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Worf had dropped to one knee, so his back could straighten. He stared into the dark hole. “Does it narrow further?”

‘No, this is as narrow as it gets.”

He moved forward on all fours, tracing the edges of the rough opening with his hands. “I will fit, but it will be… tight.”

‘I will lead the way, then.” Talanne bent nearly double and stepped into the tunnel. The light flickered and bounced off the rock like something alive.

‘You go next, Counselor,” Worf said.

‘I think I’ll let you go next,” Troi said.

‘If I become… stuck you will be trapped behind me.”

‘If you become stuck, I can push from behind and Colonel Talanne can pull.”

‘I hope that will not be necessary,” Worf said. His discomfort at the thought of such monumental embarrassment made Troi smile. She was glad he could not see her face. Worf didn’t like being laughed at.

Worf crawled into the tunnel on all fours. His shoulders scraped the walls with a rough sound that spoke of scraped skin under the cloth.

Once Worf was inside the tunnel, it was like a cork in a bottle. Talanne’s light was gone, swallowed except for a thin glow that haloed Worf’s head. Troi and Breck were left in the velvet dark. Breck’s breathing was instantly louder, gaspy. “Why don’t you go next?” she said.

‘No, I am the sentinel. I will guard your back.” His voice was uncertain, full of fear and the beating of his own heart. “Healer, please, let me do my job.”

Troi didn’t offer again. Breck was afraid, but he would face his fear like a stoic warrior.

Troi crawled into the tunnel, eyes on the thin line of light and Worf’s dark bulk. The motionless air was like a hand squeezing at her throat, making it hard to breathe. The rock crushed inward, and sweat broke out on her body. Under enough pressure, Breck, too, was a broadcasting empath. She was on a planet where nearly every person had some wild talent. It was no place for an empath. And the tunnel was no place for a claustrophobic.

Worf stopped. Troi tried to peer around him, but the light was just a rim, like an eclipsed moon.

‘Why have we stopped?” Breck asked. His voice held an edge of panic that made Troi’s throat tighten.

‘I don’t know.”

There was a sound of wind. Troi thought at first she was imagining it, but air was drifting down the tunnel, and a dim glow of gentle yellow light filtered around Worf’s body. He began to crawl forward, then disappeared into a blur of light. Troi blinked into the light. All she could see was a glowing nimbus, as if her eyes had gotten so accustomed to the dark they didn’t know what to do with light.

‘Healer, go forward into the light, please.” Breck’s voice forced Troi to crawl forward into the near blinding glow.

Hands reached for her, pulling her to her feet. Worf stood beside her, while Talanne was a short distance away, a shrouded figure.

Breck came out of the tunnel and leaned against the rock as if to catch his breath. His joy at being out in the open again could not be marred by the desolation around them.

Troi had seen scans of the planet. Raw data, numbers, percentages of this, amounts of that, but the bland information had not really meant anything to Troi. To be told that a planet is dying is awful, but it is an enormity that is hard to believe. You can’t hold it in your hand, or feel it. Troi stood staring, and believed.

The sky was a sulphurous yellow, with thick clouds that rolled and boiled as if some giant hand was stirring the sky. Wind streamed around them, tugging at the heavy capes. The heat was breath-stealing but utterly dry. There had been more moisture in the heat of the caves. Here under the poisonous skies there was nothing but air and dirt.

The wind whipped the powdery dirt into miniature whirlwinds. They danced in a ragged circle. Suddenly, Troi felt an unsettling sensation of being watched prickling down her spine.

Worf reached for his phaser, staring at the whirling dustdevils. “Are they real?” He had to yell above the howling of the wind.

‘It is just dirt and wind,” Talanne yelled back.