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Duffy didn’t know how, but Captain Gold had managed to out-think what they couldn’t figure out down here. The guy never ceased to amaze.

“ Da Vinci ’s moving off to a safe distance,” Bart said. “No damage, from what I can tell from here.”

“Okay,” Duffy said, letting out a long breath he felt like he’d been holding since everything went crazy. “Now it’s up to us. We’re inside this Beast and in the driver’s seat. I want control back in this room, or I want this ship dead in space, flatuseless. We go after both, people. We shut down those shields and cut the weapons.”

“And if that doesn’t work?” Bart asked.

“Then, if we have to, we blow up this monster.”

He made sure he caught the gaze of everyone, to see if they understood.

They all did.

“Let’s get to work,” he said. “All shortcuts are allowed. I have a sneaking hunch we don’t have much time.”

CHAPTER

12

“We’re not getting in that lift,” Lieutenant Vale said, her voice firm as they ran away from the viewport.

“Agreed,” Gomez said. She held up her hand and had them all stop just short of the lift. Then she turned to Dr. Lense. “In your best guess, how long until those things in there are big enough to get out of that core?”

“And come after us physically, instead of through the ship’s systems?” Dr. Lense asked.

“Exactly,” Gomez said.

“An hour, maybe a little more, but I wouldn’t count on it from the rate of their growth and their food supply in there. It might be only thirty minutes.”

Gomez nodded. She didn’t much like the answer, but at least the answer wasn’t now. They had a little time.

“Somehow,” Gomez said, “we have to reach the secondary control room.”

“I doubt that’s going to help,” Geordi said.

“I agree with Geordi,” Dr. Lense said. “They are controlling the ship from connections in that docking area, using the power of the hive-mind to tap into the ship’s computer and override everything.”

“How the heck do you know all that?” Geordi asked.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this kind of thing,” Dr. Lense answered. “During the war—one of the Dominion’s subject races . . . It wasn’t these creatures, exactly, but it’s close enough for me to make a guess.”

“We—”

“—agree with—”

“—the doctor,” 110 and 111 said.

“So we need to cut the power to the docking bay,” Gomez said.

“Exactly,” Geordi said. “Two decks above us in the engine room would be the place to do that.”

Both Bynars nodded in unison. “We can—”

“—cut power there—”

“—easily.”

“Access to climbing tube?” Gomez demanded, pulling out her tricorder. “Find us one fast.”

“Here!” Vale said, moving to a side panel and yanking off the covering. There was a ladder inside.

“Vale, take point,” Gomez said, “Doctor, you follow her as close as you can stay.”

“You got it,” Dr. Lense said as Vale headed into the tube and started climbing.

“I’ll guard the flank,” Geordi said.

Gomez nodded and indicated the two Bynars should follow Dr. Lense.

She was amazed at how fast they managed to climb that ladder. By the time she ducked out onto the deck of the engineering area, both the Bynars were at a terminal, using their computer-fast speech to form a connection to the computer.

Vale was guarding them and Dr. Lense, who was studying her tricorder and frowning.

Gomez stopped Geordi as he came out behind her. On the way up the ladder, she had realized that maybe the hive-mind wasn’t completely telepathic at such a young age. Broadcasting a thought at close range might be easy, but she wagered that listening to some thoughts two decks away might still have to be done through the ship’s systems.

So she whispered in his ear. “I want a way to blow this ship out of space.”

“We can do it,” Geordi whispered back. “I can set these black-hole engines to cascade. But damn it—I can’t help feeling that if Captain Picard were here, he’d have found a way to reason with these creatures. Turning an enemy into a friend is better than . . .”

“Geordi, I wish they were giving us that option. If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll order you to take this ship down.”

Geordi stared at her.

“I outrank you now. This