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it in iris good hand and Chakotay began to breathe again.

"Tialin, we have so many questions," said Chakotay. "I wouldn't even know where to begin."

"You want to know what dark matter is," said Tialin firmly. "I will tell you a little about it. Dark matter particles were the First Things to fill the universes. They exist simultaneously in all universes, but completely in none of them. It is this quality that makes the First Things so elusive, so hard for beings such as yourselves to understand with your limited cognitive capacities."

Janeway ignored the slur, her eyes bright with interest, and nodded her comprehension. "That's why we can measure it It's got gravity; we can calculate the gravitational pull, but we can't see it or touch it in any way. Unless it comes into contact with subspace, which renders it-"

Her eyes widened. "So that's what Lhiau is doing. He's pulling the dark matter completely into this universe by using Telek's wormholes!"

Tialin nodded. "For a lower species-no offense, Captain-you grasp theoretical truths quite quickly. Good. I am glad fate has brought us together. Yes, Lhiau is bringing dark matter fully into your universe. He is rendering it solid, visible, and extremely deadly by doing so."

"Of course," said the Doctor. "That's why Seven was able to see the dark-matter shielding. Her ocular implant is able to detect irregularities or disruptions in space-time. If the dark matter doesn't exist fully

in one universe, that certainly qualifies as a disruption in space-time. A naturally occurring one, but a disruption nonetheless."

"Lhiau is tampering with something he should not." Tialin's shrewd gaze flickered from one face to another. "You must help us stop him."

"How?" Telek was angry and puzzled. "How are we to stop Lhiau? We cannot even fully comprehend why he is doing what he is doing and how!"

"As I said, you needed our help. We have helped you by extracting and containing all the dark matter in your bodies and equipment. Now, you must help others. We gift this technology to you. Lhiau's tampering has far-reaching consequences. The mutated dark matter he has released has spread in all directions. Some lies ahead of you, attacking new systems you have never encountered; some lies behind you, destroying places you have already been. And some are even manifesting... elsewhere."

Chakotay thought of the dozens of wormholes, each one spewing deadly amounts of dark matter into the surrounding space. Neutrinos, they knew, traveled at the speed of light. How fast was dark matter? How many systems had Lhiau's dark matter affected by now?

Tialin's lips curved in a smile. "Your ship is called Voyager, Captain Janeway. You have already proved it an aptly named vessel. Now, you must temporarily halt your journey to the Alpha Quadrant for an even better cause-saving countless beings from the fate

that you have so narrowly escaped yourselves. I am sending you on a quest-a crusade, if you like."

Tialin leaned forward, her eyes wide and unblinking. "We will give you the ability to locate and contain the mutated dark matter. Your task is to take the sphere and travel everywhere you can, gathering it up, piece by dangerous piece."

"Wait a minute," interrupted Paris, sounding much more like himself than he had for the last several days. "You're sending us to do your job for you? You seem pretty darn near omnipotent to me. Can't you just wave your hands and make all this right again?"

Tialin rose and went to him, staring him down. "Our job is to halt Lhiau and his rogues before they do still more harm. And to answer your question, no. We are not omnipotent tricksters like the Q. For which you should be grateful, because if we were, Lhiau would have done far worse damage than setting loose mutated dark matter particles upon an unsuspecting universe!"

Paris backed up a step before the frail-seeming being. Tialin continued. "Far, far more is at stake than I am permitted to tell you, yet I would have thought that saving innocent