Chapter 51
The Life Boat
When he awoke, the light was lower and it was quiet. He was lying on some kind of hard bed. His eyes fluttered and he closed them again. The sound of soft beeping gradually brought him back to alertness.
"Helm is set on autopilot," he heard someone say in a low voice. "It should only take us about an hour and a half to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet. Geordi reported in...he's safe and said he managed to get himself and a person named Mary into a smaller pod with a few other survivors. And Worf managed to keep the star drive in one piece."
"Good," said another voice, sounding relieved. "Will, why don't you try and get some rest then? After all that's happened, I know I could use some."
"Deanna, I can't rest thinking about what just happened to my crew," said Riker.
"I know, but the casualties could have been greater. And at least we're all together."
"I feel so badly for Beverly. She's been through so much. I should have never let her come with me back into the past...look at what's happened. And Wesley's gone...and now the captain. Deanna, it's obvious he's not going to be with us for much longer."
"We don't know that, Will," said Deanna.
"I'm not dead yet," Picard grumbled, having heard more than enough speculation about his impending demise. "Where are we? How did I get here?" He rubbed his forehead. "I don't remember..."
Data knelt down beside him. "We are in an escape pod, Captain. And I carried you. You are heavier than you appear."
"Oh really...well, I don't know what to say to that Data, besides thank you." He propped himself up on one elbow and looked around the pod.
It was a fairly small space, but large enough for this tiny crew. Beverly was curled up with the baby nearby on a similar small cot. Something inside of him activated at that moment and he moved to get to his feet unsteadily. Riker was there immediately and grabbed his arm to support him. Picard looked up at his former first officer. "I'm sorry about your ship Number One...but I am so very glad to see you alive. All of you," he said looking around at Deanna. Tears became visible in Will's eyes, and he gripped Picard's arm tighter.
"I'm sorry too, sir...for not believing you before...I should have trusted you." To Riker's surprise, Picard embraced him tightly.
"None of that matters a damn anymore," said Jean-Luc, letting Riker go. "It's over. And we're still here..."
Suddenly, he felt a sharp stabbing pain in his abdomen and bent over clutching his stomach. A wave of disorientation and nausea flooded over him and he swayed unsteadily, certain he was going to lose consciousness again.
Dimly he felt Riker step supportively to his side again."Sir, you should rest."
Picard straightened and then leaned on his former first officer. Distantly he admitted to himself that he never would have leaned on anyone for support before, in any way. But now he didn't think twice. Was he a different person now? "Will...help me...help me over to Beverly." Riker complied and soon Picard was sitting down on the floor leaning against Beverly's cot.
Presently she began to wake and her features curled into a smile when she noticed that he was there. "Jean-Luc," she said groggily. "You woke up. Are you feeling better?"
He didn't feel well at all, but he nodded yes.
"Good. That makes me so happy." She smiled sleepily and kissed the baby's soft hair. The sleeping baby clenched her little fist in her sleep. He smiled. She was alive and strong. All that mattered now... He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the cot, and he felt her hand graze the back of his neck. It was a wonderful sensation. He had many memories of her now, but he'd never felt that one.
He turned despite the insistent pounding in his his head, and took her hand in his. He pulled the back of her hand against his cheek and then kissed it lightly, hoping that she didn't sense the fear he felt about what was happening to him. But even Will and Deanna had noticed he was unwell. He shifted his weight, and turned to face her. It was then that he saw again in her eyes the same expression he knew was present on his own face. An uncertainty. They were both out of place... or at least out of time.
"May I hold the baby?" he asked quietly. "I know she's sleeping, but..." Beverly smiled softly at him. If she was as uncomfortable as he was, she seemed to be hiding it better than he was.
"Of course," she said, and sat up with the baby, placing her in Jean-Luc's arms. For some reason, no longer afraid to hold his own daughter, he rested the baby's head in the crook of his elbow and looked back at Beverly who was watching him with interest. "Have you named her yet?"
She frowned and shook her head, sitting down on the deck beside him. "Of course not, Jean-Luc. I wanted you to meet her first." She stroked the back of his neck and he leaned into her palm.
He closed his eyes. "But you have a name in mind?"
"Jeannette...I want to name her after you."
Jean-Luc's eyes snapped open and then he laughed. "Oh the poor girl! Well, I'm honored of course to share a name with this little one. Of course, I defer to your judgment, Beverly." He cradled the baby closer to him, as a fearful thought occurred to him. Would this be the last time he would hold his child?
He felt her eyes on him, and he turned his head as they shared a kiss. When they pulled away she asked, "Jean-Luc, do you remember back in Hawaii when I told you I loved you?"
He took a deep breath. His memories were a jumble again. "I don't have to remember, Beverly. I hear you right now." He looked at her. "And I love you too."
She placed her hand on his face and kissed him again.
Quite suddenly and out of the corner of his eye there was a shimmering movement. Everyone in the pod turned their attention to the new arrival.
"I bring you news," said the Traveler. Beverly was the first to react as she leaped to her feet to face the visitor. "Where is my son? What have you done with Wesley?" She demanded.
Picard watched, alarmed by the shift in Beverly, but remained still, holding little Jeannette.
"At this very moment, Wesley is doing something truly amazing," replied the Traveler. "Something that will change things back to the way they were."
"How dare you come back here without my son!"
"Beverly Crusher, I believe that I deserve your anger. However, only Wesley is capable of returning life to the way it was before Doctor Mayer found the Singularity Net. You see, years before Mayer encountered it, the Singularity Net was fragmented. It took many cycles for it to return to anything resembling the temporal prison created by the ancient races."
