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By Root 565 0

from the beings who lived inside it. The stuff may not be ordinary matter, but it is harmless, and it certainly doesn't go around manifesting in peoples' brain cells and turning them homicidal. I know what dark matter is, and I know that this isn't it!"

She whirled on Telek. "What are you trying to do, Telek? What is this?"

Telek's control was admirable. He met Janeway's accusing stare evenly. "I will forgive your overreac-

tion, Captain, because I know what is transpiring and that you are not yourself. You are right. Normally, dark matter is indeed quite harmless. You have never encountered dark matter in its natural state, or, to be more specific, you have never been aware of doing so."

"Stop talking in riddles," snapped Janeway.

"You know as well as I that dark matter is visible only when it clusters together in a nebula," Telek replied, his voice rising. "You Federation types, you brag about your scientific knowledge, as if no one could possibly know more than you. Well, I do, Captain. Have you not noticed that a dark-matter nebula manifests only where there is a disturbance in subspace? Do you think that a mere coincidence?"

Surprised, Janeway straightened. "Go on."

"We speak of the matter that makes up at least ninety percent of the universe, perhaps even more. Yet the gravity of each individual particle is minute. Even the amount of dark matter present on Voyager now weighs less than a gram. Therefore, there must be more, much, much more, dark matter than exists in a cluster such as a dark-matter nebula. Decades of Romulan research leads me to believe mat dark matter is present everywhere throughout the universe, that it passes right through our bodies on a dairy basis."

"First you say that Neelix's situation is being caused by dark matter. Then you say that the stuff is harmless. Which is it, Telek?" demanded Chakotay.

Telek looked at the shiny surface of the table. "Ordinary dark matter is harmless. But what is in-

side Neelix's brain is not ordinary dark matter. I have told you the Shepherds know how to manipulate it, have given us cloaks and improved wormhole technology. I spoke earlier of the phenomenon of the dark-matter nebula, a collision of distorted subspace and natural dark matter that renders the dark matter visible."

He looked up from the table and met Janeway's eyes evenly. "Something similar occurs when dark matter enters a wormhole. A wormhole is not normal space, and the same kind of interaction happens. The dark matter is transformed. It becomes visible, just as in a dark-matter nebula."

Janeway's head hurt so badly she could barely see straight, but she took a deep, calming breath and tried to make sense of Telek's words.

"Let me see if I'm following this," said Harry Kim slowly. "I know that dark matter isn't made up of the same material as ordinary matter-what comprises suns and stars and even flesh. You're saying that because we know that dark matter makes up most of the matter of the universe-"

"Ninety percent," emphasized Telek. "Only an estimated ten percent of the universe's matter is ordinary, baryonic matter."

"Okay, okay, ninety percent," said Harry. "So there's got to be more than the occasional dark-matter nebula."

"Yes, yes," said Telek, who seemed to be impatient with Harry's step-by-step reasoning.

"So much more, in fact, that it's passing through

our bodies right this minute," the ensign continued. "And even though that's probably been happening ever since the universe was created, you're saying mat the dark matter mat the Shepherds have been playing with-the same dark matter that's visible when it interacts with subspace distortions-is now so dangerous it's driving Neelix crazy?"

"Yes," said Telek, "that is correct, as far as it goes. You say you have passed unharmed through a dark-matter nebula. I'm not surprised. You were probably not within the nebula for a sufficient amount of time for the mutated dark matter to lodge within you or your vessel. But for a long time now, I have been