Part Three:
In Search Of. . .
Chapter Twenty-Five: Continuum Or Not?
"Would you like to come with me?" Q asked in a low voice.
I drifted up from a dream quickly forgotten and only understood Q's question a full minute after it had been asked. Groggily, I opened my eyes and attempted to locate Q's whereabouts. I could not see him. "Show yourself, " I whispered.
I heard him again, clearer this time. "Would you like to come with me?"
I almost answered him when my brother spoke up instead. "Where are we going?"
"A place beyond your most wildest dreams, a fantasy you've never realized." Q was in Eric's room. I walked over to the wall adjacent to Eric's room and cupped my ear against it to hear them better.
"My mommy's warned me about you."
"Are you still a baby?" I imagined Eric shaking his head vigorously as I heard no verbal response. "Stop clinging to your mommy, then and join me. I could make your life one long adventure. You would have no more school or daycare to worry about. The power of the Q would negate the need for any book learning. You would no longer have to listen to adults or follow their rules. You could make up your own rules."
I could not believe what I was hearing! Why did Q want my brother to come with him? I was his chosen one! Did he believe Eric was as intelligent as I was despite the test results? Suddenly, I regretted having rejecting Q for so long. Stumbling toward my door in the dark, anxiously I prepared to ask Q to take me, not my brother.
"I wouldn't have to go to school?"
I walked across to Eric's bedroom door and the door slid open. Q and Eric were standing on the other side of my brother's bed. Eric looked small and innocent in his sheep pajamas. After all the times Q had popped in on me, I never truly understood why the adults were so frightened of him. Now, looking at Eric, who was as naive as I must have been during my first encounter with Q, I assumed the role of the concerned family member.
"The Q know everything," Q said. He did not turn to acknowledge me as though he were performing a stage play. "School is obsolete. All your time can be spent on play and games." He was smiling warmly and quickly gaining Eric's trust. Did he really want Eric to go with him? Or was he willing to bait a young boy just to begrudge me?
"Don't go!" I exclaimed, but they vanished with a Q-flash before I had uttered the warning.
Why hadn't our parents come out to investigate the commotion? Rushing into their room, I screamed, "Wake up!" They stirred reluctantly moaning with semi-coherence. "Eric is gone!"
Mother's eyes opened to slits. "Shannara, you've had a bad dream," she said calmly. "Eric is asleep in his bed."
"No, no, you don't understand. I heard Q asking if I'd like to come with him. Only he wasn't talking to me; he was talking to Eric. I tried to stop them, but I was too late. Q has taken Eric to the Continuum!"
Neither of them climbed out of bed. They knew what Q was capable of masterminding, and yet they didn't believe me!
"Q has never shown an interest in your brother," Father said. "His obsession has always been with you. Your mother is right: You had a bad dream. If Q had been in our quarters, he would have awakened your mother and I. Q cannot resist putting on a show for all of us."
"If we check on Eric, we'll wake him up," Mother added.
Had Q done something to their brains to scramble their logic? They should be panicking and doubting that their son was safe in his bed. Catching my breath, I attempted to summon the power inside me and countermand the hold Q had over them. I had used it once to control a little girl. Did I have enough strength within me to control two adults?
"You have to listen to me! I am fully awake and aware of what I saw. If you don't come with me, then I'll have to confront Q on my own." I turned around and stepped out of their room, hoping some sense had gotten through to them.
As I stepped into Eric's room and reconfirmed that his bed was empty, I resolved any doubt that I had been dreaming. "Mother, Father!" I screamed, hurdling all the power within me in their direction.
Crawling out of their room, slowly at first, Mother and Father druggedly slipped across the living room toward me. Standing at the doorway, Mother exclaimed, "Oh my God, Worf!" Finally, she had snapped out of her trance. She clutched at the door frame to steady herself. "What has Q done with our son?"
Father coaxed her inside the room and she collapsed onto Eric's bed, clutching at his comforter as though it were a part of him. Grabbing me by the arms, Father asked, "Why would Q take Eric to the Continuum?"
The unasked question, Why not me? stood between us like an accusation.
"To make me jealous. He's hoping I'll agree to go with him. He doesn't want Eric. If I agree to join him inside the Continuum, then he'll return Eric to you." I glanced out my brother's viewwindow as though it led to the far-distant Continuum. "Poor Eric; he's probably so scared."
"We can't trade one child for another," Mother said. "There has to be a way to get Eric back without sacrificing you."
"We are dealing with Q," Father snapped. He sounded as though he was offering us an explanation. "We will continue to be his puppets until he tires of us."
"Waiting for Q to tire of us could take hundreds years," I nearly yelled.
