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"For what purpose did this alien Lhiau decide to help your people?" asked one of the scientists. "What did he offer, and what did he want in return?"

"He offered us quadrant domination. With the dark-matter cloaks, we had an advantage over every known species in the Alpha Quadrant. It was a very seductive offer. In return, he asked us to help him defeat his enemies. To the best of my knowledge, he has yet to reveal who these enemies are, or what grudge he has against them. But we have found out."

Telek's dark eyes flickered over to Janeway. "We encountered another member of his species, a being called Tialin. She told us of the true nature of dark matter, and that Lhiau was deliberately trying to pull dark matter fully into this universe. She told us he was a rogue, and that the Shepherds were desperately trying to gather up this mutated dark matter before it could do more harm. She enlisted our aid and gave us the technology so that we could assist them. Council members, you have experienced the effects of this mutated matter; you know what it does."

They nodded solemnly. Across the room, Janeway saw Ulaahn look down. Many eyes went to him. He had been driven mad by the dark matter and had killed the entire crew of one of his own ships, convinced that they were all wretched, evil beings who needed to be destroyed. He would be tried for that.

Janeway was not fond of the Kwaisi in general, or of Ulaahn in particular. He was arrogant and rude, but now, at this moment, she felt a deep wave of compassion for him.

They had to listen. They had to see how awful this obscene, unnatural matter was. They had to let her go.

"What it did to planets and people it came into contact with was bad enough," said Telek. Janeway's head whipped around. What? There was more?

"But Lhiau's evil goes far deeper than doing damage to a few solar systems. Let me digress for a moment, and discuss another theory. That of the nature of the universe."

Janeway didn't like where this was going. How was the nature of the universe tied into all this?

"We know that, first of all, ours is not the only universe there is. There are many others, some of which we know about, others which remain only theory. What lies inside a wormhole is not of this universe, for example. The small bubble inside Voyager's warp core, which is safely containing all the dark matter we have been able to retrieve, is a universe unto itself. There is a mirror universe, which contains all of us, but in which our natures are very different. There is a theory of a Shadow Matter universe, related to our own only through gravity. There are Shadow people, Shadow planets, just like those in our more familiar universe. I confess, that is my favorite of the theories. It's the imaginative romantic in me."

. Chuckles rippled through the crowd at the thought of the apparently staid Telek being an imaginative romantic. He smiled a little. Janeway raised an eyebrow in appreciation. He knew how to handle a crowd better than he let on.

"To return to the topic of the nature of our own universe, as usual, theories abound, but no one knows for certain. We know that the universe is expanding, and has been since its creation. Some believe it is what is called an 'open universe,' and it will continue to expand forever. Matter will be spread out more and more sparsely, and the average temperature of the universe will fall steadily toward absolute zero. My people call this 'the Freeze.' "

Janeway nodded her understanding. "The Big Chill" was what humans called it.

"Others feel that there is enough matter present in the universe to halt this expansion. Everything will collapse back inward. The universe will become compressed, and become a 'closed' universe. We call this 'the Squeeze.' "

The Kwaisi scientists were nodding too, now. Janeway knew this was "The Big Crunch," another playful human term for something quite dire.

"Now," and Telek