Cohesion

  “Are you sure you want to listen to the bugs?”

  Picking a careful path over the loose stones and shale, B’Elanna replied, “They haven’t lied to me yet.”

  * * *

  “Captain? Captain Ziv, are you there? We are here, sir, but we cannot feel you.”

  In sickbay, Shet watched Mol from the edge of the small alcove where they had brought the captain after he had collapsed.

  “Captain Ziv? Sir?” Mol continued to mutter to the captain, his words occasionally lapsing into the soft burring and humming a parent would use to speak to his child. Shet was vaguely aware that the Voyagers were excited, that their status had changed in some manner, but he could not bring himself to try to understand. Ziv, their anchor, had deserted his body, and there was very little chance any of them would ever see home again.

  “Excuse me?”

  Shet turned to look at the Voyager, the small, hairy one named Neelix. “Yes?”

  “You’ll have to excuse me,” Neelix said, “but Captain Janeway asked me to find out if there’s anything you need now.”

  Shet considered, but couldn’t think of anything he truly wanted, so he said, “More than anything, my hara and I would like privacy.”

  “Of course,” Neelix said. “I’ll take care of it.” He turned to leave, but then, bowing slightly, continued, “Another question, if you don’t mind.”

  Shet nodded. Though he found Neelix slightly annoying, he also appreciated the creature’s good manners.

  “I hope I’m not breaking any taboos when I ask about this,” Neelix said deferentially. “But the medics were wondering about Sem.” He hesitated, uncertain how to continue.

  Insight dawned. Of course they would have examined her. “She has two sets of arms,” Shet said.

  Neelix nodded. “This is…common?”

  “Yes,” he said. “For females. The extra set of arms is usually quite small, but they grow larger and more dexterous when a woman is fertile. Or pregnant.” He held up his hands, which were considered quite large even for a mature male. “These are not good for dealing with small things.”

  “And I take it,” Neelix said, speaking very softly, “that women do not expose this second pair of arms?”

  “Correct.”

  Neelix looked thoughtful for several seconds, then continued, “I sense that you might not much care for Sem, but I feel obliged to tell you that her second set of arms appear to be…quite large, quite muscular. What do you think that means?”

  “I expect,” Shet said, “that Sem must be pregnant.”

  * * *

  The guards watched B’Elanna and Kaytok as they slowly half-walked, half-slid down into the gulley. With her enhanced vision, B’Elanna could see that their collective lines of sight were fixed on Kaytok. Though she knew she must be an anxiety-provoking oddity, the guards’ superiors must have told them to expect her. No one had said anything to them about another Monorhan, especially a scruffy-looking wanderer. To keep their attention focused firmly on her, B’Elanna raised a hand and waved. “Hello!” she shouted. “You’re from the Emergency Council?”

  As she had expected, there was a few seconds of confused clicking and thrumming between the guards as they adjusted to the translator. A minute or more passed with B’Elanna closing ever closer to the shuttle before the man before the main hatch called back, “You are from Voyager?”

  B’Elanna halted five meters from the shuttle, hands clearly in view, then heard Kaytok shuffle to a stop a couple of meters behind her. A quick glance over her shoulder confirmed that he had wisely made certain that she was interposed between himself and the lead guard. There was no way to know for certain whether the Emergency Council had some kind of a warrant out for Kaytok, but why take chances? “I appreciate you keeping my ship safe,” she said. “We went out to scout the terrain last night and got lost. This gentleman was good enough to guide me back this way.”

  The guard glanced around B’Elanna at Kaytok, but his interest was short-lived. “Where’s the other one?” he asked. “They told me there would be two of you.”

  “Nearby. She was slightly injured in a fall. I wanted to get some medical supplies and go treat her.” She took a step forward, hoping the guard would shift his stance in preparation for her passing, but he did not budge. He touched his hand to a black-handled tube strapped to his leg. B’Elanna stopped. “Problem?” she asked, trying to keep her voice low and cool.

