Part Seven
Even after the fact, it sounded impossible.
Vin Tanner's declaration hung heavily in the air, soaking up the atmosphere surrounding the Starfleet officer seated around the table like a stink that would not face away despite the moments that ticked slowly by. They stared at the Vulcan who had made the discovery, disbelieving at first mostly because denial was the safest solution. To accept what Vin had said was to accept that where they were presently situated was no dream, no illusion of light and magnetic containment but as etched in the fabric of reality as their own presence in the cosmos. For the few seconds following Vin's meld with the bartender, that was the safest concept that any of them could appreciate.
Unfortunately, it could not last.
As much as Chris wanted to wrap himself with the belief that this was still a program that they were on the Maverick still, the overwhelming evidence to the contrary did not give him that luxury. He was the captain and what those under his command chose to accept with difficulty; he had to process with far speedier efficiency. All their lives depended on it. For the moment, however, he did away with the notion of how this could have happened and focused on the more immediate problem at hand, being why they were here. It seemed an odd place for an attack on his senior staff. Of all places, why would the enemy chose this place?
Chris did not know but knew that if they were to get out of here, they would have to find out why. Unfortunately, at present it appeared that the rest of his staff were still grappling with the realisation that their surroundings were no fantasy world created by the holodeck but somewhere real with all the trappings that came with existence in reality. He looked up at them from his ruminations and heard them all grumbling amongst themselves, debating the results of Vin's meld with the bartender behind the bar.
"Its impossible," Julia retorted. "This is a holodeck fantasy!"
"I'm telling you," Vin turned to her sharply. "It's no fantasy." He was feeling a little incensed about being questioned, notably because he hated melding with anyone to being with but had understood that it was a necessary sacrifice if they were to get to the bottom of things. It had been uncomfortable enough to drop the shields he had been carefully erecting around his telepathic abilities, to prevent himself from picking up the stray thoughts of others, without having to lower those same shields again. The effort was hard enough without its results being doubted. "I could feel that she was alive, I could hear what was running through her head. Normally, I don't sense anything of the kind from holograms. This only happens with sentient beings. I mean I could tell that she was tired from working all day, that she thinks Buck is kind of cute..."
"Really?" Buck asked, animated by the thought as he glanced over his shoulder and looked at the woman in question.
"That seems to settle it then," Ezra remarked. "The lady is alive but has no taste."
"If that's not being alive, I don't know what it is." Josiah shrugged as he suppressed a little smile at seeing the dark look Buck flashed at Ezra for that jibe at his expense.
"Okay," Alex shook her head of the banter and asked out loud. "If this is real, why are we here?"
"That's a very good question." Chris answered. "Ideas anyone?"
"I think it all connects to the how we are here." JD spoke up, thinking carefully about his answer before responding as always. "This is not real. It can't be."
"He's right," Buck lent his support to JD's statement. "The Magnificent Seven is fictional, a collection of stories. Some say it has its origins from a Japanese folk tale about seven samurai without a shogun who protects a village from bandits. The Americans simply adopted it and fashioned their version into the program we now know."
"So this could not be a case of time travel." Nathan suggested.
"No," Alex replied. "We don't look like these characters and yet everybody here knows us, as who we are meant to be in the Magnificent Seven folklore. If these people existed in that time, they would be here. We would not need to be taking their places."
"But if that's true, then this gets more impossible by the minute." Mary retorted, wondering if this was any more puzzling to the others than it was to her. "Okay, if we're not in a simulation and we are in reality, where is this in reality? Nothing about this makes any sense except the fact that these people and this town was created for us but with far more complexity than any holodeck program."
"I'm telling you Mary," Vin repeated. "Its not a sophisticated holodeck program, these people are real. I heard her thoughts."
"With all due respect Vin," Julia pointed out. "We have no way to confirm that."
"What?" Alex bristled, not liking the fact that Julia was doubting Vin to such a degree. "If Vin says that's what he felt, then that's what he felt. What exactly are you alluding to Lieutenant?"
"That he's been misled." Julia declared, just determined enough to show that she was not about to back down.
"I was not misled." Vin jumped in. "I know what I felt."
"Julia..." Ezra started to speak up, aware that sometimes her mind that was geared for the most logical solutions at hand could be somewhat intractable. It was difficult for her to accept what was not proven scientific theory. Julia's world was one of facts and materials she could see with her eyes and feel with her hands, to suppose something as outlandish as fantasy world being given life in this was disconcerting for her.
"I'm not saying that you were misled, perhaps someone wished to make you believe that all these people are alive."
Vin was starting to get really offended because Julia simply did not understand how personal melding was to a Vulcan. Chris could see the helmsman about to retaliate sharply when suddenly Buck cut in before he could.
