A/N This is the final proper chapter of this story, but there will be an epilogue that I will post tomorrow night. Possibly more than one. Or possibly just a really long one. Thanks so much for following and for the lovely reviews. It's been an absolute pleasure writing this story for you :) I will miss it!

Rubble flew outwards from their position and no sooner had the sound of the initial explosion abated then Seven was on her feet, carrying Naomi and rushing for the exit. Chakotay was not even a step behind. They had barely cleared the threshold when the cave collapsed.

Seven turned to look and she sensed Chakotay doing the same. For a moment they stood in silence, the sound of the explosion still ringing in their ears. Naomi was the first to speak.

"My Kadis-Kot board…"

Seven looked at her, eyebrows raised. They had lost all the supplies they'd collected, tools that could assist them, sleeping bags… blankets… even their shelter, and Naomi was worried about a game board? When Seven saw the girl's tear-streaked, pale, face, she decided she probably shouldn't comment.

Naomi acted older than her years. She had only ever had adult friends and her Ktarian genes meant that she grew alarmingly rapidly, but sometimes it was worth remembering that she was, at heart, just a six-year-old child.

"Seven…" Chakotay said, his voice apprehensive.

She looked at him. His eyes were fixed on the sky.

She looked up. The sky was red, streaked with what appeared to be big, black, rainclouds. Seven realised with a sinking feeling that those weren't clouds. It was smoke.

"I think I know what that final quake was," Chakotay said.

Naomi was also looking at the sky now.

"The volcano erupted, didn't it?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper. Her arms seemed to tighten around Seven's neck.

"It would appear so," Seven said.

They stood there in a frozen tableaux. Man, woman, child, staring at the sky. All three knowing that all odds were against them, that one of their number had likely already be taken by the forces of nature, that they had nowhere to run and, now, nowhere to hide. Seven could only remember one other time when death had felt this close and this certain. The time when her cortical node had malfunctioned and there appeared to be no way she could survive. Icheb had risked his life and had undergone a great deal of pain to save her.

She put Naomi down and, without a word, broke into a run for the mountain.

She heard Chakotay calling after her, but she ignored him.

If there was even a tiny chance that Icheb had survived, she needed to see if she could help him.

She made it possibly half way up the footpath. Then what she saw made her stop so suddenly she almost lost her balance. Hot magma, slithering down towards her like some red and angry snake, hissing as it passed over what had once been grass. The ground trembled again. She looked up in time to see flame engulfing the sky. Of course she knew the sky wasn't really on fire. It was another eruption, the earth throwing up its insides in a display that – under other circumstances – might be impressive, even beautiful. Shrapnel rained down around her and she put her arms over her head to protect it.

"Seven!" Chakotay was behind her, he seized her by the top of her arm, pulling her back down the path.

She dug her heels into the ground, "Icheb!"

"It's too late!" He said. He swung her around, so she was facing him. "We may have lost him, we're not going to lose you too."

She was shaking her head.

"I am Borg," she said, but the assertion didn't carry the confidence it usually did. It sounded almost pleading, even to her own ears.

"You are flesh and blood." Chakotay said. His eyes were hard, fiery in the light from the flaming sky. "Nothing living can stand those conditions. Come! Don't make me carry you!"

He pulled her with impressive strength down the path. With one look back over her shoulder, she went with him. She hated to admit it, but he was right. With the lava, the flying pieces of rock and the smoke, trying to get anywhere on the mountain was futile.

When they reached the end of the path, the air was so thick with smoke that Seven was battling to breathe. The whole world was burning. Through the smoke, they could see someone moving towards them.

"Naomi!" Chakotay barked. "I told you to stay put!"

But even as he said that, Seven realised the figure was too tall to be Naomi.

She broke away from Chakotay, running to meet it.

"We thought you were dead! How did you… how did you…"

She stopped herself short of wrapping Icheb in a hug when she got close enough. There was no time for displays of affection.

"I came around the other side," he said, sounding short of breath.

Chakotay had caught up with them, "There's high ground there out of the way of the magma flow?" he asked without preamble.

"Yes, sir." Icheb answered.

"Alright, we'll head there," said Chakotay. "You two go ahead, I'll go back and get Naomi."

He was pulling away when Icheb stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"No, Commander. We must go to the ruins."

"The ruins? Icheb, the cave has collapsed. We need to get to higher ground. That whole area is going to be under a river of lava in a matter of minutes."

"No it won't be."

Chakotay looked about to challenge that but Seven stepped in. "Explain."

"There's no time!" Icheb said. For emphasis he looked back at the footpath. The tendrils of lava were coming down towards them. "You're going to have to trust me."

"Are you certain?" Seven asked.

"Yes."

"How certain?"

"98.7%" Icheb said, automatically. "98.73," he amended.

"That's not good enough," Chakotay said. "We go for the high ground, that's an order."

