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  Nearly panicked, Barclay said, “N-Not at all! Surely you haven’t said all there is to s-say about the plight of the hologram.”

  “Well,” said the Doctor thoughtfully, “I could shift the focus from the Emergency Medical Hologram’s thankless life aboard a starship to the appalling lack of appreciation he receives on Earth.”

  “Exactly,” said Barclay, and when the Doctor steepled his fingers and leaned back to think, he breathed a sigh of relief.

  * * *

  It went worse than Tom had feared.

  His mother cried. Miral wailed. And instead of bellowing, Admiral Paris looked at his son with a mixture of contempt and compassion. Tom realized that his father actually felt sorry for him, sorry that Tom had messed up again, had married a wild Klingon Maquis woman who evidently thought so little of her husband and newborn daughter that she was traipsing off to perform some ancient rite that honored the dead more than the living.

  What really pissed him off was that he had thought so too, until B’Elanna had shared her secret with him. The secret he was not permitted to share in turn.

  So he got defensive. He said that he didn’t blame B’Elanna for wanting to leave, to look for a little space, hell, if he could he’d leave and have a little space, and his mother said, “I told you, Owen, seven years wouldn’t change anything,” and Miral started to cry, and Owen Paris just looked stern and sad at the same time, which when Tom thought about it was really quite a feat.

  So now he was standing outside, cradling a Miral who had finally decided to quiet down after two full hours of screaming until Tom felt certain her little lungs would pop right out of her throat. Now she snuggled against him and cooed softly. He felt her weight in his arms, a slight heaviness that felt good and pure and clean and simple as the stars twinkling above. He took a deep breath of the cool night air.

  Behind him, he heard the door close, and then open. He didn’t turn around. Heavy steps crossed the back deck.

  “Do you remember when you were six years old,” Owen Paris said, not looking at his son, “and we lay on the grass together and I pointed out the constellations to you?”

  Tom smiled faintly in the darkness. “Yeah,” he said. It was the closest he and his father had ever gotten. In later years, he would look back on those summer nights and marvel at the thought of Admiral Paris lying on the lawn, looking at stars.

  “Come on,” said Owen Paris, descending the stairs from the deck. He moved more slowly than he had when Tom was six; his tread was heavier, his body bulkier. Tom stared, thinking it was a bluff, until Owen actually sat down on the grass. Even then, he didn’t move until the elder Paris repeated, “Come on.”

  Wondering what this was all about, Tom did so. He sat beside his father, and then when Owen stretched out on the rich green lawn, he followed suit. Miral coughed softly, then adjusted her small warm body to lie comfortably on her father’s chest. Heart to heart they lay, father and daughter.

  “The stars never change,” said Owen Paris. “Although we do. What’s really going on with you, Tom?”

  “What do you mean?” Tom of course knew exactly what his father meant and was glad of the soft darkness so that Owen couldn’t see his face.

  “B’Elanna’s doing something other than just taking a little time for herself, isn’t she?”

  “Dad, I—”

  “I’m a good judge of people, son, though you may find that hard to believe. She’s not the sort who would run off and leave her husband and daughter without a damn good reason.”

  Tentatively, Tom said, “Would it make any difference if I said she did have a damn good reason? A reason I can’t tell you?”

  “It would.”

  “She does.”

  “Thought so.”

  They lapsed into silence, but for the first time in years, it was a comfortable one between father and son. Finally, Owen Paris said, “We’d love to have you stay, son. I’m tickled to death about that granddaughter of mine. But I don’t think you can.”

  “No, Dad. I think you’re right. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. You’re a grown man, with a family. You’ve just come off of a remarkable journey. You’re not a child and you shouldn’t be treated like one.”

  Tom was surprised at his father’s frank talk. He couldn’t reply at once, so stayed silent.

  “Where will you go?”

  “All officers were offered an apartment in San Francisco. Think I’ll take Starfleet up on it. After seven years on Voyager I’m used to living in a small space.”

  Owen chuckled. “You’ll miss our offer to get up and change Miral every few hours.”

