Strange New Worlds X

by Dean Wesley Smith

  In a month’s time people would begin dying of things as basic as starvation and thirst, or from easily curable diseases or easily treatable injuries.

  But that month on Nalyn gave those on the Federation’s side of the rift over 450 years to figure it out.

  “So, what do you want to do next?” Sisko asked the Nalynians.

  “We were thinking,” Ralf spoke up quickly, “we’ve done so much work here, including artificially triggering the portal. One of us who is familiar with the work needs to go back. We’ve all discussed it, Gaemes. We think you should go. You’ve done so much. You deserve to go back. And you can do a lot of good there.”

  A series of emotions flickered across Gaemes face and for a moment, Sisko couldn’t tell if he wanted to strangle them or if he would cry. Likely, both feelings were competing.

  “Go on, Gaemes,” Elfys added. “We’ll be right behind you.”

  “I can’t quit now,” he protested.

  “You’re not. We need someone to go back with the work we’ve done thus far. You can help get things ready for the next transition. We’re close to a solution; I can feel it. You can help them prepare to implement it, whatever it is.”

  Gaemes looked back and forth between his colleagues, his countenance still conflicted.

  “Go on, Gaemes,” Ralf echoed. “We really will be right behind you.”

  Sisko could see the instant the man reached a decision, because all the tension left his face and carriage. In a moment’s time he looked decades younger.

  They made sure he had several copies of all the data so at least those on the other side could open a rift at will. He also had all the data that, although it had proven useful, hadn’t yet led to an answer to the dilemma.

  “All right.” Dax leaned over the elderly man’s shoulder and pointed to the controls. “Here is the emergency shutdown. That kills all power. Your ship doesn’t have warp drive, so you don’t have to worry about losing antimatter containment. Count to five after you open the rift, then hit that. Inertia will carry you through. Once on the other side, hit the switch again. That should reactivate everything. If power doesn’t come back on.” She patted the slim gray box on the copilot’s seat beside him. “This is a distress beacon, with its own power source. It’s off now, but it’ll work just fine if you need it.”

  “Everything I need to know. Thank you so much.” And with that, after over a century, Gaemes was finally returning home.

  Admiral Kathryn Janeway stood quietly on Voyager’s bridge and watched the controlled chaos swirl around her. It felt good being there; she still took great pride in the achievements of her former crew. And the ship itself retained a special place in her heart.

  It also felt odd. Not necessarily in a bad way. Just strange to see someone else in the captain’s seat. Even if that person was Captain Chakotay. Even stranger, but more gratifying, was seeing Thomas Paris beside him as first officer.

  Janeway folded her arms and leaned back against the wall, simply enjoying being there again. Then she felt a huge grin crease her face. Somehow she doubted the new chief engineer was as thrilled to have his predecessor B’Elanna Torres aboard. Torres could be intimidating enough even without the feeling of having to follow in her footsteps.

  She saw Harry Kim casting glances in her direction and winked at him. They’d come up in the turbolift together, and he’d gone to his post, heeding her admonishment not to make a fuss. Janeway still expected to see Tuvok there, although she knew full well he’d been reassigned to the Titan.

  She cleared her throat a little and stepped down to the lower level.

  “Hello, Chakotay. Tom.” She noted that Tom’s head snapped around rather quickly, but Chakotay didn’t looked startled.

  “Good to see you, Admiral,” Chakotay said, rising. He gave her an affectionate hug. Greetings followed from the rest of the bridge crew as well.

  “You sure you don’t mind chauffeuring around annoying flag officers” she asked, half-seriously.

  “It’s a pleasure,” he replied, warmth in his voice and smile. Then he grew slightly more businesslike. “Sounds like you’re back in science officer mode.” He offered her the seat. Despite a sharp twinge of longing, she declined.

  “Actually, Seven made the observation that led to the idea Voyager’s bioneural gelpacks might help solve Nalyn’s problem. She came across the Brigadoon Project during her work at the think tank. And she’s the one who noted that, even though traveling through dimensions was wreaking havoc with technology, it wasn’t hurting any of the life on the planet. That made me think that maybe we could adapt the gel packs.”

