“So Reppert laid down the law: we were forbidden to conduct any further attempts at communication with the plasma beings, on pain of expulsion from Starfleet. All our work on the project was redacted and classified, and we were forbidden to speak of it to anyone. Even our faculty advisor.” He lowered his eyes. “She was lost on the Exeter years later, I heard.”

Uhura studied him. “But obviously that wasn’t the end of it.”

Shastri sighed. “It was for a few years. For myself, I was disillusioned by Starfleet’s hidebound reaction to our work. I thought I was joining an organization where any kind of exploration was encouraged. After Reppert, the uniform started to feel restrictive. I stuck with it long enough to graduate, and to complete my minimum term in service, but I mustered out at the first opportunity.

“As for you, well, you seemed to be okay with it. You were still committed to your path in life, despite that setback.” He smiled at her. “I’m the kind of person who’d walk away from an organization that didn’t fulfill my expectations; you’re the kind who’d commit to rising through the ranks so you could change it from within.

“Still, we stayed in touch after graduation, and though we never talked openly about the fireball universe, I could tell you were still haunted by the songs we’d heard. You felt their legacy deserved to be remembered—that it would be too great a tragedy if they had passed from the universe without any record that they ever existed.

“Of course, you were still under orders not to tell anyone about your research, and you wouldn’t disobey. But I already knew—and after a couple of years, I was no longer in Starfleet anyway.

“Eventually, we started to collaborate privately on renewed attempts at contact—with whatever safeguards we could devise to minimize any risk of timeline contamination or whatever. You were traveling all over space on your ships, but I was a pretty active traveler too. When you had the opportunity to take shore leave on a civilized world with the right facilities and equipment, you’d let me know, and if possible, I’d meet you there. Sometimes you had to work without me, but I joined you as often as I could.