"Think," she said softly, "about what you'd be agreeing to. I'd be there, all the time. You'd have no privacy. You'd have someone else's life intertwined with yours. Anything that you wanted to do, any task you desired to undertake, would have an impact on me. So naturally you would be honor bound to discuss it with me. And if I said 'No, I don't want to risk myself… and I don't want you to risk yourself,' why… what then, Xyon? So I'm asking you again: If you were going to leave, right here, right now… and I said I wanted to come along with you, be with you. The only 'term' attached is that we be together, for however long it's something we both desire … would you want that?"
"Of course," he said with a great deal more hesitation.
He tried to speak more, but she put a finger to his lips. "I think," Kalinda said in a very gentle tone, "that if we are to speak of this more … and I emphasize 'if' … then it should be later. Don't you think that would be a better idea?"
He found himself nodding, and then Kalinda kissed him gently on the knuckles of his right hand and eased herself out the door of the ship.
Xyon was alone.
The Overlord actually seemed excited.
Having been brought over from the Redeemer ship, he sat in the conference lounge with Calhoun and all the senior officers, and listened to the entire description of what theExcalibur had discovered in its encounter with the Black Mass. Most of the commentary seemed to be coming from the younger Vulcan woman, Soleta. He noticed a couple of times that the one called McHenry seemed about to interrupt, particularly when Soleta was describing means of propulsion, but she managed to silence him with a look.
When she was finished, the Overlord sat back, taking it all in. "But where does that leave us, then? Sound cannot travel in space."
"True," agreed Calhoun. "But we believe we've found a way around it. Mr. Burgoyne …?"
The Hermat, Burgoyne, got to hir feet and started to move while s/he spoke. The Overlord suspected that, for some reason, s/he felt more comfortable that way. "Phasers can be rigged," s/he said, "to make them over into, essentially, blasts of magnetic dissonance. Pure magnetic fields wouldn't hurt them or contain them, but magnetically based dissonance blasts will very likely split them apart. If we're fortunate, then it will have the same impact it had on them in sickbay."
"You can do this thing?" said the Overlord.
"Yes. It actually is not that difficult a proposition for us. We suspect you may be able to as well, although we're not quite certain. Your phaser weapons are different from ours, and obviously I'm not familiar with all the working parameters."
"Well, it should not matter whether we can or not," the Overlord told them. "After all, you are here. The Black Mass is still approaching Tulaan IV, but there is time to do what needs be done. And you can …"
The Overlord stopped. He found the smiles from around the table to be somewhat disconcerting. He could not, for the life of him, imagine what they might be smiling about.
"Do it yourselves," said Calhoun.
The Overlord's already obsidian face darkened even farther, which would have seemed impossible. "Do not test me, Captain. Do not play this game. My threat to the people of Fenner still stands."
"Actually… it doesn't," Calhoun informed him. He seemed remarkably smug about it, too. Of everyone in the room, the Overlord noticed that Si Cwan seemed the most pleased.
Shelby said, "You see, your threat isn't standing; actually, it's sort of… Mr. Kebron, what would you say it was doing?"
"Lying down," Kebron said.
"Yes, lying down. Good choice of words. Your threat is lying down, Overlord," said Shelby. "Unconscious. No threat to himself, and certainly no threat to the innocent people of Fenner."
"This is a trick," said the Overlord.
Calhoun shrugged in response. "If it pleases you to believe that, fine. But I assure you that the next time you contact Fenner, one of my people is going to be responding."
"You could not have found him. Nothing could have tracked him there."
"As I said, we have no reason to lie. Check for yourself if it will make you happy. I don't particularly care."
He looked around the room, saw the challenging expressions… and he knew then, beyond question, that Calhoun was telling the absolute truth. There indeed was no reason to lie. Any fabrication would be quickly discovered.
"I see," the Overlord said slowly. "So let us say, for the sake of discussion, that you are telling the truth. Am I now to understand that you will abandon the quest against the Black Mass?"
