Riker knew security would be all over the place within a minute. If Riker were to be captured, dragged down to the brig, interrogated... by the time he got everything straightened out, it would be too late.

There was only one person he could think to trust.

More to the point-there was only one person he could trust whose cabin was close enough.

The thoughts had gone through his mind so quickly that he was already dashing down a side corridor before the guard had even completely slumped to the ground.

A right, then another left, and he was standing in front of the cabin. He took a deep breath. The door was locked, which was not unusual when someone had retired for the evening. But his voice was still his voice, and he said briskly, "Computer, override lock and open for William Riker."

The computer checked that this was indeed the voice of William T. Riker, authorized occupant of the cabin, and consequently, the doors hissed open. The admiral stepped inside.

He heard soft breathing in the bed. He squinted, his eyes adjusting quickly to the darkness as the doors slid shut behind him.

He hadn't been quite sure how he would react upon seeing his younger self. He was pleased to discover that, for the most part, he didn't really care. His younger version was simply a means to an end.

Perhaps, when all this was over, he would get a ma.s.sive case of the shakes. Just as Deanna had those many, many years ago.

For the briefest of moments he was distracted by the mental image of Deanna from their steamy encounter in the jungle, and then he was immediately snapped back to business when his younger self suddenly sat up in bed.

Commander Riker squinted into the darkness, looking straight at his older self, but wasn't able to make out anything clearly. He started to say, "Lights."

But the admiral moved quickly, moving with a.s.surance in the darkness since, after all, it was his old quarters and he remembered where everything was. He dropped onto the bed next to his younger self and clamped his hand over Will Riker's mouth.

The commander struggled fiercely, shoving at the arm that held him down, grabbing upward at his face. The elder Riker, for his part, felt nothing but impatience and quickly called out, "Lights!"

He felt the younger man freeze in momentary confusion at the no-doubt familiarity of the voice. The lights came up, too bright for Will, and the admiral snapped, "Half lights," bringing the illumination to a more bearable level.

Commander Riker stared up in shock at his future self. The latter hissed, "Shut up! We haven't much time!"

Momentarily startled, Will began to struggle again, trying to make some sort of noise. The admiral, losing what little patience he had, and aware of the rapidly pa.s.sing time, snapped, "Didn't you hear what I said? Shut up, you idiot! They may he here to try and stop me at any moment! So lie still! Listen to me, and be prepared to do exactly what I tell you. Deanna's life hangs on what you do next."

That was more than enough to get Will's attention. He stopped struggling, slowly realizing that he was not under direct attack; that he was not dreaming; and that there was more to this than he was going to be able to discern upon first exposure.

"I'm going to let go of your mouth now," said the admiral. "So help me, if you shout or try to get attention, I'll knock you cold and take care of this myself. And if I have to do that and get nailed because I'm easily spotted, then you will quite literally have no one but yourself to blame for the rest of your life."

Will nodded, indicating he understood, and the admiral slowly released his hand. He stepped back off the bed as Will sat up. There was still confusion in his eyes, but also amazement. "Who... are you?"

"The Easter bunny," snapped the admiral. "Who in h.e.l.l do you think I am. We're wasting time... time we haven't got. Get dressed. Move. Move!"

Will rolled off the bed, never taking his eyes off the senior Riker, even as he started to pull on his uniform. "You're from the future, aren't you?"

"That's right. You don't sound surprised."

"After the time that Captain Picard ran into himself, I swore that nothing would surprise me."

"Oh, yes," said the admiral. "I did swear that, didn't I." Then he turned deadly serious. "Listen to me and don't interrupt. Deanna's life is in mortal danger."

"Then why in h.e.l.l am I taking the time to get dressed?"

"Because they may be watching for anything unusual-and you running down the corridor in your nightclothes would qualify."

"Who is 'they'?"

"I said don't interrupt. Just listen: Deanna is going to be poisoned." He pushed on despite Will's expression of astonishment and held up the vial from his jacket. "This will counteract it. You've got to get to her quarters and get her to drink it. And you've got-he glanced at his ch ronometer-"just over fifteen minutes to do it."

At that moment, Will's communicator beeped.

"You don't have time!" hissed the admiral.

But Will, never taking his eyes off the admiral, tapped it. "Riker here."

"Security alert, sir," came the deep voice of Worf. "An intruder was reported in your general vicinity. Have you seen him?"

Will Riker stared at his future self.

