Geordi took a deep breath, activated the shields at maximum power, and extended them around the Romulan ship. He further extended them forward, stabbing invisibly through the hull of the Hera Hera. "Shields extended."

"I read you."

"Vol, initiate static warp sh.e.l.l."

"Right you are."

Almost immediately, there was a flicker around the ships, and the Hera Hera began to melt, bleeding forward like a badly copied vid image. The began to melt, bleeding forward like a badly copied vid image. The Hera Hera's hull smeared around the edges as it was enveloped by the shields and static warp sh.e.l.l like oil. It also faded, and Geordi could see stars through it, and, dead ahead, a Luna-sized planet, inflating like a balloon.

"Transport now, Varaan."

The Challenger Challenger's bridge vanished from around Geordi, and he felt distraught knowing that he would never see her again.

As Vol and Geordi materialized in one of the transporter rooms aboard Tomalak's Fist, Tomalak's Fist, the ship began moving forward, into thin layers of stars between the void and the planet's surface. the ship began moving forward, into thin layers of stars between the void and the planet's surface.

Slowly at first, but quickly accelerating to a majestic swoop, the great green raptor smoothly dodged the planet's surface, and then rose once again into star-filled skies.

Everyone on the planet's surface hit the dirt as the city-like structure made from the Hera Hera's interior began to bleed into the sky. Pieces of debris stretched both up into the heavens and down into the depths as the last remnants of the Hera Hera vanished into the storm. vanished into the storm.

A few seconds later, something gigantic and green accelerated overhead and upward with a painful subsonic rumble.

Scotty's combadge chirped. "This is Commander Varaan of "This is Commander Varaan of Tomalak's Fist. Tomalak's Fist. Do you have a Mister Scott I could speak to?" Do you have a Mister Scott I could speak to?"

Scotty was half amazed that the plan had actually worked. "Scott here, Commander Varaan."

"I am orbiting the planet, and should be back in transporter range of your group within three minutes."

Even the Vulcans among the group looked as if they couldn't believe their ears. The Caitian, Lieutenant M'Rsya, let out a long screech of joy.

Three minutes later, true to Varaan's word, Captain Geordi La Forge, Guinan, Doctor Leah Brahms, and Chairman Sela materialized on the dust bowl plain where the Hera Hera had so recently been. had so recently been.

La Forge was enjoying catching up with Scotty and Nog again, and hearing about their discoveries on the planet. "Wait a minute. If this planet is a life-form . . ."

"It is, lad. Trust me on this."

"I'm not disagreeing, I'm just thinking. All those beings, the living creatures that have been creating the trans-slipstream wakes by thinking themselves across the galaxy . . . Why do they congregate here instead of just navigating by it?"

"You mean on the other side of the fold?"

"Exactly. Where the planet should be. Or maybe that spot should be here. Either way, they have a connection to this world."

"It may be their homeworld, I suppose, or just their wee but an' ben."

"It may just be that, but if this whole planet is one huge life-form, maybe they've got a personal biological connection to it."

"Are ye suggesting it's their mother?"

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting," La Forge said forcefully "Why not? There's obviously a connection between them, and it's not a hostile one."

"There's no evidence for it."

"There's no evidence against it either. If we could get a good sensor reading of one of them as well as the planet, and compare them . . ."

"Maybe we could talk to it."

"To the planet?"

"I don't know that it's capable of communicating in the way that the ship-creatures are, but why not? There'd be no harm in trying, would there?"

Savar interrupted. "If communication with the planet were possible, we would have sensed it, in our minds."

"And there's been no sign of that?"

"None," Savar said. "Your hypothesis about the relationship of the planet to the s.p.a.ceborne creatures you describe is logical, but merely demonstrates that we don't have enough data to form a concrete theory. It's just as likely that this planet, to them, is a source of nourishment, perhaps like the milk cow of Earth. They share a connection, but it is not necessarily familial."

La Forge, Silva, Captain. The words were burned into Geordi's brain and heart as permanently as onto the duranium plate. "How did she die?" Savar didn't answer for a moment, and Geordi got the feeling that maybe he was reluctant to upset his rescuer with an unpleasant tale. "It's okay, Commander. I . . . I made my peace with her being gone a long time ago." The words were burned into Geordi's brain and heart as permanently as onto the duranium plate. "How did she die?" Savar didn't answer for a moment, and Geordi got the feeling that maybe he was reluctant to upset his rescuer with an unpleasant tale. "It's okay, Commander. I . . . I made my peace with her being gone a long time ago."

"Captain La Forge was killed in a landslide, approximately fourteen months after our arrival on this planet."

"A landslide?" Geordi had never imagined that. He wasn't sure whether it sounded like a good death or a bad one. Right now, he wasn't sure whether there was a difference. "Was it . . . Did she suffer?"

"I do not believe so," Savar said carefully. La Forge was well aware that Vulcans praised truth quite highly, and couldn't help wondering whether Savar's avoidance of a simple yes or no was related to that. The Vulcan seemed to see the uncertainty in his eyes, and continued. "She was missing overnight, and we found her dead amidst the landslide the next day. There is no way to be certain how instantaneous her death was. However, the slide was not far from our camp. I believe that, had she been mortally injured and in pain for any length of time, we would . . ."

"Have heard her screaming."

"We would have known," Savar finished softly, with a slight nod.