"Alright," Buck Wilmington spoke up with a loud voice, flexing his first officers' muscles quite effectively to regain some order at the table. "We're not going to start questioning each other people, none of us." He let his gaze sweep across the face of those who had been engaged in such activity and saw the shimmer of embarrassment that surfaced in their expression when he made his statement. "Whomever put us here in this lousy position probably wants to see us tearing each other apart like bunch of dogs turning on themselves so we are not going to give them the satisfaction of playing their game or being puppets in this little extravaganza they have us performing in."
Once again Chris was struck by the content of Buck's vehement words to the senior officers, as he had been when Ezra had said something similar earlier on. Performance. Games. Players. Puppets. Chris did not say anything. The drone of voices around the table grew distant as he tried to figure out when it was he had encountered all those words together and knew that somewhere he had encountered them in their entirety for their connection in his memory would not let go of his thoughts. He closed his eyes and focused, centering on the moment he had heard those words spoken in the context that had inspired his thoughts so much and suddenly it came to him. The word escaped him like a captured breath but when it finally did, Chris felt as if a weight had been lifted from him because the truth that he had just stumbled upon could be the only explanation of where they were now.
"Q."
Buck immediately felt silent.
The others saw the sudden change of expression on the First Officer's face and then turned to the captain who had made the statement that had captured Buck's undivided interest.
He turned sharply to Chris. "I hope you're just talking about the alphabet." Buck's voice was a whisper.
"What are you talking about?" Alex turned to Buck and then Chris. "What's a Q?"
It was not surprising that Alex and the rest of the command staff knew anything about the omnipotent entity known as Q. The information had been deemed as highly classified and was only released to command level personnel with the rank of commander or higher. Starfleet did not wish it generally known that there were a race of beings with the power of nothing less than gods, roaming around the galaxy capable of turning, time, space and dimensional realities on its ear at a moments' notice. The directive from Starfleet was to keep the information on the Q Continuum as they called themselves on a strictly need to know basis. Only a handful of people outside Starfleet in the Federation Council knew of its existence.
However, Chris could find no other explanation for what was happening here. In truth, it made perfect sense and having read the data logs written by Jean Luc Picard and Benjamin Sisko who had the most recent encounters with the entity, this was more or less a text book version of Q using them as instruments of his amusement. It was well within Q's abilities to take them off the Maverick and insert them into this world of make believe and with all the villains that were being thrown at them left, right and center since their arrival, it was also consistent with the entity's idea of deadly play.
"Surely you jest." Ezra exclaimed, just as aware as the captain and the first officer what the word 'Q' had meant, other than its alphabetical reference.
"How do you know about it?" Buck looked at him suspiciously, since such information was restricted to command officers of his rank and Chris' only. However, no sooner than he asked the question, Buck knew that Ezra was no ordinary officer. The man was the effective security chief he was because he knew when to keep his ear to the ground and listen for information that was usually a mystery to most. If anyone could find out about Q, it was Ezra Standish.
"One hears outlandish stories all the time." Ezra shrugged, not wishing to divulge to closely his source of information. "Suffice to say, I know who Q is."
"Well I don't know who is," Alex declared annoyed. "Care to fill the rest of us in?"
"I know about him too." Nathan confessed. "When I started the research in the Borg assimilation process, they let me see all the records regarding this Q and his presence on the Enterprise during the first encounter with the Collective."
That would make sense, Chris thought to himself. As one of the foremost researchers in the Federation regarding the Borg, Nathan would have had access to all the data regarding the Collective, including the details of the Enterprises' first encounter with the species. Seeing the expectation in the eyes of the others awaiting their captain to explain to them who and what this Q was, Chris decided that there was no reason to keep the truth from them. The information about Q was meant to be released on a need to know basis and at this moment, they all needed to know.
"Q is an alien entity unlike anything we have ever seen," Chris explained. "As far as scientists have been able to determine, he is some form of life form composed of pure energy, capable of manipulating all forms of it even to the temporal level. It is at this time, the most advanced life form we have ever encountered. Q comes from a race of such beings that call themselves the Q continuum. However, because they have what can justifiably be called omnipotent qualities, their evolution has risen beyond the need for the structure of what we call civilization. They travel and they amuse themselves in any way they can. I suppose when you have the power to do anything and everything plus the added benefit of being immortal, there comes a time when you realize that there is nothing left to do."
"Are you saying this thing has us?" Josiah exclaimed, horrified to think of so much power being in the hands of one being. The idea of being invincible, coupled with immortality could create megalomania on a scale that would allow the being in question to do anything without conscience or regret. Josiah shuddered thinking that he might be in the grasp of such a creature.
"How come we've never heard of this Q?" Julia demanded, unable to imagine such a life form existing. It was wrong for any one species to have that much power. It did not seem in keeping with the balance of nature.
