The moment she had finished saying it, Shelby suddenly wished she could take it back. But the last thing she was going to do was back down or show weakness, because certainly Calhoun would never respect her if she did that.

Then again, seeing the look in his eyes made her think that maybe he wasn’t going to respect her, no matter what. He was too angry. He looked like a volcano fighting its own eruption.

“I see,” he said, knocking the ambient temperature in the room down by another ten degrees. “Well, then: How fortunate that we showed up here. That way, should we get into trouble, you’ll be able to get us out of it again.”

“Mac, you’re being ridiculous ...”

And he was on his feet, and Shelby took a step back. For the first time in her entire life, she was genuinely afraid of Mackenzie Calhoun. She did not, for a heartbeat, think he was going to attack her physically or try to do her harm. Nevertheless, she saw what the residents of his native Xenex had seen ... and, even more specifically, what the oppressive Danteri had seen when the warlord juggernaut known as M’k’n’zy of Calhoun would charge into battle against them. And when he spoke, his voice sounded like distant rumbling thunder.

“This is not about you ... or me ... or our ships,” Calhoun said. “I have a man in sickbay who’s in some sort of stasis that none of us completely understands. I have a crew that was battered by a group of creatures that, again, none of us understands. And those creatures, those ‘Beings’ who did that to us, have chosen to take as their center of operations a world populated by the most notorious race ever to set foot on my homeworld. The potential for disaster here is gargantuan. Furthermore, if any of these Beings are capable of undoing the damage they’ve done, or somehow restoring McHenry to normal, then I owe it to the people they’ve killed and the people they’ve hurt to force them to do it.”

“How do you intend to ‘force’ a race of entities who appear to be, to all intents and purposes, invincible.”

“I’ll find a way. That’s what all good Starfleet captains do, so I’m told. They find ways. Unless you think me incapable of that, as well.”

It was a loaded question and one that could easily lead to another half hour of arguing. But Shelby realized that such a means of passing thirty minutes would be counterproductive. “No,” she said neutrally. “No, I don’t think you incapable of that.” She licked her lips, since they suddenly felt bone dry. Then she took a deep breath and let it out unsteadily. “All right. Look. At the very least, we don’t need to be duplicating each other’s efforts. We certainly don’t want to give the Danteri the impression that we’re working at cross-purposes. If they think there’s divisiveness between us, that may well tempt them to try and exploit it.”

Slowly he nodded. “Yes. That’s probably true.”

She was relieved to hear him say that. It meant he wasn’t so completely over-the-top furious that he was blocking out everything she might be saying. “I’ve already selected an away team to head down, consisting of Mueller, Ambassadors Spock and Cwan, and Lieutenant Arex. Why not send several of your people in conjunction with our away team, instead of beaming down a separate group.”

“All right. I’ll go down with Soleta and Kebron.”

“Mac, I wouldn’t advise that you put yourself on the away team.”

“Because I don’t trust the Danteri? Because I can’t approach the situation with dispassion?”

“Yes.”

“You’re probably right.”

“But you’re going anyway.”

“You’re probably right.”

She sighed and shook her head. “It’s your decision, Calhoun. Do as you wish. We’ll send over the coordinates for the transporter rendezvous and coordinate the beam-down.”

He simply nodded, acknowledging the plan. Feeling she had nothing else to say, Shelby turned and headed for the door. As she headed out, Calhoun suddenly said, “Captain.”

She turned to face him. “Yes?”

“Nothing,” he said after a moment. “I just ...”

“You just what?”

“I wanted to see if you would turn around to look at me or just stop and talk to me with your back turned.”

She sighed heavily at that, then walked out the door. When he called her name again, she didn’t stop walking.

III.

It was some hours later when Moke finally got up the nerve to address the very odd computer once more.

Moke hadn’t been sitting around contemplating in horror the notion of talking to the computer again. He’d been busy with Xyon, who had been his usual rambunctious self. Xyon had been looking around at empty air in a most aggressive fashion, and Moke had the feeling that Xyon was trying to catch sight of the “ghostly” inhabitants of the Excalibur.Moke was quite certain that they were keeping themselves scarce.

He couldn’t help but wonder if it had something to do with the planet they’d come to. He’d been able to overhear enough scattered conversations to put two and two together and realize that more of these strange “Beings” were present on the world below. So it might well have been that McHenry and the one-eyed man were either hiding, or else doing everything they could to shield their presence from those whom they wanted to avoid. Either way, they sure weren’t around.

Still, Moke was starting to feel it was definitely time to seek out Mackenzie Calhoun and tell him what had been going on. After all, what if McHenry and the one-eyed man were, in fact, gone for good? Certainly, then, no harm would be done by letting Calhoun know about their presence.

He and Xyon were in the holodeck, Xyon romping around on a holo-created beachfront. The green ocean came rolling in and washed up over his toes, and he giggled in childish glee, as Moke abruptly called out, “Computer.”

And then he jumped back several feet in shock as a woman materialized in front of him. He shook his head in bewilderment and then said, “Wait ... I know you. You’re Robin’s mother, aren’t you?”

“That’s correct. Well ... I was. Actually ... I suppose I still am.”

“Why are you here?”

“I’m in the computer now. I’m part of it.”

“Oh.” He wasn’t sure what to say to that. “Does it hurt?”

“No,” she assured him. Then she just stood there, smiling, her head slightly tilted in a polite and attentive manner.

“Why are you just ... standing there?” he asked.

“You summoned me. I’m waiting for you to—”

“Oh! Oh, right!” He thumped his forehead with the base of his palm in chagrin. “Right, of course. Sorry. Uhm ... do you know where Captain Calhoun is? Is he still in the shouting meeting?”

“Captain Calhoun is no longer on board the ship.”

“He’s not? Are you sure?”

“I’m a computer, Moke. Being sure is more or less all I do now.”

“Oh. Okay. Well ... where is he?”

“Captain Calhoun has gone down to Danter as part of an away team, along with Lieutenants Soleta and Kebron.”

“When will he be back?”

“I don’t know.”

“Hah!” he said challengingly. “You said being sure was all you did.”

“All right,” said Morgan, sounding rather reasonable. “He will be back precisely 0.00003 seconds after being beamed back aboard the ship.”

He looked at her suspiciously. “That’s not much of an answer.”

“Perhaps. It is, however, one I am sure of.” She took a step toward him, which startled him slightly. For some reason he’d just assumed she was rooted to one spot. “This is the second time you have desired to converse with him. Is there a matter of some urgency you wish to discuss? I can make it known to him upon his return.”

“All right. Tell him that Mark McHenry and a strange, bearded one-eyed guy are walking around the ship, except they’re invisible and can walk through things, like ghosts, and only Xyon and I can see them.”

“Hmmm.” She processed that information. The way in which she stored it was an endlessly complex procedure that only an expert in computer systems would have been able to explain. Visually, she simply looked thoughtful for a moment. “Very well. I will convey that to him. That is a most unusual message.”