Michael frowns at Cody's implication of Max's guilt. "I would like to add that I have been in Max's mind recently and am absolutely positive that he is not responsible for this. At least he has not yet been responsible for it, if at all. The only two options I can suggest would be time travel or alien intervention. One more thing about that image that Cody has shown you. Neither the leader of that ship nor any of his officers has directly seen the ship that looked like Enterprise, what Cody and I witnessed was a memory of a scene passed on from others telepathically at second or even third hand. If that was a human ship it would have to be sister ship to the Enterprise and it would have to involve time travel as the Enterprise was only in the very early stages of planning at the time of the event. In fact, the other ships under construction now are months away from completion. It would have to be one of them, as any new ship built from this point forward are very likely to be of a different more military design."

Steve says,

"Lorean, would you know if you, or a sister, came here 8 years ago?"

Cody responds,

*It's that "yet" that concerns me. I have been waiting and watching for 60 years in preparation for this. I am open to other suggestions however. How many time travelers do we know of?*

The implication in Cody's voice is that he still considers Lorean...or even alternate/future versions of themselves to be somehow at fault...

Lorean thinks, then says, "At this point, there is no way to know if it was a future version of ourselves that caused the situation, not without going back in time and going there, which could be what caused it... you see the problem?"

*Of course. No offense Lo, but time travel can be a messy business. Of all of us present you are the most qualified to advise us on the situation. We also need to discuss meeting with a Chromatic delegation in 10 days time. They are very imperialistic and would just as soon fight us for our resources. However they have to date only fought such wars with each other on their planet. I strongly feel that they are being manipulated as much as we are, and that they do not understand the consequences such an all out war vould bring. To that end I showed them a vision of what happened to our world during a nuclear holocasut. They showed a due amount of respect for that consequence so I think we are in a good albeit tenuous position.*

[OOC Assume this happens before the meeting begins]

Andrew meets everybody else in the main conference room. Everybody seems fine and Andrew prepares to assimilate Andy back into his body and absorb his memories and experience. "Cody, Michael, I'll be reintegrating Andy's memories into my own, I keep an eye on me to make sure they didn't implant any delayed effect telepathically. I'd be far more a threat that this little guy." With that Andrew absrobs Andy into him and takes his seat pouring over the homunculus' memories as the meeting beings.

***

"Folks I'm a bit worried here. That ship out there, is using our technology. The engines are clearly the same design as the Enterprise's. There are some differences in the radiation emmissions but they can be explained by different impurities within the engine and fusion system materials. Similarly the hull is made of the same bio-mechanical materials, the color is the only difference, and probably a simple matter of asthetics."

Andrew looks at the others, "While somewhat cruder I would hazzard a guess that their ships are roughly equal to the Enterprise. I don't need to point out that they also have the advantage of numbers."

Andrew gets a confused look on his face for a moment as if reviewing something in his mind, "Wait, what makes you suspect Max?"

"Are we talking about a paradox here? And if so, how does that explain the accident on the Enterprise? There must be a mole somewhere who has planned this all the way through. This cannot be coincedence.", she sighed thinking about the options.

"I fear this is your battlefield, gentlemen. But at least you've prevented the worst for now. Lets hope that negotiations will be succesful and brought to a peaceful end.", Joani addressed the telepaths.

Then she looked at Omar and Andy, whom she released from her grip. She was relieved but yet worried at the same time and for a moment she seemed to add something but chose to remain silent.

*Precisely the mystery at hand.*



*Steve, it was your deduction that finally convinced me. Why don't you field this one...*

Steve sighs and runs his hand through his hair. He glances at Amber and says,

"OK. Right... I guess we all need to know this now."

"I figured out a while ago what happened during Hammersmith, or more accurately, what didn't happen. As we all know, Hammersmith happened, and Lorean lost a big hunk of her drive as the universe changed."

"The obvious, but incorrect conclusion is that the later caused the former. However, the whole thing makes a lot more sense as a magician's trick. While everyone was distracted, someone made his move. Given the choice between thinking the multi-verse was restructured and thinking it was an inside job, I have to believe the later."

"And with that realization, looking at opportuanity, motive, and means, only one name shows up on all three lists."

"Max."

"I don't have any solid proof that he, or rather, future he, pulled a fast one, but it's the only conclusion fitting the facts. He was one step a head of us on this loop, he was expecting us, which means he knew about Hammersmith, he has inside access and knowlege, and none of us were expecting it."

"I didn't tell anyone, although Cody figured it out when he caught me lying about being stuck here, because there wasn't much point. We needed to work with him, and this was an act of future Max, and I should point out an act that was neccessary for many of our goals."

Lorean blinked. Then she stared at Steve. Then her jaw dropped. Then she recovered, and disappeared. Seconds later she reappeared with a dark look on her holographic face. "I don't know how it was done, but you are right. I was tampered with, and even though I can see it now that I look I have no idea how to change it." Her look darkened even more as she considered this, "But rest assured I will figure it out, and before much longer. Give me a few days or weeks at most and you will be able to walk the multiverse again."

