Running Deep

"Is this going to be one of those 'time is a river' arguments?" Captain Sisko leaned forward in his chair.

"No," the temporal agent said. "We hear a lot of those."

The other agent nodded. "None of them are valid."

Sisko shrugged. "You're the experts. Explain it to me, then: Why is Deep Space Nine a..." he enunciated carefully, "Time Convergence Area?"

"A TCA is cross-temporal point in the chrono-matrix which is both stable, and the terminus of several-" the agents exchanged glances.

"...streams?" Sisko suggested.

"It's not a river."

"In short: Weird things happen here."

The agents nodded, slowly.