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Tom doubled over, clearly having the same battle as Chakotay had with his sullen, shrunken stomach. He, too, managed to keep the water down. For now.

Paris was in bad shape. Chakotay had employed all his field training to dress their wounds, but without even water to cleanse away dirt or bandages to protect them, his efforts had been of little help. He knew the lacerations on his own stomach were infected. In darker, more exhausted moments, he fancied he could even smell the sweet, sickly stench of gangrene. Tom's arm was definitely in bad shape. There was nothing, not even twigs, to hold the set Chakotay had tried to give it on their first day here. Tom's screams of agony still rang in his ears. He had not tried again. There was no point in simply tormenting Paris.

They had come through whatever portal it was that they had entered when Chakotay, pulling Tom with him, had leaped into the light. Chakotay had had no sensation of movement at all. When the light faded, they were standing in a grassy meadow on the edge of a rain forest, blinking at the illumination of not some fey, incomprehensible light, but the simple pure radiance of twin suns.

"What happened?" Tom had asked, looking around and blinking.

"I'm not sure," said Chakotay. He tapped his combadge. It chirped reassuringly. "The combadges still work, at least. We'll be able to talk with anyone we encounter." He looked at Tom. "And get you some medical attention."

"You too," Paris replied, his gaze on Chakotay's torn belly. "That is, if there are any inhabitants here."

Chakotay's gaze fell upon a white building in the distance. It gleamed in the light, a beautiful contrast to the azure sky. "I'd say there are inhabitants. Let's go."

They began walking toward the large white building. Soft blue-green grass yielded beneath their boots. "Chakotay, what is going on? Why did you haul me with you through that portal?"

Chakotay didn't answer at once. "I'm not sure I understand it completely myself. When the light manifested in the cavern and the boulders fell through, I realized that they would weigh about as much as I did. Two of them would equal two human males. Khala started screaming that this was exactly what happened when she had been pulled to the planet against her will, and I made some kind of connection."

He shook his head. Sweat began to gleam on his brow. With two suns, this was a warm planet. It was clearly tropical as well, if the level of humidity was any indication.

"Once, the light appeared and Khala came through. It appeared again, and boulders came through. It somehow made sense that we had to go to the place where the boulders came from, to keep the balance."

"Pretty wild idea, don't you think?"

Chakotay frowned. "It seems like it now, but at the moment-Tom, somehow I knew it was right. I didn't even have a chance to explain it to the captain, or you."

"Why me?" Paris smiled a little. "Does this strange place you've dragged us to require a dashing blond ensign?"

"If so, I'd have brought along Ensign Jenkins. She's pretty dashing." They exchanged grins, then Chakotay sobered. "Sorry, Tom, you were just the closest body"

"Yeah, I got that a lot at the Academy." The joking over, he asked, "Okay, I believe in hunches, and let's say this was a good one. The fact remains that we don't know where the hell we are, or how to get back to Voyager."

Chakotay didn't answer. He had no answers to give.

They walked on, the beautiful building growing closer. A shrill voice stopped them in their tracks.

"Halt! You are trespassing on sacred ground!"

They turned to see a beautiful young woman dressed in flowing robes of gray and blue. Her long, pale blue hair fell almost to the grass and was unbound. The wind played with it. Chakotay thought her one of the most beautiful women he'd ever seen, except for the icy expression of hauteur on her lovely blue-skinned features. Her fingers gripped a basket full of what seemed to be herbs.

"Please forgive