If I didn't confront Q immediately, what did he plan to do with Eric? Perhaps, after he was convinced that I wouldn't offer myself in exchange for Eric, he would return my brother anyway. Or he might abandon Eric somewhere in the multiverse where we would never recover him.
"Let me summon Q," I said more calmly. "If he'll listen to anyone, he'll listen to me."
They nodded and I turned away from them, not wanting them to see the doubt on my face. Q was playing a game, all right, and I suspected that he'd rather plague me with worry for a time.
"Q, please show yourself. I need to talk with you." I waited a couple of beats, clenching and unclenching my hands. How could I beseech him to come forward? "You don't want Eric. He's nothing but a little brat and will only cause you trouble."
"Shannara," Mother scolded, "there's no reason to belittle your brother."
I fixed her with a furrowing brow. "You want him back, don't you? This is the sort of tactic that might work with Q."
Why was mother arguing with me? Again, I wondered if Q wasn't controlling their thought processes. Assuming this possibility, I played along and attempted a few mind-controlling tricks of my own.
"Mother, Father, you need to get ready for your duty shifts. You will behave as though nothing is wrong. Mother, you will inform Mrs. Dewberry that Eric is sick today. If I'm unable to resolve this situation by the afternoon, I will page Data and inform him that I can't attend my tutoring session today. I'll come up with a believable excuse. At that time, I will decide how to proceed."
My parents remained eerily complacent toward me. Normally, I would follow their guidance and accept their dominance over me, but Q wanted to play a different game. He meant to challenge me and wanted me to admit that I enjoyed being in control. Perhaps, I was playing right into his hands, but what other choice did I have?
Mother and Father stepped out of my brother's room without disputing my authority, prepared for a normal day, and then left our quarters, leaving me alone to serve as Q's pawn.
"I'm alone now, Q," I said, awkwardly stating the obvious. "Show yourself, so we can discuss this like two intelligent beings."
Turning full circle, I expected him to pop up in some unusual location per his usual. My invitation did not entice him. I sensed no sign that he was even listening. If he truly wanted me instead of Eric, then why was he being so stubborn?
Several minutes later, my rumbling stomach sent me out to replicate some breakfast. Despite my dislike for the stuff, I ordered a bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar, recalling Q's sarcastic remark about chit-chatting over a bowl of mush. I sat down at the table and, taking slow bites, managed to finish my breakfast. The chair across from me remained empty.
"Okay Q," I said, shrugging. "You win this round." I stood up to return the bowl to the replicator. "Q, if you're not going to show yourself, then maybe I should pretend nothing is wrong. I'm going to work on a project Data assigned yesterday. You hate that Data is still my mentor. Only you can prevent me from attending today's session with him. You're in control. Isn't that how you always wanted it?"
Reaching the conclusion that Q would not answer me today, I slipped into my room and sat at my desk with my data padd and read through my instructions and the follow-up questions. Concentrating on it proved difficult, as I kept thinking about my brother. He played rowdy, often with a visiting friend, or rang my annunciator to ask a silly question when I was trying to study. Usually, Eric was quite a distraction for me, but now his absence was even more of one. I had never realized how important Eric was to me until Q had whisked him away. I imagined Eric was frightened in an alien world, not knowing if he would ever be released from captivity. Q would let him go. Q played his game well, but I saw right through his malevolent disguise. No harm would come to Eric, and when Q tired of this game, my brother would be returned safely.
I hoped.
Stepping into Data's quarters, I perpetrated a ruse that inadequately covered my concern for my brother. I had decided to follow my day through as planned. Q wanted me to stop seeing Data, and I did not want to comply with his wishes, especially when he was ignoring mine.
"I'm sorry, Data. I don't think I did very well on this assignment," I said as I approached him at his desk. I handed him my data padd. Not wanting him to see the tears creeping out of the corners of my eyes, I didn't look directly at him.
My android mentor accepted the data padd, but instead of scanning it as usual, he studied me. "What is wrong?" he asked, setting the padd down on his desk. "I noticed your parents were behaving strangely on the bridge today. Now you show up averting eye contact with me. Has something happened at home to upset you?"
Unable to conceal my quivering lip or the tear escaping down my cheek, I proceeded to tell Data about Eric.
"Q," I stated as though there was nothing more obvious in the world. "He's taken Eric somewhere inside the continuum." I dropped onto the chair across from Data's desk as though gravity had suddenly become too massive; anxiety began to choke me.
"Catch your breath and tell me what has happened."
"During the middle of the night, I heard Q talking to my brother in his bedroom and before I could interrupt them, they vanished. Our parents weren't even aware that Q had been there until I woke them up."
