| Author | Message | ||
     Cdr. Velorna Tal |
"Heeeeey! you're back!" The voice reached out through the dark and the cold and pierced something within her. She couldn't possibly be back. "Man, we were all betting on whether you'd be back." "Ben, leave the girl alone. She's got to be the first person I've ever known to actually leave and come back again in the same day." "What about that one guy? You know, that Klingon fella who got revived on the battlefield that one day... remember?" "Oh yeah, Klurg. Poor bastard, never saw that bat'leth that took his head off, did he? Whatever happened to him?" "Oh, he moved up to the Fifth Circle. I think he's got himself a nice little coffee shop up there." "Really? That's great!" "Ahem!" The group of men conversing stopped when she cleared her throat as they all turned and stared at her. "Would someone mind telling me what exactly is going on?" A simple-looking man in simple brown robes smiled avaraciously in her direction. "Texas Hold 'em. I think it's my bet, isn't it, Ben?" "Yeah, Jude. And you'd better not - " "I'll see your ten, and raise you thirty pieces of silver." "Goddamit, Jude!" "Shut up, Cain. Just 'cause you only have fruits to wager doesn't mean that the rest of us can't bet real money." "Money is one thing, but will you quit with that damned silver crap? Everytime, it's 'I'll see you and raise you thirty pieces of silver!' Do something different for a change!" "Fine." A pause. "I'll raise you thirty pieces of silver and one." "Okay, bet's thirty-one pieces of silver to you, Cain." The round of betting and raising continued while she pondered in silence what she was hearing. Something about the number thirty-one had triggered something in her thoughts. "Dammit! I fold." The man with all the fruit threw down his cards and walked away from the table cursing in an odd dialect that she wasn't entirely ceratin she could place. In fact, her entire surroundings were a bit out of time and out of place. "Where am I?" "Hell." "No!" "Yes." "Why?" "Well, seeing as you're in the Seventh Circle Bar & Grill, and seeing as we're trapped beneath a big sheet of ice - Brutus! Put that damned knife away! What have we told you about that crap? - Uh, what was I saying?" "Big sheet of ice." "Right, since we're beneath that big 'ol sheet of ice here in the Seventh Circle, there's a good bet that you betrayed someone. Probably someone you're really close to." "Me? No, I'm no betrayer. I - my job is to protect. Wait, is this about that thing with the race?" "Sorry, honey, youre down here because you knowingly betrayed someone before you died." "I - I don't remember. But this place - it seems vaguely familiar." "Oh yeah, you were here earlier, I think. Didn't stay too long. Maybe an hour or so at most. And that was probably mostly spent going through in-processing. Damned paperwork. They haven't even updated it since the Klingon Dark Ages." "Um, is there anyway out of here?" "You're the one who left and came back. You tell me." "Judas! It's your deal. Get your lousy Jewish butt over here!" "Shut your pie whole, Cassius! Goddammed Roman Bastard." "So, you're saying I left of my own accord." "Yeah. Or someone pulled you back." He shrugged. "Look, it's my deal. You want in or not?" "I'm going back again." "Uh huh, look, it's my deal, so it's 30 pieces of sil -" "Jude! I'm warning you!" "Thirty-one pieces to open. You in or out?" He eyed her curiusly. "I'm going back. I've been back once already." She swallowed hard. "Whatever brought me back, I have a feeling is going to do it again. I can't explain it, but it's like this place is just a waiting room for me." "We get a lot of Romulans down here, kiddo. You're the first to ever leave and come back." He shrugged. "Maybe you got something there, girl. In the mean time, are you in or out?" She cast her glances around the freezing cold bar room. Could she really afford to spend her time doing anything but preparing herself? Hell, if resurrection were anything like the vague impressions in the back of her head, then all the planning in the universe wouldn't do her a lick of good. What the hell? You only live twice. Or was that "you only die twice"? She was never quite certain. "Romulan ale, straight up, on the rocks. I'll see your thirty-one and raise you thirty-one." ======== Christian D. Clem '01, aka "Aggie" Cdr. Velorna Tal, Executive Officer U.S.S. Coronado NCC-97901 |