by Ilsa J. Bick
Bat-Levi looked over at Castillo. “Helm, I want you to take us into the transition region of that brown star.”
Castillo looked startled. “That’s awfully close, Commander. Even with shields at max, we’ll cook.”
But Glemoor was shaking his head. “No, Ensign, it’s a good strategy, an excellent move. By definition, the brown star is cooler than, say, your Sol.”
“And since the star itself is cooler, the temperature will be low enough for us not to be in any danger but just high enough to obscure our plasma trail,” said Bat-Levi. “We won’t cook, not if we don’t stay too long.”
“Permission to give a suggestion, Commander?” asked Castillo. At her nod, he continued, “We have no way of knowing how long we’ll have to stay. It’s much less risky if we adopt the same strategy as the T’Pol. Keep the planet and its moon in front of us as a natural barrier. The stellar winds ought to obscure our plasma trail, and you said yourself that the warpshuttle’s sensors can’t read very far.”
Bat-Levi and Glemoor exchanged glances. Then Bat-Levi put her good hand on Castillo’s shoulder.
“It’s not the T’Pol I’m worried about,” she said, gently.
Jase, all that blood, what are you doing here, what’s happening? And Ven, Ven, what’s wrong with you? Garrett swallowed back her panic. “Jase?”
“I’m okay, Mom. But, Dad, you’ve got ...” His voice ended in a choked gargle as Chen-Mai tightened his stranglehold around the boy’s neck.
“I said, be quiet!” Chen-Mai peered at Garrett over Jase’s right shoulder. “You, drop your weapon! Do it now! The other woman, too! In front of you where I can see them!”
“Fine.” Garrett held up her hands, palms out, and let her phaser clatter to the rock. Stern hesitated then followed suit. “No problem,” said Garrett. “Just take it easy.”
“I am very easy! Now, kick them out of the way ... good. Now back up.”
The women did as they were told. Garrett’s gaze dropped to Kaldarren, who lay crumpled on his side. “Ven,” she called. She saw his eyelids flutter then open. “Ven!”
“Rachel.” Kaldarren’s face was a mask of pain. “Rachel, I knew you’d come if I called, I knew ...”
He gave a sharp cry as Chen-Mai aimed a vicious kick at his back. “Quiet!” screamed Chen-Mai.
“Stop!” cried Garrett. She balled her fists in frustration and grief. “Let us help him!”
“Not until I get some answers.” Chen-Mai rammed the point of his phaser into Jase’s temple. “Now, mind telling me how you got here?”
“Mom,” Jase began again, “Mom, I ...”
“Enough!” Chen-Mai tightened his grip.
“Jase.” Garrett gritted her teeth. It was all she could do to keep from leaping across the room and throttling the man. “Jase, don’t say any more. Just be quiet.”
“Well,” said Chen-Mai, his black eyes swiveling to take in Jase, Garrett, and then Kaldarren. “A family reunion. What’re the odds on that, huh? When did you and Kaldarren hatch up this little scheme?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Garrett.
Chen-Mai snorted. “Let’s see, we’ve got the kid and his father, and now his mother conveniently shows up at just the right moment. Did Kaldarren set this up? I didn’t think he was that smart.”
Garrett wet her lips. “Listen to me. I don’t know what’s going on here, but ...”
“Captain, I think I do,” Stern interrupted, her tone low and urgent. “Those energy signatures I read at the tunnel entrance. They’re here.”
“Captain?” Chen-Mai was instantly alert. “What do you mean, Captain?”
Ignoring him, Garrett glanced back over her shoulder. “That neuromagnetic plasma you read?”
“What do you mean, Captain?” Chen-Mai shouted. “What do you mean? Who are you?”
Garrett turned, teeth bared. “I am Captain Rachel Garrett of the Federation Starship Enterprise. This is my ship’s doctor. That is my son, and that’s his father. Okay?”
“Not okay.” Chen-Mai’s eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here?”
“We answered a distress call.”
“Distress call ... we didn’t send out any distress call.”
“That’s because you tripped an alarm, you moron.” Stern’s voice dripped with contempt. “At the tunnel entrance. Let me guess, you’re the one with the ham-handed approach to opening doors, right? Phaser, right? Idiot, you tripped an alarm.”
