When he left his quarters, Riker found himself not in the hallway, but on the nameless planet with the rocky surface and the green sky. He'd half expected as much. At least this time, he was alone; Q wasn't dragging any of his crewmates into this. The games were over.

"Ah, you return." Q greeted Riker from the campaign tent, offering him a seat at the table; Riker sat, although he felt more like pacing around. Now that this was a diplomatic operation, he had to be courteous. "The Continuum is infinite, but our patience is not. I trust you've made up your mind?"

"Almost," Riker said. "I'll accept your offer, I'll join your Continuum--" at this he was surprised to notice Q's face brightening, with an expression that looked like relief. Had this really meant that much to the entity? "--on one condition."

"We shall see," Q said warily. "What condition do you propose?"

"That I be allowed to keep my post as the first officer on the Enterprise."

Q was taken aback. "When you are one of us, you will be infinitely beyond those primitive beings and their mechanical toys. Why would you want to sit around in your chair on that tiny little ship when you could explore the entire galaxy with just a thought?"

"It's something I've worked hard for," Riker said firmly. "It's a part of what makes me who I am. And if you're trying to understand the human drive to explore and better ourselves, you can hardly do better than having a man in Starfleet."

Q considered this, frowning, for a moment. "Very well," he said finally. "This particular diversion of yours will hardly last for more than a linear century or two. A small concession to make. And indeed, it promises to be quite... interesting." He looked intently at Riker. "Then you are ready?"

Riker took a deep breath and nodded slowly. "I'm ready."

------------------

In her bed in her mother's home on Betazed, Deanna Troi suddenly jerked awake, eyes wide. "Will!"

Hearing her daughter's cry, and sensing her distress, Lwaxana was by her side in moments. "What is it, Little One?"

"Ever since Will and I became Imzadi," Deanna said, holding her mother's hand, "I've always been able to sense him-- no matter how far apart we were. But now I... can't."

"Maybe something's blocking him?" Lwaxana suggested hopefully. "I mean, you don't know he's..."

"No, Mother, it isn't like that." Deanna shook her head. "It was as if his mind suddenly became stronger, blindingly bright... then it went beyond my ability to sense at all."

Lwaxana ran a hand through her daughter's hair. "Well... perhaps it's all for the best. There's something I've been meaning to tell you about. A friend of your father..."

------------------

The power, at least, Riker had expected. He knew that Q had previously only given him a limited set of powers, as a test to see how he would handle them. So when the full influx of infinite power hit him, he was, if not prepared exactly, at least not caught off guard.

The mental effects, while more disorienting, also matched his expectations. His mind seemed to expand immensely, becoming capable of comprehending things he'd never even dimly grasped, leaving his previous self occupying only a tiny corner of his potential.

His surroundings had also changed. Even with his new mental capacity, Riker found it impossible to discern what his hundreds of new senses were telling him, at least for the moment. He was still too stunned from changing into a different being, of an entirely different level of existence.

As Riker tried to get his bearings, he became aware of something he could understand. It was not exactly a voice, but it was some form of communication, and it was actively making itself heard and understood. Deciphering it required no effort on Riker's part, and it gave him something relatively familiar and solid to fix himself on.

"Well, you actually did it." The communication conveyed not only straightforward data, but also undertones of emotion; in this case, something like grudging respect mixed with surprise. "I'll admit, I was half expecting you to screw this up somehow."

A response, this one unmistakably Q. Even though it wasn't his voice, it carried his identifying mark, the flavor of his personality. "Well, with the stakes being what they were, I could hardly afford to lose, could I? I'm quite capable of doing what is required, when it suits me."

Dry, sardonic. "The fact that his commanders practically ordered him to comply may also have had something to do with it."

Another being spoke; Riker began to sense various presences around him, separate yet part of a greater whole. "Yes, that was remarkably convenient for you, Q. Did you by any chance have any part in that--"

"He didn't," another presence said. "We were watching him closely through all of this, to make sure he didn't try anything funny."

"Your faith in me is flattering," Q said dully.

"That's what you get when you're on probation," the second being said. "Which is lifted now, by the way. But it would be good for you to be more careful from now on."

Riker privately smiled to himself at the thought of Q being on probation, remembering what he knew of the Farpoint incident. As if reading his mind, though, Q gave him a nudge and communicated privately to him in a sort of whisper. "You're supposed to be the focus of attention here. Say something."

"To take the focus off you and your probation, you mean?" Riker replied.

"Don't you start on that too. It's ancient history. Come on, you agreed to come here; don't get stage fright now."

Deciding that he'd have to ask someone else about this "ancient history" later, Riker focused his attention on the assemblage of beings around him. His diplomatic training was somewhat lacking, and he doubted that it would have covered a situation like this in any case, so he went with the basics. "Greetings! I am William T. Riker, a special liason to your people from the United Federation of Planets. I would first like to thank you for extending this invitation--"

One of the beings cut him off. "Q, you said he wasn't going to be stuffy!"

"He isn't!" Q replied. "Just have a little patience. He's been hanging around that bald captain of his too long."