"Don't worry, Doctor, I can see where you're going with this."

"Where I'm going with this, is that I'm going to need to have you in here for cellular regeneration treatment every forty-eight hours. That spleen of yours took a nasty knock, and it's not an organ that heals easily in the best of cases."

"Every forty-eight hours?"

"That's something you're going to need to think about." She hesitated, seeing the sadness in his eyes. "There are . . . regulations. I won't quote them, but sooner or later . . ."

"Ye mean sooner?"

"Yes." She forced a smile. "But for now, I prescribe a good single-malt painkiller, just like I did for Geordi's cuts, and Guinan's broken ribs. I gather Guinan has declared Nelson's a special a.n.a.lgesics dispensary, and that's fine with me. Go on down to Nelson's. That's an order, from the only person aboard who can can give you orders." give you orders."

The Split Infinite had stopped expanding. Scotty leaned against one of the big support pillars in Nelson's and allowed himself a smile. "Well, she's a beauty now, isn't she?"

"Yeah," La Forge said, and fell silent. There were a hundred other comments he wanted to make, but just couldn't, because he could feel his voice starting to tremble too much. "Did we just do what I think we just did?"

Scotty looked at him, serious reflection vying with eagerness to control his expression. Eventually he let out a sigh. "Who can say, Geordi? Either their warp core breach was swamped by the explosion they were running into, or the warp core breach triggered it. Either way, Bok's just as dead."

"Yeah, but as a eulogy goes, 'Let there be light' has a more poetic sound than 'Give him the severe malky' or whatever."

Scotty chuckled. "That's true enough. But not as appropriate, I think."

"What is a malky anyway?"

"It's an old Scottish expression that means to do some damage to somebody. Serious harm, I mean." Scotty looked a little uncomfortable, or, Geordi thought, embarra.s.sed. "Truth to tell, I'm not sure why why it's actually called that." it's actually called that."

"It's rhyming slang," Guinan's voice came across the restaurant. She walked over to the window gracefully, a twinkle in her eye. Her feline smile broadened as she saw Scotty and Geordi's surprised and baffled expressions. "Malky is short for Malcolm, and it means Malcolm Frazer-a razor. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, open razors were the preferred weapon of street gangs in Scotland."

Scotty and La Forge exchanged a look, their eyebrows raising further in open astonishment.

Guinan grinned openly now. "Oh, come on, Geordi! I first met you in nineteenth-century San Francisco." La Forge realized immediately where she was going with this. He had forgotten that, from her perspective, they technically had first met then. It was all too easy to think that they had both first met each other aboard the Enterprise Enterprise. "And it never occurred to you that I might have visited other parts of the planet?" They laughed.

"All right," Geordi said at last. "I think I ought to go see Leah."

"And I need some sleep," Scotty added.

Guinan raised her gla.s.s. "And I see some more people in need of painkillers."

Guinan was waiting with a drink when Nog reached the bar, but was holding the gla.s.s low. Raising a hand any higher than the height of her own nose was agonizing. She forced a smile, because it was her duty. She wasn't just hostess of Nelson's, she listened. "Kat tells me your father is the Grand Nagus."

"Don't hold that against him. Or against me." He grimaced. "I asked her not to tell anyone."

"Well, she didn't exactly tell me. I just listened to the gaps between the words in what she did tell me. You'd be surprised how much you can learn by doing that."

"I'm not really interested in-" He cut himself off.

"Listening? Learning? That doesn't sound like you."

"Eavesdropping," he said sourly.

"Ah."

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to use that term. I know it's not what you were doing, but . . . But I can't really think of the right word. It comes from growing up with Odo always spying on us." Nog looked a little nervous. "You're not going to tell me you know Odo as well?"

"Okay. Is your father a good Nagus?"

Nog was somewhat taken aback by the question. "I . . . I guess so. I mean, he has some funny ideas, but when he gets to looking at the economy as an engine, he can see how it ought to work."

"As an engine? I'd never really thought of it like that."

"Oh, but it is." Nog was quickly warming to his subject. "You fuel it with investment, it generates a sort of cultural solvency field-"

Guinan laughed, and this time didn't notice whether it hurt or not. "You sound like you've got a good grasp of it as well."

"It's in the blood." He paused. "Was your father an engineer?"

Guinan hadn't expected the question, and it threw her. "My father . . ."

"Oh," Nog said quickly, "you don't get along. I'm sorry-"

"It's all right." She was genuinely pleased that he had asked. "I suppose he was, in a way." The thought was a pleasant surprise. "I never really . . ." Got along with him? No, that wasn't really fair. Got along with him? No, that wasn't really fair. "I never really thought of him that way." The pain in her side seemed to fade. "Thank you, Nog. You're a very perspicacious Ferengi." "I never really thought of him that way." The pain in her side seemed to fade. "Thank you, Nog. You're a very perspicacious Ferengi."