Chen-Mai gaped, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. “The mechanism was jammed, it was ...”
Stern made a horsey sound. “Jammed, my eye. You fired your damn phaser and set off a silent alarm beacon. We picked it up aboard our ship. And you can bet we’re not the only ones.”
Garrett said, “We had to investigate; we had no way of distinguishing an alarm from a distress call. We found the biosphere then picked up your life signs and followed them until we came here. I had no idea that either my son or my ... husband was here.” She looked past Chen-Mai at Jase. “Jase, what happened here, son?”
Jase’s eyes slid sideways as if to gauge whether or not he was about to be choked again. “I,” he began, “Pahl and I, we found the tunnel a couple of days ago. Then Pahl, he put on that mask, and then one of those things, it took him over.”
“The mask?” Chen-Mai searched the floor until his eyes caught a glint of silver. “You mean, that? That’s important?”
“You bet your sweet ass, it is,” said Stern. “I think I get it, Captain. It’s all here. There are hundreds of signatures in this room. Here and not here, almost as if they’re,” she studied her tricorder readings then shook her head in bewilderment, “as if they’re cloaked in some way. But the energy is neural. Captain, they’re minds. Or spirits, ghosts. And a lot of them ...” she inclined her head toward Kaldarren, but didn’t finish the sentence.
“They’re inside?” Garrett paled. She closed her eyes for a moment, steeling herself. “Oh, dear God. Can you help him?”
“I don’t know,” said Stern, starting forward. “I need to do ...”
“Don’t move, don’t move!” Chen-Mai shouted. “You, the doctor, put that down, put it down!”
“Oh, give it a rest,” Stern growled. She dropped to her knees by Kaldarren and ran her medical tricorder over the length of his body. “I’m a doctor and this man’s hurt. So either shoot me or shut up.” When Chen-Mai didn’t respond, Stern continued, “Wising up, right? Look, some of those things are inside him. For all I know, some more are inside that boy over there.”
“What?” Mar started, stared down at his nephew’s still, waxen features. “In Pahl?”
“No,” said Jase, “no, it’s not. It’s gone. When Dad talked to It, It left Pahl and went into Dad.”
It, thought Garrett, like a name. “Talked to It. Telepathically, Jase?”
Jase nodded, and she saw his eyes pool. “I couldn’t hear it. I felt it, though. I knew they were here, that they are here.”
“Makes sense,” Stern murmured.
“I knew it,” said Chen-Mai. His lips trembled with suppressed excitement. “I knew it, I knew it! He found a portal.”
“No,” said Jase, the tears spilling down his cheeks. “There’s no door, or anything like that. Pahl used the mask, but Dad didn’t.”
Stern grunted. “Mind transference, Captain, same principle as the Vulcan mind-meld, or any true telepathic contact. But that mask, I’ll bet my bottom dollar that it’s a device that focuses or collimates neural energy. Like a lens focuses diffuse light to a single point: The lens doesn’t make the light. It’s simply a conduit for allowing certain properties of light to be exaggerated, or used.”
“What do you mean?” Chen-Mai raged. “Speak sense! Can that be used, or not?”
“Probably not by you.” Stern’s look spoke volumes. “Or me, for that matter, but not because I’m the least bit like you, thank God. That thing just makes it easier for an energy exchange to take place. True tel
epaths wouldn’t require it.”
“But empaths would?” asked Garrett.
Stern hesitated, gave Jase a quick glance. “Sure,” she said, then with added emphasis, “or people with fledgling telepathic abilities.”
“That can’t be,” said Mar. “Pahl is not a telepath.”
“But he’s Naxeran, and from his complexion, one of his parents was a Weyrie, right?” When Mar nodded, Stern looked over at Garrett. “The Weyries are the only class of Naxerans who dream, Captain. They also have a fairly high prevalence of psychiatric problems. Hallucination, delusions.”
“Telepathic equivalents?”
“Maybe for the Naxerans.”
“Glemoor’s never mentioned it.”
“The Naxerans may not know, Captain. As I recall, the Weyries don’t tend to live very long. They’re also pretty reclusive; I don’t think other Naxerans have much to do with them.”
