Part 34 (1/2)
Worf stood in the doorway, his phaser leveled. ”One side, Commander,” he said calmly. Immediately Riker leaped out of the way and Worf fired again. The phaser beam enveloped the Chameloid once again. He wailed in frustration, and then consciousness slipped from him and he pitched forward, right on top of Riker.
Worf helped roll the Chameloid off Riker, who sat up, rubbing his chest in pain. Then he looked to Deanna, who was making a similar motion of her own. ”Deanna,” he said urgently, ”are you all right? Are-”
”I... I felt something. Some sort of... of burning pain in my chest... but now it's gone. Will... what's happened here? Who is... is that?” She pointed distastefully at the unconscious Chameloid. ”Where did this vial come from? How did you know...?”
Riker patted her hand with all the rea.s.surance that he could muster at that moment. Then he said, ”Worf... gel our 'friend' here to the brig. Alert the captain, tell him to meet me outside my quarters. Emphasize that. Outside my quarters.”
”Very well,” said Worf, hauling the Chameloid over his shoulder.
Two other security men had shown up by this point, but Worf clearly had matters in hand. ”Am I correct in a.s.suming that this is our intruder?”
Will looked up at him bleakly. ”Worf, you don't know the half of it.”
Worf grunted and headed off to the brig with the Chameloid. When he was gone, Riker rotated his arm, which had been banged up as he'd wrestled with the Chameloid.
Troi, for her part, merely looked at him with awe. ”You saved my life, Will,” she said quietly. ”I was in danger, and you came charging in here-risked your life-and you saved me.”
”Actually,” said Riker, ”not to sound boastful or anything-but it appears I went to even greater lengths than that to save you. You'd better get dressed and come with me. I don't think you're going to believe this unless you see it. I'll...” He cleared his throat, chucking a thumb toward the hallway. ”I'll wait out here for you to put some clothes on.”
”That's very decent of you, Commander.”
She slid off the bed, stood on her toes, and kissed him.
”Thank you for saving me,” she whispered in his ear.
He smiled tiredly. ”All part of the service.”
CHAPTER 39.
When Will and Deanna returned to his cabin, Picard was standing there looking extremely annoyed.
”All right, Number One,” he said stiffly, arms folded. ”I have complied with your wishes and stood here outside your cabin. I cannot say I like to be kept waiting.”
”The counselor was just making herself look presentable,” said Will.
”Presentable for whom?” demanded Picard.
”Yes, Commander,” chimed in Troi. With the danger past, she was all business. ”Whom exactly am I being made presentable for?”
For answer, Will walked into his cabin, hoping his future self had stayed put. It had potential to be a very embarra.s.sing situation if- He was gone.
Will stood in the middle of the cabin, looking around dismally. Troi and Picard followed him in, staring uncomprehendingly at the officer's obvious discomfiture.
”He was right here!” said Riker desperately.
”Number One,” Picard told him, speaking slowly and deliberately, ”who... precisely... was here?”
”Me.”
It had been Will Riker's voice that had replied, but it was not the Will Riker that Picard was looking at. For an instant Picard thought that Riker was practicing ventriloquism or some such nonsense. But then, slowly, Picard realized that the voice had come from behind them.
He turned in time to see a grayhaired version of his second-in-command emerging from the bathroom. ”I was here,” he said. ”Still am, actually. Which makes me con-”
He caught a glimpse of Deanna, who was standing just behind the younger Will Riker. Will stepped aside and gestured to her. ”I did it,” he said quietly, ”or rather... we did it.”
Picard had not yet fathomed what to say, much less what to make of the situation. At that precise moment, however, Picard could have been a million light-years away and Adm. William Riker would not have noticed.
Instead Riker was staring at Deanna Troi with a mixture of disbelief and shock. ”Deanna...,” he whispered.
She took a step toward him, stunned. ”Will-?”
It was the fastest s.h.i.+ft in emotion that Deanna had ever felt. An air of despair and doom had hung like a shroud over the man facing her... until he had set eyes on her. And suddenly it had been ripped away, just like that. How was it possible that one person-one person-could make that much difference in someone's life?
He approached her, reaching out to her. Picard and his Number One made no move, but merely watched in pure amazement.
The admiral brought his hands up to her face, hovered over it for an instant as if afraid to touch her. As if afraid that if he made any such movement, she would burst like a soap bubble and all of it, all of this moment, would just vanish.
But then he did touch her. Riker put his hands to her face, and they were shaking. ”Oh... my G.o.d,” he breathed.
It was like that moment in the Jalara Jungle, except now he was the one who was trembling. Deanna, for her part, reacted entirely on instinct, putting her arms around him and pulling him tightly against her.
His chest began to heave with pent-up emotion, and the old man began to sob. He no longer cared where he was, or who was watching. The ethics of his actions did not weigh on him. All that mattered was that she was there, and she was alive, and in his arms. Years of agony and guilt and second-guessing, washed away by the hot tears and first real emotion besides grief that he had experienced for decades.
And she heard his thoughts, and it was as startling as that first time had been. Oh, G.o.d... Imzadi... I'm whole again, echoed in her mind, the prayer of thanksgiving from a man who had given up on everything, especially himself. I never knew... what I had until you were gone.
”It's all right,” she murmured, stroking his back. ”It's all right.”
He drew back from her to look her in the eyes, those eyes that had been closed in death for years. They were as bright and transcendent as he had remembered, and both of their faces were wet with tears. Whether hers was wet from his or she had generated her own, he couldn't tell. He also couldn't care.
Standing to one side, Comdr. Will Riker watched the reunion of two lovers and realized-insanely-that he was jealous.
”Worf to Riker.”
Riker the elder had to rein in his impulse to answer, but instead nodded in the direction of Will. ”I think it's for you.”
Will tapped his communicator. ”Yes?”
”We checked the cabin to which Amba.s.sador Dann had been a.s.signed and found him unconscious. Apparently the Chameloid had accosted Dann at some point earlier this evening and taken his place.”
The admiral's head now turned, his attention switching to the matters at hand. He released his hold on Deanna and turned to Will, making a throat-cutting gesture. Will said, ”Thank you, Mr. Worf. Make sure the Chameloid is secure. Riker out.” Then he turned to his future self and said, ”This Chameloid is one of 'them,' isn't he.”
”I believe so.” said the admiral. ”You sure he's a Chameloid? Large? Brown hair and furry?” When Will nodded, Admiral Riker continued, ”Well, unless I miss my guess, he's an officer named Blair. There was only one Chameloid on... on the s.h.i.+p, and Lieutenant Blair was it. I doubt... they could have gotten another one so quickly. It figures that he would a.s.sume the appearance of someone close to Deanna. If they antic.i.p.ated my trying to save her, then the logical thing was to take on the aspect of whoever was with her at the key moment in time. Simplest way to keep an eye on her and make sure things progress smoothly.”
”For all you knew,” Will now said, ”I could have been one of them. When you came here, you might have been walking into a trap.” ”I know. That's why I mentioned the lines of poetry to you. I watched your reaction very carefully. That wasn't just to convince you that I'm you. It was also to convince me that you're me.”
”I hate to break this up,” Picard now said, stepping forward, ”but I, who am unquestionably me, would be most grateful if either of you cared to tell either of me what in h.e.l.l is going on?”