Quality of Life

"Quality of Life" was a TNG short story published in Star Trek Explorer, Issue 2 in April 2022. It was collected in the Q and False and Other Stories omnibus in December 2022. In the story, Q visits a doctor who has spent her life studying cybernetics and developing prosthetics in hopes of one day creating a bio-mechanoid.

Description[]

Q witnesses the genesis of the Federation's greatest foes.

References[]

Characters[]

Augum Bute • Maratheus • Q

Starships and vehicles[]

Borg cube

Locations[]

unnamed planet

Races and cultures[]

Borg • Q (species)
Referenced only: Valatian

States and organizations[]

Centerium • Marsheen Republic

Science and classification[]

alcove • assimilation • Borg drone • circuitry • cybernetics • diode • implant • laboratory • machine • ocular implant • power converter • prosthetic • technology

Ranks and titles[]

assistant • doctor • scientist • servant

Other references[]

book • castle • chair • culture • decade • emotion • fire • history • house • insect • iron • leather • lightning • metal • mythology • planet • silver • skull • species • star • thiridium • wine • wood

Appendices[]

Background[]

The official description for this story given in Q and False and Other Stories is: Q witnesses the genesis of the Federation's greatest foes. This is incorrect. In fact the story states that the Borg already existed for a long time before the doctor's civilisation even started to turn their interest to science. Though it is hinted that the motivation for the Borg's creation might have been similar to that of the doctor, the actual genesis of the Borg is not part of this short story.
The chronological placement of this story is highly arbitrary. As the Borg are already established as a force in the galaxy, but aside from the presence of Q no connections to other known facts are given, it was placed more in the vicinity of the Borg's creation in the Memory Beta Chronology in order to at least acknowledge the provided official description aside from it being incorrect itself.

Multiple contradictory accounts have described the origins of the Borg, including ST - Strange New Worlds VI short story: "The Beginning", TNG - Strange New Worlds VII short story: "Forgotten Light", TOS - Star Trek: The Manga - Shinsei Shinsei comic: "Side Effects", ST video game: Legacy, and ST - Destiny novel: Lost Souls. See Borg history for an overview.

Connections[]

Short stories published in magazines
TV21 Weekly	TOS stories	"Gateway to the Future"
Stardate Magazine	TOS stories	"Force of Law" • "The Killax Vendetta" • "Planetfall" • "Coronation Presumptuous" • "Boarding Party" • "Roleplaying in the Final Frontier"
Amazing Stories	TNG stories	"Last Words" • "On the Scent of Trouble" • "Life Itself is Reason Enough" • "Bedside Matters"
Amazing Stories	VOY stories	"When Push Comes to Shove" • "A Night at Sandrine's" • "The Space Vortex of Doom"
Star Trek Magazine	STO stories	"Unexpected Honor" • "Shakedown" • "The Gale, Part 1" • "The Gale, Part 2" • "Mirror Image, Part 1" • "Mirror Image, Part 2" • "Chief, Part 1" • "Chief, Part 2" • "Of Chaos and Kal-toh, Part 1" • "Of Chaos and Kal-toh, Part 2" • "Dove" • "Backchannel Negotiations" • "There's No Place Like..." • "Locks Without Keys, Part 1" • "Locks Without Keys, Part 2" • "Hope Remains" • "After the Storm" • "Recruitment Drive" • "Time of the Scotsman" • "An Honorable Frontier"
Star Trek: Explorer	stories	"All That Most Maddens and Torments" • "Q and False" • "A Night In" • "The Offer" • "Seven ﹥ Seven" • "Quality of Life" • "Retribution" • "Broken Oaths" • "The Way to Exile" • "Kill Captain Proton!" • "Cumulative Damage" • "Explorers of the Storm" • "Prey" • "Growing Pains" • "Pulaski 2.0" • "The Disavowed" • "By Special Request" • "Paghabi" • "The Expert" • "The Guardian" • "The Mission" • "Things Can Only Get Better" • "Frontier Medicine" • "Control" • "The Victim" • "Scramble" • "You Can't Buy Fate" • "Summer Days Can Last Forever" • "The Kellidian Kidnapping" • "Lost and Founder" • "A Year to the Day I Saw Myself Die" • "See and Seen" • "Work Worth Doing" • "The Trouble with Jones" • "Sundering" • "Academy Acquisition" • "Jack of Diamonds" • "A Dish Served Cold" • "Forewarned and Three-Armed" • "Working Miracles" • "Confirmation Bias" • "Dignified Transfer" • "Attempted Break-in" • "Cat and Mouse" • "Housewarming" • "The Sirius Snarl" • "Memoriam" • "The Simulation" • "Chekov's Challenge" • "The Snake and the Worm" • "Freeblade" • "The Needs of the Many"• "Family History" • "In Two Minds" • "My Name is Mudd" • "The Lost Noel" • "Into the Cardassian Quagmire"

