So this was what it was like to be dead? Consciousness dissipating as the void all around stretches endlessly and no escape is in sight, and an unsettling feeling that there may be no God after all? Or perhaps there was a God, a single Creator who had deemed that the entity was destined to spend the rest of eternity separated from Him. Maybe this was a transitional phase in reincarnation, or perhaps the mythical place commonly referred to as purgatory by corporeal life forms. Being dead for the first time, and seeing that none other of his species had experienced death, the entity didn't really know what to expect, though various books, religious and secular, had postulated theories throughout the millennia. For all he knew, the entity would just as well end up in Heaven or Hell, Sto'vo'kor or Gre'thor, or in the Divine Treasury or the Vault of Eternal Destitution, or simply no where at all. After all, being part of a species that never died, would any of those places welcome him willingly? He once was a God, so what God would want him to spend eternity with Him?
With this thought, there was no substance, no root of any kind or reality. The entity reached out beyond itself into the deep reaches of the cosmos. If there was an afterlife, the entity was determined to find it. Unfortunately, nothing answered back. For the entity's entire life, there had been a multitudinous array of voices in his head. The entity had been part of a great societal experiment, never being alone, never being without reach of the arms of comrades or beyond the grasp of their words. Now the entity was all alone, thinking what might have been the last thought. Why was the entity being punished so horribly? Was the execution? Excommunication? The entity forgot the details that lead up to this horrific solitude. There was the vibrancy of life, the wonderment of it all, then nothing. Emptiness, space, and silence. Would these be the companions of the entity though the rest of eternity? The entity always wanted to live forever, and kept on telling others that it would live forever, but now the thought of a true eternity terrified the entity. The entity cried, and it cried out to whoever might listen, but would anybody hear?
Guinan, off duty and soaking in the beauty of the arboretum, noticed something slightly awry. She gazed over at Keiko O'Brien, who was fixing her attention on planting seeds she received from Forchin. Keiko had complained about the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables aboard the Enterprise, stating that replicator technology had a far way to go. As she was planting yet another seed, her eyes lost their lock on her work and she looked up at Guinan. There was something awry.
"Guinan," Keiko started, "what brings you up here?
"Oh, I don't go into the holodeck much unless Jean Luc or somebody else might invite me along for an adventure. I prefer to relax in more realistic settings," Guinan replied.
There was something awry. Keiko could sense unease in Guinan, as if she was making small talk but there was something charging through her mind at that moment that caused her to be detached from the present. She felt Guinan had not simply come to the arboretum to be away from the feeling of being on a star ship, but something was preoccupying her, and even though Guinan replied to all of Keiko's comments, Keiko still felt as if Guinan was not even talking to anybody in particular, really. Guinan could not even keep in eye contact with Keiko and were in constant gaze out the windows. Keiko turned her head up and looked out the window. It was simply a star field, an odd choice for somebody to focus on when they just claimed they wanted to get away from the feeling of being in space. "What is it?" Keiko asked, hoping to get responses out of Guinan that were perhaps more truthful.
"Sure thing, Miles," Keiko replied, relieved that she had a chance to get away from Guinan. "Sorry, Guinan, but I have to go," Keiko said awkwardly as she excused herself.
Guinan just nodded as if she was unattached from the moment. As Keiko took her leave of the arboretum, Guinan simply continued to watch out the window as if looking for something, or perhaps expecting something.
It was not first in the arboretum that Guinan felt this way, however. It first occurred to her moments after she left Ten Forward, as she walked down the halls of the Enterprise. Every curve of the corridors, the nuance of each computer console, down to the locations of the Jefferies Tubes caused an odd sensation to course through Guinan's being. Yet, all was the same as it has always been.
Guinan leaned up against the nearest wall and the words of the computer had barely penetrated her mind and her thoughts. Something more ominous seemed to emanate from somewhere outside the ship, something she felt and heard all around her, inside her. It was coming closer, though she could not yet see it. Out there, beyond the blackness of space, something was coming and it felt terrible.
"They are just keeping the possibility open, Keiko," Miles said.
"What kind of anomaly?" Keiko asked.
"And what are you doing helping Data? You're not a science officer," Keiko wondered.
"But you just got off of duty!" Keiko countered.
The entity searched through the expanse of nothingness. Searching for something, perhaps another dead soul wandering though this…this limbo? The entity did not know what it was. The blackness stretched seemingly from east to west, with no end in sight. No throne, no God, no Prophets or wormhole aliens, no vaults or hordes of honored Klingons within any imaginable grasp within this void, not even an angel or a lesser deity made by humanoid hands. No light, no door, no escape; the entity just drifted through nothing, and with each passing moment grew more weary and more depressed. Where were the parties? The fanfare music? The singing choirs of seraphim? The hordes of welcoming and willing virgins? The entity began to question exactly where the eternal resting place would be.
Unexpectedly, almost frightening the entity, something came up behind it. The entity refocused his attention and could have smiled if it had a mouth: It was another disembodied entity, and the entity recognized the second entity. At last, a friend?
"Come," the Captain said, hearing his door chime but not looking up.
"How did Captain Picard die?" Guinan asked carefully, fearing she was going mad.
Guinan knew this but she also knew that it was horribly wrong. In her mind, she was trying to place the pieces of the puzzle together, trying to reconcile what she felt was wrong with what she had known to be reality for all her life. She remembered how Commander Riker received the command of the Enterprise, which took place shortly after Captain Picard's death. She could clearly recall each step Riker took the Enterprise along the way: She remembered how Riker confronted Soran, how Riker found himself in the Nexus and opted to go back far enough in time to save the Enterprise-D from destruction. These were all things that she could remember as it was reality, but it was reality construed. However, there was something deep inside her telling her that she had just talked to Captain Picard that morning, though her conscious mind had no recollection of the event. "What?" she asked, almost as if she was merely arguing with her mind and not even talking to Captain Riker.
"No" Guinan said, as if unattached from the conversation all together.
"Guinan, if you should ever want to talk, you can come to Troi or me," Riker offered.
In a flash, the blackness vanished and Q and Jean-Luc were standing on a hillside, the breeze blowing, the trees waving, the grass beneath them, and the sun shining high in the sky. It reminded Jean-Luc of his home in France. "What is this?" Picard demanded, finding that now he had a body, or at least a representation of what was his body.
"Dead?" Picard echoed. He remembered being shot, Worf immediately firing upon the assassin, Beverly looking into his eyes during his last moments of life, floating up, seeing his body with Beverly over him along with the other people who had gathered to hear his address, and then he floated out of the ship. He floated out past the stars, into the blackness where he met Q.
"None of this would have happened if you had been more cooperative when I came aboard your ship," Q advised.
"What do you mean?" Picard demanded.
"Q, I am not interested in…," Picard began to say.
"I'm just…" Picard began to say, only to be distracted by a shuttle flying overhead. The shuttle landed beyond the hill and he stepped forward to see what it was. Stepping out were two people that he recognized as his parents and they were carrying a baby. He realized that Q was right; his life was beginning to replay in front of his eyes.
"Awww," Q said as he stepped beside Picard, "you were weally a cute wittle boy!" Picard just glared at Q as he gave a tiny wave to the baby below them and smiled.
"Is the planet in any danger?" Data inquired.
"Sir, perhaps we should delay our arrival at Wadi Besor," Miles suggested.
All that she dread, all that she had anticipated in terror, came cascading upon Guinan in an instant, resulting in a cacophony of turmoil and disdain as she worked in Ten Forward. The anomaly that Data had detected was not merely a disruption in space or just another routine anomaly; the Continuum had arrived, and not all was well.
Guinan had known the Continuum before, as well did her species, the El-Aurians. For reasons she preferred to keep to herself, Guinan held the Q Continuum in contempt. The race of so-called proclaimed gods had tried to rule over the El-Aurians before, trying to toy with them as they had with several other species of the universe, but the Continuum had failed to realize the true origin of the El-Aurians. Guinan, the wisest and the most powerful of the El-Aurians, was able to thwart Q's plans to intervene in their society. Q felt they knew better than everybody, and were more powerful than all the races in the universe, but for all their proclaimed universal power and knowledge, they failed to consider the El-Aurians. Together, the El-Aurians were just as powerful as and stronger than Q had ever hoped to encounter. For the first time Q met an equal, and it terrified him. Q desired for centuries to find a way to control the El-Aurians, and had long avoided them as to avoid embarrassment and keep face with all the other species of the universe they felt they could control.
Now it was different. Guinan did not feel the surge of power in her that she could use to fight against Q. The entire Continuum was coming for her, and her alone. Together with her people, perhaps she would have a hope of a good fight, but unfortunately, the Borg saw fit to put an end to that hope. Guinan was now of a dying race and the Continuum was moving in for the kill, or so it would seem.
Moments before the Continuum began to invade Guinan's being she managed to tap her com badge and stammer the words, "Guinan to sickbay." They were trembling words, words that sounded to Doctor Beverly Crusher to be the final words before a hopeless demise.
Beverly Crusher and Doctor Selar rushed into Ten Forward, immediately kneeling on the floor, scanning Guinan's body with a tricorder. "This is unlike anything I have encountered," Doctor Crusher announced after a few moments scanning Guinan.
"Her vital signs are present and fully functional but they don't seem to be her own," Beverly reported.
"This is most curious," Dr. Crusher breathed. "I don't think that this hypothesis is correct but I'll check it in sickbay." She turned to Doctor Selar and said, "We have to get her to sickbay immediately.
