Spoilers: General for Time Force.

Author's Note: Trip and Wes kept harrassing me with this. I got it out to hush the two of them up. While I have no doubt it was started out of the incidents of September 11, 2001, it has nothing to do with them. Originally posted to TimeForceFanfics.

No Answers
by Selma McCrory
copyright 2001

It was peaceful for the moment at the headquarters of the Time Force Rangers. Ransik and his cronies had not appeared to cause another disaster, and the jobs given to them by their clients were either done or being done.

Wes was the one on desk, waiting for the phone to ring. It did more nowadays than it had when they had started. Nick of Time Odd Jobs had a reputation for getting things done and done right, and business was starting to pick up as part of that reputation.

Still, there weren't enough jobs to keep everyone busy constantly, which was a blessing as well as a curse. A blessing because it kept them available just in case Ransik decided to attack, but a curse because the jobs kept them in food and electricity.

So, Trip and Jen had come back from their jobs early. Jen was upstairs, no doubt doing some sort of esoteric paperwork, while Trip was tinkering in the little shop just a few feet away.

Wes peeked over, conscious of the fact that he shouldn't call attention to Trip just in case a customer came in, and saw that his teammate was involved in some adjustment to the electrobooster. Trip's explanation of how things worked tended to put Wes to sleep, but he trusted Trip when he said that they worked.

Trip made what seemed to be a final set of adjustments on the booster and put the equipment down, doing things to make it vanish until it was needed again.

Finally, Wes' teammate headed out of his workroom, heading towards the stairs. Something seemed to make him pause, and Wes thought he saw the glint of Trip's mindgem before Trip turned, heading for the chair they technically saved for their clients, though it wasn't unknown for someone to sit in the chair just to talk.

"What's up?" he asked, as gently as possible. He knew that Trip would appreciate being talked to gently.

"It's just something I picked up," Trip said.

"Another one of those twentieth-century-human things?" Wes responded.

A wan smile appeared on Trip's face. "A human thing, actually."

Wes wondered if he'd have to drag it out of his teammate and friend, but then Trip spoke. "I haven't told you much about my species."

"No," Wes responded, intrigued.

"Back at home," Trip said, "some people have greater talents in some areas than others. It's not really a caste system, but by the time we're adults, we're pretty much locked into those trades that our talents, or in certain cases, lack of talents, shift us into."

"And you?" Wes asked. "Where did they put you?"

Trip seemed to redden a little. "My talents listed me as a technician, but because I... they put me in for training as a warrior also."

"In other words, they taught you to fight?" Wes asked.

His friend nodded. "Because not a lot of us can fight. Our powers don't allow us to do that."

"But you could."

"I could," Trip said, though Wes had the sense that his friend was leaving things out. "So they trained me just in case. We were also, in some areas, the police. We had investgators and then we had the ones that went out and dealt with the few criminals. I mostly fixed things, though. I guess I'm kind of an embarrassment to my family. My dad's an ambassador, he's so sensitive to issues! And my mom... audiences on Earth just can't get enough of her. But then there's me. Dad and mom believe strongly in the system. Since I did police work back on Xybria, first thing they did was send me to Time Force's police academy."

Wes sat silently, waiting for his teammate to explain more. Trip was so into his explanation, his story, that he didn't even seem to notice.

"I never fought very much. We're there if we're needed, or to deal with offworlders that became violent. When I came to Earth, I guess I expected the same. But it wasn't. I mean, I was used to it, I thought. But humans, it's like I intellectually understand why there's so much misunderstanding, but I can't comprehend it."

"Neither can humans, Trip," Wes offered weakly.

"I know. That's what the others have told me."

"Sometimes I've wondered what it would be like if everybody understood one another," Wes said. "But humanity only has words to use, and it's so easy for someone to misunderstand or to take something badly. I would like to think if we could take the misunderstandings away that the world would be a better place, and sometimes I wonder if even that would help."

"I wondered that too, sometimes," Trip offered gently. "I really don't know. I don't think we Xybrians have never not known what it's like."

"And so we're stuck with words again," Wes said. "Unless you can project?"

But Trip only shook his head. "If only I could," he said quietly. "Thanks, anyway, Wes."

Wishing he knew what he was being thanked for, Wes responded nonetheless. "You're welcome," he answered, as Trip got up and headed back to the stairs.

-end