The Fusion of Neuron and Circuit
Borg Cube "Aristotle"
Orbiting the unknown planet
June 6, 2271 10am
Picard could feel the tide turning in the universe, as if God had woke up one morning and decided to make a fundamental change in the way all the universes that He ran operated. They had gathered all the rogue telepaths that were willing to volunteer for the procedure, as well as all of the Borg aboard the other ships, for the final transformation. He stood beside the aged Kevin Vacit, who looked over all of those who had assembled in the main hall on the Aristotle. He stepped into what looked like an ancient sleeping tube from the days before jumpgate travel, and closed his eyes. Picard and the other Borgs, telepaths, and technomages did likewise. The tubes sealed and Picard did his best to relax, which was helped by the calming classical music that he had suggested they use during the procedure.
He thought back to his first encounter with the seemingly omniscient entity Q, who had first introduced him to the Borg almost twenty years ago now. It was a little over a year before the Borg would attempt to conquer Earth and the Federation, and before he was abducted and changed into Locutus. In a way, he wished now he could have found this way to convert them right then, because so many lives would have been saved. But the regret passed over him as the sedative began to slowly put him to sleep.
Dr. Beverly Crusher watched on from a computer terminal with several Legendorans, anxious at what was taking place. The Legendorans were in awe of it, much to her surprise. They hadn't expected this, but were quick to aid Picard when he saw the connection between the Shadow tech and the Vorlon tech. In that one brief moment of clarity, he had seen that the Shadows themselves were much like the Ragendora: offshoots of the main race, the Vorlons. The Vorlons and the Legendorans were not related, but were known to one another, as the Legendorans had nurtured and mentored the Vorlons from their very beginnings billions of years ago into the corporeal beings that they were today. Each had gone beyond the rim of the Milky Way Galaxy, much like those who came before them had, seemingly never to return again. It was the Legendorans who had cracked the barrier between universes, and they soon were awash in the thrill of discovering those like themselves in other times and places.
They had discovered that the old theories the humans had of their origins, creation and evolution, were both right, after a fashion. It was the Vorlons who were behind the creation of the Adam and Eve myth, and the Shadows who advanced the evolution theory, both doing so in their behind-the-scenes way. They were like divorced parents who could not get along, both trying to set their children against the other parent. One day, not too long ago, the Human, John Sheridan, had seen the light and brought together a mighty alliance of planets to oppose the Shadows and, later, the Vorlons, culminating in the climatic battle in space around Coriana VI. The Corianans were a race that had yet evolved to the point of space travel, so they knew not of what events were taking place above their planet, or how close they had come to extinction.
Crusher knew little to nothing of all of this, as her focus was on the patients undergoing the transformation. To Breel, one of the Legendorans, it was like watching a paradigm shift in the course of history, something that those of her race had witnessed many times in their own history, but was very rare to those of the shorter lived races. She glanced down at the console in front of her, and was pleased that all was going well.
The complete procedure would take a full twenty-four hours to complete, because it had been determined that the introduction of the telepathic and telekinetic genes, as well as that of the Borg tech, needed to be done carefully. Those who were telepathic were receiving the Borg implants, enhanced by the Legendorans, and those who were Borg or technomage were having their DNA transformed with the genes that would unify those in the tubes. It had been decided to allow those in the tubes an extra day to sleep so that they could be monitored as the treatments took hold.
Two days later, Crusher cracked open Picard's tube and scanned him with a medical tricorder. His vital signs were within tolerance levels, but he had clearly changed. First off, his former baldhead showed some growth of hair on his baldhead, and he looked years younger.
"How do you feel, Jean-Luc," she asked.
Like a new...Picard paused and laughed. "Like a new person, being born. Sorry about the telepathy, Beverly. It takes some getting used to."
Crusher nodded and went on to scan the others. Drusilla and Penelope came up to Picard, looking younger themselves but also tired, like they had just come off one of those old transoceanic flights back in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Locu..I mean, Jean-Luc! It's wonderful, is it not?
It is indeed! Picard spotted a bottle of water on a table nearby and extended a hand. The bottle shook, then flew to him and landed firmly in his hand. It is wonderful indeed.
From a window above the hall, Garrison Hollifield and Dan Tanner looked upon those emerging from the tubes with impassive expressions. Tanner broke the silence when he said, "May I ask you a question, Garrison?"
"Dan, you're my senior advisor. It's your job to do that.," Hollifield replied sarcastically.
Tanner ignored the tone and asked, "Why didn't you join them? Why didn't you undergo the transformation yourself?"
Hollifield sighed and said, "Because Earth needs me, and I can't go where they're going. They need time to become comfortable with their new abilities, and the Legendora will help supervise and guide them. They're the ones who will be the pivot on which this war turns, Dan, and they need the time to be ready for what we need them to do for us."
Major Hudson came into the room and said, "Sir, the Freedom is ready to depart back to Deep Space Nine whenever you are. Crusher told me that the Aristotle will be leaving in a few hours, and she'll be coming with us back to the station."
"Good. Dan, if you'll please go ahead and get settled in, I'll join you shortly.," said the president.
Tanner paused for a moment, then found the message between the lines. With a nod, he left without a word. Once the doors closed behind him,Twanissa Hudson walked into her lover's arms.
"I'm so glad you chose not to undergo the procedure," she said, hugging him tightly.
"I know. I couldn't be away from you, and I want to be what I am right now. The choice was a simple one, and I made the right decision in choosing you over being enhanced."
She looked up at him and kissed him on the lips. "We should go. They need their time to get used to their new abilities."
Hollifield nodded and walked with his love out of the room and down the hall to the transporter room. Soon, the Freedom turned away from the Borg cubes assembled, and Picard watched them from a monitor.
"Goodbye, Beverly," he said with a tone of resignation in her voice. He wiped a tear from his eye and then walked back to the Legendorans who were assembled in his office.
Meanwhile, in her quarters aboard the Freedom, Beverly Crusher wept for the man she loved.