There was no "who is it?" when La Forge rang the chime on Leah's door this time. She simply opened it. A new scar above her right eyelid drew his attention, and he couldn't help feeling that it was a sad thing.

"Is it that bad?" she asked, catching his gaze.

"Actually, it just sets off the rest of you even more perfectly." He paused. Maybe it was a mistake to come here, but he desperately wanted to bring up something else that had been sticking in his mind since she mentioned it. "You said you didn't want anyone to tell me you were aboard until I already joined. Were you that worried that I'd come knocking on your door first thing?"

"You did did come knocking on my door." come knocking on my door."

"By accident!"

"I wasn't worried that you'd come looking to talk to me." Leah's expression softened. "I thought if you knew I was here, you'd refuse rea.s.signment."

"Why would I do that?" Geordi couldn't imagine.

"Because we've had issues in the past."

"When we worked together, on the Genesis Wave problem, those issues seemed to have fallen behind us."

"I did say they were in the past," she said, and smiled.

24.

Challenger, her stardrive and saucer sections reunited, and hull damage patched, orbited the new supernova at a safe distance. Every sensor aboard the ship was recording the energies that were blazing out into the universe.

It was a beautiful sight too, with many different colors shimmering across the flower of light where the Split Infinite used to be. Leah Brahms, sitting in Nelson's, knew that it was a valuable source of information on the conditions at the beginning of the universe, and that astronomers and physicists would be delighted by the data, but it wasn't an engine. It was unlikely to impact directly on the development of new starship propulsion, and so, as far as she was concerned, it wasn't that interesting. interesting.

"Leah?" It was Geordi. "I thought I'd bring you something to cheer you up."

He slid a padd across the table to her, along with a Carda.s.sian Sunrise.

She picked up the padd with a faint smile, which broadened as its subject matter caught her attention. "Where did you get this?"

"From Intrepid Intrepid's sensor logs. Reg and I have been working to restore them, and I think we've got most of the degradation cleared up now, so we should be able to examine them for any signs of either the Romulan mine that supposedly destroyed the ship, or"-he raised his gla.s.s-"for this new subs.p.a.ce distortion, which I think you'll agree looks a like a slipstream wake."

Leah studied the padd, feeling an uneasy familiarity. There was a similarity in the padd's display to results she'd seen during the design of the Vesta Vesta-cla.s.s, but it was also different, and chillingly alien. "You're right, it does . . ."

"Then, after you drink up, I'd like to show you something in the conference room."

Intrigued, Leah followed Geordi up to the briefing room, where he brought up a display on the tabletop hologram. Scott, Barclay, and Vol were already there too. "Something seemed really familiar about this slipstream signature, and I just knew I'd seen it somewhere before. So, I ran a computer cross-reference, and similar readings have been detected over the years, and . . . Look at this." He brought up the first wavefront a.n.a.lysis on the padd. Data scrolled past, while a three-dimensional image of a waveform rotated below it. "This is a reading from the sensor logs that Reg and I cleaned up from Intrepid Intrepid's computer. "It shows what seems to be a quantum slipstream effect in subs.p.a.ce, only it's way beyond the parameters of any slipstream technology we know."

"Not so much slipstream as . . . Trans-slipstream?" Barclay suggested.

"It's as good a phrase as any. And this reading is one of the last things picked up by Intrepid Intrepid's sensors before every system on the ship went offline."

Leah looked doubtful. "To be honest with you, I'm fairly surprised Intrepid Intrepid's sensors were even capable of picking it up. Her sensors are hardly better than a ship's telescope, compared to what we have today."

"I'm not," La Forge said. "The question isn't whether the event was of a magnitude to be registered, which it obviously was, but whether the Intrepid Intrepid's computers-or any of her crew-could have interpreted interpreted it." it."

"They'd have just seen it as a ma.s.sive subs.p.a.ce disturbance without being able to understand what caused it," said Scotty.

"Which we still don't know for sure," Geordi admitted, "despite all our theorizing. Nor do we know what it represented in terms of technical advancement."

Vol blinked slowly. "All right, so this trans-slipstream wavefront hit Intrepid Intrepid at G-231, and knocked her all the way over to the Agni Cl.u.s.ter?" Vol asked. at G-231, and knocked her all the way over to the Agni Cl.u.s.ter?" Vol asked.

"It certainly had enough power behind it," Barclay said, admiration in his voice as he looked at the data.

"And the Romulan minefield?" asked Vol.

"What would happen if this magnitude of a wavefront hit a mine?" prompted Scotty.

Leah shrugged. "A mine has less ma.s.s than a starship. If the wavefront could carry Intrepid, Intrepid, it would have carried the mines as well, farther and more easily. Except that they'd have detonated in the process." it would have carried the mines as well, farther and more easily. Except that they'd have detonated in the process."

