Gateways 07_ What Lay Beyond - Diane Carey [69]
“Fluffy won’t live very long,” she said softly. “Your son is going to get quite the lesson in loss, Q.”
“I know, believe me.” He looked suddenly haunted. “You’ve no conception of how often it’s happened to me.” He turned and beamed at her, chasing away the shadows that had lurked in his eyes. “And yet, I continue to care for you silly mortals.”
“What happened with the one gateway? The one you said little q made?”
“Oh, that. Well, he was playing with his blocks, as I said. He’d already outgrown them, but he still liked traveling places and hasn’t quite mastered this yet.” Q swooped his hands in a flourish. Janeway braced herself for whatever might happen, but nothing did. Apparently, Q was just doing a “for instance.” “So he and Fluffy, as you call him”
“We also call him Barkley.”
Q stared. “As in that oaf Reginald Barclay?”
Janeway nodded, feeling a smile curve her lips.
“Now that,” said Q, “is truly painful. As I was saying, he and Fluffy would go off exploring together. Once, Fluffy ran through a gateway and wouldn’t come home. Little q kept looking for him, but his skills aren’t yet mature. He’s not allowed to leave the Continuum unsupervised yet, so he asked me to find his pet. I told him that since he was the one who carelessly misplaced Fluffy, he was the one who had to find Fluffy. It was time for him to learn responsibility.”
“Why Q,” said Janeway, only partially teasing, “I’m so proud of you.”
Q beamed. “So am I. Little q left the gateway open in case Fluffy wanted to come home. Of course, Fluffy was in no real danger. His natural life is short enough as it is. I watched over him, making sure he was all right.” He looked at Janeway out of the corner of his eye and an impish grin started to curve his full lips. “I knew he was in very good hands.”
“You keep tempting me with puppies,” said Janeway. “This time it worked. I’ll miss him.”
A thought occurred to her. “You said that neither you nor your son was responsible for all the Iconian gateways opening. But it wouldn’t make sense that so many of them would open in the same area.”
Now Q did look uncomfortable. Alert, Janeway fixed him with her gaze.
“Well,” said Q, squirming a little, “I may have slightly… modified… where they opened, yes.”
“To what end?”
“For their own good.” He looked at her. “Who better to help lost little lambs than someone who’s been lost herself for a while?”
She softened, and felt sorrow wash over her at the loss of life and, in the end, the loss of hope with the vanished gateways. “I think your trust was misplaced.”
“Oh, I don’t.” He nodded toward the lawn. “Look how well Fluffy came through the ordeal. And think about the Iudka and the Nenlar. They might have destroyed one another, and instead oh, wait. You don’t know about that yet.”
“The Nenlar? They weren’t killed?” Janeway sat up straight in her chair, hope flooding through her.
Q waved a hand. “All in good time, be patient, Kathy. And the V’enah and the Todanians. It took an extreme situation in order to force Arkathi to show his true colors, and for that feisty Marisha to get herself together enough to throw off the shackles of slavery. Do you think that would have happened if they hadn’t been separated from their homeworld? Not a chance! Not to mention the Ones Who Will Not Be Named.” He sniffed a little. “Pompous term. I know their name. They’ve been around for quite some time and I have never seem them interact so deeply with another species. It was quite touching to see, really.”
Janeway didn’t respond. All she could think of were the failures. They were so tragic, they loomed large in her imagination. Especially the thought of the Kuluuk, knowing the last emotion they experienced was fear caused by someone they ought to have been able to trust.
“You did more good than harm, Kathy,” said Q in a surprisingly gentle voice. “As you always do. And you took very good care of my son’s beloved pet.” He was suddenly serious. “I’d like to do something to thank you for