Chapter 40

"What are you doing, Jean-Luc? Where are you going?" Beverly demanded to know. He had shuffled away from her, but paused at her words. She reached out a hand to steady him as he swayed slightly to the left.

"You heard Q," he reminded her, and resisted clutching at his left side again. Instead he resumed his slow pace and limped over to the replicator. He promptly ordered himself a uniform as though it were a normal day.

Beverly followed him, unwilling to back down. "I don't care what Q said-you are not well! And you seem to have conveniently ignored the fact that he just told you that you can't prevent the ship being taken to the far reaches of the universe. So what is your plan, Jean-Luc? You can barely stand!"

He turned to her. "Has it occurred to you that he might have told us all of that just to get me out of bed? That is the way his mind works-if he has anything resembling what we would call a mind. Besides…I want to know what has happened while I have been out of commission, so to speak."

Beverly placed a hand on his shoulder. "Jean Luc, you've been through so much in just a matter of days..."

"All the more reason for me to get back to work," he said turning back to the replicator. To his surprise, a bathrobe had shimmered into existence instead of a uniform. He repeated the order and this time a pair of boots appeared, but still no uniform. How odd. He turned slowly back to face her. "Beverly...what are you keeping from me? What happened while I was away?"

She stared at him silently for a moment, and just as he began to turn away again, she blurted out, "Something horrible is happening on the ship, Jean-Luc. It's not the ship we knew…not anymore."

"What?" He braced himself against the replicator. He felt dizzy and closed his eyes. When he did this, memories of the fight with Doulos began to flood back to him. He felt himself beginning to fall.

"Jean-Luc!" Beverly jumped forward to catch him. He opened his eyes and they were foggy and disoriented. She felt his forehead, and it was dry and hot, confirming that his fever was back. "Here, let me help you." She gripped his arm firmly and guided him back to bed. He sat down reluctantly, but as the room seemed to spin around him, he knew she was right. He was in no shape to take anyone on yet. But the more he sat in silent thought, the more anxious he became, because he knew who he would have to face…again.

Picard looked up at Beverly, who stood looking down at him worriedly. She stroked his cheek gently with her hand. "It's Doulos, isn't it?" He asked her. "He has taken over my ship." He suddenly gripped her hand that was touching his face. "He thinks I am dead, and he's taken over my ship!"

She held his face in her hands, trying to calm him down. "Shh…yes. He has invaded the ship—but he hasn't taken it over—not yet. But according to Guinan, the Other is transforming the Enterprise and its technology into some kind of fortress for this Doulos person. Here on Deck 10 we are still protected—we think by Orla." She glanced over at the replicator. "But judging by that replicator malfunction, that protection might not be perfect."

He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against her abdomen. She sighed and stroked the back of his head and neck. Suddenly he stiffened. "Have you seen Doulos? Has he seen you?" he asked pulling his head back to look up at her again.

"No." She looked at him and shook her head in confusion. She smiled nervously at the intense expression on his face.

He gripped both of her hands to his chest and her smile disappeared. "Beverly, you must promise me not to venture outside of Deck 10. In fact…I order you not to."

She studied his face and then frowned. "Alright…" she agreed trustingly. "But why?"

"That morning of the day I disappeared…you asked me if I remembered what had happened between us the night before."

"Jean-Luc," Beverly said, sitting down next to him on the bed. "We don't have to talk about this—"

"Beverly, it wasn't me that night with you…it was Dolous. He told me so, right before he defeated me and ran me through with that sword."

A cold feeling entered her heart. Somehow she had known, the minute he had told her that morning that he couldn't remember. But with his disappearance she had buried the disturbing notion, until now. She looked down at her hands. "I don't know what to say. I felt you, Jean-Luc. I thought it was you."

His mind scrambled over itself, dazed as he was, to set her mind at ease. "It was me, physically at least, but my mind was not present. And now Doulos has entered our world, and he is fixated on you. I can't let him near you. That is why I don't want you to leave Deck 10."

"What does he want from me?" She faced him grimly.

He glanced away, and then forced himself to look at her again. "It's not safe," he said quietly.

