From hamilton@altu.net.au Sat Mar 28 20:31:49 1998 Path: news2.ispnews.com!news11.ispnews.com!news1.ispnews.com!nntp.abs.net!news-dc.gip.net!news-peer.gip.net!news.gsl.net!gip.net!news.idt.net!newsfeed1.earthlink.net!nntp.earthlink.net!alexas From: hamilton@altu.net.au Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated Subject: NEW: A Love For All Enternity (Legend) P/Q 1/1 Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 19:31:49 -0800 Organization: EarthLink Network, Inc. Lines: 198 Approved: ascem@earthlink.net Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 207.217.151.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Newsreader: Yet Another NewsWatcher 2.4.0 Xref: news2.ispnews.com alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated:5832 Subject: NEW: A Love For All Enternity (Legend) P/Q 1/1 Date: Fri, 27 Mar 1998 22:10:43 +0800 From: hamilton@altu.net.au To: ASCEML Okay, okay, I know I shouldnıt have done it, but I couldnıt help it! I *love* this thread. So hereıs my contribution. Disclaimer: Paramount owns everything - I own nothing but this story. Donıt sue me, please. Okay for Rırain and ASC archives, donıt archive anywhere else without my permission. Dig? A LOVE FOR ALL ETERNITY THE SCENE: A childıs bedroom. Pastel blue paint covers the walls and white muslin curtains hang from an open window, blowing gently in the night breeze. It is early yet, the night not yet changed from blue to black. The child herself is snuggled up in bed, drapes not yet pulled down. She is but five turns old and her small, delicate frame seems to be swallowed up by the soft blankets that encase her. She turns her small face towards her father, who is sitting beside her bed, and demands in a piping voice "Tell me a story, Daddy. Tell me a story!" "What would you like to hear?" her father asks, full well knowing the answer. "The story about the Gods, Daddy!" the child exclaims. "I tell you that story every night, Maric," says her father. "Do you not wish to hear another story?" "No, Daddy," replies Maric emphatically. "I want to hear *that* story, Daddy." Her father sighs and gives in, for his daughter is so sweet that he cannot refuse her. Is this not the way with all children? "Long, long, ago, when our people were but primitives living in caves, there came among us a stranger. A man, nothing like ourselves, but like us in appearance. He was tall, and strong and wise. His voice was soft, but people swore they could hear it a thousand, thousand jekels away. He lived with us for many years, and taught us many things. From him we learned to build houses, and to hunt with bow and arrow, and to plant crops and harvest them. Our people loved him and, in time, he became our leader. But all of us must age, and so he did too. His steps became slower and his voice weaker. He aged with dignity and grace, and his mind was clear until the day he died." "But he didnıt die, did he Daddy?" the child interrupted delightedly, knowing the story off by heart. "No, he didnıt, Maric," replied her father. He paused for a moment and then continued. "As he lay on his death bed, with most of our clan gathered around him, there was a sudden flash of light and a man appeared at the foot of our leaderıs bed. This man was strange - not like us at all. His skin was white and his forehead was smooth. His nose was straight and his lips were red. He wore strange clothes and his hair was dark and curly. He looked at our leader, lying on his bed, and said "Well, Picard, how the mighty have fallen." So at last we knew our leaderıs name. He had never told us and we had thought it impolite to ask. Our leader was very weak, yet still he managed to raise his head and look the stranger in the eye. He snapped "Iım dying, Q. Go away and give me peace." The stranger called Q looked at Picard for the longest time and then said "I donıt think so, Picard." Q snapped his fingers and there was a brilliant flash. When our people looked at the bed, Picard was just as he was when he first came to us." "Q saved him, didnıt he Daddy," Maric interrupted excitedly. "Yes, Maric," said her father patiently. He went on. "Picard was as young as the eldest of the children he helped see into the world. Once again was his voice strong and his stride powerful. But he had changed. Gone was his upturned nose and yellow lips. Gone were the ridges on his forehead and the kaıchal marks on his cheeks and gone was the magnificent mane of red hair that had hung down his back. Instead, he looked like Q. His nose was straight and pointed downwards, his lips were red and his forehead smooth. His skin was white and his hair was now merely a patch on either side of his head. "Were the people scared, Daddy?" asked Maric. "No, Maric. Changed he may have been, but the leader had taught us wisdom and we knew that though his appearance may have changed, he was still the just and patient leader we had come to love and admire. Q looked at Picard and asked him "Do you want to leave? Do you want to go back to your ship and continue to explore the universe?" We did not understand his words, but we saw that Picard did. He replied "Over the years this place has become my home and these people my family. But the urge to explore the stars has never left me. I cannot leave and yet I cannot stay." Our hearts filled with fear, for if Picard should go, how would we live? But Picard was wise, and he knew he must leave. For if he did not, how would we learn to live without him? How would we manage on our own? Picard had been as a father to us, but all children must leave their parents someday. Just as all parents must learn to let go. "Will you let me go, Daddy?" asked Maric, as she did every night. "Not until you are ready to leave, my daughter," replied her father, as he did every night. "So Picard said his good byeıs to all present and hugged all the children. Children were especially important to Picard. He taught us that our children are our future and we must guide them through life and always love them. Then Q gathered Picard into his arms and kissed him on the cheek. He turned to our clan and said "Hear me, people of the Clan Tiyan, and know that we shall always watch over you. Learn and grow and never forgot what you have been taught." Picard looked at Q, still enfolded in the strange manıs arms, and said "Isnıt that a little overdone, Q?" Q replied "A stylish exit, Jean-Luc, is always important." Thus we knew from this exchange that Picard and Q were bound together as more than friends, more than brothers. They were bound together as disıkacha - soul mates. "Do I have a disıkach, Daddy?" asked Maric. "Yes, Maric," her father replied, as he had replied more than a hundred times over the years. "Everyone has a disıkach. Our souls are split in half when we are born and we are always searching for the person who carries the other half. When we find that person, we know true happiness and untold joy." He cleared his throat and continue with the story. "At that moment, we truly understood why Picard could not stay. He had to go with his disıkach. Picard turned to the members of our clan who had gathered in the cave and said two words "Remember me." Then Q snapped his fingers and once again there was a flash. This time, when we looked, Picard and Q were gone. "Did they live happily ever after, Daddy?" Maricıs face was alive with joy as her father ended the tale. "Yes, Maric. They did. They travel the stars together, for they are disıkacha, and nothing will keep them apart again. Even now, they watch over us. They are our Gods, and they love us. The wisdom Picard brought us has been handed down through generations of our people. We are peaceful and happy." Maric sighed as her father finished the story. "Its time to go to sleep, little one," her father stated gently. "ıNighty, night, Daddy," Maric cries as she throws her arms around her father and gives him a good night hug. "Good night, my little one," whispers her father lovingly, as he tucks her into the bed, and quietly leaves the room, turning the light off as he leaves. Lying in the darkness, the little girl named Maric whispers "Good night, Picard. Good night, Q." Perhaps it is her imagination, but as she drifts off to sleep, Maric hears two voices whisper in unison "Good night, Maric." THE END -- Posting to ASCEM is easy--just send your messages to ascem@earthlink.net To subscribe or unsubscribe to the mirror list--and for all other list-related inquiries, write to asceml@aol.com