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"I'm sorry, Captain," said Eriih, "but your communications device and your weapons have been neutralized. A necessary precaution."

He gestured, and seven burly, well-armed soldiers stepped forward. "It is noble of you. I admire your willingness to sacrifice. Since you will not yield up Telek R'Mor, I have no choice but to take you, his captain, in his stead. Your captivity will not be harsh, Captain Janeway. We are not barbarians. You will be made comfortable as you await your trial."

"How long will that be?" Janeway demanded.

Eriih shrugged. "With so many to try, who can say? You are the last offender on the list right now, so it may take quite a while. A year or two, at the very least." He leaned forward conspiratorially. "But since your time is so precious, and we do appreciate what is at stake, we'll see what we can do to nudge it along, hmmm?"

The purple ball sparked to life.

"What the- Seven, R'Mor, what's going on?" demanded Torres. They were about to quit for the night and spend an hour winding down together at the Polynesian resort, when That Damned Ball started glowing.

"Unknown," said Seven.

"Do not worry," came the voice of Tialin the Shepherd, soft and melodious. The ball pulsated in time to the words. "Nothing is wrong. I am just taking a moment to congratulate you on your progress.

"If you are hearing this message, mat means that you have learned how to utilize the orb I gave you. You have conducted experiments and called forth

courage to face the unknown. You have learned how to gather the dark matter from space, from inanimate objects, from lower life-forms, from humanoids, even from a planet-sized object You have understood the purpose of the sphere and have created your own safe place for the dark matter to reside until it is time for me to retrieve it You have done well, very well. Had you not been able to figure this out on your own, you would not have been up to the task I set you in other ways' either, and you would have been unfit custodians for so dangerous and volatile a thing as mutated dark matter."

"So this was a test?" said Torres. "Of all the-"

'Telek R'Mor," continued Tialin, "I have more information, for your ears alone. It was you who were technically responsible for the dark matter being unleashed on this system, though I know it was not your will. Listen, and decide if your comrades can bear the hearing of this news."

Telek stared raptly at the ball. Torres couldn't hear anything, but clearly Telek could. His eyes widened and his face paled.

"No," he whispered. "That's not possible. It cannot be, it cannot!"

The orb continued speaking silently to Telek, until finally it darkened. As if released from its grip physically as well as mentally, Telek staggered. Khala was there, gently propping him up.

'Telek?" said Torres. "What did it tell you?"

He licked his lips. There was fear on his face. "Something amazing-something terrible beyond imagining. I thought, in my dealings with the Tal Shiar, that I had some notion of what evil is. But 1 was innocent of the true depths of it until this moment. Lhiau must be stopped. He must! It all depends on it!"

"What?" cried Torres, exasperated.

"Everything!" It made no sense, and Torres opened her mouth to try again. But R'Mor was already heading for the turbolift and the bridge.

Telek leaned against the wall of the turbolift. "Bridge," he told it Frantically, Telek sought to gather his thoughts.

More was at stake than he could begin to articulate. Tialin had given him the knowledge, but he was free to share it if he felt it was the wise thing to do. He needed to talk to Janeway. She was a fellow scientist at heart; she would understand. And she could help him decide if this was something that the whole crew needed to know, or just the two of them.

Telek almost stumbled out of the turbolift hi his haste. "Captain," he gasped, but her chair was empty. "Commander Tuvok, where is the Captain?"