Star Trek_ Generations - J M. Dillard [42]
Riker leaned forward with interest to study Sorans face. When had the holo been taken? One hundred, two hundred years before? Soran looked almost exactly the same. He wore a slight, self-conscious smilebut the intensity Riker had seen on the face behind the disruptor was still there, too. He gazed back at Beverly as her words settled into his consciousness. That was the mission where James Kirk was killed.
She gave a single nod, then pressed a control on the monitor. I checked the passenger manifest of the Lakul. Guess who else was on board?
Riker shruggedthen did a double take as the doctor pressed another control, and a new image appeared on the screen: the smiling face of Guinan.
Soran? Guinan looked up with surprise. Thats a name I havent heard in a long time.
Picard sat beside her in her quarters, which made him feel he was no longer on the Enterprise, but some mysterious, long-dead world. The bulkheads were swathed in intricately patterned gold fabric, the deck covered in tile; in a far comer, an archway led to a small shrine where candles burned before a stone carving of an enigmatic goddess.
Guinan herself sat, arms clasping knees to her chest, against a stack of pillows on an indigo settee. The distant candlelight played across her broad, dark features.
Do you remember him? Picard asked. Sorans cryptic utterance made sense to him now; Soran had known about Robert and René, just as Guinan herself could know, if she wished. But Picard had forced himself to control his grief, to focus on the emergency at hand now; he could not help feeling personally responsible for the destruction of the Amargosa star. If he had simply refused Sorans request to return to the observatory
The outcome would still be the same, Jean-Luc, Guinan said softly. He would have returned, with or without your permission.
Picard glanced up, mildly startled at the interruption, then returned her small, knowing smile and repeated, Do you remember him?
Oh, yes … The smile faded at once. She rose and began to move about, as if trying to escape memories.
Guinan, he said, after a moment had passed in silence. Its important that you tell me what you know. We think Sorans developed a weapona terrible weapon. It might give him enough power to
Soran doesnt care about power or weapons, she interrupted, her back still toward him. All he cares about is getting back to the nexus.
Whats the nexus?
She moved across the room to a credenza and distractedly fingered a small sculpture there. Picard could not see her face, but he could read in her shoulders the tension, the unwillingness, there. He heard her draw in a low, decisive breath.
The energy ribbon that destroyed the Lakul isnt just some random phenomenon traveling through space. She spoke with sudden rapidity, as though afraid if she didnt get the words out swiftly, they might never come. Its a doorway. It leads to another placethe nexus. It doesnt exist in our universe … and it doesnt play by the same rules, either. She straightened. Its a place Ive tried very hard to forget.
What happened to you? Picard probed gently.
She turned to him, her expression radiant at the memory. It was like being inside … joy. As if joy were a real thing that I could wrap around myself. Ive never been so content. Her tone was hushed with awe.
He studied her in silence a moment, digesting the euphoria on her face, remembering the desperation on Sorans. But then you were beamed away …
Her features darkened with sudden anger. I was pulled away. I didnt want to leave. None of us did. All I could think about was getting back. I didnt care what I had to do …
She moved to an observation window and looked out at darkness and stars. Eventually, I learned to live with it. But it changed me.
Your sixth sense, Picard murmured, and when she did