Author's Note:

I have to tell you, my respect for authors who can pump out long, high quality chapters in a very short span of time has risen tremendously as I've written more of this story. The time I have for writing is essentially very late at night after my kids and wife have gone to sleep. That said, I think I'm expanding on many of the themes from the original story and fleshing out things that I personally find interesting and like to read in my fanfiction. Hope you do too.

One thing I think I should clarify. Many of you mentioned Gothic possibly impregnating his sexual partners. When I fleshed out that scene with Crusher's report on his physiology, I intended to somewhere put in that she developed a birth control shot (like in DS9) that would work for Gothic's physiology. I just couldn't find a place to shoehorn it in at the time. Boy, do I regret that! I'll try to find a place in a chapter soon, but rest assured, no super-augment kiddies being created for a long, long time! Gothic is far too much a planner and worrier for that kind of thing to realistically happen.

The Adventures of Augment Gothic

Chapter 5 - Can you go home again?

"I have learned that if you must leave a place that you have lived in and loved and where all your yesteryears are buried deep, leave it any way except a slow way, leave it the fastest way you can. Never turn back and never believe that an hour you remember is a better hour because it is dead. Passed years seem safe ones, vanquished ones, while the future lives in a cloud, formidable from a distance."

― Beryl Markham, West with the Night

San Francisco. Earth

Damn…was the only thought I had in my mind as I looked up at the two buildings in front of me, one of which would be my new home while on Earth. When I had been told I was being assigned an apartment in a high-rise building I had few expectations in mind. What might a 24th century apartment building look like? Would it be towering monolith of sparkling crystal and advanced metals allowing it to pierce the clouds and reach 500 stories into the sky? Did I merit such a thing? Or would I be getting some surviving post-war concrete shit hole to live in because I was an Augment? I had no idea.

Standing a few hundred yards from the front door of the two buildings, I wasn't too far off and damn if it wasn't impressive. The two high-rise buildings were actually connected by what looked like two thick bridges, possibly to allow travel between the two buildings. The building on the 'right' was probably about 100 stories tall, with the one on the left being probably 75 or so. Five hundred story tall buildings had been a bit of an overshot.

The two buildings were similar to the skyscrapers of home in the sense they were very tall tower-like buildings, but that's where the similarities ended. There was a visible spine which cut the two buildings in half, a band of thick greenery inside, but the apartments were not flush to the side of the building. No, they jutted out at different points, making the whole building look more organic in shape as there were less harsh and continuous lines. Some apartments had large balconies and others did not, but there were many, many large ledges jutting off the side of the building filled with small trees, shrubs, and flowers. Both buildings were covered in colorful living plants giving it a cornucopia of color. Obviously great effort had been spent on making these buildings less monoliths of advanced artificial materials and more a space filled with nature and life.

The lower bridge connecting the two buildings was maybe 10-15 stories off the ground and appeared to have a very nice-looking pool in the middle of it. Did that pool have a glass bottom? Wow, that's cool! Even from this distance I could see many people sunbathing around the pool and swimming. I engaged my far sight and saw many attractive women, some human, some obviously not. It appears clothing was optional too. Who knew?

The upper bridge was set at the very top of the left building and connected to probably the 75th floor of the right building, at the three-quarter mark. I wasn't entirely sure what the purpose of this bridge was till a freaking flying car flew down from the sky, circled the building, and appeared to land in a pre-designated parking spot on the upper bridge, directly over the top of the left building. That made sense, I suppose, if a lot of flying cars parked there, they'd want to be parked directly over the actual structure itself which could better support the weight of the vehicles and keep them from dangerous crosswinds at that elevation. The middle of the upper bridge appeared to have an arboretum or something similar.

All in all, this was a hell of a nice place and I wondered how I rated such a thing. (See "Pier 2: Apartment of the Future 2018" on YouTube, to see what I based Gothic's apartment building on)

Walking up the tiled walkway to the front of the building I passed several folks who greeted me with a smile and a nod, and some assessing and interested gazes from several women.

The lobby itself was beautiful too and obviously great thought had been spent to give it an organic feel like the rest of the building. Wood panels, probably from many different worlds were on the floor and ceilings and walls, art installations, lush plants, even fucking colorful fish swimming in little rivers in the floor. You could even hear the pleasant sound of a waterfall.

The seating areas had some ultra-high end looking furniture, but what did that mean in an age of replication?

There was one recognizable feature that transcended the era and that was the large sweeping marble desk that held the equivalent of a hotel concierge, but something you'd only see in some really swanky apartment buildings from my time. In this case it was a rather beautiful blue-skinned Andorian woman who greeted me, being kind enough to wait for my gawking to end.

"Welcome to the Bay Harbor Arms. Can I help you in any way, sir," she asked me.

