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“Okay,” Janeway sighed, massaging her temples. “I’ll try to keep all this in mind, but how much of it do we really know is true?”

Chakotay and Dandibhotla both were silent for several beats, and then the latter shrugged. “None of it. Without time to do a survey or even monitor their electronic broadcasts—assuming they have any—we’re completely making this up as we go along.”

“Hardly an ideal first-contact situation, Captain,” Chakotay echoed. “But keep this in mind: We’re not coming here with any intention in mind except returning their citizens.”

“And offering help,” Janeway added.

“If we can,” Chakotay said.

“There’s always something we can do.”

Chakotay met her eyes, and Janeway could see he was still thinking about their earlier talk. This conversation isn’t over, his gaze said.

Perhaps not yet, she thought, but in the end, the decision is mine.

Chapter 7

“Shalla Kiiy is from a different district of my city-state, Captain,” Ziv explained shortly before the meeting was scheduled to begin. “And speaks a different dialect. I have found I have difficulty understanding her, and your translator may experience the same problems.” His long neck curled to one side in a movement Seven of Nine now recognized as the Monorhan equivalent of a human shrug. Seven had decided some time ago that the shrug was an eloquent gesture and had practiced the necessary movements in private, though thus far she had not found an opportunity to try it. The one who shrugged, she knew, was attempting to communicate a degree of uncertainty, which was a condition Seven rarely experienced. She had considered feigning uncertainty just to see how effectively she could perform, but ultimately could not bring herself to be so duplicitous.

“We appreciate the warning, Captain Ziv. Just to be certain I understand the circumstances, she is not a rih-hara-tan?”

“No. Shalla Kiiy is a member of the Emergency Council, the body that organizes the efforts to save the people of my planet.”

Seven watched Captain Janeway give Tuvok and Chakotay a sidelong glance. This is new information, she thought.

“A planetwide organization?”

Ziv’s head bobbed, his long neck waving back and forth. “Citywide, yes. There are only thirteen cities. Perhaps it would make a difference if you understood there are less than six million people left on Monorha.”

This, too, was a surprise to the captain and her advisors, though Seven didn’t understand why. How could they have missed the signs?

“What was your population at its peak?”

Ziv looked at Jara, the only member of his hara to accompany him to the meeting. Jara responded with a brief burst of tongue clicking. Ziv clacked back, then said, “I am not an expert on these things, Captain, but my guess would be, at its peak, perhaps sixty million.”

“You’ve lost nine-tenths of your population in a century?” Janeway asked.

Ziv nodded impassively.

Chakotay whispered a word Seven did not recognize and filed it away for later research. Likely the name of some deity, she decided.

“My sympathies, Captain,” Janeway said. “I don’t know what else to say.”

“You’ve already helped us more than anyone could have expected,” Ziv said. “As my rih-hara-tan pointed out, we would not even know what happened to ships sent out by the other cities if not for you. Now, perhaps, we can develop some method for protecting ourselves when we cross the threshold out of Monorhan space.”

Seven privately doubted that this would be possible unless something was done about the radiation from the white dwarf, but she kept this opinion to herself. A minute and forty-five seconds later, the image of a Monorhan female appeared on the main viewer. Without anyone else nearby to compare her with, Seven could not judge how tall Shalla Kiiy was, but her body seemed more slender, with smaller forearms than Captain Ziv or any of his hara. Her hair was not so thick as Ziv’s, nor as curly, and Seven saw streaks of gray, perhaps indicating advanced years. Alarmingly, though not unexpected, Kiiy also had a generally unhealthy appearance: pallid skin, rheumy eyes,