The admiral realized that everything was hinging on this moment. A word from Commander Riker would bring Worf and his people charging to the rescue. And the admiral had not had enough time to convince his younger self of the truth of his words.

Words.

His own words.

And in a very low voice, he said, "The future holds such promise... and just as I cannot imagine how I survived the past... without you..."

Will's eyes widened in shock, even as over his communicator Worf said, "Commander... what did you say?"

"Nothing," was the firm reply. "I haven't seen him. I'll meet you in a few minutes. I just... have to get dressed. Riker out."

There was a silence that, to both of them, seemed to stretch on for eternity. And then Will said, with slow understanding, "She died. In your past... my future... she died. And you've come back somehow to try and prevent it. You're... you're tampering with time... and the 'they' you're worried about are the people from your time-maybe scientists or, my G.o.d, Starfleet personnel-who might try and stop you."

"She wasn't supposed to die," said the admiral. "It was wrong. Wrong for her. Wrong for me, for everyone. And I'm here to prevent that wrong, and I don't give a d.a.m.n what regulations say, and if you love her... if you're truly Imzadi... you won't give a d.a.m.n either."

"But... but how am I supposed to believe you? How am I supposed to just... just take the future into my own hands. Our own hands?"

The admiral took a step toward him. "We do it every moment of our lives, kid. Every day we make our own future. But someone came back and decided to remake the future in their own image... and now I'm here to stop it."

"Unless someone stops you. Which means that someone isn't certain."

Admiral Riker grabbed Will Riker by his uniform front. Despite his age, his strength was almost undiminished and was lucled by anger. "d.a.m.n you, you sanctimonious clod! You think you know everything? You don't know a d.a.m.n thing! You want certainty? This is a certainty, then-Deanna is going to die! She's going to writhe on the floor and beg you to do something, and all you're going to do is watch her suffer ma.s.sive circulatory collapse and die! And it's not going to be until that moment, you purblind idiot, that you realize that she's the better part of you!"

"You're... it's wrong," Will said, but there was tremendous conflict in his eyes. "It's wrong to tamper with the past... I can't believe that there's any circ.u.mstance under which I'd... I'd knowingly..."

"You think you can judge me!" said the admiral. "Remember what we wrote? 'And just as I cannot imagine how I survived the past without you... I cannot imagine a future without you.' Remember? Well, I'm the future without her, buddy boy, and I can tell you right now that it's not something you're going to relish." He shoved the vial into Will's palm. "It's going to happen, Riker! In just a few minutes now! Her life is going to end. You can save it! You have the power, fight here, right now! Now are you going to stand there debating philosophies and moralities and rights and wrongs? Or are you going to deal with the genuine, real, here-and-now fact that Deanna's life is at stake and only you have a hope in h.e.l.l of saving her. And if you don't save her, then h.e.l.l is where you're going to be-forty years of h.e.l.l! Of might-have-beens and what-ifs."

"Except for me, there was just the frustration that I should have done something, but didn't know what. For you, it's going to he the knowledge that you could have done something, but didn't. How much worse for you, Riker? When you call out with your mind, 'Imzadi,' and there's no one to respond, no part of your soul that acknowledges that the word has any meaning to anyone else, what will happen to you then? G.o.d d.a.m.n you, Riker! When your heart's been cut out, how's it going to feel knowing that you're the one who wielded the knife?"

Will ripped away from him, his face ashen, his heart pounding.

"Deanna!" he screamed, and charged from his quarters.

CHAPTER 38.

Dann nibbled at Deanna's neck and began to work his way down. She sighed, a slow, languorous sigh. She was on the bed, wearing only the flimsiest of shifts. She started to push it down off her shoulders so that Dann's downward course would be un.o.bstructed.

But still, something bothered her. "Dann... are you all right?"

He raised his head slightly. "Of course I am," he said reasonably. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know. I just sense... I mean..."

And suddenly she sat up, confused, a voice echoing in her head. "Will?" she said in bewilderment.

"What's wrong?" asked Dann, sitting up as well.

"It's... it's Will. Something's wrong... I sense... total panic. It's... something directed towards me, I don't..."

"Deanna, calm down," said Dann firmly, taking her by the shoulders. "He's probably just, well, jealous about us. That's what's giving him anxiety. He's probably even asleep and you're just... just tuning in to his dreams somehow. I know you two are close, but-"

"No!" She pushed him aside. "Something is wrong."

"Deanna..."