La Forge snapped his fingers. "That's what mines are designed for, isn't it? To go off when disturbed. So, let's imagine that this trans-slipstream wavefront hits the mines, detonating them as it rips them out of their positions, and then hits Intrepid, Intrepid, throwing her from G-231 to the Agni Cl.u.s.ter through subs.p.a.ce by way of a subs.p.a.ce gravity inversion in the Bolus reach." throwing her from G-231 to the Agni Cl.u.s.ter through subs.p.a.ce by way of a subs.p.a.ce gravity inversion in the Bolus reach."

Leah walked around the display. "Between the impact of the wave and the energy from the mine detonations, the Intrepid Intrepid's inertial dampeners are totally-" She caught herself. "Irrelevant, against those kinds of energies."

"Cool," Vol said. "Well, now that that's cleared up-"

"It isn't," La Forge said. "All right, so now we know what knocked out Intrepid Intrepid's inertial dampening and killed the crew, but we don't know what caused the trans-slipstream wave."

Leah waved a hand toward the numbers showing the magnitude of the wave. "Could it be some kind of natural phenomenon? Numbers like that pretty much suggest a stellar cause."

Geordi shook his head. "I think it's a wake."

"A wake implies a ship created it, surely? Maybe wake's the wrong word. We should stick with wavefront as a safe course."

"No, and this is why I brought this data for you to see. I'm sure wake is the right word. From the form of it that we have on this reading, it's definitely spreading out behind something in motion."

"What could it be? I mean, what could do that?"

La Forge spread his hands with a sigh. "I don't know, but I do know that, whether it's a natural phenomenon or a technological one, what happened to Intrepid Intrepid wasn't a unique occurrence." He brought up another display, almost identical to the first. "I knew I'd seen this type of reading before. It was round about the time my mother and the wasn't a unique occurrence." He brought up another display, almost identical to the first. "I knew I'd seen this type of reading before. It was round about the time my mother and the Hera Hera disappeared. At the time I was so sure the disappeared. At the time I was so sure the Hera Hera was still safe somewhere that I got ahold of every record she had sent back to Starfleet. Back then I was looking for clues to the was still safe somewhere that I got ahold of every record she had sent back to Starfleet. Back then I was looking for clues to the Hera Hera's fate so I wasn't paying much attention to her earlier reports. But I remembered this."

Leah leaned forward, her elbows on the table. "This is from the Hera?" Hera?" La Forge could smell the scent on her hair, and reminded himself that he was working. La Forge could smell the scent on her hair, and reminded himself that he was working.

"This sensor reading was included in surveys the Hera Hera made of the Kaladian system three months before she disappeared." Geordi brought up a third display. "And this one was included in the last telemetry received from the made of the Kaladian system three months before she disappeared." Geordi brought up a third display. "And this one was included in the last telemetry received from the Hera." Hera."

"All the same kind of wavefront. Or wakes . . ." Vol said, as everyone stared at the trio of displays.

"And that's not all. I looked at these last night, and saw the similarities. So I tried searching through the computer for any Starfleet records that showed the same thing."

"And?" Scotty prompted.

"And . . ." Geordi touched a control and the screen broke up into a flurry of copies of the same waveform. "I found quite a few."

"Dozens . . ."

"Dating back centuries." Silence washed round the briefing room. Geordi sat down at last. "Most of the time these were just long-range sightings, but there are a couple that tie in to ship losses as well."

"Including the Hera Hera?"

"Intrepid and and Hera, Hera, yes. If the yes. If the Hera Hera was carried somewhere by one of these trans-slipstream wakes . . . She might still be out there." was carried somewhere by one of these trans-slipstream wakes . . . She might still be out there."

"She?" Leah hesitated. "Do you mean the Hera Hera, or your mother?"

"I don't know. I just . . . do not know."

When the door chimed in La Forge's quarters, he had the immediate impression that it would be Leah. He had taken off his jacket but still wore his uniform shirt. He was surprised to see Scotty after he called out, "Come on in." The captain had a dressing on his forehead and a couple of st.i.tches in his cheek, and a bottle of Scotch in his hand.

"Scotty!"

"Were ye expecting someone else? Doctor Brahms, maybe?" he suggested, with a twinkle in his eye. "If so, I can't say I blame ye. She'd be a fine catch for any engineer."

"Let me guess-if you were twenty years younger . . ."

"More like a hundred and twenty!" Scotty sat in a chair, put the bottle down on a table, and said, "I'm presumin' ye have some gla.s.ses."

La Forge chuckled as he had the replicator form two gla.s.ses. "What can I do for you?"

"I was thinking about these trans-slipstream wakes, and that got me to thinkin' about the Intrepid, Intrepid, and how it was carried away." and how it was carried away."