"We have given you some idea of how to defeat it and save yourselves," Calhoun told him. "Whether you choose to or not is entirely up to you. It is not our concern whether you manage it or not, though."
"Have you considered the fates of future races who might find themselves victims of the Black Mass?"
"Absolutely. And if we are so inclined, we can destroy the thing after it has devoured Tulaan IV…"
"And you," said Si Cwan, revelling in the notion a bit more than the Overlord would have liked.
"You see, Overlord… we are gamblers, you and I," said Calhoun. "You gambled that I would care enough about the predicament you put upon the Fennerians that I would aid you. I gambled that one of my people, on his own, would be able to find and incapacitate your High Priest. So in a sense, we both won. Chief engineer Burgoyne here will be happy to provide you with the specs as to how you may be able to convert your phasers over, and you can take that information against the Black Mass…"
"Or take it to your grave," Si Cwan suggested.
"That's enough, Ambassador. I think the Overlord gets the point."
"Oh, I do. I do. But there is a point that you still do not seem to 'get.' "
"Really " said Calhoun. "And what would that be?"
"That I will not have my word gainsayed. Prime One . . .''
The Overlord's red eyes blazed with cold satisfaction, and he was pleased to see the momentary unease in the conference lounge as they tried to determine just what he meant by that… and why he was calling for his second-in-command when Prime One was, in fact, not there.
Suddenly there was the sound of a Redeemer transport device. The Overlord had noticed that the sound of the Redeemer transport mechanism was somewhat different from that of theExcalibur. He could only surmise that it was because the Redeemer's technology was so far superior to, and more powerful than, the Federation's. Of course, even the Redeemers' transporters couldn't penetrate shielding… but the starship's shields weren't up at that moment.
Heads whipped around as everyone leaped to their feet, uncertain just what was happening. Everyone, that is, except Chief Engineer Burgoyne 172, and Doctor Selar. The two of them shimmered out of existence in a transporter haze. The only things there that marked their former presence were their uniforms, along with comm badges, left in crumpled heaps.
Calhoun was around the table so fast that the Overlord had barely blinked before the captain was right in front of him. "Where are they!" he demanded. "What did you do?!"
"You remember the blessing I bestowed upon them?'' said the Overlord, not at all intimidated by the angry Calhoun. "When I placed my hands upon them? While doing that, I encoded them with my personal DNA trace. This entire meeting has been monitored by Prime One from back on my ship, through a communications device on my person. He has served me well, this Prime One, and when I spoke his name after he heard all that had transpired here, he knew precisely what to do."
"What… did he… do?", said Calhoun, looking as if he was ready to snap the Redeemer's neck.
But the angrier Calhoun became, the calmer the Overlord grew. "Our world is called Tulaan IV for a reason. There are, in fact, eight planets in this system. We are simply the fourth one away from our sun…although, as poor fortune would have it, the one whose orbit takes us straight into the Black Mass' path. Aside from our homeworld, there are two other worlds that are habitable. Three worlds; a good deal of territory to search… plus, for all you know, we hav
e created underground refuges on one of the uninhabitable worlds. So you do not have overmuch time in which to look around for your departed officers. This is not to say that you could not find them, of course. A very lengthy, prolonged sensor sweep should do the job. A week should suffice, I think. Perhaps two, at most. A pity that the Black Mass will not provide you with that much time.''
There was dead silence in the conference lounge then. The Overlord revelled in it.
''The abduction of your people, captain… was my back-up plan. Do you… have a back-up plan? Because if you do, now would be an excellent time to employ it."
"We have you," said Calhoun, "as hostage."
"True. And I will happily remain here. Kill me or do not kill me, as you see fit. It is of no consequence to me. If my system dies, I die anyway. But then again… so do your people. It is entirely up to you. I do not personally care if your people are doomed or not. But you might very well care. Do you, Captain? Care, I mean?"
