Q & A - Keith R. A. DeCandido [1]
Picard may very well be the one, he thought.
So he went home after toying with them at Deneb V and started to plead his case to the rest of the Q Continuum.
His best advocates, unfortunately, were gone. First of all, there was the philosopher, who was trapped in a comet and had been for the past several moments. His counsel would have been useful. And then there were Q and Q, who had already encountered humanity and were so taken with them that they took their form and went to live with them on their dreary little homeworld, even going so far as to reproduce while in that form (a concept that made him shudder to the very core of his being). They had broken the rules, used their powers while remaining human. Those who tried to straddle both worlds inevitably failed at both.
Sadly, his fellows didn’t learn that lesson. After he explained about the humans and their potential to all the other Q, Q looked down on him and said, “If you really believe they are the ones, then the decision is obvious: give one of these humans our power and explain it to them.”
He sighed. “That won’t work. The one cannot be a higher form. You know They won’t accept that.”
Q raised one of his eyebrows. “We do not know if these humans are the ones. Make this Picard into a Q, and we will know.”
Shaking his head, he said, “No, that’s too risky. I’ll make his second, Riker.” He smiled. “He’s much more entertaining.”
Rolling her eyes, another Q said, “This isn’t about your entertainment, Q.”
“Q just said we don’t even know, so I might as well have some fun while I’m at it.”
Letting out a tired sigh, the first Q said, “Very well, do as you will. But do as we say also, Q. This is too important to bungle.”
He bit back a retort—the fact was, nobody believed him. Nobody ever believed him or took him seriously. Not that he gave them reason to—there were any number of youthful indiscretions of his they could throw in his face if they so desired, especially that rather embarrassing business with the Tkon Empire—but even he knew how important it was to find the ones.
So off he went, back to the U. S. S. Enterprise, NCC-1701-D, to give William Riker the power of the Q—and see what happened.
1
U. S. S. Enterprise NCC-1701-E
En route to Gorsach IX
Two days before the end of the universe
BEVERLY CRUSHER DABBED SOME ICOBERRY JAM on her croissant and stared at her breakfast companion. “What are you thinking, Jean-Luc?”
Jean-Luc Picard smiled warmly at her. That alone was a rare gift. Beverly had known Jean-Luc for more years than she was willing to admit to out loud, and the number of times she’d seen that particular smile was few. The number of times she saw it when there was anyone other than the two of them in the room was close to zero.
He sipped from his ceramic cup of Earl Grey tea before answering the question. “Merely contemplating our current assignment. It’s something of a relief actually to be engaged in our mission statement for a change.”
“How soon before we arrive at the Gorsach system?” Beverly asked after swallowing a bite of croissant and self-consciously brushing the flakes off her lap.
“We should arrive by tomorrow morning. There’ll be a senior staff meeting this afternoon at seventeen thirty.”
Beverly nodded. “I’ll be spending most of the day doing physicals on the new arrivals.”
Jean-Luc set down his teacup on the end table next to the bed, then reached over to cup Beverly’s cheek with his right hand. “I must say, Beverly, I prefer this method of eating breakfast.”
Reaching over to the tray that sat between them on the bed, Beverly grabbed another croissant and stuck it in his mouth. “You’re just saying that because you don’t have to clean the bed.”
Talking with his mouth full