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Chakotay shook his head. “We don’t know much about the Nacene. We do know that their technology was far beyond ours. And both the Caretaker and Suspiria built arrays from which they carried out their experiments.”

“But those arrays were nothing like this. The only thing we’ve found in the Delta Quadrant that even resembles this technology were the communications arrays that the Hirogen were using powered by microsingularities.”

“The Caretaker called Suspiria his mate,” Chakotay said, “but neither of them ever said they were the only Nacene to enter our galaxy. They were explorers. Maybe they weren’t alone.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Janeway said finally.

“May I make a suggestion, Captain?” Chakotay asked.

Janeway replied with a sharp nod.

“I know this technology is fascinating. We could spend weeks studying it and barely scratch the surface. But given the fact that Assylia’s message could be construed as a warning, that it’s possible that the Nacene have had either a hand or an interest in creating this system and the array, I think it would be wise to simply find Tuvok and get out of here as soon as possible.”

Janeway considered this carefully. The array was alluring. But she shared Chakotay’s concerns. Finally she said, “Once we’re on board we’ll transport Tuvok directly to sickbay, and we’ll send an away team to the Monorhan ship. Otherwise, we’ll hold off on any purely exploratory missions for the time being.”

Chakotay relaxed a little. “Yes, Captain,” he said, and set about sending revised orders out to the teams he had already assembled.

The ship suddenly rocked forty-five degrees on its axis, throwing Janeway from her seat. Through the explosion of several plasma relays, she saw Lieutenant Paris clawing his way from the floor back to the conn. The bridge was bathed only in the red-black darkness of the emergency lighting system.

Pulling herself up on her hands and knees, Janeway shouted, “Report!”

Ensign Kim’s was the first voice she heard through the confusion of alarms.

“We’ve encountered the singularity’s event horizon, Captain,” he shouted.

She felt the firm grasp of Chakotay’s hand on her arm, helping her to her feet. In the space of a few seconds, Paris had regained his seat at the conn and the bridge had been returned to an angle that made standing, or at the very least staying in your seat, possible.

Tossing a glance toward the main viewscreen, she saw that her relatively placid view of the array’s docking bays had been replaced by the swirling vortex of the singularity.

“We’re still outside the array. How is this possible?” Janeway demanded.

Harry’s hands were flying over the controls.

“I don’t know Captain. According to our calculations, the existence of the horizon at any point outside the area of the array’s rings was theoretically possible, but highly unlikely.”

Voyager rocked again, but Janeway noted with some satisfaction that most of the bridge crew was prepared to hang on this time.

“Mr. Paris, adjust our heading to take us away from the array and go to full impulse.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Tom managed through clenched teeth as he willed the ship to hold together long enough for him to lay in the new course.

Harry’s voice was strained, but controlled as he informed the bridge, “Shields at sixty percent.”

“Mr. Paris?” Janeway asked.

“Going to full impulse… now.”

The ship shuddered violently beneath them.

“Shields at forty percent.”

“The new course is laid in, Captain, but our impulse engines can’t pull us free of the gravity well.”

Janeway cursed silently as Voyager slipped inexorably toward the center of the singularity.

“B’Elanna,” Janeway shouted over the comm, “reroute all available power systems to the impulse drive.”

“It’s already done, Captain! Impulse engines are running at forty percent over maximum capacity now!” B’Elanna screamed over the chaos.

Janeway was running out of options.

The loneliness was gone. The pain was gone. Tuvok stood on the ridge of a vast, barren plain. Below him, hundreds of thousands