“Oh, give it a rest,” Stern growled. She dropped to her knees by Kaldarren and ran her medical tricorder over the length of his body. “I’m a doctor and this man’s hurt. So either shoot me or shut up.” When Chen-Mai didn’t respond, Stern continued, “Wising up, right? Look, some of those things are insidehim. For all I know, some more are inside that boy over there.”
“What?” Mar started, stared down at his nephew’s still, waxen features. “InPahl?”
“No,” said Jase, “no, it’s not. It’s gone. When Dad talked to It, It left Pahl and went into Dad.”
It, thought Garrett, like a name. “Talked to It. Telepathically, Jase?”
Jase nodded, and she saw his eyes pool. “I couldn’t hear it. I felt it, though. I knew they were here, that they arehere.”
“Makes sense,” Stern murmured.
“I knew it,” said Chen-Mai. His lips trembled with suppressed excitement. “I knew it, I knew it! He found a portal.”
“No,” said Jase, the tears spilling down his cheeks. “There’s no door, or anything like that. Pahl used the mask, but Dad didn’t.”
Stern grunted. “Mind transference, Captain, same principle as the Vulcan mind-meld, or any true telepathic contact. But that mask, I’ll bet my bottom dollar that it’s a device that focuses or collimates neural energy. Like a lens focuses diffuse light to a single point: The lens doesn’t makethe light. It’s simply a conduit for allowing certain properties of light to be exaggerated, or used.”
“What do you mean?” Chen-Mai raged. “Speak sense! Can that be used, or not?”
“Probably not by you.” Stern’s look spoke volumes. “Or me, for that matter, but not because I’m the least bit like you, thank God. That thing just makes it easier for an energy exchange to take place. True telepaths wouldn’t require it.”
“But empaths would?” asked Garrett.
Stern hesitated, gave Jase a quick glance. “Sure,” she said, then with added emphasis, “or people with fledgling telepathic abilities.”
“That can’t be,” said Mar. “Pahl is not a telepath.”
“But he’s Naxeran, and from his complexion, one of his parents was a Weyrie, right?” When Mar nodded, Stern looked over at Garrett. “The Weyries are the only class of Naxerans who dream, Captain. They also have a fairly high prevalence of psychiatric problems. Hallucination, delusions.”
“Telepathic equivalents?”
“Maybe for the Naxerans.”
“Glemoor’s never mentioned it.”
“The Naxerans may not know, Captain. As I recall, the Weyries don’t tend to live very long. They’re also pretty reclusive; I don’t think other Naxerans have much to do with them.”
“The Weyries,” said Mar, his frills trembling, “very strange, very odd…”
“Weyries,” Chen-Mai interrupted. “Empaths, telepaths! Enough of this talk. What matters now is that you arehere.”
“Don’t you get it?” Stern asked. “We wouldn’t behere if you hadn’t been so helpful with your phaser on that airlock. And you can bet your bottom dollar that if we caught that signal, so will the Cardassians. They’re probably on their way now.”
Garrett looked over at Mar. Of the two men, she thought that the Naxeran would be the most reasonable. “Look, I don’t know why you’re here. Frankly, I don’t care. Right now, I care about getting out of here before the Cardassians show up. Now the best thing for everyone is for you to come with us. We’ve got a shuttle. We can take care of your boy on the ship.”
Mar hesitated, glanced over at Chen-Mai, then nodded.
“No!” Chen-Mai shouted. “No, are you crazy?You want to leave all this behind?”
“But if they’re right and the Cardassians are coming, what good will it do us if we’re dead?” asked Mar.
“They’re just making it up,” said Chen-Mai. “The boy’s father and his mother, they’re both in on this.”
“Oh, that’s intelligence for you,” said Stern.
“Jo!” Garrett snapped. And to Chen-Mai: “If we don’t leave now, we’ll be stranded here. Our ship has orders to leave the system if they so much as sniff a Cardassian ship. We have to go now!”
But Chen-Mai was shaking his head and, to Garrett’s dismay, he began backing up, using Jase as a shield. “Oh, no. Your ship might leave, and you might be right, but I’ll be taking my own ship, thanks. Now I want what’s my due. I didn’t take all these risks to be left with nothing. All that money in that other room there, I’m not leaving it behind. And just to make sure your ship doesn’t fire on me on my way out of the system, the boy’s coming with me.”
“Mom,” said Jase, his eyes wide with fright. “Mom!”
“Wait a minute.” Mar started to his feet. “What about me? What about Pahl? You’re not leaving us behind!”
“No onehas to be left behind!” Garrett said sharply. “Look, I give you my word, we’ll let you go. You won’t be charged. Come with us; you don’t have to do this!”
Chen-Mai’s face was hard. “I don’t believe you. I’m leaving and I’m taking the boy. You, Mar, if you’re coming, leave the boy and come now!”
“No.” Mar spread out his hands in a helpless gesture. “I can’t do that. I can’t leave Pahl. Please, Chen-Mai, at least let the doctor…”
“There’s no time!”
Mar’s jaw firmed. “I won’t leave.”
“Fine,” said Chen-Mai. His phaser flicked away from Jase’s temple. “Then stay.”
“No!” cried Garrett, too late.
There was a brilliant flash as the phaser beam lanced across the chamber. Mar screamed as the beam struck the side of his head, and collapsed in a heap to the stone. Before Garrett could move, Chen-Mai had his phaser trained on Jase’s head once more.
Stern rushed to Mar’s side, ran her medical tricorder over his body. Shook her head.
Choking back her fury, Garrett turned on Chen-Mai. “There was no reason for that, none!”
Of all things, Chen-Mai grinned, showing the gap between his teeth, the pink nub of his tongue working. “One thing you learn in my business: People do what they’re told. Otherwise, things go wrong. I don’t like it when things go wrong.”
“You didn’t have to kill him. There’s no reason that anyone else has to die here.”
But Chen-Mai was backing out, pulling Jase with him. “You come after me, I’ll kill him, you understand?”
“Mom!” Jase began to struggle. “Mom, don’t let him!”
“Shut up!” Chen-Mai cuffed the boy across the temple with the butt of his phaser.
Jase gasped, staggered. Then, roaring with anger, Jase brought the heel of his foot down, hard, on the man’s instep.
“Jase!” Garrett shouted.
Chen-Mai choked out a scream. Jase tore away and dove for the floor just as Chen-Mai let loose a blast from his phaser. But his aim was off, and the beam sizzled wide, skirting the boy’s head. The beam was so close that Garrett heard the sputter-crack of the phaser as the beam gouged a hole in the red stone floor. The floor twitched with the force of the blast, and Jase tripped, tried scrambling to his feet, but then Garrett was diving for him, knocking him left as the phaser licked the stone to her right. Garrett banged into the hard rock floor; the impact knocked her breath away and left her gasping. There was a high whine and then the red rock erupted in a spray of pulverized and superheated stone, showering her with debris that pattered down upon her head and bit at her cheeks.
“Go!” Garrett choked, gulping down air. Reaching down, she detached her helmet from her waist and rolled into a crouch. “Move, Jase, move!”
Jase darted left, and as Chen-Mai brought his phaser around for another shot, Garrett sprang, flying across the room, slinging her fist around in a roundhouse swing. She caught Chen-Mai on the point of his chin with an audible crack. The man went down in a heap, his phaser whirling from his hand. Garrett knew her own weapon was too far away and she lunged for Chen-Mai’s. At the last second, he reached up and grabbed her ankle, sent her crashing to the floor.