Nog and a couple of other Starfleet officers were hard at work, setting up an octagonal pad on the floor of one of the Rhode Island's vacant engineering labs. Even Torra was helping out, even though the bulk of her engineering knowledge came from the fuzzy memories of one semester at the University of Maryland.

"Are you sure it's okay for me to be here?" Steven asked.

"I think it might be a good idea," said Nog. "This girl has been alone on the Baku, and she doesn't know any of us. It might help if she could talk to someone her own age."

"It seems like pretty important business for a 14-year-old."

"I was about the same age as you when I moved to Terok Nor with my father and started working at my uncle's bar. Did you know that Kim once visited the station, back when he was an ensign?"

"Really?"

"It's true," Nog said as Kim entered the lab. "My uncle tried to sell him a Lobi crystal for some absurd price."

"Funny thing is," said Kim, "after being stranded in the Delta Quadrant, I almost regretted not buying one."

Bsictiu got up and walked over to a nearby console.

"We should be ready to go now," he told Kim.

The captain nodded. "Send a message to the Baku and make sure we're listening for their signal."

Torra glanceed at the console. "Isn't it possible to do this on the holodeck?" she asked.

"We don't have a holodeck program that implements the protocol they're using," Nog explained. "But we had this old holo-communicator in storage."

"They aren't hard to set up." said Bsictiu. "Back home, our village had one that we all shared, at least when the power was on."

His console beeped a couple of times.

"Is that the Baku?" asked Kim.

"It's an older codec, but it checks out."

Bsictiu pressed a few buttons, and suddenly a projection of Pyrite appeared in the middle of the pad - grayscale, but detailed and life-size.

"Wow, there are a lot of people here!" she said. "It's nice to be able to look around and actually see everyone. What room are you using?"

"An engineering lab," said Kim. "What about you? We're only seeing you in black and white."

"Our ship doesn't have its own holo-communicators, but we do have a holographic recreation of an old ship that did. NCC-1701. USS Enterprise."

"Must have been before Fleet Captain Pike had those communicators taken out."

"If my ship died on me because of a fancy videophone, I wouldn't be a big fan either."

Pyrite looked around the holodeck. It had created a replica of the Constitution-class ship's briefing room, complete with the monochromatic blue holograms appropriate to the era. She heard the holodeck door open as Connie entered. Pyrite was about to ask Connie how accurate the recreation was, but Connie's attention was immediately drawn elsewhere.

"Steven?"

"Connie?"

Connie ran towards the center of the room, the only spot where she knew that Steven would be able to see her through the Rhode Island's communications pad.

"I had no idea you were even around here!" Steven said. "Is that really you?"

"Seems like it. But I don't have any memories except for what was in the holoprogram."

"We made that holoprogram together! When we were on the Navigator."

"Steven, I don't-"

"It's okay," said Steven. "I'm just glad to see you again."

Connie glanced over her shoulder and noticed Pyrite tearing up.

"Well, I may be made of metal," the Gem said, "but I'm not a robot."

She backed away to give the kids a bit more room.

"Until a few days ago," Connie said, "I thought that holodeck program was a work of fiction. I thought everything was made up. I thought I was made up. I had looked at the ship's encyclopedia, so I knew what the real world was like, and it seemed so implausible."

"It's not actually that different from the real Beach City," said Steven."

"Beach City is a real place?"

"Yeah, it's on Earth. I don't actually live in an ancient Gem temple, though."

"But when you recreated Beach City in the holodeck, you added them, just like you added me. You knew them, didn't you?"

"My family travels a lot. I've met a lot of people. I just wanted to create a world where we could all be together."

"Is your dad really a musician?"

"The band he plays in is on tour right now. And my cousin Regan is in Starfleet. I couldn't get her to let me add her to the holodeck simulation, though. She doesn't like having her picture taken."

"And is your mom really..."

Steven nodded.

"You didn't make that up?" Connie asked.

Torra stepped forward so Connie could see her. "There's a reason Steven came along on this particular trip," she explained. "I knew we'd be passing through this region of space. Figured we might have the opportunity to catch up with some old friends. Just didn't expect to see you."

"So everyone in that holoprogram actually exists somewhere," said Connie.

"Including you."

"Well, right now I exist in a transporter buffer in a ship that was captured by imperial forces. And as much as I like Pyrite, she's not one to break the rules to help us."

"Don't worry." Steven smiled. "We'll figure something out. Together."