DisneyQ - Part One

In the last few days of October 2007, a colleague of mine at work decided that she was going to take part in NaNoWriMo that year; whats more, she decided that I was too so she wasn't doing it alone.

For those who do not know what NaNoWriMo is (which is probably most of you), it stands for National Novel Writing Month and it happens every November. The basic premise is pretty simple, participants have from midnight on 31st October until midnight on 30th November to write and post a novel of 50,000 words or more. And so on November 1st 2007, with only a couple of days to think of a premise and outline my story, I started writing my novel; a crossover between my love of Walt Disney World, and the only genre of fiction novel I ever read, Star Trek

I failed.

By the end of November I had only written just under 30,000 words, and while I hadn't finished the story, I was only a couple of chapters away from its natural conclusion; even if I had the time, there wasn't another 20,000 words of story to be told. And to make things worse, considering the effort I had put in and still failed, the colleague who had forced me into this month of work didn't even write a single word of her own novel. I put it away and didn't think about it for a long time.

Six months later, an on-line friend of mine read what I had written and insisted that I finish the story; so I did. And while it never made the originally intended length of 50,000 word; I did end up with a 31,000 word novel which I am very proud of and have had great feedback on from Star Trek and Disney fans alike.

So I figured I would post it on here for others to read and enjoy; a few chapters at a time. It is basically a novel about WDW, but with a Star Trek protagonist; so hopefully it can be enjoyed by fans of both or neither. Where I could, I used real details of WDW; although occasionally I had to take some poetic licence to make things work. Again I do ask that if you think other people would be interested in this, please tell then, tweet it out or post it on Facebook and spread the word; I should be posting a few chapters each of the next few weeks.

For the Disney only fans who know nothing of Star Trek, all you need to know is that there is a race of God like, immortal, super beings called the Q Continuum. Each member of the Continuum is named Q and one particular Q was a constant protagonist in episodes of all Star Trek incarnations from Next Generation onwards; although other Q have made appearences. Q is more of a thorn in the backside than an all out bad guy; but there is often more to what he does than obvious at the time. In later appearances, Q along with Q (a female member of the Continuum) had a baby (now teenager), named q. And in the last official Star Trek novel to have featured Q, Q and Picard saved the entire universe from being wiped from existence.

For more on the Q Continuum, check out this wiki page.

And so, with the introduction done; I present to you.....DisneyQ

Prologue

Bored.

Bored, Bored, Bored.

Sometimes Q envied humans. Sure they are far inferior beings that would never evolve into anything more; but their pathetically short life spans, half of which they spend asleep, coupled with how long it takes them to do even the most simple things gives them purpose; it gives them something to do. "Sometimes the problem with being Q," Q thought, "is that there's just not enough to do in the Universe; not that I haven't either seen already or caused to happen in the first place anyhow."

"I should have let that Calamarain get me." Q muttered to no one in particular. Of course he tried that and managed to pass the test he didn't even know he was taking by performing that one unselfish act; up popped Q, saved Q, saved the Enterprise, gave Q back his powers and so here he was. Bored.

The irony wasn't lost on Q that he was having thoughts so similar to those of Q, the first Q to be allowed to end his own life; an action to which Q himself was sent by the continuum to oppose in that joke of a trial with Kathy. "Dear Kathy," Q reminisced to himself, "an admiral now, stuck behind a desk all day; I wonder if she's as bored as I am?". And if Q, one of the most celebrated thinkers in the continuum, had come to the conclusion that there was nothing left to do; well what chance did Q have of finding something interesting. In the end, Q had assisted Q, or Quinn as he had started to refer to himself as, to commit suicide empathising with his reasons, which were mostly about being bored, despite the continuum’s contempt for the idea. But Q knew he could never commit suicide, he didn’t know why not, it wasn’t like there was anything to do now, but he couldn’t and that just left him here, now, bored.

So all these thoughts were futile; especially considering if Q had either been killed by the Calamarain or taken his own life in the past, following Q’s lead to escape the boredom, well, there wouldn’t be any Universe left to be bored of. “Picard would have never passed the test without me.” Q exclaimed to himself with an inflection that would have come across as a smug grin if Q weren’t a non corporeal being.