As Doctor Selar began to tap her combadge to ask a transporter chief to transport them and the patient to sickbay, a flash of light enveloped Guinan, momentarily blinding all on lookers, and once the flash was gone, Guinan was gone with it.
"What just occurred?" Data asked as he turned to Dr. Crusher.
As the Captain gazed over the watchful eyes of the crowd, he was oblivious to the maroon skinned alien sitting in the front row. His eyes wandered to Vash, and his eyes could not help but hold their gaze upon her eyes for a moment or two as his eyes swept over the room. It was the disagreement they had that preoccupied him the most, the argument that made her say that he did not want her aboard the ship. He was sorry he did not resolve that situation before the address. As he spoke of one mystery, he found his mind engrossed in the mystery of relationships. He could figure out the mystery of Tagus III in due time but the mystery of Vash may forever go unsolved.
Those eyes! Picard found himself stopping at Vash's gaze once again, finding her eyes containing a new set of mysteries that he hoped that they could discuss together after the meeting. He looked at her as if to say that he had been trying to unravel the mystery of her. He never noticed the deceit in the eyes of the maroon skinned alien that sat in the front row.
"Captain!" Worf cried out in Klingon fierceness. Coming to full height, Worf lunged at the maroon alien in the front the instant he detected the disruptor. Picard broke his gaze with Vash and witnessed the last moments of his life: Worf taking the alien down, the disruptor discharging, Beverly, Riker, and Troi rushing to his side, and the charge that hit immediately killed him.
"That's all, folks," Q said dryly as a wide eyed Captain Picard ceased having his life pass before his eyes. They now stood in an empty Enterprise conference room.
"If I could do it all over again…," Picard began.
Picard flashed his eyes at Q. "Oh, I'm sure you would have," he said sarcastically.
"If you wanted to be of service to us, then you wouldn't have interfered in our affairs in the first place," Picard said.
Expecting to walk out into the empty corridor of the vacant Enterprise, Picard suddenly found himself floating again in the emptiness of a vast space. He was mere energy again, his soul seeking for rest. Q was nowhere to be seen, but Jean Luc could see in the distance the appearance of a horizon of some sort. Not a landscape, per se, but a horizon of a rift. A horizon of energy strings that were tattered and growing disorganized. Moreover, they were moving towards him.
"Acknowledged," Riker replied. "I'll be there in a few minutes." Captain Riker returned his attention to the computer console that Dr. Crusher had brought him to.
"She has become part of the Continuum?" Riker asked, in shock.
"It appears so," Beverly replied. "Her readings are also strikingly similar to yours when you were endowed with the powers of Q." She brought up Riker's previous neurological scan on her console.
"There is not much more for us to do now. You need to go to the funeral," Beverly said.
"Maintaining standard orbit, sir," the ensign at the helm reported as Captain Riker strode onto the bridge. Below the ship was the N-class world of Wadi Besor, characterized by the fact that 96% water covered the surface.
"What is the status on the anomalous gateway?" inquired Captain Riker, turning to Commander Data and Ensign B'kor at the science station.
"If one of those tendrils collides with the ship again, what are the potential consequences?" Riker asked.
On the screen, a maroon skinned alien appeared within an undersea office. The alien had ridges that looked as if they were carved into his skin, rolling up and down like tiny hills and valleys. By elaborate design, the ridges that characterized his face curved up his head, meeting at the apex of his skull, where they all met together to form a high ridge that extended over his head and down his neck. He wore a formal Federation admiral's gown. "Captain Riker, welcome to Wadi Besor," the alien breathed out of gills. He was apparently a sea mammal that could live on land or in the sea. The forced English out of his gills made him sound muffled with a heavy accent. He had had the forming of a mouth and six gills, three on each cheek.
"Not a solitary piece of evidence has been uncovered. In all my time in working with Starfleet and Starfleet Security, every crime has some kind of evidence left behind. I have never seen one perfect crime, ever," Admiral Hetzett said.
Captain Riker passed by Data and collected a data disc containing the findings on the anomaly. He did not even look up as he entered the turbo lift, as he was walking with great urgency. As he heard the doors slide shut behind him, he realized that he was not in the turbo lift, much less aboard the Enterprise. He looked around and recognized the surroundings from the visual he had with Admiral Hetzett; this was the admiral's undersea office. Looking towards a vast view port, Riker saw the admiral's desk and the admiral sitting in a large chair, his back turned to Riker. Did the Taecate have the ability to transport people with such efficiency?
"Admiral," Riker said as he approached the desk. The admiral swung his chair around and it was not Admiral Hetzett. The figure, clearly a humanoid with no distinctive markings, peered at Riker as if they were close acquaintances. "What the…?" Riker breathed in a whisper.
"I don't think you are listening to me!" Riker said, more angry and leaning in threateningly close to Q2.
Riker stepped back, shocked and stunned, at a complete loss for words. In all of his dealing with the Q, they have shown themselves to be a menacing species, yes, but not in a bad way, but more of an annoying way. He never knew that murder, deceit, or anything like that could comprise their moral make up. "HeÉhe was my friend," Riker stammered out after he was able to gather his thoughts.
Joining it and being caught up in it was an experience Jean Luc Picard would be least likely to forget, especially if he were yet alive. He was not alive in his natural sense but he felt a new life pulse through him as he was joined with the string fragments as they tore through the spatial dimension that the disembodied occupied. A new life and a new consciousness were vibrant through his entire being.
However, he felt a new death coming on. The anomalous string fragment that he had seen and now had become a part of contained elements of dimensions that were previously alien and unknown to him; the dimensions of the universe were cascading and splintering into a set point in time, space, and dimension, resulting in a wave of anomalous energy that ruptured through all known point of time, space, and dimension. The string fragments themselves were dying, as well was the universe.
Collecting the myriad of thoughts present within the string fragments, Jean Luc could sense the presence of Guinan, though she gave off a strong feeling of resistance, so strong in fact that Picard highly doubted that she knew he was there. Also present was Q. Now he only needed to learn how to communicate in this existence.
"What is this?" Jean Luc thought within, the thought immediately joining the thoughts of the others in the string fragments.
"That's not her name," Q replied.
"Yes, Q?" Guinan's voice replied, directed towards Captain Picard.
"For the first time, I fully realize what Q fears." She said the words as if Jean-Luc were not there, as if she was speaking to a whole rather than to the one.
"I-I…," Picard tried to understand where she was coming from. "You're from a race of listeners," he finally surmised.
"You and so many other superficial species assume that I simply listen to people as a counselor listens to people. It goes deeper than that, so much deeper.
"Jean-Luc," Picard was surprised to hear Guinan use his actual name, making him wonder if any of his true identity was still intact in this Continuum, "I have held the truth from you for quite some time because I was afraid, afraid of my heritage and my personal history, and even the history of my people. Long ago, there was God, and He created the Universe. There was unrest in His Kingdom. Had his first creation, a human, failed Him, but his angels not only rebelled and were sent to Hell. God, in His Infinite Wisdom and Glory, spoke and created a new race, not human nor angel, not seraphim nor demon. God created Q and A. The Q would be the eyes and hands of God, responsible for maintaining order in the universe. It wasn't that God couldn't do it Himself, but God knew the task was tremendously burdensome if He took it upon Himself all alone. Q had many of the same powers of God, but were not God. God did not allow the Q to rebel against Him as the angels had, so Q did not have free will to serve or turn away from God.
"A served as the ears of God. A would listen for those who needed the most help in the entire Universe. Q and A were of the same creation, brother and sister if you will. Together, they were a force that brought stability to the fallen entropic universe. Furthermore, as brother and sister, Q and A shared the same level of powers, and neither was superior over the other.
"A was the compassion of God, and understood the failings of so many of the species God created. Q, on the other hand, was more judgmental, toying and laughing at God's creations as if they were the ones superior and the created minions should serve them.
"Whenever there was a problem in the Universe that God wanted us to take care of, A would hear the cries, A would feel the pleas of the lost, the sick, the hurting and downtrodden. A was responsible for informing Q of where the help was needed. Q, however, failed in the compassion department. They would mock and laugh at the failings of God's created mortals, and would at times add to their misery. In the end, Q was good at heart, and often would help the mortals in the end, but not without a price to pay.
"God, needless to say, was not pleased with Q. Neither were the A. A had a falling out with Q, and a battle ensued in the Heavens that took up the span of three millennia. In the end, God intervened and A filed for a divorce from the family they belonged to with the Q. The angels heard the case, and ruled in favor of the A, but God saw to it that it was not without a price to the A.
"God cut down the years of the A and made them mortals. Giving them a world of their own, God released A from their services as listeners for the Q. This did not mean this was the end of A's involvement with Q. The sibling rivalry continued, and now the A, which decided to call themselves El-Aurian, which means "the listeners" in their native language that God gave them, found themselves at the mercy of Q's whims.
"Over the years and the centuries and millennia, the El-Aurians kept the powers that God gave them as sisters of the Q, but we often chose to not use them, not on other life forms. We would use them, however, to ward off the Q. Q became afraid of us and eventually left us alone, moving on to other species to delight themselves with, such as the humans. The El-Aurians always knew Q was seeking a way to bring A back into the family, and now is the time. We have been weakened over the years by our last encounters with the Q and with the Borg invasion of our home world.
"I'll pilot the shuttle," Worf offered.
"Sir, if the Captain is in danger…," Worf protested.