After a moment she calms a bit and sighs, "Well, it had to be Max, but it also had to be me. Max couldn't have done this without my help, not even in a hundred years. I don't know what arguments he could have used to convince me but they must have been good."

"Then I suppose it must be something about this timeline in specific. I always thought that his intentions were to build a perfect society. Something that we almost accomplished. There are so many things that we prevented from happening if we take your worlds as an example to compare."

"I guess you already figured that out, too.", she was asking Steve, "Could Hammersmith be the key event to everything? It surely marked a turning point in history, be that for yourselves as for earths people."

After a moment of gathering her thoughts she added, "I'm still missing something. Why risk a war? Or is it just a huge experiment for him and we are his guinea pigs?"

Steve nods at Lorean says, he hadn't seen any other alternative. In response to Joani he says,

"The reason Max had to step in was we had two plans on the table right after Hammersmith. The second plan was all in. We go for broke, and it's worked pretty well." Steve winks at Amber.

"But the other idea was the minimalist approach. We tell Max where he messed up, mostly hiring Thetis, and that's it. But 80 years has shown us getting this right is NOT easy."

"Max's argument must have been that we needed convincing to stay here and without us it wouldn't have worked. And Lorean, I don't think it was just you he convinced. Only way he could have known about our menu options is if we told him."

"As for the aliens, I think we're past the point where we need an external enemy to keep us from destroying ourselves. Thus it doesn't seem to have future Max's finger prints on it. Also I don't think Max is a interstellar teleport, and I have doubts about him hauling around space ships."

Lorean nods, "Max doesn't have the capability to take anything with him on his time jumps, I know this from every record we have of him from the other timelines as well as conversations we've had on this one. In order for him to take one of the ships currently under construction back in time he would need my assistance, and that would mean your consent, which would make all of us guilty of the Enterprise's destruction and I just don't see that as happening."

Omar listens to the revelations put forth by Steve and Cody and begins brainstorming what seems inexplicable.



Joani just said something that shocked him into understanding what could have been Max's true motivation.

"Something just ocurred to me that we have not considered" Omar stood addressing the whole group. "What if Max saw that our future, even with all the changes we have made, still ends in the annihilation of Earth. Not by ourselves but an by alien race. This race is not these Chromatics. It is the one who sent the asteroids."

"Max could be trying to get us allies to fight this other threat. These Chromatics have been militarized...but not to fight us, and could be looking towards an enemy we have in common. The Chromatics could help us prevent earth's destruction at the hands of these other aliens.. They could aid us in Max is trying to help us in his own way."

"And that arguement might be compelling enough for Lorien for her to aid him in the endeavor."

Steve considers what Omar said and frowns, not becuase he doesn't like the reasoning but because he does. Steve replies,

"Ouch. Maybe. But if that is what he's up to he really should keep us in the loop before we start a witch hunt."

Lorean says, "Well, if he is involved, we will have to be at some point as well. Perhaps we should proceed as if he is not involved. We should check with him, but either way we need to vacate this area before the Chromatics get antsy and attack. I will jump us back to the Moon so that you can do what you need to do unless anyone has any objections." Assuming no one does, Lorean will return to the Sol system in orbit above the moon.

*If it is Max I would expect him to be contacting us...since he would know that right about now is when we are having this discussion...*

"I agree Lorien, it makes no sense to antagonize a potential ally." Keeping his eyes on Lorien. "Do we know when Max's next scheduled re-appearance is supposed to happen?"

"Not really, he is currently in this time however, living his way forward like normal. He hasn't done nearly as much time shifting in this timeline as he did in others."

"If you want, I can bring him here." Lorean waits and if someone does want Max she will teleport him directly to the bridge.

"We might as well fill him in on the situation, no matter if he was involved or not to begin with. Maybe he can give us some more clues? I for myself need to know if he has his hands in this or not.", Joani looked to the others waiting for approval.

"If he is here currently, then he may not even know what he did." Omar had no idea if he was making sense or not. "It may be something he does in the future. It could also be possible that he travelled to the future, in the past." Omar was starting to confuse himself, so he left it at that for now.

Lorean nods, "Done." Before the sound of her word stops echoing Max appears in the room looking a touch startled, then clears his throat, "Um. That was just a bit less warning than I'm used to Lorean, good thing I was no longer in the restroom." he chuckles and looks at everyone.

Mas says, "I take it my presence was urgently needed?" Michael looks at Max and silently and rapidly the situation is downloaded into Max's brain. He blinks in astonishment then his brows narrow in thought. "I see." He starts to pace back and forth for a moment and adjusts his smoking jacket in habit making several passes before he stops in his tracks and says, "Let me put your minds at ease and say first that I did not do this thing with the aliens, and I don't think that I would do so in the future either. Secondly, the trick about keeping you here in the is timeline, well, it must be my future self that did it, but that I can imagine doing and now that I know of it I most certainly make the arrangements at my earliest convenience." He says the last with a twinkle in his eye.

(Just so you know, Max has become a rather dignified older gentleman who appears to be in his late 60s. His hair is mostly white, but still has a touch of his original color and his face has developed the deep smile lines of a person happy with life.)

