From: derek@anxst.com Subject: Nothing Changes Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 13:05:28 -0700 (PDT) name = shadows ghost email = damo_danko@hotmail.com title = Nothing Changes story = "Nothing Changes" by shadows ghost damo_danko@hotmail.com I suggest you read Shakespeare's "Macbeth" if you haven't already. And I also suggest watching "Comes the Inquisitor." Quotes from "Macbeth" belong to the dearly departed Bard of Avon. All series characters are property of JMS/Babylonian Productions/Time Warner. Since I love reading cryptic, thought-provoking stories, I figured I'd try writing one. This is to Merlin Missy, an author who *truly* understands. This is also to my friend Batya, who almost does. This occurs right after Lyta re-joins Psi-Corps. --- "The future is set! The past is a curse and the future a nightmare!" -Cristine "Requiem" --- Lyta had just finished the last job of the day and was tired. She headed towards her quarters with a stack of paperwork in her arms. She felt a presence and looked around. No one was there. She shrugged and continued on towards her quarters. As she got nearer, the presence became stronger. When she was only a few feet from the door, she leaned against the wall as the presence started to overwhelm her. Ivanova was passing by in the corridor and saw Lyta wince and lean against the wall. She went over and put a hand on Lyta's shoulder. "Are you allright?" Lyta glanced at her and nodded. She straightened up. "Yes, thanks for your concern." Ivanova nodded and continued to her destination. Lyta opened the door to her quarters and dumped the papers on her dining table. She was about to go change into something more comfortable when she saw the lady staring at her. She was thin, but fit. Her ebony hair was long and straight. Her eyes were black. It was like staring into a bottomless pit. She wore black pants and a black shirt similar to Lyta's with a black longcoat over it. Her feet were placed slightly apart and her hands clasped behind her back. The longcoat's bottom moved as though there was a slight breeze. "Ms. Alexander." She nodded to Lyta. Lyta stared at her, she looked familiar. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" "Who am I? Who do you think?" She smiled wryly. "What am I doing here?" Lyta stepped forward. "I'm calling security." She stepped up to the com panel and just as her hand was about to touch the panel, she shattered. Lyta looked around where she had ended up. The lady was sitting on a rock nearby. She glanced at Lyta and swung an arm around to encompass the entire view. "What do you think?" Lyta looked at the destruction around her. Buildings were smashed and on fire, bodies lay everywhere. "Where are we?" "We are on the Drazi homeworld. Delightful place, eh? You should know something. The better question to ask from now on is 'When are we?'" "What happened? Who did this?" "Oh you know, same old, same old. A race thinks they are superior and go around killing other races. Nothing changes. Corruption, immorality, chaos." "You sound like Sebastien." "He lived 500 years. He knew what he was talking about." "Who did this?" The lady smiled. "Can't you guess?" Lyta jerked around as she appeared in another place. "Where?" The lady walked up to her, shaking her head. She sighed. "When, the better question is when." She glanced around. "Earth, the highlands of Scotland." "When, this looks like it's from the dark ages." She gestured to the castle before them. "Now you're getting it. It is the 750th year of our lord." She snorted in amusement. "Why..." Lyta trailed off as the lady pointed at the castle. "Watch." Lyta turned to watch as the castle was attacked. Soldiers were trying to ram in the gate with a log, while others shot flaming arrows over the wall. The lady gestured and they appeared on the wall, watching the battle raging within. The attacking soldiers overwhelmed the castle's army. The commanding lord ordered his men to gather all the castle's inhabitants. They forced them into a large group in the courtyard and the lord smiled on them. "You should have surrendered, now you will pay the price." He lazily pointed at the people and his soldiers started cutting through them as though cutting aside branches in a forest. Lyta whipped around to stare at the woman as they appeared in a serene park. "Why did you show me that?" She demanded. "To prove what I said. Nothing changes, corruption, immorality, chaos." She stood up and gestured for Lyta to