Gateways 07_ What Lay Beyond - Diane Carey [76]
“Astrometrics to bridge.” Seven’s voice broke Janeway’s dark musings.
“Go ahead, Seven. What’s the next challenge? Asteroid belt? Black hole?”
“That’s why I’m contacting you,” said Seven, and there was puzzlement and irritation at that puzzlement in her voice. “There are no more challenges.”
Janeway sat upright. “Explain.”
“The route which we charted several days ago is now completely clear. It is normal space ahead for as far as our sensors can determine. We could proceed safely at warp eight, according to my calculations.”
“I don’t understand,” said Janeway. “I saw what you showed us. Four asteroid belts, as I recall. Singularities, red giants, gravity waves…”
“Captain,” and now there was irritation in that smooth voice, “I know precisely what you saw, because I charted it. I was not incorrect. My readings were completely accurate. However, I repeat: None of the obstacles we had anticipated traversing is present. Nothing.”
“Some stellar phenomena are mobile,” said Chakotay, his voice hesitant in the shocked silence that followed Seven’s report.
“Not red giants. Not singularities,” said Janeway. And then she understood.
Q.
She wouldn’t let him send them home, but he obviously had wanted to find some way of thanking her for returning his child’s adored pet. So, if he could not finish this strange odyssey for them, he had at least cleared their path. It would certainly be a safer voyage now, and a shorter one. Silently, she thanked him.
And in her head, she heard an answering: You’re most welcome, Kathy.
“Captain?” Chakotay was looking at her, concerned. She smiled then, an easy, relaxed, heartfelt smile such as she had not indulged in since they had learned about No Man’s Land.
“I say, let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth,” said Janeway. “Mr. Paris, plot us a new course with Seven’s updated data. Straight as the crow flies. Let’s shave a little time off this journey, shall we?”
Paris, too, looked at her with a confused expression in his blue eyes. Then he shrugged, grinned, and said, “Looks like we got a break for once,” then turned back to the conn.
“Something happened,” stated Chakotay. He leaned in toward her.
“Didn’t it?”
Grinning, she, too, leaned in to whisper conspiratorially, “Yes. Something did.”
Then, taking a playful enjoyment in Chakotay’s confusion, she reclined in her chair. She was going to enjoy the next several days, which promised to be uneventful.
Q? she thought.
Yes, Kathy?
You really ought to put a collar on that animal.
The Alpha stood in front of the viewscreen, his eyes on the peculiar fiery ball that Captain Janeway had told them would guide them home. Thus far, he had no reason to question her or the orb itself, which had told them things that had convinced him that it was to be trusted. Shortly after they had parted company with the human captain, they and their vessel had undergone a strange shimmering sensation, during which light-years had been traversed. According to their databanks, they were well on course for home and should arrive within a few hours.
It had been a bizarre encounter, with its share of difficult moments. Yet, as always, the Hirogen had emerged with honor and victory. They had kept their word to the prey, and while he had no problem acknowledging the role Janeway and her vessel had played in showing the Hirogen innocence, the outcome had never been in any real doubt as far as the Alpha was concerned.
Who in their right minds would have believed for a moment that the noble and proud Hirogen, master hunters, would stoop to slaughtering prey that collapsed and died of fright? The very concept was ludicrous. And even if the prey had decided otherwise, more of them would have died than Hirogen, if had come down to it.
Fortunately, it had not. The Alpha loved his life as much as any living creature, and while it would have been no shame to lose it in pursuit of prey, there was nothing to be gained in throwing it away either.
His gaze flickered from the stars to the piece of equipment