She got out of bed, adjusting the shift around her, and went over to her uniform, which was neatly hung nearby-She tapped the communicator on it and said, "Troi to Riker."

"Deanna!" came Riker's desperate shout. "Stay there! Don't move! I'll he there in a few seconds!"

She spun and faced Dann. "Did you hear that? He's terrified!"

"Yes," said Dann sadly. "Yes... I can't say I'm surprised."

Will hurtled down the corridor at warp speed. He skidded once and, to his panic, almost bobbled the vial and dropped it. But he recovered quickly and turned a corner.

His mind was racing furiously. He didn't know how or why any of this was happening, but there were two things of which he was completely, instinctively convinced-that he had confronted his future self, and that Deanna was going to die in the next few minutes.

He skidded to a halt outside her quarters and charged in. Deanna was seated on the bed, arguing with Dann, but when she saw Riker, she rose to her feet. "Will...?"

He thrust the vial outward. "Drink this! Quickly!"

Dann came off the bed and stood between them. "What are you, crazy? She's not just going to drink some vial ofunknown liquid because you told her to. Get out of here!"

"Deanna, you have to," said Riker. "Your life depends on it."

Deanna knew, of course, that Riker believed every word of what he was saying. But it didn't make her any less befuddled. "My life?"

"Out of my way!" Riker said to Dann, trying to push him aside.

"Like h.e.l.l! Deanna, don't listen to him! He's trying to hurt you! He's jealous of me!"

Dann moved once again to block Riker, and this time Will grabbed him by the shoulders and tried to push him to one side. To his shock, Dann didn't budge. He was a head shorter and considerably slimmer than Riker, but he held his ground. Instead he grabbed Riker by the forearms and held him in a grip of iron.

"Deanna!" shouted Riker, and somehow, in his head, he heard a slow, steady ticking, like time slipping away from him, spiraling out of control. Everything seemed to slow down and distort as he twisted in Dann's grasp and flipped the vial onto the bed. It landed on the sheets, bounced once, and started to tumble to the floor. But Deanna's hand s.n.a.t.c.hed out and grabbed it. She stared at it, trying to understand.

"Give me that!" shouted Dann, and her head snapped around in amazement at the desperation in his tone. With his free hand he lunged for the vial, but now Will Riker shifted his grip and spun on the ball of his foot. Dann was thrown across the room, crashing into furniture.

"Drink it!" Riker yelled at Deanna. "If you ever trusted me, if you ever loved me, drink it!"

Deanna needed no further urging. She pulled at the stopper.

It was stuck.

Dann came to his feet and with an animalistic roar sprang toward Deanna. Riker met his charge, braced himself, and the two of them went down in a tumble of arms and legs.

Riker rolled over, gaining the advantage, and pounded furiously on Dann's head. The blows didn't seem to have any effect, and Dann drove a knee up, shoving Riker off. But Riker didn't lose his grip on one of Dann's arms, and the Starfleet officer, even off balance, managed to send Dann crashing into the wall.

Deanna worked desperately at the stopper, kneading it with her fingers. It worked its way upward.

Dann began to transform.

He became larger, his body covered with thick brown fur, his hands shaping into claws.

Riker recognized his species immediately. It was a Chameloid. Shape-shifters, incredibly powerful, incredibly dangerous.

Deanna, her fingers still pushing on the stopper, stared at the man she had thought was Dann, her dark eyes registering her utter shock. And then, somewhere deep within her, she felt some sort of distant, burning sensation.

At that moment, the stopper popped off, rolling onto the bed.

"NO!" roared "Dann," and he made one final, desperate lunge. He shoved Riker aside, his fingers reaching for the vial, and then Riker snared his long, matted fur from behind and leaped on, wrapping his arms down and around the Chameloid's arms, and up around the creature's neck.

Deanna drank down the contents of the vial in one gulp.

The Chameloid howled in fury, trying to bat Riker off his back. "You idiot! Do you have any idea what you've done! Do you?"

Riker said nothing. Instead, all of his energy was being used to shove the creature's neck forward.

The Chameloid broke the grip, slamming Riker to the floor. Towering over him, the creature roared, "You selfish b.a.s.t.a.r.d! You've risked everything!"

"I've risked everything for Deanna before," Riker said defiantly, "and I'd do it again!"

"Well, I don't have that choice!" snapped the Chameloid.

He started toward Deanna, his hands outstretched...

And a phaser blast from behind sent the Chameloid to his knees.