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“Yes, that’s right. They were afraid that we’d come to cause them harm and wanted us to leave. So whenever we tried to transport or land a shuttle, a storm would appear at those precise coordinates.” Despite himself, Chakotay knew he really was curious.

Moset grinned. “And being the intelligent people that you are, you no doubt noticed that something similar happened here. That there was a storm centered over the colony site.”

Chakotay nodded.

“Our…technology…isn’t quite as exact as that of the Sky Spirits, but we’re working on it. Would you like to see how we controlled the weather?”

“Yes,” Chakotay replied. Even Sekaya, hate-fueled and in pain as she was, was listening in on the conversation with growing interest.

Moset grinned even wider and hastened out the door. A moment later he returned with a small ape-like creature loping at his heels and holding his hand. The creature reminded Chakotay of a cross between a chimpanzee and a young mugato. It opened its mouth to chitter, and Chakotay saw long, sharp teeth. The small hand that curled trustingly around Moset’s fingers was tipped with long claws. A strange and unusual creature, no doubt, but why had Moset brought it when they had just been discussing weather control technology?

“Kaymar,” said Moset in a voice full of affection. “Kaymar, eyes here.” He brought his fingers to his own eyes, and the creature looked at him intently. “Good boy.” He stepped forward and brought up an image on one viewscreen of a storm raging, and a second image that showed the colony site. The sun was bright and the sky blue.

“Kaymar,” Moset said, pointing toward the first screen, “make a storm.”

The creature hooted softly and screwed up its face. A second or two later, Chakotay saw the image of the colony site grow dark as clouds rushed to fill the sky. He couldn’t hear the thunder, but he saw the flashes of lightning and the torrential downpour.

Kaymar grunted and held out his hand for a treat.

“This,” said Moset proudly, “is Kaymar. He is our weather control technology.”

“But—how—” Sekaya asked, then bit her lip.

“These creatures are my latest experiment. They’re my reward for helping Katal.” Moset turned to the replicator and instructed, “Ulyu.” A few moments later a large, red, soft-fleshed fruit appeared. He handed it to the creature, who began to devour it with delight.

“They were once just human, but now they’re better than that. This one controls the weather technology. Another, when his brain is hooked up to a scanner, can telepathically communicate with us.”

Moset looked at Chakotay, his eyes bright with passion and triumph. “The Sky Spirits gave you just the slightest hint of what they can do, Chakotay. Even you, with your fresh infusion, can’t hold a candle to what they really are. In your logs, which Katal was kind enough to obtain for me while he was masquerading as Ellis, you mentioned that the aliens lived very crudely, very close to the land. Well, this is why. They could mentally create anything they needed. Their shelter was just the most basic symbol. They could control the temperature inside the shelters, whether or not the rain penetrated—even telepathically summon animals to be their meals, or locate fruits and vegetables that were safe to eat. And frankly, my research is leading me to believe that they could actually create their food and other items out of thin air.”

“Great Spirit,” breathed Sekaya. “They were gods, after all.”

Moset gave a condescending chuckle. “I believe you have a saying, and we have a similar one: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Think of how a transporter or a replicator might appear to primitive people, of how—”

“But this isn’t technology,” Sekaya interrupted. “These are mental abilities.”

“Quantum physics in action,” said Moset, settling back and assuming a professorial air. “The Sky Spirits—I do hate calling them that, but you never did get a proper name for their species, Captain—have certain physical genetic markers