Calhoun said nothing.After a time, he simply nodded.
"I can take that to mean that you will continue in your assistance of our plight?"
"I want my people back, alive and unharmed."
"And you will have them… when we are alive and unharmed."
For a long moment, Calhoun didn't speak. Then he said, 'There was a time… not that long ago, in fact… where I would have let them die. Where I would have thrown out any life rather than let myself be dictated to by monsters such as you. You are very, very fortunate… that you did not encounter me in those days."
"I daresay your crewmen are fortunate as well."
"But I want you to know," Calhoun said stiffly, "that after we do this… all bets are off. And I will not rest until you, and everything you stand for, is wiped out of Sector 221-G."
"Are you threatening me with war, Captain? And here I had hoped that we would be able to become allies"
With a low growl, Calhoun said, "Mr. Kebron… place the Overlord in the brig."
The Overlord stood and bowed slightly. "I will go quietly… although I will request that, in the unfortunate happenstance that you fail, you return me to my world so that I may die with the others of my race."
"Gladly."
"Oh, and Captain… one more thing."
"I," said Calhoun, "have had more than enough of your dictates."
"Not a dictate; merely a suggestion. While you are fighting the Black Mass… which is, by my calculations, approximately eighteen hours away from us … I do not suggest you leave shuttles behind to sweep the area, hoping to stumble over your missing crewmen. I regret that I have left instructions aboard my ship that any such vessels are to be shot down on sight. I do apologize for the inconvenience."
Xyon found it odd: He had become used to the solitude. He had even come to enjoy it. Yet now, for some reason, the vessel felt… empty. He felt empty. But it was not such an overwhelming, keening sensation that he felt any great drive to do something about it.
It had been some time since Kalinda had left him in his ship. From the time that she had departed until now, he hadn't budged an inch.
"Lyla," he said.
The entity which lived aboard the ship, and was permanently merged with the inner workings of the vessel, said promptly, "Yes, Xyon."
"Lyla… do you ever feel lonely?"
"No, Xyon. It is impossible for me to feel lonely."
"Why is that?"
"Because it is not part of me."
Xyon looked around as if he could actually see Lyla, tucked away in the ship's inner workings. "What do you mean? How can it not be part of you?"
"Xyon… as you know, I'm an engram computer. I do not see other creatures, do not touch them or interact with them in any way save for my voice. If I possessed the normal socialization capabilities of other creatures, I would lose my mind. I would go insane. That would certainly not leave me of any significant service to anyone."
"Okay, I understand that, but—"
"So when I was installed as part of this ship, any part of me that would have been a triggering device for socialization was removed."
Xyon hadn't known this. "So you were just… lobotomized? They carved pieces out of your personality? That's what you're telling me?"
"Yes, but only because you asked."
"Lyla, that's… that's terrible…"
"Is it, Xyon? Is the inability to feel loneliness… all that more terrible than actually feeling it? I will always be complete unto myself. The work done on me here in the starship simply expedited a repair program that I could have instituted myself via the nanotech that is part of my maintenance programming. It would have taken more time, but I could have done it. I do not need—"
"Me?"
"Of course I do not need you, Xyon. I am a ship. You are humanoid. I do not need you in particular to exist any more than you need me in particular to travel through space." She paused a moment and then added, "But that does not mean that I do not like spending time with you. That I would not rather spend time with you than with other beings. You were speaking, however, of necessity and absolutes. Those are always very difficult questions to answer."
"Yeah. I know. And they don't seem to get any easier no matter how many times you ask them."
"Xyon."
The deep male voice was so unexpected that Xyon actually jumped slightly. He looked around and saw Mackenzie Calhoun standing in the doorway.
"Captain," he said, acknowledging his presence.
"Xyon," Calhoun said again. He stepped fully into the ship, through the irised doors, and then stood there for a moment, looking and feeling somewhat awkward. Xyon had trouble envisioning an awkward Mackenzie Calhoun.