Because although Q was bored now, and had been in the past for such a long time, the end of the Universe and the events that had proceeded it had been; fun. For a short while by continuum standards, Q had really enjoyed himself and savoured existence. Maybe it was because there was so much on the line, after all, if he, and it really had been all his idea, had been wrong about humans, Picard or any of the lessons he had taught him, the Universe itself would be gone, engulfed into nothingness. So much like the humans themselves, his belief in them had given Q purpose, and there was always planning and anticipation of what was to come. Or maybe it was because while he had known himself to be right all along, Q, Q and Q opposed him all the way to the final judgement at Gorsach IX, and for much of the time it had been just him alone against the rest of the continuum; and that truly excited Q. Q’s part in assisting Q’s suicide didn’t go down well with the continuum either and added fuel to the fire and Q, Q, Q and Q argued so violently in the aftermath that the continuum deteriorated into civil war.

Looking back on it, Q was thankful for Q’s support; while she may not have agreed with Q’s belief in the humans as “the ones,” at least she didn’t dismiss his thoughts as Q and Q had. And of course, she had agreed to his plan to bring a level of harmony back to the continuum by conceiving a child together; the first new blood to be born in over ten millennia. Fatherhood; how rewarding. Sure, q had been a handful at times, he had even had to strip young q of his powers and force him to spend some time with Auntie Kathy to straighten him up a little; a little pot calling the kettle black but necessary. Q had shown q everything he could think of, filling him with all the experiences and knowledge the Universe had to offer; but when you can go from place to place in the blink of an eye and see one thing after another it becomes old. And looking at q now; well, he’s almost Q, looking to make his own mark on the Universe; a far fetch from the q once held in his arms.

It was all over now anyhow. Just as Q had always predicted, humanity and Picard had been “the ones” and when it came to the judgement at Gorsach IX, Picard had passed the test and saved the Universe. Picard had finally seen through the pretence of Q’s trials over the years, by his standards, as just warm up sessions for the end of the Universe and everything had returned to this; boredom. Even the gloating had gotten old. Obviously Q still wasted no time in reminding Q, Q or Q that he had been right and them wrong all along, and at first it had been great fun, Q was practically strutting through the continuum. But the level of smugness was dropping; Q, Q and Q just weren’t as incitable any more and if he were honest with himself, even Q was growing tired of it.

So here he was, a Q in the continuum; bored.

Bored, Bored, Bored.

“Oh would you give it a rest Q; your moping about is really beginning to annoy me.” Q said.

“Q!” Q replied, “Mon cherie; I am merely reflecting on the nothingness there is to entertain now that the Universe is saved.”

“Well get over yourself, the Universe is saved; life will continue and as long as there is life, then we shall find things to observe and nurture.”

“But I don’t want to just observe and nurture, I’ve just been involved in both the saving the Universe and shaking up the continuum. I..”

“Yes we all know how you were right all along Q, you, you, you. Have you spent any time with q that wasn’t bragging about your achievements; its all I’ve heard from you lately when you’re not sulking about having nothing to do.”

“That’s it Q!” Q exclaimed, “we should do something as a family.”

“I’m already regretting saying anything”

“A vacation. It’s something the humans do to get away from their normal lives…”

“Of course it is, always with the humans; maybe you should have stayed one.”

“Paris once talked of a place, you know how nostalgic he could be for old time Earth habits…”

“I really never paid that much attention to your human friends.”

“We’re going to Disney World!”

Chapter One

November 2007 – old Earth calendar

It was the start of a typical day at the Magic Kingdom, the flagship park of Walt Disney World, in Orlando, Florida. The skies were blue and within hours the sun and humidity would cause the temperatures to rise. The Lilly Belle had pulled into Main Street station and a small cast had performed a song and dance number culminating in a confetti cannon blasting off to signal the opening of the park. Throughout the day 40,000 people would pass under the railroad tracks; a good number of those were already there, waiting at the gates in order to run to their favourite attractions. Between the anticipation, the ongoing show and the families trying to shuffle a baby, stroller, 2 cameras, bag and have their tickets out ready, no one noticed the flashes of light that deposited three more guests that hadn’t been standing there before.

"What am I doing here?" q asked, "you don't even ask anymore?"

