Unscrupulous

Chapter 18

Riley and Seven were both very concerned that they had not only lost contact with Pavel Chekov in the twenty-third century, who was, unbeknownst to them, beginning to forget that he worked for Seven, thanks to the time line changes caused by the time rift on top of Saturn and the stolen items from Kirk's ship, but now also with Roberta. Soon, Seven and Riley knew why Roberta had disappeared, for Riley had told him that the Q was trying his best to hamper their efforts at retrieving the blueprints for the stolen articles. As Seven ordered Riley to return to Roykirk's house to see if he could find out just what became of his newest agent, the Q appeared in his customary flash of light just as Riley stepped into the safe-like transporter and disappeared in a blue mist. Seven also had a hunch that Roberta, who was still very new at this, had probably forgotten to take her servo with her. He soon found out from the Q that she had been transported three hundred years into the future from her most recent assignment, well out of range of the device.

Isis the shape shifter, whose favorite guise was that of a beautiful black cat, had offered to accompany Riley in human form. She knew that she had to stay that way while out in public, for people in the twenty-first century were still primitive and paranoid and had made no actual contact with extraterrestrials. Isis had a special ability as well. She was able to block Riley's and Seven's thoughts from the Q, so he did not know where Riley went. Seven agreed to let Isis go to Riley for another reason: he knew that they had become very good friends. Isis then took an extra servo before departing, just in case Seven's hunch was correct.

"Q, you Cardassian vole!" Seven shouted at the alien. "Where is Roberta?"

"Oh, don't get your panties in a twist, Seven. She's perfectly safe."

"That's not what I asked you! Where is she?!"

"I don't want to tell you just yet. You might try to find her with your transporter."

"Q, she's not used to little excursions like this yet."

"It's a good time to get her used to them. Don't worry about her. I will return her when she gets the foolish notion out of her head that she can retrieve the blueprints from the pilfered articles from Roykirk."

"She was only doing her job! That was her assignment! Now where is she?!"

"All right. If you must know, I transported her unto Tam Elbrin's living ship. However, if you make any attempt to retrieve her, I will send Riley there as well and you will never hear from either of them again."

"Q, if any harm comes to her, I swear I will have the Continuum turn you into a Denebian slime devil!"

The Q grinned and chuckled, knowing full well that it was an empty threat.

"Yes, I believe you would, Seven. Now I know that Elbrin is not the nicest man in the galaxy, but Roberta is perfectly safe with him."

"She belongs here on twentieth century Earth, Q! The poor little thing is probably scared out of her wits!"

"She'll get used to being there. She also needs a better boyfriend than that hippie she's been hanging around. I also know that Tam is hungry for humanoid companionship."

The two were interrupted by a message signal from the interactive computer, that was visible right behind Seven. It was from Starfleet Temporal medical. They had been in constant contact with Mr. Seven and knew of Roberta's disappearance. They had dispatched a recently divorced nurse Chapel, just in case Roberta was injured and unable to respond. It was an amicable divorce and Christine and Roger Corby still remained friends. They both finally realized that marrying each other was a mistake and that they were both too involved with their work, and, as a result, had spent little time with each other. Roger knew that Christine felt neglected and unloved and had agreed that divorce had been inevitable. He still loved her so he let her go. They parted company with no ill feelings and Christine had joined Starfleet Temporal soon after the divorce was final. She had, of course, heard of Gary Seven, for the Enterprise accidental encounter with him in the twentieth century was required reading when she joined the covert group of MIB agents. As she materialized inside Seven's transporter, dressed in a very becoming twenty-first century pant suit with her medikit draped over her left shoulder, the Q vanished in his customary way.

Mystified and frightened, Roberta let go of the handle of the sample case she had been holding. It dropped to the wet floor with a splat, some of it's contents spilling out onto whatever it was she was standing on. She had no idea where she was or what she was doing here.

"Oh, Roberta, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" She asked herself quietly. As her eyes became adjusted to the decreased light of her new surroundings, she soon came to the conclusion that she was in the belly of some enormous beast. Her first thought was that she was in the belly of a whale, but soon ruled that out when she couldn't see any other sea creatures nearby. Where was she? It soon became obvious to her that this beast was not a sea creature, for it said hello to her in a human voice. However, she did not feel very comfortable responding to it. She felt a chill go through her as she felt something moist and slimy move behind her and touch her left shoulder. She slowly turned and then screamed in horror as she saw the head of Pavel Chekov pull itself out of the wall and smile at her. Thinking that the creature had killed and eaten him, she fell in a dead faint.

Tam Elbrin was at the front of the living ship, looking with curiosity at the dead conical hunk of neutronium out the main "bridge" window. He had seen pictures of the Doomsday machine planet killer before, so he recognized it immediately.

"Tam..." Gumtu spoke in his mind. "We have a very frightened young visitor in my nasal cavity who might need your help."

"Who is it, Gumtu?"

"She called herself Roberta. I believe she is from Earth."

"Earth?" Tam responded in puzzlement. He then began to pick up her thoughts as well. "Oh, the four Deities! She is from the past!" Gumtu quickly opened up a passageway, leading his Betazoid companion to the girl. Tam knelt and checked for a pulse. "How did she get here?"

"She suddenly appeared in a flash of light."

Tam then got a better look at her as Gumtu increased the illumination. His eyes widened as he recognized her from pictures he had seen at the academy. He quickly dragged her out of Gumtu's nose.