• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

It has been changed.

There is a precedent for such mutations. We know that one type of neutrino can be changed into any one of another two types. An electron neutrino, the most common sort, can be changed into either a muon or a tauon neutrino. This is what has happened with the dark-matter particles.

No longer does it pass harmlessly through bodies, or machines. It is now fully of this universe, thanks to Shepherd tampering, and it lodges inside solid matter instead of passing through it. Once there, it acts like a foreign piece of matter-which indeed it is. It begins to replicate itself like a virus, ultimately destroying whatever is hosting it-the table, the star, flesh, mind, body. Our ships that have the dark-matter cloaks will eventually be useless, and the people aboard killed or driven insane.

Worse still, this tips the delicate balance so carefully tended by the Shepherds. There is more matter in the universe than there ought to be now, and this is disrupting the balance in other universes as well. Matter which exists in another universe is being pulled into ours at an exponential rate. Far sooner than anyone had dreamed- a few years, months, or perhaps days or even minutes-our universe will have too much matter and undergo the Big Crunch. Other universes will surfer the same fate. Still others will have too little matter to continue, and suffer the Big Chill.

And all this, we have done ourselves. We, in our desire for conquest, have played directly into the hands of aliens who will not suffer for their crimes, for they exist in the rifts between universes. They will be fine. The board will be cleared, ready for a new "game."

The rogue Shepherd's diabolical plan must be stopped.

WHAT WE CAN DO

We are fortunate that in this battle for our very existence, we have allies-the true Shepherds, who are as appalled at Lhiau's renegade activities as we are. They have been busily trying to curb the damage themselves, by gathering up the mutated dark matter and rendering it harmless. To this end, they have enlisted the aid of the Starship Voyager, as time is of the essence.

Yes, I admit it is true that the superior cloaks would give us a tactical advantage. The wormholes, aided by the mutated dark matter, enable us to open corridors virtually anywhere hi this or other universes. But such advantages are not worth their price-the destruction of our universe at worst, the deaths of thousands of Romulans at best. We must no longer volunteer to aid our own destruction. We must cease using all Shepherd technology and lend our aid to the true, right task. And somehow, we must return the Shadow matter to its rightful universe.

. In conclusion, there is only one enemy now-the rogue Shepherds, led by Lhiau. We have been gulled like foolish children, led to destroy ourselves. But now we know, and we shall not be misled any further.

We shall rally like the warriors we are, to save our universe and ourselves.

On a final, personal note, I hope that the above shows that I am no traitor. I am a true Romulan. I have lived like one, and now I am prepared to die like one, ever in service, mind and heart, to the Empire. I do not mourn death, for I shall merely be following my wife and my daughter-also true Romulans, who, I am certain, died well.

I thank you for this statement, and I hope you heed the warnings of one lone scientist. Long live the Empire!

"Long live the Empire," said Janeway softly, "when there are men such as you hi it, Telek R'Mor."

He had never needed this statement. It served no useful purpose, and after their near-brush with the end of everything, Janeway realized that the less that was known about how close they had come, the better. Gently, she thumbed the controls and deleted the transcript.

She placed the empty padd down, and turned off the lights.

The End

Table of Contents

Start