Q & A - Keith R. A. DeCandido [23]
Klag knew very little about the Trakliv system. He did know that it was a blue giant with only a few asteroids around it. He saw none of that; instead a huge, roiling mass of energy filled the screen. “How big is that?”
“I cannot get a precise reading, sir,” the ensign at operations said, “but it has engulfed the entire system.”
“Analyze it.”
“I cannot, sir.”
Klag stood and whirled around to face the ensign. “Explain.”
“Sir, sensors do not read it.”
The gunner and pilot both verified that at Klag’s request, which was the only reason why the operations officer continued to live.
Retaking his seat, Klag said, “Search for the Kinshaya vessel.”
“Captain,” the pilot said, “the warp trail leads directly into…into that.” She pointed at the viewer. “There’s no sign of it otherwise.”
Klag cursed. Whatever this anomaly was, it may have consumed not only the Trakliv system, but their prey as well. We have been denied our honor and our revenge.
“Continue scanning,” he said with a snarl. “I want the Kinshaya found and that anomaly explained!”
THIRD INTERLUDE
The Continuum
Ten years before the end of the universe
“THERE IS A PROBLEM,” Q SAID, “AND YOU’RE BEST equipped to handle it.”
He couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Oh, now I’m well equipped to handle things, am I?” The summons from the Continuum had taken him away from his and Vash’s trip through the galaxy. Not that Vash was all that put out by his departure. In fact, she seemed downright grateful. In all honesty, he had half a mind just to leave her to her own devices, the silly cow.
“Certain things, yes,” Q said with a sigh.
Q batted her eyelashes at him. “One or two, at least.”
“You are the closest we have to an expert on humanity,” Q said. “Q has already argued eloquently for your reinstatement into the Continuum,” Q added, indicating Q—who had indeed reversed his position, going from getting him tossed out to letting him back in. “But it is despite your endless fascination with humans, not because of it.”
He didn’t believe that for a second. They were coming around to his point of view, they just weren’t willing to admit it!
“That fascination is actually kinda useful,” Q said, taking over. “Remember Q and Q?”
Of course he remembered them. How could he forget the two who had actually gone to Earth and taken on human form? But they were dead and gone, having been unable to resist the temptation to use their powers. What did they have to do with anything?
Unless… He remembered that Q and Q had reproduced, and he remembered the speed at which humans aged. “Their offsping.”
“She is becoming aware of her powers, as a legacy of the Q. She must be taught and brought back to the Continuum—or eliminated. We cannot have the Q contaminated with mortality.”
He agreed wholeheartedly. “I’ll get on it right away.” He sought her out and then burst out laughing. “Oh, this is wonderful!”
Q and Q both sighed. “Yes, we thought you of all people would find her location amusing.”
“Worry not, my fellow Q—I know that I can count on Jean-Luc and his band of merry men.” He chuckled at his own joke; the last time he visited the Enterprise, he’d sent them to that Sherwood Forest fantasyland. “They can be trusted to help me out.”
Q raised her eyebrow. “After all you’ve done to them in the past, you expect them to help you?”
“Trust me.” With that, he departed the Continuum and returned to the Enterprise. There was, after all, much to do. For all his joking around, he feared that the time was growing nearer. He had been let back into the Continuum, yes, but the Q were fractured. Some were starting to believe him—Q, of course, was always willing to believe him, even if she didn’t always trust him, and Q had come around as well after that business with the Enterprise and the Calamarain, but Q and Q and Q were still on the fence, Q and Q and Q and Q were dead set against, and the less said about Q the better.
Best not to