“We’ve not heard from the three other underground settlements.”  Captain Samson Bradley spoke as he stood in the center of the laboratory, as various science, medical, and engineering teams continued investigating the equipment and systems scattered throughout the room.  “Further examination of the dust outside the buildings has yielded confirmation that they could be what Doctor Morgan said they were – samples are being taken.”  The away team from the basement stood in a semi-circle as he continued, “His confession to murder is concerning.  A case can be made for self-defense in that his life was in extreme danger if the weapon in the middle of this room had been activated.”

Longfellow was next, “Doctor Walter Morgan was a Federation citizen forty years ago before he vanished along with most of his civilian science operation.  Rumors were rampant that they were chasing down the fountain of youth or something.  There was a brief investigation, but nothing came of it – they had left of their own free will.”  He tapped at his PADD, “Few of them had family, and those with connections had been estranged for a long while.”  He let that idea hang in the air briefly, then pushed on, “I’ve done a complete workup on him – he’s right.  Multiple organ failure will begin if we bring him out of stasis.  He was old when he left Earth.  He expected to find this miracle weapon and be hailed as a hero when they returned. He was pinning his future on this.”

Morrison asked, “You can’t save him?”  The look on her face was conflicted.

“If he would allow me to transport him aboard, I could extend his life by a few years, maybe five.  It’d be a miracle if he made it ten years.  He’s had ten years to think about what he did and what his people did.  He lived long enough to realize he’d become the villain.”

In the silence, each of them could be seen thinking.  Ensign Carolyn Crawford broke it with, “What are we going to do with the three pre-existing colonies?  They killed those people upstairs.  Self-defense is one thing, but that…that doesn’t seem to pass that test.”

Bradley stood silent, quietly nodding as she spoke.  His eye betrayed nothing, and his face remained passive.  As she finished, he answered, “I’m sure they will answer that what they did was indeed self-defense.  To protect themselves from the danger of sharing their technology with the settlers, they did so to protect themselves from having the same devices turned right back on them.”

Crawford bit her tongue, cleaning her language as she replied, “That’s…messed up, sir.”

Samson replied, “It is the nature of the universe.  We have made a history of discovering that one man’s excruciating ‘Kobayashi Maru’ is another man’s joyful paradise.  I do not like it any more than you do, Ensign Crawford.  We will need to speak with them and inform them of our findings. I will forward this case to our JAG office on Montana Station for further investigation.  We will be here for at least a week or more, doing our due diligence on the settlement remains above and below.  There is still time to determine the full resolution.”  He turned to Longfellow, “You have been given leave, once the questioning is complete with Doctor Morgan, to give him the space to transition to the next step.  Lieutenant Hiro will assist you.  The rest of you will return to your duties.”  He looked at each of them, his message clear.  This was for professionals, not observers.

Several hours had passed.  Security had finished their extensive questioning, and operations had held court with an open channel to the diplomatic and intelligence office back on Montana station to ensure every last detail was captured for the record.  Henry Longfellow sat in a chair next to the stasis chamber.

Walter Morgan’s voice said, “This is unusual for you?”

Henry shook his head, “No.  I’ve done this more than I like admitting.”  He spoke to Walter as if he were a friend.  “You’re the second most memorable one I’ve helped cross the line.”

“I am amused that there is a first and I am second to them in this subjective ranking system.”  If the system had allowed for a chuckle, it would have inserted it there, Henry reasoned.

“Her name was T’shalaith.  She was a 200-year-old Vulcan.  She came to me for hospice care.  That was over two years ago.”  Henry felt her memories flashing back into the front of his mind. “I worked with her daughter a lifetime ago and was the only one she trusted with her mother.”

“How did it end?”

Longfellow chuckled, “Complicated.  Vulcans were after her mind, and she was very insistent that it not happen.  Through varying events, we managed to help her body pass into the next life and ferry her Katra into an ark that remains with her family to this day.”  He sighed, “There have been countless others in my time, and I remember them.  There’s something sacred about these moments.”

“I, too, have sat in your shoes, Doctor Longfellow.  I, too, can remember them all.  None of them feared what came next.  There was a…great calm that settled over them in those final moments.”

Henry glanced up at the comatose body, “And you?”

Walter didn’t reply, and there was a long pause.  Minutes passed until the computer-generated voice replied, “I do not know, Dr. Longfellow.  I fear my sins will drag me to a place, but I wonder if what I did to save myself will balance the weight that will go with me.”  The voice went silent, and the beeps sounded from the life support systems.  A moment later, he spoke, “I spent so much of my lifetime fighting death.  I thought I would live forever…or at least close to it.  What is the quote, ‘What fools these mortals be?’  Shakespeare, I think.  I was a fool, doctor…and mortality will be my end.”  The echoes of the room filled the silence.  Walter’s enhanced voice returned, “It is time, Doctor Longfellow.”

Henry stood, unmoving.  Hiro shifted to her place at the console, her eyes searching his to understand why he wasn’t moving.  He stared back, fighting the urge to rush to save Walter Morgan.  The man had given the word.  Longfellow said, “It is time.”