  “Let’s hope it works. We’re ready to break orbit whenever you give the order, Admiral.”

  “Thank you, Captain. In that case, let’s get under way. Best speed to the Brigadoon Research Station.”

  “This should solve the problem of computers shutting down,” B’Elanna said, glancing up from her work as Janeway and Chakotay strode into the science lab. “But it’s not going to do much good with regard to protecting power sources.”

  “One step at a time, Commander,” Janeway said, as encouragement rather than a rebuke. “I’m sure they’ll take whatever victories they can get.”

  Chakotay looked from one woman to the other. “I didn’t think power sources needed to be protected. Don’t they just need to be managed? And if the bio-neural circuitry will do that …”

  “Then it’s just a matter of redesigning power management to be variable-flow instead of steady, or even just to add a pause. Once we get to the research station, we can see how well the gel-packs integrate into their systems. If that goes well—and that is a huge ‘if’—then we can see about systems overhauls to accommodate the downtime. The actual transition time between dimensions is only a minute or two, right?”

  “I believe it’s less than that,” Janeway said, thinking over all the data she’d reviewed. “Only a few seconds.”

  “Even better. So if the gel-packs aren’t affected by the transition, and we can program a pause into them….” Torres turned back to the engineering console where she sat, the other two officers already forgotten.

  Exchanging a wry smile with the admiral, Chakotay slipped out of engineering and left them to work undisturbed.

  “I’ll send the specs on the gel-packs to the research station,” Torres said. “They can start studying them. By the time we get there, they should have a good idea of how easy or difficult it will be to mesh them with their technology.”

  “That should be half the battle,” Janeway said.

  Torres shot her a sharp look. “I’ll be pleasantly surprised if it’s only half. But I certainly hope you’re right.”

  “Approaching Brigadoon Station, Captain,” Harry Kim announced.

  Janeway had to stop herself from responding. Old habits died hard, after all. She saw Chakotay look quickly away, but not before she’d glimpsed a knowing smile.

  “Hail them, Mister Kim. They should be expecting us.”

  An ancient dark-skinned man—with dark blue skin, that is—and silver-white hair, appeared. “Greetings, Captain. I’m Elfys. We’ve been working with the data you sent. Thus far, combining the two systems is proving to be a bit problematic. But we’ll keep at it.”

  “Commander Torres is the one who provided the data. She and Admiral Janeway have been continuing to work at it from our side. Perhaps it would help if they beamed over with some of the actual gel-packs. First hand is usually better than computer simulations.”

  “That sounds like a very practical idea.”

  Janeway and Torres materialized in a laboratory that looked remarkably similar to the one they’d just left. Each carried a box of several of the bio-neural gel-packs.

  Elfys smiled in welcome, but his eyes betrayed exhaustion. “If only we could get the technologies to talk as easily as you and I can,” he said.

  “That might just work. Have you tried a translation matrix to link the two systems?” Janeway asked. />
  “Hmm, not yet,” Elfys replied, and that got them all started.

  “Got it!” Ralf shouted in jubilation. Everyone crowded around her workstation to watch the test run, then run again. The gel-pack was working in perfect concert with the rest of the controls.

  “That is wonderful,” Janeway beamed at their triumph. “We brought a supply of the gel-packs, and you’re welcome to them, but that’s only a thousand and I suspect you can easily use millions of them. And they can’t be replicated.”

  “We can convert the most critical systems first,” Elfys agreed, “But yes, we’ll need many more than that. However, we can continue to use the temporal discrepancy to our advantage. After we arrange payment or trade for them, if you’d be so kind to send them as quickly as you can conveniently make them …”

  “You’ll still be receiving them every few minutes,” Janeway said, finishing the sentence for him.

