Chapter 43 - Teaser! (Patreon)

The chapter is mostly done, but it needs a good bit of polishing before I'd feel comfortable releasing it.  I struggled greatly with where to cut the chapter off, because I've got a lot more to do in this arc, but I found a decent stopping point I think.  This chapter is going to be quite different than many of the other chapters in this story and is entirely original.  If I had to give it a chapter title, it'd be "80's Nostalgia with Q".  Expect it to be released tomorrow or Wednesday.  In the meantime, enjoy and speculate on just what the fuck is going on?

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Unknown Universe.

I came to consciousness slowly, with my head down and resting comfortably on my arms, like I had fallen asleep on a table or countertop of all things. My head was pounding, and I felt groggy and out of it in a way that I hadn’t felt since I had become an Augment at the start of this new adventure. In fact, it was almost nice at least in how nostalgic it felt. It reminded me of nights spent drinking till I was utterly shitfaced on base in Afghanistan with my buddies, and the overwhelming comradery we felt being in the shit together every day, knowing we could meet our end due to an IED or a sniper or an ambush by the Taliban or a hundred other ways. Of course, it didn’t feel great physically, but somehow I felt my body strengthening itself the longer I took the time to fully experience this old feeling, like my Augment physiology had been turned back on and it was dealing with whatever Q had subjected me to.

If I had to put a name to it, it felt like I was fucking hungover, which should be patently impossible given my physiology could process virtually any amount of alcohol I’d chosen to imbibe, even alien beverages that should have made me drunk as a skunk (or killed the average human) in only a few drinks. But when you dealt with Gods, impossible shit should be expected.

Was Q going for authenticity??

I lifted my head and took in the strange sight in front of me, now realizing that I was in the middle of a very packed bar or nightclub of some sort, with all the corresponding light effects, and smoke, and incredibly loud music! How hadn’t I heard the music prior to lifting my head up? And was that…Madonna??

Fuck me, I vaguely remembered this song from my childhood and that I liked it back in the day. Unfortunately, I hadn’t heard it since I’d come to the Star Trek universe. My computer at home, which had come to this universe with me, had had a lot of music illegally saved on it, like so many soldiers who had been deployed did, but it certainly didn’t have every song I’d ever heard and liked in my life stored on it. Illegal music sharing was common on deployment, but for some reason Madonna’s music hadn’t made it to me.

At one point or another I had looked up Madonna and other musicians and actors in Earth’s historical database and had found that she had never been born in the Star Trek universe. Some Augment had probably killed one of her ancestors and she had never been born and thus the people of that era had never gotten to hear any of her music. Of course, being born in that time didn’t mean she’d have necessarily led the same life or have become a very successful musician, but she’d at least have had the chance to.

I listened closely to the music, becoming entranced in the music in a way only an Augment with enhanced hearing could. That nostalgic feeling again was crazy strong, remembering riding in the car with my parents as my mother listened to songs like this while driving me to school or to karate.

If you gave me half a chance you'd see
My desire burning inside of me
But you choose to look the other way
I've had to work much harder than this
For something I want don't try to resist me

Open your heart to me, baby
I hold the lock and you hold the key
Open your heart to me, darlin'
I'll give you love if you, you turn the key