Late

A dot, that’s all it had been, a point, a few pixels on a screen, a misplaced decimal point in one of the thousands of calculations he had made. But that little thing might have cost them the mission.

He had been so certain, so confident, so….excited, when he had pin-pointed Mimp’s planet and finally had proof of where she was. “I simply have to calculate the time that has passed then we go back and pick her up just after she arrives,” he had blithely told them. He had sounded so confident as he explained all about the wormholes, the reconfigured torpedos and the reprogramming of the deflector dish, and after nearly fifteen years of research he had sounded like he knew what he was doing.

But they had arrived on a rock in the ocean, a tiny patch of land with the water lapping at their feet. That was when he knew that something was not right, it was supposed to be solid land between them and the little hut he could see in the distance. The rest of the crew had looked at him with frowns of confusion, some muttering as the water splashed their feet, others scanning the tiny atoll while he frantically tapped at his tricorder trying to figure out what had gone wrong. And then Seelowe had appeared, not the Seelowe they were looking for but the other one, the one who always seemed to know the most inconvenient time to show. He had smirked a few greetings, made some lecherous comment to Illyan and then casually stated he knew exactly where they should be going.

“It’s a bit far for a swim,” said Miral after Seelowe had pointed towards the hut.

“What’s the big issue?” said Seelowe. “We simply suspend temporal cohesion and walk under the water.”

They had all blinked at him, and then watched in amazement as he drew out an unfamiliar device, tapped a few buttons, stepped into the water and disappeared under the waves in the direction he had indicated.

Miral, never one to miss trying something new, was the first to follow, Miki required quite a bit of persuasion and finally a none too gentle shove, and Mason simply remodulated and extended his shields to repel the water.

They had emerged from the sea, damp but other wise unharmed on a small headland that rose up then dipped down to provide some shelter from the wind and waves. They gathered on the rise and looked down into the hollow. A tumble of stones could be seen scattered around, some of the larger pieces were covered with a creeping vine that sprouted yellow flowers at intervals. From were they stood they could see that the stones had once formed the foundations and chimney of a small hut or house, and they did not need a scanner to tell them that no one had lived here for a very long time.

“Doctor Nal…” queried Arado to Illyan who had pointed her ever present scanner at the piles of stones, “…find anything?”

“I am reading DNA matching Mimp’s Starfleet medical records,” said Illyan, “but it is not recent, it appears to be quite old. If it is hers she hasn’t been here for many years.”

“What?” said Arado with surprise.

“What?” repeated Miki glaring at Arado.

“Except for animal life, there are no life signs on this planet other than our own,” said Illyan showing the scanner screen to Arado.

Arado drew out his own device and started punching in numbers.

Seelowe was doing the same.

“That means she was here....” muttered Arado as he checked his calculations. “How long ago Doctor? Can you get a date from the decay rate on the readings you have?”

“I would have to say at least 100 years,” replied Illyan.

“I need specifics Doctor, I need to know exactly,” barked Arado.

“According to my scanner….” the doctor paused and looked up at Arado, “….103.2 years.”

Seelowe closed his temporal tricorder, leaned on one of the larger piles of stones and did a quick head count. “We are damn close to a temporal convergence,” he said to no one in particular.

Miki stepped up to Arado, “You said you could find her, but she is not here, were you lying?” she jabbed an accusatory finger in the centre of his chest.

“Mimps was here at one time,” said Illyan gently.

“Are you saying.... we are too late?” Miki loosened her sword and drew it a few centimetres out of its scabbard.

Arado looked down at Miki and raised his hands, palms out, trying to appease her. “Look, it was a miscalculation, probably one digit out. We can correct this.”

“A miscalculation and my sister lived and died here 103 years ago!” growled Miki.

“How do we know this is not Mason's fault?” stammered Arado as he took a step backwards.

“We only programmed to the data you gave us,” said Mason. “So you can’t blame the cyborg and his AI. My calculations were perfect.”

“I can fix this,” said Arado, “I know I can fix this.”

"I can fix this now!" snapped Miki. She drew her sword completely, placed its point against Arado’s throat and spoke very slowly, "you…will…find…my…sister."

"Terrific." Seelowe watched on with bemused amusement.

“Miki, no!” said Miral as she placed a restraining hand on the other woman’s arm, “Without Arado we won't be able to go back to the ship and try again.”

“Put your sword away,” Illyan said sternly. “Do you care more for finding your sister or spilling blood?”

“Looks like my formulas need more work,” said Arado glumly.

Miki glared at him and returned her sword to its scabbard with a slam.

Seelowe pushed languidly off the pile of stones walked slowly over to Arado, took the tricorder out of his hand and began tapping at the screen as he spoke, “Our temporal projection indicates you will find the Carolina when Hlad, Mimps, Kelly, Illyan, Miral, Joe, Arado...and…what’s-his-name…oh yes…Mason… are finally reunited.”

Arado watched over Seelowe's shoulder, “You make it up as it suits you Seelowe, we all know that,” he said as he took mental note of the corrections Seelowe was inputting.

“I just enforce the temporal laws I don’t make them,” said Seelowe. He snapped the tricorder shut and pushed it back into Arado’s hands. “But I am sure you will all work it out soon.”

“We should return to the ship,” said Miki impatiently, “so that one,” she pointed at Arado, “can get his sums right.”

“Yes all right, let’s go,” said Arado with resignation. He tapped his com badge and gave the command.

Seelowe watched them all dissolve into shimmering blue nothingness then bent and picked up one of the smaller stones from amongst the weeds and rubble. He turned it over in his hand as he walked to the top of the rise then he tossed it into the sea.

“So close,” he sighed.