The Long Night (27 page)

The Supreme Ruler, the subject of all their scrutiny, no longer looked like a wasted survivor of a long journey. His cheeks glowed that odd mixture of red and white that Jibetians had when they were healthy. His organs were running well, and his brain scans were turning out fine.

Although no one knew if he would ever be able to think on his own again. Bashir believed he would, but Wasner was skeptical. He'd seen brain death on the cellular level too many times in coldsleep chambers to believe that a man who lived this long under such adverse conditions would survive intact.

The vital signs had shown the ruler regaining consciousness for the last fifteen minutes. Soon, though, Bashir would call an end to this vigilance and have only a few of the observers remain. The ruler could remain in this half-waking, half-sleeping state for hours.

No sooner had that thought crossed Bashir's mind than the ruler moaned.

"What was that?" the Jibetian high councillor, Hibar Ribe, asked.

"Shh," Silverstein said.

The ruler stirred, moving a hand toward his head. Bashir felt like applauding. Instead, he leaned in to shield the ruler's eyes from any ambient light.

"Take it slowly," Bashir said.

The ruler opened his eyes. They were bright green and vibrant. Bashir resisted the urge to jump back. He had thought of this man as a patient for so long, it was startling to see the personality.

"Vital signs are normal," Wasner said, his voice rising in triumph.

"We're not on the ship," the ruler said. His voice was raspy. He coughed as if he were trying to clear his throat.

"Be gentle," Silverstein said. "You haven't spoken in a long time. It will take a while for you to feel normal again."

"Where are we?" the ruler asked. He gazed at the faces around the room, clearly recognizing none of them. Finally his gaze rested on the Jibetians. "And who are you? Did Bikon send you?"

Ribe started. The general nudged him.

"Welcome," Ribe said, his voice shaking. "I am Hibar Ribe, of the Ribe-Iber-Bikon family. We've been waiting a long time for this moment."

A frown creased the Supreme Ruler's forehead. He coughed again and struggled to sit up.

"Wait just a moment please," Bashir said. He put a firm, but friendly hand on the ruler's shoulder, holding the man in place. "You've seen him wake up. You may all leave now. We still have a long way to go here."

"Will he be all right?" the general asked.

"If you leave now," Bashir said.

Higginbotham and Kiser left immediately. Sisko waited until Ribe and the general left before nodding his approval at Bashir. Then Sisko exited.

Wasner continued to monitor the vital signs. Silverstein looked at the ruler's face and smiled.

The ruler ignored her. His bright eyes met Bashir's. "Something went wrong," he said.

Bashir nodded.

"You are not Jibetians."

"We're allies," Bashir said. "We assisted your people."

"My ship?" Despite Bashir's efforts to keep the man down, the ruler rose on one elbow. The movement clearly made him dizzy, but he did not lie back down.

"The Nibix is here."

"My family?"

Bashir took a deep breath. The doctors had agreed to answer the questions the ruler asked but only those questions. The rest, they decided, could wait until later. "They didn't make it," Bashir said.

The ruler closed his eyes. For the first time since he woke up, he looked vulnerable. He almost eased back down, then caught himself.

"The crew?" he asked.

"Your ship was sabotaged, sir," Silverstein said. "It's amazing you survived."

"Sabotaged?" the ruler asked. His eyes opened again filled not with the sadness that Bashir expected, but with a fury so powerful that it filled the room.

"Yes, sir," Bashir said. "Probably right after you left Jibet."

"His vital signs are traveling all over the map," Wasner said. "We have to end this little session."

"No!" the ruler said. "You can't leave it here. You have to tell me what happened."

The three doctors looked at each other.

"It's better for a patient to know," Silverstein said. And she was right. It had been shown in study after study that patients who knew what they were up against coped and eventually survived. But that didn't make this one any easier.

"After the sabotage, the Nibix drifted," Bashir said. "The wakeup systems were dismantled. When the ship got near its destination, no awakening sequence kicked in, and when the ship got into trouble, no one woke up either. We found you on an asteroid not far from here."

"How long did we drift?" The ruler didn't miss a thing. And his brain probably wasn't operating up to par yet. He must have been formidable when his mind was working at peak efficiency. Bashir would have to study Jibetian history. He didn't understand how a man like this was overthrown in a revolution.

Unless that revolution had help from the inside. The same help that sabotaged the ship.

"Eight hundred years," Bashir said.

The ruler shook his head. "That isn't possible."

"I'm afraid that yours was the only chamber to continue working," Bashir said.

The ruler rubbed a hand over his face. Then he nodded. "The staff? Where is it?"

"Beside you," Wasner said. He lightly touched the green rod as if it would break at the slightest movement.

The green of the glowing staff was the same color as the ruler's eyes.

"You need to sleep," Silverstein said.

"I have been asleep for a long time," the ruler said. "Yes," Silverstein said, "but you need healthy recuperative sleep now."

The ruler tucked the staff beside him and eased back down on the diagnostic table. "One last thing then," he said, his voice breaking as he spoke. He was clearly exhausted. "Did my world survive? My people?"

Bashir nodded, glad he could say something positive to the young man. "Very much so. They now live on eighty worlds spread out through space."

The ruler looked puzzled for a moment, then smiled. A sad, hopeful smile. "Eighty worlds. We only hoped for one."

He closed his eyes, and after a moment he was sleeping.

A normal sleep.

*

Guards lined the Promenade, all trying to ignore the shouting coming from Quark's. Jake, Rom, and Nog were leaning over the railing on the Promenade's second story. The shouts carried well up here. Better than anywhere else in the Promenade.

