by Неизвестный
"I resent that," Quark said huffily. "My forgeries are anything but typ-never mind."
"Captain," Kira said, "we're wasting our time with this."
But Jake could see that Kira's argument had made his father think of something else. "Just a minute, Major. Let's accept that this simulation doesn't match
an existing lunar village. But could it match an ancient one?"
"Lunar villages aren't that ancient, sir. The oldest ones, even going right back to the first landings, would only be a thousand years old."
Jake understood the reason for his father's quick smile. It didn't mean that he was taking what Kira said lightly. His amusement stemmed from the fact that Bajoran culture went so far back that a thousand years to them was like a long weekend to anyone else.
"Forgive me, Major." Sisko's apology was sincere. "Rather than 'ancient,' let's say 'old.' Could this repre-sent an old lunar village?"
Kira turned around to stare back at the simulation. "Well, the architecture is right, even if the layout isn't. But if the Red Orbs are supposed to have been split up ten thousand years ago, how could one of them have been buried on a Bajoran moon one thousand years ago?"
"Maybe someone's keeping track of them," Jake suggested.
Kira shook her head. "Oh, no, Jake, you can't have it both ways. Either the Orbs are hidden or they're not. It doesn't make sense for anyone to be moving around Orbs that supposedly can never be brought together."
"Of course," Bashir said slowly, "there is one way for everyone to be right."
That the doctor suddenly had everyone's undivided attention was an understatement. Jake felt a little envi-ous that Bashir and not he might be about to solve the mystery, but he was excited, too, to be here on the spot, as his father's murder investigation proceeded to its solution, step by step. All of this was vastly prefer-
able to being sequestered somewhere safe while all the really interesting activities on the station were going on without him.
The doctor gave a little bow toward Major Kira. "What if these Orbs are forgeries, but ones manufac-tured a thousand years ago which would give them certain air of authenticity. This would make them rare Bajoran artifacts that could have been hidden a millen-nium ago, and would mean they could still serve as a motive for murder today. At the same time, they would then also not be the legendary, and possibly, apoc-ryphal, Red Orbs of Jalbador."
"Makes sense to me," Kira said.
"Except for that Cardassian connection," Sisko said. "I wish we knew what moon this was supposed to be...." He turned to Jake. "Where was Bajor in the sky?"
Jake and Nog both turned and pointed away from the village. "Up there," Jake told his father.
"We were beyond the terminator," Nog added, "but we could still see part of the sunlit side."
"Computer," Sisko said, "add Bajor to the night sky, as seen from the Bajoran moon of Baraddo."
Jake looked up as the purple sky suddenly rippled and turned black, now dotted with twinkling stars. A few moments later, a full Bajor appeared against the stars, green oceans sparkling with the brilliant reflec-tion of Bajor-B'hava-el.
"Too small," Nog said at once.
"That's right," Jake said. "It was twice that size at least."
Sisko nodded. "Computer, which moon of Bajor would correspond to an apparent diameter of the planet twice the width of what's displayed now?"
"Unable to comply," the computer answered. "Li-brary access has been temporarily interrupted."
Jake knew that meant the computer had tried to con-tact the station's central computer banks, which were still off-line.
Sisko gave the challenge to Kira. "Major, pick a moon. There're only five that are inhabited."
Kira looked troubled. "But some have eccentric orbits.... Computer, adjust the sky as seen from the moon of Penraddo."
Jake watched as Bajor seemed to jump closer in the sky, almost doubling in apparent diameter.
'That is still not quite right," Nog said, frowning. "Is there any moon that orbits the planet even closer?"
"Not habitable," Kira said.
"You mean, not habitable now!" Sisko's smile was triumphant.
Jake didn't know what his father was talking about. But Kira apparently did.
"Jeraddo?" she said.
"If I wanted to hide something so that it could never be found," Sisko said, "what better place than a moon that will kill anyone who tries to land there? Computer: Show Bajor as it would have appeared from the moon of Jeraddo before the moon's atmosphere was converted."
Instantly, Bajor jumped even closer in the sky.
"Now that is the right size," Nog said.
Jake nodded.
But Kira wasn't convinced. "Jeraddo was only con-verted to an energy source five years ago, not a thou-sand."
Jake had a sudden flash of inspiration. "Which means," he said excitedly, "someone could have hid-den the Orb on Jeraddo five years ago! To keep it out
of the hands of Whoever's been trying to find the Orbs and bring them together!"
Kira suddenly developed a pained expression. "Jake, where did that come from?"
Jake could tell that his interruption had surprised her. He was getting more and more used to that reac-tion. It was hard for the adults on the station to stop thinking of him as the little kid they'd always known. And it was hard for him to suppress the ideas he had about just about everything around him.
