Part 14 (1/2)
A moment later the familiar tingle of the stasis field gripped him, just as he noticed the beginning of the captain's thumbs-up gesture.
The featureless cell vanished, replaced in the blink of an eye by the interior of the G.o.ddard. Both men stepped off the transporter pads and hurried to the controls.
”I don't suppose you can mask our warp trail,” Kirk said hopefully as Scotty raised the G.o.ddard's s.h.i.+elds.
”A wee bit, but likely not enough to- ”
Scotty broke off as he glanced at the viewscreen.
A ghostly image flickered in and out of existence. Remembering that he had left the sensors set to detect the cloaked Bounty 2, he thought for an instant that it had reappeared. But this was a totally different s.h.i.+p, squat like the Wisdom but with sharper edges.
”Scotty, what the devil is that?” Kirk asked. ”And that,” he added a moment later, pointing at a tiny, lifepod-size vessel, uncloaked.
Scotty didn't answer, just began tweaking the sensor parameters the same way he had done when he'd been looking for the Bounty 2.
Within seconds, the ghostly image steadied, though it didn't become any less ghostly.
”Whatever it is,” Scotty said, scowling, ”it's using a primitive Klingon cloaking device. And its weapons are charging, almost ready to fire.”
”What kind- ” Kirk began but broke off as he saw the indications on the screen himself.
Disruptors-trained directly on the Wisdom.
”Sarek's s.h.i.+p is lowering its s.h.i.+elds,” Scotty exclaimed. ”They're tryin' to beam someone off that lifepod!”
His eyes darting back to the sensor readings, Kirk saw that the cloaked s.h.i.+p's disruptors were now almost fully charged.
Suddenly, memories of Spock and Sarek-his Sarek-flashed through his mind, and he realized the truth: If there was anyone he should instinctively trust in any situation, in any universe, it was them.
”Hail them!” Kirk almost shouted, but Scotty was already initiating a signal that would blanket all frequencies in both normal s.p.a.ce and subs.p.a.ce.
The ghost image of the cloaked s.h.i.+p and the lifepod vanished into chaos that quickly resolved itself into the same image of the Wisdom's bridge they had seen just before they had been beamed into the dungeon. Sarek, standing behind a Tellarite at what looked to be transporter controls, turned abruptly toward the viewscreen.
”Sarek!” Kirk shouted. ”Raise your s.h.i.+elds! There's a cloaked s.h.i.+p out here about to fire on you!”
Sarek froze but only for a moment. Even as he opened his mouth to demand to know how this so-called Terran had escaped, a flood of memories-false memories-darted through his mind, as if crying out for his attention. False memories that, he suddenly realized, he had been purposely shunting aside, not only because of the pain they brought him but because of the shamefully illogical actions he himself had taken in them.
But now...
Now they held a message.
An urgent message telling him that, regardless of the logic of the situation, he should place his trust in these beings, no matter who or what they claimed to be.
”Raise the s.h.i.+elds, Commander,” he ordered, then looked toward the Narisian. ”Tell Zarcot to stand by.”
Virtually simultaneously, the s.h.i.+elds flickered into life and a Carda.s.sian cruiser wavered into existence less than a dozen kilometers away, its disruptor banks spewing out destruction.
The Wisdom, more than twice the size of its attacker, lurched slightly, then steadied as its s.h.i.+elds reached full strength.
”Target their weapons,” the Romulan commander snapped, but before the Wisdom's phasers could be powered up to fire, the Carda.s.sian s.h.i.+p sped away on full impulse. Before tractor beams could be brought to bear, it was out of range. An instant later, it vanished with a blinding flash as its warp drive engaged.
Sarek thought briefly of pursuing the fleeing s.h.i.+p but decided against it, signaling Varkan to stand down. He was virtually certain what Zarcot's plan had been and that, thanks to the Terrans' interference, it had failed and would not soon be resurrected. If the Wisdom had been destroyed-by the Vortex, as far as anyone on distant Alliance Prime would ever know-Zarcot would have returned, claiming that his warnings about the Vortex had been confirmed. He would doubtless have been hailed as a prophet and allowed, perhaps even ”forced” to take Sarek's place on the Council.
Sarek turned back to the viewscreen where the one called Kirk still waited tensely. ”Are there more such vessels nearby?”
”None that we can detect,” Kirk said, and Sarek caught a glimpse of the other ex-prisoner in the background.
”I will require an explanation of these events,” Sarek said.
”Of course. If you promise not to put us in the lockup again.”
Sarek didn't hesitate in his reply. ”You have my word. In any event, I have other use for the 'lockup,' as you call it.”
He turned to the Romulan commander. ”Transport ex-Councilman Zarcot aboard,” he said, ”directly to Interrogation. I will deal with him when I have concluded discussions with our other visitors. And contact Deputy Arbiter Koval on Alliance Prime. There is much I must tell him.”
Seventeen.
WITH A mixture of relief and renewed apprehension, Picard heard the door close behind him, cutting off the doubtlessly curious gazes of virtually everyone on the bridge.
Guinan-this timeline's Guinan-stood in the middle of the room, almost precisely where her counterpart had stood a few subjective days earlier, a few very real decades in the future. This Guinan was even more uneasy than the other had been, or perhaps she just didn't conceal it as well.
”In your world, did we meet again?” she asked abruptly. ”As you promised we would?”
The question took him by surprise, but it also, he realized with another gust of relief a moment later, resolved his own dilemma. When she had first appeared on the transporter pad, he had had to restrain himself from asking similarly obvious questions. If she had never before laid eyes on him in this timeline, such questions would brand him as a madman in her eyes, and that was the last thing he wanted. If anyone in this timeline knew what had brought about the change, it almost certainly would be her, and he would need her trust in order to get such information. She, however, like his Guinan, apparently had no concerns about what people thought of her. Or, in this particular instance, she was simply too curious to care.
”We did,” he said. ”And did our first meeting take place in your universe the same as it did in mine? In San Francisco? In the 1890s?”
He could see the tension drain from her face and body as she nodded. ”In a manner of speaking,” she said. ”I don't actually remember it happening, but I remember remembering it, if that makes any sense. I'd always a.s.sumed it was a dream, but now I don't know what it was. I don't suppose you have an explanation?”
He smiled. ”Just that you're a very remarkable... being, perhaps even more remarkable than you know. Tell me, do you occasionally feel impelled to do or say things for which you can find no logical reason?”
Her eyes narrowed and some of the tension returned to her stance. ”How did you know?” she asked, a new suspicion in her tone. ”I haven't told even Tal about that. ”
”It's all right,” he said, still smiling. ”I suspect it's because I've probably known you-your counterpart in my universe-longer than you've known Tal. And Romulans, particularly Romulans in the military, are often more rigid in their thinking than humans, more likely to dismiss such things out of hand. But it is true, then?”
She nodded, looking around uneasily. ”It was one of those... impulses that brought us here, in fact, although Tal doesn't realize it, of course. Should I a.s.sume that this... other Guinan has acted on similar impulses?”
He nodded. ”She has. They've saved my life more than once.”
”You believe in them, then?”
”I don't have a choice. She's been proven right time and again.”
”So have I. It's the only reason Tal tolerates me, I think. But you were right about his rigidity. Luckily he has encountered enough beings with 'legitimate' mental powers such as telepathy and precognition to accept the idea that my occasional 'advice' comes from a similar source. But tell me, did your Guinan come with you on your quest to find a way to defeat the Borg? Is she here? On this s.h.i.+p?”
Before Picard could devise an answer, he was interrupted by Data's voice coming from his combadge. ”Captain, the level of chronometric radiation is increasing.”