Glen’s flight arrived at Nostradamus Airport, Paris, to visit his son. It had been over seven years since he had last seen him. John didn’t stop at any of the airport facilities, but instead he immediately went and found the nearest city transit transporter booth. This took him straight to Rue Alcide Vellard, Bobigny where Andromeda du Astra now lived with her mother and his son, Iain. This was John’s first visit to this house and he found that it was located on a narrow street in a leafy district. He walked past a school where Iain was probably studied, and also some rather ugly concrete tower blocks from the 21st century. Andromeda now lived with her mother, Delphine. Glen and Delphine had met briefly before and did not get along, so Glen wondered how he would get through the next day and remain calm.

After a short walk, Glen found the correct address. It was a modern block of apartments that looked out of place among the old brick and stone houses to either side. He opened an ancient metal gate and walked up to the front door. He had to get his PaDD out again because he had forgotten the flat number. He checked and remembered it was flat 5. He found the buzzer and realised that it was actually marked “D. du Astra.” Here goes, he thought as he pressed the button.

There was no answer but the door swished open and John went inside. He walked into a surprisingly well-lit hallway; sunlit from large windows above, and decorated with Tellurian art. The architecture was an odd mix of modern and old. The staircase looked ancient and probably restored from an older building. He began to climb the stairs, wishing he had packed his backpack more lightly.

There were no flats on the ground floor and only two on the first landing. He silently cursed the architects who hadn’t planned an elevator. However, the second flight of steps was shorter and on this landing there were three more doors. John looked around to the door marked with a number 5. Before he even had time, a door opened and he saw Delphine.

“Est-ce que ce sera votre mauvais quart d’heure,” she asked. Glen smiled, but he had no idea what she had said. Something about the time? Was he late? He knew that he would never live up to this woman’s expectations in any case.

“Andromeda out… one moment… soon return! You wait!,” Delphine said and indicated a sofa. Glen took off his backpack and thanked her. He put the backpack on the floor and sat down. He had never though to bring a UT with him. This was Earth after all. Everyone spoke Federation Standard. Everyone except Delphine.

He did have his communicator with him somewhere in the bottom of the backpack. He had no choice about that. If the Merrimack needed him then the ship came first. That had been the story of his life. It was the reason he was here; why Andromeda had left the Merrimack, left him, and taken Iain.

Delphine had left him alone in the room. The time passed slowly as he waited. The room was so quiet after life aboard a starship. A short and distant siren sounded. Also distant, was some kind of engine, and closer in the room was a ticking clock; an actual mechanical clock! He looked around for the first time. The sofa was threadbare with some kind of handmade throw hung across the back. It was dull and grey now, but when new it must have been made in vivid colours. The furniture was antique. Glen thought it was made of real softwood; probably pine. There were some original paintings hung on the walls. They were quite good but amateur, and they showed country scenes with old-fashioned occupations like carpentry and livestock farming. There was even a bookcase with some real hardback books. He couldn’t make out the titles but he had rarely seen real books before.

The apartment did not fit with his memory of Andromeda. She had been young at heart, fun and outgoing. This room was designed by an older person with conservative tastes who rarely went outside.

John thought he could hear birds. He got up and went to the window. Below the window was a garden with a large mature beech tree. There were some large black birds sitting in the tree with even darker hooded heads. They looked like evil spirits. He heard Delphine return to the room and turned around.

“Thank you for allowing me to stay in your apartment, Mrs du Astra,” John said.

“Je dirais bienvenu mais c’est peu pratique,” replied Delphine.

John nodded back, as if he had understood her.

She indicated that he should follow her and pointed at his backpack, so he picked it up and let her lead the way to his bedroom.

There was an old single bed that only just fitted in the room, with two pillows and a plain blue duvet. There were nursery rhyme characters on the wallpaper, so this must have once been Iain’s bedroom.

There was little point in unpacking as he had only brought a nightshirt and a change of underclothes, so he just put the backpack on the bed.

“This must have been Iain’s room?” John asked her.

“Iain est trop grand pour cette petite pièce maintenant,” she replied.

John wondered if it would be rude to dig out his communicator and use it as a UT. He wished that Andromeda would return home soon and then he wouldn’t need it.
He followed Delphine out of the room and she appeared to be pointing at the other rooms down the corridor. He heard her say Iain at one room and she opened the door.
The room was just as one would expect a boy’s room to be; filled with toys and models and games. There were replica air-cars and spaceships, prehistoric animals and aliens, and electronic gadgets scattered everywhere.

“Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose,” said Delphine.

His lack of understanding was annoying him now, but he could guess what she meant here just by her expression alone. The room was a mess and they were probably continually on at Iain to clear his room.

