of Jim's face in the crowd, his eyes fixed on mine as if he can transfer his strength by sight alone. Of the lines of puzzled frowning faces. Of one small child, his fingers resting on the stage as his mouth drops open and he points up at my gown. And the pictures begin to move with the glow that rises slowly up from the hem of my dress until I stand all bathed in light.

The murmur starts at the rows in front and travels backwards as a wave. And then, as I throw back my hood, the crowd hushes to silence and I open my mouth and begin to speak.

The words I said were simple. I talked of what I'd seen in sec-block and of injustice. I talked of those who gave their lives and of those who went unpunished. And I talked about the point of light. I blamed it for our storms and all eyes turned skyward. And I saw Jim raise the hinged box to his lips all poised to send the message as we'd planned.

But as I talked and watched the faces change from puzzlement to wonder, it dawned on me our plan was flawed.

I heard the echo of a voice explaining we needed power in the right hands, and I knew those hands could not be mine alone. They'd worship me. I'd be another ruler but one with magic, and I feared what that would mean to them, to me.

The bracelet glowed. I knew we didn't have much time, and I looked at Jim and shook my head. He stepped towards the stage, his face concerned, but I raised my hand and stopped him with a smile. I talked more loudly now and called upon the crowd to raise their hands. And Arris came up by my side. He saw my meaning and he added his strong voice to mine. He spoke of what we could do together, then grasped my hand and lifted it aloft.

We called upon the wisdom of the crowd who raised their fingers up and pointed at the sky. We called on them to shout they wanted change, and we called on them to feel their growing power. And I saw Jim nod and smile and step back into the shadows as we began the downward count and focused on that glowing point of light.

And promises were kept - the blaze of the exploding comet lit a thousand faces who gasped as one, and laughter filled the air which had been thick with hate.

And that's when, from the four sides of the Bowl, we heard the shouts of joy - at each gate stood a wagon load of food and grain and each bore the name of our neighbours. And I knew that in Hulmar and in Meltor and in the other cities they had found the same from us.

And as the food was shared and families fed, I saw our former rulers slink away unnoticed and forgotten, and I knew the future could begin.

-oOo-

We'd closed the cells of sec-block so we had nowhere now to keep him. He'd lost the power of speech. Those vicious eyes were blank and dull and he dribbled from his face of scars as the healer fed his soup.

Jim turned to Spock and complained, "This wasn't what we planned. I thought we'd agreed you were going to give him an idea of what his victims went through - a little light empathy."

Spock looked unhappy. "That was the plan. But his mind was weaker than I'd anticipated. I started the meld by showing him the insignificance of his place in our universe, just a brief glimpse of time and space. And his mind crawled away from mine and hid. I have been unable to restore it."

Jim sighed. "Well, we can't leave him here like this. He belongs in a penal colony but I suppose we have no choice. We'll have to get him to Tantalus V. Make the arrangements."

He stared down at the empty shell that had been a man and his face was grim.

"Let's hope we can drop him off at the nearest Star Base for transfer. I don't want him on the Enterprise a moment longer than necessary."

Then he turned and asked me to walk with him and I knew it was time to say farewell.

-oOo-

We walked in silence to the creek beside the healer's house, now full of water, and already I could see the shoots of green upon the bank.

His face was thoughtful as he touched my hand and briefly placed his finger on my cheek.

"I have a son about the same age as you, Marta. Maybe a little younger." He stopped my questions with a shake of his head. "He's with his mother, and she doesn't want me near. I've only seen him once and when I think of him it makes me sad.

But I've never had a daughter... until now. And to leave you, after everything you've done, well, that makes me even sadder. I see a lot of brave people in this job but I doubt I'll meet a braver one than you." He squeezed my hand. "I'll miss you, Marta."

And, at that moment, I became Marat again, the shadow boy who said nothing and was nobody. I had so many words to say but I left them aching in my throat unsaid. I longed to hide in his shadow, close and warm, and let the buzzy wind take me back to his ship and lose myself among the stars he loved. Instead I left my tears upon his shoulder and hugged him close and said not a word of goodbye.

And, with one last smile, he turned and walked away, and I heard him vanish in that shimmer of metallic music.

-oOo-

And now I have a daughter of my own and I tell her tales of ships that sail the stars. She listens to my stories with wide eyes and asks questions I can't answer. She goes to school and learns with scholars from afar; knows more than me about so many things. She has no fear, and the only time she hides in shadows is for a game to make me jump and laugh.

And sometimes, when I walk alone at night, I watch the stars and I think I see a moving point of light. And I think I hear a wind that sounds of music and a laugh that echoes in my head and I keep watch for a stranger.

He's not come back. Not yet.

FIN

I wrote this a while ago but I know from traffic stats a trickle of people are still reading. I've just re-discovered a short prologue to this in Spock's voice which I decided not to include. If you are kind enough to review this story, I'll send it to you via PM (sorry guests, that means you have to log on or send me an email via PM).