"Your father decided we should all go on vacation together;" Q replied in a tone that somewhat lacked enthusiasm, "apparently, this is it."

q looked at the humans around him. He had spent time with humans before, on Auntie Kathy's ship; part of a test his father had given him. But these humans seemed different somehow, they came across as even more primitive than Voyager had been; many of them wearing small black hats with two circular shapes protruding. q looked down upon himself at his own attire; a blue pair of jeans, q had been taught about human clothing by Icheb, and a t-shirt that bore a symbol very reminiscent of the hats the humans were wearing. He turned to his father who so far had said nothing. "Q, when are we?"

"Very good my boy. We have indeed travelled in time. The humans called this the year 2007; a little while ago even by our standards."

"So they will be even move primitive than before?" Q chimed in once she had realised what that meant; her demeanour dropping from unenthusiastic to downright unimpressed. "At least he hasn't dressed me up like last time" she thought to herself, suppressing a shudder at the thought of it.

"My dear," Q replied in his most charming voice, "at this point in time the humans hadn't made it past their own moon," Q chuckled, "only a hard full of them have even left the planet; they are trapped here like rats."

"Well I can think of only a few places I'd rather not be than here Q, so thanks for the history lesson but I have things to do. Care to join me q?"

"Definitely mother." q replied as he quickly moved to his mother's side. Q, however, stood still and made very little protest for someone about to be deserted by his family.

"We'll see you soon Q. You stay. Have fun" Q said as she smiled and snapped her fingers and...

Nothing

''Oh did I forget to mention?" Q quipped with a boyish grin, "I had your powers revoked for the duration of the trip."

"You did what?" Q shrieked; her annoyance with Q now not in the slightest bit masked.

"We're on vacation from being Q, Q;" Q explained, "how can we do that if we were still Q?"

Seeing the look on Q's face, Q decided to attempt an appeal to explorer in Q. "q and I have both spent time without our powers in the past and while things are that little harder, the level of reward with achievement can be hugely satisfying; you will love it.” Her face wasn’t moving, time to keep digging in a more grovelling manner “Besides; it’s not like q or I faced any danger while powerless.” Q knew that Q knew he was lying; both he and q had both faced death while powerless and around humans; this was going to be a hard sell even for Q’s suave self.

“Fine;” Q relinquished, “but I won’t forget this Q.”

Q had gotten away lucky and he knew it. The only thing an omnipotent, non corporeal being feared was an angry female omnipotent, non corporeal being; and Q was feisty even for a Q, it was one of her attributes that most excited Q. But he wasn’t going to let Q know how relieved he was feeling so he did what many had accused him of doing best; he lied through his teeth and put on a show. “Tremendous!” he bellowed making sure to grin widely and gesture wildly. In truth Q didn’t really have any idea what he was getting the group of them into or have any real desire to be there himself; but anything was better than being bored, and human culture had always fascinated him.

From seemingly out of nowhere Q produced three small pieces of card each decorated with drawings of odd looking creatures and passed them around, “these things are called tickets, apparently you need these things to get in and out so you need to keep them safe. And you’ll need some of these, they are called dollars and they work on a base 10 system, the decimal parts being referred to as cents; it’s what the humans used as currency.”

Q and q looked at each other quizzically as they held Q’s offerings in their hands; the concepts of what they were holding were primitive and basic but that made them easy enough to understand. Q, Q and q had all observed such basic systems on numerous planets around the Universe, but suddenly faced with the prospect of having to partake in them themselves rather than just laugh at other’s simpleness; it was just bizarre.

“So,” Q announced as he turned towards the entrance archways, “here we go.”

Chapter Two

"It's going to be a hot day today," Philippe Picard thought as he stood by the turnstile to the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad; "Thunder Mountain will be busy."

Philippe had only been working at Walt Disney World for a few weeks and found it exhilarating. He had grown up at the family vineyards in La Barre but had already decided to himself that the family business was not for him. He really didn't even like the taste of wine, although he was very careful to whom he confided that piece of information, his mother understood but his father would have been either very angry or very disappointed if he found out; Philippe didn't want to risk either.

So Philippe would sit at the table and sip the family's product, and if ever questioned by his father would explain he had to drive later that night or make up some other reason; luckily his mother always had his back and would collaborate his excuse. Spending his entire life working on the vineyard just wasn't an option that Philippe could entertain.

Telling his father that he wanted to get a job outside the vineyard hadn't been easy, and when he finally plucked up the courage to do it, it had been a very heated and emotional discussion. Philippe had never been more thankful that both of his brothers loved the vineyards; if he had been an only child his father would never have agreed.

