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He rushed toward the big metal structure that the aliens had been dragging the pods into. Giotto peeked through the open door, careful not to show too much of himself. There were various craft and a number of aliens moving pods and other devices. Ceiling-mounted lights bathed everything in an intense orange glow, leaving few shadows to hide in. Taking everything in, Giotto picked a route, staying close to the wall on the left, where a stack of small containers afforded him a spot to assess the situation.

Where was the captain? He must be in here. Hopefully he hadn’t already been caught.

It seemed reasonable to assume the captain might be hiding. Giotto performed a quick visual search of the likely spots. Nothing near the two big craft. Nothing on the other side of the hangar, where some shuttle-sized vehicles stood. From the corner of his eye, he spotted a flash of gold in front of the closest craft’s landing legs. Giotto turned his head to get a better look. It was the captain, but Giotto had no idea how to get to him unnoticed.

The captain was apparently looking for a way into the transport. He was now hiding behind the landing leg, doing his best not to expose himself to the continuous line of aliens moving pods into the ship. However, if Giotto had seen him, it was likely some of the aliens would, too. Giotto breathed deeply, preparing for a sprint across the hangar floor. What he needed was an opportunity, something that drew the aliens’ attention away from his position.

Three Farrezzi pushed a large cart loaded with pods over to the ramp and into the gaping hole in its belly, only to reappear moments later with an empty cart. They were strange-looking beings, with their gangly legs like elephants’ trunks that constantly rolled up and extended, a motion that made him dizzy. Once they left, Giotto expected more to follow, but none came. This was his opportunity.

He’d barely crossed half the distance when squeaks and screams assaulted him from all directions. His heart stopped for a moment. Had he been discovered? Momentum carried him to the transport, where his sudden appearance gave the captain a nasty shock.

“Commander—” Kirk began, but stopped when all hell broke loose on the other side of the hangar. Giotto peeked past the landing leg, which was wide enough to give both of them cover.

Giotto expected a barrage of weapons fire to hit them. What were the slave traders doing? He couldn’t see much from where they were, but the traders weren’t coming over. They had stopped and now were talking to each other in hurried bursts of high-pitched squeaks, their attention focused on the door.

Hell, Giotto didn’t like not knowing what was going on. A look at the captain told him Kirk felt the same. “Sir,” Giotto whispered, “we should get out of here. They’ll spot us soon.”

Kirk shook his head. “I’m not leaving, Commander. And I remember ordering you to leave.”

“Crew, captain, ship. The crew is safe. My next duty is to you, even if that means disobeying your orders, sir.”

“I don’t like it, mister.”

“The situation calls for it.” Giotto had to divide his attention between Kirk and the Farrezzi rushing toward the door. They weren’t coming for them. He faced the captain grimly. “I had to, sir.”

“This isn’t over.” There was a hardness to Kirk’s voice. “Let’s free our crewmen.”

“Aye, sir.” Giotto changed the subject. “What do you think got them all riled up?”

“It better not be anything to do with the rest of the team,” said Kirk.

On his way back from auxiliary control, McCoy found he was pleased with himself. It was his idea to push back at this other universe.

One problem solved—well, almost—one still left. His five patients were still in comas, and he hadn’t gotten any closer to finding a solution. Nothing he tried caused more than a blip on the monitor, before every reading resumed its descent. If what was happening to the ship was related to their comas, maybe the engineers’ solution would work.

Not likely. Between Padmanabhan’s theory about this other universe’s nonquantum