I plastered a polite smile on my face, the assessing look of interest I undoubtedly had wasn't feigned. This was the first Andorian woman I'd seen outside of episodes of Star Trek Enterprise. They were a handsome race. At first, I thought the blue skin and moving antennae were going to turn me off, but it really worked for me. In fact, it was exotic as hell. Her smile and frank appraisal of me indicated she also had nothing against humans. Welcome to the 24th century, Gothic. I had already banged my first alien in Guinan and then Lwaxana, but they looked so human it almost felt like it didn't count. Blue skin, though, and antennae, fuck yeah that counted.

"I certainly hope you can," I said with a smile. "I'm told an apartment was arranged for me here, my name is Gothic."

"Of course, let me check," she said, before typing on a computer hidden by the top of the desk she was sitting at. "Yes, everything is ready for your arrival. Starfleet sent all your information, including the biometric data to access the buildings turbolift and your apartment. It's fully furnished already. You are in building 1, apartment 5010, bay side."

It looks like Starfleet took care of everything. I had been worried I was in the wrong place.

"5010? I'm assuming that means I'm on the 50th floor?" I asked.

"That's right, sir. We are in building 1 currently, so if you go to the turbolift behind me, just place your hand on the biometric panel to call the lift. Once inside you can access any floor, though your apartment is on the 50th."

Well, that sounded easy enough.

"Thank you so much. I'll go up right now," I said.

"If you need anything at all, I'm Tarav," the beautiful Andorian named Tarav offered. Extra service was implied with a tone like that, unless I was completely misreading the situation.

"Thank you for your kind offer, I might just take you up on that," I said with my best smile.

Proceeding to the turbolift bank behind I placed my hand on the designated spot and it flashed green, which I assumed still meant approved or accepted. Moments later the doors split apart to reveal what looked like a glass box filled with sunlight and bird song and the sound of wind rustling through trees. I could even detect the scent of the bay, but I knew I was inside the building. The glass must be some kind of smart glass that displayed images of the bay outside.

Stepping in, I turned around to watch the doors close, completing the image of the bay. Unfortunately, there was no visible panel. That's when the lift spoke to me; I don't know why I was surprised anymore.

"Welcome to the Bay Harbor Arms, Gothic. Would you like to proceed to your apartment?" a pleasant female voice called out. Obviously, the voice of Majel Barrett for the computer was only seemingly required on Starfleet ships.

"Yes, please take me to my floor," I said aloud and only feeling slightly silly. I had gotten used to the turbolifts onboard the Enterprise, which obviously were more utilitarian in design and usage than this fancy thing. With my statement, only my augment senses indicated we had started moving.

"The landscape image of the Bay is the default selection for this turbolift when you step inside, you can select any programmed view merely by calling aloud. This system has over 1 million options."

Damn. That's fancy. "How about the Forge on Vulcan," I responded.

With that command the view changed to that of a vast and beautiful desert. In fact, I think it was an image of the Plain of Blood, which had been briefly seen in an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. It was quite beautiful. Even the scents in the lift subtly changed. This was one fancy fucking elevator.

I only had a few moments to turn around and admire the 360-degree view of the Forge before the doors opened and a long-carpeted hallway could be seen. The hallway was broken up by small tables filled with fresh flowers in what looked like crystal vases. Wooden doors with biometric panels to the right of the doorways were present and staggered.

Walking up to apartment 5010, I looked at the panel that would be used to gain entry to my new apartment. On the one hand, I was psyched. This was one hell of an apartment they were giving me and I hadn't even set foot inside it yet. On the other, this panel was a stark reminder that Starfleet had scanned the shit out of me and had a lot of information to put in their file on me. Did the Federation have this information on all their citizens? The medical report Beverly had shared with me had been detailed as hell, God only knows what else was not shared with me. My 20th and 21st century sensibilities were aghast at just how much information the government now had about me.

I probably wasn't being fair. Even in my time the government knew a hell of a lot about its citizens. You'd be hard pressed in some parts of the 1st world to not spend half your life in view of and being recorded by a CC camera after all. Living 'off the grid' was never something that appealed to me, but it was doable in my time. I had a feeling that on 24th century Earth it'd be downright impossible. You'd probably need to travel to a brand-new colony to get even close to 'off grid'.

Pressing my hand flat on the panel which sat somewhere below shoulder height, the panel flashed green with a pleasant tone and this wood looking door split in the middle to admit me inside.

Again, I was impressed. This apartment was a 1-bedroom variant, but it was very spacious. The room I walked into was long and rectangular with your eyes immediately being drawn to the floor to ceiling glass windows which ran from one end of the room to the other with nothing visibly holding it up, which meant the view was unimpeded. It was almost like there was nothing there to stop you from just stepping forward and into the air itself. I somehow doubted these windows were actually made of glass, probably transparent aluminum. The material seemed to be used all over the place.

