Chapter Twenty-Three

Kathryn found herself in an all-too-familiar setting, this formidable structure of nodes and pathways, any ordinary human being's nightmare, the home of the Borg. Did it seem even more deadly to her now, that she had experienced those brief moments of connection with Seven, and the hybrid girl who had died at Starfleet's hand? She knew too much to ignore the possibility that she might take her last breath here, as she had in so many dreams and premonitions.

"Why don't you just admit it? You think it's beautiful."

The woman with shining eyes who appeared before Kathryn was like a vision of death itself. The Borg Queen, her most trusted enemy, translucent skin burning against the metallic contours of her equine body.

"I've been waiting for you to come."

"I know," said Kathryn. "Why have you brought me here? Why won't you release me from this hold?"

The Queen approached the regeneration chamber where Kathryn stood, locked inside it with a series of chains around her arms. Seeming to ponder the question, the Queen cast a sidelong glance at the restraints, running her knotted hand along the chains.

"I've been everywhere you've been," she said. "I've seen everything. I've seen you with him. How could you, Kathryn, when you know it's no use? "

She stared at Kathryn with her frank, unnerving gaze. "You'd have to admit he's a poor substitute for what you really want."

"Haven't you ever heard," said Kathryn, meeting the Queen's eyes, "of healing, and of redemption?"

"Redemption? What a curious choice of words. I suppose it can only mean that you consider it a sin to desire us as you do."

"I can't say it's my best character trait."

"Kathryn."

"I won't lie to you. I can't, clearly. You've been everywhere I've been, you've invaded me somehow, you've been inside my mind for so long. And I have wanted this, I've been drawn to you, as I have been to my own death, for nearly a year. And it's so powerful, it's like - it's like no desire I've ever felt. It consumes me, and you know that. But I'm here for a different reason."

"There is no other reason... Apocrypha, this noble fight against Starfleet. You only needed an excuse. You could never explain that to Chakotay. He would never understand. And for that reason, you will never belong to him."

Kathryn lowered her head and stared down at the chains that bound her. "Maybe you're right," she said. "But I don't belong to you, either. I don't belong to anyone. Isn't that the nature of individuality?"

"The nature of individuality." One by one, the Queen released the chains and touched Kathryn's bare arms with her hands, which were at once cold and warm, frightening and soothing. "You would sound so convincing if I didn't know how deeply you longed to escape that nature, to be free of it once and for all. Why do you continue to fight it? Resistance, after all..."

"No," said Kathryn, battling back the wave of collective consciousness that was threatening to assault her. "I came for information. This alliance that you've forged with Starfleet – Borg bodies, Borg technology, in exchange for – what? What are you getting from Starfleet that would justify you allowing them to harvest organs from your dead in order to create hybrid soldiers?"

To her intense surprise, the Queen's eyes alighted with amusement. "An alliance?" she asked, almost playfully. "That is what you think has happened?"

"I don't know," said Kathryn, struggling against the woman's touch. "Just – tell me, or let me go."

The Queen tilted her head. "Why does this make you so uncomfortable?"

"You know why," Kathryn growled.

The Queen breathed a sigh of sympathy. "You want to feel my hands on your heart – you feel them now, don't you? I am the mirror of you. I reflect everything that is inside. Perfection. Synchronicity."

Kathryn wanted to close her eyes, she wanted so desperately to give in, but somehow she hung on.

"No."

Fine lines formed on the Queen's pale forehead. "Why, Kathryn? Why do you still believe you can resist us?"

Please promise me that you'll never leave me.

I believe in you, Kathryn. I believe that you were meant to do great things, to move mountains.

"I may not belong to anyone, and I may never," said Kathryn in a low whisper. "But somewhere on Earth, there is someone who knows that my sun rises and sets with him, and that for every mile I walk my heart is beating in step with his. He knows, and for this reason I have no further need to share anything with anyone. I can keep my thoughts to myself. I am not a young woman; I have fought many battles in my day, and soon the color will drain from my face and the dark lines overtake it. But in truth the Earth could swallow me up this instant and turn my bones to dust, and it wouldn't matter, because I love someone so dearly. What more have I to do in my life? I can defeat my enemies with this love, and it will be my saving grace and my redeemer."

For a long time, the two women stood, their bodies practically touching, staring at one another in silence.

Finally, the Queen parted her lips. "There is no alliance, Kathryn," she said plainly. "Some years ago, a man from your world developed a biologic that can annihilate the Borg. But instead of attacking us, he used the virus to bargain with us, to obtain the materials he needed to create a race of Borg-human hybrids. The virus is an integral part of the genetic makeup of these hybrids, and they require it to survive. But to us, it is lethal, and we have submitted to the will of this man and his followers, until such time as we can launch a counter-offensive. Make no mistake. We will succeed."

Kathryn searched the other woman's wide-set, metallic green-gray eyes, her own widening in sudden understanding.

"You were never going to assimilate me," she intoned. "You need my help. Don't you? Don't you?" The last words were a guttural scream.

There was another silence, for a moment, Kathryn felt the Queen look at her with an expression of great tenderness.

And then she felt, all through her body, a searing, unspeakable pain. She lost her balance, and collapsed on the ground. It ripped through her like a tidal wave, causing her heart to pound like a deafening drum, obscuring all other sounds around her.

Then the world went black.