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 #102.

Dina stared at the unfolded paper 'envelope' from Grif. She wasn't sure what she'd expected, but three aged jellybeans wasn't it. She didn't know what message he was sending, if any, nor whether they were even good to eat.

A rap at the door startled her, and she quickly refolded the paper around the candy and stuffed it in her jacket as it hung from the back of her chair. "Come in," she said, after making sure the candy was secure.

Ruth entered the office. "Dina? I was wondering if you'd discovered anything new on Tomo."

Dina shook her head. "No, not yet. To be honest, Tomo seems... wrong." She stood to make tea. It had become a semi-ritual that if an Advisor or Consul visited, you made tea. Not that Dina needed an excuse – she had fresh mint today, and had planned on mint tea in any event.

"I know what you mean." Ruth looked out the large window at the heavy clouds gathering on the horizon. "He wasn't quite a slacker, but he didn't seem the type to authorize biowarfare."

"Exactly. That's what's missing, you know. A motive. No, not quite," Dina corrected herself. "The motive is clear: someone wanted a killer disease created, probably to use on the Earthlings. But I'm not sure it was Tomo."

"Awfully convenient that he's dead then," Ruth said lightly. She looked directly at Dina. "I've looked over the autopsy records – if it was anything other than a stroke, it's remarkably well hidden. Which isn't to say he was murdered; someone may have decided he was the best scapegoat since he couldn't answer."

They'd been over all this before, Dina knew, but she also knew the desire to rehash it, to hope that maybe this time some new thought would spark – "Plus I can't find any direct correlation between Tomo and Lynn. He might've talked to her, but if so, it was discreet. It's certainly possible; I just don't think it's probable."

When the tea was ready, they sipped in silence for a time. At length, Dina said, "Looks like it might storm later."

"Yes."

Another pause, then this time Ruth spoke. "You remember, years ago, when we first talked of looking for alien artifacts?" When Dina shook her head, Ruth continued: "One of our early meetings; I forget who mentioned looking for any alien technology possibly left behind. And Tomo thought it was the stupidest idea, that no such 'precursors' existed. That we were alone in the universe, Earthlings and Androsynth."

"I remember now," Dina said. "And then there was the probe – which the Hierarchy says is not of Precursor manufacture, so no reward – and of course the Hierarchy itself."

"I wonder what he'd say, if he were alive today, about all the aliens we've found?" Ruth mused.

"Probably 'who cares about the aliens, I'm freezing in here!' " Dina said without thinking, and then she and Ruth both dissolved into embarrassed giggles.

Comments? Email me: laridian at aol dot com