  “I don’t know,” the guard said. He rattled his tongues together and two more stepped from around the bow and stern. Neither had a weapon drawn, but B’Elanna had already noted that the straps holding the tubes along their legs were rigged to pop open under any kind of direct pressure. Behind her, she heard Kaytok scuffle the loose rocks.

  Don’t run, she thought. Whatever you do, don’t run. Her phaser bumped against her hip as she adjusted her stance. “I’m B’Elanna Torres,” she said, raising her hand in a generic kind of salute. “I’m the chief engineer on Voyager.”

  The guard stared at her blankly, then his gaze flickered to Kaytok. “Where’d he come from?”

  Shrugging, B’Elanna replied, “Out there in the dark somewhere.” She leaned forward and pitched her voice low. “If you want to know the truth, I think he’s not entirely well in the head. Keeps talking about someone named Gora and some kind of key. Does that mean anything to you?”

  The guard’s shoulders relaxed and his hand moved away from his weapon. “Oh,” he said. “I get it. Don’t worry about him. They’re all a little bit…” He emitted a thrum noise that came from deep in his throat. B’Elanna jumped back a little bit, which seemed to please him.

  “So I should just tell him to head off?” she asked. “Or is he looking for money? I don’t carry money. Is there something I can do for him to pay him back for guiding me here?”

  The guard looked to his right and left, perhaps expecting a suggestion from his associates. His head bobbed on his long neck. “Have any food you don’t need?” he asked. “They’re always hungry.”

  “Not on me. I left my rations with my friend.” She pointed at the shuttle. “But in there, sure. Food and water. As much as he could carry.” The guard’s neck tilted when B’Elanna mentioned food. Studying him, she noted that the guard was not much bigger or better-fed than Kaytok and was carrying considerably more equipment. Then there was the fact that he’d probably been standing outside for the past twenty-four hours. “Or maybe even something for you and your men?” she added speculatively.

  He licked his lips, looking as if he were about to pant, but then straightened and said, “I was ordered to take you back to the city.” He glanced up the other bank of the gulley. “We have a vehicle waiting.”

  “That’s nice,” B’Elanna said. “But I bet mine’s faster. And don’t forget I have to pick up my friend. You can all come with me.” She didn’t really want a half-dozen Monorhans on the shuttle, but if they did decide to join her, she would figure out her next move when they were up in the air. If nothing else, B’Elanna was fairly certain she could contain any hostile acts in the passenger area if necessary. She took another step towards the hatch.

  “Stop,” the guard said, and B’Elanna sensed the other two snap to alert attention. “I’m sorry, but you’re not supposed to go in there.”

  “Why?” B’Elanna asked. “It’s mine, after all. There’s no reason this has to be difficult.” She paused, then looked meaningfully over the guard’s shoulder at the shuttle. “Unless you want to make it difficult.” She knew the vessel wouldn’t do anything without her being inside, but there was no way the guards could know this. Indeed, if they had been standing around outside the ship all night, they had probably heard all sorts of interesting, eerie noises as the self-repair modules had labored away.

  “I should call my rih-hara-tan,” the guard said. “If you’ll just stay here until I can…”

  “Call him from my ship.” Speaking more loudly than she needed to so the other guards could hear her,
B’Elanna said, “Ship—open main hatch.” A few seconds passed during which B’Elanna prayed fervently that the voice recognition systems were still working, but then the hatch slid open. “Come on,” she said to the guard and swept past him. “It’s fine.” Looking back at Kaytok, she said, “You stay out here. I’ll bring you something for your services.”

  Kaytok nodded, apparently happy to be be out in the open. More room to run if necessary, B’Elanna decided. Not a bad idea, really.

  When she entered the shuttle, all the lights were on and the air was fresh. Environmental systems working, B’Elanna thought. Good start. She didn’t pause in her march to the pilot’s seat because she didn’t want to give the guard an opportunity to grab her. “What’s your name?” she asked, to give him something new to think over.

  “Arul,” the guard said, but neither loudly nor assertively. The shuttle was having the anticipated and much-hoped-for effect of impressing and awing the locals. Amazing what air conditioning can accomplish.

