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“How are they?” I asked.

“They’re fine,” she replied. “I … told them I was sorry.”

“For what?” I asked.

Abby shrugged. “For letting them think there was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. One they could keep, I mean.”

“You didn’t know there wasn’t,” I reminded her.

“But even if I had,” she insisted, “I would still have led them on. I would have done whatever it took to put a crew together.”

“Only because your brother’s life was at stake. At least, that’s what you thought at the time.”

“Still,” said Abby, “there’s no way I could have carried off this gambit without them no way I could’ve made it to Hel’s Gate, much less gotten through to this universe and helped turn away the Abinarri.”

She had a point. Had her crew been any less capable or courageous, Abby would never have survived her encounters with the Cardassians and the Romulans not to mention the pirates we kept running into.

“So they risked their lives over and over,” Abby said, “and for what? In the end, they had nothing to show for it except my unending gratitude and affection, as if that were worth anything on the open market.”

“What did they say?” I asked.

“What do you think? Thadoc told me there was no need for an apology. He was glad to have followed me anywhere, for any reason.” She grinned. “Dunwoody told me I’d have to make it up to him say, with another voyage. After all, he said, Dujonian’s Hoard isn’t the only treasure in the universe.”

I smiled. “That sounds like him.”

Abby’s smile faded. “I thanked him for the sentiment, of course. But I said that it wouldn’t be possible for us to make another voyage. He would have to find someone else with whom to seek out those treasures.”

“And why is that?” I inquired.

She glanced at me meaningfully. “Because I have decided to stay here with the rebels.”

Somewhere deep inside, I believe I had known she would say that. Still, it knocked the stuffing out of me. As I noted earlier, I had grown rather fond of Abby Brant.

“I see,” I said.

Perceiving that I was less than ecstatic about her announcement, she took my hand. “Try to understand,” she told me. “This is a second chance for me. A chance to do some good for people, to fight the good fight the way some of those privateers fought it whether you believe that or not.”

“Abby …” I said softly.

“And this time,” she finished, “I don’t intend to screw it up.”

The observation lounge echoed with the force of her words. Blushing, she looked away from me, as if she had suddenly taken an interest in the stars outside our ship.

“Thadoc said one word,” she went on. “It was ‘no.’ I asked him not to make my decision any harder than it had to be. ‘Who’s making it harder?’ he asked. ‘Your brother needs all the help he can get.’ “

“Then Thadoc’s staying, as well?” I asked.

Abby nodded, her eyes sparkling with reflected light. “Dunwoody, too. He said he could use a change of scenery if I’d have him.”

“And you told him you would, of course.”

She chuckled. “In a minute.”

Abby had asked the other survivors as well, all three of them but they hadn’t been quite so eager as Thadoc and Dunwoody. They wanted to go home to their own universe.

She turned back to me, her eyes seeking mine. “It’ll feel good to have a couple of familiar faces around while I’m chipping at the Abinarri.”

“No doubt,” I said hollowly.

Abby’s brow creased. “It’d be even better to have one more around. Say, for instance … yours.”

I didn’t respond.

“You and I,” she said, “we’ve been through a lot in the short time we’ve known each other. We’ve proven we make one hell of a team, haven’t we? Why not make it … a permanent one?”

I searched Abby Brant’s features her wise, pale blue eyes, her fine, freckled nose, her full and inviting lips. There was a great deal to keep me there, I mused.

And if I left, I would likely never see her again. After all, Brant’s rebels would have to establish one new base after another. Even if I managed to reach this reality a second time, I would have no way to find them.

No way to find her.

To be honest, I was tempted