Chapter 5
2367 Earth
Picard pulled himself up and into the shuttle. "Here," he said, holding out a backpack with one hand, and munching on an apple with the other. "I brought some food."
"Thank you," said Worf, without turning from his seat at the communications terminal.
Picard crouched down, and rifled through the bag looking for something suitable for a Klingon. He turned on his handheld lantern and placed it on the floor, as it was now growing dark outside. Thankfully it was still late June, and so they had the sunlight in their favor until late evening.
He'd grabbed some fruit, some bread, cheese and water from the recent food gathering expedition and stuffed it into his backpack. Just twenty minutes after the food search parties had set out, three civilians, including Mary, the woman who had helped him rescue a man a few days ago, had found the underground remains of the Starfleet Medical cafeteria.
There were still back-up plasma generators powering some areas of the partially caved in room, and then the women had been ecstatic to find a replicator, but found out soon afterward to their dismay that it wasn't working. The computer network that had connected the building and all of its components had been destroyed along with the majority of the building, and the replicators were no longer functioning as a result.
But in the kitchen the women found several refrigerators with substantial amounts of food in them, as well as a walk-in freezer and boxes of dried goods. It was more than enough to give them hope, and they had packed bags full of food and brought it back to the site of Picard's shuttle to share with the group. It was agreed that the next day another group would travel out to secure the area around their new source of food, to keep it protected.
The Malkatan's body had been dragged away and buried, after much argument about what to do. It was a given that the Malkatans would return eventually. Later on and almost as if in challenge to the Malkatans, and against the strongly urged advice of Picard, a huge bonfire was started. The group of roughly one hundred people laughed, ate, and danced, almost giddy from the joy of having full bellies for the first time in days. The more noise they made the more people seemed to show up, until Picard quite literally stopped counting.
He watched from a distance, finding he was having a difficult time celebrating such a small victory. He also wondered how long it would take for the Malkatans to return now that a bonfire was effectively announcing that Humans were still alive down here in the ruins of San Francisco. After staring up into the night sky awed as usual by its beauty, his thoughts naturally turned to Beverly and his unborn child, and eventually he walked away from the group.
Now back inside the shuttle the silence was almost welcoming.
"Still nothing?" he asked Worf.
Worf's big shoulders slumped and he finally turned around.
"Nothing," he confirmed. "All communications with Moscow are still down."
Picard nodded and sat down on the floor cross legged. "I'm very sorry to hear that Worf," he said, looking up after a moment. "But there still might be a chance to locate Alexander and your parents. We have to keep trying," he said.
He hadn't said anything to Worf about his own inability to reach his brother Robert and his family in Labarre. Without a means of transport they couldn't find the people they loved on Earth much less escape the planet. "We need a working shuttle, Worf," he said distantly before biting into his apple again. He held the bag up again for Worf to take and then tossed it at him.
Worf caught the bag of food and began sifting through it. Momentarily he stopped abruptly and looked up. "I forgot to go to Data's house," he said, looking as though he wished he hadn't remembered.
Picard frowned, chewing on some kind of biscuit. "Why? I mean why do you have to go there?"
"When I last contacted the runabout, Data asked me to look for his cat..."
Picard raised his eyebrows. "Yes, of course...but I would have thought he would have brought along—um-" he hesitated unsure of the cat's name.
"Spot," said Worf grumpily. "I believe he misjudged how long he would be away from Earth. And of course he did not expect the Malkatans to attack. But now it has been days…I would be surprised if the animal is even alive," he added darkly.
Picard shook his head. "Oh, I don't know...cats are highly resourceful-or so I've heard."
"I will go there tomorrow morning," said Worf, then he fell
silent as they resumed eating.
"See if you can use your communicator to call me here in the shuttle," suggested Picard. "It's worth a try." Worf nodded and took a big drink of water.
"Captain," Worf said after a time.
Picard glanced up from his seat on the floor. He had been deep in thought. "Hmm?"
"You mentioned a shuttle. Do you think we will be able to repair this one?"
Picard shrugged. "We'd need a new propulsion system. The Malkatans shot this one right out of the air with a direct hit to the nacelles. There might be other ships around that are less damaged. And I intend on searching for one tomorrow," he added, lying down on his back with his jacket as a pillow.
"May I ask what you intend to do once you have a shuttle, Captain?"
Picard was silent for a few more moments. "I have an idea, Worf, but I want to get this shuttle up and working first, before I elaborate further."
"Do you intend on leaving the planet?"
Picard sighed. "I'm very conflicted…part of me wants to stay and fight the Malkatans. But I learned something recently, Worf, something that makes me desperate to get off this planet. Of course, you are welcome to come with me. But whatever happens, Worf, I want to help you find your son first."
"Thank you, sir" Worf said, sounding grateful. "And we should try and find your family as well…your family in France." Unceremoniously Worf dropped down and stretched out on the floor. He grumbled something in Klingon, which Picard understood to be some kind of complaint about the lack of space inside the shuttle.
Picard turned off the lantern. He didn't want to think too much about his family home because he feared the worst. "Let's get our transportation situation figured out first," he said quietly. He stared into the darkness for a few minutes before sitting up suddenly. "Worf?"
"Yes, Captain?"
"Could I ask you a personal question?"
Worf was surprised. The Captain rarely spoke of personal matters. "Yes."
"When you found out about Alexander; that you had a son…what was your first reaction?"
"I was…shocked, perhaps I was also angry. I did not know that K'Ehleyr had been pregnant, and I did not know why she kept the child a secret from me. But, once I came to understand her motivations… and overcame some of my own insecurities, afterwards I was very proud."
"I see," Picard said quietly, wrapping his arms around his knees.
