A Dark, Distorted Mirror. Volume 4. A Future, Born in Pain

G'Kar looked at the broken pieces of Sinoval's data crystal. He had never seen anything more horrific in his life.

* * *

'His name was.... Byron, I believe. Our tests rated him as a P twelve. Very powerful, fully trained.... knowledgeable in certain.... how to put this politely? Certain unauthorised and not entirely legal techniques. All in all, absolutely perfect.'

Morden looked up at the device before him. His associates had a number of plans in motion for various parts of the galaxy, and they were of such scope and range as to give the term 'forward planning' an entirely new meaning. Morden was well aware of how limited his part in their plans truly was.

Oh, he was useful, vital even. But he had been charged with forging alliances and making deals with certain alien Governments and systems: the Centauri of course, the Soul Hunters, one or two others. He was placed in the Vorlon Foreign Office. His path very rarely crossed with the Vorlon Bureau of Science.

Still, he knew at least the basics of the device before him; purpose, roughly how it worked, components and so forth. He had seen diagrams.

It was like a wall, but made of a substance very few people would have recognised. Morden was one of those few. It was a living wall, grown in the same way as the Vorlons ships. He reached out and touched it lightly. There was a faint warmth beneath his skin, and a soft, lazy vibration, almost like a heartbeat.

'Dormant, of course,' said the old man.

Suspended half way up the wall, two or three feet from the ground, was a man. He was not held there by chains or rope or any form of nifty gravimetric trickery. The wall was holding him there. It was even growing around him. His head was tilted far back, and a small globe had been carefully fitted over it. Others might have called it an orb, a ball of some kind, or even a lampshade. Morden recognised the beginnings of a flower.

The man's body was still. He was unconscious.

Morden knew what the device was for, but he also knew the old man was dying to tell him all about it.

'So,' he said, with a smile. 'How does this thing work then?'

'There's no need to humour me,' came the mildly reproving reply. 'But since you asked nicely.... It's dormant at the moment, of course. Activating the channel would be.... unwise with such a strong Enemy presence here. When the time is right, then.... Well, you know all that. Actually, I've had it set up a little ahead of schedule. Byron really should have been sent off with the others, but this was a one in a million opportunity, having someone so powerful fall into our laps, so I sort of appropriated him from the cryo banks.'

'Yes, it does seem a bit of a coincidence that he was here,' Morden noted. 'I suppose he didn't fall off the back of a truck?'

'No. Some of my.... certain individuals in my employ came across him. He was in Sector Three-o-one.'

'Ah. That's still the less-than-reputable part of town, right?'

'It's actually got worse since the last time you were here, if you can believe that. Yes, that's the place. Byron here was sniffing around our business. He didn't have much time to find out anything useful. Our friends down there soon caught him. Unfortunately.... he had an accomplice, a woman. She's still at large.'

'That doesn't sound good. Who do you think sent them? Bester?'

'Who else?'

Morden paused, deep in thought. 'I heard the Enemy sent a fleet to his place to.... ah, deal with him. No one was happy about him triple-crossing everyone at Epsilon Three. I thought he was dead.'

'That's the official report. Unofficially, I'd lay money he's still alive. Or maybe he isn't, and sent these two here before his death. Either way, it doesn't really matter. History is bearing down on all of us fast enough. The war will be coming here before the end of the year. I'd give it a bit less, actually. When the war does get here, and Mr. Byron is woken up.... well, it won't matter a bit what Bester has uncovered.'

Morden looked up at the machine again. 'It is very impressive,' he said. 'Will it do everything it's supposed to?'

'All that, and more. Yes.... I've always been worried about telepaths, you know. All my life. And here I am, at last in a position to do something about them. I can make sure their powers are kept under control and used for the public good. Each one we catch is one more feather on our side of the scales.' The old man smiled. 'Yes.... I feel like a young man all over again.'

He nodded once, and then they turned away and left Mr. Byron to his dreams.

* * *

There are two paths before us now. Oh, the details are slightly different. One person can make a difference, even a significant difference. One moment of heroism, of cowardice, of courage, of fear.... anything can be changed. But there are two broad paths before us, and they stem from this moment, from you, from your choice.

What are.... what are my options? What must I choose?

In one future, you leave this place. I take you back to Kazomi Seven. There, you live, and love. You fight this war, and maybe it is won, and maybe it is a mere stand-off. You love, and raise children, and create a little haven of light and beauty and wonder. You live to an old age.... as you would measure old age, of course.

Continue....

But then you die, as all beings die. And after you are gone, the Darkness returns. Your haven, your light, your place of beauty.... it is swamped out forever. No, not forever. Nothing is truly eternal, save the cycle of life and death. But the light will be out for so long as to be almost forever, by your standards. There will be a haven, but for so short a time.

And the other option? The.... other path?

You leave this place and walk into darkness. You know great suffering, great loss, a terrible sadness. You endure pain and hardship and misery. Many close to you die or fall away. But in the end your sacrifice will ensure a brighter future.

And that will be.... will be eternal?

Nothing is eternal. But if you wish to cherish that remarkable delusion, then do so. Yes, the galaxy of wonder created by your suffering will indeed be eternal.

And John? Will he...? What will happen to him?

It is not for me to identify individuals. He will live, and he will die.

I saw him.... I saw his grave on Minbar. Is that.... is that in one of your futures?

Yes, I believe it is.

Which one?

You know that answer.

Yes, I do. Damn you.... I do not want to choose! I want.... I want.... No. What I want does not matter. I came here so that another could live, so that others could live. You know which path I take.

I never had any doubt.

Well.... I've made your choice. What now?

That is for you to decide. I can send you anywhere you wish to go. Where do you wish to go?

I see it now.... The humans, they are the key. The Vorlons in Dukhat's sanctum. They told me so, long ago. The humans are the key. Oh, Valen's Name....

Do you see?

A matter of numbers, you said. Maybe we have paid for what we did to their homeworld. Maybe.... maybe those we killed have been avenged by those they killed in turn. But what about those left alive? Oh, Valen.... we turned them to the Darkness. They would not have taken that path if it weren't for us.... for me. We.... I.... destroyed their hopes and dreams. I left them with nothing. They are the key.... They will be the tool through which the Darkness takes us, won't they?

You do see.

And John? Did they kill him?

Nothing is set in stone. You saw.... an image of what might have been. Had you continued on