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Starfleet are the same.”
    “Yeah, I think I just said that.”
    “Look,” said Kane, “I hate to interrupt this little lovefest, but we’ve still got a problem here. Either we figure a way to get 110 back in working order, or we can kiss this mission good-bye.”
    “What do you suggest?”
    “You ask me, 111’s got to be talked into establishing a link with her bondmate, that’s what. Can’t Bynars, I dunno, repair each other? I mean, they’re essentially computers, right? So, they worry about getting infected, but they’ve also got to have some repair mechanisms. Maybe 111 can reboot him, or something.”
    “But if you observe, Doctor, 110 is in active communication with someone else. His chip,” Salek nodded at the Bynar’s chip that flashed and winked, “indicates intense activity. He appears to have interfaced with someone, or some other system.”
    “It’s a Prophet,” said Dax.
    “Will you give it a rest?” said Gold. “The only person who can tell us who or what is 111. We—”
    His combadge beeped. “Bridge to Gold.”
    He patted the channel open. “Gold.”
    “Incoming message from Captain Kira on the Li, sir.”
    “I’ll take that in my ready room,” said Gold. He nodded at Kane, turned on his heel and left, Salek a step behind.
    Kane waited until the doors to sickbay hissed shut. Then she turned to Dax. “You want to talk to 111, or shall I?”
    “I’ll do it.” Jadzia Dax’s features hardened, the skin drawn tight across her mouth. “They will make contact with the Prophets—and then we’ll go back to Terok Nor, and Bajor.”
    “Gee,” said Kane. “Swell.”

Chapter
6
    “Q uantum twins?” Gold repeated. “Gomez, are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
    “Yes, sir,” said Gomez, wishing the truth was otherwise. “I think that Soloman’s not only found himself. He’s found 111. That’s why he was so eager to reestablish contact.”
    “But eager enough to lie? Soloman’s never lied.”
    “That we know of. Maybe he didn’t have something worth lying about before.”
    “Well, this is a hell of a thing. What do we do now? We can’t just wait around. Ever since he initiated this last link, those wavefronts have increased.”
    “That follows. The channel’s open now, permanently, unless we can get Soloman to break off contact.”
    “Can we do that for Soloman without harming him?”
    “I doubt it. But since we haven’t found anything here, we have to assume that whatever device has initiated, or is potentiating this effect, it’s got to be somewhere else.”
    “In this other universe?”
    “I’d say that’s likely, sir.”
    “What about getting them a message? Ask them to disengage. Can we do that?”
    “Maybe they don’t want to either,” said Gomez. She sighed. “Remember, this is a search program. They’re looking for something. So we’re in the dark until we can figure a way to contact it, or them.”
    “Well,” Nog scratched a lobe, “I might be able to piggyback a signal. Heck, I might be able to slip in the same way Soloman did.”
    “A self-authorizing language?” asked Gomez.
    “Worth a try.”
    Gold said, “What about destroying Empok Nor’s computer?”
    “That’s kind of drastic. If I can get in, maybe I can shut them both down without hurting Soloman.”
    “If they’re even willing to lis —” And that’s as far as Gold got.
    Suddenly, there was the squall of a red alert—and then a huge boom that was so loud Gomez clapped her hands against her ears. Stunned, ears ringing, Gomez fumbled with her tricorder to see where the problem was on Empok Nor.
    Only the problem wasn’t on Empok Nor. Not that they could see. And when they tried to reestablish contact with da Vinci to find out what was going on, they couldn’t.
    Because da Vinci was gone.

Chapter
7
    “Y our Bynar’s what?” On Gold’s vidscreen, Kira Nerys’s image flopped back in her seat, fingered her ridges and sighed. “Well, that’s just