And what a view it was. The view of the San Francisco Bay was beautiful. I could even see the Golden Gate Bridge. The view was enhanced by the numerous flying cars in the air. This was some futuristic shit.

On the far left of the room was a kitchen area with a waterfall edge marble island with all the modern equivalents to cook if you wanted. How much people actually used their kitchens was a question. In fact, in an age of replicators I suspected even having one was meant to be a sign of luxury.

In a prominent and easy to access location was the apartment's in-wall replicator, which was quite similar in form to the one I had access to in my quarters onboard the Enterprise. I was still scared of using a replicator I didn't own, especially on Earth, but I'd have to play with it to see what it could be used for.

Looking to the right of the island was a small 4-person rectangular table that could probably be used for either a workspace desk or a dinner table. This was oriented parallel to the island.

To the right of the dinner table was a richly stained coffee table with a large couch and a nearby recliner, all facing the window wall and the bay view. There was no TV in the room, but I had a suspicion about that from my experience in the lift.

"Computer, please turn on the Federation News Network," I said aloud. Immediately a large portion of the window wall displayed a very attractive female reporter giving a news report. Guess some things don't change. I had a feeling the size of the image was dependent on where in the room the computer detected I was standing. It was pretty big.

"-eration's negotiation team, led by Starfleet Admiral Alynna Nechayev, reports progress has stalled in their talks with the Cardassian Union towards a possible armistice to end ongoing hostilities with the Federation. In other galactic news, the Klingon Empire-"

"Computer, end display," I said aloud. I really had no idea what the 'right' way to phrase certain commands to the computer was, but thankfully it was smart enough to recognize what I intended.

The Federation News Network broadcast turned off. It was nice to see that I had a decent handle on how things worked here, even when guessing.

"Computer, access my personal database. Can you confirm the Enterprise transferred all my stored data, including replicator patterns?" I asked.

"Confirmed, would you like to see the contents of that transfer?" it answered.

"Yes."

A long list of file folders showed up on the smart glass wall. My memory confirmed it was all there, and the memory size matched what it was supposed to. That was a relief. Prior to the auction of all my stuff I'd copied and digitized everything that had been in my apartment, including the contents of my computer. Everything physical, from the furniture to my clothes to the books on my bookshelf, etc., had also been painstakingly scanned and a replicator pattern created for them. While the originals had all been sold to build my nest egg, I would be able to reproduce anything I wanted in the future with access to an appropriate replicator and my personal database.

"Thank you, computer. End display."

On the far right of the room was a doorway that led to the only bedroom in the apartment. There was a king-sized bed with a thick mattress and a very nice-looking comforter. There were even a bunch of extra pillows. On either side of the bed were small tables with crystal lamps in an art deco style. Interesting choice. The bed itself was on the back wall and faced the amazing views of the bay with another small chair and table, possibly for reading. My apartment must be one of those that jutted out from the main building because two glass walls met in a corner for even better views, but this meant I didn't have a balcony. There was a nice work desk placed directly against one wall as well with a computer terminal manual interface.

On the far right of the room was another doorway, probably a bathroom. Walking in, the bathroom was as nice as the rest of the place. A marble countertop with a fancy vessel sink with a large glass walled water shower and bathtub. The lack of a sonic shower made sense, I guess. The water conservation necessities onboard a starship obviously weren't relevant when on a planet with plenty of water.

All in all, this was an amazing show of welcome by Earth and Starfleet and it was making me feel really paranoid. I'm an Augment and yet they gave me a place like this? Had I acquitted myself that well on the Enterprise? Had saving Ambassador Troi really raised my cachet? Were they trying to set me at ease, to show the prejudices of the past weren't relevant in the present? I could only wonder how many surveillance devices were in this place.

I decided those were all problems and concerns for another day, so I shucked off all my clothes and got under the covers. It was like I was lying on a cloud.

"Computer, lock the doors, privacy mode. Can you tint these windows also? I'm going to sleep," I said.

"Understood, Gothic, windows have been changed to blackout settings. Have a pleasant rest," it said in return.

My eyes looked around the room in surprise at that kind of answer, the windows slowly turning black and opaque, but decided, again, it wasn't worth looking into. My body clock was on ship time and I didn't care that it was only late afternoon in San Francisco. And I didn't give a fig that I was supposed to have a reduced need for sleep as an Augment. I was ready for bed. Sometimes exhaustion was more mental than physical and a good night's sleep was more for the soul than it was for the body.

(Line Break)

Gothic's Swanky Apartment. Bay Harbor Arms Apartments. Earth.

