For 42 days, Q played games with our crew. He created a planet that replicated the old 19th century American wild west, and sent one third of the crew there to live, survive, and fight off Klingons, Romulans and Cardassians, all of whom were dressed as cowboys, ranchers, outlaws, train robbers, and other southwestern riff-raff. I’m told it was hot, dusty, lawless, and a struggle for those who were sent there. Captain Picard was among them.
Another third of the crew (which included Tessa Kensington, Cassie Queen, and myself), were kept aboard the Enterprise, and turned into young children. Apparently, this Q-thing had the power to do that, and he reveled in reminding us how child-like of a species we are to him. In the case of my staff and I, we became five-year-old versions of ourselves. We thought like children, we acted like children, and we were children, in every sense of the word.
The remaining third of our crew were left to maintain the ship, and take care of all the children. Our resident Adamoi, 17-year-old Evelee, became the volunteer guardian to the three of us. I remember my 42-day childhood quite well (as do Tessa and Cassie), and I can say with confidence, Evelee did a fine job corralling the three of us, and keeping us out of trouble.
The attached photo shows the three of us, as five-year-old children. Evelee managed to capture individual images of us, using our office-turned-playroom holo-imagers. And yes, this is how we also looked when we were experiencing our real childhoods so long ago. I don’t know how Q knew our past, but, apparently, he has control over matter, space, and time.
On the plus side, I discovered that Q is not allowed to exist within our native reality. He doesn’t have access to the no-Federation reality either. It would appear that, according to Q, God does not permit his existence in a handful of realities, most importantly, our own. Q even begrudgingly referred to our native (Devron Timeline) reality as “the protected timeline”. I imagine that has greater significance than we realize.
Yesterday, Captain Picard finally negotiated our release from Q’s control, and we were allowed to return through the portal – back into the no-Federation reality we had previously been in. We are still there, right now, preparing to pass through the last remaining alternate reality which should lead us home – to our native reality. Now that the entire crew is back aboard the Enterprise (and returned to our previous ages), we have a few things to take care of before we slip through another alternate reality portal.
Q is gone, and, true to his claims, he is no longer a threat. In a strange departing gesture of kindness, though, he repaired our warp engines, and reversed all remaining damage sustained from when we were tossed out of warp. The Enterprise is, once again, in perfect working order. Q also left us with another distinct reminder of his visit -- he redecorated many of the non-restricted areas of the ship. In short, many lounges, entertainment areas, and some crew quarters now feature new wall colors, non-standard furniture, and other unique decorative items. Our PAO offices and quarters are among these that he redecorated.
Before he let us go, Q stated that, “this ship could use a little color”. A little color is what we now have. It remains to be seen how much of this “parting gift” will remain after we return to port.
For now, we are safe, we are free, and, as I am now an adult again, my PAO posts can resume. I think I speak for the crew when I say, we are ready to go home. We are more than ready to go home. This alternate reality Q experience (like, so many experiences on this ship), is one we will not soon forget.
-Lieutenant Sam Archer
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July 8, 2366 -- (Original Devron Timeline, altered by temporal anomaly)