"Well," he began explaining enthusiastically, "Jer-addo was converted into an energy moon five years ago. The memory cylinder the map is on is five years old. So maybe the map isn't a copy-maybe it's only five years old...." Jake could see Kira wasn't buying a word. And neither was anyone else. Too bad, Jake thought. It would make a great conspiracy novel. He could even use his father's suggestion and call it The Cardassian Connection. He could write a whole series. He could... see the almost pitying look on Major Kira's face. "Never mind," he said.
"I won't," Kira replied. She turned to Sisko. "Shouldn't we all get back to work?"
Jake could see his father wasn't ready to let go of this latest lead that he and Nog had provided. "Don't you have any curiosity for making an even more detailed simulation from the map? Maybe find out exactly where the Orb is hidden?" Sisko asked.
"Absolutely none," Kira said. "That Orb will never be found because it either doesn't exist, or if it does, because it's hidden on Jeraddo. Either way, that map means nothing."
Jake watched as his father's glance polled the rest of the group in the holosuite-Odo, Bashir, Quark, even
Nog and him. No one else offered an objection to Kira's conclusion, so neither did Jake.
"All right," Sisko said. "We move on."
Jake braced himself for the return of the station's unbalanced gravity field.
"Computer," Sisko said, "end program."
But nothing changed.
"Computer," Sisko repeated, "end program."
The simulation remained.
"That Rom" Quark sputtered. "Computer, this is Quark. Implement safety override in holosuite C."
But again, nothing happened. Quark looked franti-cally back and forth at the unchanging Bajoran lunar village. "We're doomed," he said.
"Not yet," a disembodied voice replied.
Jake looked at Nog as everyone else scanned their surroundings, trying to find the source of the voice.
"Stay calm, and no one will get hurt," the voice said again.
Jake saw his father and Major Kira turn to look at one another at the same moment.
"Leej Terrell." To Jake, the way Kira said the name, it sounded like she was cursing.
Then something even more unusual happened. Jake was amazed to see the distant landscape shimmer just for an instant, as three Cardassians-one female and two males, including one who was bald and badly scarred-stepped through the holographic simulation to join the group in the holosuite.
Except they weren't here to play games.
Each held a Cardassian phaser.
"Thank you, Captain Sisko," the female said. "You finally found our missing Orb."
CHAPTER 22
sisko stepped between Terrell and his son. If she so much as aims her weapon in Jake's direction-
The Cardassian seemed to recognize the reason for his move. "Noble, Captain, but unnecessary."
"How did you get in here!" Quark demanded of Ter-rell. "I demand to see your admittance receipt!" And he slapped at her bald associate as Atrig roughly marched through Quark's ill-fitting green brocade waiter's suit for possible weapons.
At the same time, Dr. Betan retrieved all communi-cators, along with Jadzia's tricorder and Jake's note padd. Sisko's holosuite party was now completely cut off from the rest of the station, captives of the three Cardassians.
Terrell stared at the indignant Quark. "You don't recognize me?"
Sisko saw the sudden flash of fear that moved
through Quark, as if the Ferengi barkeep did recognize her, but was somehow terrified to acknowledge that fact.
"Should I?" Quark asked.
"I'm not the one to ask," Terrell said. She turned her attention to Odo. "How about you, shape-shifter?"
"What about me?" Odo growled.
Terrell seemed only amused by his attitude. "Some things never change." She casually lifted her phaser and shot Odo point-blank.
As the constable fell, Kira's attempt to run to his side was aborted by Betan's menacing sweep of his phaser in her direction.
Bashir knelt quickly beside Odo's fallen form to use his medical tricorder to check the constable's condi-tion. He looked up at Sisko as Atrig relieved him of the device. "Just stunned."
"You had no need to do that," Sisko told Terrell.
But all the Cardassian said was, "You'd be sur-prised, Captain. Whenever Odo permits himself to be captured, I can't help but be suspicious."
Terrell spoke as if she knew Odo. That meant to Sisko that it was possible that she had been on DS9 before. Perhaps during the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor. He realized it was also possible that he was looking at yet another piece of the puzzle that involved his people and his station.
Sisko caught the eyes of the rest of his staff and shook his head, to instruct them not to try what Odo had done. He was aware of the frustration that tor-mented all of them-Jadzia, Bashir, Nog, Jake, and especially Kira. But even Quark would realize it was suicide to risk a frontal assault on three phasers.
Terrell approached Sisko. "We've been listening to
everything you've discussed in here," she said. "AD this talk about Orbs. Do they exist, don't they exist? Are they a fraud? A forgery? Apocryphal? You've been so caught up in the search for the real story about the Orbs that you've completely neglected the greater truth."
Sisko watched her closely, waiting for her to show the slightest inattention to her weapon. If he could get it then the odds would be closer to even.
"What greater truth?" he asked. He didn't care what she gave as an answer. He only wanted to keep her talk-ing, to increase the odds she'd be distracted. Having Jake here under these conditions was just as harrowing as when Kasidy had been with him on the Defiant. One way or another, these threats to his family had to end.