Have you seen the first Iron Man movie, specifically the scene where Tony Stark's one-night stand with that beautiful reporter wakes up in his Malibu mansion alone, naked, with the covers perfectly arranged to keep the movie PG? That was how I was awakened. In fact, it was eerie how similar it all was, down to the words the computer used. Was this my patron fucking with me?

"Good morning, Gothic. It's 7am. The weather in San Francisco is 62 degrees Fahrenheit with scattered clouds. You are scheduled to begin work at 11am at the University of San Francisco library. Would you like me to replicate you a breakfast after your shower?" my apartment's computer asked as the smart windows of my apartment gradually became less opaque and showed the spectacular view of the Bay in the morning sunlight, additional information about weather conditions for the week, events taking place around the city, and any Federation news alerts being displayed on the wall for my review.

Still feeling a little groggy and my mouth slightly open at this super cool way of waking that was reminiscent of one of my favorite movies, it took me several silent moments to respond.

'Um, yes, yes! Feel free to replicate me a full English breakfast, triple portion size. Have you received my medical authorization for a higher caloric content in all my replicated meals?'

'Yes, our systems have received the authorization from Dr. Beverly Crusher, Chief Medical Officer, U.S.S. Enterprise. All requested foods and beverages will be replicated accordingly.'

Well, that was convenient. Stepping off my bed I proceeded into the bathroom. It appeared the mirror in my bathroom was 'smart' as well since it displayed additional information like the wall of my apartment. Again, very cool, but pretty invasive.

Discarding my boxers, I opened the shower door and found no familiar handles to turn on.

"Um, start shower." I called aloud. Immediately the shower started up.

Sticking my hand in the water I found that it was instantly hot already. The little things like this just kept popping up and making everything seem so damn cool!

"Raise water temperature 7 degrees," I ordered. Immediately I felt the difference. I always did like a scorching hot shower in the morning. I had a feeling the computer had noted my change and would use the increased temperature immediately tomorrow, without being told to.

Ten rather enjoyable minutes later I was finished with my luxurious shower. Having finished the computer asked me if I would like to use traditional towels or having the water vibrated right off my body sonically to go down the drain. Being the man out of time, I chose the cooler option, in my opinion. This was reminiscent of my bathroom in my quarters onboard the Enterprise.

Walking nude through my apartment I grabbed some clothes for the day, in this case light brown pants, pastel button up collared shirt with a pullover sweater/jacket with brown leather shoes to match. I was the very definition of smart casual, and looked like a male runway model while wearing it. I had selected and replicated these clothes on the Enterprise in preparation for my first day. Counselor Troi had given me a smile and approval when I had asked her, probably somewhat nervously, if this was appropriate clothing for work on Earth.

In the kitchen, my full English breakfast was already waiting for me in the replicator, still steaming hot. It looked amazing. The eggs, bacon, sausages, grilled tomato, mushrooms, toast and marmalade with a cup of tea looked perfect, but what did I expect when it was made by a machine rather than human hands.

Taking a small sip of the tea, I found it was an earl grey blend. That surprised me. I hadn't selected that variant of tea, but I had ordered earl grey numerous times on the Enterprise, had my beverage selection preferences been added to my identity profile and followed me all the way to Earth? Again, a bit creepy and invasive.

As I took my food over to my new kitchen table, choosing a seat that let me take in the great view, I began to think about my day as I ate. Working in the 24th century was an interesting concept, as I had learned onboard the Enterprise. In the broadest possible sense, it was the same as in my time. You got a job, you performed tasks associated with that job, your employer paid you.

Yes, they were even paying me in this time, sort of. Federation Credits weren't truly money, you couldn't spend them in the strictly traditional sense, but you could save them and then exchange them for what you wanted, so it was pretty close. They were kind of like those tickets that arcades sometimes gave out that could be exchanged for cheap plastic junk, but rather than get something that would break five minutes after you got it, credits were used to book passage on ships to other planets, to access and spend a specified amount of time on the holodeck, even 'buy' goods or technology. Those things were gotten with credits because there was more demand for them than could be supplied to everyone freely and weren't considered true necessities anyway. I suppose it was like rationing in a sense and an incentive for people to work and to contribute in a post-scarcity society. Everyone was allowed a certain amount for free and anything beyond that required credits. You want to travel to Risa? Then you needed to work and "buy" your passage with credits, though every person in the Federation receives a minimum set amount as a base each month.

Could you get personal loans in the Federation? I had no idea. Maybe starting a business that was valuable to the Federation or your planet of residence meant government subsidies and free start up money.

I had just replicated my breakfast, but no credits had been deducted from my account. I checked. Food was considered a necessity and the Federation provided for all its citizens.

As I hadn't lived in this system, I was still figuring out all its practical ins-and-outs. Research could only take you so far. Full immersion in a society was often a great deal better for figuring things out than just cultural research.

