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“Though perhaps you were too embarrassed to admit it,” Dravvin suggested. He drew disapproving looks from around the table. “Perhaps … almost as embarrassed as I was,” he confessed grudgingly.

Flenarrh looked relieved. “Thank Trannis. I thought I was just me.”

Hompaq nodded ruefully. “You shamed us all into silence, Picard. I don’t know whether to slap you on the back or spill your blood.”

“Well?” said Robinson, his eyes narrowing mischievously as he regarded Picard. “Is it possible you’ve woven a yarn for us and a wonderful yarn it was with no basis in fact?”

Picard looked around the table and smiled. “That,” he said, “is something that must remain between myself and my conscience.”

“That’s all you’ll tell us?” Hompaq rasped.

“That’s all,” the human confirmed.

“It’s an outrage!” the Klingon bellowed, attracting the attention of other captains in the vicinity.

“No,” Robinson told her. “It’s an enhancement.”

Again, those assembled at the table looked at one another, considering the proposition. And again, they nodded slowly in agreement.

“It makes the story that much more exciting,” the Captain of the Kalliope observed. “Never to know if it’s fact or fiction, spun from personal experience or the imagination.”

“Never to know if Hel’s Gate really exists,” Dravvin added. “Or for that matter, the dimension beyond it.”

“Or the lovely Red Abby,” Robinson noted.

Hompaq grunted, the lone dissenter at the table. “And never to sleep again for wondering.”

Flenarrh quirked a smile. “I salute you, Picard.”

“And I as well,” Bo’tex told him.

Robinson clapped Picard on the shoulder. “Well done, my friend.”

“Jean Luc!” came a voice.

Turning in his seat, Picard saw Neil Gleason making his way toward them. And he had a female on his arm.

“Gleason,” Picard declared, unable to conceal his exasperation. “Where the devil have you been?”

His fellow captain gestured to the female. “This is Captain Prrghh,” he said. “An old friend. We’ve been … er, catching up on old times.” He smiled at Prrghh. “Isn’t that right, my love?”

Prrghh smiled back at him with her vaguely feline features. “Yes,” she purred. “Catching up.”

It didn’t quite explain the suddenness of Gleason’s disappearance. However, it did seem to explain why it had taken him so long to turn up again.

“Pleased to meet you,” Picard told Prrghh.

“Likewise,” the female responded. She nodded to the other captains at the table, then turned to Gleason. “I suppose you have to go now.”

He sighed. “Duty calls. We’ve got an early-morning meeting we don’t dare miss on pain of death.”

Prrghh laughed. “Until next time, then.” And she kissed Gleason softly on the cheek.

Gleason reddened. “Till next time,” he echoed.

By then, Picard’s tablemates had begun some new discussion, which had nothing to do with either Hel’s Gate or Prrghh. Picard took advantage of the fact to stand and approach his friend.

“You abandoned me,” he told Gleason.

His friend glanced at the table where Picard’s companions still sat. “No one stays abandoned in this place for long,” he said. He looked at Picard. “And can you say you didn’t have a good time?”

Picard considered his surroundings and frowned. “Perhaps abandoned is too strong a word. Nonetheless, you could have warned me you were going to disappear. I was concerned that something might have happened to you.”

Gleason chuckled. “Something did. But it was a most pleasant something, I assure you.” He gestured. “Shall we?”

Following the gesture, Picard saw the door by which he’d entered the place.

He felt a tug on his sleeve. It was Robinson, reaching over from where he sat. “Don’t tell me you’re leaving us,” the bearded man said.

“I’m afraid so,” Picard told him. “Perhaps we’ll meet again.”

Robinson shrugged. “I’ll be here.”

Picard was about to say how unlikely it was he’d return to Madigoor IV. After all, if not for the conference, he might never have come here in the first place.

But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t return to the Captain’s Table. In fact, he would make a point of returning.

Bo’tex waved good-bye. “Take