Disclaimer: Star Trek is not mine. Q is not mine. This weird new planet and the inhabitants are.

Chapter Three

Guinan exploded. "You mean you can't do anything? I knew something like this would happen!"

Funny how she always knows something's going to happen right after it does.

Everyone was looking at me. "Do you know where we are?" Troi asked in what I think was an attempt to calm everyone down.

"No," I admitted. "We could be anywhere, anytime."

"Class M planet," Data observed. "Nitrogen, oxygen . . ." I tuned the android out as he rambled on about the atmosphere. And the gravity. And the trees. And basically said the place looked like Earth.

"Why would they send you away and then come to find you?" Riker asked. Worf was complaining that their phasers were gone. Geordi was fidgeting with his visor. I decided to help him; he was the only one trying to solve a problem instead of complaining about it.

"I don't understand; there's nothing wrong with it," he insisted.

I looked it over and nodded my agreement. It looked perfect. Well, as perfect as a primitive device like that could be. "You just can't see?"

"Blind as a bat."

He was handling it quite well. A lot of people would've panicked.

Before we could continue what passed as a conversation, however, there was a high-pitched shriek over our heads. "Look out!" called a voice from behind us. The others 'looked out' and ducked. I looked to see who had given the warning.

It was a girl, maybe a couple years younger than Wesley. But she wasn't alone. At her signal, some sort of bird call, seven others jumped out from behind the trees.

An arrow came whizzing out of the sky towards me. It barely missed my head. One of the newcomers aimed his bow at the sky. Another screech informed us that whatever it was was leaving.

One of the strangers stepped forward. My first thought was that if the other Q were trying for a wizard, they got it all wrong. The cape and the staff were right, but the beard was too short, and he had no pointed hat. From what I've read in the library computer that was aboard that shuttlecraft (that's what I was doing before Picard walked in) they were way off.

The old man looked us over quickly. He stopped at Guinan. "Welcome back," he said with a smile.

"Peter?" Guinan asked.

"Glad you remember. And good to see you're alive. When you transported up the last time, Latano had some doubts as to their medical technology.

"Wait," Riker interrupted. "Guinan, they know about us?"

Guinan nodded. "Don't worry, Commander; they understand about the Prime Directive."

Well, that's more than I could say about myself. If they find a planet where the government is killing civilians by the thousands, they're just supposed to sit back and watch it happen. Not that everyone always does, but they're supposed to.

"We have to find the Captain," Riker told Guinan. "Can these people help us?"

Guinan nodded. "If he's on this island, they'll find him."

"Island?" Wesley asked.

Guinan nodded again. "Pretty small, too. Shouldn't be too much trouble for them."

I stopped listening and looked the group over. Aside from Peter, only one looked like a human adult - a tall man with dark hair and light blue eyes. I tried not to react as I realized he was looking directly at me, as if he could see exactly who I was. I'm not sure which of us broke eye contact first.

The girl who had first yelled at us to 'look out' was standing back a ways, watching all of us. She had black hair, shoulder-length and scattered everywhere in no style whatsoever, and medium brown skin a little darker than Peter's, quite a bit darker than Eric's. Unlike Peter and Eric, who had swords hanging at their sides, she carried only a walking stick. (I decided very quickly that this was a fairly primitive culture, at least as far as technology went, even compared to humans.) She had dark blue eyes and glasses. As soon as she realized I was studying her, she just smiled and went back to studying the others with me, not bothered in the least. Not a human-like reaction at all.

The others weren't human. The crew of the Enterprise most likely thought they were children, but I knew better. They were on equal grounds, in every way, with the others. Without a doubt, they were a different species.

One immediately caught my attention. He had brown hair and brown eyes, and always looked directly at whoever was talking. That was what caught my eye. He was constantly moving his head to adjust to who was talking, much faster than the others reacted with their eyes. I was a little confused until I realized Geordi was doing the same thing. The stranger was blind.

Next to him was another of his species who instantly reminded me of a Vulcan. Not in appearance - the height, the ears, the clothes, were all wrong, - but the emotionless, logical stare was the same - emotionless and logical. Which, of course, was unusual considering her appearance, a variety of contrasts. She had dark skin and very light blonde hair. She had a bright orange shirt and dark red pants. Like the others, she was only about four feet tall, but she was definitely no child.

The only one who may have been the age she looked was looking at us all suspiciously with dark blue eyes. She had long light brown hair which was probably what gave me a hint that she was young. Everyone else's hair was about shoulder-length, but hers had the same windblown and unkept look as the others'.

The last two stood together, silently observing everything. One had brown hair and brown eyes; the other had black hair and grey eyes. The first wore a combination of green and brown, the second a mix of black and grey.

Finally, Wesley asked the question we'd all been wondering, but the others had ignored even though Riker had mentioned it. "Guys, do you know where Captain Picard is?"

Riker nodded. "It's very important."

"We haven't seen anyone else like you here," Peter said, shaking his head. He glanced at the human teenager, who nodded. "But we may be able to help you find him."

Jay-Trusedale–Thank you. Gracias. Hannon le. Um. How else do I say thank you? I don't speak French too well. How do you say thank you in French, anyway? (ignores smirk from friend who speaks perfect French) Glad you like it. :)

Alexandra Cai–Hmmm. Futory. I like that. I'll have to suggest it as a new course. :) Right up there with Elvish and Chaos Theory. Not like it'll ever happen, but . . .