Unscrupulous
Chapter 17
The Q had informed the two MIB agents that he had taken the liberty of disposing of the doomsday machine, teleporting it to the galactic barrier where it was rendered forever inoperative, having served its new purpose, now nothing more than a dead chunk of neutronium. Before he disappeared in his customary flash of light, he had asked Riley to tell Chekov of the machine's destruction, even though the Romulans already knew that Starfleet was responsible for the destruction of their home world. When the Romulans were able to, they set out for Federation space to retaliate, totally unaware of the strange time vortex on top of Saturn. Speaking of that, when Cedric had returned to the house after the two MIB agents had disappeared, he discovered that the strange image of Christopher at his controls on his spaceship in his house had been removed from his living room. Also unknown to the Romulans, when they had destroyed the Federation outposts at the border of the neutral zone*, they had been displaced in time. To Starfleet, the attack on the outposts was purely unprovoked. That act of retaliation on the part of the Romulans had created a vicious circle, for they were actually retaliating for the doomsday machine attack on their home world years before it happened. In other words, the Romulans were retaliating for a future retaliation. Needless to say, the Q got a good laugh at that at humanity's expense. He still considered humans to be a dangerous savage child race, unfit for space travel, even though he still had feelings for Nurse Chapel. He now realized that she was not happy being married to an often absent Roger Corby, but he still did not want to change things back to the way they were. He had even implanted this whole new scenario into the mind of a certain dead-headed money grubbing movie producer named J.J. Abrams, who went on to systematically destroy all that was good and wholesome of the world that Gene Roddenberry had revealed to twentieth century Earth.
Riley and Roberta felt that they had no choice but to return to Seven's apartment in New York City for further instructions. Neither had any idea where to find Jackson Roykirk, so they were hoping Seven knew his whereabouts. Roykirk was now their last hope of retrieving or disposing of the blueprints he had drafted of the pilfered Enterprise devices, so that they would not be "invented" prematurely. Also unknown to them, the Q had removed the actual items from within the silver box and had delivered them back to Christopher.
When Roberta and Riley arrived back at Seven's apartment, Seven assigned the task of retrieving the blueprints Roykirk had made of the stolen items to Roberta.
Miss Lincoln had her eyes closed as she materialized unobserved on the left side of Roykirk's house in the early part of the twenty-first century. Before she left on her new assignment, she decided to pose as an Avon lady, unaware that there was probably no chance she would be believed. Neither Seven or she knew that Avon representatives rarely went door to door anymore. What she did know was that posing as an Avon lady was a bit corny, but she could not think of anything better. Supervisor 194 thought it was a cute idea, and had even supplied her with a nineteen sixties style sample case to make her guise more convincing. Seven had also informed her that Roykirk was not only a brilliant inventor and scientist, he was also a ladies man. Roberta was very attractive and Seven was fairly confident that she would be able to pull off her disguise.
When she gathered up enough courage to open her eyes, she patted herself to make sure she was all there, still not used to Seven's molecular transporter. She was excited and even a little scared to be on her first solo assignment, but Seven assured her that she would do fine and that no one would harm her. Cautiously, she stepped to the front of the house, and, smiling, pressed the door bell.
Unknown to her or anyone else, the Q had been following her every move and now knew what she was up to. He also knew that Roykirk was not home, so he decided to pose as him, transporting himself inside the house and unlocking Roykirk's front door. He feigned interest in her wares and when she wasn't looking, transported her to where no one would ever find her: three hundred years into the future and onto a living spaceship, manned by a Betazoid who was now getting very weary of not being able to talk to another humanoid. His name was Tam Elbron.** Needless to say, when Roberta looked up from the sample case, she was terrified.
* "Balance of Terror"
** "Tin Man"