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"They are here, Captain." He alone, of all of them, seemed unmoved by the plight of the planet. Janeway didn't think him callous; she'd gotten to know him better than that. He was simply focused, and she supposed she couldn't blame him. He had been the one to unwittingly unleash the dark matter on an unsuspecting vessel, and he was clearly driven to undo the damage he had inadvertently wrought.

"The readings are strongest right... there." Telek turned and pointed, and Janeway's heart sank.

His long, shin finger indicated the top of a range of mountains that surrounded the city in which they stood. There was still snow on the highest peaks. The sky against which they were silhouetted was ominously dark. The weather patterns here could be depended on to be completely undependable.

Janeway briefly entertained the idea of contacting the ship and having Lyssa Campbell transport them directly to the site, but banished the idea immediately. Tempting as it was, it was far too risky. Had the transporter been operating at peak efficiency, it would have been child's play, but now it was unpredictable.

They could materialize on an outcropping that might choose that moment to give way beneath their feet, or they might trigger an avalanche. And there was a damn good chance that the coordinates might be just a little off and they'd materialize inside the rocks instead of on them.

They were going to have to do it the old-fashioned way. There were going to have to climb up on their own.

Her eyes met Chakotay's. "The mountain is not coming to Mohammed this time," she said.

He gave her a wry grin as he touched his combadge. "Chakotay to bridge. We've just run into our first obstacle. The Shepherds have ensconced mem-selves on top of a mountain range.

'Tom, you're our resident mountain goat What will we need?"

Tom took a deep breath and blew it out "What won't we need? Plenty of water, gloves, climbing boots, self-driving pitons, hooks, several lengths of rope, crampons, headgear, wristlights in case that damned signal is emanating from a cave, rappel brake

While Paris, Chakotay, and Telek discussed the

practicalities of getting the away team up the mountain, Janeway turned to the Doctor.

"That's half of why we're here. What do you have on the other life-sign, Doctor?"

He didn't answer immediately, and his mouth twisted in an expression of pique. "Curse this dark matter," he grumbled. "I thought that was what was going on when we were aboard the ship, and apparently, either it's infected our equipment, or what happened to the planet is rendering my readings incorrect. Look," he added, petulantly, and shoved the tricorder at her.

Janeway sighed. "We are simply not going to get a break, are we?" she said, rhetorically.

She'd not had the chance to examine the life-form readings herself before leaving Voyager, but she knew that Kim had said there was something odd about it. And there was.

It was all backwards. Scrambled, unbalanced. As if she were Naomi and not capable of deciphering it herself, the Doctor edged closer. Unable to resist, he extended a finger and tapped angrily at the readings that were almost literally under his captain's nose.

"Look at this, just look at it! The DNA sequence is completely backwards, there's a high concentration of uracil and thymine, adenine is paired with cytosine instead of guanine, the gene sequence is just all wrong... Bah! How can I function properly without correct, reliable information? I cannot make bricks without straw!"

Suddenly Janeway chuckled. The chuckle blos-

somed into a laugh. The Doctor frowned at her. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, Doctor," said Janeway, wiping at the tears of mirth that sprang to her eyes, "I think this is something that you'll never be able to understand fully. This whole situation is so absurd, you've just got to laugh. Matter that's not matter as we know it is devastating our bodies and our ship. Some Romulans want to trap us, others want to help us, and