  “I’m sure I will. But you can always visit.”

  “We will, son. We will.”

  Again they were silent, and stayed on the grass looking at the twinkling points of light.

  * * *

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard moaned in his sleep.

  They kept coming, mindless drones with red lasers for eyes and spikes and claws and pincers for hands. Their faces were gray with throbbing black veins snaking across them, and their bodies were encased in black armor. They had once been people, but now were nothing, all their humanity, their passion and fear and joy and love, as mercilessly severed as their various limbs had been.

  He kept firing his phaser rifle, but they had adapted and the blast streamed across them like so much water. Despite his attack, they continued to bypass him, obviously not deeming him a threat. His ears strained for the voice of the queen, so that he could track her down and kill her, again. But she was not to be found.

  The mammoth tide of Borg suddenly parted and Picard found himself staring at a cluster of people huddled on the metallic flooring of the cube. They were Borg, but what a curious collection. Most were children. Many were elderly. A few of them were clearly ill, emaciated from the ravages of disease. They were alive, were awake, but lay at odd angles like discarded toys.

  Picard was confused. Children and the elderly and unwell? Why would the Borg want them? The Borg were eternally in search of perfection. It was almost always the finest specimens from each culture they selected for assimilation. The idea was to enhance the collective, not detract from it. Children were indeed taken by the Borg, but they were set aside in hideous maturation chambers, their growth forced and monitored. And the old and ill were useless as drones. This made no sense.

  Then again, he knew it was a dream, and dreams often did not make sense.

  He awoke with a start, breathing heavily. Reaching for a glass of water beside his bed, he gulped, realizing his mouth was parched. He wondered if he had cried out.

  He rose and washed his face, taking a moment to look at himself in the mirror, half expecting to see an implant erupt on his cheek. It remained whole. He returned to bed, wondering why he was dreaming of the Borg. He didn’t usually have such nightmares.

  No doubt it was the return of Voyager. It sported Borg technology and two individuals whose presence on Earth could indeed make Picard dream of the creatures. He had not yet gotten to meet the remarkable young woman and youth who had been liberated from the collective, but was anxious to do so once his duty schedule permitted. They, unlike anyone else, would be able to understand the hell he had undergone while he was Locutus. No doubt, they would appreciate connecting with him as well.

  Yes, that was it. Seven of Nine and Icheb had been in the back of his mind for several weeks now, and his subconscious had merely brought the Borg to the forefront. He drifted back to sleep and had no more dreams.

  Chapter

  9

  SPECIAL FRIENDS, PARIS THOUGHT, were the ones you could call on to help you unpack. He’d supplied the pizza and beer, and Harry, Lyssa Campbell, and the Doctor had answered his plea for assistance. They were munching happily—well, all except the Doc, of course—in Tom’s new apartment. They were halfway done. Most of Tom’s furniture was in place and now they were unpacking smaller knickknacks.

  “Surprised to see you here, Doc,” Ly
ssa said between bites of a large pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms, and green pepper. “Thought this was a little lowbrow for you.”

  “Well,” said the Doctor, his holoemitter firmly in place on his sleeve, “I must say, these hands were hardly designed for unpacking mugs that say ‘Universe’s Best Dad’ on them, but I am nothing if not versatile.”

  “Hey, I like that mug,” Tom protested, but he was grinning. It was good to see his old friends again. Miral certainly kept him busy, but with B’Elanna gone he was missing his Voyager companions terribly. “So, Harry, you and Libby looked a little tight at the banquet. I guess things are going okay?”

  His mouth full of pizza, Harry still managed a grin. Swallowing, he said, “Better than I could have hoped.”

  “That’s our romantic Harry,” said Lyssa, her eyes twinkling mischievously. “So, tell us, Harry.”

  “Yeah, tell us all about it,” echoed Tom. He said it only to watch Harry blush.

  “We’re still getting reacquainted,” Harry said a little shyly. “We’ve both changed a lot over the last seven years. Sometimes it’s a little awkward.”

