The room stood silent as the news sunk in. Data was curious, since there wasn't anything else he could have been.
Deanna was reading the emotions of everyone in the room. Q and Data couldn't be read, but the others could. The captain was surprised and curious, Riker was angry, Geordi was interested and curious, Beverly was the same as Geordi, and Deanna was feeling confused.
Q just smiled and walked up to his daughter, whose tears were preparing to fall.
"You see Captain; I told you this would be an interesting trip."
Roxanne moved away from her father and stared at him. "You jerk. How could you do that when I told you not to?"
Q shrugged. "I thought it would help with this new endeavor that Picard was trying to do."
Roxanne shook her head. "I doubt that. You just like to see me suffer." She took a step toward him. "How much did you torture my mother before she died?"
The smile was instantly swiped off Q's face. Apparently this was a sore subject for him. He took a step toward Roxanne and raised his hand to slap her, but Data caught him before the hand touched her face.
Both Q and Roxanne looked at Data with confusion. Data released Q and turned to Roxanne, still without any expression.
"What happened to me?" He asked. Roxanne allowed a couple tears to fall before nodding and turning away from everyone.
"When you were first created, I…"
"Hey Mom, can we eat now?" Base asked rushing into the room. Everyone turned to the girl who was smiling brightly. Behind her were the other children, including Wesley.
Picard's eyes narrowed as he approached Base. "How old are you?"
Base looked at the captain with confusion, but answered his question. "I'm 18, why?"
Picard nodded and turned back to his crew. "It's impossible what you suggest Q. The ages don't match up."
Q's smile returned. "You don't understand do you? She's 18, but that is because of the continuum and her unique genetic make-up. Physically she is 18, mentally she is 18, but she was born about 35 years ago." (A/N: not entirely sure about this because I can't remember how many years Data spent in Starfleet, so I made up a number.)
Geordi walked over to Base and looked at her closer. She looked at him with confusion, but didn't back away. "Perhaps we could take a sample of her blood, or whatever she has, and analyze it back on the ship," he suggested. Base looked directly into his eyes and smiled, taking him by surprise.
"I agree, we should take her and her mother up to the ship," Beverly said, taking a step forward. Wesley and the Borg automatically stepped up behind Base, as if they were protecting her.
The Borg looked directly at Dr. Crusher and said, "I don't think that would be a wise course of action."
She stopped her approach and looked at the Borg and then at her son. Wesley shook his head. Base was aware of this, but didn't care. She was busy smiling at Geordi and studying him.
"Wesley, Matt," she said addressing the Borg, "I don't think they mean me any harm. I will go with them. You two stay here and get Max and Kivel to play better."
Kivel, the boy Klingon, and Max, the boy Romulan, just glared at Base with some playfulness in their eyes.
Base took a step forward and agreed to be tested. She walked up to Geordi and smiled again. "In exchange you give me a tour of your beautiful ship," she said directly at Geordi. He looked at Picard, who nodded, and then nodded at Base.
Picard contacted the ship and transported them up. Base and Roxanne went with the captain while Q preferred to go his own way.
They went down to sick bay and blood was taken from Roxanne and then from Base, which looked just like human blood, but thicker.
"There we go, you can have your tour of the ship now Base. Geordi is waiting outside for you." Base smiled at the kind doctor, her friend's mother, and then at her own before walking to the door and leaving.
Data entered sick bay and turned to Roxanne. "I wish to understand why I would wish my emotions removed and…"
"You want to know about your past. I understand," Roxanne interrupted. She looked up into the same yellow eyes that had captivated her all those years ago.
"Do you have a holo-deck? I could explain better there." Data nodded and lead Roxanne out of sick bay and into a turbo lift.
"Holo-deck seven," he said in a clear voice. The turbo lift began to move and Roxanne took this opportunity to study the father of her daughter.
Not much had changed about him, except he was emotionless. It was unnerving. Roxanne sighed. "You've changed since the last time I saw you," she said.
Data turned to her and looked at her. "I am unaware of any other time we have met. However, you seem to have memories that contain me and I am interested in how that is possible."
Roxanne tried to smile at when the turbo lift doors opened and they stepped out. "All will be revealed in a few seconds. You will hate me afterwards, well if you had emotions you would."
They reached the holo-deck and Roxanne began programming the computer with her request. Data watched with interest.
"Program complete. Enter when ready," the computer said. Roxanne turned to Data. "Ready?"
Data nodded and they entered the holo-deck.
In front of Data was Dr. Soong's lab. It was empty at the moment. Roxanne turned to Data.
"Please understand that you are about to receive a ton of information that you could never even dream of. If you are confused or don't understand, just say 'pause' and then you can ask me anything you ask."
Data nodded. They turned back to the lab. Roxanne took a deep breath before speaking.
"Begin."