“The Weyries,” said Mar, his frills trembling, “very strange, very odd ...”
“Weyries,” Chen-Mai interrupted. “Empaths, telepaths! Enough of this talk. What matters now is that you are here.”
“Don’t you get it?” Stern asked. “We wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t been so helpful with your phaser on that airlock. And you can bet your bottom dollar that if we caught that signal, so will the Cardassians. They’re probably on their way now.”
Garrett looked over at Mar. Of the two men, she thought that the Naxeran would be the most reasonable. “Look, I don’t know why you’re here. Frankly, I don’t care. Right now, I care about getting out of here before the Cardassians show up. Now the best thing for everyone is for you to come with us. We’ve got a shuttle. We can take care of your boy on the ship.”
Mar hesitated, glanced over at Chen-Mai, then nodded.
“No!” Chen-Mai shouted. “No, are you crazy? You want to leave all this behind?”
“But if they’re right and the Cardassians are coming, what good will it do us if we’re dead?” asked Mar.
“They’re just making it up,” said Chen-Mai. “The boy’s father and his mother, they’re both in on this.”
“Oh, that’s intelligence for you,” said Stern.
“Jo!” Garrett snapped. And to Chen-Mai: “If we don’t leave now, we’ll be stranded here. Our ship has orders to leave the system if they so much as sniff a Cardassian ship. We have to go now!”
But Chen-Mai was shaking his head and, to Garrett’s dismay, he began backing up, using Jase as a shield. “Oh, no. Your ship might leave, and you might be right, but I’ll be taking my own ship, thanks. Now I want what’s my due. I didn’t take all these risks to be left with nothing. All that money in that other room there, I’m not leaving it behind. And just to make sure your ship doesn’t fire on me on my way out of the system, the boy’s coming with me.”
“Mom,” said Jase, his eyes wide with fright. “Mom!”
“Wait a minute.” Mar started to his feet. “What about me? What about Pahl? You’re not leaving us behind!”
“No one has to be left behind!” Garrett said sharply. “Look, I give you my word, we’ll let you go. You won’t be charged. Come with us; you don’t have to do this!”
Chen-Mai’s face was hard. “I don’t believe you. I’m leaving and I’m taking the boy. You, Mar, if you’re coming, leave the boy and come now!”
“No.” Mar spread out his hands in a helpless gesture. “I can’t do that. I can’t leave Pahl. Please, Chen-Mai, at least let the doctor ...”
“There’s no time!”
Mar’s jaw firmed. “I won’t leave.”
“Fine,” said Chen-Mai. His phaser flicked away from Jase’s temple. “Then stay.”
“No!” cried Garrett, too late.
There was a brilliant flash as the phaser beam lanced across the chamber. Mar screamed as the beam struck the side of his head, and collapsed in a heap to the stone. Before Garrett could move, Chen-Mai had his phaser trained on Jase’s head once more.
Stern rushed to Mar’s side, ran her medical tricorder over his body. Shook her head.
Choking back her fury, Garrett turned on Chen-Mai. “There was no reason for that, none!”
Of all things, Chen-Mai grinned, showing the gap between his teeth, the pink nub of his tongue working. “One thing you learn in my business: People do what they’re told. Otherwise, things go wrong. I don’t like it when things go wrong.”
“You didn’t have to kill him. There’s no reason that anyone else has to die here.”
But Chen-Mai was backing out, pulling Jase with him. “You come after me, I’ll kill him, you understand?”
“Mom!” Jase began to struggle. “Mom, don’t let him!”
“Shut up!” Chen-Mai cuffed the boy across the temple with the butt of his phaser.
Jase gasped, staggered. Then, roaring with anger, Jase brought the heel of his foot down, hard, on the man’s instep.
“Jase!” Garrett shouted.
Chen-Mai choked out a scream. Jase tore away and dove for the floor just as Chen-Mai let loose a blast from his phaser. But his aim was off, and the beam sizzled wide, skirting the boy’s head. The beam was so close that Garrett heard the sputter-crack of the phaser as the beam gouged a hole in the red stone floor. The floor twitched with the force of the blast, and Jase tripped, tried scrambling to his feet, but then Garrett was diving for him, knocking him left as the phaser licked the stone to her right. Garrett banged into the hard rock floor; the impact knocked her breath away and left her gasping. There was a high whine and then the red rock erupted in a spray of pulverized and superheated stone, showering her with debris that pattered down upon her head and bit at her cheeks.
