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just the truth.
I picked a man at random, a man who was just sitting there. An Orion.
If anyone had fight in them, it was Orions. He was easily the most
scrawny Orion I had ever seen, but Orions were among the most savage of
races. Only Klingons surpassed them for sheer nastiness. "You," I
said, approaching him kindly. "We need answers. Who's behind this?
How long have you been here? How did you come to... ?"
He fell over. He wasn't dead; he just fell over. It was simply as if
he had run out of whatever meager energy was required to keep him
upright, a puppet with his frayed strings cut. And then he looked up
at me... just looked at me, and
then through me. I don't know if he even understood that I had just
been talking to him.
And then the ground turned liquid beneath him, like quicksand, and he
began to sink. He offered no protest, gave no struggle to free
himself. He just sank!
"Get him!" Picard shouted, and Data started forward, but I waved him
off. It was too late; what was the point anyway?
The Orion let out one final moan, but it wasn't one of pain; it was
relief. He then disappeared beneath the surface without so much as a
ripple. I knelt down and touched the place where the Orion had just
been, but the ground had firmed up again.
"Madness," I whispered. "Madness."
"Q... we have to leave this place," Picard said urgently.
"And go where? You said it yourself, Picard. We've hit bottom.
There's nowhere else to go."
"We still have a mission. We still have to---"
"Father!"
My son had spotted something. I looked where he was pointing, and I
almost choked.
It was the Lady Q, looking as forlorn as the others. Her hair, long
and stringy, covering her nakedness. And her eyes... they had
crystallized. She was blind.
"Look away," I whispered to q, but he didn't. Instead he stared,
transfixed.
"Is that her?" Picard spoke barely above a hush. I nodded, unable to
find words. "My god," said Picard.
I turned and glared at him. "Your god? Your god. Don't talk to me
about your god, Picard, because if He should happen to show his face,
we're going to have words."
"Mother... ?" q called to her. There was no response. "Mother... ?"
he said again.
Nothing.
"Stay here," I cautioned him, and this time he obeyed. It wasn't that
difficult for him to obey, really. I knew that he was terrified by the
sight of her. I couldn't blame him. So was I. Slowly I approached
her. I walked carefully, stepping over the bodies of some of the
moaning creatures that might once have been considered sentient beings.
In the distance, I saw a light begin to shine, but I couldn't make out
exactly what it was.
I knelt down next to her. "Q?" I said.
To my surprise--indeed, to my uplifting hope there was the faintest
hint of a smile.
I spoke her name again, and this time she said ever so faintly, "I knew
you'd come. I knew, sooner or later I'd hear your voice. Tell me I'm
not dreaming."
"You're not dreaming. It's me."
"No, it can't be true," she said. "We're dead. All of us. You're not
here. You can't be here."
"I am." I made a move to take her hands in mine but she remained out
of reach.
I moved closer, and closer still, and still she seemed just as far as
she had before. I felt as if I were caught in Zeno's paradox, halving
the distance between us constantly and still never arriving at my
destination.
"I am dead. We're all dead," she continued. "It's over. It doesn't
matter. None of it matters anymore." And she closed her blind eyes
and whispered, "There's just no point."
"Come back to me," I said. "Come back to us. Our son is here... I
found him. I've been searching for him, just as I've been searching
for you. This isn't what you think it is. It's a challenge of wills,
ours pitted against whatever sadistic creature has put it all
together. But you can overcome it. You have more will than..."
The Lady Q pitched forward, sprawling onto the ground.." and the
ground began to dissolve under her, just as it had with the Orion.
I could hear the shriek from q behind me, but it was drowned out by my
own cry as I leaped forward, trying to cover the distance between us
with one desperate lunge. But it was no use. I hit the ground just
short of the edge of the liquefied dirt. I stretched my arm out and
shouted, "Here! Reach toward my voice! I'm here! I'm right here!
I'm right here I"
She said the worst thing she could possibly say.." which was nothing,
and she continued to sink, faster and faster into the ground. Her legs
disappeared beneath the surface. She was making no effort at all.
"Don't you do it!" I howled at her. "Don't you give up on me! On us!
I don't care what you're feeling down here, you can overcome it! You
can still beat it! I can help you beat it!"
She then spoke, "Nothing... I have nothing to live for... nothing--"
"That's not true! I love you!" My voice was cracking. I could hear
the sobs of my son, begging me to do something. I inched forward on my
belly, stretching as far as I could, trying to get to her. I had to
get a grip on her, to pull her out. And I said three words that were
anathema: "Picard, help me!" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]