  “Have a seat, Arul. I’m going to just make sure we’re patched into the local comm network and then you can make your call.” Quickly scanning the main status board, B’Elanna noted a couple yellow lights. Most of the self-repair routines had run perfectly, but shields, she saw, were not completely reliable. Also, the warp engines were still offline, but that was to be expected after the rattling the energy wave had given them. Besides, B’Elanna would never have trusted any repair program to recalibrate a warp core. She would do the work herself when they were home.

  “I should call from my vehicle,” Arul said, though he said this as he surrendered to the padded chair in the passenger compartment. B’Elanna heard the door open again as another guard entered, saw his harat sitting, and decided it might be time to take a break, too. B’Elanna checked the weapons repression system and saw that they were functioning, though she knew these would only work against energy weapons. If the Monorhans were using chemical weapons or—who knew?—projectile slingers, she would be in trouble. Best not to rely on such things.

  “Just a minute,” B’Elanna called. “Here we go. Audio-only. That’s all right, isn’t it?”

  “No,” Arul said, struggling up out of the chair’s seductive embrace. “I should really go to my…we should go…”

  “This is EC Headquarters,” said a soothing voice.

  “Hello?” B’Elanna said when Arul did not respond immediately. “This is B’Elanna Torres of the Starship Voyager. I’m here with Sergeant Arul…” She had no idea what rank he was, but sergeant seemed appropriate. “And we’re looking for his commanding officer.”

  “NO!” Arul called out, finally managing to stand. The other guard was already outside the shuttle. “I had orders!”

  “Who is this?” said the Soothing Voice, no longer sounding quite so calm. “Did you say you were from the Voyager?”

  “Yes,” B’Elanna said. “Perhaps I can talk to someone. I think Sergeant Arul is busy now. He’s, yes, he’s guarding my ship for me.” B’Elanna punched a control that kept the rear hatch open in case Arul changed his mind and wanted to come back on board. She had no desire to make his life difficult just because he was trying to follow orders.

  “Please hold,” said the now-harried Soothing Voice. “I’m connecting you with the office of the…” B’Elanna never heard the name of the office, so quickly was the connection made.

  A new voice, one with a much calmer, mature persona behind it, said, “Lieutenant Torres, this is Shalla Kiiy. I’m delighted to hear from you. We were concerned when you did not visit us last night.”

  Visit? B’Elanna wondered. Like it was a social call? “We experienced technical difficulties, Shalla Kiiy, and then there was an accident. I’m all right, but my companion needs medical attention.”

  “Then you should come to the city immediately,” the shalla interrupted. “While I doubt we have all the resources of your vessel, we could treat your friend while you begin…”

  “We won’t be coming to the city, Shalla,” B’Elanna said. “We have to get back to Voyager.”

  “This is problematic,” the shalla said, and B’Elanna instantly understood that what she meant was “We aren’t happy about this. Events are not unfolding as we expected.” B’Elanna sensed that a threat was about to materialize. “We had hoped,” the shalla continued, “to collaborate with you on resolving the current difficulties.”

  “I understand,” B’Elanna said, and heard the strain of diplomacy sharpening her tone. “We could return after our medical problem is resolved.”

  “As I said, I’m sure we can help you with any medical problem you might have.” B’Elanna knew this meant, “You are about to have a much bigger medical problem if you don’t cooperate.”

  The shuttle’s hull would hold up to any moderate small arm’s fire, but if they had some kind of projectile weapon—a cannon or a guided-missile system—she knew she was in trouble. Dammit! How was she supposed to reason with…“If you do not permit this vessel to leave unmolested, Voyager will open fire on the source of your transmission.” B’Elanna heard the words come out of her mouth, but didn’t recognize her own voice.

  Shalla Kiiy, apparently, did. A moment of silence was followed by a stammer, then, “You cannot be serious.”

  “I am completely serious,” B’Elanna said.

  “But we would retaliate,” the shalla said. “You would be killed.”