"O'Brien here," the Chief replied.
"Sir, are you sure?" Miles asked, not wanting to second-guess Data's orders, but hoping to find reason in all of this.
"I'm on my way, sir," Chief O'Brien replied as he departed from his post.
"Ensign B'kor shall accompany you," Data nodded to Ensign B'kor, giving a silent nod as an approval for him to leave his post at the science station..
"Yes, sir," B'kor said has he started towards the turbo lift.
"And who hired him?" Q2 asked.
Riker could only gaze in unbelief at Q2. The information was far too much for him to process all at once. "How do I know this isn't an elaborate prank?
"Then you are just as guilty as the Taecate are for his own death!" Riker insisted.
"On the contrary," Q2 insisted. "We are every bit the victim Q was when he was executed. We were unable to grant his powers back before he died because justice had to be served. Our Continuum must rely on rules and regulations to exist. I am sure you at least understand that concept, Captain Riker. Otherwise, the Continuum would experience treachery and corruption the likes the Federation are experiencing even at the moment we are talking.
"Like I said, though, when Q died, we suffered as victims as well. A piece of the Continuum had died, Captain Riker, and a piece of the Continuum had never died, not in its entire span of existence, and the consequences were unimaginable. Yes, Q had left us before, but never once did they die as Q. Only after did they serve their time without powers were they judged if they learned their lessons or not, and if they had not learned their lessons, they were made fully mortal, with no connections to the Q whatsoever, and their fates did not affect us.
"However, with Q, it was different. He was in the process of being judged when he was killed. At that point, other Q came more and more unruly, bent on revenge and destruction of the species that had contributed to the demise of Q. Revenge and destruction are not in our nature, and the introduction of these into our Continuum changed us forever. We were forced to excommunicate other Q, banishing them away from the Continuum in hopes of restoring our unity and peace, but with each passing Q we excommunicated, the Continuum grew that much more unstable and that many more Q rebelled and started to act as they wanted to act. That disrupted the entire Continuum and we are now what you see today: unable to hold our own form, splintering into the fabric of time and space, threatening everything we come in contact with.
"Then how is this of my hands?" Riker asked.
"If that's the case, what can I do now?" Captain Riker wondered.
"What in the world is going on here?" Riker demanded as he approached Q2.
"Give me some time to come up with something to say," Captain Riker said.
"Take all the time you need," Q2 replied.
"You said you can take me back in time if the need presents itself?" Riker asked.
"Good." Riker departed from the office, knowing that this was going to take some creativity to come up with something good to say about Q.
The anomaly grew closer to Wadi Besor. On the view screen of the Enterprise, the string fragments appeared as a tattered garment. From the view of the shuttle Resolute, the string fragment anomaly was above them. Ensign Spevack B'kor had piloted the shuttle into the upper atmosphere of the planet and the anomalous fragment was enveloping the planet from above.
Picard could only mouth Data's name before the energy dissipated and the image of Jean Luc Picard likewise dissipated.
"There are reports of injuries coming in from engineering," Worf replied.
Aboard the Resolute, Chief O'Brien worked frantically at the helm to avoid an oncoming energy pulse. "Report, Mr. Spevack!" he exclaimed.
"The energy is following us and increasing in speed," Miles updated.
Though Spevack was an ensign, Chief O'Brien complied and brought the shuttle to a complete halt, orbiting above the vast ocean of Wadi Besor, trusting that Spevack was indeed the most qualified person aboard the Enterprise to deal with the unpredictable Q. Realizing that if the energy harmed the shuttle at all, it was a long way down to the surface of the planet and even further to any kind of land mass or even to any oceanic bases. "Shields up," the Chief ordered said.
Spevack B'kor stood in helpless silence as he felt a new energy pulse through the fullness of his being. He began to tremble in a state of ataxia and collapsed to the floor, ushering the aide of Chief O'Brien to his side. It was futile. "Let him be," Guinan spoke.
A flash caught Chief O'Brien off guard. As his eyes quickly refocused, he saw that both Guinan and Spevack were gone. He nervously recalled that Guinan had said that he must join the Continuum or die. He noted that the surface of the ocean was coming closer to him. In a moment, he knew that he could continue in the shuttle and be exposed to the Continuum again and potentially become the next candidate for the Continuum, or he could be given the chance to die. He chose death, allowing the water to envelope his shuttle and resisting not at all as the pressure of the ocean cracked the hull of the shuttle like the shell of a nut and water came cascading in to the shuttle, condemning Miles O'Brien to a watery grave.
As Data sat at the desk in the ready room, his fingers darted quickly over the computer console. On the screen, a new mathematical formula was being calculated. The chimes of the door then rang. "Come," Data replied.
"What will be the benefit of going into the Continuum?" Deanna asked.
Feeling as if he was at the end of his strength, Will gathered enough within him to shout, "Q!" He hated shouting to nothing to get the attention of someone who apparently could hear everything.
A flash appeared to Will's left and Q2 materialized, leaning against the desk. "Writer's block?" Q2 replied with a smile.
"I refuse to play this charade any further!" Will exploded as he pushed himself away from the desk and stood up, facing Q2 at eye level.
"What?" Will asked, eyes narrowing with unbelief.
"Just exactly what is this problem?" Will inquired.
Q2's face became uncharacteristically solemn for a moment. "You," he replied deadpan.
Q2 flashed out of the room and Will shouted in frustration, picking up the remaining two sheets of paper off the desk, crumpling them, and throwing them to the pile of other paper. When he flashed his angry eyes back towards the desk, two more pieces were waiting for him.
"Will, what is going on here?" Picard asked.
"You mean cooperate as a race as when the Taecate killed you?" Picard retorted.
"I suggest that you get writing," Q replied as he pointed at two fresh sheets of paper on Riker's desk.
"Creighton," a familiar voice said.
The voice caused Argyle's throat to swell and for his mouth to dry up instantly. It was from the grave, from beyond the dead. It was from Jean-Luc Picard and the sight of the Captain in Argyle's peripheral vision confirmed this.
At the helm of the Enterprise, Data worked frantically to calculate the exact equation that would make travel into the Q Continuum a reality. "Report, ops," Data said.
"They feel defensive," Troi reported.
"Crusher to Data!" the doctor's voice exploded over the com.
"Sir, we must abort the mission!" Worf insisted. "The safety of the ship is your paramount concern and if…" Worf suddenly collapsed as an energy string plunged into his body. It was the Continuum attempting to bestow the power of Q on Worf, only Worf's body was unable to handle the overload of power to his sensory and physical being, and his body rejected the attempt to give him the power of the Continuum. The result was Worf's sudden death.
In the midst of the attack, Dr. Selar was meeting with Keiko O'Brien, who was trying to come to grips with the news that was received a short while ago regarding the crashed shuttle Resolute and the news that her husband was declared dead. As they talked together, a wave of energy beams tethered through Selar's quarters, at once cocooning both Selar and Keiko in balls of energy. Both of them were submerged in the power of the Q Continuum, both of them were astonished by the power and might of the energy. Keiko embraced the new power, but Dr. Selar was not as fortunate. As Keiko entered into the Continuum, Dr. Selar was unable to grasp the logic of the sudden change in her physical and spiritual body, and died of an aneurysm. So many others resisted the power of the Continuum and were unable to handle the power, but Keiko took it all in, but apparently for different reasons.
The same power that endowed Keiko moved suddenly to the bridge, where Data's second in command officer became threatened. Keiko felt drawn to Deanna Troi because of the pain she was feeling over her husband's death, and she felt Deanna would help ease the pain. Even in the Q, Keiko felt the need to reach out to somebody else, she embraced Deanna in the power of the Q, and Deanna accepted it.
Once endowed, Deanna was relieved. She realized that she was bestowed with a gift that few could handle, and resolved to use it to the best of her ability to end the war that raged between time and space and the Continuum itself, or so she hoped. She at once vanished from the Enterprise.
Keiko, on the other hand, reveled in the power of the Continuum coursing through her being. She likewise took her instant leave of the Enterprise, but it was with a vengeful smile on her face; she now realized she had the power to stand up to those responsible for taking her husband's life.
As Data worked at the helm undaunted by the disruptions among his bridge crew, energy strings of the Q fragmented and composed themselves in front of him. Looking up, Data saw Captain Picard, but only faintly. "Captain!" Data gasped. In an instant, the image was gone. Returning to the equation, Data was determined to find a way to save Captain Picard.
In the engineering section, all was silent as a tomb, as the members of the crew had succumbed to a strange disease: their mortality failing to incorporate the immortality that was forced upon them, with the exception of Chief Argyle, who now joined the Continuum and found within the Continuum great turmoil and pain.
Within the giant casket of the engineering section, human eyes never saw the energy strings surging through the computer systems, equating and calculating as they went along, fighting to come to a concluding sum: To stop the Enterprise from entering the Continuum. These were the Q who were bent on the revenge against the Taecate, the Q who were determined at all possible costs to exact revenge against those who wronged them, but their vision was distorted, their goals were askew, and their determination was misguided. Another Faction fought against the Continuum, a Faction of the Enterprise crew who were bestowed with the power of Q and who could take it and use it; they formed together to unite a new Continuum, rebelling against the unity that made them strong, and it was sure that the house against itself was going to fall. Also joining with the Faction were the A.
"It must be stopped," the Continuum spoke.