  “Exactly. We may even have to ask you to slow down a little on delivery.” He gave a huge sigh of bliss and pressed his eyes tightly closed for a moment. “After all this time …”

  Then he took a deep breath. “Computer, communications to all the ships and planetside,” he said. After the computer acknowledged the open channel, he continued. “May I have your attention please. Our latest experiment has been a complete success. All ships, prepare to return home. All personnel on the surface, gather up all equipment and personal items and report to your ships. Thank you all for your dedication.”

  Elfys turned to Janeway and Torres. “Thank you, and all your coworkers, so very much. You can’t imagine what all your assistance has meant to us.”

  “I’m just sorry the problem took so long to solve,” Janeway said.

  Sorrow flickered across his face so quickly that Janeway wasn’t sure if she’d imagined it or not. He certainly sounded sincere when he said, “But that’s the beauty of it, Admiral. It’s only been seven days. That strikes me as remarkably quick problem-solving.”

  She just nodded. They both knew that wasn’t what she meant, but the last thing she wanted was to emphasize his sense of loss rather than of accomplishment. Still, she marveled at the fact that this man and all the original scientists with him were contemporaries of Jonathan Archer. No doubt the historians would have loved to spend time with them if the Nalynians’ mission hadn’t been so critical.

  “Admiral, I realize it’s unlikely any of your people will be interested, due to the time difference, but you are always welcome on Nalyn.”

  “That’s very kind, Elfys,” Janeway said, thinking even more of Archer’s era. Back then, exploring did mean being gone for months, if not years at a time. Nowadays, Titan and the other Luna-class vessels notwithstanding, that was the exception rather than the rule. They’d grown accustomed to the immediacy of the Federation, far flung though it was. “I’ll be sure to pass along your invitation. I’m sure some of the more adventurous types, particularly of the long-lived species, will be tempted.”

  “It would be a pleasure. If there is ever any way we can repay you, please let us know.”

  “Just make good use of your discoveries,” Janeway said. “So all your hard work was worthwhile.”

  “Of that you can be sure,” Elfys said. “And now it’s time to finally go home.”

  Janeway knew the arduous task ahead didn’t lessen his joy.

  Reborn

  Jeremy Yoder

  Jeremy Yoder is a computer programmer in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. During his spare time, he strives to turn his hobby of writing into a profession. In addition to his writing, he enjoys his wonderful three-year-old daughter and lovely wife. He extends special thanks to those who make Strange New Worlds possible, including the other writers in this volume. This is his second entry in SNW, with his first being “The Smallest Choices” in SNW 9.

  P icard glanced up from the request on his ready room desk to Riker, who awaited his response. “Risa?” Picard asked. “Aren’t you tired of taking shore leave there?” They smiled, knowing many would vacation at the so-called pleasure planet, now that the Dominion War had recently ended. But before Riker could reply, a flash of light near the center of the room blinded them. It disappeared just as quickly to reveal—

  “Q!” Picard barked, standing upright. The alien entity lay on the floor in an apparently weakened state, but Picard wasn’t buying it. He was so tired of Q’s interruptions that he hardly noticed Riker requesting security. “I’ve tolerated your games,” Picard hissed, “far longer than I—”

  “Jean-Luc,” Q gasped, struggling for breath. “No games. Too much. At stake. Space. Time. Everything.”

  Riker strode toward Q, gripped his arm, and hauled him to his feet. The door swished open and in stepped Data with phaser drawn. “I suggest,” Riker said, “that you listen and—”

  “Would you both shut up and listen!” Q ripped his arm away and staggered to Picard’s desk. He leaned on it while gasping for breath. “You have to help. I’m depleted. They attacked. The Continuum had no idea. Beyond what even we can comprehend.”

  As Data stepped closer, Picard held up a hand, signaling for the android to wait. “You have one minute,” Picard said. “If by then you can’t convince me you’re telling the truth—”

  “The Pah-wraiths have been unleashed,” Q blurted.