Many things, including food, clothing, nearly all forms of entertainment, medical care, and even basic housing, was supplied by the Federation free of charge to all of its citizens. If you didn't want to leave Earth it was possible to live out your entire life without ever earning a single extra credit through work. But that would be extremely dull, at least for someone from my time.

I wanted to earn credits, because even if they weren't money, it just felt right to be 'paid' for my work, especially since you could exchange them for intrinsically valuable things in their own right. A replicator gotten for credits here on Earth would still be a valuable item anywhere, in other words. At the moment it wasn't about the amount or what I could get with it, although visiting a colony world would be interesting. I feared that the Federation mindset was already at least partially rubbing off on me. That was something I needed to guard against. My outsider perspective was far too valuable to lose.

Thankfully, I wasn't worried about starting my new job. Thanks to Data's personal tutelage and my enhanced brain, I had learnt at a vastly increased rate, far faster than was otherwise normal or even possible for a baseline human. In a month and a half, I'd learned everything a Federation citizen on Earth would have been taught. I was sure I could spend the rest of my life here on Earth, which could be a couple of centuries thanks to my enhanced body and advanced Federation medical care, now without feeling like a caveman.

The Enterprise was currently docked at Utopia Planitia on Mars, so the crew was taking some much-needed shore leave. That meant that I had several lunch dates set up with my new friends, Deanna and Data. Not that Data ate food, so I assumed he was just being polite. We got along surprisingly well and had collaborated very productively on a few design projects already, at least those things that hadn't been objectionable, like weapons and armor. Luckily, both of them maintained apartments in San Francisco for when they stayed on Earth.

As for me, I was sitting in my apartment looking out of the big floor-to-ceiling windows that gave me an impressive view of the bay and the many air cars flying through the city. It was mine only because it was a gift, possibly in exchange for historical information? Or an enticement to assimilate better in this time? I suspected that Picard might have also pulled some strings as a thank you for getting Ambassador Troi and Counselor Troi back to the Enterprise in one piece.

The view was exceptional, breathtaking even, from this vantage point. I suspected that I would probably spend hours in the future just watching the shuttlecraft and aircars zooming above buildings both new and centuries old. Now wasn't the time for that, however, as I needed to get to work.

Putting my now clean dishes back in the replicator, I commanded it to recycle it all. It was pretty cool to watch how the matter was disassembled. I was about to walk out the door, when I stopped and turned back to the replicator, an idle bit of curiosity striking me.

"Computer, replicate a 10-ounce bar of gold, .9999 fine, 24 carrots," I commanded, suddenly very curious to see what would happen. Essentially to see in real life what I had learned from the show.

"Replication of the desired item will require 10 credits to be deducted from your account. Do you still wish to proceed?' it asked.

"Yes," I answered.

Moments later a shiny bar of gold that could fit in the palm of my hand was sitting in the slot. Picking it up, it was just as I expected, and quite heavy for such a small thing. Just like the shows had said, gold possessed little actual value as it could simply be replicated in the modern age. Also interesting was the confirmation that a non-necessity item replicated cost credits to produce. Food had cost nothing. Presumably, clothing, as another necessity also wouldn't cost anything to replicate. If I had asked for a violin to be replicated, I had a suspicion that it would have cost even more credits to produce than a bar of gold, simply because the violin was a far more complex object made of many different materials.

What a thing. Well, I guess I had a cool paperweight now, setting it gently on my kitchen island before walking out the door on my way to work.

(Line Break)

University of San Francisco Library. Earth.

I walked into the large building of the University of San Francisco, San Fran Uni, as it was called for short, with a little trepidation. While the idea of going to work was somewhat comforting in its sheer familiarity, I was somewhat worried that it would be a repeat of my old life, and that my job would be incredibly dull.

That feeling faded somewhat when I watched a blue skinned alien walk past me of a species I couldn't immediately identify. Alien students on Earth, now that was not going to bore me any time soon.

I found the library easily enough thanks to an interactive map on my PADD. Not that I really needed the help as I had already memorized a map of the city and the library was a large building that took up nearly one whole corner of the campus. So soon enough I was walking through the main doors and I found that within seconds I was almost completely at ease. This was familiar.

The library was large, much larger than I had imagined it, however that didn't bother me as I focused on what comforted me. It was the books. There were shelves upon shelves of real books with true paper pages and traditional bindings. Paperbacks, hardbacks, textbooks, fiction and all of them were remarkably intact given that every one of them was likely from centuries past and had survived some horrific times in this planet's history. Given the comprehensive computer databases of this time, I imagined keeping real books like this was more for aesthetics and historical appreciation than true functional use, the books conveying the university's long history. On further thought, though, these were unlikely to be originals. They were likely all replicated copies, made from the surviving originals, as I didn't see any signs indicating gloves or other protective equipment was required to even touch them.