walk with her. They walked along a path for a minute before she spoke again. "What do you know of the Dilgar?" Lyta looked puzzled. "They were a warring race that wanted to rule the galaxy." "Why?" "I don't understand." "Exactly." They appeared on the station, in C&C. Lyta looked around relieved. Then she noticed something was wrong. Only Ivanova and Corwin were there. Some stations were blackened and melted. Ivanova whipped around as they appeared. The right side of her face looked as though it had been burned. One eye was a mass of scar tissue. She grinned as she saw Lyta. "Lyta." She hissed. "Perfect, we need your help." Lyta stepped forward. "Commander, what happened to your face?" Ivanova grinned again. Her eye shone with madness. "Nothing. Lyta, with your help, we can conquer the Drakh." Corwin laughed harshly. "Then we'll have a perfect record." Lyta stared at them. "What are you talking about?" "All that stands in our way are the Drakh." "Stands in the way of what?" "Total conquest." Lyta stared. Ivanova continued. "All you need to do is what you did with Z'ha'dum." She laughed. "BOOOOOM! Such a lovely sound." Zack stepped in as Ivanova finished her sentance. He looked at Lyta. "You're back." He glanced at Ivanova. "Told you she would survive cleansing." Lyta glanced back and forth between them. "What are you talking about?" As Zack opened his mouth to explain, Lyta shattered. The were back in the park The lady turned to Lyta. "I ask you again, why?" "I still don't understand." "When he believed his wife mad, Macbeth asked the doctor: 'Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd, Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, Raze out the written troubles of the brain, And with some sweet oblivious antidote Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff That weighs upon the heart?...' Does that not apply to Commander Susan Ivanova?" Lyta was silent. "'A mind diseased.' Commander Ivanova sure looked like she had a diseased mind." She pointed at Lyta. "Where did you come from?" Lyta was confused. "My mother." "Humans, I mean, what were they before they became homo-sapiens or homo- psychics?" "Savage animals." "Exactly!" She smiled. "'Pluck from the memory a *rooted* sorrow', 'that perilous stuff that weighs upon the heart.'" She started pacing. "Humans have such an overblown view of their own advancement." "How do you mean?" "When you leave a human in the enviroments animals live in, they eventually become like the animals. For all their technological advances, at their core, humans are still savage animals. The Dilgar understood that about themselves. That is why they tried to conquer the galaxy. They knew that deep down inside they were savage, they just didn't try to hide it under centuries of 'civilised things'." They appeared where they had first visited. Lyta and the lady were both sitting on the rock. Lyta turned to her. "That's why you showed me the attack in Scotland." "Yes." She turned to stare at the bodies and fires around her. "We did this, didn't we? This is in the same time period as the mad Ivanova. Humans did this." "Yes, when they realized that they were just hiding their true selves." "Wouldn't the Captain and Delenn try to stop this?" "You put too much faith in them. Besides, Sheridan died twelve years ago, Delenn died shortly after." "Why did it happen, when did we go mad?" "Why? Because it always happened, some races take longer than others, some take very little time. When? Can't say." "Why me?" "Because of who you are, what you will become, what you have been through." "Will this really happen? Is it a just a dream, to teach me, or prophecy?" "You'll see." The lady turned to Lyta as they appeared back in her quarters. "What is the mark of the truly civilised? Is it the complex gadgets and pretty art? Is it the ability to create and destroy?" "No, it is that one tries to stop pain and suffering." "But?" Lyta had a flash of insight as she remembered a conversation with Lorien. ~"What's it like to be immortal?" Lyta asked. Lorien smiled sadly. "It is to give up joy but forever live with pain."~ She looked at the lady. "One tries to stop pain and suffering, but realizes that it is inevitable." She smiled at Lyta. "Now you understand. As Shakespeare once said: 'Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing....'" She faded out as she recited "nothing." Lyta called out as the lady faded. "Who are you?" The lady's voice echoed in the quarters. "I am you." --- The End.