The war continued, and over a simple ship that would serve no purpose to either side. However, if the Enterprise was allowed to the core of the Continuum, the remaining crew could become acutely aware of the weaknesses of the Continuum, as had the Faction when they had become Q. It was in the Continuum that the Faction had joined up with the collective conscience of the Continuum, realizing the truth of the words of a Q in his last moments of life in the Delta Quadrant, words that this Q had spoken to a particular Vulcan named Tuvok: "We may appear omnipotent to you but we're not." It was a weakness that the Q struggled to hide for millennia.
Guinan had realized it before, but never fully understood it. As a member of the A, she perhaps took her abilities for granted, never realizing what it would be like to not have them, and perhaps not even honing them to their fullest potential as others of her race had learned to do. It was only more recently that she learned to listen to the Q Continuum again, and to hear the faulty, dying heart beat of a race that once believed them selves to be Gods. Q knew this of the A, and they feared and respected it at the same time. Even as the El-Aurians, Q found that being in the presence of an El-Aurian was like being stripped naked and having your inner thoughts probed. The Q have always known that they, alone, were pathetic and miserable creatures, but the Continuum hid that, made them collectively stronger and powerful, and as long as they avoided the El-Aurians, they existed just fine. This relationship repelled as well as attracted them to the El-Aurians.
A similar attraction drew them to B'kor. It was the race of Forchinians alone that handled the equations of the universe so well that even their holy books were not written in a readable language but are written in complex mathematical equations that only the mathematically advanced could understand. The Forchinians alone had it within their ability to calculate an equation that would allow them to travel to the Continuum, every Q's nightmare for it would mean that then outsiders would at once know how weak they were. Therefore, they chose B'kor to become Q, feeling that he and Guinan had tremendous potential to restoring the Continuum to its former unity, as were their intentions in recruiting other members of the Enterprise crew into the Continuum. What they failed to foresee was that this Faction joining in a collective conscience had more potential for these formidable foes of the Continuum to disrupt the unity even further.
The battle in the engineering section ensued. The Faction knew that the former glory of the Continuum could not be restored by initiating new members, as they had tried to do once with William Riker. It had to come from a reconciliation among themselves; it had to be that they came to a place that they realized that they had erred erroneously against themselves when they treated their fellow A harshly. They had to come to the realization that they should treat each other with more patience and long-suffering, not responding to fellow Q by stripping them of their powers or by imprisoning them. They had done this enough that they now had lost their unity, and it was not the fault of humanity, the A, or any other species that the Continuum was in tethers and ruins today.
On Wadi Besor, they were trying to force a mere human to perform a trick by getting him to write a eulogy for one of their fallen comrades. However, the proper eulogy was to be written by the Continuum for the Continuum, for it was the Continuum that was killing itself as they selfishly pursued after their individual mortality, and in turn killing the universe and its multitude of dimensions.
Q observed the unfolding of events from the darkness of solitude that postulated his life. "All because of me," he muttered to the nothingness.
Q scrutinized the appearance of this female. "A?" he queried in astonishment.
"You can go back and tell them mortality isn't all it's cracked up to be," Q mumbled.
"Admiral Hetzett is there," Guinan mentioned, noting the glimmer in Q's countenance.
On the bridge of the Enterprise, Data took note that the members of his crew were now dead and the members of his crew that simply vanished to become part of the Faction; he alone controlled the ship. He also noted that computer control was being taken from him by the alien energy that had invaded the ship, and that the energy was tearing with tenacity at the hull of the ship. He made his analysis, he did his diagnostics, but he came up negative on the result of his search for any sort of feeling for the situation. He didn't fear and he didn't want to run; he didn't laugh and he wasn't distressed; he was neither, simply devoid of emotion. He lacked the urge to act, an urge that simply had been programmed in him to benefit others, but there was no longer anybody else to benefit. He even doubted it would benefit Captain Picard to bring him aboard a ship that had no crew. It was a program that he erased 10.794 minutes ago. He simply watched.
"Hull breech on deck five, section 7C," the computer voice said.
This meant nothing to Data.
"Emergency force fields are losing integrity," the emotionless voice said as if it were giving Data the location of his cat. Data did not have a problem with that.
Data simply stood and watched as the Enterprise plunged towards the crackling core of energy that comprised Continuum. The battle was won by the Continuum. As the Continuum departed from the ship, the Enterprise plunged towards the impenetrable surface of the energy anomaly.
In a brilliant flash, Data saw what he believed was his last moment of awareness. He blinked one moment and was surprised the next. Time, it had appeared, was frozen all around him. In a moment, he was going to be erased from existence, joining the Enterprise's computer in the abyss of deleted programs. Soon he would have no life, no existence, and completely gone. He would find that there was no afterlife for androids, that perhaps the speeches of the likes of Dr. Pulaski or Commander Maddox had made arguing that he was, after all, simply a computer and only a computer, was terrifyingly true. He would be gone, forgotten, and the anomaly and the cosmic garbage would remain, out living him, proving themselves to be more viable than he had ever been.
Data blinked. Surely the fourty-three seconds had passed by now? The brilliant flash subsided and Data was surprised to see Q and Guinan standing before him. They were the only three, apparently, that time had not frozen.
"What is happening?" Data inquired, trying to process the facts that he knew Guinan was dead and now she was standing in front of him.
"My long lost sister restored my powers, Data!" Q smiled.
"But not improbable," Guinan smiled.
Together, brother and sister waved their hands in front of Data and again there was a brilliant flash. Finally, the life long dream of Data was realized: he was human!
Laughter filled the bridge. Joyous, robust laugher, unlike Data had ever known before. Even with his emotion chip, he realized that he had never truly experienced emotions before. As it was with Captain Riker's organic cooking, replicated food was no substitute for the genuine thing. It was this way with emotions, Data realized: Synthesized emotions were not any substitute for the real thing. And all his life, Data had experienced synthesized tastes, smells, breathing, emotions, and the whole gambit of the human existence.
"I never thought I would welcome this!" Data smiled as he looked at his flesh and blood arms and legs. He secretly wished for a mirror and, in a flash, Q had put a mirror in Data's hands. Data saw his blue eyes, his human hair, his human face, and all his human features for the first time. For the first time he was glad, not synthesized glad, but genuinely and honestly glad.
"It is because this time it is a gift from us in love," Guinan replied.
"Not like before when I was just flaunting my powers," Q admitted.
In a flash Data was gone. Q and A likewise departed from the Enterprise and time became fluid again. The Enterprise collided with the Continuum, and was consumed in a brilliant ball of varying hues and intensities. The Continuum remained unaffected.
On a distant world, Data found himself standing among a crowd of villagers. The world he found himself on was, as Q put it, much simpler than Earth. He could sense no turmoil among the population, and everybody appeared to be at ease.
Data stood in what he determined to be the city square. The buildings were formed out of the giant trees that grew up all over and all around him. Trees that were mightier, larger, and more majestic than even the giant redwood trees of California. The people were all humanoid, and Data felt he blended in quite well. In fact, Q had supplied him with clothes to wear that would assist in his blending in.
In the pocket of his jacket, Data felt a lump. Inside there were identification cards and permits to work, own a home, and to live in this community. Also, Q had supplied Data with alien currency, which Data concluded would help him get on his proverbial feet, though at the time, Data was uncertain how long his currency would last him.
In spite of all these advantages being given to Data, somehow he felt incomplete. The initial joy of becoming human passed and he was now realizing the consequences of his actions. He suddenly felt sluggish, and was unable to comprehend why. Before, he simply ran a quick self-diagnostic and was able to fix his own problems. If he felt a pain now or felt as if something was wrong with him, he had no idea how to tell what it was. Not to mention that his structure of tripolymer composites, molybdenum cobalt alloys, bioplast sheeting, polyalloy, cortenide, and duranium was powered by biochemical lubricants and regulated microhydraulic power through out his entire body. It was a superior structure, able to exist in vacuums, under water, and in the most inhospitable places that average humanoids could never go.
The melting point of his android body was 2,617¡C and his boiling point was 4,612¡C. He could exist in sub zero temperatures as well. Now he was susceptible to the slightest burn and to frostbite. His structure now consisted of bones, tendons, muscles, cells, blood, arteries, cartilage, a central nervous system, brain cells that degraded over time, organic organs, and other elements that was causing his body to break down and eventually die. He once faced a future where he could theoretically be the only one who lived past the years of all his friends, but now his life, his years, were dramatically cut short. How long did he have now? Thirty years? Maybe fourty if he was lucky?
Data tried to think about it all, to process it all at once, but that too was a laborious task. He once had a memory storage capacity of eight-hundred quadrillion bits with a total linear computational speed measured at 60 trillion operations per second, however Data feels that there were times he was able to increase that speed, but nobody was registering his computational speed in those instances. Now he faced an existence with a human memory capacity, with short-term memory that decays rapidly and has a limited capacity. Data often observed his fellow crewmates using PADDs to help them recall information later, and often wondered why they would require such a seemingly useless device. Now he finally understood it all. He did not have the capacity, nor the speed at which to process the information he was presented with. Calculating how much currency Q had supplied him with, for example, took considerable work for Data where before it would have been a matter of mere milliseconds for him to calculate the sum total.
Data was not pleased anymore. He would have rather died on the Enterprise. Even if he had been a computer program deleted in the cosmos, no more eternal than the ship's computer, he would have rather died knowing he was standing doing his duty, doing what he loved. He looked around at the people he was placed among and pitied them. Once emulating them, once aspiring to be more like them, Data was now despising of them. He was angry at their shortcomings, furious at their acceptance for not being as much as they could be, and he decried the notion of spending his life in such a limited capacity.