La Forge nodded. Leah squeezed his hand, while Guinan just knelt and laid a flower on the grave. Geordi had no idea where she had got it, but it was a peace lily, his mother's favorite.

Sela looked at it. "My mother has no grave," she said quietly. "After the execution, the body was disintegrated."

"I'm sorry to hear that," La Forge said.

"What would I do with a grave anyway?"

"Visit it," Guinan suggested. "Talk to her."

"She's been gone a long time."

"Sela," Guinan said quietly and seriously. "Everything exists, just as long as the last person who remembers it." She squeezed Sela's hand now. "You're living proof of that."

There was a faint rumbling from belowground, and Savar looked around like a startled rabbit. "The planetary ent.i.ty is reacting to us. We must go. Now."

Geordi tapped his combadge. "This is La Forge. Five to beam up."

47.

"Welcome aboard Tomalak's Fist, Tomalak's Fist, our newest long-range exploration vessel," Chairman Sela said to Savar as they stepped off the wide rectangular transporter platform. our newest long-range exploration vessel," Chairman Sela said to Savar as they stepped off the wide rectangular transporter platform.

La Forge almost laughed at her choice of terminology. "Exploration, huh?"

"Show me a s.p.a.cefaring race that doesn't have either a desire or a need to find new resources, living s.p.a.ce, or scientific discoveries. Anyone who doesn't look for something would never be out in s.p.a.ce. They could stay at home and sit and talk over their old achievements. And never make new ones."

"There's another problem that none of you have addressed as yet," Varaan said, quietly but firmly as he stepped around from behind the transporter console. "Even a.s.suming we succeed in removing this intersection, or spatial fold, and evacuate everyone safely to the position where you first discovered the Hera . . . Hera . . . it's a very long journey back to the galaxy, and when we get there we'll just run face-first into the Barrier." it's a very long journey back to the galaxy, and when we get there we'll just run face-first into the Barrier."

La Forge paused. "Actually, Chairman Sela and I have discussed the issue of travel time back to the galaxy . . ."

"What did you decide?"

"That we agree to differ."

"I think I'd have been shocked otherwise." Varaan smiled.

"The galactic barrier has been breached before. It's purely an engineering problem."

"We shall have two hundred years before we reach it. I'm sure that's more than enough time to develop a solution." Varaan sighed.

Varaan held Sela back for a moment when everyone else had left the transporter room. "There's another issue in question," Varaan said lightly. "The Federation . . . witnesses."

"It wouldn't have been my choice for them to see this vessel."

"And it certainly wouldn't have been mine."

"We need them. They will have to be on the bridge. Is your cloak damaged?"

"Not any more. It was, when we arrived."

"I'll take it under consideration."

"As Madam Chairman, or as Sela?"

"I haven't decided yet."

On the green and beige command deck, Varaan moved to stand between the command chair and the tactical consoles that were under the main viewer, with his hands behind his back like some ancient seafarer braving the wind and water on the prow of his ship. Sela, meanwhile, was in the command chair, leaning forward tensely.

"Three vessels are approaching," The Romulan tactical officer reported.

Varaan raised an eyebrow. "Where did they come from? Were they cloaked?"

"They must have been . . ."

"A fourth vessel is-"

"Is what? Decloaking?"

"I think . . . forming. a.s.sembling, maybe," Leah offered.

"More antibodies," Scotty said grimly.

"Antibodies?"

"When a body is attacked, it forms antibodies from cells. In this case it's forming defensive craft from the wreckage of the Hera Hera now orbiting the planetoid," Savar explained. now orbiting the planetoid," Savar explained.

Sela's face was a calculating mask. "How many could it form?"

"There's no way to tell without extensive study, and I doubt they'll give us the time," Scotty said.

"Do you have any good news?" Varaan asked.

"It doesn't look like they're under conscious intelligent control," the tactical officer said.

"Captain La Forge," Ogawa called urgently from the Romulan sickbay, Ogawa called urgently from the Romulan sickbay, "it makes sense for them not to be consciously controlled. They're antibodies, which means they'll be acting independently on an instinctive level." "it makes sense for them not to be consciously controlled. They're antibodies, which means they'll be acting independently on an instinctive level."

"That's the good news?" asked Sela.

"It is if you're worried about whether they'll be piloted by good tacticians."

Varaan had been listening closely. "So what will they do, instinctively?"

"Home in on this ship and the Challenger, Challenger, and try to destroy them by brute force. They'll just try to lock on and give us everything they've got." and try to destroy them by brute force. They'll just try to lock on and give us everything they've got."

"What's the bad news?" Scotty asked.

"There's a lot of debris...o...b..ting the planetoid, and all of it could be used to form new antibodies. Any that we break down will rejoin the pool of available material and can be reformed, given time."

"You mean it has infinite resources for these things?" Sela asked "Not infinite. Nothing short of a Q could have infinite resources. But a planet has a lot more energy stored up in it than we do. If we don't find an escape route, we will run out of energy before they do."

"Then we're dead." Varaan said simply.

"Yes."

"I'm not reading any weapons signatures," Tornan said, his thick brow furrowing. "Whatever they are, they're coming closer."

"If they have no weapons, they may not be hostile," Savar said.

Nog wasn't buying that. "Or they may be weapons themselves. They could still ram us."

"Suicide vessels? I'm not reading any life-forms aboard either. They're purely mechanical," Saldis said.

"Drone vessels, then."