Chakotay's personnel file said that he'd been an instructor in advanced tactical training at the Academy before he'd left to join the Maquis. In situations like this, when he made such snap judgements, it was evident. Seven knew his mind was highly trained to work out the best case scenario and to action it as quickly as possible.

But she also knew Icheb.

"Court martial me later," Seven said and she took off, back to the place where they'd left Naomi, at a dash. She could hear Icheb running beside her and Chakotay shouting something else, though she didn't catch what it was.

Naomi was sitting in front of the cave, eyes looking up at the mountain. Seven didn't need to ask why. She could see a thick layer of lava beginning to slide down towards them. Naomi turned when she heard their approach and jumped to her feet.

"Icheb!"

"It is good to see you too," he said, taking her hand. The three of them ran the short distance to the ruins.

"Tricorder!" Icheb insisted.

Chakotay appeared, through the smoke, jogging. He pulled their tricorder out of his pocket and handed it to Icheb.

"I hope you're right," he said.

"Me too, Commander." Icheb said. He scanned the area, then moved forward slowly, taking readings. Suddenly he stopped.

"Here."

They joined him.

"Here?" Seven queried.

"Yes, right here."

They stood where he indicated.

"Now would you care to explain?" Chakotay asked. They were all watching the river of lava, inching towards them. If Icheb was wrong, they were doomed.

"When I put forward my theory about us moving backwards through the planet's history, you raised a few interesting questions. Seven pointed out that we weren't experiencing events in reverse and Naomi brought up that we had not encountered the planet's population, the beings who built these structures. Well, I've been considering answers to those questions and I think I have one."

"Let us hope it is the correct one," Seven commented.

The ground shook again and great plumes of smoke billowed from the volcano. They could see steam rising from the lava now, and ash falling from the sky like delicate snowflakes.

"I believe I am," Icheb said. He smiled. He actually smiled.

Seven's expression must have been one of horror, because he addressed her when he said, "Seven, there is ash falling from the sky. Has any of it landed on me? On you? On the commander or Naomi?"

She looked at them quickly, but was forced to answer, "No."

Icheb's smile broadened, seeing realisation dawning on her face.

"As we have already established, there was an intelligence that put the cave out of phase with time," he said. "Does it not stand to reason that the same intelligence might be responsible for the construction of the obelisk and the rest of this structure?"

"You believe they're likewise protected?" Chakotay asked. "But, why?"

Icheb was still smiling. He turned and looked at the mountain. The rest of them were watching the lava as it crept nearer and nearer.

"It was Naomi's fascination with story-telling that made me realise it," Icheb said. "As I was trying to work my way out of the crater, I started analysing story structure to distract myself from my physical danger. What makes a good story? Among other things, you leave out the boring bits. Isn't that right, Naomi?"

The girl nodded, but her eyes remained focused on the lava that was now almost at their feet.

Icheb continued, "In the construction of a good story, you leave out the boring bits and you focus on the interesting ones. Doesn't that sound like how we've experienced this planet?" He didn't wait for an answer, surging forward with his explanation. "It hasn't been like we're experiencing it in reverse. It's been like we've been flipping backwards through the pages – to use an old earth analogy – and stopping at the interesting parts, then reading forward, then skipping backwards again."

"Like a book?" Chakotay asked. Seven was unable to formulate questions. Their impending doom absorbed her full attention.

"Precisely," Icheb said. "But not just any book. A textbook. A book that includes the pertinent parts of the planet's geological history."

The lava was about a foot away from them when, abruptly, it stopped. It just stopped. And then it flowed around them, leaving a small island of ground where they were standing untouched.

A memory came back to Seven as she watched. When she'd first come out of the cave to find the entire landscape covered in snow, there had been a patch that was not. She recalled simply dismissing it as an area in the shadow of something else and had not paid it any mind. Now she realised she was standing in roughly that very spot.

"I don't believe these ruins are the leftovers of an ancient civilisation," Icheb said. "I believe they are the remnants of a school."

"A… school?" Chakotay repeated. Seven glanced at his face. She could tell from his expression that he was still processing the fact that they hadn't been consumed by lava. She could almost see his mind going back over the events of the last few days.

"A bit of a dangerous school," he commented.

"I don't think it was ever meant to hurt us. If we had understood the technology, and the cave's protection had remained intact, we would have been safe," Icheb said.

"If I had been standing with you when the lightening hit, I would have been unharmed," he continued. "If you had stayed within the cave, and the cave's protection had been functioning properly, you would not have struggled to breathe. If Seven had been here when the jungle grew, it would have posed no harm to her. When you encountered dinosaurs, at the time that you were meant to encounter them, they were harmless. And now, as what is no doubt this planet's first extinction event occurs, we are, for once, in the proper place at the proper time. Seven, you theorised that these ruins once formed part of a tall structure, before sediment built up? I would agree. I believe we are standing atop what was once a grand observation tower."