Beverly continued to look at him. "So who is this person, Jean-Luc? And why was he inside your mind…and in our bed?"

He took her hand. "Doulos is part of me, Beverly…."

She brightened slightly. "So it was still you then…."

He shook his head, struggling to find a way to explain it without frightening her. "No…he is sort of a combination of all of the violent and evil parts of me, cobbled together by the Other, who was not satisfied with me and my unwillingness to bend to his will."

She leaned in to kiss him on the cheek softly. "I knew you wouldn't," she said proudly. "I knew you would beat him."

"It's far from over. But…I am still alive, so that is something, I suppose."

"It's more than something," she said. "It's everything."

Ambassador K'Ehleyr had not always been a diplomat. But it had been a while since she'd had a chance to hone her battle skills. So she found it exhilarating, if not very odd that she was fighting Starfleet officers with shaven heads on board the Federation flag ship. What she noticed first was that these were not normal humans. They possessed an unusual physical strength, and a single-mindedness; that is their only concern seemed to be an attempt to subdue her. Unfortunately for them she was a Klingon and not easily subdued.

She still had her disruptor, but her pride, and perhaps the diplomat within her hadn't allowed her to use it so far, aside from firing on Korok in the shuttle bay. She'd had little time to consider what had happened to him. She could only imagine that he had met the same fate as these poor fools. She spun and tossed another of the cloudy eyed security officers into a wall. He bounced off and then ran toward her again. As she kicked the man in the chest she silently hoped that there would be some way to break the spell...She preferred not to have to kill these people, as they were clearly driven by some unusual evil. Eventually they could be turned back to their former selves, and they would be shocked by their actions and filled with remorse. She did not want to experience a similar feeling of regret at how she herself had behaved during this odd time.

"Deck 10!" A running technician called out, pointing at her. It was clear he had been altered as were the three more goons who surrounded her. "She is headed for the refuge of the insurgents! Do not let her escape!"

K'Ehleyr growled, swiping at her attackers. Until that moment she'd had no idea where the Enterprise command officers had gone, or even if they had escaped the fate of those she had seen in the shuttle bay. Now she had a specific destination at least, and she assumed that Riker and the others had established some kind of stronghold on Deck 10. Momentarily distracted, K'Ehleyr staggered as a female officer leapt onto her back and attempted to choke her into submission. Crouching down as if she were going to fling herself forward, she flung the woman over her head and into the wall with a satisfying smack. She got to her feet again just as another one came running at her with a determined cry. Stepping to the side, she flung her arm out straight and the charging man was tossed to the ground.

Then around the corner came a tall bald headed warrior wearing the same tattoos as the leader from the shuttle bay. He grinned, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth and pulled out a deadly looking knife. Two of the altered crew members jumped on K'Ehleyr, attempting to restrain her, as the warrior approached. She glowered at him, and swore in Klingon, pulling a knife from her own boot. She hadn't wanted to shed blood, but they seemed very serious about harming her. Suddenly there was a sickening thud and blood spattered against her face.

The approaching warrior fell forward, with a familiar looking crescent-shaped weapon sticking from his chest. She flung one of the clinging officers from her, and turned to see Worf jogging toward her. As he ran he shoved one of the altered crew men out of the way, and then planted a foot on the ribs of the dead warrior, yanking his bat'leth out of the man's broad chest. He turned to fight again, just as K'Ehleyr was putting the last enemy to sleep with a chokehold. The crew man sank to the floor unconscious, and K'Ehleyr stepped away from him, looking over at Worf. "It's about time you arrived, Worf. I was starting to consider really hurting someone."

"Do not worry," said Worf. "There will be time to fight again later. For now, we must report back to Commander Riker."

"What is this place?" Guinan asked, slowing Peaches to a walk. Ahead of them lay a dusty mess of a town alive with people, animals, and a mixture of mostly bad odors.

"This is Deadwood," said Pritchard. "Nice town, huh?"

Guinan sniffed in and made a face. "Not exactly the phrase that came to mind, but okay..."

