From mhv.net!news.sprintlink.net!news.uoregon.edu!waikato!midland.co.nz!newsource.ihug.co.nz!news Mon Oct 23 00:54:17 1995 Path: mhv.net!news.sprintlink.net!news.uoregon.edu!waikato!midland.co.nz!newsource.ihug.co.nz!news From: mstokes Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative,alt.fan.q Subject: `Q's Game - Introduction' 1/2 Date: 23 Oct 1995 00:08:36 GMT Organization: The Internet Group Lines: 145 Message-ID: <46eme4$uro@newsource.ihug.co.nz> NNTP-Posting-Host: mstokes.ihug.co.nz Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 1.1N (Windows; I; 16bit) Xref: mhv.net alt.startrek.creative:30677 alt.fan.q:4548 All characters belong to Paramount. The story belongs to me, but feel free to copy this story so long as you don't sell it.... This is going to be the first in a series of short stories based on their advtures due to Q! Q's Game - Introduction by Geraldine Stokes THE Q-CONTINUUM - TIME UNKOWN A small group of the more rebellious individuals were bored. They had been everywhere, seen or done everything and knew everything of any interest. There simply wasn't anything else for them to do or learn! A nanosecond after everyone decided they were boried, Q had an idea. He thought it was a particularly good idea, IF they could pull it off. This idea involved setting up a series of games all over the universe, each Q controlling one relatively small section. None of them would know what was going to happen at the end of each stage. And the firts Q to lead a group of `lesser beings' from their part of the universe, right through to the end of the game would be declared the winner. In two whole nanoseconds the group decided Q's idea was rather good, and then had set a very detailed series of rules. Another nanosecond later, everything was set up and each Q had wandred off to start the beginnings for their part of the game. TWO-YEARS BEFORE THE FIRST SERIES OF DEEP SPACE NINE STARFLEET ACADEMY - JULIAN BASHIR The last of his classes was finally over for the day, casuing Julian to feel surprisingly relieved. He enjoyed all of his different classes, evem the ones not related to medicine. But today he was happy just to be finishing the last of a series of grueling mid-year exams and papers. Deciding he proberly should have an evening off, so he'll be fresh to work on his last few papers. Julian wandered through the Academy's gardens, thinking. Then it suddenly hit him - the game most of his classmates had been talking about the past few weeks. Most had not managed to go beyond the firts 2 or 3 levels and so far noone had gone beyond level 5. Everyone was talking about it, were desperate to get the clues for each subsequent level. And those who had reached the higher levels refused to give out much new information at a time. Julian was sure he could easily reach level 5 or 6 in no time at all. After all wasn't he the only medical student to be getting dual degrees in exo-biology and sub-atomic-biochemistry, with minors in computing and hospital management? AND he was first or second in a large number of their security classes..... He just hoped people would start to take him more seriously once he started to give out the answers. Perhaps a few of the young ladies in his classes would care to join him for dinner - just to show their gratitude of course. Logging in on the terminal in his room, he quickly got started on the first series of problems. He managed to work his way through the first two levels in record time, thanks to all of the conversations he had over-heard. But the 3 level proved to be harder than he had expected, despite being able to remember most of the clues and hints people had been passing around. TEROK NOR - GARAK The computer screen glowered on his face, as Garak mentally wrestled with a complicated problem on level 16 of the same game Bashir had just started playing. Garak prided himself on being the only person he knew who had managed to finish level 15. But level 16 was a hundred times harder than the previous level, and was causing him a lot of headaches. Garak had noticed an odd pattern in the problems on all levels a little while ago. It wasn't obvious and Garak had only noticed it, because he had been re-programing the computers with an unusal new code, to set up a group of sub-routines to filter out private information for the Obsidian Order. When he suddenly saw the numbers and letters in the answers to certain questions formed a similar pattern. He was sure no one else saw it, and he had certainly not told anyone else about it. The pattern could be too important... IF it meant anything much. Garak sighed, telling himself the pattern was proberly only an answer for the final level. Which wouldn't surprise him, considering how obsure the questions became with each higher level. The door to his quarters suddenly whished open behind him, causing Garak to jump slightly before catching himself. It could