Star Trek - DS9 - Fall of Terok Nor

by Неизвестный

  Kira was outraged. "Kai Winn, you knew why we asked you up here. These are the Orbs. Look at the way they're glowing."

  "Child, though my ways are simple and I am cer-tainly not as worldly as some who look to me for guid-ance, I am no stranger to the wonders of our age. I have seen many things glow, from phaser beams to a child's glitterball. I am sure that as much as you and the Emissary might want to believe in the tales of Jal-bador, a few days of study would reveal the secret of

  these objects to be nothing more than some novel chemical reaction."

  "Then perform that study," Sisko said. "In fact, I hope you do. Nothing could make me feel better than to know that these are some ingenious forgery."

  "Emissary, again I think you overestimate my abili-ties. Which is not to say I am not flattered by your high esteem. But really, I believe it is here, on Deep Space 9, in a temple of secular science as it were, that the objects should be studied."

  Sisko took a breath to calm himself. "Kai Winn, I am asking for your help."

  The Kai was barely able to look at Sisko, as if she were embarrassed beyond words. "Emissary, you do me an honor for which I know I am not worthy. But in this matter, I truly have no help to give." She glanced disapprovingly at Kira. "May we speak in private?"

  "Major Kira has my full confidence and trust."

  The Kai's false smile became exceptionally brittle. "Very well. I only wish to point out that many people look up to the Emissary as a role model, a person who sets an example which can help them find their own paths to the Prophets. And, with all humility, Emissary, to express your belief in the legends of Jalbador, and in these so-called Orbs, well, that is not an example right-thinking Bajoran people would want their chil-dren to follow."

  "I would think," Kira said angrily, "that the best role model for Bajoran children would be one who encour-aged the search for truth."

  The Kai blessed Kira with another blindingly insin-cere smile. "Why, yes, my child, that is what you'd think."

  "Kai Winn," Sisko said before Kira could escalate

  the confrontation, "I'll make this simple. Take these Orbs to Bajor and subject them to examination, or I will find some other religious leader who will.And if these prove to have any connection to the Prophets, I promise I will make the Bajoran people know that you tried to stand in the Prophets' way."

  That was the end of any pretence on the part of the Kai. She drew herself up, the perpetual smile gone. "Your acceptance of those objects as the Orbs of Jal-bador marks your first step on the path to heresy. Do you understand? Do you think you can remain Emis-sary with half the population of Bajor believing you've become a religious fanatic?"

  But Sisko knew this was an argument he couldn't lose. "You forget, Kai, I wasn't elected Emissary. For whatever reason, the Prophets chose me. And as their Emissary, I'm saying you don't have a choice. Take the Orbs."

  The Kai's chin lifted in defiance. "Very well, if you are so certain these are the legendary Orbs, prove it. Find the third."

  "It took sixty years to find these two. I have better things to do."

  "But it cannot be difficult, Emissary. Look how they're pulsating with the fabled light of Jalbador."

  Sisko wasn't sure what she meant and he could see that she knew it.

  The Kai's cruel smile was predatory. "You mean you claim these are the Red Orbs-without knowing the whole legend?"

  "Enlighten me," Sisko said.

  The Kai clapped her hands together in delight, almost laughing at him. "Two Orbs glow when coming close to each other. But three Orbs pulse. It has been

  years since I read the legends, Emissary, but I would say that from the behavior of these... Orbs, the third one is quite nearby."

  Sisko looked at Kira. "The one Terrell lost."

  Kira couldn't resist adding, "You mean, the one Ter-rell thought Quark had stolen."

  Sisko looked back at Kai Winn. "So if we find the third Orb, you will take them back to Bajor for study?"

  The Kai's ingratiating smile returned in full force. "Oh, that will hardly be necessary, because you will be able to prove they are real right away. You see, when the three Red Orbs are brought together, the doors to Jalbador open freely, and then... well, it is all in the legends, Emissary."

  "And then what, Kai?"

  "Why then... the world comes to an end." This time the Kai really did laugh at him. "So you can see where a great deal of study would not be necessary. Either the objects are frauds, or they are real. And if they are real, Emissary, you will have the singular pleasure of knowing you have brought on the apoca-lypse." She sighed with pleasure. "Now you know why the stories of the Red Orbs are so popular with chil-dren and the unenlightened. They are quite... lurid, wouldn't you say?"

  "I'm sure you'd know better than we would," Kira said. She gave Sisko a conspiratorial wink. "What do you say? Shall we go on a wild Orb hunt?"

  "You're not worried about the end of the world?" Sisko asked with a smile, accepting the Bajoran major's challenge.

  Kira looked directly at the Kai. "Somehow, I don't think the Prophets would spend twenty thousand years trying to teach us about the universe and our place in

  it, and at the same time leave a big 'off' switch lying around."

  Sisko picked up a Red Orb in each hand. "Kai

  Winn, we'll be back."

