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gone?"
    "What I see," I said calmly, even though I was not feeling calm, "is that somehow our signals and signatures are not reaching the others. I am not prepared to say that we have vanished."
    Then I made a show of turning to Nog. "Answer the station, Cadet. Give them our location, and tell them that, for the moment, we are all right."
    "Aye, sir," Nog said, looking at me rather strangely. It was Starfleet protocol to answer any emergency hail. I could tell from his expression that he had already done so and had received no response. I did not care. I wanted him to do so again, while Victor and Näna watched, so that we could observe any manipulation they might be causing. Perhaps our equipment would be able to locate what was causing the change in instruments.
    For that was all I believed it to be, at the time. My mind did not accept that entire planetary systems could be invisible. I believed we were in the grip of a massive, and highly advanced, cloaking system. I knew that some planets had their own cloaking system, and we had, of course, the technology to cloak ships. It was a small stretch to believe that we could cloak entire areas of space as well.
    A small stretch was all that I was willing to take.
    "You know they can't hear you," Captain Victor said.
    I felt my eyes narrow and my entire face become rigid. Whenever I got that look, my wife used to say, entire galaxies would crumble.
    Captain Victor did not flinch. I decided to say nothing to him at the moment. Nothing would be more productive than the things I was thinking.
    I turned to Nog, partly to prevent myself from saying anything to Victor. "Is there any response, Cadet?"
    "No, sir," Nog said.
    "Commander Worf, what about the Klingons?" I asked.
    If I looked angry, Worf looked thunderous. "We are sending, sir, but there is no response. They, too, are acting as if we have disappeared."
    "You have," Captain Victor said, his smile reaching his blue eyes almost as laughter.
    I wanted to cut off all communication with that man. But I did not. I continued to ignore him, until I could put the situation back under my control.
    "Check everything," I ordered my staff. "And keep trying to hail the station and the Klingons."
    Then I turned back to face the screen. "All right, Captain," I said, with a slight sarcastic emphasis on the word Captain. "You seem to have all the answers. Share them."
    "Gladly, Captain," Victor said. He glanced at his companion. Councillor Näna had still said nothing. His round mouth opened and closed occasionally, as if the movement were involuntary.
    "A few moments ago," Victor said, "you couldn't see our ship or our homeworlds, could you?"
    "No," I said. I knew what he was going to say, and I knew it would not be the answer I wanted. I wanted whys, not whats.
    "Now," he said, "you and your fine ship have simply moved into our reality."
    "The shimmering opening," O'Brien murmured.
    Victor heard him. "It is a sort of doorway."
    "It is not that simple," I said, this time letting the anger I felt punctuate each word. It was as if I put a space between each one.
    "No, it's not," Victor said. "I would gladly explain everything to you, including our motives. But I think it might be better if you first moved your ship out of your current position."
    "You want us out of your doorway," I said, not willing to move. I wanted to get out of there, and to do so now. I did not like how any of this was going.
    Captain Victor laughed. "Of course not. That opening can be made anywhere with the right equipment. I'm just trying to save you some massive disorientation when the Klingon ships arrive."
    At that moment, I did not understand what he meant. I would shortly.
    "We've handled Klingons before," I said. "We will stay right here."
    "Be my guest," Captain Victor said, shrugging as if he really didn't much care. "We'll move a short distance away and stand by. We've found it's just easier."
    "Easier than what?" I asked.
    "You'll see," Victor said, and then