(Untitled)

[psychicjohnny]

What: Brian meets Wesley
Where: In town
When: Today
Who: Brian and Wesley
Rating: PG
Status: Closed and incomplete

Comments

[shut_up_wesley]

If Wesley were anyone else--if he had served on any ship other than the Enterprise-- a fairy that bestowed shoes would have seemed downright bizzarre.

As it was, Wesley shook his head, and considered ordering a pot of tea.

"No, he probably has something to do with what brought you here. I think, as strange as this sounds, you've actually switched places with a version of yourself in an alternate dimension." It made more sense than everyone being randomly assigned a different personality, anyway. "And there's no way a quantum singularity or a wormhole would be responsible for that. A singularity is a fixed event in space-time, and a wormhole is a stable spacial anomaly that allows travel from one distant point in space to another." Wesley explained in a bit of a rush before realizing that he'd probably spoken right over the head of the other young man.

"Oh, sorry, I'm from the future, 24th century, so a lot of science fiction has been proven. Anyway, John Smith isn't too suspicious, there was a John Smith in British colonial history, wasn't there?"

[psychicjohnny]

"An alternate dimension? You mean this is a parallel universe to mine?" Honestly, that was a little disappointing to Brian. He'd been hoping this was his universe, just the future of it. He listened carefully to Wesley's words, thinking carefully before he responded. "But since alternate dimensions aren't located in the same space, strictly speaking, couldn't there be a wormhole between them?"

"You're from the future?" Now this was excellent. Brian loved this. "The twenty-fourth century? So is this kind of thing taught in elementary schools there?"

Brian nodded. "Oh, yeah. John Smith and Pocahontas. But in my time, at least, it's used as a pseudonym a lot. When someone doesn't want you to know his real name, he says he's John Smith. Pretty common."

[shut_up_wesley]

Perhaps if Wes shared the Captain's love of pulp mystery novels, he would have remembered that.

"Well, that's just a theory, I'm not really sure, to be honest. But even parallel universes can have a lot in common with each other, I mean, I honestly couldn't tell if this is a parallel universe to mine, so much is the same, down to Star Wars existing as a science fiction story."

Wesley laughed a little at Brian next question. "Not exactly elementary school, but it is taught. At least the theory, some of it still hasn't been proven, if you can believe that." With a smile, he looked down to admire his new shoes. He was vaguely suspicious that this could be Q's doing. Now that he thought about it, the entity did like to lounge on the floor of the bridge when he was tormenting Captain Picard.

[psychicjohnny]

Brian nodded, forehead wrinkled in concentration. This was all utterly fascinating to him. Honestly, it was a fun puzzle to try to figure out how it worked, but it would've been okay even if he never figured out how it worked. He was basically living in a science-fiction story, and suddenly all the pressure was off. He could be smart or not smart. He didn't have to get into a good school or study hard or get all As. No one here cared. It was amazing.

Brian smiled and shrugged. "Well, you guys probably know all kinds of things that I don't know about, but I'm always happy to learn." That was true. He might not like the pressure associated with school, but he loved learning.

[shut_up_wesley]

Wes nodded. "So, what's your era like? I'm afraid I really never...paid that much attention in 20th Century history." It was something his mother and The Captain had chided him for--Wes had always been too interested in what was ahead than what was behind, a lot like his father. "I'm...not sure if I'll get home myself, but if I do, I want to learn as much as I can. And, I can tell you anything about mine that you want to know." Brian seemed nice, and a part of Wes was hoping that he stayed, but if this anomaly was anything like the others, he probably wouldn't...just another thing to be annoyed at Aternaville for.

[psychicjohnny]

"Depending on the social structure in this time, which I'm not entirely sure about, my era might not be too different," Brian answered. "We don't have the Internet yet, and they're just coming out with home computers. When I was a kid, they used to be the size of a room! Um, the school system is...you go to school from 6 to 18. Once you graduate from high school, you can go to college or you can go to work. I'm going to college. My parents want me to go somewhere really prestigious, but uh, we'll see. Then, after college, you get a job. Was, was there something else you wanted to know?"

Brian leaned forward over the table, excited to learn about the future. "I'd really like to know what life is like for you. What kind of technology do you have? You look like you're about my age. What's it like growing up in the twenty-fourth century?"