“Oh, Mom,” Jase said, “Mom!”

Garrett gave him a fierce hug, held her son’s face between her hands, and said shakily, “If you weren’t too old…”

“Rachel.” Garrett turned around. Stern was running her tricorder over Kaldarren’s prostrate form, but when she raised her eyes to Garrett, her face was grim.

Heart sinking, Garrett knelt by Kaldarren. “Ven,” she said. She swallowed hard and ran her hand, still gloved, along his brow. “Ven, can you hear me?”

She had to call his name twice more before he responded. “Rachel,” Kaldarren said, his voice breaking. The muscles of his face twitched and danced. “Rachel, you have to leave…you have to take Jase away…away from here.”

“Sshh,” said Garrett, blinking back sudden tears. In an instant, the years of hurt and disappointments, all the acrimony and recriminations, were erased, and she saw only the man she had once loved with all her heart: the man who had been her lover, her steadfast friend, her most ardent critic. The father of the son they both loved. “Ven, let us try to help you, let us…”

“You can’t.” Kaldarren’s head rolled back and forth in weak protest. “You…can’t. They’re inme and I can’t breakaway, I can’t…”

“Don’t talk. We’ll get you aboard the ship.”

“Rachel.” Stern reached out and gripped Garrett’s wrist. “Rachel, I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that.”

“What?” Jase cried.

Halak put a hand on the boy’s shoulder, but Jase didn’t seem to notice. His face was a mask of anguish and disbelief. “You have to help him!” Jase cried. “He’s my dad!”

“Tell me, Jo,” said Garrett, her heart swelling with dread. “Just tell me.”

Stern exhaled her breath in a long sigh. “I’m sorry. God, I’d give anything to tell you differently, Rachel, but the fact is I don’t even know where to start. His brain wave patterns are changing; these things are like a wave propagating on itself and getting stronger and stronger by the minute. His cortical activity has jumped threefold; the levels of serotonin, epinephrine, GABA, PGBC, they’re going through the roof. He’s fighting, but these other thingsare just getting stronger, chipping away at his mental defenses. Who knows where this will end, or how strong he’ll… they’llbe at the end. Or what he’ll become.”

“So what are you saying?”

“You know already. You can’t bring this aboard the ship.”

Garrett could only gape. “Leavehim here? But you said that only telepaths were affected.”

“Only telepaths can hostwhatever this is. But you have no idea how powerful he’ll be when the transformation is complete. For that matter, you don’t know that they won’t find someone more compatible aboard Enterprise.”

“Mom.” Garrett twisted around to see Jase, the tears streaming down his face unchecked. “Mom, don’t let her do it! Don’t lether!”

“Son,” said Halak, reaching for Jase’s shoulder. “Don’t make this harder for your mother than it already is.”

“What do youknow?” Jase batted Halak’s hand away. “How do you know what’s hard?” he shouted, his face contorted with his grief and fury. “How do you know?”

“I know,” said Halak. “Sometimes love means making hard choices because that’s all there are.”

Halak’s eyes drifted to Garrett’s then back to Jase. “Mourn your dad. Grieve for him. But take a good hard look at your father and then tell me that your mother’s wrong.”

“No, no,” Jase moaning, his chest convulsing with sobs, “he’s not dead, I’m not ready, I’m not ready for this, I don’t want to seethis. It’s not fair.” Jase turned aside and buried his face in Halak’s chest. Jase began to cry in that open-mouthed despairing way of young children when their heart is breaking. “It’s not fair, I’m not ready, I’m not ready!”

“It’s all right,” said Halak, wrapping his arms around Jase’s shoulders. He held the boy. “It’s all right.”

Garrett’s vision blurred with tears. She felt Kaldarren’s fingers scrabbling at her wrist. She turned back; Kaldarren’s dark eyes were fixed on hers.

“Listen to your doctor,” he said, his voice hitching. A spasm of pain made his face twist. “She’s right. If I go aboard your ship…if they find…a more compatible match, they will…will hop. Rachel, they can’t die, and they are more of them here, they’ll bring others, they’ll… forcethem, and I’m not sure how…how much longer I can…I can…”

“Don’t talk,” said Garrett, hot tears tracking down her cheeks. She clutched his hand to her chest. “Ven, please, please, don’t talk.”

“No,” Kaldarren hissed. “You have to listen. My data…my data.”He subsided, took a deep breath, and seemed to gather the last of his strength. “Tricorder has it all. Take that with you. Don’t let this be…be for nothing. Don’t…” His back arched, and his teeth clenched in a sudden spasm. “Don’t!”

“Ven!” cried Garrett desperately. To Stern: “Dosomething! Anything!”

Face set, Stern fitted a hypo and jetted the solution into the angle of Kaldarren’s neck. Almost instantly, Kaldarren’s muscles relaxed; his head lolled to one side.

Garrett looked up, apprehension etched into her features. “Did you…?” The words died on her lips, but her meaning was clear: Did you kill him?

They had known each other so long Stern read Garrett perfectly. “Not my call to make, Rachel. That was just a strong painkiller.”

Stern replaced her hypospray, then pushed up and bent over Pahl. There was an atonal whirling sound as she ran her tricorder over the boy. “This one, we can help. Jase was right; there’s nothing here. Far as I can tell, his brain’s shut down, that’s all. Traumatic withdrawal. The sooner we get him aboard, the less psychological damage there’ll be.” When Garrett didn’t respond, Stern continued, “Rachel, we don’t have much time.”

“What do you mean?” asked Halak. Jase had quieted, but he still held the boy in his arms. “What’s going on, Captain?”

“One word,” said Stern, pushing to her feet. She winced as her knees cracked. “Cardassians.”

The color drained from Halak’s face. The face he turned to Garrett was grave. “Captain?”

Without looking up, Garrett nodded. “In a minute. Jase.”

Halak felt Jase stir, and in another moment, the boy lifted his face from the hollow of Halak’s chest. Jase’s face was splotchy and swollen from crying, but his eyes were dry now, his tears spent. Without another word, he disengaged himself from Halak’s arms, and Halak let him go.

Jase dropped to his knees. Put his arms around his father’s neck. “I love you, Dad,” he whispered into Kaldarren’s ear. “I’ll always love you.”

There was no indication that Kaldarren heard, and after a few seconds, Jase kissed his father’s cheek and stood. He backed away until he stood a few inches from Halak.

Halak didn’t touch him. He said only, “It’s hard, son.”

The boy nodded but didn’t turn around. Wordlessly, they watched Garrett.

Still kneeling by Kaldarren’s side, Garrett pulled first her right then her left hand from their respective gloves and let her bare fingers trail over Kaldarren’s features. She closed her eyes. This is what it’s like to be blind and so you memorize the face of the person you love and you pour all your love into a single touch.

Garrett touched Kaldarren’s face again and again: tracing his broad forehead, that fine nose, his high cheekbones. And something extraordinary happened. With every pass of her hand, Kaldarren’s face softened beneath her fingers; the deep lines etched on his face smoothed; and she heard his breathing grow less labored and more like sleep. At last, Kaldarren exhaled a long, deep sigh.

It’s his soul.Garrett knew this was absurd, but the thought sprang to her mind anyway. He’s letting go, but I’m here, I have him, and I’ll carry his soul like memory.

Finally, Garrett ceased. She opened her eyes, sat back on her heels, and let her hands rest on her thighs. She stared down at Kaldarren for a long moment.