The gray mass spread as it surged upward, and at its edges, began to turn back toward the planet, as though gravity had only just prevented it from surging out into space. Its surface whirled at uncounted points, a collection of spinning vortices impossibly bound together. The mass seemed to hover as it unfolded, as if now defying gravity.
And then it plunged down, not falling back to the planet, but diving toward the surface. The mass hurtled earthward, streaking down faster than it had climbed up. It struck the ground with phenomenal force, instantly liquefying rock at the points of impact, and sending expanses of ground blasting outward. The mass pushed along the surface, dislodging the crust to a depth of ten kilometers.
The clouds, tossed away earlier, now returned and joined the maelstrom, swirling into the mix of gray matter and rocky debris. Energy surges forked like lightning across the exterior of the enormous amalgamation. The mass grew across the surface.
And then the planet became shrouded once more, buried beneath a churning gray shell that hovered between solid and liquid states. The mass undulated like a living thing. It reached unbroken from pole to pole.
Ezri watched all of this, something she had not witnessed in nine lifetimes of experience, and thought, Vaughn and Shar and Prynn are down there.
Or at least, they had been.
Over the course of hours, the great, gray shell smoothed and calmed, but sensors could not pierce even its outer layers. Through breaks in the cover that had occurred during the transformation, though, scans had indicated that the energy level at the site of the pulse had dropped to zero. Whatever had happened down on the planet—and whatever price had been paid to make it happen—the pulse had been neutralized.
The science and engineering teams continued searching for a means of penetrating the shell, either with sensors or with Sagan,once it had been repaired. While the crew held out little hope of finding the away team alive, Ezri refused to accept that—felt that it was her duty to refuse to accept that. She had briefly thought about the eulogies she might have to deliver for her crewmates, not much more than a week after the service for Gerda Roness, but she had quickly scuttled such morbid—and inappropriate—notions. As the acting captain of the ship, Ezri remained dedicated to doing all that she could to save the away team, and she would presume them alive until it had been proven that they—
“Something’s happening on the planet,” Ensign Merimark announced. “I’m reading a break in the shell…two breaks…both sizable.”
“Put it on the viewer,” Ezri said. The main screen blinked, and one view of the planet was replaced by another, targeted view. On the surface of the gray shell, two small, circular holes had appeared.
“The openings are both fifty-three-point-three kilometers in diameter,” Merimark reported. “Depth…they reach all the way down to the planet. I’ve got full sensor contact down to the surface.”
Foreboding suddenly washed over Ezri, the narrow cylinders in the shell uncomfortably reminiscent of the barrels of weapons. She recalled the simulation of the pulse that Nog had shown her down in engineering, and she now envisioned the destructive energy hurtling through the cylinders and out into space. “Are there any energy readings?” she asked.
“Negative,” Merimark said. “Energy readings are minimal. There doesn’t seem to be—” The ensign stopped speaking abruptly, and Ezri spun quickly around in her seat to face her. “I’m reading two life signs at the bottom of one well, one life sign at the bottom of the other.”
Ezri vaulted out of the command chair and raced to Merimark’s station. “Are they human?” Ezri asked, looking for the answer on the console. “Andorian?” She felt her heart pounding in her chest, a desperate hope forming in her mind.
Merimark’s fingers flew across the panel, causing words and numbers to march across her display. “One Andorian,” she said. “And two humans. Two of them are in environmental suits.”
“Transfer the coordinates to the transporter,” Ezri said at once.
“Aye, sir,” Merimark said.
“Dax to medical bay.”
“Go ahead,”Bashir replied.
“Julian,” she said with barely restrained excitement, “we’ve located an Andorian and two humans down on the planet. We’ll have them beamed directly to you.” She felt absolutely astonished at the unexpected turn of events, both disbelief and joy coursing through her.
“Acknowledged,”Julian said, and she could hear his excitement even in the single word. “I’ll keep you posted. Bashir out.”
“Dax to transporter.”
“This is Chao,”came the voice of the transporter chief.
“Chief, we need an emergency site-to-site transport from the planet’s surface directly to the medical bay,” Ezri said, the words spilling from her. “One Andorian, two humans. Ensign Merimark is transferring the coordinates.”
“I see them,”the chief said. “Transporter locks… established.”
“Acknowledged,” Ezri said. “Bring them home.”
69
Ro Laren stepped out of her office and set the lock. It had been quite a day, and she looked forward to crawling into bed, pushing away all thoughts of Bajor and the Federation, and getting some sleep. Of course, she had not been able to do that for the past couple of nights, which certainly contributed to her exhaustion right now.
“What a coincidence,” a voice said from just down the Promenade.
Ro turned and looked in that direction, the figure of Quark difficult to see clearly in the shadows of DS9’s simulated night. He stood at the entrance to the bar, evidently just closing up himself. “I don’t know if I believe in coincidences,” she said, and began walking toward him.
“Oh no?” Quark said. He waited until she reached him before continuing. “Are you suggesting that I planned this?” he asked in obvious mock offense. “Are you suggesting that I stood right here, staring over at the security office and waiting for you to come out, when I could have closed up half an hour ago?”
“Well, didn’t you?” she asked, playing along. Ro realized that one of the things she particularly liked about Quark was simply that he was fun.
“Actually,” he said, reaching down and setting the lock on the bar entrance, “it was more like forty-five minutes.”
Ro laughed, which felt especially good after the stress of this week. That was another thing she liked about Quark: he was funny.
“May I walk you to your quarters, Laren?” he asked.
“Well,” she said, drawing the word out as though having to seriously consider her answer, “I suppose since you’ve been waiting here solong…” She started for the turbolift, and he fell in step beside her.
“Now that’s what I like,” Quark said. “A female who knows her own value.”
“What do you mean?” she asked him.
“I mean, if I’d only been waiting for you for fifteen minutes,” he said, “you probably would’ve left me standing there.”
“Probably,” she agreed with a smile. They reached the turbolift, and Quark pressed the control panel in the bulkhead beside it. The door retracted, and she and Quark entered the car. “So, Quark,” she said after the door had closed and she had specified her destination,
“were you really waiting for me?” The lift began its descent.
“Not really,” Quark said, and Ro felt a twinge of disappointment. “I could have closed up an hour ago, but Morn kept going on and on about the political situation on Beta Antares IV. Turns out one of his sisters is a top boss there.”