“You always retain a bit of a person you’ve mind-melded with, and you feel it when they die. I felt it when Sarek died. But the piece of Spock is still alive in my mind.”
“I guess you weren’t cut out to be an ambassador,” she said.
“I guess not.”
“I’ll get back to Earth as soon as I can,” she said.
“You take your time. You have a ship, and a job to do.”
“But what about us?”
“There’s time for us,” I said. I wasn’t sure there was, but I would wait for her.
* * *
I stood on the plank on top of the tanks, punching down the crusts of the fermenting grapes. It was getting more difficult for me to do this work myself, but I had no choice; there weren’t many people on Earth interested in producing wine. The year before, a Klingon had answered my advertisement that I was looking for help, but I turned her down. I didn’t think a Klingon and I would work well together.
But I was excited. This would be my third vintage since coming back to the vineyard. For the first vintage I’d harvested the grapes two years ago. They would be bottled soon. I had high hopes for the Picard vintage of 2393. As difficult as the work was, I’d learned to enjoy it, finally.
I finished mixing the tanks, and got down. The sun was setting, and I decided to go in and fix myself some dinner. I might try Beverly on subspace tonight, although it was sometimes difficult to reach her. She had promised to be home for my birthday, and I was very much looking forward to that; it would be my ninetieth. I imagined she might arrange for some of our other friends to be there as well. It would be lovely to see some of the old crew again, and hear about their new adventures. And then they would leave, and that would be fine as well.
After dinner, I settled down with a cup of Earl Grey tea, and took one last look at this volume I’ve written. It reminds me that I’ve really lived my life alone, for better or worse. But that’s who I am, and I feel lucky to have the life I’ve had. I’ve seen more of the Galaxy than one man is owed, and met more than my share of the great men and women of our time. I feel proud of whatever small role in our civilization that I’ve played. But now, it’s up to others to make the history.
For me, I’m happy making my father’s wine.
EDITOR GOODMAN’S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to everybody at Titan Books, especially Laura Price and my editors Andy Jones and Simon Ward, for all your patience and hard work, and, again, patience; Dana Youlin for whipping the manuscript into shape; Russell Walks, a wonderful artist, for your collaboration and for lending your talents to creating all the amazing photos; Dave Rossi, again, for making me an author; John Van Citters, for listening to Dave Rossi the first time, and then continuing to let me do this.
André Bormanis, for all those questions you answer promptly, completely, and with good humor; Mike and Denise Okuda, for all your work that makes this book possible; Mike Sussman, who suggested why Picard put Wesley at the helm; Admiral James Stavridis, for his memoir Destroyer Captain: Lessons of a First Command; Steve Kane, who recommended I read Destroyer Captain: Lessons of a First Command by Admiral James Stavridis; Bryan Wolf and Brian Lazarus, great lawyers; Brannon Braga and Rick Berman, who made me a Star Trek writer.
Patrick Stewart, for obvious reasons; Seth MacFarlane, without whom I wouldn’t get to do any number of amazing things, including working with Patrick Stewart; my friends Mark Altman, Adam-Troy Castro, Howie Kaplan, Anne Lounsbery, Scott Mantz, Glen Mazzara, Dan Milano and Austin Tichenor, because you read the last book; my family: Fred, Phyllis, Bill, Jason, Rafael, Crystal, Anthony, Steven, Julia, Emma and Steve; my sisters Ann and Naomi, carrying on our mom’s legacy with me; and Talia, Jacob and especially Wendy, for your love, attention, humor and care, despite my annoying work habits.
ABOUT THE EDITOR
David A. Goodman began his writing career in 1988 as a staff writer on The Golden Girls. After getting fired from that job, he worked on over 20 other television series, among the more relevant: Star Trek: Enterprise, American Dad, and Futurama, where he penned the Star Trek homage “Where No Fan Has Gone Before.” He is best known for his work on Family Guy, where he served as executive producer and head writer for over 100 episodes. As of this writing, he is working with Seth MacFarlane on the new show The Orville. He lives in Pacific Palisades, California with his family.
Table of Contents
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Foreword: By Beverly Crusher Picard, M.D., Starfleet Captain
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Editor Goodman’s Acknowledgments
About the Editor
STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JEAN-LUC PICARD Page 33