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By Root 621 0

things went wrong at the outset. A third granted them partial success. Each time, save for that single, nearly perfect one at the very beginning, something different had gone wrong. They were starting to run out of time; the amount of dark matter was growing at an exponential rate. Thus far, it hadn't caused any major damage to flesh or equipment, but Janeway had given the command: Do it

"Then let us begin," said Telek.

Even the self-assured Seven of Nine seemed hesitant, her metal-clad fingers hovering over the controls before she began to tap in the proper sequence with a deft touch. Telek monitored her progress from another console.

"Section fourteen, mark six," said Seven. "There is a large cluster of dark matter."

"An excellent test subject," said Telek, his voice perhaps a touch too flat in his attempt to keep any trace of nervousness out of it.

'1 will attempt to lock on to it," came Khala's voice. They had rerouted the transporter through engineering, the better to be able to watch everything at once and perform emergency shutdown procedures if needed.

This, as far as Telek was concerned, was the trickiest part. He had conducted dozens of experiments with dark matter in the laboratory. Never had they been able to lock on to it with a transporter, let alone dematerialize it. The stuff wasn't ordinary, baryonic matter, as he had told them repeatedly. How could you-

"I've got it locked," said Khala, her voice higher and filled with pleasure.

Telek and Seven exchanged pleased glances. Even the former Borg was tense and excited, Telek saw.

"Remarkable. Well done, Khala," he said heartily. Torres's theory about utilizing that unique frequency shown to them by the Shepherds was, thus far, working beautifully. He moved to stand beside Seven. She had adjusted the computer sensors to visually depict the cluster of dark matter. There it was on her screen, a pulsing blip of yellow color in the lower right-hand corner. Telek swallowed hard.

"Attempting dematerialization," said Khala.

Before their eyes, the yellow blip faded and disappeared. Telek let out a huge breath he didn't realize he had been holding. The dark matter was now dematerialized, ready to be rematerialized inside a safe container.

He and Seven sprinted to engineering, not caring that they ran to the turbolift. Seconds later, they entered engineering to see Khala and Torres struggling not to grin. They weren't out of the woods yet, and they all knew it. But they had passed the first barrier to success.

All activity in engineering save that directly involved with transporting the dark matter had ceased. Torres's team stood quietly, watching raptly.

"Okay, Khala," said Torres. Her gaze was fastened on the hovering sphere. 'Transport into the sphere."

Khala touched the controls. The steady, pleasant hum the sphere had hitherto emitted turned into a screeching groan that assaulted the ears. The light

grew bright, brighter, searing the retina, and Telek was forced to close his eyes even though he wanted to watch, wanted to see what would happen next.

This was surely the end. They had miscalculated, and this close to the dark matter, they'd all be dead within minutes. It would shatter the sphere, invade their bodies, phase them in and out of existence, and-

The hum ebbed. The light dimmed.

The little ball's light was now bright red, not purple, and they could see millions of tiny specks floating safely inside it.

"The second step has been successfully accomplished," declared Seven, as if they couldn't all see it for themselves.

"I'm constructing the warp shell," said Torres, her fingers flying. "Khala, transport on my signal... now!"

Again the terrible sound filled engineering, and again the bright light, blood red this time, nearly blinded them. When the sound and light both faded, the ball was once more its serene hue of purple.

They stared at the green warp core. It appeared to be no different to the naked eye, but Torres was looking at her console. They