Date: 02 Jun 2013 01:35 Title: Chapter 19
The mirror universe. A messed up place in pretty much any story. Here Lili wants to see them, for some reason, and Q is obliging. I think more than anything he just shows this to her to prove the point that, yes, the mirror universe is a pretty brutal and senseless place. Norri gets snapped like a twig over a bottle of booze, and Melissa, bless her, is carrying a child by one of the Empress’ lovers but dies in a horrible shuttle crash (which I feel was caused by the Vulcans. Nice use of T’Pau here though, I was quite pleased at seeing her name). Andrew tries to go back and save her but ultimately she dies … a bridge to nowhere she says. Perhaps that’s where those who have done horrible things go when they die, to a bridge that leads to nowhere and nothing.
I find myself questioning, very much like Lili, the afterlife here and what it means, all these bridges people see. The ones that Doug and Lili see when they die seem to be filled with people of good taste, happiness … the one that mirror Melisa sees seems to be full of nothingness. Is nothingness hell? It seem that way to me … as Lili so aptly observes, Andy makes a connection to Melisa in the mirror and its in that connection they he finds himself in the position to be willing to father a child.
Perhaps hell is a place where no connections can be made, where you are isolated for all eternity. A bridge to nothing, as it were.
Author's Response:
For the mirror, there is a connection to us. But they have sinned so much more than we have, that what they see is bound to be something frightening. I think everyone has to atone; I don't think any of us escape that. But I also think that everyone is, ultimately, redeemable. But for the denizens of the mirror, the path to that is a lot harder, and a lot darker.
Norri's end is referenced in the story, Bread, when the MU Leah is older and talks about quitting drinking.