"This is somewhat difficult, but there's no other way to put it: I was hoping I could borrow your ship."
"Borrow my ship," Xyon said blankly. "Why should I lend you my ship?"
"Two of my people are missing. The Overlord arranged for their disappearance. They're on one of the worlds in this system, and those worlds are being watched by Redeemer vessels. Your ship, however, has a cloaking device, so I'm told."
"You're told correctly," Xyon replied. "But if anyone told you that I'm in the habit of loaning out my ship, then in that you were misinformed."
"No one told me that. But I was hoping that—"
"Captain, if you need help… if your people need help… then I'll help. That's what I do. But I'll do it my own way, by myself."
"Why?" Calhoun stepped forward and sat on the edge of the pilot seat. "Why do you do this? This… going about the galaxy, trying to help people, being a hero."
"Why do you?" countered Xyon.
Calhoun allowed a small smile. "Good point So are you saying you're trying to be like me? Live up to the legend?"
"No. I'm trying to be like me. I just…" His hands moved in vague patterns. "I just haven't figured out… exactly who I am yet. How much of me is you, how much is mother… and how much is just me."
"Don't worry about the first two," said Calhoun. "Just worry about being the best you possible, and everything else will come in time."
"Did they teach you that at Starfleet Academy?"
"In a sense. The gardener there said it to me one time. You have to learn to take wisdom wherever you can get it." He hesitated and then said, "Are you sure you want to do this? Check out the planets, see if you can turn up my crewmembers."
"Which ones? Oh,grozit, tell me it's not Si Cwan."
"No, no," chuckled Calhoun. "It's Burgoyne, my chief engineer, and Selar, my CMO."
"Oh. Well, they're okay, those two. Sure, I'll do it. I can…" He looked off in the general direction that Kalinda had gone. "I can use the distance. The time on my own."
"Xyon… is there anything you'd like to talk about?"
Xyon laughed softly. "It's too late, Captain. Anything I wanted to talk about… it was a long time ago. I was somebody different then."
"No. You were never different. You were always my son."
"Believe it o
r not, I know that. I was all too aware of it. And when I was here… you stood up for me. Helped me out."
"I wish I could have been there more for you…"
"No. You don't. Because you wouldn't have given up all this," and he gestured in a manner that took in the starship, the stars, all of it, "…you wouldn't have given up all this for anything. And… I think I understand that a little."
"Do you?" He seemed amused by the concept.
"Yes. I do. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm still mad at you."
"Oh, of course. That goes without saying," Calhoun said. "A lifetime of anger doesn't disappear in so short a time."
"But there are … other things. Things that… well, it's not important. It's just that I see there are… possibilities I hadn't considered. And it's like you said: it's hard to know anything for sure. Even yourself."
"I know one thing for sure," said Calhoun.
"Oh,grozit, you're not going to say you love me, are you? I mean, we've been over this…"
"No. No, I wasn't going to say that at all. As I've said to you before… it's impossible to love someone that you don't really know. But I'm… I'm pleased that I've had the chance to meet you. And I hope that, once this business is over… perhaps you'll stay a while longer. What's happening with you and Kalinda, by the way."
"The same thing that happened with you and mother."
"Oh." He paused. "And how is it going to turn out this time?"
"I don't know. I wish I did."
"Do you love her? Does she love you?"
"Oh, come on, Captain. You know our type. We never get to know anyone enough to love them."
"I'm not sure about that," Calhoun said slowly. "I've been thinking that might not be true."
"Don't tell me that, Captain. You'll destroy my entire view of the universe."
"All right," said Calhoun. "It can wait until later."
"Until later. I'll power up my ship, make a few last minute preparations, and be on my way." He looked in annoyance at his father. "These missing crewmen… the Redeemers are holding them over your head so that you'll cooperate and help save their miserable planet, right?"
"Right."