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“It is, Owen, and I’ll ask you to let me finish this.”
“Absolutely not!” Bo
“Nothing of the sort,” Kyle assured him. This was his second strategic ploy of the day. He hoped it played out as well as his first. “But my son’s life was in danger today, and he helped save a lot of other lives. I think I’m entitled to a few questions and answers, here.”
“You have no official status here, Kyle,” Owen reminded him. “You’ve been missing for nearly two years. You are here as a favor to me, and I’ll ask you not to push things too far. That said, I agree, you are entitled to some answers.”
“I most strenuously object,” Bo
“Horace,” Owen said. “Sit down and shut up.”
Bo
“Kyle, you’d better explain yourself,” Owen suggested.
“Thank you, Owen. I will. Vice Admiral Bo
There was an audible gasp from some in the room, and murmured conversation among others that quickly stopped when Kyle continued. “That part is just speculation, though I suspect if we examine the Vice Admiral’s logs we’ll see that it’s true. Something else is definitely true, though, confirmed for me just moments ago by the very capable Ensign Janeway. Vice Admiral Bo
Bo
“Yes, sir. Once Mr. Riker told me precisely what to look for, it wasn’t hard to find the details.”
“We know that the Tholians attacked Starbase 311,” Kyle went on. “We know, through intercepted communications, that the Tholians did so because of intelligence, which they deemed believable, that Starbase 311 was to be the launching point for an incursion into Tholian space. Further, we know through hard experience what kind of response that would surely generate among the Tholians—precisely the kind that it did. A swift and vicious assault. That intelligence—again, this has been confirmed in the past few minutes by Ensign Janeway—came from the starbase itself.”
“Someone on the base signaled the Tholians and invited attack?” Captain Jensen asked, incredulous.
“That’s correct, Captain,” Kyle replied calmly. “There’s one more piece to the puzzle, but this one I haven’t yet been able to confirm. Even Ensign Janeway isn’t a miracle worker, it seems, and we’ll need a bit more time to study this. But I recall that Starfleet or the Federation was pla
Kyle had moved closer and closer to Bo
“What was it, Bo
“I can’t ... I can’t tell you!” Bo
“You’ll be telling a court martial, soon enough,” Owen Paris said. “You might as well come clean.”
“Actually, I think I can guess,” Kyle said. He glanced over at Janeway, who understood the signal and rose from her seat. “Based on what’s happened since. It was some kind of mind control experiment, wasn’t it? If we run a check, I suspect we’ll find that the crew members who have attacked me were all, at one point or another, stationed at Starbase 311. Long before the Tholian attack, of course—probably long before I was there. But while Mr. Heidl was there, ru
“But ... isn’t Heidl dead?” Owen asked. “Or did he make it off the starbase in time?”
Bo
“No one made it off in time,” Kyle said. “The last thing Ensign Janeway checked for me was a travel log. Vice Admiral Bo
“He went back,” Bo
Kyle noted the change in subject pronoun, and realized that Bo
“What was it, Bo
Bo
“Horace,” Owen said, his voice gentle. “You’re saying ‘we.’ What do you mean by that? Who?”
“He’s ... he’s in here, with us. Charles. We can’t explain ... maybe our mental powers were so well developed, by that time ... that we were able to make the jump across space.”
And maybe,Kyle thought, you’re just nutty as a fruitcake.
“Horace, we can get you some help,” Owen said.
“No!” The word was an explosion. “We don’t need your help!” Bo
Chapter 39
Kyle had expected something like this, though he wasn’t at all sure what form it would take, and he had warned Ensign Janeway to get ready for it. At his signal she had taken up a place at the light panel for the room, and as soon as Bo