“How did they release the other Beings?” When McHenry nodded, the Old Father grunted in response. “Those damnable gateways.”

“The gateways?”McHenry remembered them all too well. Portals through time, through space, even—it was believed—into other dimensions. They had begun popping up all over the galaxy, like weeds, manipulated by an alien race as part of a galactic power play. One of the blasted gateways had even swallowed Calhoun and Shelby, necessitating their rescue from an ice world that had nearly been the death of them.

The Old Father simply nodded. “It did not occur to me that my wayward son would become bored with the absence of his sparring partners. Nor did it occur to me that Artemis, so humble in her pleadings to me to be spared, so truthful in nature, would be deceitful enough to seduce Anubis over to the idea of releasing the others and turning my punishment back upon me.”

“Wait a minute,” McHenry said, a thought occurring to him. “Anubis ... Loki ... whatever you call him ... is he a giant?”

“Not a colossus, certainly. But by the standards of your race—of most races—he stands far taller and wider than could remotely be considered the norm.” The Old Father looked slightly askance at him. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, during the gateways incident,” said McHenry, “according to Captain Calhoun’s write-up on the subject, the words ‘Giant Lied’ were etched in the snow on that ice world I mentioned before, by a dying member of one of the races caught up in the whole affair. Did that giant refer to Anubis?”

“Very likely.”

“What did he lie about?”

The Old Father shrugged. It seemed such an odd gesture for a god to make. “Specifically? I could not say. My ravens keep me apprised of much, but it is a vast cosmos to try and keep track of everything.”

“I thought gods were omniscient, all-knowing.”

“Don’t believe everything you read. In any event, although the details of Anubis’s ‘lies’ to this individual are lost, I have no doubt that he deceived the poor creature into taking actions that suited Anubis’s goals. Very likely he was instrumental in finding a way to utilize the gateway that released the other Beings into the world.”

“At which point they came looking for you.”

“And put me here,” said the Old Father sadly, but with the air of one who thought the outcome to be inevitable.

“So ...” It was quite possibly the question that McHenry most dreaded asking. “So ... what do we do now?”

“Now,” said the Old Father with one eyebrow raised. “Now we count on my son.”

“On your son? On Anubis? Excuse me if I wasn’t paying attention, but ... wasn’t he the one who put you into this situation in the first place?”

The Old Father shook his grayed head. “Not him. My other, far younger, half-mortal son. Oh, he does not have much in the way of abilities ... not anymore, not since the passing of his mother ... but at least he can perceive us, and possibly obtain help for us.”

“What? What are you ...”

And then, of course he understood.

“Moke,” he said.

The Old Father made a sour face. “I despise that name, I should make quite clear. His mother named him that. Hardly an appropriate name, particularly for one who so obviously took after his father. What with his storm-related abilities and such. Me ... I would have named him Thor.”

TRIDENT

I.

SHELBY KNEW SHE SHOULDN’T feel a chill when Ambassador Spock materialized on the transporter pad. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help it. She had encountered him before, but she found that her basic reaction to being in his presence was exactly the same. The man was, literally, a living legend. She had studied his exploits in Academy texts. How could one be undaunted in encountering such an individual?

When the shimmering of the transporter beams ended, she squared her shoulders and stepped forward. “Welcome aboard, Ambassador,” she said formally, and then correcting herself, said, “Ambassadors.” For standing directly behind Spock were Si Cwan and Kalinda, both looking none the worse for wear. Si Cwan’s face was an inscrutable mask that surpassed Spock’s for sheer unreadability, but if Shelby was going to guess at his mental state, it would be total chagrin.

Spock, meantime, inclined his head slightly and stepped down.

“May I present my executive officer, Commander Katerina Mueller. And I believe you already know Lieutenants Arex and M’Ress.”

“Indeed,” said Spock. “Lieutenants Shiboline M’Ress and Arex Na Eth, it would appear that the years have been far kinder to the two of you than to me.”

M’Ress looked as if she were fighting to avoid having an emotional breakdown, so clearly happy was she to reencounter this figure from her past. “Don’t underestimate yourself, Mr. Spock. You look wonderful. A sight for sore eyes.”

He frowned slightly. “If your eyes are sore, Lieutenant, might I suggest a simple medicinal wash easily available in sickbay.”

She smiled. “Thank you, sir. I’ll get right on that.”

“We’ve arranged quarters for you, Ambassador Spock,” said Mueller. “And your guest quarters are as you left them, Ambassadors Cwan and Kalinda.”

“Most considerate,” said Spock. “I think it would be best, however, if we proceed directly to the nearest briefing room so we may discuss the circumstances that have brought me here.”

Mueller looked blankly at Shelby. “Briefing room?”

“Conference lounge,” Arex said softly. “That’s what they call them now.”

“Of course,” said Spock. “I should have recalled. One of the disadvantages of age. That which is far distant is the most clear. The conference lounge, then, by all means.”

Shelby nodded and led the way as the small group emerged into the corridor. As they walked along, Shelby noticed the distinct change in the attitude of the Tridentcrew. Naturally they continued to conduct themselves as professionals; she would have expected nothing less. Still, there were all manner of double takes, lingering gazes, whispered conferences among crew members who walked past the Trident’snew guests.

She couldn’t really blame them. It wasn’t often that living history walked the corridors of the Trident.

Spock, meantime, seemed oblivious—the operative word most likely being “seemed”—of the stir he was creating. Instead he was having an animated discussion with M’Ress and Arex. “Your presence here is most unexpected. Did the two of you fall out of your own time together?”

“Totally separate circumstances, sir,” said M’Ress. “I came through a sort of time portal as a result of an ill-fated landing party ...”

“Which they call ‘away teams’ now, by the way, just to avoid further confusion,” Arex said. “And I was on a shuttle that fell through a wormhole.”

“I see,” said Spock. “And you both wound up in this time, serving together. It gives one cause to ponder.”

“Ponder what, Ambassador?” asked Mueller.

“The true nature of the universe, Commander.” He indicated M’Ress and Arex with a nod of his head. “The odds of the two of you, former shipmates, being hurled into the future to this particular time period, and serving together once more, are minuscule at best. One is almost inclined to perceive a divine plan.”

“A divine plan?” Mueller said skeptically. “Ambassador, I would think you, of all people, with your extensive science background, would be the ultimate supporter of rational matters in all things.”

“In my life, Commander, I have seen sufficient things to determine that the line between the rational and the irrational is not as strongly demarcated as you might think.”

“Meaning—?”

He cast her a sidelong glance. “I would have thought my meaning was clear enough,” he said, as they approached the turbolift. “I—as have all of you—have seen beings of such might that your ancestors considered them gods. I have seen beings who long ago surpassed the need for physical incarnation. There is a being named Q—with whom I have had some rather lively debates—who wields power bordering on the omnipotent. I had a half-brother who sought out what he believed to be God, and turned out to be anything but. That which some would term a Supreme Being may simply be an entity which we have neither encountered nor defined in terms that we could understand. To dismiss such a notion out of hand simply because we have not witnessed it firsthand would be highly illogical.”