Star Trek: The Next Generation collected short stories, novellas and short novels
Strange New Worlds	I: ("What Went Through Data's Mind 0.68 Seconds Before the Satellite Hit" • "The Naked Truth" • "The First" • "See Spot Run" • "Together Again, for the First Time" • "Civil Disobedience" • "Of Cabbages and Kings") • II: ("I Am Klingon" • "Reciprocity" • "Calculated Risk" • "Gods, Fate, and Fractals" • "I Am Become Death") • III: ("Whatever You Do, Don't Read This Story" • "A Private Victory" • "The Fourth Toast" • "One of Forty-seven" • "A Q to Swear By" • "The Change of Seasons" • "Out of the Box, Thinking") • IV: ("Flight 19" • "The Promise" • "Flash Point" • "Prodigal Son" • "Seeing Forever") • V: ("Bluff" • "The Peacemakers" • "Efflorescence" • "Kristin's Conundrum" • "The Monkey Puzzle Box" • "The Farewell Gift" • "Dementia in D Minor") • VI: ("The Soft Room" • "Protecting Data's Friends" • "The Human Factor" • "Tribble in Paradise") • VII: ("Life's Work" • "Adventures in Jazz and Time" • "Future Shock" • "Full Circle" • "Beginnings" • "Solemn Duty") • 8: ("Morning Bells Are Ringing" • "Passages of Deceit" • "Final Flight") • 9: ("Staying the Course" • "Home Soil" • "Terra Tonight" • "Solace in Bloom") • 10 ("Wired" • "A Dish Served Cold" • "The Very Model") • 2016 ("A Christmas Qarol" • "The Sunwalkers" • "The Seen and Unseen")
The Sky's the Limit	"Meet with Triumph and Disaster" • "Acts of Compassion" • "Redshift" • "Among the Clouds" • "Thinking of You" • "Turncoats" • "Ordinary Days" • "'Twould Ring the Bells of Heaven" • "Friends With the Sparrows" • "Suicide Note" • "Four Lights" • "'Til Death" • "On the Spot" • "Trust Yourself When All Men Doubt You"
Star Trek: Explorer	"Q and False" • "Quality of Life" • "Broken Oaths" • "Prey" • "Growing Pains" • "Pulaski 2.0" • "The Disavowed" • "Paghabi" • "The Expert" • "Scramble" • "Dignified Transfer" • "Attempted Break-in" • "The Simulation" • "Family History" • "Into the Cardassian Quagmire"
Misc. short stories	"The Captain and the King" • "Last Words" • "Bedside Matters" • "On the Scent of Trouble" • "Life Itself is Reason Enough" • "What Dreams May Come" • "Twilight's Wrath" • "Eleven Hours Out" • "Darkness" • "The Sacred Chalice" • "For Want of a Nail"
Misc. novellas & short novels	"The Other Side" • "The Worst of Both Worlds" • "Brave New World"

Timeline[]

published order
Previous story: Seven ﹥ Seven	Short stories (Star Trek: Explorer)	Next story: Retribution
Previous story: Seven ﹥ Seven	Short stories ("Q and False" and Other Stories	Next story: Retribution
Previous story: Q and False Star Trek: Explorer	TNG short stories	Next story: Broken Oaths Star Trek: Explorer
Previous story: All That Most Maddens and Torments Star Trek: Explorer	Stories by: Christopher Cooper	Next story: The Disavowed Star Trek: Explorer
chronological order
Previous adventure: Forgotten Light Sections 1, 4, 6, 8, 10 & 12 Strange New Worlds VII	Memory Beta Chronology	Next adventure: Horn and Ivory Chapters 1 - 9 What Lay Beyond

Publication history[]

12 April 2022: First released in Star Trek: Explorer magazine. (Titan Magazines)
20 December 2022: Collected in the Q and False and Other Stories omnibus. (Titan Magazines)