CAPTAIN PICARD STEPPED off the turbolift with Christine Vale right behind him onto the bridge of the Enterprise. They were met with shocked expressions, then smiles, although only Riker, Troi, La Forge, and Data were present.

“Captain, good to see you,” hailed Riker as his attention was diverted to the viewscreen in front of him. “Is that a ship bearing down on us?”

Deanna Troi gasped and pointed beyond Picard. “Wesley!”

Picard whirled around to see Wesley Crusher in his gray Traveler’s garb, looking ten years older. Before anybody could gather their wits, blinding beams of energy flashed across their bow. Everyone scurried to their positions. Vale went to tactical. Troi jumped up to give the conn to Data. La Forge stuck to his engineering console.

“Captain,” reported Data, studying his board, “there’s a Pakled cruiser bearing down on us, but the Ontailian ships are firing at it. The cruiser has been slowed but not diverted.”

“Close shuttlebay, shields up,” ordered Riker. “Evasive maneuvers.”

“That’s the mimic ship,” said Wesley. “Head to deep space.”

“We don’t have warp,” La Forge warned them. “It’s already affecting our antimatter stream in the reaction chamber. We still have impulse.”

“Get us out of here, Data,” barked Riker. “Full impulse.”

“Yes, sir.” The starship banked gracefully to escape from the new battle zone outside Rashanar. It looked to Picard as if the Ontailian bombardment was having no effect on the mimic ship.

“Captain,” asked Riker, “would you like your command back now?”

“Not especially,” he answered. “You’re doing fine, Number One. It was a good idea to evacuate.”

Wesley stepped between them. “Listen, we only have a few seconds. The Ontailians won’t stop it. I can think of only one way to destroy the mimic ship. Fristan gave me the answer. If it duplicated the Enterprise at the exact moment we were going through an autodestruct sequence, perhaps that would be duplicated as well. It’s during that scanning/replicating phase that it’s vulnerable. But someone will have to go on board the mimic ship to make sure that it doesn’t have a chance to destroy the real Enterprise. The only one who can do that is me. Even Data would be deactivated. The rest of you have to get off the Enterprise.”

Riker was not pleased. “Is this really the only way?”

“I’ve watched it…I think I understand it.”

“Captain Riker,” said Data, “two Ontailian vessels have been destroyed by the mimic ship. The third has broken off the fight. The false Pakled cruiser is in pursuit of us.”

“You’ve got to leave now,” insisted Crusher.

“Wes, there’s a problem,” said Riker. “You need both me and Data to initiate the destruct sequence.”

Picard broke in, “It’s all right. The Orion salvage ship has a transporter, which we can now use. We’ll get you off, Number One. I think Wesley has given us the only possible way to kill it.”

“However,” said Data, looking up from his console, “we have seen that the entity can be scattered into bits of antimatter. These may coalesce into a new entity as before, unless there is sufficient matter present to annihilate them.”

La Forge snapped his fingers and said, “We can blow hydrogen out the ramscoop. Wes, you can do that.”

“Yes,” agreed the young man. “Please, Captain Picard, you’ve got to go. Take everyone but Riker, Data, and me. Transport them as soon as we signal you.”

“If we’re wrong about this—” Picard warned.

“Everybody will be safe but me,” countered Wes. He pointed to a blip on the viewscreen. It was the only object on the screen that was gradually getting larger as it escaped from the swirling morass of Rashanar. “If we don’t stop that thing now and it gets into Federation space—”

“All right, Mr. Crusher,” said Picard, mustering an encouraging smile. “It’s your show. We’ll have to send Riker back to stop the destruct sequence.”

“No, sir, autodestruct will shut down when all the other systems go down. I’m counting on that. When I get inside the duplicate, I’ll set a core overload in addition to the self-destruct. As soon as you see the mimic ship explode, Captain Riker will have to get back to this bridge, although it may be dead.”

“If need be, the Orion tug can tow the Enterprise,” said Picard.

Wes asked sheepishly, “Does anyone know where my mom is?”

