Dark Destiny
Chapter Two
Judgement
White. So bright. Can't see.
"How many fingers, Jean Luc? How many fingers?"
No – no, anywhere but here!
"Four!"
"Wrong! There are five!"
Pain – searing from the bottom of one foot up the leg,
across the pelvis, down the other leg simultaneously shooting through the
stomach into the heart – spasms – cramps – death would be better than this!
"How many fingers!!??"
The words echoed, as if spoken from afar.
"How many fingers, Mon capitan?"
The voice had changed. Picard opened his eyes, not realizing that they had been shut; the pain still fresh in his mind creating a landscape of searing white visible only on his eyelids. Unfortunately the landscape revealed by his now active retinas was no better than the projected one – all around him was a bleached white. The light was tolerable, and it came from everywhere. No shadows of any walls, even though I can see the walls! So familiar – where am I?
A voice from behind startled him out of his reverie. "Why, mon capitan, don't you remember?" Picard spun around to face the speaker. As he did so, the landscape around him suddenly shifted to take up the appearance of a great hall. Regaining his internal sense of balance, he looked around, taking everything in. He was standing on a podium that had stairs leading down to the main floor. On all sides there were bleachers. All of them are empty. How curious… His gaze centered to a podium floating above the main floor. It was highly decorated and ornate.
The trial…
The thought struck Picard with such force that he visibly staggered. A loud thunderclap sounded all around him; turning he saw a gavel rebounding from its impact. "The court is now in session!" said an obviously jubilant Q.
Q never said that the trial was over…
"Captain Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise, active proclaimer of StarFleet and all its ethics and morals, this court has reached a decision about the future of your pathetic race." The words echoed in the large, empty hall. The spectators now so vividly remembered in Picard's mind had obviously given up on there being any excitement at this final stage of the trial; sentencing was surely bound to be boring.
Jean-Luc felt words rushing out of his mouth before he even had a chance to think about them: "And just how have you reached this decision, Q? Did you pull it out of a magic hat? How dare you judge our race for what you find patheticism!"
"Why – do you think the Q barbaric, captain? We are a thousand, no make that a million times more powerful and advanced than you and your impudent race, not to mention many times more civilized! What is the purpose of a court if the judge doesn't deliberate on his decision? Why have a jury only to decide the trial by throwing dice? Answer that, Picard, if you can!"
"Your honor, I have yet to see the jury."
Q rolled his eyes. Picard could certainly be an annoying prick. "Must you see them to believe that they truly exist?"
"Humanity has a great capacity for faith, but only in those that they trust. You I trust not. Show me the jury."
"You realize that you have no rights here, human. I will only grant you your request because I happen to like you." With that, he waved his hand in the air. Out of nowhere appeared another floating panel with twelve beings seated in a semi-circle, gazing expectantly at Picard and Q.
They're all Q! "Your honor, is not the accused to be judged by a jury of his peers? How else can the judgment be accurate if the accused is not judged by those who know him best?"
The room fell totally silent. Q looked down and played with his hands for a moment. Then he sighed. The floating throne moved closer to the accused's podium and Q started to stand up. The podium only stopped when Q's nose was only an inch from Jean-Luc's. "You want to be judged by your peers? Really?"
Picard could only nod.
"Aren't you the least bit worried that they might judge you worse than the current jury?"
The thought hadn't occurred to him. My peers judging for the destruction of humanity? Preposterous!
"Is it, my captain? Since you seem to think so, here is your new jury!"
The twelve on the other floating platform disappeared in a wink to be replaced by two bright flashes and then two humanoids.
Picard recognized both immediately.
His hopes fell like a sinking ship taking on water.
Sitting there, staring straight at Q with a most solemn façade, was Commander Data and Captain Spock.
+ * +
Shock turned to realization. Q had selected the two most logical beings that knew Picard and the human race well. Seems that I remember logic having gotten in the way with these things before, he thought.
"Captain!" The voice echoed in the large room, but it was clearly Data who had yelled. "Are you all right?"
"Concerning that we're all about to be exterminated, I'm doing pretty good, Data. You?"
"I am – fine, sir. You, however – at least, before I was brought here, were not…"
Uh oh – what's happening over there? "Explain, Data."
"Sir, you were apparently taken over by the Borg."
The voices – I remember them! And then there was a… pop? Another voice was speaking, obviously the voice of Captain Spock. "Where, exactly, is here, if I may so inquire?"
Q decided to field the question, even as both Data and Jean-Luc had opened their mouths. "Oh, that's right!" Q said in a mock tone. "We've never met! Mr. Spock, I'm called Q. You are currently in the Q continuum."
"And where is this continuum? I know of no such thing."
"Where it is is none of your concern." Turning back to Picard, he said: "Now, let's get back to business. Mon Capitan, are you prepared for the judgment of your peers?"
"How? They've not even had time to review the facts!"
"Ah, but they will – and in milliseconds in your perception, I might add. The decision will be pretty much instantaneous, as far as you are concerned."
The faces of Data and Spock showed that they were now worried. Data was the only one to speak. "Captain, you do realize that I must decide based upon the facts, and not what I may feel."
"I do, Data. Just do what you think best."
Data nodded, and then it seemed that both Data and Spock were enclosed in a translucent sparkling field. Their eyes moved quickly, indicating that there was a lot of mental activity – and perhaps even an increase in the speed of their time.
Picard had only time to blink.
Q was speaking. "Jury, how do you find the defendant?"
There was a pause.
A.
Long.
Pause.
Data and Spock had obviously deliberated while in their 'stasis' and the decision was obviously unanimous. The delay in voicing their judgment indicated that it wasn't good. Spock voiced the verdict slowly, knowing that he was most assuredly assuring the destruction of his own race as well. "We find… the defendant… guilty as charged."
So this is what it feels like to hit the bottom of the rabbit whole, Picard thought wryly. "No, mon capitan, The bottom just got deeper." Q said, with a sadistic smile on his face. He stood up so as to deliver the impending judgment with more energy.
"All of the pathetic humanoid races are condemned to this fate…" Q vanished in a blink of light, only to reappear in another. This time his appearance was drastically altered. His skin was a sickly gray, and it appeared that half of him was machine… Borg! "You will be assimilated." His voice pierced the soul of Jean-Luc Picard like a phaser beam. "Resistance is futile."
In that instant Picard knew his fate. So, resistance really has been futile after all. The irony of the situation did not fail to impact upon his mind as his senses suddenly distorted and all became black.
* + *