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He’s lying. Don’t listen to him. He must die with the others.

“No—no, you don’t deserve to die, Captain.”

The captain half-smiled. “I’m relieved to hear that. Especially since I’m the only way you can get off this world.”

Tharia frowned. “Don’t be insane. I’ve a ship.”

“Not anymore you don’t.” The Earther gave him a quizzical look. “It was destroyed. Don’t you remember?”

“We landed without incident, Captain. I will tolerate no more lies from you!”

“I haven’t lied,” the Earther said quickly. “Check for yourself—the shuttle you came down on was wrecked.”

He is lying. Kill him.

Ignoring the voice, Tharia went to the computer from which he had contacted the Earther’s ship earlier. He ordered the sensors to train in on the area where his shuttle had landed.

His antennae stood up straight on his head. A building had collapsed nearby—no doubt the victim of Tharia’s own doings with the gift as he had used it to wreak havoc on this world as he had on Nramia—and horribly damaged the shuttle some time after he had taken over this building.

Tharia was no engineer. He could operate a computer with the best of them, make it do whatever he wanted it to, but he had no skill with actually putting the pieces together. That was B’Elanna’s job.

But B’Elanna was probably dead now, destroyed with the Geronimo.

He was trapped here.

No. You can go anywhere you want, be anything you want. I can help you achieve your goal.

“It seems you’re right, Captain. What do you propose?”

No! Do not negotiate! Kill him now! You can take his ship!

The Earther said, “If you turn yourself and the artifact over to us, I’ll make sure that you get a fair trial.”

“I can’t do that. The Cardassians must—must be—be destroyed.”Yes, they must be destroyed.”I can’t allow you to take my gift from me.”Together, we will achieve your goals.

“But there aren’t any Cardassians!” the Earther said. “And you have no way of getting off this world.”

“Yes, I do, Captain.” Of course. It all made sense again. This Earther had to die so Tharia could take over his ship. It was simple. Why didn’t he see it before?

Together, we will triumph.

Tharia unholstered his phaser.

“Drop it, Tharia.”

Whirling around, Tharia saw Chakotay, along with two others, an Earther and a Vulcan, whom he did not recognize. In fact, he barely recognized Chakotay—his clothes were in disarray, his hair was wet and sticking out in all directions, and he had mud smudged on his face. He was also pointing a phaser at Tharia, as was the other Earther. The Vulcan only had a tricorder.

“You’re dead,” Tharia said. “You can’t be real, I killed you.”

“Not quite.”

The Earther captain stepped forward. “Who are you?”

“My name is Chakotay, Captain DeSoto. Tharia’s my problem, not yours. Your best bet is to stay out of this.”

Smiling, the Earther said, “It became my problem the minute your friend started killing people. I can’t just walk away from that.”

“Shut up, all of you!” Tharia cried. He pointed his phaser at Chakotay. “Why aren’t you dead?”

The other Earther said, “I saved him.”

“Now we want to save you,” Chakotay said. “The artifact changed you, Tharia. Turned you into something you aren’t. I know you—you’d never kill indiscriminately like that. You’d certainly never leave your comrades for dead.” He stepped forward. “You have to let that thing go.”

Don’t listen to him. He just wants me for himself.

“Shut up! You’re not real!” Tharia himself was not sure to whom he directed the comment—the gift or the shade of Chakotay.

If shade it truly was. It was possible that the Geronimo was rescued. Yes, of course it was.

No! Kill him! Kill him now, before it’s too late!

Thunder rumbled, shaking the building. The room they were in had no windows, but Tharia could hear the rain now pounding against the transparent aluminum of the windows in the outer rooms.

Tharia mentally instructed the gift to lighten up the rainstorm. He needed to think, and this noise wasn’t helping.

The rain did not let up. In fact, it grew louder. The next wave of