Distant Shores - Marco Palmieri [111]
Tom looked back with an attempt at an innocent look-something he was never very good at. “Well what?”
“Where is it? Where’s your wisecrack about poor Harry, falling for the wrong woman again? A hologram, Tal, the wrong twin, and now- ” He broke off. The look in Tom’s eyes made him angry. “You can’t say it, can you? You feel sorry for me. Sorry for her.”
“Well, what do you want me to say, Harry?” Tom asked. “You want me to make light of her situation? Would you like it if I were that callous?”
“I just don’t want your pity!”
“Look, what are you complaining about? You’re not the one with a month left to live!”
Harry winced at that, clenching his fists. He whirled and pounded them against the corridor wall. After a moment, he felt Tom’s hand on his shoulder. “She really has gotten to you, hasn’t she? I mean, I could see you were interested, but this…”
“I don’t know how to explain it. She’s… I mean, she’s smart and strong and attractive, of course. But…”
“But there’s more.”
“There is. I guess… knowing what she’s been through, what’s-what’s going to happen to her, it… I don’t know.”
“It makes you care,” Tom said softly.
“Yeah.”
“Even though- “
“Yeah.”
“Damn.” There was a long silence. “So what are you gonna do about it?”
“I don’t know. Nothing. What can I do?”
Tom nodded. “Good idea. That’s probably best. Just try not to think about it. Concentrate on your duties, practice your clarinet, play Buster Kincaid on the holodeck…”
“And in a month it’ll be over and I can forget she ever existed?” Harry shot back.
“Something like that,” Tom said after a moment.
“That’s pretty cold.”
“Maybe. But it’s the easiest way out of this. The safest way. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
Harry had no answer.
Chakotay looked around wistfully as he strode through the Markonian outpost for the last time. It was indeed a remarkable place, this vast cosmopolitan trading town floating in the void. The Markonians had once been a refugee people, fleeing the destruction of their world and forced to adopt a nomadic life-not unlike his own ancestors or his fellow Maquis. But they’d flourished in that life, becoming ubiquitous as traders, explorers, and diplomats. Without a homeworld, they were generally seen as a neutral party, and had proven valuable in defusing territorial conflicts and building bridges of trust. Now they were at the vanguard of a flourishing interstellar community which could well be a new Federation in the making. He regretted that he couldn’t stay around to watch it happen.
Not that it would be easy, Chakotay was reminded as he rounded a corner and nearly collided with a party of Voth. He stepped aside, trying not to stare. Even knowing the Voth had transwarp, it was still surprising to see them here, over forty thousand light-years from the site of their first encounter.
The Voth had been one of Voyager’s most remarkable discoveries in the Delta Quadrant, though ironically they came from home-the descendants of an intelligent dinosaur species which had left or been removed from Earth before the Cretaceous/Tertiary extinction. Their civilization had endured here for millions of years, owing its stability to a rigid social and political structure which cracked down brutally on original ideas-such as the idea that the Voth were not native to the quadrant. Voyager’s presence had threatened that dogma, and the ship had only survived through the sacrifice of the Voth’s most original thinker, Professor Gegen, who had voluntarily suppressed his Distant Origin theory in exchange for Voyager’s freedom.
The deal still rankled with Chakotay, but there had been little he could do about it. There was certainly nothing to be gained by confronting them now; it was just fortunate that these Voth seemed content to leave Voyager alone, so long as it continued its journey away from their space. So he simply did his best to avoid eye contact as he passed by.
A moment later he was surprised to hear a tentative voice call his name. He turned to see a solitary Voth gesturing to him from a dim side corridor. He approached slowly,