only be Gul Dukat... "My, my," Dukat said, amused. "Arn't we the busy one?" "My shift did finish 3 hours ago," Garak said, fighting to keep his voice light. He turned to look directly at Dukat. "Is there anything you wanted in particular?" "Can't I come to see one of my best programmers, when ever I want to?" Dukat asked, wandering around Garak's quarters, slowly heading towards Garak himself. Garak felt a sudden prang of fear. If Dukat had found he was an Obsidian plant... or about the sub-rounties he had bearly finshed inputting barely half-an-hour ago... Calming down, Garak got up and met Dukat in the middle of the room, trying to appear relaxed. STARFLEET ACADEMY - JULIAN BASHIR It was midnight and Julian was still working furiously on the game. But he was now up to level 4. He had really only finished level 3, because he had remebered a series of computer lines, set up by the best 3 players in the Academy. Every evening after classes they would up-date information themselves, and everyone else added notes to different sections. Julian was annoyed he hadn't been able to finsh the level all by himself, but he did reach level 4 faster than he could have on his own. He decided to make a point of studying the hints, clues and answers everyday. He had made a note of all the listings for level 4 stright away, and as a consequence was almost half way through it. He started to yawn, but was becoming too obsessed with the game to stop. He even regretted the time it took to get a cup of real caffenine-full coffee. Sipping his drink, Julian realized he was stuck, again. Hoping for a lucky break, he logged onto the help line. Gulping slightly he decided to log onto the talk-line, under a new `name'. He started to chat to 3 other people about level 4. And before he knew it it Julian found himself found himself having a serious discussion with one of them. But at the back of his mind, was the idea the women he was talking to, could be interested in him. OTHER DIMENSION - Q Q had been planning this for months. He watched the players of his game simultaneously, smiling to himself. Q had put the program into most races computers almost a year ago, it's origins carefully hidden of course. And now everything was starting to come together, as his major players were already hooked. Leaving Q the luxury of being able to sit back and watch. Q slowly studied eaxh of `his players' carefully. Only stopping when he came to Bashir, and began to watch Julian more carefully. Muttering to himself, Q made a mental note to keep an carefull eye on Bashir. As Julian was showing the wroung sort of attention to the other one of `his players' at the academy. The young women, Bashir was happily chatting to and wondering about, was one of the few possible important players at the academy, And there was no way in hell, Q was going to let Bashir take the relationship in a way Q didn't want him to. Not until the game was finished, at least. TEROK NOR - GARAK An amused Gul Dukat ducked out of Garak's quarters, finally leaving him alone. Garak relaxed visibly, like all the others not knowing he was being studied by Q. The computer terminal was still turned on, the game still churning over. But a new message had appeared on the screed, over-riding the rest of the game. Garak staried at the screen for a full two minutes, stunned. The message eaplained that to complelte the rest of the game, required two players at that level. And Garak is the first person to reach level 16. The last section of the the message, was a section of programming so complicated Garak couldn't even begin to understand it. With a note saying once another person has reached level 16, the program will join their computers together and allow communication. From mhv.net!news.westnet.com!stevens-tech.edu!newsserver.jvnc.net!newsserver2.jvnc.net!howland.reston.ans.net!nntp.crl.com!decwrl!waikato!midland.co.nz!newsource.ihug.co.nz!news Sat Oct 28 00:41:50 1995 Path: mhv.net!news.westnet.com!stevens-tech.edu!newsserver.jvnc.net!newsserver2.jvnc.net!howland.reston.ans.net!nntp.crl.com!decwrl!waikato!midland.co.nz!newsource.ihug.co.nz!news From: mstokes Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative,alt.fan.q Subject: NEW: "Q's Game - Introduction" 2/2 Date: 25 Oct 1995 14:49:43 GMT Organization: The Internet Group Lines: 100 Message-ID: <46liq7$9c4@newsource.ihug.co.nz> NNTP-Posting-Host: mstokes.ihug.co.nz Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 1.1N (Windows; I; 16bit) Xref: mhv.net alt.startrek.creative:30759 alt.fan.q:4587 All characters belong to Paramount. The story belongs to me, but feel free to copy this story so long as you don't sell it.... this is going to be the first in a series of short stories based on their adventures due to Q! Q's Game - Introduction by Geraldine Stokes CARRAYA, ROMULAN SPACE - TOKATH A Romulan in his mid-fifties staries intently at his computer screen. He is