he realized someone was next to him.
He looked up to see Captain Jean-Luc Picard sputtering some asinine gibberish.
“As we take this bold step toward Timothy’s future—”
Q saw himself stand up in the front row and clap slowly.
“Q, what are you doing here?”
And the events played out as they had before, except that when Q made the child whole,
Q felt himself split. He was still the child, but now he was the child whole, without
any Borg defects, a perfect specimen—well, as perfect as an inferior species can manage
to be, even with a gift from Q—and he was also the child still with the throbbing
limbs, whose incalculable courage was the only thing keeping him from crying out from
the pain. His dual life unfolded before him.
As the healthy human, he was adopted by loving parents and grew into an adult who
followed in his adoptive father’s footsteps and became a geologist. He conducted himself
with honor and led what, for humans, was a good life, albeit banal and boring. However,
Q thought smugly, all in all, not so bad. And the child avoided all the pain and anguish
he would have suffered.
The other Timothy, however, endured painful surgeries, one after another, as the mostly
ineffectual Federation doctors clumsily extracted every bit of Borg technology from
his frail body. Despite the Federation’s best efforts, and even with Vulcans attempting
to ease the child’s pain, each operation came with a thousand red-hot needles pushing
into his flesh. But he rarely cried, and he never complained. His rehabilitation rolled
before him as a seemingly infinite expanse of misery.
If it wasn’t for the kindness of Captain Picard and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise , he didn’t think he would have survived. They took him on board for extended voyages
throughout the Alpha Quadrant. Picard practically doted on him, helping Timothy overcome
the psychic trauma of being Borg. He fell in love with Deanna Troi. Over time he fell
in love with a dozen or more other crew members.
Years passed, but the pain did not. Despite their best efforts, he was never free
of it. But, with help from the Vulcans, he learned to embrace it as part of who he
was. As a teenager, he braved the final operation and was as whole as Federation medical
technology could make him. His body was still frail, and he walked with a limp, but
his mind and his determination were strong. With recommendations from Admiral Picard
and Captain Riker, he joined Starfleet Academy. He excelled in the sciences, especially
nanotechnology.
As an adult he served on science vessels and worked on his theories of cybernetics.
It was during a mission to the Delta Quadrant that his ship came in contact with the
Borg. It was his genius with cybernetics that prevented the ship and crew from becoming
assimilated. They were even able to capture the Borg’s away team. And using theories
he’d been formulating since being a child, the medical staff and he successfully reverted
the entire Borg away team back to their original species—without the trauma and innumerable
surgeries he’d had to suffer.
Within a decade he developed an antidote for the universal virus known as Borg. As
captain and task force commander of an armada of Federation vessels, he began the
galaxy-wide inoculation of those affected. The tide turned. The Borg were no longer
the aggressors. Their days as hunter had ended. Admiral Timothy Picard—having taken
the name of his savior when joining Starfleet Academy—would see the Borg plague eradicated
in his lifetime.
“Q, what are you doing here?”
Q stood in the front row of the auditorium, clapping slowly. Timothy sat in his propulsion
chair next to the Starfleet captain. Deanna Troi knelt next to the boy. Q could feel
the pain radiating from the boy. So much pain. And so much strength.
“Why, mon capitaine , can’t an old and dear friend come and wish another old, and I
He looked up to see Captain Jean-Luc Picard sputtering some asinine gibberish.
“As we take this bold step toward Timothy’s future—”
Q saw himself stand up in the front row and clap slowly.
“Q, what are you doing here?”
And the events played out as they had before, except that when Q made the child whole,
Q felt himself split. He was still the child, but now he was the child whole, without
any Borg defects, a perfect specimen—well, as perfect as an inferior species can manage
to be, even with a gift from Q—and he was also the child still with the throbbing
limbs, whose incalculable courage was the only thing keeping him from crying out from
the pain. His dual life unfolded before him.
As the healthy human, he was adopted by loving parents and grew into an adult who
followed in his adoptive father’s footsteps and became a geologist. He conducted himself
with honor and led what, for humans, was a good life, albeit banal and boring. However,
Q thought smugly, all in all, not so bad. And the child avoided all the pain and anguish
he would have suffered.
The other Timothy, however, endured painful surgeries, one after another, as the mostly
ineffectual Federation doctors clumsily extracted every bit of Borg technology from
his frail body. Despite the Federation’s best efforts, and even with Vulcans attempting
to ease the child’s pain, each operation came with a thousand red-hot needles pushing
into his flesh. But he rarely cried, and he never complained. His rehabilitation rolled
before him as a seemingly infinite expanse of misery.
If it wasn’t for the kindness of Captain Picard and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise , he didn’t think he would have survived. They took him on board for extended voyages
throughout the Alpha Quadrant. Picard practically doted on him, helping Timothy overcome
the psychic trauma of being Borg. He fell in love with Deanna Troi. Over time he fell
in love with a dozen or more other crew members.
Years passed, but the pain did not. Despite their best efforts, he was never free
of it. But, with help from the Vulcans, he learned to embrace it as part of who he
was. As a teenager, he braved the final operation and was as whole as Federation medical
technology could make him. His body was still frail, and he walked with a limp, but
his mind and his determination were strong. With recommendations from Admiral Picard
and Captain Riker, he joined Starfleet Academy. He excelled in the sciences, especially
nanotechnology.
As an adult he served on science vessels and worked on his theories of cybernetics.
It was during a mission to the Delta Quadrant that his ship came in contact with the
Borg. It was his genius with cybernetics that prevented the ship and crew from becoming
assimilated. They were even able to capture the Borg’s away team. And using theories
he’d been formulating since being a child, the medical staff and he successfully reverted
the entire Borg away team back to their original species—without the trauma and innumerable
surgeries he’d had to suffer.
Within a decade he developed an antidote for the universal virus known as Borg. As
captain and task force commander of an armada of Federation vessels, he began the
galaxy-wide inoculation of those affected. The tide turned. The Borg were no longer
the aggressors. Their days as hunter had ended. Admiral Timothy Picard—having taken
the name of his savior when joining Starfleet Academy—would see the Borg plague eradicated
in his lifetime.
“Q, what are you doing here?”
Q stood in the front row of the auditorium, clapping slowly. Timothy sat in his propulsion
chair next to the Starfleet captain. Deanna Troi knelt next to the boy. Q could feel
the pain radiating from the boy. So much pain. And so much strength.
“Why, mon capitaine , can’t an old and dear friend come and wish another old, and I
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