  “And sometimes it’s not, huh?” Lyssa waggled her eyebrows meaningfully and they all cracked up. Even the Doc smiled. At the sudden outburst of mirth, Miral woke up and began to wail. Smoothly Tom picked her up out of the crib and walked around with her. The gestures were natural to him now after a month of practice, and he was barely aware of his gentle movements on her back that soothed and calmed the fussy infant.

  “Lyssa, come on!” said Kim.

  “We’re just teasing you, Mr. Kim,” said the Doctor. “We merely wish for you to be happy, and it seems as though you are.”

  “Yeah,” said Kim. “I am. But it’s hard. On the one hand, you’ve been so close, and on the other, you don’t really know who each other is now. Libby’s different—much more assertive and to the point.”

  “I’ve listened to several of her recorded concerts and she’s quite magnificent,” said the Doctor. “She has every reason to be confident of herself.”

  “Of course she does. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, in fact I like it. But it is different and it takes some getting used to.”

  Miral burped. The rag Tom had put on his shoulder for this express purpose was quickly soaked. “So does this,” he said, grimacing.

  After lunch, they finished putting things away. By the time everyone was ready to leave, the small apartment was completely set up. Tom tried to encourage them to stay, but Harry had a date with Libby and Lyssa had to hit the sack in order to be rested for a big day of hiking along the Continental Divide. Only the Doctor lingered for a while longer. Miral had returned to sleeping for an hour or two, but now was awake and fussy. The Doctor immediately took her from a tired Tom, and to Tom’s astonishment, she quieted down at once, her eyes fastened on the Doctor’s face.

  “You really would make a great baby-sitter,” Tom said, marveling. “You’re amazing with her.”

  “As I told you the day she was born, I’ve downloaded everything there is to know about the care, feeding, and handling of both human and Klingon infants,” said the Doctor.

  Tom replicated another beer and sat watching the Doctor. An idea began to occur to him. Feeling his way tentatively, he said, “So, do you have a year’s worth of speaking engagements lined up?”

  The Doctor wrinkled his nose. “Hardly. This complete and utter lack of interest on Starfleet’s part in what I have achieved over the past seven years is quite unexpected. If anyone wants to speak to me at all, it’s about Photons Be Free.”

  “Well, isn’t that a compliment?”

  “Yes and no. I’m proud of my creative work, of course. In fact, I’m considering a sequel.”

  Tom tried not to let his apprehension show.

  “And yet, while that is a significant achievement, and obviously far-reaching in its consequences, I want to be recognized for my excellence in my field.”

  Tom thought about how he’d feel if he were known for creating Captain Proton instead of for his piloting skills. “I can understand that,” he said.

  “So the short answer is no, nor am I likely to.” He hesitated, and Tom sensed there was something more.

  “You’re lonely,” Tom said.

  “Yes, Mr. Paris. I’ve no purpose anymore. I suppose I should be grateful I haven’t been farmed off to Lynarik Prime to serve in the dilithium mines like the other EMH Mark Ones. Mr. Barclay is kind, but he has other things to do than entertain a bored and lonely hologram.”

  “I don’t,” said Tom affably. “My wife’s out of town and it’s just me and the kid. How’d you like to share quarters for a while? I’m sure Miral could only benefit from spending some time with her godfather.”

  The Doctor brightened, and Miral cooed happily.

  * * *

  Icheb heard the excited whispers and giggles. He felt heat rise in his face and tried to ignore it.

  “It’s him! It’s the Borg kid!”

  “He’s kind of cute.”

  “That’s so cool. . . wonder what it’s like to be a former Borg. Think he’ll be allowed to compete in track?”

  He adjusted his pack, filled with a couple of padds and some nutritional supplements, and continued looking at room numbers. He had been living on the grounds since departing Voyager, but only in the last two days had other students begun to arrive.

  “Um, hi,” a voice beside him said. He looked down to see an attractive dark-skinned cadet keeping stride with him. Her curly black hair was cropped sort. Large, liquid brown eyes were fastened on his. He felt his blush growing.