visibly tired, but keeps on working on the game. He is physically and mentally exhausted from spending the day coping with a new political ad to his sector. But he hinds himself obsessed with the game, as he is the only person to have reached such a high level - as far as he knows. He finally works out the problem at the end of level 14, after almost three weeks of trying. the feeling of relief slowly dismisses his tirdnes, until he is able to work on level 15 for another hour. A Klingon women, only a few years younger than Tokath, comes into the living room. She is dressed in her night-clothes and is worried, about Tokath. "You really should come to bed," she tells him softly, walking over to him. "You need your sleep...." "I know," he interrupts, trying not to sound irriated, as she was right. "I'll save what I'm doing and then I'll be right in.... Alright?" She sighed, "Just make sure you don't spend any more time than necessary.... You're spending too much time using the computer and not enough time sleeping." Tokath reaches over and kisses her, "I"ll be right there. I promise." But it took him almost twenty minutes to pry himself away from the game and his computer. His sleep is disturbed by dreams of the game, sometimes churing up ideas he had not conciously thought of before. Next to his bed is a small book, fulled with notes about his dreams. just in case... His wife worried about him, about his obsession with the game. He had never been like this, she thought, before Ba'el's fifteenth birthday... As she started to fall asleep she wondered if she shouldn't talk to someone - a doctor perhaps - about this? TWO WEEKS LATER TEROK NOR - GARAK Garak was sitting at his computer, glowering at the screen. He had not been able to get much further in the game, simply because no one else had reached level 16 yet. Muttering, Garak got up and wandered over to the replicator to get himself a drink. As he lifted the glass to his lips, he heard the door open behind him. It could only be Dukat... OTHER DIMENSION - Q A gleefull Q watches Tokath delighted, as the Romulan inched closer and closer to solving level 15. Q had given the Romulan a fre clues in his dreams over the past week, in the hope it would hurry his progress along. But now Tokath was only one step away from solving the final problem on level 15. And much to Q's surprise Tokath had managed to solve most of the problems himself. It was taking everyone a lot longer to solve the game, than Q had thought it would, as Q had made problems that were hideously simple. To him, at least... For a nanosecond Q's attention went back to the two people on Terok Nor. He made sure Garak still had the game running, before checking up on Rom and Quark. Rom was Q's biggest problem, because of Quark. But Q was currently distracting Quark long enough to allow Rom a chance at reaching level 9. Rom was one of the few players Q really wanted to reach the end of the game, but it was not completly necessary to have him finish... Still, Q thought, Rom would make my team stronger in engineering.... There was one thing Q was completely certain of - he could not allow any of the other `team controllers' from the continuum win their little game... He had to prove he wasd capable of bringing together the best team of `lesser races' than the others. TEROK NOR - ROM Keeping an eye open for Quark's return, Rom busily punched away at the control panel. Amazed he had already managed to reach level 8, considering how little he was able to play the game, Rom had a sudden flash of insight about the problem he was facing. Entering his answers, Rom watched the screen, both nervous and eager to find wherther he was right. Something appeared to be happening, when Rom saw Quark head down the Promenade towards the bar. Only to be stoppes by Odo in the nick of time. With his baxk to the bar, Quark was completely unaware Rom wasn't working. Just as Odo was finishing with Quark, the computer screen changed to the beginning of level 9. Causing Rom to nearly laugh out loud with delight, but catching himself in time. He jsut managed to save his game and turn the game off completely, before Quark realized what he was doing. Rom went back to work a lot happier than he had been before. STARFLEET ACADEMY - BASHIR Julian rushed through the last stages of the report for his advanced Microbiology class. He found himself caught between wanting to do his very best and just finishing it ASAP, so he could get back to the game. And talking to his new freind, through the game chat line. Despite the long convrsations they had through their computers, they had never met. From netcom.com!noc.netcom.net!news.sprintlink.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!chi-news.cic.net!uwm.edu!lll-winken.llnl.gov!enews.sgi.com!ames!waikato!midland.co.nz!newsource.ihug.co.nz!news Wed Oct 25 16:29:51 1995 Xref: netcom.com alt.startrek.creative:30260 alt.fan.q:4320 Path: netcom.com!noc.netcom.net!news.sprintlink.