"Starfleet agreed that it was probably wise for the general public to not know that there was an entity like this drifting about the place." Chris answered. "The Q have a tendency for play and using other life forms for amusement but they do no murder or cause permanent harm to any of their pawns. The Enterprise D had several encounters with the Q who seemed to be fascinated with humans in particular. Picard believes that perhaps in an earlier stage of their evolution, the Q may have been like us, which might explain why they keep appearing before humans."
"So we're basically at the mercy of this thing." Vin retorted, thinking of nothing worse than playing puppet to some omnipotent being's fantasy.
"More or less, assuming that I'm right." Chris nodded in answer.
"Is there any way we can confirm it?" Alex asked. "I mean with all due respect Captain, I'm not doubting your word but if you said that this Q's interest has mainly been with the Enterprise, what is it about us that suddenly captured their attention and of all the programs, why this one?"
"Good question," Buck remarked. "I'd like to know that myself."
"Well its one which we all have a part in." JD ventured a guess. "I thought if you want the entire command staff out of the way, this is it."
"That's a point," Buck flashed JD a smile, one that usually meant that he was proud of the young man's acumen.
"Possibly," Chris sighed. "However, until we know more. We are all staying together. We are dealing with an extremely powerful entity that could erase from existence with a thought."
"Wonderful." Ezra sighed. "Now that we know who has placed us here, are we simply to perform for our supper?" He looked in Chris' direction. The others followed gazes, thinking the same thing themselves.
Chris' jaw tensed and he looked at them with ice in his eyes. "Absolutely not. We will do nothing to give Q any more fun that he's already had at our expense. Come on, we're getting out of here. We need to talk freely and we can't do it in this place."
"What about the Clarion News office?" Mary suggested. "Its closest."
Chris nodded in agreement with that idea. "Fine, let's get going."
With that, he rose to his feet and gestured the others to follow. With just as much speed, the senior staff vacated the tavern, following the captain out of the establishment into the street. Unfortunately, their numbers made it impossible to look inconspicuous; not to mention the fact that they were the central characters in this little drama. They were a curious bunch of seven men and three women and as they moved through the fictional town of Four Corners, could feel themselves a tornado moving through the town, sweeping all events that took place in its confines towards themselves.
It was not a comforting feeling.
Although he had explained much about the Q and the entity's habits, Vin could tell Chris was holding something back. The helmsman seemed to have some strange power that allowed him to tell exactly what was on the captain's mind. It was this symbiosis that made them the friends they were and scared him to death because what he saw in Chris' eyes despite the captain's anger at their situation, was a tiny hint of fear. Chris Larabee was not a man afraid of anything but if this Q was merely playing them for amusement, with the intention of releasing them when this was all over, why was Chris so worried?
"Chris," he caught up to the captain as the man led his crew towards the offices of the Clarion News in order for them to gain some privacy while they decided upon some course of action. "What is it?"
Chris grimaced, hating it sometimes that Vin could tell what was going on behind his eyes. The helmsman seemed more in tuned with him than Mary sometimes but supposed that is why they were such good friends, because they did not need to tell each other what was going inside their minds, they simply knew. "Q's at the bottom of this all right, but something is wrong."
"How?" Vin asked, too unfamiliar with the subject of the being to say anything else.
"From all of Picard's log reports," Chris explained quietly as he and Vin kept ahead of the others. "Q is in the habit of showing himself. Part of his fun is taking part in the action, to goad and taunt his victims with his superiority."
"I guess we're lucky we've been spared that." Vin remarked, not seeing what Chris was referring.
"Lucky?" Chris met his gaze. "Why? Why are we so lucky? What's different about us that makes him change his pattern all of a sudden?"
Vin could not answer and merely shook his head in response.
"I'm worried Vin," Chris swallowed thickly. "If he's suddenly changed his pattern in this aspect of his behavior, what else is there? The man can destroy us all with a thought. What if decides its okay to kill us? We won't be able to do a damn thing about it."
That thought was disconcerting and Vin felt his insides knot up in helplessness. "Damn."
Suddenly, Vin Tanner found himself wishing for Q to make an appearance.
However, as they turned the corner towards the street that would take them to the officers of the Clarion News, what they found was not the omnipotent being but rather a dozen men, armed and awaiting. Top Hat Bob, who stood at the head of the deadly party, with his eye patch and his dusty top hat glared at the captain through his good eye with a triumphant leer on his face at the same time.
"Larabee," he called out. "Get ready to die."
He finished his declaration with a gun aim squarely at Chris.
Chris found himself staring at the barrel of the weapon and wondered a split second before it fired, whether or not it was too late to change his holodeck preferences to Buck's orgy in Risa.