“She was leading the evacuation,” answered Troi. “I know where we can find her when we get done. I’m worried…if there’s a problem locking on with the transporter—”

“I’ll drop the commanders off on my way to the mimic ship,” answered Wes. “Now all of you must get going.” He glanced at Riker. “Except for you and Data, sir.”

“I sure picked a good week to be captain of the Enterprise,” joked Riker. He gave Deanna a hug, as she tried unsuccessfully to hide her emotions.

“Vale, Troi, La Forge, you’re with me,” said Picard, heading for the turbolift. As he saw Wesley slip into the conn station, he wondered if this desperate plan would work. Pausing in front of the turbolift, the captain turned to see the silver object in the viewscreen zooming closer. He could almost make out the faux outlines of a Pakled cruiser.

Wes is right. There is no escape—we’ll have to make a stand here.

“Initiate autodestruct sequence,” said the captain, pressing his palm to the dermal recognition pad. “Riker, authorization alpha-alpha-zero-theta-nine.”

“Riker identified,” said the computer.

Now Data put his hand on the pad, although the android stole a glance at the viewscreen, where they could see the Pakled cruiser firing thrusters to stop. “Data, authorization alpha-alpha-two-gamma-six.”

“Data identified,” repeated the computer.

“Set autodestruct sequence, five minute delay,” ordered Riker. “Commence countdown now.”

“Autodestruct sequence set,” replied the computer calmly. “Four minutes fifty-nine seconds and counting. Four minutes fifty-eight seconds. Four minutes fifty-seven seconds.”

“Expelling hydrogen from the ramscoop,” reported Wes as he worked the ops console. The computer droned on. The lights began to flicker on the Enterprise bridge. The young man hit the com panel and barked, “Crusher to Picard, energize now!”

“Good luck,” said Riker as his solid form began to dissolve into a column of sparkling molecules. Data nodded encouragement as well. Wesley felt great relief when his shipmates were finally whisked off the bridge, leaving him alone. He didn’t want to face this threat by himself, but he was the only one who could.

His feet floated off the deck as artificial gravity died, quickly followed by the rest of the ship’s systems. The computer’s voice wound down like a phonograph record losing speed. Wesley began to feel light-headed. He willed himself some distance away from the mimic ship and its large, helpless prey. The entity was already folding inward and outward, like a deck of cards shuffling itself and expanding as it did.

Moving like a Traveler was starting to come hard for Wes again, as it had when he feared he was losing the support of his fellowship. There was only one more jump he had to make—into the silver-blue jewel that was blossoming to match the immense size of the Enterprise. Gradually its rough edges became smooth to approximate the graceful lines of the starship. Please include the autodestruct sequence, he begged the powers of the universe. If it didn’t, his job would be twice as hard.

From his vantage point in space, the Traveler marveled at the transformation of an elemental force into one of metal, bolts, and resin. Colleen had been right—the dreaded demon flyer was truly one of the wonders of the galaxy. If they could have captured it, it would have been a prize unique in the quadrant, one that might open up new doors of understanding, even to the Travelers. But somehow he didn’t think it would survive in captivity, nor would any cage hold it.

I’m sorry I have to kill you.

Wesley checked the chronograph on his wrist, seeing that he had three minutes left before the countdown ended. The mimic ship might not have every bulkhead and conduit of the Enterprise down to perfection by then, but it would be very close. The Traveler closed his eyes, trying to envision himself inside the glistening duplicate that was molding itself before his eyes.

Moving toward it was like swimming through quicksand. He feared that he couldn’t penetrate the hull of the anomaly. One more time, he told himself. Let me focus the lens one more time.

With an effort that left him exhausted, the Traveler sprawled onto the bridge of what might have been the Enterprise, except that parts of it were liquid, like paint. The deck solidified around him, and he staggered to his feet, feeling nauseated.

To his great relief, a voice echoed in the emptiness: “Two minutes forty-eight seconds, two minutes forty-seven seconds.”