"You still haven't answered her question," Riker said. "Where is Wesley? Do you even know what he means to us?"
The Traveler nodded. "Wesley is now in the time and place where the Singularity Net became visible to Captain Picard while on your former ship the Enterprise."
"What?" Picard glared up at the Traveler.
The Traveler looked down at Picard curiously, and then smiled slightly as he noticed the child. "Captain I know it may seem strange, but several months ago when you feared your ship had flown too close to a singularity, you were not wrong. You saw the Singularity Net, not as it appeared to Mayer in 2355, but as it appeared just after I disrupted it many years ago, bringing it into this part of our galaxy."
"And why, or how could I have seen such a thing?" His disorientation increased again suddenly, and he clutched the baby closer to him closing his eyes tightly. Beverly knelt down beside him and looked up pleadingly to the Traveler.
"You see what is happening to him? Can't you stop it?" She gripped Jean-Luc's shoulder and stared down at Jeannette.
"Regrettably, no," said the Traveler, not unkindly.
Picard's eyes cleared and he was again in the present, at least for the moment. The Traveler continued. "Captain, how you saw the Singularity that day is still a mystery. However, I suppose that by the time you saw the Net that day, Mayer and Bok had already changed history by kidnapping you in the past. You had already been exposed to this singularity across time and space."
"So I did see something real," Picard said, squinting up at the Traveler.
"Perhaps what you saw as a danger to the Enterprise was merely a memory or perception from your alternate past, Captain. Either way, your vision on that fateful day was crucial to Wesley now achieving what he must."
"So what exactly are you having my son do?" Beverly demanded.
"He will allow the ancient race that created the Net to retrieve that version of the Net that preceded Mayer. The one Captain Picard saw just before losing the star drive section of the Enterprise. It is imperative that the singularity net is retrieved prior to Mayer's interference so that the timeline can be properly restored."
Beverly shook her head. "I don't want to change back to the way we were," she said with quiet resolve.
"Beverly," Riker interjected. "What are you saying?"
She turned to Will. "Look at the Earth-what the Malkatans have done...look at my daughter, Will, and you tell me why I should want to change to the way things used to be. Everything is different now, don't you understand? And now, Jean-Luc is back. What will happen to him as he is now, when Wesley changes time? Will he just disappear?"
Riker looked away, having no answers, but the Traveler turned to Picard. "Nothing is guaranteed," said the alien. "Nothing is certain. But when the previous timeline is restored, we will be free of Mayer's influence and destruction. That is all I know."
Beverly pointed at him angrily. "Can you promise me that Jeannette will still be alive, or that I will even remember my child? Or that Jean-Luc will still love me?"
"No."
"Then promise me this one thing...that in the restored or corrected timeline-whatever it is called...you promise to stay away from Wesley. Forever. Can you do that?"
The Traveler looked at her squarely. "Agreed," he said before disappearing.
2367 About Four Months Ago...Again
When Wesley materialized in the middle of the Enterprise engineering bay, he realized he hadn't anticipated the fear. Captain Picard's back was to him at a console, and he instantly understood why Picard had done what he did. He had been protecting his crew and ship.
But even if the singularity was not a true threat; not one that the Enterprise sensors had identified as a threat, the captain had now taken steps that were nearly irreversible. The ship was in danger. Captain Picard was getting ready to jettison the warp core toward what he believed was some kind of black hole. Wesley wouldn't stop him...he would help him.
"Sir!"
The captain's head whipped around, startled. "Wesley? What the hell?" He quickly took in Wesley's disheveled appearance. "Why are you dressed like that? And you've been injured."
Wesley remained calm and walked toward the captain. "I'm alright sir. Captain... sir, I understand why you are doing what you're doing."
"You do?" Picard glanced at the warp core, which was quickly failing. He had to eject it in order to avoid catastrophe. Either way, his ship was now doomed, thanks to him. He looked back at the boy. How the hell had he made his way down to engineering? Why was he here?
Wesley nodded. "And I want to help you." He held up the neutralizer ring.
"Attach this to the warp core. When it ejects into the singularity, the ship will be saved and the singularity will be gone."
"Gone? Just like that?" Picard looked on suspiciously, recalling his recent and frightening encounter with the tall gray alien Jailor just minutes before Wesley's appearance. "How do I know if you're really Wesley? Why should I trust you?"
Wesley adjusted his stance, suddenly imbued with the full confidence he knew he should have always had. "Because I'm the only one who trusts and believes in you right now, sir. So please... trust me."
Picard heard the computer continuing its countdown and then faced Wesley directly. "I trust you."
Wesley held out the neutralizer in his palm. "Let's get started sir. We have to change history to save the future."
Picard retrieved the strange object from the teenager, and examined it. "I had a feeling you were going to say something like that."
The Traveler decided to wait outside of the small life pod. Beverly Crusher wanted nothing more to do with him. Of course, it saddened him to have to promise to cut ties with Wesley Crusher, who was at least a kindred spirit, a fellow seeker of the true nature of space and time. Despite his promise, the future was not certain. However, if he was correct, when Wesley and Picard succeeded in returning the singularity net to its rightful owners, the escape pod and every other vessel which had just escaped the Malkatan threat would disappear from this place. Perhaps it would exist in this time, but not in this way, because if Wesley was successful, the Malkatans would have never met Bok, who would have never met Mayer. And so he expected the pod to disappear. But he was wrong. He could sense the change immediately, like a flood of relief. The correct timeline had been restored. And yet the pod remained. He re-entered the life pod with some trepidation, if not fear. What would he find? Perhaps the pod would be just as it had been. Or perhaps it would be empty. What he did not expect was to find just one single occupant.