"It's wonderful, isn't it?" someone said behind me.

I turned around to see a beautiful woman. She was wearing a fairly old-fashioned looking skirt that went to her knees and her shiny blonde hair was done up in a tight bun with two sticks holding it in place. She clearly was a fan of the retro look. I also noted that she was very curvy in all the right places, given the tightness of her rather old-fashioned dress, but she was, simply put, extremely attractive. She looked very familiar as well for some reason.

"It really is, reminds me of home actually, and that's been very hard to come by lately. Hello, I'm Gothic," I greeted with a smile, hopefully charmingly, the now familiar reaction of humanoid women to me (especially when in close proximity) showing up in the slight dilation of her pupils, a slight flush of her cheeks, and nostrils flaring ever so slightly.

Her eyes seemed to light up upon hearing my name.

"The 'Gothic' from the alternate universe?" she asked. "The Khan-era Augment?"

That was me.

"Well, yes, somewhat," I answered, though I felt it necessary to offer up some correction if this woman was going to be working with me. As she didn't look young enough to be a student, that seemed likely. "I was born in that era on Earth, in the late 20th century, but calling me a Khan-era Augment is a bit of misnomer on several levels. Khan didn't exist in my dimension, in fact genetic engineering advanced enough to create Augments at all hadn't really existed yet. I was even changed as an adult, so, quite different from Khan and his contemporaries, but I understand why people have called me that. Just describing me as an Augment might be more accurate given the negative implications of any connection to Khan while living on Earth of all places," I corrected gently, my smile in place to assure her she hadn't offended me.

Apparently, my infamy, or notoriety, had preceded me. The science types on the Enterprise had been excited by me as well, insofar as my DNA might one day be the future of humanity after many millennia of evolution, especially since I showed no signs of obvious problems. They didn't exactly have the chance to meet any others like me. I strongly suspected Starfleet and the Federation was doing its best to hush up my unique origins and only sharing information with people who actually needed to know, for whatever reason.

"My apologies, given what happened on Earth during the Eugenics Wars I can understand wanting to make that distinction. I'm Annika Hansen," she introduced, extending her hand for me to shake.

Now, that name certainly rang a bell, and before long I knew who this woman was. She was freaking Seven of Nine! Only not. She was no Borg, and never had been, and the lack of metal parts on her face and skintight bodysuit had prevented me from recognizing her right away.

In this universe, not having ever been assimilated by the Borg, she was a librarian of all things. Which, upon thinking about it more, made sense. If there were no Borg in this galaxy anymore, she never would have been assimilated by them and the entire course of her life wouldn't have been disrupted. Therefore, she would presumably be living a normal life somewhere within the Federation. Perhaps this was the true course of her life had the Borg not assimilated her.

Then I remembered where else I'd heard that name before, Annika Hansen was the name of the head librarian I was to be working for. She was my new boss. Wow, the universe was really fucking with me lately. Quite a coincidence… Or was it? Being the playthings of Gods meant anything was possible and coincidence often wasn't. The fact that I hadn't immediately recognized her name was another sign shenanigans were at work.

"I was expecting you a little later than this," she said.

This was because I'd given myself more than enough time to get here in case I got lost, but since I hadn't, I'd arrived sooner than planned or expected. My apartment had also woken me up hours earlier than necessary. And wasn't that strange to think about.

"Should I come back later?" I asked.

Hopefully not, because I really wanted to spend time with her, if only to check out that sweet ass and those rockin' tits.

"Of course not," Annika said quickly. "If you would like to step into my office, I'll explain what you'll be doing here."

Before long I'd be doing her. Somehow, I just knew it.

(Line Break)

Library. University of San Francisco. Earth.

On my second day at work, the first having been little more than a tour and some paperwork, my boss took me to a large pile of books and a desk.

The tour itself had been very interesting. Just like my research had indicated, a university library on Earth had access to information and databases from all across the quadrant with a dedicated subspace transceiver and priority access to the Galactic Information Network (GIN). Even better were the fifty dedicated holosuites in the library alone, 40 for student use and 10 dedicated specifically for faculty and staff use. Of course, many academic departments and buildings in the university had their own holosuites for various simulations/testing/training, including the various student dorms meant more for entertainment, but these were the ones in the library meant for anyone's use. If the student holosuites were not in use, or booked ahead of time, even the 40 holosuites meant for them could be used by faculty and staff. During the prime hours of the day the student holosuites were in near constant use, but college students were the same everywhere as early in the morning hours and late at night many holosuites were available, which was great for me.

