Planet X - Michael Jan Friedman [90]
Xavier touched a button and his antigravity unit came closer to the captain and his colleague. He stopped it within a meter of them and studied Picard more closely.
“Mon semblable, mon frčre,” the professor said.
The captain raised an eyebrow. “The Wasteland, I believe.”
Xavier nodded. “It pleases me that Eliot has survived into your twenty-fourth century. Indeed, now that I think about it, it pleases me that he exists in your continuum at all.”
“He and a great many others, I am sure,” said Picard. He came forward and extended his hand. “My name is Jean-Luc Picard, Professor. I command the vessel on which this holodeck is located.”
“Yes,” said Xavier, glancing at Crusher. “The doctor has spoken of you—highly, I might add. However, I imagine you came to speak of something other than poetry.”
“That’s true,” the captain told him. “On the other hand, I’m hardly qualified to assist you and Dr. Crusher in your research.”
His curiosity piqued, the professor tilted his head slightly. But he didn’t press. He waited for his visitor to go on.
“As Dr. Crusher has no doubt informed you,” Picard said, “your X-Men are my guests at the moment. In fact, they proved helpful when complications arose in our dealings with the Xhaldians.”
“I am quite pleased with them,” Xavier admitted.
“And they with you,” the captain replied. “In fact, that was what spurred me to speak with you. Not one of them has missed an opportunity to refer to you in the most glowing and reverent terms—even when the individual in question may not be reverent by nature.”
The professor grunted softly. “I believe I know of whom you speak—and, yes, he often surprises people on that count. But …”
“I just wanted to meet you,” said Picard. “And applaud what you’ve done. Given the X-Men’s disparate personalities, it cannot have been easy.”
Xavier took the praise in stride. “No more difficult, I imagine, than commanding a starship with more than a thousand people on board.”
The captain smiled. “Touché.” He looked at Crusher. “I suppose I should leave you and the doctor to your work now.”
“She tells me it’s of some importance,” the professor replied, clearly understating the case.
“It was a pleasure making your acquaintance,” said Picard. And with that, he turned to go.
“Captain?”
Just short of the doors, Picard stopped and looked back at Xavier.
“If I am truly a creation of your holodeck, as Dr. Crusher seems to think,” said the professor, “my program will be in residence here indefinitely. Is that an accurate assessment?”
“It is,” the captain confirmed.
“In that case,” said Xavier, “I invite you to access my persona whenever the spirit moves you.”
Picard smiled. “I will be honored to do so.”
Then, with a last glance at the man who fathered the X-Men, he left the holodeck.
Captain’s log, supplemental. Captain Stanley and the Venture have arrived in response to our call for assistance. While they are too late to take part in the conflict, Stanley has volunteered to tow the Connharakt to Deep Space Seven, where both ship and crew will await further investigation of the matter by Starfleet Command.
Meanwhile, we seem to have achieved a victory on another front. As I record this, Chancellor Amon is apprising the transformed of Dr. Crusher’s recent breakthrough regarding their condition—a breakthrough with which she had help from an unusual source.
It is the chancellor’s belief that this development will help heal the rift between the transformed and the rest of the Xhaldian population—a rift for which he feels person ally responsible. Given the way the transformed have been treated, I can only hope his conclusion is a realistic one.
Lt. Sovar stood alongside Dr. Crusher in the cavernous, marble-walled Verdeen Auditorium, and studied the large, empty stage.
A moment later, Chancellor Amon walked out, his footfalls echoing. The chancellor was anything but eager to be there, as evidenced by his lack of haste in approaching the podium