by Mel Gilden
The prince plucked the object from the air and looked at it with pleasure. He, Jake, and Nog smiled at one another.
“Thank you,” Joryl said. “I will always treasure this token from the two who befriended a stranger in their midst.”
Joryl entered the transporter, then turned to O’Brien, who was at the control panel. “I am ready.”
“One to beam out,” O’Brien said and touched the control panel.
The electronic beam enveloped the Pyxian royal prince, turning his lizard-like body to atoms. He vanished.
“Goodbye, Babe,” Jake said quietly.
CHAPTER 12
The fans at Yankee Stadium roared. It was three balls and two strikes. Bottom of the ninth. The visitors were hanging on to a precarious one-run lead.
Babe Ruth signaled for time and stepped away from the plate. He swung his bat in a vicious arc that cut through the oppressive July heat like a knife.
He stepped back to the plate. He was ready.
The Babe looked toward the pitcher’s mound wearing a confident smile.
Outwardly young Jake Sisko appeared equally confident. But inside his stomach was doing cartwheels. This was it. The game was all riding on him and his next pitch.
Play it smart, Jake told himself. He’s anticipating your fastball, so give him something else, something simple.
Jake glanced over at his father in the dugout, then at the new batboy—Nog. Now he wound up and stepped forward as he released the ball.
He threw a slow curveball that was aimed at the inside corner. It was the pitch he had been practicing in the cornfield with Nog and Babe—the other Babe. It was his smartest pitch. But not smart enough.
This Babe in the Yankee uniform must have been waiting for just this pitch. The crack of the bat against the ball echoed through the stadium like a bomb exploding.
The ball whistled past Jake’s ear, gaining altitude as it roared toward deep center field. There seemed to be no way to stop it from clearing the fence. But then as the ball appeared to be going, going, gone—someone leaped high into the air and came down with it.
Babe. The little rhinolike creature caught the sure home run in his mouth. Then, as he floated back to earth, he transformed into the humanoid figure of the prince.
“You’re out!” the prince yelled as he landed on the outfield grass.
Jake turned to his father with a broad smile. “Thanks, Dad. It’s a nice surprise to see Babe in the holosuite.”
The elder Sisko removed his manager’s cap and scratched his head. “I’m as surprised as you are, son.” He looked over at Nog. “Did you play with the program, Nog?”
“No, Commander Sisko. I didn’t. I swear it wasn’t me.”
The prince smiled as he strolled to the pitcher’s mound. “I’m not one of your holosuite illusions,” he said as he tossed the baseball to Jake.
“It’s really you? But I thought you were on your way back to Pyx?”
“Actually I am. But we Pyxians can project replicas of ourselves across many light-years, even through a wormhole. Thought has no dimension.”
The prince looked around at the cheering crowd that filled Yankee Stadium. Even if the home team had lost, they loved their baseball.
“This is a game I do not quite understand,” the prince told Jake, “but it is one that I enjoy—in both my forms.”
“I wish you could stay here,” Jake said, but he already knew that wasn’t possible.
“I must go. But I leave you a token to remember me by.”
And with that he winked out of existence.
Commander Sisko and Nog approached the pitcher’s mound. Nog was pointing at something. Jake saw that he was pointing at the baseball in his hand.
Only it was not a baseball.
It was the size and shape of a baseball. But rather than white, rainbows ran over its surface as they had on the gigantic ship and on Oryx’s helmet. An inner light gave the sphere a life of its own. Jake stared down at the softly glowing orb. As he turned it, inside he could see faint images, first of the furry little rhino and then of the tall young prince. Jake seemed to hear a voice that echoed in his mind: I will be with you always, my friends.
He looked over and saw from Nog’s smile that he, too, heard the voice.
Commander Sisko put one arm around Jake’s shoulder and the other around Nog’s. “Let’s go home, boys. I’m treating each of you to a Ventaxan Volcano Sundae.”
They walked toward where they knew the holosuite door was located. “Computer, freeze program,” Sisko said.
“And save,” Jake added.
About the Authors
MEL GILDEN has written two novels set in the Star Trek universe—Boogeymen, a Star Trek The Next Generation novel, and The Starship Trap, which features the original crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Many of his books, such as Surfing Samurai Robots, take place outside of the Star Trek universe. He’s also written many books for kids, including the Fifth Grade Monsters series, the My Brother Blubb series (available from Minstrel Books), and his latest hardcover, The Pumpkins of Time. He’s also written animated cartoons and hosted radio shows. Mel is hard at work on his next Deep Space Nine adventure for young readers. What a guy!
TED PEDERSEN used to be a computer programmer in Seattle, but made the long trek south to Los Angeles, where he has been writing science fiction for the past dozen years in the wacky world of animated cartoons. Most recently he has written TV episodes for X-Men, Cadillacs & Dinosaurs, ExoSquad, and the upcoming Marvel Comics Action Hour. He is also working on his own Deep Space Nine adventure for young readers. He lives in Venice, California, with one wife, two computers, and several cats.
About the Illustrator
TODD CAMERON HAMILTON is a self-taught artist who has resided all his life in Chicago, Illinois. He has been a professional illustrator for the past ten years, specializing in fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Todd is the current president of the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists. His original works grace many private and corporate collections. He has co-authored two novels and several short stories. When not drawing, painting, or writing, his interests include metalsmithing, puppetry, and teaching.