Strange New Worlds 2016 (7 page)

“Do I know you?”

The spirit only stared.

“Hello?”

The spirit stood like stone, neither moving nor speaking.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” said Q, practically burning with impatience. “Are you the
Spirit, sir, whose coming was foretold to me?”

The spirit spoke, his voice firm and commanding. “I am!”

Q waited, then shook his head before saying, “Who, and what are you?”

“I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.”

Q leaned forward. The voice had changed. It was still deep, but not the same one that
had spoken the first words. He realized the face seemed to have morphed as well. He
stepped close to the apparition.

“You were human just a moment ago,” said Q.

Now a Vulcan stood before him, though the features were indistinct in their ghostly
form. Then the pointed ears melted and a human shimmered before him.

“Wait, I know you,” said Q. “You’re—damn, I know you. From Earth’s past.”

“I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.”

The human face, strong with penetrating eyes, dissolved back into the Vulcan’s.

“No, wait, come back. I almost had it figured out. You were someone that Jean-Luc
admired. Looked up to, if I’m not mistaken.”

The Vulcan stood impassive, though his body undulated softly like a hologram with
the emitter under water. Then the human returned.

“Kirk!” said Q, practically yelling. “And the Vulcan is Spock, isn’t it? Now, why
would you be in my twisted nightmare?”

“To show you your past, of course,” said Spock.

“Of course. Very well, lead on, spirit.”

Kirk took Q by the arm and led him to the window, through which they walked, finding
themselves in a courtroom of the same era. Q-past sat on the bench, gazing down upon
a younger Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Q-past looked quite impressive in a black hat and
flowing red-and-black robes.

Q took a moment to admire his past self, smiling. “Oh, yes. This was fun. See how
Jean-Luc squirms?”

“He does not appear to be squirming,” said Spock.

The starship captain stood up straight before the magistrate’s bench.

“You don’t know him like I do. That’s squirming. And what a handsome magistrate I
make. Rather an imposing figure, don’t you think?”

Q looked up at Q-past on the bench, who was leaning forward and getting ready to speak,
staring intently at Picard. Then Q-past’s eyes flicked toward Q, as though seeing
him. Had he imagined it?

Kirk shook his head. “You’re not getting it, are you, Q? This isn’t a past you should
be proud of. You had no right putting mankind on trial.”

“Mankind?” said Q. “I get it. To quote Dickens, ‘Mankind was my business. The common
welfare was my business.’ That the rubbish you’re talking about?”

Spock shook his head, rather sadly for a Vulcan. “How little you understand. Let us
move forward to another time.”

They were on the bridge of the
U.S.S.
Enterprise
. Picard’s
Enterprise
. Q-past was there again, this time dressed in a Starfleet uniform; on the main viewscreen
was a Borg cube.

Q smiled. “My little introduction between the Borg and your precious mankind.”

“People died because of you,” said Kirk.

“If it wasn’t for me, the Federation would have fallen to the Borg. I gave them the
forewarning they needed to prepare. And make up your mind as to whether you’re Kirk
or Spock. It’s making me dizzy.”

Q turned away, feigning disgust at the morphing apparition. He looked up at Q-past,
rather rakish in his red uniform. They exchanged a look and Q-past nodded, smiling
ever so slightly.

Spock said, “You feel your meddling helped prepare the Federation against the Borg.
Have you stopped to think what your interference did to the Borg? It gave them new
direction, literally and figuratively. They immediately began their plans to assimilate
the Federation and, most importantly, Earth. A meeting that by our calculations would
not have occurred naturally for another two hundred years.”

Q waved his hand impatiently. “I’ve heard enough. Q, can you help me?”

Q-past stepped forward. “Of course.” He snapped his fingers. The crew on the bridge
gasped, staring at Q dressed as Ebenezer Scrooge and a shimmering apparition that
morphed between human and Vulcan.

Worf drew his phaser. “Security, send a detail up to the bridge immediately.”

“
Now
what are you up to, Q?” said Captain Picard. He stopped when he recognized the apparition.
“Admiral Kirk?”

The apparition didn’t reply to Picard. It turned to Q. “Stop this.”

Q smiled. “Not so high-and-mighty, now that I’ve got the upper hand. Q, would you
be so kind as to restore my powers?”

“My pleasure, Q.” Q-past snapped his fingers.

Q wiggled his fingers. “That’s better. Much better.” He turned on the apparition.
“Now, let’s find out who you really are.”

The apparition faded as Mister Spock said, “Live long and prosper.”

“You’re not getting away that easy. You have a lot of explaining to do.”

Suddenly, Data appeared on the bridge with a laurel of holly around his head and dressed
in a deep-green satin robe. “Scrooge!” he bellowed. He held a gold goblet in one hand
and a large turkey drumstick in the other. He was about to say something else when
he stopped and blinked. “This isn’t right.” He disappeared.

Captain Picard walked up to Q. “Why are you dressed like that? What’s going on?”

“That’s what I’m about to find out,” he said, snapping his fingers.

Stave Five

Q found himself in a void, but a comfortable void, a void that felt like home.

“Q,” he said, his voice dampened in the nothingness.

Another Q appeared in a human female form.

“I need all of Q,” he said.

Q, in various forms, appeared in the void. None of the other Q were humanoid. One
even showed up as a quark. Upon appearing, they all nodded or indicated their understanding
of the situation.

“We must confront this threat,” said Q. “Any being that could entrap Q must be investigated
and, upon a fair and impartial trial, be dealt with quite severely.”