"Is this what you wanted, Q?" Data thought to himself, wondering if Q meant for him to be mocked for the rest of his life. Q mentioned that the destruction of the Continuum might jeopardize his existence on this planet in the distant past, but did mention that him and Guinan may succeed at their efforts to put a stop to the universal destruction of time. Data decided he could not wait to find out what happened.
Then he noticed there was a lump in another pocket. This time it was an ancient handgun. It may have been there from before and perhaps Data had not noticed. He did notice none of his senses were what they were when he was an android either. Or was Q watching over him, waiting for him to fall and was placing temptation in his hands? No matter, Data decided. If nobody was watching, it would be for the benefit of Data, and Data alone, but if Q was watching, he was about to get a great show that he could tell the rest of the Continuum for the remainder of their existence.
Data already had enough and it was time to put an end to the misery of being human. He placed the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. There was no memory after that, no dark expanse that Q and Jean Luc Picard had to endure, nor was there a version of Heaven waiting for him. Had Data been able to be aware past the moment of death, perhaps he would have known that in the end Q did give him what he wanted, to be an android again, with all that entails.
On the surface of Wadi Besor, in the belly of the Federation outpost, in the middle of the vast ocean covering the planet, within the command center of the outpost, Captain Picard appeared, trying to reach out to Captain Riker, but was finding himself unsuccessful. He was trying to reach out in his disembodied form to tell Riker the words to write in his eulogy in an effort to save the Continuum and to save the universe, but his words were coming to his mind but not to his mouth, and not to Riker's ears.
"Such sound advice but it falls on deaf ears," Q said, appearing by Guinan's side.
Guinan considered this scenario for a moment: A being of unlimited power trying to throw beings of equally unlimited power into a brig? She ignored the surrounding Mounties as she listened. Wadi Besor was, at the very moment, being wrested from normal time and space into the gullet of the marvelous representation of the Continuum. Q2, as was the case with the remaining true Qs, was feeling the weakening in their inter-structure. To the observer, the enormous gateway anomaly was falling apart, the string fragments trailing out and away from the core of the Continuum. The interlinking powers that connected Q2 with the remainder of the Continuum were falling away, leaving Q2 with less than a positive advantage.
The Mounties tarried in their duties. "Arrest them!" Q2 again shouted.
Q, who had been interlinked with Guinan in the string fragments, fought to remain interlinked with her. He could likewise sense the decaying of the Continuum and knew that he must reach out to others to try to get them to join. Q interlinked with Guinan's unique power to listen and he inclined his ear towards the Qs formerly known as B'kor and Troi and Argyle. They were part of the Faction that formed against the Continuum, and Q beckoned to them, calling for them to join Guinan, to unite with her in this hour to fight against the Continuum. At once, the Faction joined Guinan and Q, united against the Continuum.
At that moment, The Faction manifested themselves to Q2. Q2 trembled within at the sight of the Faction. They were linked, and their linking provided them with far more power than the millions of remaining true Qs that existed now as separate entities, each seeking their own mortality and end to a miserable existence. The Continuum was torn apart, the fury of the Continuum anomaly had the all of reality trapped, and an implosion of space and time was inevitable. Q2 knew that soon his life would be ceasing. That did not mean he could not go out fighting.
Q2 threw up his arms and a blue flash that encircled Picard, a flash that was not only to remove him from the command center but was to remove him from all time and space completely. It was intended that Picard would be confined in a frozen moment of timelessness, neither dead nor alive, neither in life or after life, ever gone and ever forgotten. However, the Faction of four bound together and wielded a power that surpassed that of Q2 and the flash ricocheted off Picard and struck Q2 in his chest. He was sent backward against the wall, where he lay silent and still.
At this time the atmosphere of Wadi Besor encountered the Continuum anomaly, resulting in storms and hurricanes and electrical activity in the air that had an anti-affect on the unusual construction of the anomaly. There was a deadening implosion; all the string fragments of the rebelling Continuum imploded and then a subsequent explosion resulted, sending the fragmenting Q apart from one another, shattering them through out all of the known past and future. Alone, they perished for they had nothing else from which to draw their power. The end of it all occurred within a fraction of a second. On Wadi Besor, the resulting implosion and explosion caused typhoons and tsunamis and the electrical energy in the atmosphere charged the waters and killed all life within.
"I also have been waiting for this," Q said, appearing next to Q2.
"To face off with the master mind of our demise, how could I depart at such a time as this?" Q inquired.
If there was one man that had failed to prepare for this Armageddon, it was Admiral Hetzett. He wanted to run, to get off the planet, but he knew he was trapped within the Federation outpost. "Blasted Q," he blamed. He knew the remaining Continuum would soon come for him. He frantically ran through the station. As he tried to find a hiding place, he wound up in a shuttle bay, hoping to steal a shuttle, as if that would help him escape the omnipresent Continuum.
As he entered a shuttle bay, he noticed aliens in triplicate appearing literally out of thin air; a male, a female, and a babbling child. They were similar in species to him: aquatic. Their physical features included scales of flesh color, gills, and three fleshly antennae sticking up out of their skulls that had a crimson ball at the end of each of them. They were barely dressed, with minimal attire covering their mid and upper torsos. All the females wore necklaces made of large pearls. And those eyes, unlike any aquatic species known to Hetzett, were wide and insanely happy.
A new trio of aliens appeared approximately every thirty seconds and each trio appeared the same. Red alert klaxons were already beginning to screech throughout the entire outpost, alerting the Taecate crew to make their move to the shuttle bays, lest they be trapped, but Admiral Hetzett knew that with this weather and the electrical storms, they were indeed trapped. Before Hetzett could consider the situation any further, a dozen and a half Taecate soldiers flooded into the shuttle bay.
Oblivious to the Taecate soldiers, the aliens closed in on Hetzett. "Sir, are these more Taecate?" a security ensign inquired of Admiral Hetzett.
The soldiers submitted. As alien fired upon the alien male closest to Hetzett, the security ensign was stunned by a plasma blast that was fired at him. The blast only hit his hand, knocking his phaser from his grasp. "From where…?" he growled as he looked for the attacker.
The babbling baby with the parents gurgled happily as he shook his rattle. He aimed at another security officer and a plasma burst emitted from the seashells. The officer was hit and felled to the floor. The baby laughed with bubbles in his mouth and the father and mother just smiled serenely, all the while their eyes looking as if they had not a care in the world.
"Concentrate your fire on the children's' weapons!" Admiral Hetzett shouted.
"What are these aliens?" gasped Hetzett as he fell, noting an explosion had blown off his left leg.
"What of them?" snarled Hetzett impatiently.
"May the Federation obliterate them!" Admiral Hetzett exclaimed.
Nervously, Hetzett watched the approaching ten males. He looked around desperately and saw no standing security officer. Across the shuttle bay, he saw the solitary male, and those eyes…those eyes were unlike any of the other males. Those eyes were so familiar. "Q!" he gasped.
A flash momentarily blinded Hetzett. When he could see again, he saw those eyes just inches away from him. "Admiral," the cold, dry voice said.
Hetzett's lips only stammered in shock.
Q snapped his fingers and a flash enveloped them both; Hetzett's scream echoed in the shuttle bay for many moments after his departure.
In the atmosphere of Wadi Besor, Q and Q2, strong in the power of the remaining Continnum, held Admiral Hetzett within an energy field, tossing him back and forth like a rag doll. Their anger raged with their fury displayed in unflinching horror; even the electrical storms were fearful of the power the Q were exhibiting over the planet's surface and avoided them all together.
"Time for your judgment has arrived, Admiral Hetzett," Q said gravely.
"Your treason and treachery against the Federation and humanity and the all species has been exposed," Q2 added.
"I have done nothing wrong!" screamed Hetzett as he flailed about in the grasp of the Q.
"If it is all over for the universe then why not just let me be?" pleaded Admiral Hetzett.
"Justice would not be served otherwise," Q said.
"Does the accused have anything to say for them selves?" Q2 asked.
"He gave his confession!" Q stated.
"Now is the time for judgment!" Q2 replied.
With their remaining last power, the last of the Q Continuum hurled Admiral Hetzett into the upper atmosphere of Wadi Besor. His final plummet to the surface caused him to burn as he re-entered the planet's atmosphere, and as he re-entered, electrical charges from the storm pulsed into his body and charred him. A burning rock is all that remained of him as his remains plunged into the swelling ocean below.
As the remaining Continuum fought their final battle with Admiral Hetzett, at the core of the Continuum, at the finite moment of timelessness, a wave of power and judgment came against the Continuum. The new power in this battle was a renegade Q, a Q who had not sided with the Faction, the remaining Continuum, or A. This Q was a renegade, with their own agenda for revenge and justice. This renegade Q once was Keiko O'Brien, but she hung on to enough of her former identity to know the reason she embraced the power of the Continuum: to end the Continuum, the very ones that were ultimately responsible for the death of her beloved husband. Keiko, strong in her own power, which was undiminished as the Continuum had wearied themselves with war and strife, transformed Q2 and Q and the remaining Continuum into a comet and sent them flying uncontrollably through time, to a point where they would explode and die a violent and painful death. It was cruel, it was previously unthinkable, but it was poetic justice.
Alone, Keiko found herself separated from all Q, and alone she ultimately perished for she had no other Q from which she could draw power.
