“Incredible,” Sam said.

“A hundred and ninety-five meters,” Nog said. “Staying within a range of two hundred ten and one hundred and seventy meters so far, sir.”

“This doesn’t make any sense.”

Nog took his eyes off the readout to look at him for a second.

“You know what makes no sense? That humanoid on the ship disappearing. The crane that flew out—now that came from nowhere. One hundred eighty meters.”

Sam replayed the animal’s appearance again.

“One-sixty.”

Bowers considered the situation.

“The humanoid disappeared, and then the crane appeared. When this animal appeared, there was a crane in the area…and itdisappeared.”

The animal had advanced to one hundred fifty meters, but Nog said nothing.

“I think it’s a changeling,” Bowers said quietly.

Nog nodded. “I think you’re right.”

“It must have been on the Jem’Hadar ship and survived the crash.”

Nog nodded again. “There was a Vorta among the dead on the ship,” he said. “They don’t always travel with the Jem’Hadar, but there’s usually one around a Founder. Should we notify the commander?”

Bowers hesitated. “We don’t have a lot to go on. And the commander…I don’t think he’d appreciate speculation right now.” He exchanged a look with Nog that said a lot more than either of them could voice aloud. The commander’s behavior on the mission had been unusual, and Bowers liked a certain amount of predictability in a senior officer. “We need more proof.”

“It must want something,” Nog said, tracking it again. “It’s risking detection every time it changes shape.” He looked up. “It’s definitely following us, sir. It’s at a hundred meters now.”

Bowers peered through the trees, but saw nothing through the dense forest. “It’s interested in us. That’s good.” Nog’s expression said clearly that he disagreed. “At least we don’t have to chase it across half the planet.”

“True.”

“On the other hand, I don’t think it’s going to walk up and submit to a blood test.”

Nog smiled. “Maybe not. But we know a phaser set at 3.5 should cause it to revert back into its liquid state—if it isa Founder.”

Sam shook his head. “We can’t just open fire on another life-form, even if it is a Founder. I don’t want to make an enemy of it.”

“The only way I can see to prove it’s a Founder is to force it to change form,” Nog argued. “We can’t do that without a phaser. Sir, if it’s been alone here for two years, it isstill our enemy. I mean, it must think it is.”

“Well, I’m not going to shoot it like a mad dog in the street,” Bowers said. “We’ll set a trap. When its curiosity gets the best of it, it’ll have no one to blame but itself.”

*  *  *

Nog scratched the back of his neck. The breeze was making him itchy, the forest smelled, and little noises were coming from all around—leaves shifting, animals moving among the branches, the cranes calling to one another in the distance. And now a Founder was out there, too.

According to the tricorder it was maybe sixty meters away, almost on top of the impromptu “base camp” he and Bowers had hastily assembled, and then just as hastily appeared to abandon. But not without leaving a phaser behind.

Assembling the trap hadn’t been difficult, but executing it might be. The phaser had been set to level 3.2, against Nog’s better judgment, and slaved to Bowers’s tricorder, so that it could be triggered remotely. It would force a Founder back into its gelatinous state without harming it. But the creature wouldn’t be stunned, either, and would undoubtedly take off into the woods.

Bowers insisted that curiosity would draw it back eventually, since it had been the only sentient creature on the planet for two years. Nog was also willing to bet it would come back, if only because this was a planet singularly lacking in opportunity. The riskier the road, the greater the profit.The thing to remember about other people’s profit was, it inevitably came at the expense of someone else. And that someone could easily be Nog.

Bowers tapped Nog’s shoulder and Nog jerked his attention back to the base camp. A large reptilian head had emerged from the thick forest growth and the rest of the animal quickly followed. From their vantage point up hill, the beast was smaller than Nog had expected—only five meters long, its midnight-blue hide covered in overlapping brown plates from nose to tail. Its four eyes surveyed its surroundings.

Nog watched as the creature advanced on the trap…

And…now!Bowers tapped the tricorder touchpad with more force than was really necessary and jerked forward with pent-up excitment. From below them came the faint whine of the modified phaser and the animal jerked, too. Abruptly the beast shrank and altered shape, changing into an a morphous mass of gelatinous amber before coalescing into a new form—not unlike a smaller, female version of Odo. In another flash the girl transformed into a crane and flung itself up, out of the clearing, and flew unsteadily to the east.

Bowers launched himself forward and scrambled down the hill, pushing against tree trunks and rocks as he went to keep himself from falling face-first in his haste. With Nog right behind him, he scooped up the phaser and ran back into the forest, trying to keep the crane in view. The branches and uneven terrain were much harder to navigate at high speed and he tripped, twice. Beside him Nog was having a hard time tracking the bird on his tricorder and running at the same time. They had barely gone forty meters and were already far behind.

“Vaughn to Bowers.”

“Bowers here. Go ahead.”

“Is Lieutenant Nog still with you?”

“Yes, sir. We found a survivor. It’s a changeling. We’re in pursuit—”

“Belay that. Lock on to my comm signal and get to my coordinates, on the double.”

“Sir?”

“That’s an order, Lieutenant.”

Sam held back a sigh of frustration as he stared after the fleeing changeling. He looked at Nog, who shrugged helplessly. “Aye, sir,” Bowers said finally. “We’re on our way.”

Sam saw Vaughn from the top of the ridge. The commander was standing in the middle of a ravine, staring up at a cliff face where the ravine ended abruptly.

Wait a minute,Sam thought, looking at the details of the trench for the first time. The sides were far two straight and uniform to be natural. All these young trees, this recent growth…none of it can be more than two years old. This isn’t a ravine at all. It’s a meteoric furrow! Something fell here from space!

With Nog following, Bowers ran along the ridge toward an eroded slope where they could make their way down to Vaughn.

As they approached, Sam saw for the first time what held Vaughn’s attention so completely. Something was buried in the cliff face.

“Oh, my God…”

Bowers’s voice was scarcely a whisper as he and Nog stopped when they reached the floor of the furrow behind the commander.

“At least now we know who brought down the Dominion ship,” Vaughn said without turning. “But it cost them.”

Gray metal plating covered uniformly with black conduits, metal struts and branching filaments, the hull of the fallen spacecraft faced them from its earthen tomb, silently testifying to the Gamma Quadrant’s newest invaders.

The Borg.