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!chi-news.cic.net!uwm.edu!lll-winken.llnl.gov!enews.sgi.com!ames!waikato!midland.co.nz!newsource.ihug.co.nz!news From: mstokes Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative,alt.fan.q Subject: RE: NEW: "Q's Game - Introduction" 2/2 Date: 25 Oct 1995 15:28:21 GMT Organization: The Internet Group Lines: 101 Message-ID: <46ll2l$9oe@newsource.ihug.co.nz> References: <46liq7$9c4@newsource.ihug.co.nz> NNTP-Posting-Host: mstokes.ihug.co.nz Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 1.1N (Windows; I; 16bit) (Sorry but something happened so only only part of "Q's Game - Introduction" 2/2 was posted!!! Here's the rest of it... Geraldine Stokes) Hell, he didn't even know what her real name was, or she his! And much to his surprise, Julian had began to forget she really was a SHE. He thought of heras neutral, a good friend and a number of other things. But he no longer thought about going out with her, which he knew would change if they ever met. So they had both decided to leave meeting in real life, until they had gotten through the game, As it was, they managed to get a lot further through cooperating, than they would have been able to alone. Now both had jsut started level 7. The highest level anyone else had reached at the academy was currently level 10. Personally Julain thought it had to be one of the Vulcans studing Computer Science. Slowly he got back to his projsct, deciding he didn't want to lower his grade avaerage. Julian spent the next three hours working on his project, before he took an hours rest to work on the game and talk to his new friend. CARRAYA, ROMULAN SPACE - TOKATH Tokath staried determinedly at the screen, he wasn't supposed to be playing the game. But his wife had gone to some sort of meeting and he had jumped at the opportunity to spend at least three hours working on level 15. He realized he was nearly at the end, which made the need to play even stronger. And he was right, within an hour he had finished level 15 and the start of level 16 had appeared. Normally he would have finished there, but Tokath suddenly decided to go on as far into level 16, as he could.... TEROK NOR - GARAK After talking to Gul Dukat for over thirty minutes, reassuring him, Garak finally got back to his computer. Only to stare at the screen in stunned silence for another ten minutes. The screen read:- "Another player has reached level 16. Please wait until other player has fully logged on." And wait he did. OTHER DIMENSION - Q A happy Q started to sneakily check the progress of the members of the continuum involved in their larger game. Much to Q's delight only two others had more than one player up to their equivalent of level 16!! Q couldn't believe it! As things were going he knew he had a good chance of winning thw whole game. TEROK NOR - ROM It was finally closing time at Quark's bar, causing Rom to speed up. as soon as he was allowed to go, Rom rushed back to his quarters. Loaded the game onto his computer and spent the next three hours working on level 9. Before staggering off to bed, vowing nothing Quark could do would stop him from finishing the game TEROK NOR - GARAK Garak and Tokath were mesmerized in their conversation through their computers. Between the two of them they had started to make a little progress through level 16. But as Tokath had pointed out early on, they proberly wouldn't get very far until another two or three poeple had joined them. ONE MONTH LATER TEROK NOR - ROM Rom was hideing in his quartes, starting level 16, dispite all the didtractions from Quark. Rom soon found himself talking to two humans from the Starfleet Academy and a Klingon. STARFLEET ACADEMY - BASHIR Two weeks ago Q had almost given up on these two. If thet weren't so important to his overall plan, he would have started to concentrate on other more minor players. But he had decided these two would be the best docotor and pilot for his little team. He had a lot of good reasons for this, most would not be understood by the average human, but he did have them. Which is why Q used up more of his `suggestion counters' than he would have liked to, so Basjir and his friend would start `finding' the answers to certain problems. Then they finally reached level 16, only to find Rom had just beaten them to it. And within minutes an old Klingon joined them. TWO MONTHS LATER ALL The group had just reached the end of level 20, much to Q's delight. The two humans had offered the least helpful information, but without them the others would not have been able to answer five of the problems correctly. And it would have taken them considerably longer to work out another seven problems. But much to Q's dismay three other Q-controled groups had beaten his to then end of level 20. But noe the game was really beginning for Q...... THE BEGINNING