Earth, Siberia: The inhabitants near the area of the Tunguska River, on the day of June 30, 1908, witnessed the death of the final Q. The final Q streaked over the daytime Siberian sky, and exploded over the Tunguska River, releasing energy that killed animals and flattened trees for kilometers in diameter. People of Earth would come to identify this as an unsolved mystery, and postulate the origin of the explosion for centuries to come, never realizing the truth. With this, the Q promptly ceased to be, for the Continuum existed no more to hold the past and future timelines together.
In the midst of space, the remaining energy anomaly that was the Q Continuum exploded, shattering the fabric of eternity into shards. The mouth of Hades spewed opened and released the heat and the fire, much to the relief of the imprisoned demons and sinners. As the fires rose from the depths of the bowels of Hades, they scorched Heaven. Seeing an opportunity for escape, Satan himself called for his followers to fly out of Hades in an effort to perch themselves in the heights of Heaven, where they felt they would be safe from the consumption of fire in the physical worlds they once tormented. As they left their eternal punishment, they flew straight ahead into time as it was rolling back.
The angles of Heaven, feeling the fires of Hades scorch their paradise, flew out of the Heavenly gates and towards the worlds below which they were assigned to serve, seeking to subdue the fires and save the physical world as well as Heaven. Meeting the demons as they escaped from Hell, the angels had to fight the demons for their survival. It was a face off and none would survive.
A heard the cries of the warring spiritual beings as time was ending. However, A was caught up in the Faction, and struggling for their own survival. Q, of course, was no longer alive to mediate for the warring angels.
God, in His Infinite Wisdom and Grace, looked down. He had realized that His Heavenly Home had emptied out quite fast and was curious to know why. He looked down and realized that Q was dead, the angels were falling into mortal death as they entered time, and A had forsaken Him. He looked ahead and the future was no longer. Time had scrolled out before God like a papyrus, and at once God could see all the ages of time in one glance. At the end of the scroll, a flaming inferno was burning backwards, threatening to extinguish all the ages that had come and gone before.
So this was what it was like to be dead?
Captain Picard was disoriented. He had found himself on Wadi Besor and he felt his conscience taking on a new life among the Faction. He had felt a physical presence on Wadi Besor but he also felt a part of him reaching towards something beyond the present time. The need to reach was now gone, for he knew his ship was gone. Reaching out beyond himself, he knew that the rest of the universe was gone. Had it come down to this? Had the Q chosen to save Wadi Besor only to leave it to be destroyed in a final terrible display of treachery in reply to the Taecate killing one of their own? Or had the Taecate already been annihilated? He only found himself in the room again with William Riker.
"Unsuccessful?" Q said to himself in astonishment. Picard and Riker exchanged puzzled glances.
A flash appeared before them, Q2 appeared before them, his face ashen and grave. "The unity is disbanded," he announced.
"Q!" Q smiled when he saw Q2.
"Figures," Picard grumbled as he glanced over at Q.
"And you know why we stripped you of your powers, Q?" Q2 replied. "It was because of your rebellion, for instilling in the heart of the Continuum that their powers could be used frivolously, for self gratification. Oh, we stripped you of your power all right, but only in an attempt to teach your students a lesson. But other Q joined in the rebellion even after you were gone, some rampaging uncontrollably throughout the universe and giving the Q a bad name. The most radical would rebel to the point where we had to strip their powers and then they turned and killed themselves. They never forgot you, Q, and the last hope of the Continuum was to see if there was any appreciation in the heart of any species for you. If there was, we would have restored you, but there was none. 5,000,000,000,000 species had been contacted and asked to write your eulogy and there was none to be found. Alas, poor Riker, the last man at the end of time, will be confined to this room for an eternity, forever cursed with two pages of paper waiting for a kind word to flow out of his pen about you, Q. I suspect that there will be none written but if any truly kind words are written, his curse will be ended.
"Time for…?" Picard asked but never finished his sentence. He was removed from all existence. In the last moment he was cognizant of his being, he realized that the end of time had come for him and all those in that period of time, that the back lash the Q spoke of had already started and would have a rippling effect for all eras of time.
Wadi Besor remained in an expanse of nothing. It remained only to mark the grave of where a Q once died, placed by God in a futile attempt at a memorial for nobody. It was the final tomb of a once great but now forgotten species.
On its surface, some millennia later, Will Riker remained, a man without death, yet wrinkled and gray, his hair and beard trailing to the floor. He was at his desk, two pieces of paper were in front of him, and all he had to do to break his curse was to find something good to write in a eulogy for Q. Maybe, just maybe he told himself, if he was able to break this curse, the rippling effect of the destruction of time and space would be reversed and all could be restored. Or perhaps the final waves of destruction of time and space would finally give him a release from a horrific life of solitude on an alien planet. Yet the pages remained blank, his fountain pen remained full, and the crumpled pieces of paper of begun and failed eulogies had been cast into the vast sea of this ocean world, where the paper absorbed much of the water. The paper tossed had been countless, and only a few lakes and rivers remained on the planet.
The last road to travel makes for no turning back. There were no forks to choose from, no turn offs or detours to another road. There was only one road remaining and this was the only road to travel, and it was upon this road that Guinan and her Faction now found themselves.
"We could become human?" Troi asked.
"You shall see," Guinan said. The Faction's choice was cemented and they were cast backwards in time.
"They're standing by, Captain," Worf responded over the com.
Captain Picard stood in his ready room with Commander Riker, the periled world of Bre'el IV and their deteriorating moon in sight just outside his window. They had finished discussing whether Q was telling the truth that he had been stripped to being human, and Captain Picard was determined to forgo with their mission at hand as if Q were telling the truth.
The Captain reached to his personal view screen on his desk and swiveled it to where he and Riker could see it. Activating the screen, Picard brought up the two inhabitants of Bre'el IV that had been in communication with the Enterprise regarding their moon. "Yes, Captain Picard?" the alien sitting asked as his view screen was filled with the image of the Captain and his first officer.
"We have already started moving people from the coastal areas of the western continent," the alien reported.
Picard nodded. "We are going to make another attempt shortly. Picard out." Reaching down, he deactivated his view screen.
Suddenly, a strange noise surrounded the two officers. Beginning to look around, all Picard and Riker could see was a brilliant, but not blinding, white light. "What the devil…?" Picard began.
The two officers promptly walked to the bridge and found the same white light emanating from everywhere there as well. "Data?" Riker asked as he approached the second officer at ops.
Outside the ship, the Calamarain, an alien race comprised of an ionic cloud of energetic plasma, remained undetected. Infiltrating them at that point were new Calamarain, and these were the transformed former members of the Faction, including Guinan, Argyle, Troi and B'kor. At first, the Calamarain sensed no deceit. Aboard the vessel they sought was an entity that had toyed and tormented them throughout the centuries. It was Q, and in human form, a much more decidedly frail form than he had been in during previous incarnations.
Guinan had already discussed it with the Faction before they joined the other Calamarain. They were to set out to stop the Calamarain from harming or from taking Q, which would only lead to jeopardizing the Continuum in the future.
The Calamarain went for the ship. Going ahead of them were the new members of their cloud, yet the other Calamarain gave little notice to this as they sought to bring revenge on an old, old foe. As the Calamarain entered the brig, the Faction was already there. A war ensued over the slumbering former demigod.
Tapping into the strength she received from the others, Guinan and the Faction held the forces of the Calamarain at bay. They only hovered over Q's sleeping body, unable to touch him. "Who are you?" they asked Guinan.
"A traitor in our midst!" one of the native Calamarain insisted.
"We must take care of these traitors before we can continue with our plan!" another Calamarain said, to which the others fully agreed.
Taking the Faction from the Enterprise, the true Calamarain absorbed the ionic energy of the traitors into their own selves, leaving them dead, detectable now only as space dust at best.
Guinan, off duty and soaking in the beauty of the Arboretum, noticed something slightly awry. She gazed over at Keiko O'Brien, who was on leave with Chief Miles O'Brien from Deep Space Nine, and they were taking some time to visit old friends on the Enterprise. Keiko had complained about the lack of ripe fruits and vegetables aboard the Enterprise, stating that replicator technology had a far way to go. As she was planting yet another seed, her eyes lost their lock on her work and she looked up at Guinan. There was something awry.
"There is the holodeck," Keiko offered.
"Oh, I don't go into the holodeck much unless Jean Luc or somebody else might invite me along for an adventure. I prefer to relax in more realistic settings," she replied.
Keiko O'Brien could sense unease in Guinan, as if she was making small talk but there was something charging through her mind at that moment that caused her to be detached from the present. Guinan's eyes did not stay in contact with her eyes but followed up and out the window. Keiko turned her head and looked out the window. It was just a starfield.
Captain Picard sat in his ready room of the Enterprise-A, looking over routine reports of the day, when a flash appeared in the chair in front of his desk. He knew who it was before he looked up. "Q!" he shouted irately.
"I am not interested in…," Picard began.
"Interested or not, you're getting it," Q said. He waved his hand and in an instant, a rush of understanding flooded into Picard's mind. At once, Picard knew of an alternate reality just as if it had happened to him. He at once knew of the treachery and corruption of the Taecate government and their involvement with the corrupt faction of the Federation and their desire to have him assassinated. He knew of the sacrifice members of his own crew made so that the time line he was a part of could be restored, as well as saving his life, and he knew of the weakness and frailty of the Continuum, an incredible secret that he knew Q wouldn't share with just anybody.