  "Of course you will be, Emissary. Because there are no such things as the Red Orbs of Jalbador."

  A few moments later, Sisko was standing on the slanted deck of the Promenade, slowly moving the Orbs back and forth.

  "That direction," Kira said, pointing spinward toward Quark's. "The pulsing seemed to speed up a bit."

  "Why, Major, I think you're enjoying this."

  "What I'm going to really enjoy is helping the Kai carry three of these things onto her shuttle."

  Then it was Sisko's turn to laugh as he walked up the center of the Promenade, swinging the Orbs to the left and to the right.

  And he didn't need Kira to tell him that the pulsing increased the closer they got to Quark's

  Kira looked at Sisko. "Do you think he really did steal the third one?"

  "Only one way to find out," Sisko said lightly, and he carried the Red Orbs of Jalbador into Quark's, where they proceeded to pulse faster than Sisko's sud-denly racing heart.

  CHAPTER 27

  "On, no," quark said. "Not so fast! I don't want any of that in here!"

  But he was too late, because Captain Sisko walked straight up to the bar counter and put both Red Orbs side by side on it.

  "Captain, please, those things are more trouble than they could ever be worth. Things are-" Quark gave a strangled cry as he saw one of the most terrifying sights he had ever seen in his life!

  Morn was running out of his establishment of busi-ness!

  "Morn! Wait! Come... oh, for... now look what you did!" Quark threw his dish towel down on the bar, in disgust. "My holosuites are broken. My replicators are off-line. This stupid gravity imbalance is making people dizzy without the need to consume any drinks, no one wants to play dabo because the wheel won't

  spin straight, and now you chase off my best customer. If you've got a phaser on you, you might as well just shoot me now."

  "Glad to see you, too, Quark," Kira said.

  Sisko pointed to the Orbs. Quark had a turn! tine even looking at them because they were flashing fife emergency strobe lights on Port Authority inspection shuttles. And that just unleashed too many bad memo-ries.

  "We have reason to believe the third missing Orb is in your bar and we want to take a look," Sisko said.

  "I don't think so," Quark told him. "Unless we'd like to discuss compensation for what Odo did to my holosuite."

  "Maybe we'd like to discuss an increase in rent instead?" Sisko suggested.

  "For what?!"

  "For what your inviting so many smugglers onboard is going to cost us." Sisko looked up at the ceiling. "Let's see now, we could begin with the bill for Odo's investigation. Then there's
the replacement of the dam-aged hull plates."

  "Oh, no-you can't blame that one on me."

  "Oh, yes he can," Kira said.

  "Oh, yes I will," Sisko added.

  "This is blackmail!" Quark protested.

  "Then we're in complete agreement," Sisko said. "You give us what we want-a few minutes to search the bar. And we'll give you what you want-peace and quiet."

  "And no rent increase."

  Sisko picked up the flashing Orbs again. "May I?"

  "Oh, go ahead," Quark said. "And I hope if you find it, a Prophet jumps out and bites you."

  Then Quark did the only thing he could do in the circumstances. He put an elbow on the bar, rested his head in his hand, and watched his customers leave in droves.

  At any other time in his life, Quark might have found what Sisko and Kira were doing amusing. The hew-mon and the Bajoran were walking back and forth through the bar as if Odo had asked them to walk a white line.

  But what wasn't amusing was that even Quark could see that every time Sisko passed through the center of the main level, the Orbs flashed faster and faster.

  In less than ten minutes, all of his regular cus-tomers were gone. Instead, the bar was packed with Starfleet types. Dull, boring, root-beer-swilling slugs who wouldn't know a good time if M'Pella invited them up to her room for a nightcap. And they were all on duty, too.

  Then, just to make matters worse-and lately, someone or something was always making matters worse-his idiot brother Rom chose this moment to walk in. With a construction team.

  "Is it too much to ask what's going on?" Quark called out to anyone who might care to pay any atten-tion to him.

  Sisko came back to Quark. He pointed to the backlit glass mural on the wall facing the bar counter. "How long has that been there?"

  "You mean the... uh, Admiral?" Quark asked, looking at the colorful artwork that was the center-piece of his bar.

  "Admiral?"

  "Gul Dukat put it up. He said it was Admiral Alkene of the Tholian Assembly. Go figure."

  Sisko studied the admittedly abstract portrait with a frown. "So it was here on the Day of Withdrawal?'

  "You're not going to do something stupid, are you?" Quark asked nervously.

  "I hope not," Sisko said.

  Quark was getting the definite impression that the captain was deliberately tormenting him. Well, it took two to play that kind of game and, he wasn't one of them.

  He closed the till, locked the order padds, then left the bar to join the Starfleet types at the base of the mural. The Orbs were now on the deck in front of it, flashing madly. Chief O'Brien and Rom were kneel-ing to either side, waving tricorders around like they knew what they were doing. Jadzia stood behind them, looking exceptionally lovely as always, Quark thought.

