This is a tale adapted from the Star Trek Universe. I merely borrowed the characters from there to tell this tale.
“Enterprise, give me full thrust on the rear engines. I was
us out of the Nebula now.” Captain Picard called out the command to his
Commander Geordi.
“Captain, I have no response on my console. We are still
moving forward at Impulse Power.” The Commander replied while he was tapping the
screens which were his interface to the ship system. “I will …”
“Futile on your works…” Captain Picard heard the snide
remark made by his guest on the Bridge. He turned to look at slim figure
clothed in the Star Fleet uniform with the rank of Commander. He was to retort
the guest when his Second in Command overtook the Captain with his reply.
“Q, we have enough of your game.” Commander Riker asserted
his tone across the Bridge. He was at times overbearing with his attitude on
the situations that were happening to the Starship. He was more than passionate
about his role, that Captain Picard had corrected the former that he was watching his
emotional reaction to the situation that prevailed then.
“Commander Riker, we shall not show discourse with our
hospitality towards our guest.” Captain Picard looked towards his second in
command or by ranking, his Number One.
“Picard, please do not reprimand the Commander. He has
displayed what we considered as a faulty character of your race.” The figure
addressed as Q replied to Commander Riker’s remark towards him.
“Q, you will address me as Captain if you are to wear that uniform
and also be seated on the bridge of the Starship that is mine to command.”
Captain Picard addressed Q who had also taken the privilege on the uniform and
also acquired a seat next to the First Officer. The Captain had dealt with Q
before, and he was an alien race with some astounding abilities. The Q race was
not from the same dimension as the Captain. The starship was on a voyage to
the unexplored frontiers of the universe.
The crew have met many new inhabitants;
some of which were hostile but many were welcoming to their contact. It was
different from Q who had visited the Starship instead. Q appeared to the crew
and had many times placed them in the path of dangers which were averted by the
Captain’s resolving the issue. The numerous attempts by Q have proven to be
futile or in more unflattering terms, frustrated at times to them understanding
the Earthlings.
“Q, we have resolved to end your game now.” Captain Picard
gave his reply to Q’s latest antics. “Your last have subjected my crews and the
Enterprise. We have been sent on a trail to this Nebula to test us on how we will
handle the fluctuations of space inside the Nebula.”
“And you have.” Q smiled at the Captain. “Your attempt had
been in my view refreshing to my study. Why are you denying me this quest?
After all, are you not interested to know the place your kind have been trying
to understand since the beginning of religion. Do Heaven and Hell revoke your
true self?”
“Q, we have not seen those places but perhaps vivid
imaginations of your mind. Or what I perceived maybe your equivalent of the mind.”
Captain Picard looked at Q. “We did not volunteer on this quest. You have
commanded our minds to follow you or suffer other consequences.”
“Are you implicating that I blackmail you? You too,
Commander Riker.” Q sneered at the Captain. “Your perceived ….”
“Q, in all our incidents of meeting we have never been given
much choices in deciding. We are usually shanghaied by our Earthly terms.”
Captain Picard replied. “Your …. Q may not be …”
“Q is well versed with your history and other matters. We
find your kind more intriguing than the others we have met.” Q was then asked
by Commander Riker who raised a pertinent question that Q was driving them
every time.
“Have any of those other beings ever survived your curiosity
with your foolish…”
“Number One, you are out of line.” Captain Picard stopped
his Commander. He knew that conflict was Q’s mode of challenge. “I am sure Q….”
“Ah, Captain. Please do not interject into my …. reply.” Q
turned from his seat towards the Commander. “To my esteemed Commander, I shall
be honest. Not all our quests have been favorable. We did however lost some
poor souls ….. your term from the historical archive.”
“Enough, Q!” Captain Picard has reached his maximum level
of tolerance towards Q. “This must end.”
“End, Captain?” Q queried back. “Have you had enough?”
Captain Picard was surprised at the reaction of Q. He had
never encountered Q in such manner.
“What was it that you had enough, Captain? Have I ever
harmed your kind?” Q responded back. “Do you want to know about Heaven and
Hell? After all, that was the belief of your being at these realms? Are they real? If they
were, are they in your dimension? Or mine? Or are they on other dimensions?”
“Q, you win. We are intrigued by the location of these
places. Are they real?” Captain Picard relented to the quest. “But we have been
it by interference to our Starship. Our shields are on the low levels, and our
decks are littered with injured crews. I am obliged to stop this despite our
curiosity.”
“Captain Picard, you surprised me. Your replies had contradicting
responses. You asked for clarification and then you voiced your denial.”
“Q, do not patronize me now. You should know from our
previous encounters we are very ….. creative in our approach. I may want to see
what Heaven and Hell look like but I am not keen to see that now.”
“Amusing, Captain Picard. Your responses are unpredictable
as were our previous outcomes. Your being continued to create orbital responses
to my being.” Q smiled. “To us, we are not the constraint of mortality limitations
like your beings. We are neither of any soul or by your definition without
one, which was your cue for the belief in Heaven and Hell.”
“Q, please end this.” Captain Picard pleaded with Q. He
disliked giving up to the other but the last twenty-four hours were at best
hellish.
“Okay then. I shall not tease you no more.” Q then clapped
his hands and the fabric of the physical universe tore apart when he pulled his
hands apart. “Watch me take you to the realm of Heaven and Hell. We are
standing on the equation line between the two realms.”
Captain Picard found himself standing on nothing and yet his
feet were on firm surface. Or the more definitive term, he was floating on
nothing. He looked to the rear and saw his crews were in the line-up of a
single line. He found himself facing Commander Riker.
“Captain, you are naked.” The voice of the First Officer
caused the Captain to look at his strip nature. He was naked and so were the others.
It caused some amusement to the members of the crews.
“I did not know you were …”
“Commander, I am not privilege to discuss my pubis condition
with you. I will reserve it with the Doctor.” Captain Picard then looked at Q. “Why
are you dressed?”
“Oh, on the contrary. I am not dressed. The uniform you presumed
on me was actually part of me.” Q smiled. “Please allow me to re-dress myself.”
Q appeared then in the nudity that was similar to the others.
“I shall tell you this that I am equally comfortable in this
form.” Q looked at the Captain. “We are alike.”
“I do not doubt it.” Captain Picard nodded. “But I find that
without ….. you clothed, you are more like us.”
“Like the realm here. Don’t you feel that Heaven and Hell
may not really exist? When we … not your kind ends the journey of life, you are
just another number in the queue to continue onto the next journey. You may , however, be dropped back in the next phase of life. You could be in either
time zone; pre-historic to the far future. Like in our continuum of Q, you have
yours.”
“I would not wish the pre-creation of the universe. Your
presence may be a singular entity with little imagination other than evolution.”
Q continued on.
“Thank you, Q. We have seen Heaven and Hell. Now can we
return to our …. Time zone.”
“Hold on, Q. Before we leave, I know you will erase our minds
about this. But perhaps a moment please.” Commander Riker requested then. Q
agreed and they all lined up for the photo finish image.
A short while later or was it just before Q had appeared,
Captain Picard seated on the Captain’s seat was looking at the huge main screen
of the Enterprise, his Starship. He then found something was making his seating
uncomfortable. He excused himself and then retreated to his Ready Room. He then
removed the infuriating item from his rear. It was a photo image of an entity
he had met as Q.
“I wondered how I got this. However, I shall share it only
with myself. If ever we meet, I shall tell Q we were equal there.” Captain
Picard smiled at himself. “Not all of us needed hair at all.”
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