Gateways 07_ What Lay Beyond - Diane Carey [64]
She continued her talk, showing images of Neelix and Kes, the Hirogen, the Vidiians, the Caatati, the Malons, and several of the other races Voyager had encountered during its amazing trek. Her mind drifted back to the day when she and her entire crew had been feted with a glorious parade in the heart of San Francisco.
Janeway frowned. Something was not right. She could remember the parade, but not preparing for it, nor what had happened afterward. She glanced down at her notes. They were all gibberish scribblings. There was not a single recognizable word on the padd. And beside the podium at which she stood sat a small doglike creature. When it caught her gaze, its tail began to thump happily.
“Barkley,” she whispered.
Hands shot up. She looked up, confused. “What?”
“Reginald Barclay. The one who made contact with you through Pathfinder. He was the one who brought you home.” Cadet M’Benga looked very pleased with herself.
Feeling somewhat dizzy, Janeway looked down at the creature. No, she hadn’t been talking about Reginald. She’d been talking about this creature. Barkley. Fluffy. Tom and Neelix had argued about naming him, and as far as she had heard, they never had decided…. Her hand went to her temple. A vein throbbed there. She tried to concentrate.
“Admiral Janeway?” It was young Cadet Anson, standing beside the podium. Concern was on her face. “Are you all right?” Tentatively, the girl stretched out a hand and placed it on Janeway’s arm.
Janeway, moved by Anson’s gesture, reached to pat that hand. She froze in midmotion.
“You’re not real,” she said, quietly, but with conviction. Cadet Anson stared back at her, her blue eyes wide with confusion and hurt. Slowly, lowering her gaze, the girl withdrew her hand from Janeway’s arm, curling the fingers closed and hiding it behind her back as if ashamed. Her soft cheeks turned fiery red.
“Admiral?” The voice belonged to Cadet M’Benga.
Janeway tore her gaze from Anson to regard M’Benga steadily.
“I’m not an admiral. I’m Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager. We’re still lost in the Delta Quadrant.” As she stated the words, she knew in her heart the truth of them. Her mind knew it, even though the evidence of her eyes might suggest otherwise. She was missing parts of the homecoming parade day because there never had been a homecoming parade, nor even a homecoming.
Fluffy/Barkley barked.
“We were leading a caravan through dangerous space,” she said, continuing to speak aloud. The cadets had fallen silent and now stared at her as if she had gone mad. Which, she supposed, to their way of looking at things, she had.
Except they weren’t real. None of this was real.
“I stepped through a gateway,” she said, her voice growing louder. “With Fluffy. And I’m not here teaching or attending an Academy class, I’m not on the bridge of the Enterprise, I’m on the other side of that gateway and someone is pulling the strings.”
She picked up the dog, felt the reassuring warmth, the thump of its heart.
“I don’t take kindly to being controlled,” she said aloud to whoever was listening. “Show yourself and let us open a dialogue. I don’t know if you’re trying to make me feel more at home or are simply toying with me. Either way, it’s not working. I can see through it. “The cadets disappeared. The room remained. Janeway took a deep breath and strode out the door.
It was the fragrance that registered first. She breathed in the scent of freshly cut grasses, the sweetness of flowers she could identify apple blossom and roses, honeysuckle and freesia and some achingly wonderful smells she couldn’t. The light was bright, but her eyes adjusted quickly to behold one of the most tranquil scenes she’d ever had the good fortune to witness.
Green grass, waving in the gentle breeze that had carried the delectable scents to her nose, stretched as far as the eye could see. Over there