He blinked, and his eyes opened. He reeled, and almost fell against Satai Delenn. She caught him and helped him rest against the wall.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I… I don’t know. I was reliving my wedding. It’s like I was there, but it was nine years ago. I don’t understand.”

“It’s been happening to all of us,” said a new voice. Sheridan started and looked up. “Flashes, forwards or back.” The voice was coming from a Minbari, but one who… who seemed more than just a little human. He looked again, closer this time. The figure was definitely Minbari, but there was something in his gait, in his stance, that marked him out as human.

“Greetings, both of you. I welcome you to this place.” Sheridan heard Delenn give a soft gasp. “I am called Valen.”

He shifted his gaze elsewhere, and he did find something familiar.

“Zathras! But… what are you doing here? You stayed on the planet with G’Kar!”

“Ah, no, Captain. Zathras is being very sorry, but Zathras last seen you many years ago, yes. Time has passed, yes. Much time. In your years…”

“Zathras!” snapped Valen.

“Ah yes, Zathras know, Zathras not supposed to talk about time. Zathras not supposed to talk about anything. Zathras supposed to shut up. Zathras is being shutting up. There. Zathras is shut up.”

“I thank you both for coming,” Valen repeated. “We need your help, but first you have to understand. You have to…”

Sheridan blinked.

“Anna! No!”

“John, what are you doing?” He was holding a PPG, as was she. There was a light in her eyes once again, but he didn’t remember this. When had this happened?

“Anna, what’s happening?”

What had Valen said? Flashes – forwards or back?

His arm jerked upwards, and he fired. He could see the light die in her eyes as her body was thrown backwards and by the time she hit the floor he knew she was quite dead. Behind him, somebody moved and was about to speak.

He blinked again, and staggered forward. There was no sign of either Valen or Delenn. He felt so weak… so helpless.

“Anna. Oh, God help me, Anna!”

He hadn’t realised he had spoken aloud, until he heard footsteps and rested himself back against the wall, to look at the person who was before him.

“Oh poor Johnny,” said a mocking voice. “Your Minbari whore’s finally abandoned you, has she?”

“Susan,” he breathed.

And behind her, the very shadows moved.

“We cannot just leave him,” Delenn was saying. They were running from the attack. She had no idea how it had happened. Valen had welcomed them, and she had been on the verge of kneeling to him, when Sheridan had staggered, and there had been the sound of PPG fire, and the chattering of Shadows. Valen had grabbed her hand, and they were fleeing.

“They won’t kill him,” he said. “It’s me they want – me and you. You have to understand, Delenn. There’s a lot I have to show you, and not much time. You told me about this, and now I have to do what you said I did. I have to…”

Delenn blinked.

It was cold, that was her first sensation. So very cold. She wrapped her black robe tighter around herself, and stared at the small object in front of her. It was a block of grey stone, partially embedded in the ground at her feet. There were letters inscribed on it.

She knelt down and touched it gently, reading what it said. The words were written twice, in English and Adronato, but the meaning was the same.

It was cold.

Delenn wrapped her black robe even tighter around herself. This seemed impossible. She had been on the space station – the one Captain Sheridan had called Babylon 4, the one that was destined to be used in the last Great War against the Shadows, the one that had been given to the then Army of Light by Valen himself, the one that contained Valen himself, who had once been human – when she suddenly found herself here.

She looked at the piece of stone before her again and read the simple words inscribed on it in both English and Adronato.

Slowly she raised her head and looked around. This whole place seemed so familiar, but she could not quite place it. She saw a dull sky, a barren horizon, the hint of mountains not far away… and a city. Or at least what had once been a city.

Her eyes widened. “No,” she breathed. This was impossible. She knew that city. It was Yedor, capital city of the Minbari Federation. Her home. It was… reduced to rubble, flattened and wrecked and torn. This… this wasteland was Minbar, but that was impossible. Minbar was never like this, never so cold.

She pulled the robe even tighter and stumbled away from the grave. She recognised this spot now. Her father had brought her here as a child. They would eat here and look into the lake just over the ridge, the lake that caught the lights and colours of the crystalline deposits and shone beautifully. The lake that…

…was dull and dirty and clogged with dust and mud. She staggered towards the spot where it lapped against the shore and knelt down, scooping up a part of the water in her hands. It was dirty and grey. It did not shine any more. Nothing did. And then she caught a hint of her reflection. It was muddy and unclear, but it was her reflection, except that it was not her reflection. “Valen’s Name,” she breathed, understanding at last.

She blinked, and she was back on Babylon 4, in the company of the man in whose name she had sworn. She was resting against the wall of a corridor, and he was beside her.

“It was bad, wasn’t it?” he said. “I’ve never seen anyone down for that long.”

She raised her hands to her forehead and felt carefully around the edges of her bone crest. She was normal. “Was… was that an image of what will happen, or of what might happen?”

“We don’t know,” he replied. “We’ve all had images of the past, images that were surprisingly accurate. Of the future… none of us can be certain.”

“I saw… I saw…”

“Don’t tell me, Delenn. I must not know. It is not for me to know.”

You know my name,“ she suddenly breathed in wonder. ”You… know my name.“

“Of course,” he replied smiling. “And you know mine. Or you will. We brought this station from your future, to take it a thousand years into the past. I wrote myself a letter then, telling myself of what will happen. I wrote you a letter as well, although I don’t know whether you ever received it. I came here for your help, Delenn – yours and Sheridan’s. Now I think I may have come here to help you. Do you know what you have to do?”

“Yes,” she breathed. “Yes. I saw it… but… will my actions bring about what I have seen?”

“I don’t know, Delenn. As I told you once, my place lies with the future no longer, but with the past. That is, of course, if we ever make it there.”

“What has happened?”

“We were ready to launch this station when the Enemy attacked. It was a hard battle, but we managed to get away. I… don’t know what happened to my friends who were defending us. Some of the Enemy made it aboard and have been trying to kill me. If they do, then the past will be doomed and so will all of us. I came here hoping to gain your help, but the Enemy have proven to be too strong for us.”

“Then it was you who sent the message?”

He blinked. “What message? No, we were unable to get into the main control centre.”

“We received a message asking for myself and Captain Sheridan to come over here, and to come alone. It must have been a trap… They have him!”