Data looked perplexed. "Your parents said nothing of this during bridge duty. Indeed, they pretended as though nothing was wrong, but I, and the captain as well, knew that something was off with them today."
"I used the power of the Q to encourage them to report for duty and to pretend nothing was wrong. I've been trying to contact Q, but he is ignoring me. I am prepared to offer myself in exchange for Eric's safe return."
"Shannara, you are treating your parents like puppets! That was highly unethical of you. Have your parents not taught you better? You should have allowed them to bring this matter to the captain's attention."
"And what could Captain Riker have done?" I asked haughtily. "Q refuses to play reasonable! He was controlling my parents with the power of the Q. I could barely wake them. Mother's empathy should have alerted her to the danger. Both of them should have been awoken by the noise. They seemed not to care nor to believe that Eric was missing. I had to use the power of the Q to snap them out of their fugues."
"That does not justify your behavior. Remove the spell you placed on your parents!"
Remembering that I'd been unable to bring Tammy back, I started to doubt my ability to direct the power inside me. "Even if I can remove my control over them, it still leaves us with the problem of how to get Eric back. Q probably won't back down. I want him to return my brother safely. The only way he'll agree to that is if I join him in the Continuum."
"That is not a solution. Your parents would still lose a child. If you think you are not as loved by them as Eric is, you are grossly mistaken. Before we resort to drastic measures, we will inform the captain of this situation. Whether he can or cannot do anything about it is not the issue. It is the proper way to handle the matter."
"Q will no more show up for Captain Riker than for me," I replied stubbornly.
"This is his ship and he has the right to know that a member of his crew is missing. We will not debate this further." He clutched me by the arms and I could sense that despite his anger, he wished to hug me, to comfort me. He released his grip on me. "Remain here while I speak with Captain Riker privately." Data exited his quarters, leaving me alone.
The silence proved more cumbersome than Data's disapproval as I waited helplessly for a solution that no mortal could provide. I replicated a bowl of chicken noodle soup with saltine crackers and sat at the table to eat it. My stomach rumbled in protest as I chewed at the soft bits. I pushed the bowl away and stood up. I no longer had much of an appetite. I began pacing the length of Data's quarters, kneading my hands together anxiously.
"Captain Riker to Shannara." A mixture of emotion radiated from him, annoyance, anger, fear. How could I have handled this situation any better? What should I do now?
I tapped my commbadge and replied with an outward calm that belied my inner turmoil. "Shannara here."
"Report to Conference Room One immediately."
"On my way." Eyeing my half-finished food, I wondered which was less appetizing: The soggy crackers in noodles or the prospect of enduring another meeting in the conference room. I recycled my bowl and exited Data's quarters.
Along the way, crew members offered pleasantries, but I was not worthy of their attention. I nodded curtly at them, not slowing my stride. I reached the conference room and hesitated outside the door. What was waiting for me on the other side? I was in serious trouble with my parents, with Data, and now with the captain. If I'd not led Q to believe I wanted to be his friend, he wouldn't have expected a tactic such as taking Eric to work. From the beginning, Q had been a nuisance. After accepting Data as my mentor, I should have ignored Q. Now our family was suffering.
With a deep breath, I stepped forward and entered the conference room. My parents, Data, Captain Riker, and Commander La Forge were present. The captain pointed to an empty chair next to Mother and said with a forced smile, "Please, have a seat." After I was seated, Riker continued. "Shannara, Data has told me what happened to your brother. "Is there any way you can bring your brother back?"
I looked from Mother to Father and back to Mother. Although they appeared a little dazed, they were no longer locked inside the Q-net I had placed around their minds this morning. I sensed little emotion coming from them as though it had all been drained out by the power of the Q inflicted on them. I was as responsible for that as Q was.
"I don't know how to travel to the continuum," I admitted, "and Q won't answer my calls."
"Q does not want my son," Father intoned in a raspy echo of his true self.
He did not have to mention who Q really wanted. Whether they had realized it or not, I knew that Q would accept no less than me in exchange for Eric's return.
"Q took Eric to the Continuum, because he agreed to go," I told the group. "I have never agreed to let Q take me there. Maybe Q took Eric instead of me out of pride or because of some Continuum law. Whatever the case, he won't take me to the Continuum until he has my permission. If I go willingly with him, he'll return Eric to the Enterprise, but then I would probably not return."
"Shannara, you are more powerful than you realize," Riker said. "You have the ability to travel to the Continuum and to return without Q's help. You can't be Q without that power." He leaned into the table toward me. "I felt that power once years ago. For one day, Q bestowed the power of the Q upon me and for that brief time, I could have transformed the universe. Shannara, look inside you, find that power, and bring your brother back."
