Chapter 20

Jean Luc walked into the mess hall to the stares of everyone else seated there.

Deciding that he was in dire need of something to eat, he approached the replicator, modern only by Enterprise B's standards. "These replicators were so much better by my time," he muttered before requesting his meal selection. Almost immediately a tray was dispensed with a sandwich and a hot cup of tea.

The dining area looked like it would hold abut 70 people, although at the present time it was only half filled. He carried his tray to a table along the wall. Windows flanked the large room and he had always preferred looking out at space. This was where he always felt most comfortable because space seldom changed. As Picard sat and began his meal, it came to his mind that this little fiasco perpetrated by his arch pain in the butt - Q had obviously involved space in some strange magical way. He turned his head and watched the stars streak by and the blackness of space held him captivated. He was lost in his thoughts of the recent events when Scotty approached the table.

"Would ye mind some company, Captain Picard?"

Pulled abruptly from his reverie, Picard looked up and smiled at the engineer. "Please join me Mr. Scott. I would enjoy your company."

Scott sat down and looked at his tray. He had ordered a chicken and rice dish. The platter also had mounds of broccoli around the edge. "I dinnae understand why they are always pushing these vegetables on you. You order a simple chicken and rice dish and they want you to eat these greens. I dinnae understand."

Picard smiled at the engineer. "I would presume they want to keep us healthy Mr. Scott. Do you not like greens?"

Scotty leaned in towards Picard, "Captain, I have to go by what my dear mother used to tell me. She always said, never eat anything that has turned green!"

Picard grinned, "I don't think she was talking about broccoli Mr. Scott."

"Aye, maybe she wasn't, but I have lived my life staying as far away from broccoli as I could. I'm not about to start eating it at this stage of my life."

Scotty dug into his chicken but took a moment to lift his eyes, "So, from the future are ye now?"

The two men looked at each other for several long seconds without a word said, but volumes passing between them.

Jean Luc smiled and gave a slight sigh, "Yes, Mr. Scott from the future. Seventy-seven years to be exact.

This was actually the second time he had met Scott. Several months earlier he and his Enterprise had come upon the starship Jenolen which had crashed into the surface of a Dyson Sphere and they had discovered that Scott and another engineer had put themselves into the buffer of a transporter beam and had looped the device. Their life patterns had been locked in that system for 75 years. Unfortunately only Scotty survived the ordeal. The other engineer's patterns degraded more than they could save and he was ultimately lost.

In Picard's real timeline, he and Scotty had formed a close bond over these last few months since the rescue. They often played a particular kind of chess game - actually a computer generated virtual game in which one would make a move and send that move to the others' virtual board. It made a game last several days and kept the bond which had been forged strong.

The two men ate for several minutes in silence until finally Picard finished the last bite of his sandwich and looked up at the man sitting across from him. "Mr. Scott, I seem to remember reading about the crew of your Enterprise and it occurred to me that the advances made have been significant."

"Aye, Captain Picard, I have seen many new fangled doodads on this Enterprise that are quite a bit ahead of what we had on the 1701 or even the 1701A. It would seem to me that from your perspective, all this is a bunch of antiques to ye eh?" Scotty waved his fork in the air.

"Yes, many of the systems or at least the systems they have let me be privy to, are to say the least, old style. Of course the principals remain the same. Space is still space, warp drive is still warp drive and human nature is still human nature."

"Aye, that ye be right. I see machines doing what we had to learn to do. Sometimes the old ways are better than the new fangled gizmos though. When their new gadgets break down, they should know how to get around it. We used to call it jury rigging in my day, Captain."

"You know that history calls you a 'miracle worker'. It's been well documented that you were able to accomplish things in the light of certain destruction that no one else could do other than yourself." Picard leaned back in his chair waiting for Scotty's response.

Scotty finished the last of his meal albeit the broccoli and likewise leaned back in his seat. He wanted to know so much from the Captain from the future. He wanted desperately to ask about Kirk. He wanted to know about his own future and the likelihood that he would continue in some capacity with Starfleet. He wanted to ask... but he didn't. He knew all about the possibilities of contaminating the time continuum. What he did know, though, was that he wanted to speak to this Jean-Luc for hours and hours. He was sure that if he listened carefully he could learn all kinds of interesting facts.

"A miracle worker ye say? Hmm, well if I start that rumor now, by your time it should be well-documented, would ye say, Captain?"

"Absolutely Mr. Scott, absolutely."

Another system they have never really made many changes to is the transporter. Since it was developed and perfected in Archer's time things really haven't changed have they Mr. Scott." Picard was intently eyeing the engineer.

Scott noticed the strange glint in Picard's eyes and nodded, "Well essentially you are right Captain Picard. The transporter does its job in a safe and efficient manner. I have heard though that they are experimenting with using a type of transporter beam and matter converter to create something they are calling a holodeck. Supposed to be a room in which various scenarios could be played out using these transporter beams." He watched Picard's eyes knowing immediately he had hit on something. He thought, "By God they have done this... Picard is almost nodding and grinning."

"Well Mr. Scott, that is an interesting hypothesis... " He stopped and grinned not knowing how much further he should go.

"Aye, isn't it Captain." Scotty nodded imperceptively and grinned back.

At that moment, Pavel Chekov entered the mess and stood at the door way looking around the room. When his eyes came to rest on the two men, he strode over to their table.

"Captain Picard." Chekov nodded to Jean-Luc. "Mr. Scott, your help is needed in engineering. They are having some problems with the repairs from the energy ribbon attack."

Scotty stood up and held out his hand to Jean-Luc. "It's good to meet ye Captain, I hope we have a chance to talk again."

"Mr. Scott, I would like to continue our conversation." He gave Scotty an extra squeeze on his hand letting him know they had much more to discuss."