Planet X - Michael Jan Friedman [18]
“The gang’s all here,” said Wolverine.
The captain approached Riker. “Number One, would you see to quarters for our guests?”
“It’d be my pleasure, sir,” said the first officer.
“In the meantime,” Picard told him, “I’d like to have a word with Storm.” He turned to the silver-haired leader of the mutants. “If that’s all right with you.”
Storm nodded. “It is not as if I have urgent business elsewhere.”
The captain smiled. “I suppose that’s true.”
Riker looked at his commanding officer. He hadn’t seen that kind of expression on Picard’s face in years. He was pleased and more than a little intrigued to see it now.
Pondering the possibilities, the first officer led all the X-Men except Storm out of the transporter room.
Chapter Six
PICARD ESCORTED STORM into his ready room. Offering her a seat, he went over to the replicator unit built into the bulkhead.
“Something to drink?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Some tea? Herbal, if you have it.”
“On the Enterprise,” he replied, “we have everything.” Selecting a blend of rosehips, orange peel, and blackberry leaves, the captain programmed the replicator to manufacture it. Then he added an Earl Grey for himself.
A moment later, there were two steaming cups of tea on the grid in front of him. He removed them and set them down on his desk. Then he came around and sat down opposite Storm.
“There’s a problem,” she said, “isn’t there?”
Picard knew exactly what she meant. “Getting you home,” he replied. “Yes, if the information I received from Admiral Kashiwada is accurate, it appears there is.”
The mutant smiled bravely. “I had a feeling.”
“As I understand it,” said the captain, going over what he had learned just to be certain, “your timehooks malfunctioned—and then disappeared.”
“That is correct,” Storm replied. “Obviously, the timehook you used produced more satisfactory results.”
“Eminently more satisfactory,” said Picard. “It worked perfectly, returning us to our own time and place. Nor did it disappear, as yours did.”
“Then why is there a problem?” asked the mutant. “Can you not use that timehook to help us?”
“Actually,” he said, “we shipped it off to Starfleet Command on Earth, for testing. As it happened, it was then sent back to the Enterprise. But war with our enemies broke out and … well, a few things were misplaced. The timehook was one of them.”
“But … can it be still be retrieved?” she asked.
“I do not believe that will be a stumbling block,” the captain told her. “It is simply a matter of tracking it down.” He paused. “On the other hand, there may be a problem with your using it. You see, if the other timehooks failed to work for you, there is every possibility this one will fail as well.”
Storm nodded soberly. “I see.”
“When the admiral first notified us of your presence in our universe,” Picard said, “we speculated that our timehook had somehow dragged yours along with us. However, you would then have appeared at the same point in time and space that we did.”
She sighed. “And you probably appeared light years away from Starbase 88.”
“Light years in space,” he confirmed. Then he imparted the bit the woman would undoubtedly find more jarring. “And nearly twelve months ago, Federation standard time.”
Storm looked at him, surprised. “Twelve months? You mean …”
“It has been nearly a year since we returned to our timeline,” the captain explained, as gently as he could.
The mutant shook her head, appearing to wrestle with the concept. “So you haven’t seen us for quite some time … though it seems to me as if I saw you the day before yesterday.”
“Indeed,” said Picard.
Storm grunted softly. “No doubt, you were surprised to hear from us.”
“I was,” the captain agreed. “Though to be honest, I often found myself thinking about you.”
He realized how that must have sounded and felt his cheeks flush. It was not a pleasant sensation.
“That is,” he added quickly, “about your group. To be honest, I had never encountered anyone quite like you.”
The mutant took a sip of her tea, her blue eyes gleaming with reflected light. “As much as a man like you must have