The boy was staring fixedly up at the ceiling, and didn’t even seem aware that Calhoun was standing there. That concerned the captain greatly. He took Moke’s hand, listening to the steady thrum of the monitoring devices. “Moke? You’re going to be fine. Remember, I told you earlier, you’re going to be fine?”

Moke said nothing. Just continued to stare. Calhoun started to worry that, despite Selar’s earlier assurances, the boy had sustained some sort of brain damage. Then Calhoun caught a glimpse of his own reflection in the metal surface of the monitor. He looked as bedraggled as Selar had said. He hoped that hadn’t scared Moke. Doing his best to be of comfort, he squeezed Moke’s hand even more tightly. “Moke ... I know you had a scare. But really ... everything’s fine now.”

“No. It’s not.”

It was a very, very faint whisper that escaped from between the boy’s lips. He spoke with the air of someone who knew without reservation that matters were going to go from bad to worse, and was only trying to figure out just how to impart this information to others. “It’s not going to be fine. It’s going to be worse. A lot worse.”

“Who told you that?” Calhoun said with a faint tone of scolding.

Moke looked as if he wanted to answer, but wasn’t able to bring himself to do so. Prodding a bit more determinedly, Calhoun repeated, “Come on, Moke. Who told you that, huh?”

“Nobody. I just know. The Dark Man wouldn’t be here if everything was going to be all right.”

Calhoun had no idea what the boy was talking about. He leaned in closer to Moke. “What Dark Man? What are you talking about ... ?”

But Moke would not respond, and not all the urging from Calhoun could get him to do so. So it was that Calhoun left sickbay feeling as if he knew even less than when he’d arrived ... and with the uncomfortable sensation that something he didn’t understand could turn out to prove very, very dangerous.

II.

Robin Lefler paced the shattered bridge of the Excalibur,watching in mounting frustration as Ensign Beth labored under the still-sparking remains of the conn station. The monitor screen, which had gone on and off line repeatedly since the battle had concluded, was back on at the moment. However, the view of the starfield before them was still a bit fuzzy, as was the view of the Trident.

She still couldn’t quite believe the timing of it. When she’d been aboard the Trident,on her way back to the Excalibur,she had thought nothing could distract her from the foul mood enveloping her since Si Cwan had elected to remain on Danter. The entire voyage back, she had done nothing but dwell on his lack of gratitude, on his frustrating inability to realize her interest in him, and now ... this? To try and restore the Thallonian Empire? Had he learned absolutely nothing in his stay aboard the Excalibur?Well, obviously not. Obviously not.

But she had been startled from her ennui by the call to battle stations that had been sounded in the Tridentupon her approach to the Excalibur.Since she’d been aboard merely as a passenger rather than an officer, she didn’t have a battle station per se. Consequently, she’d felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness, particularly when she’d realized that it was her home ship that was under attack. She’d stood at the deserted Ten-Forward (since the recreation area obviously wasn’t heavily populated at times of crisis) and stared out the window in fixed astonishment as she’d witnessed the Excalibur,punctured, battered, saucer separated from the main hull and both of them badly injured, under attack by ...

She still couldn’t wrap herself around it.

And then the call had come in ... the call about ...

She looked at the ops station, which had been occupied by her mother such a short time ago, and all she could think of was how she had resented Morgan because of it. Her mother had subbed in for her, and it had angered her. All she could reflect upon was the time wasted through harsh words and ...

She pushed it away, unable to deal with it, and instead focused her irritation on the hapless Ensign Beth. “What’s the problem here?” she demanded finally.

“I’m working on it,” Beth said testily, craning her neck out from under the unit. Her face was as smeared with grime and soot as anyone else’s, and her normally curly hair had flattened out from the sweat that was dripping off her. There was an array of tools to her right.

“That’s what you keep saying. That’s what you’ve beensaying .... !”

The others on the bridge were going about their tasks as best they could, but the dispute over by the conn station was starting to catch their interest. “You think you could do better?” demanded Beth.

“I think a trained chimp could do better!”

Beth, infuriated, threw down the spanner she’d been holding and started to rise, but managed to strike her forehead on the underside of the conn station. She fell back as a thin stream of blood began to trickle down the side of her face. “Dammit!”she snarled.

“Oh, that’s perfect!” snapped Lefler. “That’s just—”

“That’s enough.”

Lefler didn’t have to turn to know that it was Soleta’s sharp voice that had intervened. The Vulcan science officer was approaching, moving with impressive grace over the debris, stepping around maintenance crew members who were in the process of clearing it away. “Do we have a problem, Lieutenant?” she demanded evenly of Lefler.

“ ‘We’ are less than satisfied with the speed that the repairs are being accomplished,” Lefler replied.

Beth was about to respond, but Soleta silenced her with a look. “That’s as may be, Lieutenant,” she said. “Ensign Beth, however, does not answer to you. She answers to Chief Engineer Mitchell. If you have any concerns—”

“But—”

Soleta spoke right over her. “—then I suggest you bring them to Mr. Mitchell, who will, I assume, give your complaint the deepest consideration right before he tells you to go to hell.”

Robin stepped in close, fuming, and the two women faced each other just before a loud, high-pitched whine filled the bridge and sent them clapping their hands to their ears. Soleta was the hardest hit, staggering, as her sensitive ears sent the science officer to her hands and knees. “What in the world is that?!”she called out.

Trying her best to shake it off, Robin made it over to the ops station. “It’s the ship’s computer!”

“Shut it down!”

“I can’t shut down the ship’s computer from ops! It has to be done at the computer core in engineering!”

“I knowthat!”

“Then why did you tell me to shut it down!”

“Because I can’t think!”shouted the obviously exasperated Soleta. “Bridge to enginee—”

And then, just like that, the noise stopped.

Robin sagged against ops, waiting for the ringing in her head to cease. Soleta eased herself into the command chair, putting her hands out to either side in a way that indicated that the world was whirling around her. “I did not need that,” she announced. “Beth ... run a systems analysis and full diagnostic immediately. If we have another virus in the computer, I will personally use the Vulcan death grip on whomever put it there.”

From over at the tactical station, apparently unfazed by the earsplitting sound that had been emanating from the computer moments before, Zak Kebron rumbled, “There’s no such thing as a Vulcan death grip.”

“I’ll invent one for the occasion,” replied Soleta.

Drawing in air unsteadily, Robin turned to Soleta and said, “Why have Ensign Beth run the systems diagnostic? I can do it ...”

“No. You cannot. Not in your current state of mind.”

Robin’s face colored; she felt the sting of blood rushing to her cheeks. “I don’t see who you are to ...”

“Robin,” Soleta replied, her voice imperturbable, “I am that deadliest of combinations: I outrank you, and I am your friend.”