The Best of Both Worlds
The Untold Story
Part Two
Author's note: You may start to get hints in this part of where this story is leading, and true Trekkies will be yelling 'No that's not possible!!!' Please bear with me. All will be explained later. Allow for a little artistic licence ;-)
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Kathy had never been in the City so early in the morning. For the first time she was able to see just what a beautiful city London was without the throng of tourists blocking most of the best views. She made a vow to come to work at six am every morning, then thought 'Nah!' Barbara Oakenwell wasn't worth that much effort…but Jean Luc just might be…
"Thought I'd be first in for a change." Kathy told the surprised doorman, trying not to make it sound like a question. She had lain awake all night thinking of Jean Luc and who he might be. If it was Ginny playing tricks, there was no way she'd expect Kathy to be logging on this early in the morning.
"Ms Oakenwell is already here." The doorman said in a warning note. He liked Kathy and hated his cold, autocratic boss. "She's been here since about five with a new client."
Kathy's eyes widened in surprise. She went upstairs to the office she shared with about thirty other workers to find it empty. Barbara wasn't in her office, and as far as Kathy could tell was nowhere to be seen. Kathy breathed a sigh of relief and went to her desk.
She logged on straight away, then paused. He didn't have a screen-name. How on earth could she contact him? She had nowhere to start.
"Okay…" she muttered to herself. "I'll give him a screen name." She typed Jean Luc into her 'Friends' list. This was stupid, she tutted. There could be dozens of Jean Luc's on MSN messenger. Oh well, here goes, she thought.
"Jean Luc. Are you there?"
Nothing.
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"Is the channel open again?" The Borg Queen asked.
"Yes, your majesty." The drone replied.
"Good. We must keep it open. We are not pleased that we failed yesterday. Send the data as planned."
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Jean Luc was dreaming again. He was sitting under the tree on his family's vineyard, looking up at the stars. His dream was interrupted.
"Jean Luc. Are you there?"
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"I'm here." The words appeared so suddenly that Kathy jumped.
"Thank godness. I'm so sory I had to go last niht." Kathy typed so quickly that her spelling went to pot. "Sorry. I'm excited." She told him. "I thought I'd dreamed you."
"I wish this were a bad dream." Jean Luc replied.
"Why?" Kathy asked, her heart sinking a little. She had spent most of the night dreaming Jean Luc from their first meeting to their wedding and children. You sad cow, she thought to herself now. You really should get out more often.
"I told you. I am Jean Luc Picard, captain of the star ship Enterprise. I am trapped on a Borg ship. They have assimilated me."
"What?" Kathy didn't have a clue what he was talking about. "You mean you're on a space shuttle?"
Now Jean Luc's heart sank. This person didn't understand.
"What is your name?" He asked. This was better, thought Kathy.
"It's Katherine…Kathy to my friends."
"Katherine…" he said, leaving her disappointed again. She didn't know enough about Jean Luc Picard to know that it was in his nature to behave with impeccable manners. He continued. "I am not in your time. My messages to you are being sent via a sub space beacon which is breaking through a tiny gap in a time portal."
"Alright!" Kathy typed angrily. "Time out. Ginny, if this is you…" she punched the keys fiercely, using her friend's full name. How on earth had Ginny known that she would come in so early? Was Kathy's need for drama and romance so obvious?
"I assure you that I am not your friend Ginny." Jean Luc replied. "Please Katherine. You must believe me. I will tell you about the Borg. You have to understand."
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Three hundred feet below London, Barbara stood in a cavernous room with a man. His name was Colonel Peter Bowler, but he was dressed in plain clothes.
The room was dank and dark, lined with computers. In the centre stood a huge table, not unlike those found in operating theatres all over the country. An indiscriminate bundle lay on it.
"Are we any nearer to our goal?" he asked Barbara officiously.
"A little." She replied. "It was just a pity that the…prototypes…failed on us." She was hesitating, something which was very unusual for Barbara. Everything hinged on her getting this right. She could not afford to be emotional.
"You are sure that none of your staff know about this place?"
"Positive. Only those involved in the experiment know and they're paid a lot to keep quiet. Above ground I run an IT company that sells micro processors for the foreign market. That is all the staff above ground know." She replied more firmly.
"Good. Shall we adjourn to your comfortable office? I need a drink." Bowler said, looking towards the table in the centre of the room. For a moment he paled, then he regained his composure and headed for the lift.
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Kathy stared at the screen, hardly able to keep up with the stream of words flashing across it. Jean Luc's brain impulses moved much faster than her fingers, though she wasn't to know that. All she did know is Ginny was NOT that fast a typist.
Realising she couldn't possibly read it all in one go, Kathy hit the 'print' command. The machine spluttered into action, printing off page after page of Jean Luc's explanation.
She was alerted by voices from the area of the lift. She only had a few moments. What could she do? Rather than switching off, she minimised the applet, hoping that if Barbara looked over her shoulder, she wouldn't notice it on the taskbar.
Barbara wasn't looking towards the office. She was looking up at an attractive man. Military, Kathy decided. She was the daughter of a colonel herself, and knew a high ranking army officer when she saw one, grey suit or not. So the rumours were true. Barbara was helping the government in some secret experiments. It had been whispered in the office for some time. How else could Barbara pay all the staff? The business had been close to going into receivership, with over a hundred workers laid off. It was noticeable that the majority of new staff, like Kathy, were on temporary contracts so they could be dispensed with at any time. Even then, there was hardly enough work to go round. Why were they all there? As a front perhaps?
"Katherine? Are you there?" Kathy was alerted by the applet making a pinging noise. She looked over to Barbara's office to ensure she hadn't heard.
"Yes, I'm here. Sorry, there's someone around. I can't stay long." Kathy typed.
"Please do not switch off the machine, Katherine? We do not want to lose you." He replied, more formally than he had addressed her before.
"We?" Kathy raised an eyebrow. There was more than one of them? What was this? Some sort of group joke?
"Katherine…Kathy." He deliberately used the diminutive form of her name to differentiate from the formal address of the previous message. Jean Luc had to tell her, but he felt his thoughts being invaded and the need to tell her abate against his will. They knew he was talking to her. Why had they planted that thought into his head? Why did they need her to stay in contact? Somewhere, deep within the Borg collective consciousness, as though they had tried to hide it from him, he found his answer. "Kathy, cut contact now!" he ordered, before oblivion engulfed him.
Kathy cut the connection to the internet. She picked up the sheets of paper from the printer and began to read...
End of Part Two