  "Is there a problem?" he asked plaintively.

  "I don't know," Sisko said. "According to the way these two Orbs are reacting, the third Orb is behind that mural. But according to the tricorders, it's just glass, plasma lights, and a cheap metal frame."

  "It wasn't cheap, believe you me."

  O'Brien got to his feet and joined Sisko and Quark. "If I didn't know better, I'd say there was a miniature sensor mask in there, just like the one Satr and Leen used in the water plant."

  That was too much for Quark. "Why would anyone put a sensor mask inside a mural of a Tholian...." He couldn't finish the statement. All he could think of was how much he hated the mural. How he had sworn he would tear it down the moment Gul Dukat left the sta-tion. And how, six years later, he still hadn't brought himself to do anything about it.

  Almost as if he couldn't do anything about it.

  "Something wrong, Quark?" Jadzia asked.

  Quark shook his head. Wasn't there something Ter-rell had told him... not recently, but before... ?

  "I'm so confused," Quark said. "I think I need to sit-"

  A near-ultrasonic Ferengi scream pierced the bar.

  Quark recognized it, and shoved aside Sisko and O'Brien to peer around the back of the mural to see-

  Rom, on his knees, staring into a small open access panel at the back of the mural, his face bathed in a rapidly flashing red light.

  "I... found it!" Rom squealed. "I... found the third Orb!"

  Suddenly, Odo was behind Quark, arms folded, his attitude letting Quark know he was ready to make an arrest.

  "Anything you'd like to tell me, Quark?"

  "Odo, I didn't know it was there. I swear I didn't know!"

  "According to Dr. Bashir, next you're going to try to sell me the Brooklyn Bridge."

  But then Sisko was at Quark's side. "That's all right, Constable. I don't think he did know the Orb was there."

  Odo snorted, disbelieving. "How could he not?"

  "For the same reason," Sisko said, "you and Garak don't remember what happened to you on the Day of Withdrawal. Both your memories were tampered with. And so were Quark's. And before you ask why, I'll tell you right now I can't give you an answer. All I know is that it has something to do with Terrell and these Orbs."

  "Hmphh," Odo said.

  Quark stood closer to his new best friend, the great Captain Sisko.

  "Well?" Kira asked, puzzling Quark but apparently not Sisko.

  "Put the three orbs together?" Sisko suggested.

  "Maybe that's not a good idea," Kira said.

  "You think they might actually cause the end of the world?"

  "What?!" Quark exploded.

  "Calm down, Quark," Sisko chided him. "It's part of the legend of Jalbador that when the three Orbs are brought together, the Temple doors open and the world ends."

  "I don't want the world to end in my bar," Quark said. "Talk about being bad for business."

  "Probably not a good idea to get them too close together," O'Brien said. Quark could see the chief's attention was fixed on his tricorder. "I'm picking up a lot of neutrino flux. Almost as if some type of feed-back loop is starting. That might explain the source of the light those things are producing. I don't think the world's going to come to an end, but we could get a blast of radiation that might do some harm."

  "All right," Sisko said, holding up a hand that silenced Quark. "You call it, Chief. Five meters apart? Two meters?"

  O'Brien made an adjustment on his tricorder, then showed it to Jadzia. "What would you say, Command-er? Four meters should be safe?"

  "Sure," Jadzia said. "And if you're going to send these back with the Kai, I'd recommend sending at least one on a separate shuttle. Just so an accident doesn't force them together."

  Sisko smiled at Kira. "The Kai," he said. "Major,

  why don't you go back to the Temple and invite Kai Winn to visit Quark's."

  Kira grinned fiercely. "With pleasure." Then she marched out into the Promenade.

  "The Kai," Quark muttered. "In my bar. Might as well close early."

  He watched anxiously as Sisko lifted the newly dis-covered Red Orb and carried it to the bar, keeping it well away from the other two still on the deck in front of the mural.

  While everyone else packed away their tools and prepared to leave, Quark walked around behind the mural again. He looked inside the access panel.

  "Uh... I never knew about that tunnel, brother."

  Rom's sudden, without-warning appearance was enough to make Quark bang his head against the top of the opening.

  "Neither did I," Quark said under his breath.

  "But, it's a... good one to know about now," Rom said happily.

  "Why not?" Quark said. "Everyone else knows about it now, too."

  "Oh... yeah. I forgot."

  Quark walked back to the front of the mural. He couldn't believe there was another maintenance tunnel coming into his bar that he didn't know about. Espe-cially one that would have been so convenient for... he shook his head. For a moment, he thought he did remember the tunnel after all. But if he did, then why hadn't he been using it? And why hadn't he discovered the third Orb?

  He was standing behind the bar
when Sisko brought the second Orb up to the counter.

  In a gesture of good will he knew would come back

  to haunt him, Quark started pouring mugs of root beer and passing them out to everyone for free. For Jadzia. he even hand-mixed a raktajino.