"Thank you," he nods, accepting the cup. The way Terzen describes Dr. McCoy amuses Picard, and he is forced to hide his smile behind his tea. "Ah, yes, that's very good. Thank you again."

Putting the tea aside for a moment, he pays Terzen the respect of thinking his words over as carefully as if he hadn't thought of that himself, nodding slowly. "I have discovered that the Doctor McCoy and Ensign Chekov we now entertain on the Enterprise come from an alternate past themselves, where certain events have happened quite differently than they do in our history books. Q very well may be altering our futures as we speak, or as you have suggested, we may be in a pocket timeline ourselves. It would not be the first time Q has removed all memory of an event he has orchestrated, once the 'game' is over. But is it worth the risk?"

He lets the question hover a moment, contemplating the ribbons of steam coming off his tea.

"By simply being here, this crew of the original Enterprise have already challenged the Temporal Prime Directive. Do we allow them to return home with the insights they've gathered in their time here? Of course, we cannot keep them here if a way back presents itself. The damage to the future of their timeline is very much in Q's hands," he says.