Star Trek: Picard: The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack

Author:Una McCormack [McCormack, Una]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781982139452
Google: 3N6eDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B07TFB53HW
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2020-02-10T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

Picard made sure Elnor got to bed, as he promised, and recited to him some of The Little Prince that he remembered. The tale of a lost and lonely little boy, who saw things differently from those around him, finding a home in the stars. Picard had loved it as a child, and asked his mother to read it to him many times. He watched as Elnor’s eyes grew heavy, the small fist on the pillow slackening and releasing, sleep taking him. He stopped and, very carefully, touched the child’s brow, as if to bestow a blessing. Then he went back to the common room. Tajuth had gone back to the ship. Raffi was sitting with Shai and a few of her cronies, playing a card game that looked both complicated and merciless. He watched for a while, and then went in search of Zani.

He found her sitting on a bench outside close to the tree trunk, looking out across their lands. It was long past sunset. The sky was inky, and a breeze was lifting, sending the nets all around drifting. Lamps were lit, great round lamps that showed pathways through the valley. The trees, too, were gleaming. From somewhere farther, he heard the gentle tinkle of wind chimes. Seeing Zani, he went to join her.

“The boy’s asleep,” he said, sitting down next to her.

“Good,” she said.

“He liked the story I told, although I fear he may have thought it was all true.”

They sat companionably for a while, looking out across the gardens. Under the lamps, a small group of women had gathered together to perform a set of exercises, rather like tai chi, Picard thought. He breathed, deeply; night flowers were blooming and releasing their scent. The whole place had a blissful feel to it.

“This has been a good home,” she said. “But times have changed, and to try to remain here would be self-deception. I regret, though, that we shall not have a chance to bring in the harvest. It is a great waste.”

A sadness washed over Picard at the thought of all the harvests that would not be gathered as this tragedy unfolded; fruits and crops left to rot on abandoned worlds, the people who had cared for them dragged far, far away. And, at last, the great fire that would consume them all…

He collected himself. “It has not escaped my notice,” he said, “that you’re all women.”

“Yes, indeed.” A smile quirked across her face. “No surprise to me that Elnor took to you. He rarely sees men.”

“There was Tajuth…”

She gave him a look that said: Unlikely.

“How did Elnor come to be with you?”

Her face saddened. “He was left with us, abandoned. If there is a mother or father still alive, we don’t know. The intention was to find him a home, as quickly as we could—our houses don’t permit males, not even boys. But when a home is not to be found, what is to be done? He was safe with us, and so I decided he should remain.

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