The University itself had information sharing agreements with Starfleet Academy too, also in San Francisco, so that meant I had access to recordings of classes and materials, engineering training courses, on everything from starship operations to warp core maintenance, tactical training simulations, and licensing tests that could be gotten via holographic testing. For an ambitious Augment intent on learning everything he could about this time, it was a treasure trove of opportunity.

"This is your workspace," she informed me, "and I have prepared a little test for you as you can see."

At work she was in charge, but when out socially, like when I'd gone out for drinks with the other library staff just last night, she was a lot more relaxed and easier to get along with. I could understand why she was so formal at work, though, she was rather young to be the head librarian of a major university, so she had to act extremely professional at all times or people wouldn't take her seriously. That was a problem that transcended the century it seems.

"I would like you to catalog these," she said waving a hand at the pile of books. "Before lunch time."

If she expected me to groan or be shocked, she was sorely disappointed. I was no stranger to the Dewey decimal system that was used to organize these centuries' old books.

As I'd found out, this aspect of my job as a librarian was only a small part of my duties, thank God. In many ways I was more akin to a guest lecturer who worked in the library. I had already been approached by various faculty and graduate students (TAs and those writing their dissertations) who wanted to schedule times where I could either talk to their classes about 20th and 21st century Earth culture or sit down for one-on-one interviews that could be included in their research. I was actually looking forward to it. Even with the differences between my dimension and this one, I'm sure I had a lot to offer them.

(Line Break)

Less than two hours later I walked up to her door and knocked on the door jam. Annika looked up in surprise upon seeing me.

"Problem?" she asked.

There was none.

"Nope, all done," I said.

Annika smiled at me, a little condescendingly, but she followed me out of the office so that she could see what I had done. All the books were now on the shelves and in the right place.

"How?" she managed to ask.

It was simple to explain.

"Back before I ended up in a pod, centuries in the future and in another universe, in my youth I spent some time working in a library," I answered. "This was back when they still used the Dewey decimal system to organize physical books, which I'm guessing most people aren't familiar with since they use computers for everything these days."

Annika was now shaking her head.

"So many books were lost during the eugenics wars," she said sadly. "Book burnings," she explained. "The University secreted away much of its collection that survived the wars during that period, but no one escaped truly unscathed."

That was terrible to hear.

"In my universe there was no such thing as the Eugenics War, so you guys must be missing a lot of stories that I got the chance to read," I realized. "That's a shame."

Annika smiled at me.

"I totally agree," she said with a small smile. "Maybe you could tell me more about your time. Say, over lunch?"

That sounded like a good time to me.

(Line Break)

Gothic's Swanky Apartment. Bay Harbor Arms Apartments. Earth.

We'd had lunch together and after taking her out to dinner as well Annika had pretty much invited herself over to my apartment after I mentioned the fact that when I had been dimensionally displaced that pretty much the entirety of my old apartment on Earth had come with me, including all of the books on my bookshelf, some of which I knew hadn't been written in this world. She had expressed great interest in seeing my collection and my new apartment.

While it was certainly believable that she'd be very interested in seeing the books from my world, I was almost certain that wanting to see the stuff in person, right after our semi-romantic dinner, was just a pretext. I could have replicated a copy of a few books and brought them to work, after all. I couldn't be sure as I really had no idea how people dated in this time. Most of the women I'd slept with on the Enterprise hadn't exactly followed the typical formula before we fell into bed. With Beverly, for example, we'd fucked well before we started doing the typical get to know you dinners and romantic walks and such. With Guinan, she'd threatened me first. And Keiko and Lwaxana were pure hook ups.

Still, she appeared to be giving me all the classic signs of sexual interest, such as laughing at all my jokes, finding any opportunity to touch me, playing with her hair and leaning forward to emphasize her large and well-formed breasts, so unless human sexual customs had seriously changed in the last few centuries, I figured there was a very good chance I was going to be seeing her naked sometime soon, assuming I played my cards right. I hadn't been a troll before being changed, but being a ridiculously good looking and fit Augment certainly seemed to make things easier when it came to the opposite sex…and that was ignoring whatever this unconscious reaction humanoid women seemed to have when in my proximity.

Opening the door, I gestured her inside my apartment.

"Wow, what a great apartment! And what a view!" Annika gushed, taking a look around the place but her eyes inevitably going to the floor to ceiling windows and the view offered by virtue of being 50 stories up.

The view really was amazing. At this time of night, you could see the lights of the city and the moon reflected over the water. The Bay was a thousand times cleaner in this time then it had been in my time, with virtually no pollutants. The Golden Gate Bridge looked spectacular too. The two rectangular towers were lit up showcasing that famous reddish orange color. You could even see the hover cars flying here and there like fireflies in the night.

"I know, the first time I saw it I was in awe. The Federation really did me a favor, though I didn't get a balcony," I said with a wink to indicate that I was kidding. I really was impressed with how they'd set me up on Earth.