He followed Delphine back into the lounge and sat back on the sofa. Delphine sat opposite John on a cushioned chair with an upright back.

“Old woman,” Delphine said, pointing at herself. “Pas longtemps pour ce monde!”

John only heard something about age of the world, the woman surely couldn’t be that old.

“My daughter, happy, not here…!” she added.

Before she could finish there were sounds at the door. Andromeda and Iain had returned.

She was as beautiful as ever, but he couldn’t take his eyes from Iain, because the boy was much taller and older than he had expected.

“Hello John,” said Andromeda. “You look well, and this is Iain. Iain, dire bonjour à John!”

“Bonjour,” Iain responded.

“Well, you look fabulous, but please tell me he has learnt Federation Standard?” John asked.

“Iain speaks five languages. Don’t worry, he can talk to you, he’s just shy with strangers,” said Andromeda.

“I’ve just had some problems understanding your mother,” said John.

The ‘shy with strangers’ phrase hurt though. John had never wanted to be a stranger to Iain.

“I see she didn’t make you any coffee. Would you like one? I’ll make them while you two get acquainted. Iain, do you want a juice?” asked Andromeda.

“Yes, mum, merci beaucoup,” replied Iain.

“Un pour moi?” asked Delphine.

“Yes, mother! I see you can understand perfectly well when you want to!” Andromeda told her before disappearing into the kitchen.”

John had no idea where to begin with Iain; what to say. He opened with a question about the toys he had seen.

“Your grandmother showed me your bedroom. You have a model of a Mariner Class starship. I am the captain of one of those. I expect you know that?”

“The USS Merrimack. My mum says that she used to be the Scientist there and flew to the other side of the galaxy and back, and met aliens.”

“Yes, it’s true. That is where you were born too. I still work there and it is difficult to get back to Earth.”

*Is the Merrimack on Earth now?”

“In orbit. Docked to an orbiting space station. On a clear night with a telescope you can see her.”

“Tonight?”

“No, today is very cloudy. It won’t be clear enough tonight.”

“Can you take me there?”

“One day. I’m not here for very long on this trip. I’d like that though. I’d need to ask your mother.”

Andromeda returned with the drinks at that exact point.

“I have no objections. In fact, I’d like to visit again myself.”

“I wish I could take you both now, but our leave was cut and we had to lecture at the Academy,” replied John. “Next time! I’ll call you in advance and make arrangements.”

“Next time? That could be years. They still send you on five year missions?” she asked.

“Mostly, yes!” John said. “But recently, we have been doing more… special missions!”

“Uh huh! I heard. Starfleet security is incredibly poor. So, Iain! Anything else you want to show your father?”

“Yes,” replied Iain. “I won the citizenship award at school and I’m in the basketball team!”

“That’s fantastic,” replied Glen. “I was too short to be a basketball player. You must have got those genes from your mother.”

There were more questions and answers. These made the evening pass very quickly. Delphine added nothing more regarding Andromeda being unhappy and Andromeda talked about enjoying her job at the department of Biology in the Sorbonne. It seemed she was well respected there and was now head of the department. There was no mention of a partner in her life and John didn’t ask. Delphine cooked for them all but Iain ate his meal earlier and retired to bed. Glen read him some story about a giant who lived in a forest of hamburger and pizza trees.

When he returned Andromeda and Delphine were speaking in French again. The table had been laid now and Delphine went to the kitchen and began to serve the Beef Bourguignon.

“Iain is a fine boy, Andromeda” said John. “He is smart, with a keen and probing mind. You have done a great job, bringing him up alone. I wish things could have been different.”

“I knew how it was John,” replied Andromeda. “You were already married to the Merrimack. You always were and you always will be.”

“I know! You are right!” said John.“…but I see how things might have been. There is an alternative path that could have been taken, and it is… well, it would have been a good life.”

Andromeda laughed and her smile was infectious. It brought back so may good memories to John of their time together.

“You have saved the galaxy… how many times is it now, three or four, I forget? You think that the Merrimack could have done that without you? Without you, we would be living under the Ancients or Elders… Yes, I know about that… don’t look so shocked!”

John thought that his missions were still secret, but he knew Andromeda still had friends within Starfleet Command. She also remained on the auxiliary reserve register and would have been called back to regular training exercises.

“I can’t talk about it. Whatever you think you know, it is still highly classified. You are correct that I have been pivotal to some major events and first contacts, and the sad part is that for most of them no one knows anything about them.”

“Eat your meal. It’s getting cold and this is the only thing my mother cooks that is edible!” replied Andromeda.

• John Glen, CO