Rommie opened her eyes. "Dylan, I've made contact."

"Do they seem hostile?" Dylan asked.

Beka asked, "Do they have black things coming out of their heads?"

"In reverse order," Rommie said, "I've seen no indication of the tunnel aliens, so this is probably not the universe they came from. As to intent, they seem to be about as hostile as Captain Metis and his crew were when we met them."

"Understood," Dylan said.

"I'm putting the final touches on a link that will let you speak to them." Rommie closed her eyes for a moment. "There." She crossed to a console with a large screen and tabbed in a code, then stood aside.

Everyone bunched up behind Dylan to see the people on the screen: A bald black man with a beard and an equally motley crew behind him. No, not quite as motley: Almost all of them wore uniforms, and most reminded of Dylan of the uniforms the *Belleraphon's* crew had worn. The exception was a red-haired woman with a clip on one ear and some kind of ridge on her nose; her uniform was solid red with different insignia. And the dark-skinned man with ridges on his forehead had a very Tyr-like Glower. A dark skinned woman with a broad-brimmed hat peeked out from behind Head Ridges, but her penetrating glance reminded him of Trance.

Dylan said, "I'm Captain Dylan Hunt of the Commonwealth Starship *Andromeda Ascendant.*" He started to indicate the others. "This is my first officer, Captain Beka Valentine. My medical officer, Trance Gemini. You've already contacted Rommie; she's my ship's avatar-" (a woman with spots on her face hissed "Yes!") "- and this is…Olma Rajput. She's…a visiting dignitary."

"Pleased to meet you all," the black man said. "I'm Captain Benjamin Sisko, commander of the Federation Space Station Deep Space Nine, representing the United Federation of Planets." He indicated people in his group: "This is my XO, Major Kyra Nyres. My medical officer, Dr. Julian Bashir. My strategic operations officer, Commander Worf. Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax initiated contact. And this is…Guinan. She's…another dignitary." Sisko turned to face Dylan. "Captain. Scientists on our side picked up signal leakage from a confrontation between you and…we believe he is a former crew member, a Tyr Anasazi."

"Yes," Dylan said, "but that happened six months ago."

"Indeed," Sisko went on. "In any case, we have picked up a new set of signals from Mr. Anasazi. We believe he is going to emerge into our universe."

"What?" Dylan half-glanced behind him "Rommie?"

Rommie darted around the console and came a couple of meters closer to the orb. She looked back at Dylan. "Still getting signals from his nanobots. He's still 'approaching;' if anything, he seems to have slowed down to below the speed of sound."

"Dax?" Sisko said on his side.

Dax stepped out of the frame, intent on some instrumentation in her hand. Her voice came over the mike: "Readings are the same as they were, Benjamin. He still seems to be 'approaching' us, and like Rommie indicated, he's going below the speed of sound."

"Towards both universes?" Kyra said. "What, is this guy going to end up with one foot in both?"

"Yeah," Beka said. "Who's running this gig, Solomon?"

"Is that a religious reference?" Kyra asked sweetly.

Beka smiled at the screen image. "Yes, it is."

Kyra's smile didn't waver. "So, I guess in your universe, they have religious books in hotel rooms?"

"Major!" Sisko snapped.

"No, it's ok," Beka said pleasantly. "Why yes, Major Kyra, they do, although *some* of us have something better to do than read the Bible when they're in a hotel. Of course, you have to know what to-"

"Beka!" Dylan barked.

"She started it!" Beka protested.

"And give me a chance, and I'll finish it," Kyra growled.

"Oh, yeah, Sweet Pea?" Beka shot back. (Dylan and Sisko cursed under their breaths.) "You and what-"

A loud rumbling sounded out of the orb; it began to glow orange, the tesseract inside it turning white and twisting faster. A wave of orange energy pulsed out of it, and Dylan and the others could briefly see Sisko and his party clustered around a console on the other side of the room. Then the Federation group and their equipment vanished.

"Hoh-kaaayyy," Beka said.

"Heee-yeah," Kyra echoed.

"Captain Hunt!" Sisko called. "Are you and your party ok?"

"Yes," Dylan answered. "How are things are your side?"

"No signs of-" Sisko broke off, looking off camera. "Mr. Worf?" he said. "What's wrong?"