"Captain Sisko... Emissary," Terrell said mock-ingly. "You're familiar with the Orbs the Bajorans call the Tears of the Prophets. Tell me, where do those Blue Orbs come from?"
Sisko stared at her, measuring her, judging her. He would not play her game.
'That's right," she said, as if content to conduct both sides of the conversation herself. "The Celestial Tem-ple. Jalkaree. The wormhole." Her narrow, gray face twisted into an unpleasant smile. "So, where do you think the Red Orbs come from?
"Correct again," Terrell said, without even waiting for Sisko to respond. "See how easy this is? They come from another wormhole. You see, Captain, it turns out you weren't the first to discover the worm-hole in the Bajoran system. Or, rather, should I say, you weren't the first to discover the first wormhole. Because there are two of them. Care to make a com-ment now?"
Sisko shot a glance at Jadzia, but the scientist shook her head, her expression of disbelief confirming what he already knew. "That's impossible," he said.
"There can't be two," Jadzia added. "The entire Bajoran sector's been subjected to one of the most intensive subspace structural analyses the Federation has ever undertaken. I helped design the project. There is no second wormhole."
The Cardassian sneered at Jadzia, "I don't suppose that thorough analysis of yours included the effects of the three Orbs of Jalbador? No? I didn't think so."
"You're lying," Kira cried. "There is only one Celes-tial Temple and the Prophets are those who dwell within it!"
Without even glancing at her target, the Cardassian swept out her arm and smashed her phaser across Kira's face, knocking the Bajoran officer down beside Odo's still form. Blood trickled from the ridges of Kira's nose.
Sisko lunged forward, ignoring his own order, only to be stopped by a phaser burst at his feet and the real-ization that Atrig's next shot would hit Jake.
Bashir helped Kira to her feet as Terrell said coldly. "Spare me the superstitious prattle, Bajoran. Do you think yours is the first planet of simpletons who have been toyed with by a more advanced species? Your Prophets are exploitive aliens and they've treated your world like their own personal chess board for twenty millennia. You people are nothing but their pawns. You've all been bred for ignorance and servility and- for all you know-pure entertainment."
"That is enough!" Sisko shouted. His voice was oddly flat in the dead air of the simulated holographic village, but it was loud enough to make his point.
Terrell's phaser swung back to cover him. "Of course it's enough. This dismal creature doesn't have the mental capacity to understand the truth. But you. Captain, and your Federation... you understand You've always known about the corruption poised to consume the souls of those races that dare to think of themselves as gods. Why else would you hive your Prime Directive except to spare yourselves that fate?"
Sisko shuddered as Terrell favored him with a look of approval. "That's one of the few things we Cardas-sians admire about your kind, you know. The Prime Directive. It shows that at some point you were like us-an ethical race. Your downfall, though, is that you lack the moral strength to distinguish between true sentient beings-like the Vulcans-and simple stock Like the Bajorans, who have been so debased by their Prophets that-"
Kira pushed Bashir aside, launched herself at Ter-rell, arms outstretched, her hands her only weapons.
She almost reached the startled Cardassian. But Dr. Betan caught her in time, spun her around, and shoved xt forward, where Atrig stunned her with his phaser.
Kira collapsed instantly, her body sprawling awk-wardly across the holographic rocks.
"The rest of you. Get down on your knees," Dr. Betan ordered crisply. "With your hands on your heads."
No one in Sisko's party moved, their eyes all on Kira. The stun had been a heavy one.
Dr. Betan pointed his phaser at Bashir's head, close enough that even a stun would be fatal. "We only need one of you to answer our questions. No loss to us if the rest have to die."
At that moment, Kira stirred and faintly moaned.
Thanking the Prophets, Sisko took action. He had to learn what questions the Cardassians needed answered. If there was anything he knew that they didn't, then in some small way he would have power over them.
Knowing his people had to be his first priority, Sisko knelt on the stones then, beneath the night sky and the brilliance of a full Bajor. And he placed his hands on his head.
The others immediately followed the example of their commander.
"Ask your questions," Sisko said to Terrell.
She looked pleased at his compliance. "You and I are alike, you know. You've seen the Blue Orbs. You've contacted the wormhole aliens. In my way, I've shared those experiences."
"If you really had," Sisko said, "you would find it impossible to behave as you do."
/> Terrell cocked her head. "You surprise me, Captain. You know that's not true. You've devoted many of the scientific assets of this station to the study of the Blue Orbs. Each month I read an intercept of the latest installment of the never-ending report this Trill scien-tist of yours is compiling. And I want you to know, I understand. The Orbs are the artifacts of an advanced civilization. You're compelled to study them, just as we were when we discovered them on Bajor. But then again, we found more than just the Blue Orbs. We also found a red one. And do you know one of the things that distinguishes a Red Orb from a Blue? Other than the color, of course."