Welcome to the Journal of Now and Forever. This Journal is a collection of my Star Control and Star Control 2 fiction. Note: Some of this material is, by necessity, extrapolation from the slim information provided by canon sources.

New fiction is posted first at My Livejournal before it appears here. This story is in response to 15 Minute Ficlets' Challenge #69.

He was cold, wet, soaked through, his muscles sore from what felt like unending labor. Mentally, he wasn't at his best either, and he knew it.

Dean sat on a pile of hastily assembled sandbags and tried to wipe the water from his eyes as the rain continued to pour down. He felt tired, more in mind perhaps than in body, and wished he could just find a dry place to sleep, and when he woke the flood threat would be past and things would be better. At the same time, he knew wishing didn't do anything. Prayer had a slightly better chance.

God listens to you, he remembered the Deans telling him. But listening and answering aren't the same thing. God helps those who help themselves. It's all about free will.

Then what's the point of asking Him anything? There's so many people on the planet that there's no way He can pay any attention to what I say. Why should He care about me at all?

God can do anything because He is all-powerful. He set the entire universe in motion, and now he's standing back to watch what happens. He might give a nudge here or there, but if He steps in and does everything, what's the point of free will?

I don't understand.

We'll talk more about it later -

A flare of white light and loud booming of thunder interrupted his thoughts. The organized chaos of every Androsynth in the area stopped briefly from the business of preparing defenses against the impending flood.

"Too close," said an Androsynth near him. Dean couldn't tell what series the clone was, and that was part of why he felt beaten down, that he knew series numbers but not the faces anymore. It was like being perpetually lost in the crowd, looking for people you knew but not finding them. The clone continued, in a loud voice: "Everyone, get out of the area! What's done is done, it'll have to hold."

Where was Nick, or Mick or Jose or anyone he knew? They could be right beside him. Dean stood up, feet sinking slightly into the mud. He looked up as lightning flared again, an abstracted multitiered fork in the distance, bridging the chasm between earth and sky.

The bolt must've been huge to be seen from so far away, even if the few seconds between the light and the sound stretched into forever. The searing light disappeared, leaving only an afterimage on Dean's retinas, a jagged shape –

The roar of rain and boom of thunder and other sounds coalesced into one overwhelming power of noise, noise that took hold of the brain and said I am greater than you and you shall know my strength.

"Yes," Dean whispered. "That's it." He allowed himself to be pulled to safety as the Androsynth retreated from the river.

Comments? Email me: laridian at aol dot com