Happy Holidays, merriman!
Title: Even Mountains Crumble Into The Sea
Author: Dreidel Inferno!
Written for: merriman
Characters: Methos, Data (not a pairing)
Rating: G
Author's Notes: Gen, crossover with Star Trek: The Next Generation, with specific nods to the "Time's Arrow" two-parter. Title comes from the lyrics of "San Francisco" by 5 Seconds of Summer.
Summary: Immortality + time travel = headaches for Methos.
The problem with androids was that, much like Immortals, they didn't age. This made it difficult, in an era where time travel was acknowledged as a thing which sometimes happens, to tell whether a non-aging person one had met had gone back to the past yet.
It made Methos' head hurt to think about.
Not that he had known he was encountering an android the first time it happened; in 1893, he thought the man with the pale gold skin to be either some exotic new phenotype he had yet to hear of, or else afflicted with an unfortunate disease of the liver. It had pricked his buried medical interest at the time, but he had suppressed the curiosity. He'd left behind being a doctor a couple of decades prior, and only been in San Francisco to pick up supplies and news to bring back to Arizona, where he mostly stayed until 1902.
Imagine his surprise when in 2338 he saw that strange familiar golden face featured in an news article about Omicron Theta. At first he had thought he was dealing with a particularly unique-looking Immortal who had died sometime shortly after Methos first saw him, but surely he'd have heard of him in the intervening centuries. The Watchers would have had a plethora of bizarre theories about anyone who looked like that!
He had immediately realised it must be time travel. Before 2286, the idea was relegated to freak accidents, lost or advanced peoples who weren't sharing the ability, wistful conversations and furious philosophical debates. Methos had rather enjoyed arguing about time travel, once upon a time. Then whales had been brought forward from before their extinction to save the planet Earth (and make a go at repopulating the oceans), and he realised that he had to start seriously factoring the possibility of time travel into his appraisal of situations. It was a little mind-blowing, but he'd done his best to adjust.
So now, as a golden-skinned officer beamed down with other crewmen of the USS Enterprise to aid in disaster relief efforts on the colony world of Teriimaevarua, all Methos had to do was work out if the android in question had gone back in time yet. And even if he had, had he spotted Methos when they crossed paths in San Francisco?
Yellow eyes swept across the area and fixed on him, and Methos had the sinking feeling that the answer to both questions was yes. He held his hands up slightly to indicate he meant no harm as the officer efficiently brought a piece of equipment to bear on his person. Happily, it was a tricorder instead of a phaser.
"My readings indicate you to be a human, of Earth origin," Data informed him with a slightly intrigued tone to his factual statement. "How is this possible?"
Methos understood the complexities of the question, given what he knew of their mutual history and the actions the android had just taken, though the other officers were giving him a slightly puzzled look. Just as he had initially thought Data might be Immortal, Data had checked to see if Methos was one of some long-lived species, such as the El-Aurians, to explain his unaging presence here. Knowing that the way his luck ran he would have to handle this situation sooner or later, Methos had invested some time in how he would deal with it. Fortunately, Data had chosen to join Star Fleet.
"The answer to that is classified," he said firmly. "I don't know fi you have the security access to know it, but I know I don't have the clearance to discuss it."
To his great relief, Data nodded. Methos gestured to the rest of the group.
"If you will all follow me, then..."
As he lead them to the site where they were needed, Data pulled up to walk alongside him.
He had a feeling this wasn't over.
END
Author: Dreidel Inferno!
Written for: merriman
Characters: Methos, Data (not a pairing)
Rating: G
Author's Notes: Gen, crossover with Star Trek: The Next Generation, with specific nods to the "Time's Arrow" two-parter. Title comes from the lyrics of "San Francisco" by 5 Seconds of Summer.
Summary: Immortality + time travel = headaches for Methos.
The problem with androids was that, much like Immortals, they didn't age. This made it difficult, in an era where time travel was acknowledged as a thing which sometimes happens, to tell whether a non-aging person one had met had gone back to the past yet.
It made Methos' head hurt to think about.
Not that he had known he was encountering an android the first time it happened; in 1893, he thought the man with the pale gold skin to be either some exotic new phenotype he had yet to hear of, or else afflicted with an unfortunate disease of the liver. It had pricked his buried medical interest at the time, but he had suppressed the curiosity. He'd left behind being a doctor a couple of decades prior, and only been in San Francisco to pick up supplies and news to bring back to Arizona, where he mostly stayed until 1902.
Imagine his surprise when in 2338 he saw that strange familiar golden face featured in an news article about Omicron Theta. At first he had thought he was dealing with a particularly unique-looking Immortal who had died sometime shortly after Methos first saw him, but surely he'd have heard of him in the intervening centuries. The Watchers would have had a plethora of bizarre theories about anyone who looked like that!
He had immediately realised it must be time travel. Before 2286, the idea was relegated to freak accidents, lost or advanced peoples who weren't sharing the ability, wistful conversations and furious philosophical debates. Methos had rather enjoyed arguing about time travel, once upon a time. Then whales had been brought forward from before their extinction to save the planet Earth (and make a go at repopulating the oceans), and he realised that he had to start seriously factoring the possibility of time travel into his appraisal of situations. It was a little mind-blowing, but he'd done his best to adjust.
So now, as a golden-skinned officer beamed down with other crewmen of the USS Enterprise to aid in disaster relief efforts on the colony world of Teriimaevarua, all Methos had to do was work out if the android in question had gone back in time yet. And even if he had, had he spotted Methos when they crossed paths in San Francisco?
Yellow eyes swept across the area and fixed on him, and Methos had the sinking feeling that the answer to both questions was yes. He held his hands up slightly to indicate he meant no harm as the officer efficiently brought a piece of equipment to bear on his person. Happily, it was a tricorder instead of a phaser.
"My readings indicate you to be a human, of Earth origin," Data informed him with a slightly intrigued tone to his factual statement. "How is this possible?"
Methos understood the complexities of the question, given what he knew of their mutual history and the actions the android had just taken, though the other officers were giving him a slightly puzzled look. Just as he had initially thought Data might be Immortal, Data had checked to see if Methos was one of some long-lived species, such as the El-Aurians, to explain his unaging presence here. Knowing that the way his luck ran he would have to handle this situation sooner or later, Methos had invested some time in how he would deal with it. Fortunately, Data had chosen to join Star Fleet.
"The answer to that is classified," he said firmly. "I don't know fi you have the security access to know it, but I know I don't have the clearance to discuss it."
To his great relief, Data nodded. Methos gestured to the rest of the group.
"If you will all follow me, then..."
As he lead them to the site where they were needed, Data pulled up to walk alongside him.
He had a feeling this wasn't over.
END