[sir num nums]

Originally Posted by rhacker382

When THEY kick in your front door,
how you gonna come?
With your hands on your head,
Or on the trigger of a gun?

HEY! I was only on Cops once, but that's all behind me now.

[starbase63]

Originally Posted by ChristopherPike

Them?

What? Giant ants from a 50's B-movie?

Did you see my post on page 2 or are we just on the same wavelength? :Thumbup:

[RedShirtWalking]

Yeah...clicked on the link...still don't know who "THEM," "THEY," et al. are. Someone's implying that they're the Q? Yes? Maybe?

How about spelling it out for those of us who really don't have a lot of time to read the novels?

[*THEM*]

THEM are some kind of 'ultimate' beings, being, force, etc that seem to be in control of well... everything in not only the Star Trek universe, but the who knows how many OTHER universes - they come off as THE beings of the well, um 'reality behind everything'.

They 'talk' really cool, all at the same time and the book shows this by using different brackets, like {this}[this](this). It gets confusing, and it's supposed to. The writer uses the brackets perfectly to convey confusion.

The book is about Q and THEM. Q, meaning all of the Q, are aware of THEM, but Q are powerless to stop THEM from 'erasing' the Universe Q and everything else Star Trek is in. Thus, the book is about Q going over every encounter with the Enterprise crew, with Picard as the focus. The book explains that everything Q has done since first contact, the farpoint mission, was to prepare Picard to be the chose one to 'meet' THEM and stop THEM from deciding to erase the Universe simply because they are bored with it.

The book shows at the start THEM judging many other Universes, most with WILDLY more advanced people meeting THEM than Humans are when Picard meets THEM.

But since Q has been sort of 'grooming' picard, Picard does something that no one expects to 'please' THEM - save for perhaps Q.

What does he do?

He lets out a bellowing ongoing laugh, laughing at the absurd nature of what is going on as he is 'floating' in THEM'S erhm, 'space' - with Q looking on.

How Picard finds THEM is that he finds their 'test planet' filled with puzzles. He used things he has learned in the past, like Anji's 'time slowing' trick. Worf uses his personal knowledge of different timelines to what he thinks is the correct thing to do -with upsetting results.

I could go on, but I strongly suggest you read this book if you like Q even a little. The scope of the book is way beyond what will ever be produced on TV or in the movies - the budget would spiral out of control to try to convey this book.

There are moments when we rapidly jump between places, ships, etc in all 4 quadrants. We visit the Malon, then a Ferengi trader in the Gamma Quadrant. We go to the Romulan empire as they try to recover from Nemesis. etc.

Try it, it's a quick read!