Meet Q Gadol
PrevNode LinkNext[ They enter a well-lit Café with many places to sit. There’s a machine looking like a replicator nearby. ]
Jake: Yeah, I’m thirsty. [Goes to the replicator]
Jake: [To the replicator] Orange juice.
[ A cup of Orange Juice materialises. ]
Katie: Pink lemonade. [Ditto]
[ They drink. The other people order. ]
Katie: Emmm… this tastes delicious. It’s like real lemonade. Much better than a replicator.
Jake: Yeah, it’s really good.
Pleena: Well, technically these are real juices. This replicator is based on a transporter’s principle. We take an actual cup of juice, store it, and duplicate it precisely.
Odo: But isn’t it kinda wasteful?
Pleena: Possibly, but the Q Continuum can afford this waste in its current form.
Mantoleer: The funny thing is that some Qs insist on growing their own food claiming it tastes better or because they enjoy it. I admit sometimes the dinners they give with this food are exceptionally delicious, but it may be a psychological effect.
Katie: Heh. [sips on her drink]
[ Someone enters. He looks in his 50s and wears a cotton sweater with the words “Q GADOL” embroidered on it. ]
Q Gadol: Hi!
Pleena: Hello, Q Gadol. Meet Katie, Jake, Odo, and you already know George and Mantoleer.
Katie: Q Gadol? “Q is big?”, “Q the big?”, reminds me of what that child said about “Q”.
Q Gadol: Yes, I was the child, hence my name.
Jake: But you look older than Q, and Q is older.
Q Gadol: By 30 years or so, yes. Anyway, I feel a bit more mature so I’ve made a choice to look older.
Jake: So can one or cannot one judge a book by its cover?
Q Gadol: Depends how well your book cover intuition is.
Q Gadol: I’m glad to finally meet you, Jake. I’ve been a fan of your stories lately.
Katie: Don’t they rock?! I wish I could write like that. [She kisses Jake on the cheek.]
Jake: [Jake seems content and smiles stupidly.] Katie, have you tried starting from telling about your real-life? I’m sure there are a lot of stuff that have been happening to you on the OTF-1.
Katie: Well, I may have lied when I said that it was so exciting. Most of the time, they just hire us to protect shipments, or patrol some operation, and nothing ever happens. But we’re still needed in case something does. And being a system administrator-slash-programmer who’s not even a fighter is not exactly exciting either.
Q Gadol: Yes, but I’m sure you’ll have plenty to write about. Maybe stories from your childhood, or from college.
Katie: Maybe… But enough about boring ol’ twenty-something-old…
Jake: And looking much younger…
Katie: [Amused.] OK, like I said let’s hear it from the ancient one.
Q Gadol: Well, I don’t suppose my whereabouts a milliard years ago would be of much interest or relevancy for today. But I can tell you of my adventures as a German scholar on Earth.
Katie: German? You?! What prompted you to become German?
Q Gadol: Oh, just a weird fascination with the language and culture. The Germans are a pretty good lot. I met all the great German-speaking physicists and mathematicians and Bible researchers and what not. Back before World War II, German universities were the best in the world, and I enjoyed this fact.
Jake: World war II…
Q Gadol: Yes, what devastated Germany for many years.
Katie: But Germany was hardly affected by it.
Q Gadol: Not true. See, Hitler hated his own people just as much as he hated Jews or whoever he projected as the enemy-du-jour for people to be willing to commit their inhuman (if that’s the word) acts.
Q Gadol: See, the Third Law of Motion applies to human actions too: every action either benefits you and society at large, or it harms both of you. Hitler was not a bad person at first - maybe he was a little anti-Semitic, but that’s not enough to make you bad.
Katie: Reportedly all the greatest gentiles were antisemites [Giggles].
Q Gadol: Well, not all, but it’s been a trend. Anyway, evil is an addiction, and Hitler became addicted to it. And like Pharaoh in the book of Exodus he wouldn’t give up even if it was too late. He ended up dead in his bunker.
Q Gadol: We humanoids, or [looking at George] super-intelligent cats, or whatever, must fight Evil from within and without. We can never be completely benevolent. But like being honest, or being objective, or many other good traits, we must always strive to make the deviations as isolated as possible and to learn from our mistakes. Because when giving in to lying, dishonesty, subjectivity or mysticism, lies the road to disaster.
[ Katie is in tears. Cut. ]