Pritchard smiled. "Not to worry, we're just passin' through," he reassured her, as they urged the horses forward into the outskirts of the town.

"Who said I was worried?" shot back Guinan, ignoring the hard stares of some of the townsfolk.

"I find it hard to read your expression, "Pritchard admitted. "On account of you having no eyebrows to speak of."

"Hmm, that is interesting, because you are fairly easy for me to read, despite the fact that you have almost no hair on your head."

Pritchard mumbled something about people from the future, and then tipped his hat to a passing woman clad in fancy dress. The woman coyly glanced in his direction and then fluttered a paper fan she held in her hand as she passed. Pritchard continued to watch the woman as she daintily stepped into a nearby bar. He let out a low whistle.

Guinan coughed loudly, which barely caught his attention. "Why do I think you plan on doing more here than just passing through?"

He laughed. "You might be right, you just might be…."

2265

"It's been a full cycle since she disappeared," he heard his mother say.

"Yes and how long is he going to mourn her?" his father questioned. "He stopped saying anything more than "hello" and "yes father" almost six rems ago."

"I can only guess that he feels guilt," offered his mother protectively.

"Guilt for what? He has never explained what happened that day. Hara's poor family wanted him charged with a crime. You know that they only gave up when there was no evidence to support she'd been killed."

"You and I both know Demetrius is not capable of killing. He is a gentle boy," insisted his mother.

"Yet very stubborn," replied his father. "And he never reveals what he is thinking."

"Yes, but there is still time to reach him. I am sure of it."

Demetrius sat locked in his room with his head on his desk. He was writing a letter to Hara. When he finished the letter, then and only then would he confide in his parents about what had really happened that day. How he had been selfish and had wished Hara would disappear—and then she simply had. Yes, he would finally tell them, even after so much time had passed.

But then something happened. The air grew still and quiet around him. Then there were shrill screams and then…dead silence. The shockwave blasted through the dwelling and pieces of the outside walls blew inward through his room. He flattened himself under a table and covered his ears. Another shockwave sent a beam through his room and out a window. Outside he could see pieces of objects floating in the air, as though all gravity had been suspended for the few moments the ordeal lasted. He ducked as a third wave caused the rest of his house to implode. The warmth of the blood from his ears coursed through his fingers as he clutched his hands to the sides of his head, trying in vain to stop the deafening vibration. Minutes passed, seeming like hours. Splintered wood and poly building materials surrounded him. Even tinier pieces of the same materials were embedded in his palms. He called out for his parents but there was no answer…then his sister. Again there was no answer. He pushed himself to his feet and found that the house had been flattened around him. It was no longer a protective structure, but was instead was just a heap.

He looked up and saw for the first time a sight he would never forget. The sky was grey and full of immense floating cubes. Periodically beams of white and green energy emitted from the cubes and struck some structures down. He watched in shock as the main communications tower in town in was sucked up into the air, and disappeared inside one of the cubes, as was the robotics plant, and several hover vehicles. Looking around him he could see that the air was still full of floating objects and debris.

Demetrius climbed over what had been his doorway, and somehow found where his sister's room had been. When he found her, he knew immediately that she was dead. She lay sprawled on the floor, covered by debris. And her neck was held at an unnatural angle. It occurred to him then that he had not spoken to her for a long time. And now he would never speak to her again. Stunned, he blinked and turned away, calling out for his parents again. Still they failed to answer him.

Then looking up above him, he saw two dark shapes spinning in the air above where the house had been. A beam of white energy passed over one of the shapes and as the body was illuminated he saw his father's frightened eyes staring down at him. The beam passed over his father again, as if studying him. His father opened his mouth as if to scream for Demetrius to help him, but Demetrius could hear nothing, as the shockwaves had damaged his ears. He could only watch, and he did watch, as a second beam, green in color incinerated his father's body instantly, sending a choking cloud of ash through the air. As he turned away in horror, he saw that the sky was filled with thousands of other bodies, awaiting the same fate as his father.

Hmm. I seem to be missing the next two chapters of this story in my archives. Hopefully I will be able to retrieve them soon so that I can post the rest. Thanks, -PP