There was a much worth observing. The lava began to harden, becoming black and solid. A spider-web of red patterned over it as it cracked. The mountain was a black silhouette through the smoke which they should, technically, not be able to breathe. The sky was a marbled pattern, red, orange and black as bursts of fire shot forth from the volcano every few minutes. It had set off a storm in the atmosphere too, lightening now streaked across the sky above them. And then there was the ash, delicate and white, coming to rest on the hardened magma that surrounded them, like a layer of snow.

"So this is the grand finale?" Chakotay breathed.

Icheb inclined his head. "To this lesson," he added.

"There are more?" Chakotay turned to him. Seven could see a hint of fear in the way his brow furrowed.

"I believe so," Icheb said. "But we will not experience them."

"Why?" Naomi asked, with a note of panic. Was something going to happen to them?

Icheb looked at Seven when he answered. "I believe that when Seven was studying the artefact, she unknowingly picked us a lesson in geology. You did put the stone you found into one of many holes, did you not?"

She nodded. So she'd been right. It had all been her fault.

"What happens when the lesson is over?" Naomi asked.

"I can't say for certain," Icheb answered, but he was smiling. "Let us watch and see."

Naomi sidled close to him, following his gaze as he turned back to the mountain.

Before their eyes time seemed to speed up, only in reverse. The great volcano became silent and greenery sprung up from the lava. Rain fell – though not on them – and water levels rose, as if the entire area where they were standing was a gigantic bathtub filling. It became evident that they were standing within a kind of a bubble of space as the water flowed around them, and then over them. Naomi's eyes were wide with wonder as they reflected the light from the still-red sky, now distorted and ethereal due to the water. Fish swam around them, rapidly becoming smaller until they were like specks of dust in the primordial ocean, which flickered green as photosynthesis produced algae. Then the mountain sank into the ocean, tectonic action in reverse. What would have taken thousands of years took mere seconds.

The water drained away. In the red sky a storm raged once again. Lightning and thunder and chaos. Terrifying but magnificent from their safe vantage point. And then something else was streaking across the sky. Meteors, bombarding the planet. The most impressive fireworks display had nothing on that. Like thousands of comets, falling down all around them creating bright explosions as they impacted.

Seven felt Chakotay's hand slip into hers.

She looked up at him, startled. He was looking at her and smiling softly. His eyes returned to the skies. She raised her eyebrows, but did not move her hand as she returned her own attention to the spectacle surrounding them.

The ground seemed to liquefy, once again becoming molten. It was as if the lava had returned, but now it stretched as far as the eye could see, glowing red, and then sinking away. And then the very ground seemed to break up beneath their feet. Chunks of the planet flew away from them. Seven found herself gripping Chakotay's hand despite herself.

The stars spread around them. The nebula that Voyager had gone to study formed the focal point of the most amazing scarscape Seven could have imagined. She had always appreciated observing the stars. Their beauty had not simply been a case of aesthetics to her, but of scientific wonder. They were the ultimate example of physics in action. Matter and energy and the forces of the universe combined. But now, with the stars stretching out around her, as their tiny bubble seemed to orbit the system's sun, she was taken by the breathless beauty. Everything was eerily silent. The intense tumult of the planet's birth was a sharp juxtaposition to this. For the first time in what felt like ages conversation would have been possible. But no one spoke.

The sun, which was positioned behind them, started to dim. Seven looked at Chakotay. He had noticed it too. His grip on her hand tightened slightly.

Darkness fell slowly, like the dimming of the lights preceding Tom Paris's cinema experience. Seven was unable to see those next to her, but she knew, by the reassuring feel of Chakotay's hand in hers, that she was not alone. She focused on the other stars around them. Slowly many of those began to blink out too. The nebula disappeared. Seven could imagine a teacher taking this opportunity to summarise all they had experienced and the birth of the universe that preceded it. Darkness creeping in on them, the teacher would explain that at one time the entire universe could have fitted within a grain of sand, possibly thousands of times. The Alpha Quadrant and the Delta Quadrant would essentially be one place. Seven wondered if Chakotay was possibly thinking that too. Darkness fell.

And then there was light

Blinding, staggering, light. Seven dropped Chakotay's hand so that she could cover her eyes. Naomi gave a squeal of surprise. And then she was laughing.

Seven opened her eyes, blinking

They were standing at the ruins. A grassy field stretched out in front of them. In the distance there were trees. Seven spun to look behind her. The cave was still nothing more than a pile of rock. The downside to being locked in time.

"The Flyer?" She asked Chakotay, who was looking at the tricorder.

A smile lit up his face and he nodded. "Right where we left it."

"We should be at the precise moment that you triggered the 'lesson' Seven," Icheb said. He was also smiling broadly.

"I suggest we give Voyager a call," Chakotay said. "But it will take them a few hours to get here."

He turned around, taking a deep breath of the fragrant air. "Anyone up for a game of hoverball while we wait?"