Picard was stunned for a moment. He put down the PADD he was examining and looked at Q with astonishment. "Q…," he began to say.
"You don't need to say it, Captain," Q said.
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It was Q and he was eternally grateful. Listening intently to the undetectable, Guinan could hear a peaceful heart beat within the Continuum. She heard the cries of others that had lost their lives in another reality, and she heard the backlash of destruction was going to come back and destroy her but had ceased. For saving his life, she understood in her unique sense, Q saved her life, and yet there was a reward coming. She smiled to herself, much to the bewilderment of Keiko O'Brien.


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Trouble in pews of S.F.'s Glide Memorial Church
C.W. Nevius
Feb. 10, 2008 Updated: Feb. 9, 2012 9:25 p.m.
Pastor Donald Guest is the co- pastor at Glide Memorial Church. He's taking over for Cecil Williams. The Pastor is drawing particular criticism. Kurt Rogers / The Chronicleg Ran on: 02-10-2008Kurt Rogers
Glide Memorial isn't just a San Francisco church. For over 44 years, it's been a rollicking Sunday morning gospel jam session, an A-list celebrity drop-by (Sen. Dianne Feinstein was at the 9 a.m. service last Sunday)and a must-see tourist stop.
But lately, there have been rumors of trouble in the pews. Longtime supporters reluctantly admit that some of them are experiencing a crisis of faith.
"It's very sad to see," said Thomas Harris, a former member of the Glide Foundation board of directors who is an executive with Genentech Inc., who has left the church, "but I knew it was going to unravel at some point."
At issue is the concern that has been looming over the multimillion-dollar operation (a 2004 Chronicle story pegged the annual budget at $11.9 million) for almost eight years: Who will replace the church's legendary founder and spiritual guru, the Rev. Cecil Williams?
Several have auditioned for the job as pastor, but two years ago, Williams and the board awarded the title to the Rev. Donald Guest, a 59-year-old pastor from Chicago.
It would be safe to say Guest made an immediate impression. No sooner had he arrived than some of the parishioners, particularly some of the sizable white congregation, began to squirm in their seats. To them, Guest seemed angry, confrontational and loud.
That's no insult to Guest. He would probably agree. He tends to shout during sermons, admits he can seem angry when discussing injustice, and certainly doesn't mince words. Asked if he thought he was excluding the white members of the church, Guest gave a blunt response.
"No," he said, "but I do think white people are used to calling things on their own terms. That's the problem when people become wealthy and powerful and successful."
Strong words for a church that has always enjoyed the generous support of some wealthy (and white) businessmen and -women. The current board includes Feinstein's husband, Richard Blum, Anne Gust Brown, the lawyer wife of Attorney General Jerry Brown, and hotel magnate Chip Conley.
Williams, whose current title, "Founder and Minister of Liberation," is right out of the '60s, says Guest is only continuing a long Glide tradition of challenging its members.
"If you're a shouter, you're a shouter and that's it," said Williams. "Everybody is not going to love Donald. And everybody is not going to love Cecil. I like the fact that he's outspoken, smart and will take a chance."
But the concern goes deeper than the fact that, as one church member says, "Cecil was hippy-dippy, and Donald is fire and brimstone." They are deeply concerned about the church that has meant so much to them over the years. They worry that it is less inclusive, more radical and - although they wince to say it - racially divisive.
Guest, who is perfectly charming in one-on-one conversation, admits that he's probably a poor choice to preach the Summer of Love. He often mentions his '60s membership in the radical Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, whose chairman was H. Rap Brown in 1967. It was Brown, later the justice minister of the Black Panthers, who famously said, "Violence is as American as cherry pie."
Guest has never said anything like that and bristles at any suggestion that his sermons are racially slanted.
"Racist is an easy label to throw around," he said. "But because I am angry that my people are being thrown out of the Bay Area or angry about the foreclosures on homes of the black middle class, does that make me racist?"
Nearly everyone agrees that Guest has toned down the rhetoric since he arrived, but he's unrepentant about his core beliefs. After all, he says, he's been preaching for some 38 years. He says he's not going to stop shouting.
"I tell them it is a cultural thing, a black religious experience," he said. "People say to me, 'You're too angry.' I say, 'I'm calm right now, let's talk about this.' The fact is, I was all right when I was criticizing George Bush, but when I went to the Democrats, people got nervous."
Of course, as everyone admits, replacing an icon is never easy. Whoever took the stage at Glide would have a hard time living up to Williams' legend.
When he arrived, Guest says a church member told him, "I don't trust black ministers."
"But you trust Cecil Williams," Guest said.
"Cecil Williams is not a black minister," the parishioner replied.
But the controversy goes deeper than the personality of Williams. The dissenters worry that the legacy of Glide, the church that rose out of the Tenderloin in the '60s to become world famous, is threatened. Williams will be 79 in September and is not in the best of health. The dissidents insist that attendance is declining, and, in fact, there were some empty pews last Sunday.
Williams insisted, however, "We have not had a large exodus from Glide."
But church officials are clearly concerned. They will soon announce that Karen Oliveto, a Methodist minister who made headlines when she performed same-sex marriages in 2004, will join the staff. Oliveto won converts when she gave a sermon at Glide that featured a blowup picture of comedian Dana Carvey as "the Church Lady."
That doesn't sound like Guest's style, but it also doesn't sound like Oliveto's arrival will threaten him.
"This has been one of the greatest chapters of my life," he said. "If I can just afford a house, I intend to retire here."
Reach C.W. on
C.W. Nevius has been a columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle for more than 20 years, covering sports, reviewing movies and spotting trends. He is currently a metro columnist, appearing on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
As a sports columnist, he climbed the ski jump at the Norway Olympics, ate bee larvae in Japan and skied in the French Alps. In all, he covered eight Olympic Games, from Australia to Spain to Korea. (And the strangest place of all, Los Angeles.)
He also wrote about riding the "Straight Talk Express" with John McCain during his first presidential bid, parachuting out of an airplane and running the Boston Marathon.
Although he reviewed movies only for a year, he did rate a blurb with his byline on the DVD box of "The Santa Clause 2," to the undying embarrassment of his kids.
He co-wrote "Splash Hit," about building the Giants' waterfront stadium, with Joan Walsh. His latest book is "Crouching Father, Hidden Toddler: A Zen Guide for New Dads."

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PDF Download - The Red Queen Free Download
Series: The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels
Authors: Philippa Gregory
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The second book in Philippa's stunning new trilogy, The Cousins War, brings to life the story of Margaret Beaufort, a shadowy and mysterious character in the first book of the series - The White Queen - but who now takes centre stage in the bitter struggle of The War of the Roses. The Red Queentells the story of the child-bride of Edmund Tudor, who, although widowed in her early teens, uses her determination of character and wily plotting to infiltrate the house of York under the guise of loyal friend and servant, undermine the support for Richard III and ultimately ensure that her only son, Henry Tudor, triumphs as King of England. Through collaboration with the dowager Queen Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret agrees a betrothal between Henry and Elizabeth's daughter, thereby uniting the families and resolving the Cousins War once and for all by founding of the Tudor dynasty.


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A personal perspective on Black Lives Matter
Ana Reyes, staff writer
As many know, America is going through a lot, specifically with the Black Lives Matter movement. Many Americans may also be confused by the details; when the movement started, where it's happening, etc. According to an article by John Eligon for the New York Times, the Black Lives Matter Movement started in 2014 when 18-year-old Micheal Brown was murdered by a Ferguson white cop. As of 2020, this movement rose up even stronger when George Floyd was killed when Minneapolis police officer Derek Cahuvin knelt on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes resulting in his death. Floyd's death caused multiple protests nationwide, and even worldwide. Even though most protests have been peaceful, other protests have turned into riots which resulted in looting and the destruction of many communities across the country.
This has made people think that Black Lives Matter was just an excuse to have people loot stores and cause destruction. However, some people have realized that looting, as a form of protest, shows how society values materials rather than human lives. Black Lives Matter in America wants to fight against police brutality and the racial injustice that black people in this country have faced since slavery.This has affected black people and people of color, who have been seen as a threat simply for the color of their skin.
The movement has brought many people to protest defunding the police. When defunding the police, more tax dollars will go towards resources such as mental health care and rehab for people in poverty rather than to police departments. It is well known that there is a connection between poverty and crime, so providing these resources can reduce crime in impoverished areas. In return, the police can focus on more purposeful pursuits rather than over-policing these communities.
People have been protesting peacefully by marching across the countries. People have also been burning buildings and looting. Some people think looting and rioting isn't the way, while others say there is no right way to protest because that's what protesting is. To protest is too express disapproval with something, there's no right way to protest, somebody could peacefully protest and someone can't say, "that's wrong". They could express their concern or disapproval with their form of protesting but they can't say it's wrong.
At the end of the day black lives matter is going to a moment in history due to these protest for equality. Even though we may not see major changes from these protests yet, there is no doubt that they will having lasting long term effects in our country's history.


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Youssouf N'djoré
Côte d'Ivoire Country Director, Director of Social Development, World Cocoa Foundation
Focus Area: Empowered Communities
Youssouf N'djoré is WCF's Côte d'Ivoire Country Director and Social Development Director, responsible for managing relationships and dialogue with the Ivorian government, supporting country-level implementation of key WCF initiatives, and serving as head of the WCF Abidjan office. In addition he brings broad knowledge and expertise in the areas of community development, women's empowerment, education and combating child labor. He provides oversight and support to CocoaAction's strategy on community development and manages the Transforming Education in Cocoa Communities (TRECC) Phase II program, which is supported by the Jacobs Foundation. Youssouf is an agronomist with 22 years of experience in rural development in Côte d'Ivoire.