He managed to get a job at Disneyland Paris, meant to be more of a temporary measure than a career choice, but he really enjoyed the work. So much so that he was still there nine months later when he was given the opportunity to take part in a cast member exchange program that would take him to Walt Disney World, the largest of the Disney theme park resorts; and he jumped at the chance.

And now here he was, working Thunder Mountain no less. In truth he believed the newer version of the ride at Disneyland Paris to be far superior, but this was one of the most iconic rides in the park and Philippe knew how important his job was as a part of the guest's overall experience; he took pride in what he did. 

Philippe saw the first people emerging through the walkways that led to Frontierland from Liberty Square; the main route from the hub to the furthest north-west corner of the park in which he was situated. Thunder Mountain being such a popular ride that people rushed to, in the hopes of avoiding the queues that would soon form, he knew they would be heading straight to him. "They've dropped the rope;" he thought as he prepared to speak in his best cowboy accent, "Hang onto your hats and glasses, folks, ‘cause this here's the wildest ride in the wilderness!"

***************************

It didn't matter how many times he saw it, it still made him tingle with joy and anticipation.

Mike Ridgway had stood in front of all five castles around the World before, each named for a different Disney princess; but while all stunningly beautiful, none had the same impact on him as Cinderella's castle here at WDW. He didn’t know exactly why it had such an effect, he thought it was more likely than not because this was the park he had visited as a child with his parents, so this park more than the others, and this castle more than the others stirred the child in him and brought back so many special memories. He could stand here and look at the castle all day.

Now an adult, Mike was a self confessed Disney Geek and proud of it. He had his daily rituals of visiting websites to read the latest articles, was a well known member of several Disney fan message boards and his iPod would contain all the best Disney podcasts that he would listen to religiously every week.

Living in New York, Mike wasn’t able to visit the parks as much as he would like; in fact it had been almost eighteen months since his last visit to the World; he had been to Hong Kong Disneyland in that period, but nowhere else felt like home like this did. Newly married, Mike had managed to convince his wife how wonderful it would be to move down the coast. He had used reasons like the weather, the possibilities and the lifestyle in order to convince her, all he really cared about was being close enough that he could become an annual passholder and visit whenever he wanted; now all he had to do was get a job down here and everything was set.

“Stacy wont mind me taking a little time out of job hunting to visit;” he thought to himself. After all, he couldn’t be down here and not visit the park at all, it would be sacrilege; especially as so much had changed since his last visit. He had read so many articles, heard reviews, even watched people's home videos of the new and changed rides on YouTube; now it was his time to experience them. Mentally he had been prioritising for weeks, Pirates of the Caribbean would have to be done, Nemo and Friends, O’ Canada and Gran Fiesta Tour all at Epcot would be good to do; Finding Nemo the Musical and Expedition Everest, which he only got to ride once as it had just opened on his last visit, at Animal Kingdom were musts. But most of all, top of the list, was the Haunted Mansion; which is why he had to get moving or the line would be huge by the time he got there.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had anticipated something so much. The Haunted Mansion had been one of his favourite rides as a kid, and while it remained one of the parks most popular attractions, it had really started to show its age over the past few years; the doombuggies’ sound systems had started to faulter, animatronics had started to break and not be fixed, and versions of the ride in the other parks had been upgraded while WDW’s had been allowed to stagnate. After months and months of internet rumour and speculation Disney finally announced that it would be shutting down the Mansion for a few months and spending thirty million dollars in order to restore and enhance the ride to not only match but surpass the other versions around the world. Once the rehabilitation was underway the rumour mill started up again with what the imagineers would do; Disney released certain information but was also careful to keep a lot of surprises in store for the reopening. So when it finally opened a few weeks ago the online community went into overdrive. It would have been near impossible for Mike not to hear about the changes, additions and surprises; he would have had to cut himself off completely. But, he had managed to resist the urge to watch any videos on YouTube though, so seeing it should still hold some surprises.

"I can't wait;" Mike thought as he made his way into Liberty Square, "the Escher room, floating Leota, new bride; this is going to be great!"