  “Greetings,” he said.

  “I’m Eshe Karenga,” she said, sticking out her hand.

  Awkwardly, he shook it. It felt small and warm in his own. “I am called Icheb,” he said.

  “Yeah, I know. I just wanted you to know that everyone’s very excited about your being accepted into the Academy. Are you going to be helping teach some of the classes that deal with the Borg? I’m sure you’ve got lots of fascinating insight to share with us all.”

  Why was his heart fluttering so in his chest? His words, when he was able to summon them, sounded halting and trembling. “Um, I haven’t been asked, but of course I’d be helpy to hap—I mean, happy to help.”

  She laughed. Icheb was mortified. “That’s cute,” she said. She slowed down. “Here’s my first class. Maybe I’ll see you around.”

  He glanced at the number. “It is my first class as well,” he said.

  “Really? What a coincidence,” said Eshe. “Maybe we can sit by each other. I don’t know a lot of people here yet.”

  “Neither do I,” he said, and as he followed her into the classroom he couldn’t help but wonder if it really was a coincidence after all.

  The students filed in and took their seats. Built into each desk was a small computer. When it was deactivated, students could easily write on the desk, lean their elbows on it, sometimes catch a furtive snooze. When the computer was active, it performed like any other console. Icheb was busy inspecting it. Unlike most of the freshman cadets, he was thoroughly familiar with its functions. Mildly interested, he began to tap in commands. He was so engrossed in what he was doing that he didn’t notice the excited buzz of the other students halt abruptly.

  “Since it is obvious that you know so much about the computers, would you like to teach the class, Cadet Icheb?” came a cool adult voice.

  Icheb’s head whipped up. There was the smallest of instants when he was alarmed and embarrassed, but then .0006ths of a second later he realized he recognized the speaker.

  “Commander Tuvok!” he said happily. Tuvok raised an eyebrow and Icheb cleared his throat and sat straighter in his chair. “Forgive me, sir. I thought you were going to stay on Vulcan.”

  “And such an assumption gives you carte blanche to ignore your professor?”

  Icheb fought and failed to keep the smile from blossoming on his face. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw
Eshe looking at him with wide brown eyes and, if possible, an even greater sense of admiration.

  “Negative, Commander. I apologize.”

  “Good. This course is called, somewhat creatively, Out on a Limb.” Clearly Tuvok did not approve of the colorful title. “It will deal with how to handle security situations when one is not within reach of Starfleet Command. Cadet Icheb, I have concerns that our former contact may inhibit you from learning all that you might in this course. I am going to request that you be transferred.”

  “Commander!” Icheb was frantic. He wanted to stay, with Eshe, and with a familiar face standing at the head of the classroom. “I assure you that I do not expect any preferential treatment.”

  “Nor will you be in any danger of receiving it,” Tuvok replied coldly.

  “Commander Tuvok?” It was Eshe, raising her hand shyly. “Permission to speak?”

  “Go ahead, Cadet—”

  “Karenga, Eshe Karenga. With all due respect, sir, you are the only instructor teaching, um, Out on a Limb this semester, and it’s a required course. It would not benefit Cadet Icheb to wait a full year.”

  Tuvok frowned. “Perhaps you are right. You may stay, Cadet Icheb.”

  Icheb breathed a sigh of relief, even as he realized that Tuvok was going to be harder on him than on any other cadet who passed through that door. Let him. Icheb knew he was up to whatever Tuvok had to dish out. He risked giving Eshe a quick, grateful smile, then activated his computer when Tuvok instructed.

  It was going to be a wonderful year.

  * * *

  He had many offers to go out for dinner that night, but he found himself a bit overstimulated from six classes and the interaction with so many strangers, so even though Eshe gave him her most winning smile, he declined. Besides, there was someone in particular with whom he wanted to share the events of this exciting day.

  When he reached the small room in the student dormitories he now called “home,” complete with a small regeneration alcove just big enough for him to squeeze inside, he made a beeline for the computer. He desperately hoped she’d be available.