String Theory_ Fusion (Book 2) - Kirsten Beyer [137]
“Another unforeseen effect?” Janeway asked.
“They are of no consequence,” Phoebe thundered.
“How can you say that?” Janeway replied in disbelief. “Just because they weren’t a part of your highly flawed plan, that doesn’t change the fact that they exist in their present form because of choices you and your people made. Like it or not, they are now of you, and they belong in Exosia. Not to mention the fact that unlike you, they are clearly mortal and will be destroyed when the array explodes. Any that might escape would at best be damned to eternal purgatory within this system, wouldn’t they?” she demanded.
“Each of them has the power to generate another spore,” Phoebe replied. “That which lives within them is necessary for us to reenter Exosia. I will lead them from this place and harvest the spores they possess.”
“Will they survive that process, and will you allow them to follow you into Exosia when you do return?” Janeway asked.
“Of course,” Phoebe said.
Janeway wasn’t fooled. She studied the chamber. Its floor was littered with dead Monorhans, and she didn’t imagine for one moment that the pile of spores wriggling at the feet of the Nacene had materialized out of thin air.
“I’m sorry, Phoebe,” she said finally. “I wanted to help you. I truly did. But you and I both know that in order for you to get what you need, one way or another these beings will die.”
“Why do you care?” Phoebe demanded.
“Because I’m not in the habit of placing my own needs above those of innocent life-forms. I would think you’d know that by now. Their rights are no less important to me than yours. And I share a sympathy with them that I cannot find for you or your people. They are not responsible for what has happened here, and they do not deserve to die now because of your ignorance or arrogance. I’m sorry, Phoebe,” she said again. “Our reality is bound by time, and yours has now run out.”
Raising her voice to address the Nacene assembled behind her, Janeway called out, “Those of you who wish to return home should make use of the spores that remain. Those who do not will have to find another way.”
“Kathryn… you can’t…” Phoebe said.
“Oh, but I can,” Janeway replied.
Janeway fell to her knees at the base of the sphere and moved to put the Key in its place.
But Phoebe had one final card left to play. “You will not survive this,” she warned. “The conduit can only be opened by its owner because the life force of the owner is required to sustain it.”
Janeway paused for a fraction of a second.
She’d known this too. Not the mechanism of her death, but the probability of it. Her gut impulse to make sure Chakotay and the others were returned safely to Voyager had risen from the belief that whatever course she chose, she was probably not going to leave this chamber alive.
She thought of the Caretaker.
He’d had another choice. He could have left the Ocampa to the Kazon and saved himself by returning to Gremadia. But his sense of duty and responsibility, values that he could have learned only from his interaction with the lesser beings of this dimension, values that Janeway was certain Phoebe had failed to truly absorb despite the depth and breadth of her experiences, had led him to sacrifice himself to ensure the survival of those whose planet he had all but destroyed.
“We are more alike than you think, Phoebe,” Janeway replied. “I have seen the compassion other Nacene have been capable of. I suggest, when this is done, you look harder at yourself and the options before you. Find a way to solve the problem that does not include the wanton destruction of those you think of as lesser beings. We may not be immortal, but there’s a lesson in our mortality that you still need to learn.”
“What is that, Kathryn?” Phoebe asked.
“There are some things worth dying for.”
Phoebe was, as Janeway had said, out of time. But in the split second it took her to martial her energy to stop Janeway’s heart in her chest and prevent