engineer’s standing by. Thought you might need the extra hands.”
A surge of relief flooded her veins. Oh, thank God… She scrambled to her feet, tugged on her soiled uniform to smooth it into place. “Well, don’t just stand there, Feliciano, energize the crap out of him.”
Feliciano laughed. “Hold your horses, lady. Energizing…”
A scintillating column appeared three meters away, and Gomez watched as the sparkles resolved into an outline, coalesced—then stuttered. Gomez’s heart leapt into her mouth. God, no, not a transporter malfunction, not now …But then the pattern stabilized and the glitter resolved, coalesced, and became a man. The sight of him thrilled her to her toes.
“Whoa, that was pretty freaky,” said Kieran Duffy, looking befuddled. “Déjà vu all over again.”
“Whatever the hell that means. But, God,” she said as she flew into his arms. “God, how I’ve missed you.”
…be.
The transporter beam let her go, and Gomez exhaled. Then she stood, rigid, her heart hammering against her ribs. A distortion wave rolled past; she felt the shuttle jiggle on the docking pylon. But she couldn’t move for a second, was afraid to.
It can’t be.
Numb, she tapped on her tricorder. Nothing but residua normal for a standard beam-in. But I’m not going crazy; I saw… She hadn’t blacked out. This wasn’t a dream. She’d been conscious the whole time; everyone was unless you overrode the system and programmed in a stasis loop the way Scotty had.
So. Transporter psychosis? No way. Multiplex pattern buffers virtually eliminated transporter psychosis. The distortion waves weren’t anything like interphase, so she could discount interphase-induced delusions.
Okay. What if. They’d already seen that Soloman had made contact with a quantum twin. So. What if the holes between universes also allowed for a phased matter transfer—as in a transporter beam?
Then he could be alive. No, strike that. Duffy was alive in some universe somewhere, maybe even the one where Soloman was now. Then she had another thought: The Duffy she’d seen hadn’t been wearing an environmental suit.
“God, I hope he didn’t materialize on the wrong part of Empok Nor.” She didn’t know if such a thing was even possible, although she knew DS9 had experienced its share of visitors from a mirror universe. Those people appeared to have the technology to go back and forth. Maybe that Duffy had been from that mirror universe?
No. Her nose crinkled. Didn’t feel right. Most humans in that universe were slaves. In fact…
She blinked back to attention as the deck jerked beneath her feet. The Kwolek ’s onboard computer blatted a warning, and she hurried to the pilot’s chair. First things first: Look for the da Vinci. Secure the shuttle. Then, think about how she wanted to talk to Gold about this.
When she brought up sensors, she didn’t see the da Vinci, or anything that looked like debris.
“Oh, crap,” she said. “This isn’t good.”
Chapter
9
“G ive that to me again, Kane.” Gold crossed his arms over his chest. “You think what? ”
They were in sickbay: Gold, Salek, Kane, Dax, and 111. Haggard and paler than usual, the Bynar looked like a refugee from a month-long siege.
“I said that 110 looks to be in communication with another computer system,” said Kane. “I can’t nail it down precisely; that is, I know there’s a code flowing back and forth but whenever I try to tap into it, it changes. I can’t get a precise lock. Don’t even know where or when it’s coming from.”
Gold blinked. “What do you mean, when? ”
“Exactly what I said. There’s something very…odd about this thing. I’m no computer whiz by any stretch. Bynar physiology is tough; half the time, you got to look at them more like sick computers than humanoids.” Catching herself, Kane cringed. “Sorry,” she said to 111.
“It…is…all right,” said 111, and Gold almost winced. Listening to the Bynar
A surge of relief flooded her veins. Oh, thank God… She scrambled to her feet, tugged on her soiled uniform to smooth it into place. “Well, don’t just stand there, Feliciano, energize the crap out of him.”
Feliciano laughed. “Hold your horses, lady. Energizing…”
A scintillating column appeared three meters away, and Gomez watched as the sparkles resolved into an outline, coalesced—then stuttered. Gomez’s heart leapt into her mouth. God, no, not a transporter malfunction, not now …But then the pattern stabilized and the glitter resolved, coalesced, and became a man. The sight of him thrilled her to her toes.
“Whoa, that was pretty freaky,” said Kieran Duffy, looking befuddled. “Déjà vu all over again.”
“Whatever the hell that means. But, God,” she said as she flew into his arms. “God, how I’ve missed you.”
…be.
The transporter beam let her go, and Gomez exhaled. Then she stood, rigid, her heart hammering against her ribs. A distortion wave rolled past; she felt the shuttle jiggle on the docking pylon. But she couldn’t move for a second, was afraid to.
It can’t be.
Numb, she tapped on her tricorder. Nothing but residua normal for a standard beam-in. But I’m not going crazy; I saw… She hadn’t blacked out. This wasn’t a dream. She’d been conscious the whole time; everyone was unless you overrode the system and programmed in a stasis loop the way Scotty had.
So. Transporter psychosis? No way. Multiplex pattern buffers virtually eliminated transporter psychosis. The distortion waves weren’t anything like interphase, so she could discount interphase-induced delusions.
Okay. What if. They’d already seen that Soloman had made contact with a quantum twin. So. What if the holes between universes also allowed for a phased matter transfer—as in a transporter beam?
Then he could be alive. No, strike that. Duffy was alive in some universe somewhere, maybe even the one where Soloman was now. Then she had another thought: The Duffy she’d seen hadn’t been wearing an environmental suit.
“God, I hope he didn’t materialize on the wrong part of Empok Nor.” She didn’t know if such a thing was even possible, although she knew DS9 had experienced its share of visitors from a mirror universe. Those people appeared to have the technology to go back and forth. Maybe that Duffy had been from that mirror universe?
No. Her nose crinkled. Didn’t feel right. Most humans in that universe were slaves. In fact…
She blinked back to attention as the deck jerked beneath her feet. The Kwolek ’s onboard computer blatted a warning, and she hurried to the pilot’s chair. First things first: Look for the da Vinci. Secure the shuttle. Then, think about how she wanted to talk to Gold about this.
When she brought up sensors, she didn’t see the da Vinci, or anything that looked like debris.
“Oh, crap,” she said. “This isn’t good.”
Chapter
9
“G ive that to me again, Kane.” Gold crossed his arms over his chest. “You think what? ”
They were in sickbay: Gold, Salek, Kane, Dax, and 111. Haggard and paler than usual, the Bynar looked like a refugee from a month-long siege.
“I said that 110 looks to be in communication with another computer system,” said Kane. “I can’t nail it down precisely; that is, I know there’s a code flowing back and forth but whenever I try to tap into it, it changes. I can’t get a precise lock. Don’t even know where or when it’s coming from.”
Gold blinked. “What do you mean, when? ”
“Exactly what I said. There’s something very…odd about this thing. I’m no computer whiz by any stretch. Bynar physiology is tough; half the time, you got to look at them more like sick computers than humanoids.” Catching herself, Kane cringed. “Sorry,” she said to 111.
“It…is…all right,” said 111, and Gold almost winced. Listening to the Bynar
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