...2265...

...USS Enterprise...

"He is coming around," Came a man's voice older than the other one.

My eyes opened.

"My head..." I complained. "It aches."

I saw a Vulcan man standing alongside Kirk and another man beside Kirk.

"I am Captain Kirk of the USS Enterprise," Kirk said. "This is Doctor McCoy and this is--"

"Ambassador Spock of Vulcan," I said, with a smile. "I know."

Spock raised a brow.

"I am not an ambassador," Spock said.

"First officer of the USS Enterprise on a five year mission," I added. "I know a lot about you and what could be."

"What are you?" Kirk asked.

"Human," I said.

"What were you?" Kirk asked.

"Q," I said. "Of the Q continuum. It has been a very long time since I last spoke with you, Kirk." I looked under my blanket to see what is wrong with my legs. "It seems that...." I felt sharp jolts of pain in my body. "Ow!" I lean forward clenching at my stomach. "My stomach hurts!"

"Jim, look," McCoy said. "He is glowing."

"TRELANE, STOP IT!" I shouted, trembling in the mist of a painful feeling.

The pain stopped.

"It seems Trelane has a hand in his health," McCoy said, scanning me with a little rounded object that glowed various colors underneath the glass. "This is very strange, Jim."

"What is a Q?" Kirk asked.

"We're like gods," I said. "Well...We are technically gods."

"I have met a couple gods," Kirk said. "And killed some of them."

"And the other gods were retreated from your ship," I said. "Q's are like...Big balls. Big floating white balls capable of doing anything we wish, we want, and we think. Some of us chose to snap our fingers to get things done...Like me."

"How old are you?" McCoy asked.

"Older than earth," I said.

"Fascinating," Spock said.

"About time you decided on the navigator," I said. "There was Gary, Styles,Styleson, Behner, and Bailey! All in the same year. You couldn't decide on which Ensign to assign on the post."

"We have the best Ensign on the job," Kirk said.

"I'll say," I said.

"Why do you call me by a title I have yet to accomplish?" Spock said.

"Because...This universe for the Q does not need a Prime Directive," I said. "From now, your fate is in your hands. McCoy, you become an admiral. Kirk, you...die in a place called the Nexus. Scotty, oh dear, he and Spock outlive you two. Well Scotty was stuck in a transporter beam--"

"Enough," Kirk said. "Don't tell me anything else about the future!"

"Admiral McCoy," McCoy repeated. "Shocking...Does have a nice ring to it."

"All right," I said. "You have a choice to change your future...And one to tell your friend about his fate. Go ahead. This is a wild timeline...As I said."

My head turned toward the side and I feel asleep. My whole body went rigid. Darkness. I was frightened. Unable to move. That was the only thing I could see for what seemed to be an eternity. It seemed so lonely. Nobody there to talk with and see. Eventually the power to open my eyes returned. I took that gift and opened them.

Only a nurse was there.

"Wh....What year is it?" I asked.

"2265," The nurse said.

"Oh Jean-Luc..." I said. "So far away...Yet not that far."

"What is your name?" The nurse asked.

The name Q didn't really apply to me.

I am not a Q anymore.

Just a...Why did I choose a human body of all creatures?

"I don't have one," I replied.

"Mine is Catherine," Nurse Catherine said.

I smiled back.

"Do you call this thing...Where humans fall into darkness 'sleep'?" I asked. "One referred to that as it."

"Yes," The nurse said. "That is what keeps us alert,healthy, and able to stay on task."

Catherine stopped as though ready to say more.

"Hello?" I said, waving my hand in her view. "Hellooo! I order you to speak!" I half wanted to slap her but that would be uncalled for and very rude. "You look very creepy with your mouth left open."

Trelane appeared in a flash of light right beside her.

"They always do when on pause," Trelane said.

"Trelane," I said.

"Enjoying being a human, father?" Trelane asked.

I glared toward Trelane's direction.

"Don't call me that," I said.

"Well, I don't have anything else to call you, nameless one," Trelane said. "I thought you would appreciate coming to this friendly atmosphere!"

I felt rage.

"Appreciate?" I said, leaning forward. "There is nothing to be appreciated!" I felt a tinge of pain. "This is only a ugly reminder of what I left behind, Trelane!" The pain grew hotter square in my chest. "Trelane, you...You know what it is like to see one of your favorite toys nose diving straight into a mess you can fix BUT YOU CAN'T!"

"Not my problem," Trelane said.

"Trelane--" I fell off the bed feeling my legs burn. "TRELANE!"

"I'll take something you care about most," Trelane said. "Like you did with my boys."

"You were murdering them!" I said. "The point of games in the Q continuum is to teach a lesson and have innocent fun. THAT WAS NOT INNOCENT FUN!"

In a flash of light Trelane appeared standing over me.

"I learned from the best," Trelane said.

Trelane had a interest in the century where humans had swords, gorgeous clothing, and fancy words. He was born in that era, really. I should have expected he would develop a liking to that era when he was growing up but I did not.

"The hell you did!" I said, dragging myself toward him. "You learned that from someone else!"

"Tsk,tsk,tsk," Trelane said. "The teacher's making a misstaaaake."

In a flash of light I found myself on the table bound by straps and the pain had ceased.

"Trelane," I said. "Did you have a part in this?"

"In what, father?" Trelane asked, innocently.

"Endangering the Enterprise," I said,lifting my head up toward Trelane. "My Enterprise."

Trelane smiled.

"I had a little hand in it," Trelane said, holding his index finger above his thumb.

"You just sent the Enterprise into the void of forever," I said. "They will never come back!"

Trelane lowered both hands to his sides.

"Sooo?" Trelane said, walking around with hands behind his back raising a brow. "You can always get a new one." He walked around Sick Bay twirling a stick in a circle. Trelane lowered his brow. "Like the new one that is coming up in 100 years," He stopped the stick coming to a halt at the last bed. Trelane turned directly toward me. "If you manage to live that long, that is."

I narrowed my eyes toward Trelane.

"No matter how much you try to extend my lifetime," I said. "Nothing is going to be the same."

Trelane leaned forward with both hands on the staff.

"Like what?" Trelane asked.

"Everything starting from my arrival," I said.

Trelane frowned, tossing the staff over his shoulder.

The staff vanished in a bright light.

"You are intending to lead a miserable yet sad life by spoiling the future and preventing the future you are from?" Trelane said, at first generally shocked. "That is...So unlike you!"

"This is a whole new timeline," I said. "Give me back my legs."

"I can't," Trelane said, shaking his right hand. "The continuum has restrictions on your exile. No one helps you. They took your legs away."

"Leave," I said.

"Or what?" Trelane asked. "You are going to spit on me?" He folded his arms. "You can't do anything!"

"Your mother left me with you all those years ago because YOU ARE A CRYBABY!" I shouted back at him. "And ashamed of you. She was ashamed of having a child with me and turning out this way!"

Trelane's face turned red.

"No, you lie!" Trelane said.

"I do not lie about my family," I said.

Trelane grew a disgusted look then he vanished in a white flash.

"Do you have a name you can tell me?" Catherine asked.

"My name..." I said. "I wish I had one..." I sighed. "I will tell you a fake name." I tapped my fingers on the bed. "Photonic Riker Quarty."

I noticed the binding straps are gone.

"Can I call you Quarty?" Nurse Catherine asked.

I smiled.

"Yes," I said.