"Of course," said Worf, "I still did not feel capable of taking care of the boy—which is why he is here on Earth with my parents," he said beginning to sound guilty. Picard regretted dredging up a subject which was still obviously very difficult for Worf. The Klingon fell silent for a few more moments before asking, "May I ask why you are inquiring sir?"
Picard took a deep breath. "I recently learned that I am to be a father," he said.
"MajQa (well done)!" exclaimed Worf, propping himself up on his elbow.
Picard smiled. "Thank you, Worf."
Worf stared at him with an intensity he could feel even in the darkness. "You just learned that you have a child?"
"Doctor Crusher…Beverly is pregnant. She just told me."
He could register Worf's confusion. "Is she well?"
"Yes, she seems to be fine. But I want to see her as soon as possible. In fact I feel compelled to see her."
"Of course," Worf agreed. "But I—I suppose that I did not realize that you and she…." He suddenly slapped his palms together loudly.
Despite his embarrassment, Picard laughed amused by Worf's straightforward representation of sex, but then sobered quickly. "We didn't. But…as you know, she traveled into the past. And it seems that my past self, the Picard of 2355 is the father."
"That means that you are the father, sir."
"Does it? I mean of course genetically he and I are identical. But are we the same person?"
"Of course. He is you, as you were in the past."
"But why would she—I mean I have been trying to think about how it must have happened, and I—"
"Sir," said Worf. "It is best that you do not think about her encounter with your past self. It is not as important as the honor which she has now bestowed on you."
"Honor?"
"Yes. She has chosen you to be the child's father. She did not have to tell you. She did not even have to keep the child, and you would never have known. Instead, she told you. She has selected you as her mate."
"Well when you put it that way, it really sounds quite wonderful," admitted Picard.
"Yes."
Picard lay back down and sighed. "Any luck reaching the runabout again?"
"No…I am sorry, Captain."
He grunted and shifted, turning over on his side. "It's alright, I'll try again tomorrow."
The next morning…
It was unusually hot inside the shuttle that morning. He blinked sweat out of his eyes, as he fiddled with the wiring underneath the communications panel. He wished Geordi was here to guide him through it, but out of necessity he had become quite adept at learning the ins and outs of the hardware in this shuttle. Suddenly the panel beeped, indicating long range capacity was active once more. Almost immediately he heard another chirp as a call came in and he nearly bumped his head, pulling himself up and into the seat. His excitement ebbed somewhat when he heard Worf's voice on the other end. But at least he had been able to connect to the shuttle.
"Worf to Picard…come in sir."
"Picard here. Go ahead."
"Sir, I am at Data's house. I found Spot…and something else sir."
"Well? Don't keep me in suspense, my friend."
"Before he left Earth, Geordi built a hover bike with an extremely powerful engine. He left the bike at Data's house and it is still intact, despite the attack."
Picard broke into a smile. "You think we can replace the shuttle's propulsion system with Geordi's homemade engine?"
"It is possible."
"Good, I'll keep trying to reach the runabout. We can have Geordi walk us through the installation." And I can talk to Beverly again, he thought.
"Even if it works, it won't get us far, sir…but it might work."
Picard's smile widened. "All we need to do is to get as far as space dock, Worf. And then we'll have the saucer section back."
About an hour later…
"Beverly…hello." Picard smiled into the monitor, as the grainy image of Beverly Crusher gradually cleared and sharped.
"Jean-Luc," she held her hand to her chest. "Oh, I am so glad to hear from you. I was so worried by that explosion, and the way our call ended…what happened, are you alright? Are you hurt?" she was talking so quickly, he put out his hand to try and reassure her as best he could from so far away.
"Yes, yes, I am fine. Worf is alright too," he said trying to sound upbeat. "We found that the cafeteria in the basement of Starfleet Medical was primarily intact. So we've been able to feed several hundred people for a few days so far at least. And we've even found some more survivors in the last day."
She laughed. "That's wonderful. I bet no one has been so happy to eat hospital cafeteria food as they are now."
"Yes, that is very true," he agreed laughing. "Things here are very hard," he admitted, his smile finally wavering a little bit. Her image flickered on the screen, and the thought that they might be disconnected urged him on. "But I just wanted to see how you are feeling. Are you well?" he asked both nervous and hopeful.
She nodded emphatically. "Yes…it's really day to day, but I feel very strong."
He leaned forward. "What about the baby? Can you tell me anything at this stage? The baby is alright, isn't she…or he-I mean I don't know if—"
"Do you want to know the gender of the baby, Jean-Luc?"
He opened his mouth slightly. "No," he said, surprising himself that he felt so strongly about the subject. "No, I would like to wait until we see each other. I'm just happy that the baby is healthy. Is that alright?"
She nodded. "Of course. Let's just refer to the baby as 'the baby' right now and save ourselves some stress, okay?"
He smiled. "Alright."
"Jean-Luc… I have to say it means so much to me the way you have been willing to accept the situation."
"Situation?"
"Well…I mean I'm sure that you have questions. But you haven't really asked me how—"
He held up his hand, beginning to feel uncomfortable. "It's alright, Beverly. I don't need to know the details."
"But…if I ever wanted—or felt I needed to tell you, Jean-Luc, would you listen?"
He forced a smile, not completely sure why the idea of her sleeping with his former self bothered him so much. Was it simply the fact that he hadn't been there, or was it something more? "Of course, I will listen to anything you want to tell me. I just…it's difficult for me to think of you…with him. So I would rather not think about it." He smiled quickly again and then looked away from the screen.
"Jean-Luc…I know it must be difficult. But I was with you, can't you see?"
He sighed and looked down at his hands before offering her a faint smile. "I think it would be better for us to discuss this in person," he said, eager to change the subject. "But…I also wanted to tell you that I have a plan to get off Earth and reunite with you. And I think it might work."
She brightened. "Oh? Well then tell me all about it."