I shook my head, wanting to doubt him. I was only a child. How could I accomplish something that I'd never been shown how to do? "I can't," I insisted.
"The other Q are apt to be angry that Q has brought a mortal boy into their world," La Forge said. "They'll probably exile him again."
When had Q been exiled by his people and for what reason? Was I a big enough reward for him to risk banishment from the Continuum? "Why did they exile him?" I asked.
"The Q were quite angry with Q for his hostile involvement with an alien race known as the Calamarain," Data replied. "When the Q exiled him, they gave him a choice of what species he wanted to become. He chose to take on human form and took up residence on the Enterprise."
"Although he didn't have Captain Picard nor Starfleet's permission," Riker added. "And even without his powers, he tried to yield some amount of control over Picard."
"If they strip him of his powers, we may never see Eric again," Mother said, her emotions rising back to the surface.
"Must we wait for the Q to tell him he's been a bad boy?" Father growled. My parents were regaining their composure, but remained, as ever, powerless to Q's antics. "Even if they rid him of his powers, that's no guarantee they'll return Eric to us."
I had one other option, but knew they would not condone it. Since they would try to talk me out of it, I elected not to tell them that I was planning to offer Q a trade. "I'm sorry it turned out this way."
"Shannara, this isn't your fault," the captain said. Although everyone was nodding in agreement and offering reassuring smiles, I didn't feel any better than the moment I had walked through the door.
The captain shifted his gaze to my parents. "Worf, Deanna, this is a difficult situation for you, and if you want to request time off from your duties-"
"With all due respect, sir," Father began, "I need my duties."
Wrapping her arm around his, Mother leaned her head against Father's shoulder. "As do I."
"Understood. I wish there were more I could say or do. The Enterprise crew won't rest until your son is returned to you safely. For now, you may be dismissed."
Mother placed her arm across my back as we headed out of the conference room. I sensed no hostility toward me from either of my parents and yet I felt unworthy of any forgiveness or leniency.
We returned to our quarters where we ate dinner in near silence. Picking at my food, I couldn't find my appetite. We had returned to the stale existence of denial that Q had wrought upon them this morning. Only now it was brought about by the fear that they would not lose one child, but soon two. Q would only answer my summons if it were accompanied by an offer of an exchange. Would my parents miss me as much as they did Eric?
"May I go to bed early tonight?" I asked. "I'm not feeling too well."
"Of course, dear." Mother responded.
Lifting my plate, I carried it over to the replicator and disposed of my barely-touched meal.
As I entered my room, I ordered, "Computer, dim the lights." Although I didn't change into my nightgown, I wanted my parents to think I'd gone to bed. I walked over to Sam and Al's cage. "Goodbye," I told them before slipping their cover cloth over them. Backing away from them, I studied my room as though it were the last time I'd ever see it. The dollhouse in the corner had not been touched in a while. Had I given up on that dream?
"Q, I know you can hear me," I whispered. "When you first popped into my life, you gave me points for every correct guess I made. Well, I'm prepared to play that game again. I'm also willing to accept the consequences of my participation." I waited a couple of minutes, pacing the length of my room. Q did not appear, so I continued. "You want me to spell it out to you? I actually have to say the words and give my full consent! All right Q: If you return my brother safely to our parents, I will join you wherever you wish to take me."
"Do you mean it? " Q asked, popping before me in on one bended knee. "You will accept me as your father and relinquish all former ties to this lowly existence?"
Never more afraid nor unsure in all my life, I peered down at Q. He was wearing a suit and tie and smiling sweetly up at me. He looked more like the proverbial husband-to-be than an expectant Father. What did he want from me?
"That's what I said. But first, you have to return Eric safely."
Q scoffed, waved his arm, then resumed his stance. "Already done. The little monster is tucked safely in his warm bed."
I glanced toward the wall which I shared with Eric. Did I sense him in his room? Was he traumatized from his day inside the Continuum? I was torn between the urge to rush into my brother's room and the need to fulfill my promise to Q.
Q held out his hand, palm up, and in a melodious voice beckoned, "Come with me, Shannara, and I will show you the wonders of the multiverse."
Mother would be able to help Eric come to terms with whatever experience Q had put him through. I had to believe that and accept my own fate.
Holding out my hand to fit it snugly inside Q's, I said, "Show me how to Q-flash."
"It's as simple for a Q as blinking one's eyes is for a mortal," he assured me.
As the Q-flash enveloped me, I wondered whether I could be happy wherever or whenever we were going. Strangely, I realized I was smiling.