Star Trek: The Next Generation - 020 - Q-In-Law Read Online Free PDF Page B

he'd simply entered a chrysalis stage prematurely, and the proper procedure was to pack him in ice, who knows what might have happened?" "Yeah, I remember. And as it was, he came out of chrysalis as a female." "Exactly. Now, the Tizarin don't appear to do anything quite that drastic. But I've been studying their culture as well. The would-be groom, Kerin, had to run a virtual gauntlet in order to satisfy tradition that he was serious with his intentions towards his desired mate. Alone, in a shuttle, he had to get through several fighter squads--and the Tizarin are the toughest space pilots in the galaxy. Then he had to confront the girl's father." "He must really love her," said Wes.
     
     
"And she's a girl from a rival family," his mother told him. "It's what I was telling you.
     
     
There's someone for everyone, and you never know where you're going to find them." "How old is this Kerin guy?" She glanced at the records. "In human terms, about nineteen." "He's nineteen and he's engaged to be married already?" said Wesley incredulously. "I haven't even found a girl who'll give me more than a glance, and this guy is playing fighter pilot to get to his future wife. Is he in too much of a hurry or am I just taking too long?" She laughed and put a hand on her son's arm.
     
     
Male egos were such fragile things. The slightest word could send them spiralling down in flames. The reason for this probably was rooted in adolescence, when boys had to suffer the humiliation of watching girls mature faster and with more grace, turning from approachable objects of scorn into mysterious objects of desire. It was an unexpected uprooting of The Way Things Were, and she suspected that most men never fully recovered from that jolt in their formative years.
     
     
"Everything happens in its own time, Wes. Just hang on to that." Wesley nodded and turned to leave, flexing his ankle experimentally once more and nodding quick approval. Then he paused and turned back to his mother. "Mom, are you saying that dad was the special guy for you?" Bev Crusher smiled. "He was certainly special, all right. You know, when we first met, he reminded me a lot of a certain teenage boy that I met in later years." And she ruffled Wesley's hair.
     
     
Automatically, extremely self-conscious of keeping his appearance Just So, Wes smoothed out his hair. "But what you're saying, mom, is that... if dad was the guy for you, and he's gone--" "Am I alone in the universe?" she finished with a raised eyebrow. "I hope not. And as long as I have you and this ship and co-workers like the ones I have, it makes loneliness that much easier to handle." He nodded and walked out of the sickbay.
     
     
And Beverly Crusher's smile slowly disappeared. She leaned against an exam bed and sighed.
     
     
"God, I'm depressed," she said.
     
     
Chapter Four
     
     
Guinan stared out of the viewports of the Ten-Forward lounge, and she was smiling. Just outside, seemingly so close you could touch it and yet, in fact, hundreds of kilometers away, floated the great ship of the Graziunas family.
     
     
She knew that out of her view, on the other side of the Enterprise, was the House ship of the Nistral--powerful and bristling with weapons for their protection, for a life in space, although attractive, was infinitely filled with peril.
     
     
At the same time, there was a grace and beauty to the flowing designs of the ships.
     
     
She spotted, here and there, the telltale orange-and-blue trim that were the colors of the Graziunas. And she remembered that the Nistral were silver and black. With those skin color combinations, she wondered what the children were going to look like when.
     
     
Suddenly her eyes narrowed.
     
     
Something was wrong. She tilted her head, like a dog listening to a sonic whistle. Her legs didn't seem to move as she glided across the room. It was a slow, careful movement on her part, as if she were searching for water with a divining rod. She knew by heart