42 Q-Squared by Peter David

Author:Peter David [David, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Adventure, Star Trek fiction, Media Tie-In, Aliens (Humanoid), Enterprise (Spaceship), Space exploration, TV tie-ins (Fiction), Picard; Jean Luc (Fictitious character), Space flight
ISBN: 9780671891510
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 1995-08-14T23:00:00+00:00

1.

Commander Picard lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Beverly Howard was cuddled next to him, her breathing slow and steady. Nevertheless, Picard had the feeling that she might indeed be awake. "Beverly?" he said softly.

No answer.

"Beverly," he whispered again.

Without opening her eyes, Beverly said, "So are you going to keep doing that until you're sure I'm awake?" "Whatever is required, Doctor." "Go back to sleep, Jean-Luc." "We need to talk." "No, we need to sleep. I don't know how you do it, a man your age..." He raised an eyebrow. "A man my age?" his... but we mere mortals don't necessarily have your stamina. So go back to sleep, please. Doctor's orders." "I want to talk to you. Commander's orders." Now she opened one eye a slit.

"You are aware, are you not, that the chief medical officer can countermand the orders of the captain himself, based on medical need? And you're just a lousy commander." He said nothing, but simply stared at her.

Even in the darkness of the cabin she could see the intensity of his gaze.

"Oh, bloody hell," she muttered.

"Okay, Jean-Luc. What's the problem?" "What if I decided to leave?" he asked.

"It's your quarters. You can leave whenever you want." "You know what I mean." Truthfully, she did not at first. Her thinking was still a bit muddled by sleep. But the tone of his voice penetrated the haze. "You mean leave the Enterprise?" "Yes." "But... you just got here." "As did you." "Where would you go?" "It's a universe of infinite possibilities, Beverly. Where wouldn't I go?" "You wouldn't leave," she said firmly.

"You're just using me as a sounding board. Saying things to see how they sound out loud. But I can tell from the tone of your voice that you're already dismissing the idea." "Not completely," he said, but he wasn't particularly convincing.

"Jean-Luc... Starfleet is your life.

You got off track, is all. It's not fair that it happened. But that doesn't mean that you should consider the notion of going off track again." "Perhaps," he observed, "because my plans did go awry, and I survived it... it made me more aware that there is, in fact, life outside of Starfleet. A concept that I had not really been willing to entertain since I was a very small boy." "There is life outside of Starfleet," she agreed. "But not for you. This is your place, Jean-Luc. This is what you were meant to do. It's your destiny." "I don't believe in destiny. Nothing is preordained. We make our own lives.

Destiny is a function of twenty-twenty hindsight, and nothing more." She was silent for a moment.

"Just out of morbid curiosity..." "Yes?" "In this rather unlikely scenario, if you did leave... did you envision that I would be coming along with you?" "It had crossed my mind." "Hmm." She appeared to consider it. "You know... it could be interesting, I suppose. Perhaps you could become... I know." She snapped her fingers. "You could become a trader. You know, in spices and such.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.