"Can I get you a drink?" I asked.

The coy smile she sent me, while clearly communicating interest and a willingness to possibly engage in sexual congress, also suggested that an old-fashioned girl like her might need some liquid courage, or at least a good excuse for any impulsive decision making.

"I'd love one, please surprise me," she answered, continuing to smile.

"Coming right up, my lady," I joked.

Walking over to the replicator I 'placed my order.'

"Computer, interface with my personal database's replicator pattern files. Replicate two amaretto sours with two maraschino cherries and a single lemon slice a piece, large, chilled, real alcohol, on a serving tray. Oh, also replicate a hard copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling. And, yes, deduct the credits if required," I ordered, providing the computer with as much specificity as I could to avoid endless questions. Thankfully, it worked.

The familiar whine of replication confirmed that the restrictions on replicating real alcoholic drinks was more about rules and regulations onboard a Starfleet ship rather than something that everyone in the Federation was automatically restricted by. I'd even seen one or two suggestions on the shows that indicated even onboard a Starfleet ship it was possible to override the alcohol restrictions.

Turning around, I took the serving tray over to the couch, which faced the large window, and set them down on the coffee table. I handed the drink to Annika who thanked me and took a sip of the colorful beverage. The way her face lit up told me she liked the drink, but was unfamiliar with it.

"What is this? It's really good!" she said.

"These are amaretto sours, with maraschino cherries and a slice of lemon. Some people enjoy squeezing the lemon into the drink to alter the drink slightly. It's a popular mixed drink from my dimension, one that I enjoyed ordering at weddings, even though it wasn't considered very 'manly,'" I answered, with a small laugh. "I would bet you've never heard of amaretto before, right?"

"No, I've never heard of amaretto before. What is it? Is it an off-planet drink?" she asked, continuing to take a few sips of her drink.

Well, that wasn't surprising. Even if references to it had been present in surviving books, if the liquor itself didn't exist anymore here than it was unlikely she'd have ever heard of it.

"No, invented right here on Earth. Amaretto is an Italian liquor primarily made from either apricot pits or almonds or both, sometimes with additional spices or flavors. It was invented around 1850 in my dimension, but wasn't imported to the United States till the 1960s where it then grew in popularity as an after dinner or dessert drink," I explained, actually a bit knowledgeable about its origins. "The primary divergence from my dimension's history and yours begins in the 1950s as best as I can tell. This liquor might have been invented here in this dimension too, but it likely didn't survive the wars. Luckily, I had a half full bottle of DiSaronno in my apartment's liquor cabinet and it was perfectly preserved. Before I left the Enterprise I had scans taken of everything to store the replicator patterns, including my amaretto."

"I love old world stuff! In this case it's a taste from your home and maybe mine too, one I didn't even know existed. Thank you for sharing it with me," Annika said sincerely, a note of appreciation in her voice. "My parents were the space explorers, but I've always been more attracted to the past."

Her clothes had told me that much already.

"I have another gift for you. It's a book from my personal collection back home, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, written by J.K. Rowling in old Earth year 1995. I checked, only the first book was ever written here and it's quite different from my version. In my home dimension and time, it was a series of seven children's books and was something I loved in my youth. It was a cultural phenomenon and cultural touchstone for the world, really. Seven books, eight movies, video games, theme park rides, Broadway play, yet here only one book was made. I wanted to share it with you. I'll hold the next 6 books hostage for future dates," I said with a smile in my voice.

"I don't think I need to be bribed for future dates, Gothic," she said, a soft smile on her face.

"Well, can't blame a-" I started to say, only to be cut off by her lips hungrily crashing down on mine.

The next thing I knew there was some passionate kissing going on, clothes being torn off, and a quick trip to my bedroom to break that bed in.

Life was good.

Author's Note:

He banged 7, kind of, I think Gothic deserves a virtual high five for that! I thought about making a longer sex scene, but first times are always a bit awkward, so it might be better to write an actual long scene for a future encounter.

Can any of you guys sense a training montage (in written form) coming in the next chapter? Because I do! I have a few things in mind specifically for Gothic to learn about, but an engineer/computer programmer/pilot I am not, so there is going to be a lot of shoot from the hip stuff that may or may not be realistic after I do a few quick and dirty google searches. If only I had made Gothic a lawyer! I actually know a thing or two about that.

1. So, what kind of things do you want Gothic to learn about on the holodeck?

2. What kind of tactical simulations should be go through once he actually knows how to pilot a starship?

3. How long do you think I should spend on Earth before he goes into the stars?

4. How can he design weapons and armor clandestinely, without SI or 31 being aware of it? Should he even try to hide it?

Keep those reviews coming my friends! And be sure to recommend this fic to others! See you next time.