Q agreed.

“As it happens,” continued Q, “I have a plan. We have to bring this creature, or creatures,
out into the open. I’m convinced they have feelings for humans—why else subject me
to that dreadful Dickens novel?”

Q reminded Q that the Dickens scenario had actually been his own idea.

“Whatever,” said Q, waving it off. “Regardless, they must have some affinity to humans.
Being on the bridge of the
Enterprise
gave me an idea. I once created three timelines for Jean-Luc and took him back to
the halcyon days of Earth—that is, I took him back before life began. I’m going to
that time right now, and I’m going to prevent life on Earth from ever forming. I suspect
that whoever is behind this will appear to stop me. But we all will be waiting—”

Q squinted at Q-quark. It was spinning oddly. Off balance. Wobbling. Then Q realized
something was happening to all of Q. The other humanoid Q sprouted wires from her
flesh and cried out in pain. Metal plates above her eyes pushed out through her forehead.
Her dark brown skin turned ashen. Another Q had its fifteen limbs replaced with cybernetic
prostheses that clicked and whirred with movement. A multitude of tight red beams
of light emitted from many of the Q and crisscrossed the void. Q who resembled a nebulae
filled with metallic particles. Q-quark took on the sheen of a synthetic biomass.
Q felt something crawling beneath his own flesh. It was as though snakes slithered
beneath the surface. And there was pain. It burned within his limbs and even tore
at his mind.

He screamed from the white-hot pain. Wires and small conduits punctured through muscle
and skin along his arms. He could feel them growing out of his face. His mind burned
like the center of a star. He was losing himself. Losing his identity. All around
him, Q was morphing into—

“We are Borg,” said Q as one. “Resistance is futile.”

And then, for the first time in his approximation of life, Q knew fear. It was a pinpoint
of cold, stark light in the fathoms of his being. All of Q had changed—had been assimilated.
Looking down at himself, he was black and silver. One of his legs was now prosthetic,
both arms nothing more than thick cybernetic cables with tools at the end. As he looked
back up he saw the void itself—the Q Continuum—change. Parts of it folded in on itself
while other parts expanded.

“Oh my Q,” he said, hardly above a whisper, the pain causing his vision to shimmer.

The Continuum contorted and changed into a Borg cube of enormous size. It filled the
entire space between stars. It flowed effortlessly between dimensions. Touching upon
infinite timelines at once, assimilating uncountable universes.

Stave Six

“How could this be?” said Q. He looked upon the Continuum with horror. All of it was
gone. Literally everything that had and would exist.

But then he squinted into the newly formed Borg-verse. He beheld a solemn Phantom,
draped and hooded, walking toward him.

Q felt another feeling he was unaccustomed to, but he was happy to embrace it: relief.

“Were these—” He found himself overwhelmed. He was confused and scared. Feelings he
abhorred. The anger helped form the words that had stuck in his throat. “Were these
shadows of things yet to come?”

The spirit approached, walking along an invisible path in the vacuum of space. As
he came close, the impossible Borg cube and Borg-verse melted away, replaced by Scrooge’s
sitting room. Q was actually happy to see the insipid Dutch fireplace.

“Are you telling me that by having a little fun with Jean-Luc, the Borg are going
to assimilate Q?”

The apparition lifted its arms. Q expected to see skeletal hands within the folds
of the dark cloak. But instead there were human hands. They lifted back the hood that
shrouded the spirit’s face. It was the face of an older man. His hair was equal parts
black and gray, as were his trim beard and mustache. He smiled the same annoying smile
everyone else had sported.

“You’re not the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come,” said Q.

The older man shook his head. “No,” he said, his voice deep but gentle. “Perhaps you
should consider me the Ghost of Alternate Timelines Yet to Come. Your alternate timeline,
of course. And to answer your question about ‘having a little fun with Jean-Luc,’
yes and no. Q’s intrusive behavior has always caused an unnecessary stress to the
fabric of the universe. You think you know everything. That’s dangerous to every other
living thing throughout the multiverse. We felt it was time to show you what could
happen from your meddling.”

“Rather melodramatic, don’t you think? Do you really believe that my putting mankind
on trial or having Jean-Luc face the Borg years before humans and Borg would have
naturally crossed paths led to the destruction of the Q Continuum?”

“Oh, you’ll believe what you want. But as we tried to tell you, you really understand
so little. Yes, this had everything to do with your meddling with mankind. And while
you and the rest of the Continuum will continue to find ways to be a bother, we have
faith that even Q can learn. Perhaps to even redeem themselves.”

Q snorted in derision. But suddenly the name Ayelborne fired across the equivalent
of his brainpan. Of course, the Organians—with Ayelborne in the human form he had
taken for the benefit of Kirk and Spock.
We have underestimated them,
thought Q. Such a quiet lot. We took that as a measure of their lack of power. Of
their will. That wouldn’t happen again.

“Do you want to see what causes the destruction of your precious Continuum?”

“I can hardly wait,” said Q, but he felt the tingle of fear at the back of his mind,
and he hated that he knew the Organian felt it as well.

Q now sat on the stage of an auditorium. There were a few thousand beings in the audience.
He recognized creatures from every member of the Federation. Then he noticed the pain.
His legs and arms ached. Throbbed. Looking down, he saw that he inhabited the body
of a child. Timothy, the former Borg-child. Then he realized someone was next to him.
He looked up to see Captain Jean-Luc Picard sputtering some asinine gibberish.