  “The loss of one or two would be preferable to impeaching the integrity of the whole.”

  The shalla was silent for so long that B’Elanna began to wonder if she had cut off their connection, but finally she spoke. “You claimed to be here to aid us with your advanced technology, yet now you threaten us with the same.”

  “Only when provoked,” Seven said through B’Elanna. “Please inform your guards that we are leaving now. If they stand ten meters away, they should not suffer any effects from our drive.” Her hands punched out the sequence for a fast engine start and felt the impulse engines hum into life.

  Behind her, B’Elanna heard a sound from the hatch-way. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Kaytok, who looked confused, his long neck stretched out to its fullest length. “We’re leaving,” she said, and heard her own voice again. When she pointed at a seat behind her, the Monorhan slid into it with a grateful sigh.

  Can I take control of your voice that way? B’Elanna thought.

  You may be able to, came the reply. Have you tried?

  No. Maybe I just respect other people’s privacy more than you do.

  And maybe you are just afraid.

  Chapter 17

  “Trilithium is a banned substance,” Chakotay said, still struggling with his shock. “It collapses stars.”

  “It collapses living stars,” Kathryn responded. “This is a white dwarf. It’s already collapsed about as far into itself as is possible, but we need a little bit more.”

  Silence descended while everyone marshaled their thoughts. Chakotay was finding it difficult to believe the captain was even considering the idea. Everyone in Starfleet had heard the story of how Tolian Soran had collapsed the star Amargosa, and would have done the same to Veridian if not for the intercession by Jean-Luc Picard and the Enterprise. Even as Chakotay was composing his arguments, the deck spasmed so sharply that all four officers were nearly thrown off their feet.

  When the shock wave had passed, Tuvok flipped open a tricorder and linked it into the ship’s sensor grid. A moment later, he reported, “Gravimetric waves from the Blue Eye, Captain. Our shields have eroded twelve percent in the past three minutes.”

  “Will backing away help?”

  “I do not believe we have anywhere to back up to,” Tuvok said. “The gap we created has reclosed behind us.”

  “So it’s forward or nothing,” Kathryn said. Tuvok did not reply, his silence speaking volumes. Beneath them, the deck plates rumbled as a second spasm rippled up the ship’s beam. “Do I have your support?”

  “What if we’re wrong??
?? Chakotay asked. “What if the star doesn’t collapse? What if it goes nova or there’s a shock wave like at Amargosa?”

  “Then we’re dead,” the captain said flatly. “The Monorhans will die, too.”

  “Can you live with that idea?”

  “It could be argued,” Tuvok said, “that the Monorhans will die no matter what happens. If we succeed, they will live.” He looked directly at the captain. “We must try, Captain.”

  Kathryn nodded her thanks, then looked at Kim. “Harry, get down to engineering. Talk to Joe Carey about how we can extract the dilithium resin we’ll need.”

  “Aye, Captain,” he said, then turned to leave.

  “Tuvok, go with him. I need you to keep our shields up until we can try this.”

  “Yes, Captain.” The pair left together, which left Chakotay standing alone with Kathryn.

  “You don’t think this is a good idea,” she stated.

  “I don’t,” Chakotay said. “But I don’t have any better ones and you have a knack for figuring out these sorts of problems.”

  Smiling for what seemed like the first time in a month, the captain replied, “I do, don’t I? There’s one more thing, though, and I think I’ll need your help with this one.”

  “Name it.”

  “I think we’re going to need another burst from the whatever-it-was that put us into the fold in the first place.”

  “Why?”

  “Just because we have the subspace version of the Blue Eye in front of us doesn’t mean we’ll exit into the Monorhan system. I believe the Blue Eye is actually punching through multiple levels of reality…”

  “Not just subspace and our universe?”

  “Correct. If we’re going to appear in the correct universe, I’d like to have a beacon. Since it’s the frequency that put us here, then I think we should use it to get us out.”

  Chakotay said, “Then we’ll have to try to contact whoever sent out the energy wave. Do you think subspace radio will work here?”