His upbeat attitude took a dive though when he realised that he could see the Mansion grounds and there were no people walking through them. "This doesn't look good," he muttered under his breath; and sure enough when he got the gates he was met by a cast member telling people the ride was closed. Mike's heart sank on hearing the news but the cast member added that it was a planned downtime and not a fault and that the ride would re-open by lunch time; so it wasn't the end of the world, she even gave him a fast pass ticket so he could walk in rather than line up"

"Waste a few hours in the Magic Kingdom;" Mike said to himself, "not a problem."

Chapter Three

Entering the park had been a little more hassle than expected; apparently these ticket things also involved sticking ones finger into a machine. In all the times Q had chosen to appear as a human, the need for representative detail had always been minimal, it had been more about the show and the lesson than the fine details; he was always still a Q inside and out, just looked like a human. Finger prints? What would ever have been the point of going into such level of detail when creating the perfect human form to appear as; and he did consider his looks to be perfect in every way. Q had gone first and when the machine had rejected her finger, Q had quickly realised the issue and with a blink of the eye given all three of them the needed identifying feature; Q just hoped that Q or q didn’t realise that Q still had his powers even if they didn’t. He quickly made a jibe about 21st century technology to divert the blame.

Upon entering Q, Q and q found themselves staring down the barrel of a long street crowded with people. There was noise coming from all around; families talking, children shouting, a band playing as well as music being played in the background and a very loud steam train pulling out of the station behind them. All the noises were drowned out however by the sight in front of them because what stood out more than anything else was placed just beyond the end of the street, totally unexpected compared to the environment in which they now inhabited; it was a castle.

Q looked at the castle with a sense of wonder. She had witnessed super novas, the creation of planets and life first hand before, she had even caused a few phenomena herself; but this single building captured her imagination. She wondered if it were something to do with the lack of her powers or something else that Q may have done to her; “damn Q,” she thought, “can’t trust him for a second.”

Her thoughts were cut short, however, when a ringing bell startled her attention. Seeking the source of the sound, she noticed a carriage being drawn by a horse heading straight for her at a fair pace; the driver motioning her to move. Acting on instinct, Q thought the oncoming vehicle stopped, Q would move when she was ready to, it would just have to wait for her. The oncoming horse and carriage didn’t stop. That was when the realism of not having powers hit her; “Q!” Q cursed under her breath as she quickly moved to avoid being hit.

“This isn’t right,” q exclaimed, “even in the 21st century, when they were still pre warp, the humans had mechanical modes of transportation; these buildings here are also non-consistent with time and appear to be unusually scaled; and the castle doesn’t fit in at all. What is this place?”

Q’s confidence in himself took over and he opened his arms wide; “Well,” he began; at which point he realised he didn’t have a clue how to finish his sentence. In fact he realised his entire knowledge of even the existence of Disney World had come from a quip that Tom Paris had made when asked what he was going to do next, but he had expressed “I’m going to Disney World!” so energetically that Q had surmised it was a special place in human history. Q inwardly scolded himself for not being more prepared; he had studied Earth for a long time before revealing himself to Picard at Deneb V but so much of this era’s culture had been wiped out by the nuclear World War III of the mid 21st century; this place included.

For the second time, in short succession, Q was glad he had retained his powers; with a blink of an eye he had his answer. “Well my boy,” he said again although this time with much more confidence, “Disney World is the ultimate incarnation of what the humans called a theme park. It was a place that young and old would go to immerse themselves in fictional places, enjoy rides and shows and have fun. The park we are currently in is called the Magic Kingdom, it’s the flagship park of the resort. And this park is made up of lands…” Q looked about and noticeably perked when he saw what he had been hoping to find, “here we go;” Q exclaimed as he took one pamphlet from a distribution box, he then opened it up to display a large circular diagram. “You see, here we are at Main Street USA,” Q pointed to the middle lower passage as indicated on the map, “it is purposely made to appear old fashioned.” all three Q had to laugh at the concept of the short lived humans of this time reminiscing about when they were an even more basic race.

“So gang;” Q asked with a peppy tone, “where do we want to go first? Do we explore the unknown on the Jungle Cruise, battle the Evil Emperor Zurg on Space Ranger Spin or witness Snow White’s scary adventures?”

Q and q looked to one another; again not looking impressed. “Q,” Q started, “this is your adventure, why don’t you lead the way and we will follow while imagining all the ways we are going to punish you once we have our powers back.”

“Great!” Q exclaimed ignoring the threats, “Then to Fantasyland it is.”

...........To Be Continued