The countdown was still on. First he had to make sure it didn’t destroy the real Enterprise. Wes staggered to the closest console, dropped into the seat, then tried to bring up the weapons systems on the computer. The readouts behaved as he expected, but he was shocked to see that phasers were charging for a full burst. He quickly took them offline and switched to readings from engineering. As expected, the antimatter storage pods, the reactor, and every conduit were rapidly filling with antimatter. Wes caught his breath, because he knew this was the stage where some of the prey ships exploded just from the unexpected stress.

But there was no battle going on, there were no stray plasma bursts, so Wes hoped the real Enterprise would remain intact through this ordeal. Behind him, a voice announced, “One minute fifty-nine seconds.” He cranked up the plasma-injection system, flooding the reactor, which was already filled with antimatter. Now an overload was bound to happen to this counterfeit starship, self-destruct sequence or no.

Wes felt a horrible pain in his stomach. He groaned and doubled over. He knew he had to get off the mimic ship immediately, or he might pass out. The Traveler had done everything he could. The demon flyer was clearly not geared to combat anyone who could survive its initial assault and proceed to board her. To the naked eye, this was the Enterprise, but it felt all wrong to his body.

He tried to focus—to will himself into space—but he couldn’t even get a clear sense of what it would be like to float in the void. It was as if he once knew a foreign language but had somehow forgotten it…in the blink of an eye! He staggered across the deck, barely getting his legs to carry his body, which seemed to have the mass of a small moon. I’m going to die. I’m no longer a Traveler.

“Fifty-nine seconds,” intoned the computer.

“Computer,” he grunted, “automate operations in transporter room one. Direct-beam me to transporter room one.”

“Fifty-two seconds,” said the computer, ignoring him.

With survival instincts taking over, Wes lunged to his feet and bolted to the turbolift, hoping against hope that it would operate as expected. The door at least slid open. He tottered inside. Wes gave a wretched dry heave and collapsed to the floor, summoning just enough strength to say, “Transporter room one.”

“Acknowledged. Autodestruct in forty-five seconds. All personnel are advised to leave the ship.”

“I’m trying,” he groaned, feeling as if his insides were about to rip open.

By the time the door opened and he stumbled into the corridor, klaxons were blaring and emergency lights were flashing throughout the ship. “Autodestruct in thirty seconds,” reported the computer. “Twenty-nine, twenty-eight.”

Everything around him was surreal, nightmarish, and he wondered whether the corridor was actually glowing and writhing or whether his condition had brought on hallucinations. Wesley beat upon every door as he lunged down the hall, finally discovering the double doors for the transporter room, which slid open.

“Twenty-two seconds, twenty-one seconds,” intoned the computer over the blaring klaxons.

Despite a feverish headache, Wes rushed to the transporter console and tried to remember the coordinates of the Orion salvage ship. He couldn’t recall, but the duplicate still had operating sensors. A quick scan of the area located the closest vessel—the Enterprise floating dead in space.

“Autodestruct sequence in progress,” said the computer. “Abort now impossible. Five seconds, four seconds—”

Every muscle in his body seemed to contract as he shuffled to the transporter platform and hurled himself upon a pad. Mercifully, he felt the familiar tingle of the beam as it spirited him away from the doomed demon ship.

Now Wes floated helplessly on a darkened bridge, his gut still tied in knots. Twisting around, he caught sight of the other Enterprise through a small port to the left of the dark viewscreen. It looked like a toy vessel floating upon the black water. As he reached for it, the starship detonated in a monstrous fireball, spewing glittering rubble into the far corners of his vision. This sparkling mass met the cloud of hydrogen he had released minutes ago. The starscape turned into bright daylight for a few seconds, and finally the flashes and pops died down.

With a start, Wesley realized this was the scene he had witnessed in the Pool of Prophecy after being born as a Traveler. All of that was over now…all of it, especially being a Traveler. Wes believed he saw an Ontailian ship cruise past the viewport, but he passed out before he could confirm it.