[USS Vanguard] Q to the point (part 2)
- From: Rachel H Duncan <jaynedeaux@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: ncv80221@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 03:42:09 -0700 (PDT)
Q led Des into the grotto, the leaves of large
gnarly-limbed trees shading them from the moonlight.
He stopped abruptly, causing her to almost run into
him.
"You like it here, don't you?"
She nodded, remembering another time he'd asked her
that same question. On Earth. Back when they made
their deal. "I do. So does Trev. We're happy here."
Q nodded solemnly. Des sensed that she was not going
to like what he said next. Part of her--the part that
had not been at all suprised to see Q, the part that
had so vehemently voiced dissent to Santos--was ready
to hear. It would give voice to the silent fears
she'd suppressed ever since setting foot on this
planet and seeing Trev's face light up with joy.
There was something amiss here, she knew it, but had
managed to avoid the truth of it until now. And even
now, she heard herself stalling in a high, nervous
voice.
"You know, technically speaking, you're breaking the
rules of our little agreement," she said, pressing her
hands behind her back into the rough bark of a tree.
"You're not supposed to interfere, remember?"
"I'm not interfering. We're having a conversation."
"Tread lightly," she said, "You don't want to void our
contract."
"No, I don't. But Desdemona, I have to tell you--"
"You don't have to tell me anything," she said, "I
know why you're here and I know what's going to
happen."
Q, not usually one to allow interruptions, snapped his
jaw shut and gave her a quizzical little look, as if
to say, "go on."
"Part of it anyway. Somehow we're going to close the
circle here, and the Vanguard crew is going to end up
crashing on this planet and starting this little
colony. Hell, it'll probably happen when they're
trying to leave. Trevor and that pretty little ensign
whose name he didn't even know beofre this sidetrip
will have kids and grandkids and live happily ever
after. I, tragically killed--or at least as far as
anybody knows--in the crash, will shuffle off this
mortal coil and we'll find out which of us won our
little wager."
"That's your prediction, is it?"
"That or a variation."
Q seemed to chose his next words very carefully, as if
trying to say as much as possible without breaking the
terms of a contact they'd made millenia ago.
"You're wrong," he said finally. "I cannot tell you
what happens, as you know, but I must advise you to be
very cautious."
Des thought of the cascade point. Thought of those
empty spaces. Could she have been wrong in
interpretting their meaning?
"What are you telling me?"
Q smiled, but his eyes were grave. "Ask me no
questions, I'll tell you no lies," he said, "Tread
lightly yourself, Desdemona, or we may never meet
again."
Q vanished.
Des walked slowly back from the grotto, feeling a
sudden chill in the night air. From inside the little
house-dwelling she could hear the sounds of Trevor and
his adult decendents talking, laughing. For him,
there was all the warmth of family and belonging.
As much as she hated to take that away from him, she
also hated to leave him in it if it wasn't real. Like
the fabled Nexus that so many of her kinsman had told
her about; a beautiful, wonderful illusion. Which was
worse?
She pushed open the door and was received by a welcome
from all inside. The children had been put to bed,
and now all the adults sat in the common room drinking
some mild brew and chatting.
Trev pulled her into a seat next to him and beamed as
he recounted some anticdote just told to him about his
children. She smiled and laughed in all the
appropriate places, pushing her doubt into the back of
her mind. She would not tell him anything tonight;
seeing him this animated, this alive, she couldn't
deny him at least one more night's indulgence in his
pleasant fiction.
*****
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