Spirit Walk_ Enemy of My Enemy (Book 2) - Christie Golden [77]
The alien flipped around and placed his hand on Chakotay’s chest. “The genetic code is the pathway to accessing these powers. Your sister understands. The mutated colonists have some of these powers, but they have no idea how to control them. They see themselves as monsters, and so monsters they have become. They are lost in this spirit world, as you would be without your sister.”
Chakotay looked behind him and saw the golden cord, strong and radiant, trailing behind him.
When he turned around, his companion had changed again. This time it was a young man who seemed vaguely familiar. He had light brown hair and large eyes.
“My name,” said the young man, “is Wesley Crusher.”
“Report,” snapped Moset. Barely two minutes had elapsed since Chakotay and Sekaya had been sedated. Kaz felt as if it had been hours.
“No change in Sekaya,” Kaz said. “Chakotay’s condition is actually improving.” He touched a pad. “His immune system is .87 percent stronger than before. Seems like this Sky Spirit stuff is suiting him.”
“Any sign of…of rejection of the DNA?”
Kaz knew what he meant. “None,” the Trill replied. “He’s still a man, not a monster.”
“Then I’m going to increase the dosage. We need him as powerful as he can possibly be.”
“Crusher,” said Chakotay, reaching for the name. “That sounds familiar.”
The young man smiled. “I’m Jack and Beverly Crusher’s son. But what’s important now is that I’m studying with a being called the Traveler. My first school, as it were, was your planet.”
Now Chakotay knew where he had heard the name. “You probably know my sister, then. Were—were you there when the Cardassians began their experiments?”
Wesley shook his head. “The Traveler and I had gone on to…other things by that point. But I learned about the Sky Spirits from your people. The Traveler is similar to them in many ways, so he thought that was a good place for me to start my education. This was a world in which humans had been given a genetic bonding as a gift, and could embrace that gift and become something more. I did it. You are doing it right now.”
“Can anyone do this?”
Wesley smiled. “I’m afraid I’m not allowed to tell.”
Chakotay returned the smile. “I guess some things just have to remain mysteries.”
“I’m curious,” Wesley continued. “You’ve been…well…I don’t mean to be rude, but…you’ve been awfully passive. You’ve followed where you were led willingly enough, and that’s important. But why haven’t you tried to test your powers?”
“I didn’t know I was supposed to. I thought someone would come and tell me when it was time to…”
Wesley looked meaningfully at him.
Chakotay laughed. “So, what do I do?”
“What do you most want to do?”
And Chakotay knew what he wanted to do. There was someone who, he knew, was worried about him. Someone he cared deeply for, someone he wanted to reassure that he was all right, more than all right.
And just that quickly, he was there.
The warmth, deep affection, and worry he experienced flowing from the mind of Admiral Kathryn Janeway was almost overwhelming and humbling in its power. He sensed everything: her concern for him and the colonists, her desire to keep the Federation together, her irritability that she was stuck in a conference and couldn’t go do something about the problem herself.
Chakotay chuckled. That was Kathryn, all right. He opened his mind further and there was another presence, physically closer, also deeply concerned. To his surprise, Chakotay realized he was sensing Tom Paris’s mind.
Paris had taken the Flyer to Voyager and had apparently kicked out the actual pilot and taken the helm himself. Because Moset was currently in charge of the colonists—Chakotay was starting to think of them that way, rather than as “creatures” or “monsters,” now that he understood the poignancy of their ordeal—the storms were not as bad as the Changeling wanted them to be. Paris was having a tough time getting Voyager onto the planet, but he was doing it.
Chakotay,