Steve nods like he was expecting this and comments,

"Pity you didn't do the aliens, that means we have a real problem on our hands. I don't see away around it, we've got an alien agent on Earth somewhere, probably inside the Space Corp. Somebody out there doesn't like us."

Steve pauses, then continues, "And I have a few recommendations about the Lorean-Hammersmith event. We might as well close the circle on that one."

Max smiles. "Closing the circle sounds good."

Lorean adds, I can provide you with a special link device with the appropriate code once I isolate the code."

Cody sits down.

*So it was us that set the whole thing in motion....and yet...*

*Lorean..even if we do conspire against oursleves to trap you and our past selves in this single timeline...it was my understanding that traveling back would merely create a divergence.*

Lorean nods, "That is correct. At first I thought we would come back to the same timeline because of the change in physics, but since that change is a lie, we would actually have been creating a divergence, and therefore would not be appearing in this exact timeline."

"Does that rule out that its us? I mean our future selves?", Joani looked as confused as Omar.

"Or are we witnessing how our future selves jumped back to 1992 to share our technology with the aliens in order to change the outcome of history? Lets assume we'd never encountered the aliens and one day, far in the future, that results in a war but we quickly realised that travelling back and "arranging" a meeting far earlier would give us a chance to reach a diplomatic solution - and thus prevent a war?", Joani looked unsure about her assumptions.

"What if it was us who brought an alien agent to earth to set all this in motion?", Joani was slowly getting an headache going through all possibilities she could think of.

Omar grumbled something about "Paradox" and "Headache" before going silent again.

Lorean nods slowly, "I think it does rule out that it was us. If it had been us we'd have gone back to an alternate timeline which would make us copies and not the originals."

Steve says,

"OK, Stop right there. Enough blaming everything on time travel, just because we can use it to anything doesn't mean it's been used for everything. Unless we get a letter from the future saying that we did this, the assumption should be that we didn't."

"I think we're looking at a botched alien plan which was put together with limited resources. Alien X gets our tech, gives it to those midevil types, but he doesn't want them to fire up a war with us until they can do the job right, i.e. extermination."

"That's why they weren't given our home address, if they had it then they'd send over a ship and we'd find out we're at war far too soon. We have lots of experience with modern weapons, and our economy must be huge compared to them since they were in the fourteen hundreds just 10 years ago."

"Problem is the time line got messed up. We're ahead of schedual. Worse, we have a second ship they didn't know about, and we have telepaths of our own. And maybe they don't have local agents over there who knew enough to move things up, maybe they couln't. Smart money says if we'd left them alone for another five years they'd have come over here all fired up and done something genocidal."

"What we really need to do is find out where and how they got their tech, and what tech they have. Just knowing what they have will tell us a lot about where it had to come from."

"Gee, am I glad now...", Joani said with a sarcastic undertone.

Steves deduction made more sense to her now and she was glad she didn't have to follow through her own assumptions which went far into the realms science fiction . Shaking her head to clear herself from those thoughts she concentrated on Steves question.

"Finding out how they came to the tech is job of our diplomats and telepaths", she looked at Cody and Michael.

"And we have to find that alien agent, else he could jeopardize our negotiations in 10 days. Can you give us a clue about the aliens physiology? Something we can look for to reveal his presence?", she asked Cody and Michael.

Michael says, "Not really. The alien agent here on Earth, if they are here on Earth isn't one of the Chromatics, they are definitely not human in appearance." He has Lorean show an image of the Chromatics compiled from his and Cody's telepathic scans. I'd also have to say that if there is an alien agent, they are very strongly telepathic to have stolen our most secret technologies to the degree that they have given it to the Chromatics. It is possible that this third Alien species that we haven't identified has recruited human telepaths though who have betrayed humanity for some reason."

Steve says, thinking out loud,

"There's a contradiction here. They got here somehow. If they have a mega-tech space ship with invisibility such that Lorean can't detect it, that implies they'd have the tech to push a button and exterminate us. But they had to go recruit the Chromatics. They're dealing with some real resource limitations."

"As far as I know there's no reports of aliens running around. Shapeshifter? Mind wipe everyone you met? Someone in a space ship opperating things remotely? No spaceship of their own... Caroline?"

"Assume they either are, or own, someone who has been at the heart of the space program for eight years. Assume they're high enough rank to be able to move around and expose themselves to the things they need to, but not so high that they risk being replaced if the Prez loses an election. Presumably they'd want a job that gives them lots of time to run around, and doesn't expose them to physical danger."

"An auditor wouldn't be around all the time, someone in finance would spend too much time in the wrong area. Hmm... this is a big protect. If I were a strong telepath and I were trying to set this up I'd get a job as..."

"Andrew, you and I probably know or have met this person. We're basically talking about a department head or their go-fer or secretary."

"Let's narrow that some more. Raising children would be a waste of time and a distraction, especially since extermination looms. They're devorced, never married, or their family died eight plus years ago."

Steve shrugs,

"Or our mole is a family guy who needed money and works for Alien-X without knowing his master plan. I'm making assumptions off of assumptions and the chain of guess work is pretty long here. But it might be interesting to run down the non-family types who have been with us more than 8 years and are in that kind of position."

{Investigative Prodigy on if it isn't}