The Best of Both Worlds
Part Four
By Serendipity
Kathy stared into space until Ginny arrived at work. Barbara and the military type didn't move from her office. Kathy could see them through the office window, but hardly noticed their intense conversation.
"An el-Aurean nickel for your thoughts." Ginny muttered.
"A what?" Kathy stared at her friend.
"A penny for your thoughts." Ginny smiled her wide grin.
"Ginny, where have you been this morning?" Kathy still wasn't sure whether Jean Luc was a hoax. The paper she had in her hands had been crumpled up, then unwrapped, then crumpled up again.
"Well until an hour ago, I was in bed." Ginny replied.
"You honestly didn't send me this then?" Kathy held out the sheet of paper to her friend. Ginny sat down and read. She got so far down the page and stopped when she got to her own name.
"Where did this come from?" Ginny asked, looking intently at Kathy.
"I thought you'd set it up. You know, the handsome star ship captain, Jean Luc Picard…" Kathy began.
"Picard sent this?"
"You do know him!" Kathy exclaimed. "I knew it! Some joke Ginny."
"No, Kathy you misunderstand. I met Jean Luc Picard many years ago when I was traveling in America….long before you were born." Guinan explained.
"Oh come on Ginny. You're only about five years older than me, if that."
Guinan ignored Kathy for the moment and carried on reading Jean Luc's thoughts.
"Tell me how you got this." Guinan asked gently.
Kathy told Guinan everything from her first contact with Jean Luc the night before, to this morning's long stream of text.
"Kathy, I don't know how this happened, but I believe this is all true. Picard is in trouble, deep trouble." Guinan said when she'd finished. "But that's not all. I wonder why the Borg want you to keep the connection?"
Kathy didn't have a clue, but she knew that she needed to speak to Jean Luc again. She reconnected to the internet, so that Ginny could see for herself.
***********
"What the hell is happening?" Colonel Bowler said irritably. "This computer is going haywire." He was looking over Barbara's shoulder.
"I don't understand." She muttered. "It's been like this most of the night, streams and streams of data flashing across it."
They both watched as the screen exploded into flashes of light and text.
"My God!" Barbara exclaimed, as she caught sight of one block of data. "It's the code we've been trying to crack for weeks…no months…Our scientists have been working on the formula for combining the organic with the mechanical. Our prototypes failed because we kept getting it wrong and their bodies rejected the mechanical parts. If I'm not mistaken this could be the answer…and it's all being fed into our computer. But how…?"
"I don't care how!" Bowler banged his hand on the desk, "This is excellent news. We'll send more men. This is it Barbara. This is what we need to create a super corps of soldiers." He turned her head to face him and planted a huge kiss on her lips. She was so excited she kissed him back, then quickly regained her composure.
"I'll show this to our people." She said officiously, patting her hair.
She showed him to the door. Kathy and Ginny were sitting quietly at their stations, looking busy.
***********
"Are you patched through?" Kathy typed, looking briefly across the desk at Guinan. Guinan nodded and typed "Yes."
"Okay, here goes. Jean Luc, are you there?"
"I am here." Jean Luc replied. "Kathy, I told you to disconnect. You don't understand what they're doing."
"You need help. I have a friend of yours here."
"Picard. It's Guinan." Guinan typed into the applet.
"Guinan? Why aren't you on the Enterprise?"
"I suppose I am on the Enterprise." Guinan replied, hardly understanding the question. She guessed it was where she was due to be in many centuries from now. "But I am also here, in 2005. You know about me, Picard, so you must understand how this can be."
Kathy stared at the screen wide-eyed. How could Ginny…Guinan know this man who, from what he'd said, hadn't even been born yet? Kathy also struggled with an unreasonable stab of jealousy. Jean Luc had been her secret, and now Guinan had taken control of the situation.
"Guinan, listen to me. You must disconnect. You don't know what they're doing. The Borg are using this channel to send data to your computer. It contains the entire code for combining organic and mechanical material."
"I knew it!" Guinan typed rapidly. "I knew something was going on here."
"You did?" Kathy interjected, not thinking to speak to Guinan personally.
"I'll explain later." Guinan replied, giving Kathy a warning look. If the Borg were using this channel then anything typed on the screen would get through. Instead she held up a sheet containing the letterhead of the company.
Barbara Oakenwell's Registered Group
Kathy shook her head and frowned quizzically, then realisation dawned as she saw the logo beneath the name:
B.O.R.G.