  Picard’s eyebrows shot up. To the Bajorans, the wormhole near their planet was the Celestial Temple, where benevolent aliens called the Prophets existed. According to myth, the Prophets had banished their rebellious brethren, the Pah-wraiths. From Captain Sisko’s reports over the years, he knew such aliens existed, but didn’t know where myth ended and fact began. “I know of them. But what do you—”

  “We’ve watched what you call the ‘wormhole aliens’ for eons, curious they have so much power over space and time, but rarely use it. That was up until a few minutes ago, when Sisko fell with Dukat into the fire caves and unleashed the Pah-wraiths.”

  Picard held up a hand and shook his head. “I’m sorry. Fire caves? You need to back up. I don’t understand.”

  Q dashed around the desk and gripped Picard’s shoulders. “There’s no time to back up! They’re consuming all of time and space!” Q slumped into Picard’s chair. “Dukat talked about them setting the heavens aflame. We thought it was just an expression, but the Pah-wraiths swarmed out, attacking the wormhole and Continuum. None of us had time to respond, except the so-called Prophets sent their beloved Emissary out at multiple light speeds toward the Delta Quadrant.”

  “Emissary?” Riker asked, stepping forward.

  Before Q could respond with annoyance, Picard interjected. “A title the Bajorans use for Captain Sisko in their viewing him as a religious figure.” He looked down at Q. “But how could they do that to Sisko? He’s just a man.”

  Q shook his head. “Not anymore. I don’t know what the Prophets changed him into after he fell into those fire caves. All I know is I barely escaped with my life, but not before the Pah-wraiths had siphoned off most of my energy. Now all I can do is teleport across space and time—while they last—until I’m spent. So I came here, hoping you’d help.”

  “But if there’s nothing you can do, what can I offer?”

  Q gazed off into the distance. “I don’t know. I’ve never had to be fast-thinking when I was nearly omniscient.” He stood. “So be my guide, Jean-Luc. Tell me where to go and I’ll take us.”

  “This is madness,” Picard said, starting to pace.

  “How much time have we got?” Riker asked.

  Red alert sirens blared all over the ship, making them jump.

  Q took a deep breath. “My guess is, not long.”

  They rushed out to the bridge, where Data sat down at his console. “Data,” Picard began, though the android was already working on it. “Locate the source and put it on screen.” Picard turned to Q. “When you said the Pah-wraiths were setting the heavens aflame, what exactly did you …”

  The viewscreen blinked on to maximum magnification. T
hey stared in shock and silence at what appeared to be a wall of flame-like energy of every color, scorching across the cosmos in every direction.

  “Unfortunately,” Q said, “I meant exactly that.”

  Picard took a few hesitant steps closer to the viewscreen. “Data, what do you register beyond it?”

  Data swiveled in his chair. If ever there was an odd time for the android to speak without emotion, it was then. “Nothing. No planets. No debris. No light. Not even space to measure.”

  Q stretched out his hands in a pleading motion. “Picard, where can we go? You need to decide.”

  “Shields up!” Picard barked. “Helm, turn about. Maximum—”

  “Jean-Luc!” Q pointed at the viewscreen. “That crossed from Bajor to here in minutes, which would take you days. You can’t outrun it. We need to act now!”

  “Then teleport our ship to—”

  “I told you. My power is diminished. Transporting that much matter will drain me, and I need to conserve what little I have. I can only take you at the moment, so make it count.”

  “Seventeen seconds until impact,” Data said.

  Picard stared at the advancing wave. In all his travels, nothing had come close to such devastation and magnitude. Without having time to consider if it was wise or foolish, he whispered, “Voyager. We know Janeway and her crew are trapped in the Delta Quadrant, where you say the Prophets sent Sisko.” He turned to Q. “Take us to Voyager.”

  As light enveloped him, Picard couldn’t help but tear up, knowing his beloved Enterprise crew was about to be destroyed.

  Janeway shifted in her captain’s chair and turned to her first officer, Chakotay. “At the risk of jinxing our recent good fortune,” she said, “I have to say the past few uneventful days have felt like vacation.”