Rich was sitting at one of the big observation windows in the DEL contemplating the stars glittering outside. He and the other visitors from the twenty-first century would be going home soon, and he knew he'd never get another chance to see the heavens quite like this. There was a bottle on the table - amber-colored, tall, with a bent neck and a stopper in the opening. After thirty-five years of watching Captain Kirk on TV drinking Saurian Brandy, he couldn't leave before trying it just once.
The others at the table, Steve and Krys, Benton and Sitto, were having a glass too. Well, Benton was having a glass of water, really. Spot and a couple of his puppies were rolling back and forth between Krys and Benton keeping everyone amused, and Sitto had been talking to Steve.
"So I hear you agreed to take things easy on the Marines," said Sitto.
"It seemed like the civilized thing to do," said Steve, smiling.
Sitto turned to Rich and continued his thought. "So how's about it, Merk? Give me and Benny a break too, huh?"
"What are you talking about?" said Rich, cracking a grin. "You guys have the most easy-going, non-violent guy in the bunch behind you!" He took a sip of brandy, thought for a moment, then said, "Besides, it's not like you guys are actually controlled by what we write. If I understand it right, it doesn't quite work that way."
"What doesn't work that way?" said a new voice from behind the group. It was Francesca. She pulled up a chair and sat down next to Rich.
Krys smiled. She'd noticed how Francesca had taken to following Rich around. No doubt when they all went back to Earth, her attention would return to Benton, but for the duration, Benton got a break. She answered Francesca's question. "We were talking about how our writing doesn't control what happens aboard the Virgo exactly."
"Oh yeah, that's true," said Francesca, warming up to the subject. She picked up one of the little tribbles and began petting it, then went on. "That's basic quantum theory. If you apply the sum-over-histories principle, that yields a literally infinite number of possible quantum universes, and with an infinite number of universes, literally anything and everything is possible. Most of these other universes are totally divergent from ours, completely removed from anything we could possibly imagine, but there would also be some that are very similar."
"Like the Mirror Universe," offered Sitto.
"Shush!" scolded Francesca. "I'm on a roll. Where was I? Oh yeah -- quantum universes. So it's just a matter of statistics to find a universe where there's a group of people write things, and another universe where the things those people write actually happen in real life."
"So our writing doesn't cause events in your universe, it just mirrors them, or vice versa," concluded Rich.
"Oh, you're so smart," said Francesca, and gave his arm a friendly little hit.
"Sounds like nit-picking to me...,' commented Sitto. "If whatever they write happens to us here, it doesn't matter if they cause it or not. Either way, it happens."
Francesca screwed up her face and was about to retaliate with a commentary of her own concerning the quantum state of Sitto's gray matter, but a new thought could suddenly be seen percolating behind her eyes. She looked over at Benton with a mischievous glint in her eye, then turned to Rich. "So.... if what happens to us on the Virgo is a reflection of what you write in your little game...."
"Yes...?"
"...And whatever you write in your little game winds up happening to us on the Virgo...."
"Yes...?"
"...What say you lend a girl a hand and write a little something about me and Benton here. Know what I mean?" With that she looked back at Benton and winked and blew him a kiss.
Benton squirmed in his seat looking decidedly uncomfortable. He cleared his throat nervously, then reached over across the table and grabbed the Saurian Brandy bottle and took a big swig. The table burst out in general laughter; even Spot chirped merrily.
"I'll see what I can do...," was all Rich would say.
Later that evening, back in his temporary quarters, Rich kicked off his shoes and began untucking his shirt from his pants. He suddenly felt something in his breast pocket, and stuck his fingers in to find out what it was. His hand came out with one of the little tribbles!
"Hey there little fella," he said, petting the little critter. The tribble immediately began purring and trilling. The sound was increadibly soothing. Rich smiled and sat down on the edge of his bed. 'The only love money can buy indeed,' he thought, quoting a line from the original TOS episode. He must have sat there for at least hour an hour just petting the little beast and listening to it purr. Finally, he set the tribble down again. "Too bad I can't take you home with me," he said wistfully.
But suddenly a new thought came to him, and his smile grew.