Youssouf began his career in 1995 at the National Bureau for Studies and Development of Côte d'Ivoire, and later served in the Prime Minister's Office, where he implemented a holistic and participatory approach toward rural development as the Planning, Training and M&E Manager of the National Project for Land Management and Rural Equipment. In 2002, Youssouf joined the precursor to Le Conseil du Café-Cacao and supported capacity building and organization among cocoa farmers. He was again appointed to the Prime Minister's Office in 2005, where he served as the National Coordinator of the "Oumé Child Labor Monitoring System" (SSTE) pilot project. Subsequently, he served as the Certification Director of the SSTE Executive Secretariat, where he led national certification efforts across cocoa-producing areas of Côte d'Ivoire.
From 2012, Youssouf has worked with Care International as Project Coordinator for Côte d'Ivoire for Mondelēz's Cocoa Life project. He developed CARE's overall Cocoa Program for Côte d'Ivoire and served as Cocoa and Private Sector Program Coordinator, overseeing three additional private sector projects (Cargill's "PROSPER", General Mills' Cocoa Sustainability Initiative II, and the women's empowerment component of Mars' "Vision for Change" program).
Youssouf graduated from the National Higher School of Agronomy, Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire, and has an Executive MBA from the University of Quebec at Montreal.
Related Content ByYoussouf N'djoré
Careers in Cocoa takes a look at some of the different backgrounds of those who make up the World Cocoa… Read More
Blogs October 9, 2020
By: Youssouf N'djoré
The Business Case for Village Savings and Loans Associations
As a social development professional and an advocate for women's empowerment, I am thrilled to see that Village Savings &… Read More
Blogs June 1, 2020
Empowered Women Can Change the World, and Cocoa-growing Communities
Each year, on International Women's Day, we celebrate women in our societies. As Social Development director at the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), it is my job every day to make sure the potential of women in cocoa growing communities is fulfilled. Read More
Blogs March 11, 2019


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Religious media organizations
Catholic organizations
Jewish organizations
Islamic organizations
Religious media production and publishing organizations
There are 8,417 religious media organizations in the United States. Combined, these religious media organizations employ 36,894 people, earn more than $4 billion in revenue each year, and have assets of $9 billion.
List of religious media organizations
Job trends for Religious media organizations
Employment in Religious media organizations is driven by large organizations like Moody Bible Institute (MBI), CRISTA Ministries, Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey, The Christian Broadcasting Network, and Jewish Community Center of St Louis.
Sizes of religious media organizations
Large organizations like The Christian Broadcasting Network, Educational Media Foundation / K-Love Radio, CRISTA Ministries, Moody Bible Institute (MBI), and Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) earn the majority of revenues among nonprofits in Religious media organizations.
Organizations with less than $1 million in revenue account for 12.7% of combined nonprofit revenues, whereas organizations in Religious media organizations with more than $100 million account for 19.4% of nonprofit earnings.
Directory of religious media organizations
American Jewish Committee (AJC)
With offices across the United States and around the globe, and partnerships with Jewish communities worldwide, American Jewish Committee works to enhance the well-being of the Jewish people and to advance human rights and democratic values for all.
The Christian Broadcasting Network
The Christian Broadcasting Network's mission is preaching The gospel of Jesus christ into all The world. The Christian Broadcasting Network's mission is preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ into all the world.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
Composed of all active and retired members of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy, The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops promotes the greater good which the Catholic Church offers humankind.
American Jewish Historical Society
The American Jewish Historical Society is the oldest ethnic, cultural archive in the United States. AJHS provides access to more than 25 million documents and 50,000 books, photographs, art and artifacts that reflect the history of the Jewish presence i...
The Contemporary Jewish Museum
The cjm makes The diversity of The Jewish experience relevant for a 21st century audience. We accomplish this through innovative exhibitions and programs that educate, challenge, and inspire. See form 990, part iii, line 1. The Contemporary Jewish Museu...
World Jewish Congress American Section
The World Jewish Congress (American Section) is a not-for-profit organization that provides support to the projects, activities and initiatives of the World Jewish Congress (WJC).
Museum of Jewish Heritage A Living Memorial To the Holocaust
The Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is committed to the crucial mission of educating diverse visitors about Jewish life before, during, and after the Holocaust.
Word Among Us (WAU)
The Word Among Us Partners is a not-for-profit organization exempt from federal taxes under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code as an organization described in section 501(c)(3).
Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU)
Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a nonpartisan educational and advocacy organization dedicated to advancing the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure freedom of religion.
Trinity Broadcasting of Texas (TBN)
Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) is the world's largest religious network and America's most watched faith channel. TBN offers 24 hours of commercial-free inspirational programming that appeal to people.
Want more insights on religious media organizations?
This category corresponds to the "X80: Religious Media, Communications Organizations" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.


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Recommended places to visit in Akko/ central city sites?
It's recommended to start at the Knights' Halls, where you can buy an all-in-one ticket to the different main sites. You can watch a short video about the history of Akko and an audio guide is optional.
Where can I purchase the all-in-one ticket?
At the information point in the Knights' Halls
Is there a Kosher restaurant in Akko?
Roots – kosher meat restaurant at the Knights' Halls courtyard Aamasbia in the Turkish Bazar
Recommended places to eat Hummus?
Hummus Issa, near the market
Hummus Suhila, across the road
Do you provide maps of Akko?
When do museums close in Old Akko?
Winter - 5pm
Summer - 6pm
Is there parking in the Old City?
Free parking: Hafir (moat) Parking lot
Eucalyptus Parking lot – Sun-Thurs free, Friday-Saturday payed parking
Payed parking: Abirim Parking lot – 20 ILS for full day.
What is the history of Your building before it became the information center?
THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE VISITOR CENTER (BUILDING 13/ 168)
The building (known as # 13/168) is a large, multistory home, located at one of the main crossroads of the old city.
Three of the city's markets meet in the building's square: The outdoor market, Al Tum market, Turkish market.
And the two major mosques of Akko: Al Jezzar, El Rami.
There are various debates as for the history of the building's construction history.
Architect Alex Kesten, who conducted an in-depth survey of Crusader sites in old Akko, claimed that the building is clearly identifiable as Crusader above ground.
The stages of development of the current building, began in the late 19th century or early 20th century, at the very end of the Ottoman era.
The building was built, in large or completely, during that period.
According to Abdu Matta, born in the old city and one of its known tour guides – local elders reported to him that during the British Mandate the building was a hotel.
Since 1948, building 13/168 was converted from a hotel into residential apartments on the first floor and a store on the ground floor.
It was announced as a conservation building for the following reasons: 1. It is one of the tallest buildings in the area
2. Next to the northern entrance is the monumental construction of the Sybil of El Rami.
3. The vaults of the ground floor represent one of the examples of monumental Ottoman vaults inside the Old City.
4. The first floor has unique windows, having an unusual take on the idea of the circular windows of Akko. They are intentionally constructed, as the top half is a half-circle and the bottom half is half of a rectangle.
What does JNF have to do with the center?
In 2006, JNF-USA launched Go North – a strategic initiative aimed at bolstering and developing the Galilee. The creation of the Information Center in Akko is an intrinsic part of the broader vision of JNF-USA, which anticipates the absorption of 300,000 new residents in the north of Israel over the next decade, and it's becoming a significant player in the country's economy.
In March 2016, JNF-USA officially opened a tourist information center in the Old City of Akko. The main goal of the Center – which is run by the Western Galilee Now association in cooperation with local tour operators - is to serve as a gateway to the entire Western Galilee for the 2 million tourists arriving in Akko every year.
The information center attracts many travelers taking in the ancient colorful remains of its port city, and guides them to the many tourist attractions in the whole region, this way strengthening the entire area. Getting visitors to see the interior region and to shop, dine, and stay overnight - required the vision of Jewish National Fund. Today, thanks to the information center, more and more travelers are discovering the lush landscapes of this region every year, and tourism is fueling new development and empowering the Galilee's younger residents to put down roots.
Recommended restaurants in the Old City?
Elmarsa
Doniana
Uri Buri
Amasbia
Where can I change money?
Akko change at the Turkish Bazar or at the post office near the entrance to Knights' Halls
Recommendations for a nice place to sit in the evening?
Elmarsa restaurant has a nice bar to sit at night.
At Akotika Boutique Hotel.
Efendi Hotel rooftop.
Is there a Spa or a Hammam (Turkish bathes) nearby?
Gettes Hammam
Efendi hotel
Pre-booking is required
How do I get to Akko train station/central bus station?
Bus no. 3 or 13
Or a 15 Min. walk
Do you have baggage storage?
You can store your bags for a small fee at Akko Gate hostel.
How can I get from Akko to Nazareth?
Bus no. 353 – direct bus from Akko's central bus station
1.15 hours
Recommended local coffee and sweets?
Kashash sweets
Sun-Thurs 9am-5pm
Sat 10 am to 4 pm
How can get updates about your events and activities?
Sign up for our newsletter or check our website
Where can I rent a car?
Nice Auto
22 HaGdud St.
10 min. walk from the Old City
How can get train and bus schedules?
You are welcome to use our computer stands at the information center or get the help you need at the desk.


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