Q & A - Keith R. A. DeCandido [0]
The main events in this book take place during the decline of the Romulan Empire brought about by the rise of Shinzon (Star Trek Nemesis). The Enterprise has been refitted for space, and Captain Jean-Luc Picard has filled her ranks with some new and some old faces. The captain awaits Starfleet’s ruling on his refusing to obey orders during the most recent Borg incursion (Star Trek: The Next Generation—Resistance).
FIRST PROLOGUE
SOMEWHERE…
THEY HELD OFF ON LETTING THIS UNIVERSE DIE IN the hopes that it would provide something interesting. They slowed entropy to a crawl, preventing chaos from overwhelming all and sundry, and then They waited for someone to make it through.
Several races found the world but either were not blessed with sufficient understanding to navigate the hazards and think their way through the defenses or simply missed them altogether.
Finally, someone made it through. Not only did this race achieve all the goals, but they also prepared an elaborate presentation, showing how advanced they were, the breakthroughs they’d made, the lessons they’d learned. It took quite some time and was incredibly thorough, filled with re-creations using a variety of types of technology that They had mastered over the millennia.
It bored Them to tears. So They let the universe die, hoping the next one would be more interesting.
It was, as it turns out. Eons later when denizens of this next universe discovered Them, and made it through, they showed Them the millions of worlds they’d conquered. Their empire straddled six galaxies, thanks to their ability to travel instantly from one world to another without need of conveyances, and they used that ability to show Them all the worlds they’d brought under their purview.
However, more interesting than deadly dull was still fairly dull, and They let this universe die too.
The representatives of the next universe had achieved enlightenment by evolving into beings of pure energy who spent all their days in contemplation of the great mysteries of the universe. This went beyond boring and into stultifying, and They wiped out that universe with great glee.
The next bunch stumbled across Them by accident and were convinced that they were victims of some kind of put-on. For the amusement value alone, They almost let that one live, but they were too pathetic to be worth saving.
Nobody, it seemed to Them, got it.
Maybe the next universe…
SECOND PROLOGUE
SOMEWHERE ELSE…
HE WASN’T SURE, OF COURSE. FOR ALL HE AND THE others carried on about their omnipotence, that didn’t mean they were omniscient. It was a conundrum that vexed many of them, though he himself never let it bother him all that much. He was too busy having fun—certainly more than the rest of them were.
But it was on one of his jaunts searching for a good time that he found something he hadn’t even realized he was looking for.
The species was one of many collections of mortals that infested the universe, and far from the most interesting. They were lodged in an arm of one of the more homogenous galaxies, scurrying about in crude vehicles, trusting tools to accomplish what they were too impatient to let evolution develop on its own. Such impatient peoples tended to burn bright and die young, but this batch had done only the former.
They called themselves humans.
He wasn’t the first of the higher entities to deal with them. The Organians, Excalbians, and Metrons had all dallied with humans, mostly either to test them or make pronouncements. (Especially the Organians, who were never happier than when they were making pronouncements.) But they had not interfered overmuch in the humans’ development.
And why should they? Just another bunch of mortals in a universe that had far too many of them.
But there was always one thing that all of his people had been on the lookout for, something that would change the face of the universe.
They sought the ones.
He had a very good feeling about these humans after his test. The test itself hadn’t been more than an entertaining diversion, but as he went