by Dalton S. Spence
Part I - The Wager
Tonight, my son is going Above for the first time. Although he isn't quite sure that means, he knows that Above is the place where I found his mother, and like her, is eager to meet a new challenge. It will also be the first time for me in the four years since Catherine's death. Diana offered to take him Above for me, but I feel that this is something we have to do together. Father, of course, protested mightily about risks we are taking, but I could sense that it was more for tradition than for anything else. In fact, he's relieved that I decided it was time. Mary is making a special costume for Jacob, but she is keeping it a secret (although I do have my suspicions). It will feel strange to walk under the stars again. But this is the night "when the walls between worlds grow thin, and the creatures of the underworld walk the earth. When anything is possible, and nothing is quite as it seems."
Elsewhen...
"Love? BAH! Just another example of the way humans try to glorify their crude biological urges. I'm glad we've evolved beyond such nonsense." The entity known to the crew of the Enterprise as Q shook his head sadly at his pupil. "Like your silly attachment to your human name, you will have to give such notions if you are ever to become a true member of the continuum."
The one calling herself Amanda(1) was outraged. "How can you say such a thing! Love is the driving force behind all that is beautiful. My parents loved each other, and I loved them. They didn't consider such notions as too primitive for the Q." She'd been taking a break from her studies by surfing the event horizon of a black hole (keeping those causality strings straight was a little tricky) when her mentor/nemesis popped out of nowhere and began quizzing her about her affinity for her human past.
When she unwisely suggested that his current spate of contempt for humans was the result of a broken heart, he rounded on her angrily. "Vash was like all humans! Fickle! Not one of them is capable of true commitment. They even admit in their art." Amanda suddenly found herself in an empty 20th century movie theatre watching a scene from the movie "Finnian's Rainbow" with Q on the screen dressed as the leprechaun Og singing "If I can't be with the one that I love, I love the one that I'm with."
Amanda countered by turning the screen into a 16 part composite monitor, and each screen showed her in different roles singing different songs about the glory of love. Q, disgusted, shut off the display with a wave of his hand. "Alright, so humans have this maudlin fascination with True Love. But it's just a myth. Given the right circumstances, any two humans can fall in love, even if they supposedly are in true love with someone else."
A sly smile appeared on his face. "I'll make you a wager. You choose someone from Earth's history whom you believe could have only One True Love. If I can't get that person to fall in love with a stranger of my choosing, I will admit before the entire continuum that I was wrong. But if I can," he paused for dramatic effect, "then you must give up your name, and forever after be addressed as Q."
Amanda hesitated, reluctant to interfere in the affairs of others. She still felt more human than omnipotent at times, and remembered how it was to be in situations she thought were beyond her control. But she realized that unless she accepted his challenge, and placed some conditions on the contest, Q was likely to go ahead anyway, not only "stacking the deck" to prove his point, but perhaps altering history by choosing a important romantic relationship to destroy.
"No tricks, no mind control or illusions, no forcing them into compromising or traumatic situations."
Q nodded, looking a little less cocky than before. "I'd just bring them together, and stay out of it."
Amanda finally agreed, saying "I know just who I want to choose. I heard this story from a neighbour on Earth. It was passed down from generation to generation, but is supposedly a true story. Once upon a time, in the city of New York..."
Two cloaked figures emerged carefully from a drainage tunnel in Central Park. Since it would not do for someone to see them in such a strange place, they hurried to the nearest path, reaching it just as two people in costume rounded the bend. "Daddy, look!" cried the smaller one, "A princess!"
And the two approaching did indeed look like figures out of a fairy tale. The man, decked out in a crown and royal robes, looked every inch the monarch, right down to the arrogant expression on his face. The young lady beside him wore a ball gown of pink and silver, with a tiara of silver and diamonds resting on her head. As they approached the cloaked pair, "Daddy" looked almost ready to turn away, but the two passed by silently, with only a slight nod and a smile from the lady. No greeting was given, no comment made on the realistic "masks" the father and son wore.
As the glittering couple walked away into the night, Vincent's sharp ears heard the man comment wryly, "You don't believe in making things easy, do you?" to which his companion replied confidently, "True Love never is."
Jacob had thought he was ready for all the strange things to be found Above. After all, he'd seen all the pictures and heard the stories of the world of the Topsiders. But nothing, NOTHING, could have prepared him for the sheer size and noise of it. Over his head, no comforting roof but an endless black expanse dotted with tiny lights ("Stars" Daddy called them) that sparkled like the rocks found in the crystal caverns. Some of the lights were moving and flashing different colors. "Are those stars too?" Jacob asked. "No," Daddy replied, "those are airplanes." When Jacob expressed his disbelief, Daddy told him they were so small because they were far away.
All around him were living things, "trees" and "grass" just like in the story books grandfather read to him. And NO WALLS! It seemed like he could run forever in any direction and never have to stop. And in the distance (now he understood the term) he heard strange noises, not the constant tapping of the pipes, but the rumbles and roars and wailings of traffic and, as they approached the street, of people. So many people! It seemed like the whole world was on the street tonight, wearing strange costumes. If Daddy hadn't been there, Jacob would have been scared. But Daddy was there, and everything was going to be alright.
As Vincent approached the place where he was to meet Diana Bennett and the children, he marvelled at how little the world Above had changed from that last Halloween so long ago. Then, he had been filled with the wonder of it all, walking among them, as one of them, filled with the joy of love and possibilities. But for him, the possibilities had died with Catherine. Or so it had seemed then. For as he watched his son join his friends for their night of "trick or treating", he felt a sense of anticipation, of hope, that he had thought lost forever. This was going to be a special night. He was sure of it.
REFERENCE
1. Star Trek: The Next Generation, True Q, SD: 46192.3