Academy Connect
Turv's right hand... that is to say, the right hand Turv was currently using, carefully cupped the pointed ear on the right side of his head. He moved it down, feeling a distinctly pointed, distinctly Indorian chin. No, no this was all wrong. This was definitely all wrong. He moved the hand further down, and the breasts he found there... well they were definitely wrong.
Turv th'Barnet was fairly sure that when he had gone to sleep the night before, he had been an Andorian than. He now appeared to be an Indorian zhen. Right. Right. Deep breaths, Turv, he told himself. You're a Starfleet Academy cadet. Whatever this is, you'll... you'll...
A little investigation of the dorm room in which he'd awoken showed that his new body appeared to be a fellow student by the name of Iori Yonduu. Thankfully her roommate had already left for the morning, so Turv got dressed in one of Iori's cadet uniforms and walked out into the pleasantly chill San Francisco air.
He ought to report this to someone, right? But wouldn't they just think he was crazy, snapped under the pressure? Or, no, Starfleet saw a lot of weird things, at least according to all the Explorer Corps stories everyone always talked about. As he debated this, Turv found himself walking along a familiar route without quite meaning to. This time of morning on this day, and he would normally be reporting to his xenopsychology class.
As the appropriate building drew near, Turv saw an Andorian who looked oddly familiar. It was... it was himself! His own body, standing near the building entrance, gently fiddling with his antenna as if feeling them for the first time. Seeing yourself from the outside was weird.
Approaching himself, Turv fumbled for his words. "Er, this might be a strange question but... are you in the wrong body? Are you Iori Yonduu?"
"Yes. And no," replied his body, carefully. "I am Uzziti. And you appear to be Iori Yonduu. And the body I am in would be Turv th'Barnet. I recognize both from class."
===
After a brief discussion, Turv also recalled that Iori Yonduu was in his xenopsychology class, something he ought to have remembered if not for his panic. So was Uzziti, who was an Apiata worker caste.
Uzziti told Turv, "I'm not sure asking campus staff for help will work. On my way here I met Counsellor Fujei. Even though my thoughts had to be full of chaos and panic, he reacted as though everything were normal. I thought maybe to say something, but I didn't. I am uncertain if it was a mental compulsion or if I just genuinely want to solve this myself. When I realized that both myself and Turv th'Barnet were in the same class, I came here to determine if there was any connection."
Two could have been a coincidence. Three made it unlikely, both of them agreed. They decided to go to class as normal and keep an eye on who else might be showing up. Soon enough a Seyek arrived who seemed to be having a suspiciously difficult time with his locomotion. Yurv and Uzziti confronted him and got a swift admission that inside was Iori Yonduu. The arrival of Uzziti's body containing the Seyek named Yaichi Gashii completed the set.
Turv th'Barnet (Andorian) ---> Iori Yonduu (Indorian) ---> Yaichi Gashii (Seyek) ---> Uzziti (Apiata) ---> Turv the'Barnet
"Today we'll be doing a group exercise," announced the professor after they had, uncertainly, settled in. "You'll be gathering in teams of four."
Suspicious, thought Turv.
"Consult your PADD for your randomly assigned team," continued the professor.
Turv looked at the message on his PADD.
Team
Turv th'Barnet
Iori Yonduu
Yaichi Gashii
Uzziti
Of course. As for the assignment itself, Turv was quite sure this was not what most of the class had gotten. It read:
The Starfleet of the United Federation of Planets purports to be many species working side-by-side in common cause. All of you doubt whether you can truly live that way. All of you doubt you can truly understand another species. All of are unsure if you continue at the Academy. Today we will find out.
Do you want your bodies back? Resign from Starfleet Academy and the problem will solve itself.
Do you want your bodies back without resigning from Starfleet Academy? Attached is a list of places to go today and problems to solve. Go, solve, and experience another point of view. Learn what it is to be another. Prove yourselves
Those are your only options. You will find you cannot report this.
Your patron,
Seventeen of Twenty-six
The message was followed by an even more cryptic set of instructions naming various locations around the Academy and hints as to what was to be accomplished there.
Turv looked at the three others who had received the same message. They nodded at each other and converged. Whatever being was playing with them, they would beat its game.
===
Q, or at least the part of Q's being focused on this nexus of space and time, waited in Q's office at the academy. Q was a teacher at Starfleet Academy; of course Q must have an office!
It was evening, local time. In addition to the "special lesson" that Q was teaching the four Academy cadets, Q had faithfully spent the day teaching various subjects in a more mundane sort of way. Well, more or less mundane. Barring a few field trips that certain classes would remember only in their dreams. But really, how could one understand an anti-matter reaction without observing it from inside at least once?
Now Q waited, carefully suppressing Q's awareness of the immediate future. Thus it was a surprise when the door opened suddenly, no chime, no polite request. Q had been sure Thuir would knock. Thuir was usually politer than that.
Academy Commandant Michel Thuir looked a little angry, actually. "I told you Q, no more toying with my cadets!"
Q traced the timeline backwards, and sure enough Thuir's space-time coordinates crossed path with those of the four cadets only a short while ago. With all of them, though he appeared to have spent more time with Iori Yonduu. Well. Surprising! Except in a way it wasn't.
Q carefully adjusted the facial expression on Q's avatar, the same form of a human woman that Q had been using with Thuir for years now. Q kept the avatar aging appropriately for the approximately thirteen years since they had first met (from Thuir's perspective) as a gesture to make Thuir comfortable.
The avatar smiled charmingly. "I am not toying with them, Michel. I'm teaching them. It will be a valuable lesson, I'm sure. Why, they would have dropped out if not for me."
