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In the "Tapestry" episode of Star Trek The Next Generation (6x15) Picard

is offered (by Q) to return to years of his youth and to reverse certain events, that had led him to being stabbed by Nausicaans in the bar and eventually end up with an artificial heart. In his first meeting (with Q) in Picard's youth, Q explains it is two days before the fight with the Nausicaan.

But, then, either I'm missing something or

we see Corey playing dom-jot during the very same day and Picard and Marta revealing their feelings for each other the same day evening and then the next morning Picard wakes up on Marta's bed. And we see no reference, that another whole day has passed.

What am I missing? Where is the missing day?

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    You seem to be right. After reading the plot on Memory Alpha, it seems that it indeed is one day instead of two. Maybe the plot summary on Memory Alpha is incomplete, but the way it reads, you are right. – Lars Ebert Jan 21 '15 at 12:26
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    Maybe he spent a lot more time in bed than we think... But it sounds like an error in the writing tbh – Dreamwalker Jan 21 '15 at 13:06
  • Wow, in hindsight Picard used a double standard when he justified his fight with the Nausicaans but then condemning Wesley Crusher for attempting the Kolvoord Starburst maneuver in the 5x19 episode "The First Duty". The brawl could have easily resulted in the deaths of his comrades - in fact by all rights Picard and his friends should have been crushed by three huge Nausicaans. – RobertF Jan 21 '15 at 15:03
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    @RobertF When he condemned Wesley Crusher's dangerous maneuver, he was a seasoned starfleet Captain with decades of experience and wisdom. When he fought the Naussicans, he was a brash young cadet fresh out of the academy. He's applying the same standards he'd have applied to himself with that level of wisdom (in fact, that's the entire point of this episode). – Zibbobz Jan 21 '15 at 15:45
  • Strike another up to >insert filler dialogue here< – MrDobilina Jan 21 '15 at 15:57
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This is because his past has already changed.

In the 'original' timeline, Picard himself challenged the Naussicans to a rematch, and re-rigged the table to beat the Naussicans.

I see two possibilities from here for this original series of events.

  1. The Naussicans accepted, were soundly beaten thanks to Picard's intervention, and the next day confronted them about the cheatery, leading to the fight.
  2. Picard issued the challenge, and the Naussicans agreed to a rematch the next day, extending his 'dead'line by an additional day.

Either one of these circumstances would make Q's statement true when he said it, but Picard's own meddling changed those circumstances. In the episode...

Picard refuses to take part in the plan to trick the Naussicans, and even prevents his friend from trying to rig the Dom-Jot table, threatening to report him to Starfleet. Since neither he nor his friends challenged the Naussicans and set things up for a rematch, the Naussicans, based on the events of the episode, assumed that the Federation cadets were cowards, and returned to the bar to taunt them.

Basically, by interfering with the way things originally went from his memory, Picard altered the events of his past, and in doing so unexpectedly caused a confrontation with the Naussicans to happen a day earlier than expected, under completely different circumstances.

This is possible because Q allowed Picard's actions to have reprocussions on his own life - it's even possible that none of this happened at all, and that Picard was merely hallucinating these events. Because of the nature of Q, we will never know.

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  • Hmm... works for me. – Omegacron Jan 21 '15 at 16:35
  • I think, you got the point, but your answer should be a little bit reworded. Correct me, if I'm wrong. Are you suggesting, that in original timeline, Picard has challenged Naussicans (using "prepared" table) in a rematch, but in "modified" version of history, he dropped that idea and only attempted it assist Corey in his own play against Naussicans, which eventually developed into fight. So, original story (Picard vs. Naussicans) took place two days later, and that's what Q is addressing, while "modified" story (Corey vs. Naussicans) took place one day layer. Am I getting you correct? – trejder Jan 22 '15 at 9:47
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    @trejder No, you're getting the events of the episode confused. I'll edit my question to reflect the events of the episode, but I'll put them in spoilers in case some people haven't seen it. – Zibbobz Jan 22 '15 at 14:13

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