<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 — Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass<\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWhat about Worsham?\u201d I said tightly, for the moment ignoring any talk of plans, preliminary or otherwise.\u00a0 I realized they hadn\u2019t told me anything about what happened\u2026 after.\u00a0 Oh, shit\u2026was that one of the \u2018complications\u2019 they were talking about?<\/p>\n \u201cWorsham\u2019s dead, Hanalie,\u201d Jim told me.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s been dead for nearly 200 years, the records are clear on that.\u00a0 Seems he was murdered in prison, by another inmate.\u00a0 Devious idea Bones had, implicating Worsham in the death of his cellmate\u2019s niece.\u00a0 Apparently that did it.\u00a0 He never came to trial.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut\u2026\u201d I struggled to take this in, struggled to believe it.\u00a0 He was just in my apartment.\u00a0 I just saw him.<\/i><\/p>\n I looked down and saw there was still a fleck of blood on the cuticle of my little finger.\u00a0 I nervously scratched at it with my fingernail.\u00a0 Out, damned spot!<\/i><\/p>\n \u201cHow can you be so sure?\u201d I blurted.\u00a0 \u201cYou know how smart he is, and you said this Culpepper guy may have known him, so how do you know it wasn\u2019t all a trap, some scam?\u00a0 For all we know, he might have followed us back here in that transporter thingy\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Panic again, rising fast.\u00a0 I thought I\u2019d beaten it down, thought I\u2019d gotten control of myself.\u00a0 I\u2019d been tracking Lester Worsham for too long.\u00a0 I\u2019d been too steeped in the whispered implications of his secret capabilities.<\/p>\n It was Dr. McCoy, sitting next to me, who reached out and put a steadying hand on my shoulder, probably worried that he might need to up some meds.\u00a0 I could feel myself trembling.<\/p>\n He was all calm reassurance when he spoke.\u00a0 \u201cHanalie, you\u2019re 200 years from where you were.\u00a0 Worsham is<\/i> dead, and has been for a long time; the evidence is indisputable.\u00a0 Earth is back on track; that\u2019s all over.\u00a0 And whatever\u2019s going on with Culpepper, it\u2019ll die down.\u00a0 You\u2019re safe now.\u00a0 You\u2019re safe here, with us.\u201d<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t say anything else.\u00a0 What could I possibly have said?\u00a0 I wanted to believe; geez, I didn\u2019t really have a choice, did I?\u00a0 I just drew in a ragged breath, wrapped my arms tight around me, and made myself keep listening.<\/p>\n Mr. Spock took up the tale again.\u00a0 \u201cEarth records indicate you were presumed dead, though, of course, your body was never found.\u00a0 Ample evidence was available to convict Worsham on numerous other crimes; although that was unnecessary in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n I picked up a subtle change in the Vulcan\u2019s voice as he went on, \u201cOf more interest, perhaps, is the fact that the collapse of the anomaly occurred at the precise instant we beamed back about the Enterprise<\/i>.\u00a0 The crewman in the transporter room reports two occurrences he is unable to explain:\u00a0 The first is that essentially no time elapsed between our beaming down to Earth and our return.\u00a0 According to the transporter logs, there is no evidence that any of us actually left the ship.\u00a0 The second was that when he attempted to log Hanalie\u2019s arrival on board, he found the log entry already existed. \u00a0In essence, she appears to have arrived by some spontaneous, or at least simultaneous, means.\u201d<\/p>\n Jim looked thoughtful, though not as confused as I assumed he should be.\u00a0 It made me wonder what kinds of strange information he dealt with on a regular basis.<\/p>\n \u201cSo,\u201d he said, \u201caccording to the transporter records, we did not beam down to Earth, did not intervene, did not in fact violate the Prime Directive.\u00a0 The course of events on Earth indicates no more than a slight deviation of a few decades, but otherwise history continued to follow its original trajectory, as evidenced by us all sitting here.\u00a0 With the exception that we now have a guest \u2013 a most charming guest,\u201d again that smile, confident, cocky.\u00a0 I knew I wasn\u2019t at my charming best at the moment, but what the hell, I still appreciated the gesture, as he went on to complete his thought, \u201c\u2026who appears here as if by some unknown \u2013 or at least undocumentable \u2013 force.\u00a0 Quite a day\u2019s work, I\u2019d say.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Spock nodded studiously. \u201cThe situation does set forth a fascinating conundrum, Admiral, as to what was truly cause, and what was effect.\u00a0\u00a0 We assume that our pursuit of Worsham was the causal factor in our actions, and that Hanalie\u2019s transfer to our own time was simply an unanticipated effect.\u00a0 However, given the rather remarkable absence of supporting evidence, it is equally logical to assume that Hanalie\u2019s presence, here and now, was itself the factor that was driving all else, and that Worsham\u2019s own actions \u2013 and ours in pursuing him \u2013 were simply the unanticipated means toward that inevitable end.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe chicken or the egg, Spock?\u201d\u00a0 Jim mulled, obviously turning over this mind-blowing proposition in his head. \u201cYou think Hanalie\u2019s<\/i> the reason all this happened, not Worsham?\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Spock looked unperturbed.\u00a0 \u201cI am simply saying that the existing documentation could be said to support either interpretation equally.\u00a0 The facts only tell us that the man known as Lester Worsham no longer exists in either time period, while Hanalie Surat is dead in her original time, and yet lives in ours.\u00a0 Since time in any circumstance is only perceived<\/i> to be linear, and since the anomaly quite clearly altered even that normal perception, one must logically admit at least the possibility that what we perceived as cause was, in fact, the effect, and vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou mean it was Hanalie we were looking for all along?\u201d\u00a0 The doctor cut to the chase, \u201cWithout knowing it?\u00a0 But why?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou are a scientist, Doctor,\u201d Spock\u2019s even voice, I thought, toyed with sarcasm.\u00a0 \u201cSurely you would not leap to form a hypothesis as to that from our currently inadequate data.\u201d<\/p>\n In the awkward silence of the moment, three sets of eyes somehow focused in on me: curious, speculative, as if adjusting their assessment of me, perhaps from fluffy incidental hitchhiker to someone who might actually require a second, closer look.<\/p>\n There was apparently no end to the weirdness of this day.\u00a0 I let the implications of Mr. Spock\u2019s crazy-ass theory sink in.\u00a0 I was all the way down the rabbit hole and this weird-eared March Hare was saying that down was up, and up was down.<\/p>\n I may have been one mind-blown Alice, but somehow I knew what he said was the crazy-ass truth.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n < previous\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 next ><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" < previous\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 next > \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said: “one can’t believe impossible things.” \u2028\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” … Continue reading ![\"300px-The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17\"](\"https:\/\/hanilives.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/300px-The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said:
\n“one can’t believe impossible things.” \u2028\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,”
\nsaid the Queen.\u00a0 “When I was your age, I always did it for
\nhalf-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as
\nsix impossible things before breakfast.” \u2028\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n