As Thuir glowered, Q reached out and took the basket that Thuir was holding. "You brought sandwiches! How nice. Did your yeoman pick these up for you?"
"Don't change the subject. I can't make you leave, but we can't keep having these d-" Thuir coughed, "these
meetings if you're going to treat my students like that. You switched their bodies!"
"They told you that?" asked Q.
"They didn't need to tell me. I was passing by, and I noticed four cadets behaving strangely. I knew you were connected, somehow. When I questioned one for a while, I figured out what had happened. I suppose you stopped them from telling anyone."
Strictly speaking, Q had stopped anyone from noticing. The fact that Thuir had noticed anyway were perhaps a sign of the deepening connections between Q and Michel Thuir. Were likely what had drawn his attention to cadets 'behaving strangely'. Were possibly what had allowed him to make such a ridiculously accurate guess. Possibly. Though Q supposed he might have actually just put it together using the intuition of the most cautious of the Explorer Corps captains.
"I did switch their bodies," Q confessed. Q put the avatar's hand over the avatar's heart. "Don't worry, they'll be back in their own bodies and their own beds by tonight. All the wiser for the experience."
Thuir seemed to realize that getting angry was getting him nowhere and sat down. "So is one of them what you're really here for? Why you've been haunting Starfleet Academy almost since the day I took over as Commandant?"
Q's avatar frowned. "Not at all. I've told you before, Michel. Haven't I? I'm here because you are. My... teaching career is more in the way of a hobby while I interactively observe you."
"Why?! I understand why you grabbed me when I was captain of the Miracht. An Explorer Corps captain is the face of the Federation. You took me on on that; challenged me; made me defend humanity. But now, what's the appeal? I'm past the part of my life where I do anything interesting. Now I spend my time training cadets to go out and brave the universe. My best days are behind me."
What a terrible thing for any sapient to say, Q thought. Thuir seemed pretty horrified himself; probably he had just voiced a deep-seated anxiety.
Q decided it was time to be more direct than Q usually cared to be with Thuir. "You are special to Q, Michel. It was you who formed the window for Q's to understand all the others of your Federation. You continue to fascinate Q. Q no longer wishes to put you on trial; now Q- I want to know you."
"That's not worrying at all," snarked Thuir. He rubbed his head and looked tired. "If I'm what's keeping you here, maybe I ought to resign. …. You're sure that those cadets won't suffer some deep psychological trauma from your 'lesson'?"
"I promise."
"It's hard to 'know you' when there's such a power differential between us," Thuir continued.
Q had the avatar shake her head. "I am not a genie, Michel. Don't fear; I am not here to grant your wishes, nor to force you to be anything but yourself."
"Right." Thuir got to his feet and took the basket back. "Do you still want to-
Q shifted their space-time coordinates and they were at table on a balcony overlooking the last afterglow of sunset. "I may occasionally convenience myself, however."
Thuir shook his head with a small smile and then took the sandwiches and other food out of his basket and spread them on the table. It was time for their meal-ritual. Q had no need for food, but every need for the ritual. They talked. Thuir discussed his day. Q talked about teaching.
"I'm probably going to be moving on from Academy Commandant and to another post next year," Thuir remarked at last.
Q's avatar nodded politely as though this was news to Q.
"Not sure what I'll do next... Maybe apply for a sector command. I'd like to get back into space, as long as it doesn't mean fighting in another war," Thuir continued.
"I would hope not. The wounds you took fighting the Arcadian Empire set you back years," replied Q.
"I wasn't wounded-" replied Thuir. "Or, you don't mean physically, do you? Wait, set me back from what?"
Idly, Q simulated what would happen if Q chose this moment to reveal the full extent of Q's interest in Thuir. Mmm. No. No, it certainly wasn't time to say that. For the future then.
Instead, Q's avatar smiled mysteriously and shook her head. "I don't know what you were going on about with your 'best days behind you' or whatever Michel. The future is open for this universe's version of you! Not like the you that's the Challorn; spaceships won't really be acceptable for flag promotions until you bring in the- oh, but I mustn't spoil that!"
"The me that's the Challorn?" asked Thuir, as Q had known that he would.
Q's avatar gestured for effect and a projection appeared to them of another universe where the starship Challorn, covered in glowing blue bio-growths, orbited over a planet (specifically the planet Nigim in the Azsi system) and shot an infection beam at the surface. Thuir gasped and said, "The Biophage."
Q shifted perspective to show that the beam was impacting a continent of rogue nano-bots, causing them to break down and disassemble themselves. "In a way. This is a universe where you had a bit more... pain... to go through in resolving the biophage crisis. But you came through it in the end, albeit more
attached to the Challorn."
Thuir looked at the other version of himself, mostly disturbed but also, in Q's estimation, with a small amount of curious envy. What starship captain hadn't had the 'being your ship' dream? "Why do you show me these things?" Thuir asked at last.
"To deepen the connections between us," said Q truthfully. "And because it's funny to watch you react," Q added, also truthfully. Q banished the projection.
"Are you planning on following me to my next assignment?" asked Thuir.
"I may be less... obtrusive," Q allowed. "The environment here at Starfleet Academy makes it easier for me to act without violating the Continuum's rules. So many literally asking to be taught lessons! However you can be sure that I'll continue to check in on you regularly."
Thuir looked at the avatar, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"After all, the Continuum very much enjoys our dates," continued Q with perfect timing.
Thuir spread his hands in a 'can you believe this' gesture, but didn't deny it. Q felt another connection build between them. Another understanding, however limited, of each other's point of view.
What else is exploration for, if not making connections?