“Go!” Garrett choked, gulping down air. Reaching down, she detached her helmet from her waist and rolled into a crouch. “Move, Jase, move!”
Jase darted left, and as Chen-Mai brought his phaser around for another shot, Garrett sprang, flying across the room, slinging her fist around in a roundhouse swing. She caught Chen-Mai on the point of his chin with an audible crack. The man went down in a heap, his phaser whirling from his hand. Garrett knew her own weapon was too far away and she lunged for Chen-Mai’s. At the last second, he reached up and grabbed her ankle, sent her crashing to the floor.
“Jase!” she yelled to her son who was crouched in a far corner. “Get the phaser, get the phaser!”
Jase started for the weapon, but, somehow, Chen-Mai staggered to his feet and scooped up the phaser, juggling the weapon from his left to his right hand.
“You’re too much trouble,” he said, backing away, chest heaving, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. Turning his head to one side, he spat out a gob of rust-colored saliva. His teeth were orange with blood. He took aim at Garrett. “Too much damn trouble.”
Suddenly, there was a shout from the arched doorway just behind, the one that led to the main burial chamber. Garrett twisted her head around in time to see Sivek stumbling through the opening, off-balance, his arms out and windmilling for a support that wasn’t there.
At the sound, Chen-Mai jerked his weapon up and fired.
The blast burned through the Vulcan’s suit, through his flesh, and into his lungs, and the force sent Sivek hurtling against the far wall. The Vulcan never had a chance to shout, not that it mattered. He slammed against the wall with a solid thud and collapsed, his body slithering down the wall.
In the next instant, Halak leapt through the entrance, Sivek’s phaser in his hand.
“Watch it, Halak!” Garrett shouted, her shock turning to urgency. “He’s got a phaser!”
Without breaking stride, Halak dove for cover behind a boulder, firing as he went. His phaser shot lanced across the cavern, exploding into the rock above Chen-Mai’s head, sending down a rain of gravel and pulverized stone. Turning, Chen-Mai fired once, a wild shot, and then bolted for the corridor at the far end of the chamber. Jase threw himself forward, but the stocky man was much stronger and threw the boy aside like a rag doll before disappearin
g down the corridor.
Garrett pushed to her feet. “Let him go!” she said to Halak, who had started after.
“You picked a hell of a good time to play cavalry,” Stern observed. She was still squatting by Kaldarren but hooked a thumb toward Sivek’s body. “How did you figure it out?”
“Later,” said Halak. He trotted over to Garrett. “Captain?”
“I’m fine,” said Garrett, pushing her hair from her face. She looked around wildly. “But, Jase, where’s Jase?”
Jase dodged around Halak. “Mom,” Jase said, throwing himself into her so forcefully that Garrett staggered back. Halak caught her by the elbow and steadied her.
“Oh, Mom,” Jase said, “Mom!”
Garrett gave him a fierce hug, held her son’s face between her hands, and said shakily, “If you weren’t too old ...”
“Rachel.” Garrett turned around. Stern was running her tricorder over Kaldarren’s prostrate form, but when she raised her eyes to Garrett, her face was grim.
Heart sinking, Garrett knelt by Kaldarren. “Ven,” she said. She swallowed hard and ran her hand, still gloved, along his brow. “Ven, can you hear me?”
She had to call his name twice more before he responded. “Rachel,” Kaldarren said, his voice breaking. The muscles of his face twitched and danced. “Rachel, you have to leave ... you have to take Jase away ... away from here.”
“Sshh,” said Garrett, blinking back sudden tears. In an instant, the years of hurt and disappointments, all the acrimony and recriminations, were erased, and she saw only the man she had once loved with all her heart: the man who had been her lover, her steadfast friend, her most ardent critic. The father of the son they both loved. “Ven, let us try to help you, let us ...”
“You can’t.” Kaldarren’s head rolled back and forth in weak protest. “You ... can’t. They’re in me and I can’t break away, I can’t ...”
“Don’t talk. We’ll get you aboard the ship.”