"It is your duty as a Ferengi to report to me immediately," the nagus yelled. "You have failed me again, Quark!"

"I didn't fail, Nagus." Quark's voice quivered. "I was injured. I was even unconscious for a time. I-"

"Imagine my position when Cardassians, mercenaries, even Jepson himself learned about the Nibix before I did. And I have a man on the scene."

"I didn't mean to embarrass you," Quark said. "I was injured."

"I'll injure you again if you use that excuse with me, boy. I expect an apology. And compensation. I brought ships here expecting profit."

"I didn't send for them," Quark said.

"I know that!"

"Then why do you want compensation?"

"Because if I had known how difficult making a profit would be, I wouldn't have come, Quark. You know that. You're supposed to protect me from all of this."

Jake looked at Nog. Nog shrugged. Rom was grinning.

"If you give the bar's profits for the next month, I might forget this little incident."

"The next month?" Quark said. "But I've been shut down for days. I need to make money to survive. How about half the profits?"

"All of the profits, Quark. And if you continue to complain, I will charge you two months."

"That's a lot of money," Rom whispered.

Jake leaned in to him. "Do you think Quark will understand now what you feel like when he yells at you?"

Rom shook his head. "The nagus has yelled at him before. It is our way, I guess."

"I guess," Jake said. He sighed. Then he looked at Nog, whose lower lip was jutting out.

"It won't be my way, Father," Nog said.

"I know, Son." Rom grinned. "You are a new breed of Ferengi. You make me proud."

"Me, too," Jake said. "I'm sorry about bashing your uncle on the head."

"It's okay," Nog said. "We decided on that plan together."

Beside them, Rom moaned.

"Father?"

"I forgot about my brother's injury. We had better find something to do for the next few days, Nog. Between the nagus and the injury, my brother will be insufferable."

"You mean he isn't already?" Jake asked.

"I'm serious," Rom said.

Jake was, too, but he decided not to say that. Instead, he said, "If you want to hide, I know the perfect place."

"I'm not going back in those tunnels, hu-man,"

Nog said.

Jake grinned. "Well," he said, "it was worth a try."

AS CEREMONIES WENT, this was a small one. But it was one that Benjamin Sisko would remember forever.

He and Jake stood outside docking bay three. Dax stood on his left, and Bashir on Jake's right. At the entrance to the docking bay, General Caybe stood a few steps behind Jibet's Supreme Ruler.

The ruler still looked too thin. He wore the same robes he had worn in cold sleep, only they had been cleaned and pressed. He clutched his staff at his side. His hair had grown in the last two weeks, and his stamina had improved. His eyes retained their brightness, but his face had a few new lines.

Sisko remembered the look. He had seen it on his own face after Jennifer's death. But, like the Supreme Ruler, people had counted on him. In Sisko's case, Jake had counted on him. And Sisko had gone on.

The Supreme Ruler would to.

Sisko had said as much to him during their long talks.

The ruler had nodded. It was only when Sisko had been about to leave that the ruler said, "Mortal beings know they must get used to the death of loved ones. But not many of us must also mourn the centuries. I am not sure how to do that, Commander."

And Sisko had no answers for him.

"Forgive my presumptiveness," the general said. "But I would feel better, milord, if you rode to Jibet in the flagship."

The Supreme Ruler smiled at him. Clearly this argument had gone on for a while. Sisko just hadn't been privy to it. "For now, General, the Nibix will be the flagship. I need to return home in the same ship I left on. It is important."

Extremely important. Each decision the Supreme Ruler made these days had importance. His decision to imprison Ribe had been one he agonized over. Finally, he took Ribe into custody for his acts against the Federation, not for the sins his ancestor committed centuries before.

"I must put the past behind me," the Supreme Ruler had said.

"This time though," Sisko said, "you will see the parts of space you passed through."

"And," Dax added, "what took eight hundred years will now take five days."

The Supreme Ruler laughed. "Yes, this modern world is wonderful in many ways."

He had been like a child in the infirmary. Each moment he was awake he asked questions. Sisko finally assigned him two around-the-clock ensigns just to answer the ruler's questions about the past. If anyone could catch up, the ruler could, although he had already expressed his wish for a Federation councillor and assistance in his homeland. He wasn't sure if his mind was modern enough to rule Jibet.

Sisko suspected his mind was modern enough for any age.

The ruler turned to Dr. Bashir. "Thank you for your fine work. I have been told that waking me is considered groundbreaking in your medical world."

Bashir smiled. "I'm just glad we succeeded."

"As am I, Doctor. Otherwise I would have never had a chance to see this wonderful future." Then the ruler turned to Dax and bowed slightly. "Thank you, lovely lady, for being the captain of my ship through its first and only battle."

"It was my honor," Dax said.

Then the Supreme Ruler turned to Sisko. As the ruler regained his health, his eyes had become an even more vibrant green. It was almost as if his life force flowed through them and touched everyone he met. Sisko felt the warmth now.

"You are a brave man, Commander Sisko. Thank you." He stuck out his hand and after only a moment of hesitation, Sisko took it and shook it. The ruler's hand was warm.

"You're welcome," Sisko said.

The Supreme Ruler smiled. "I have no doubt our two cultures will work well together in future years."

"I think you are right," Sisko said.

"Of course I am," the Supreme Ruler said. "You can't live over eight hundred years and not know a few things."

There was a stunned silence-everyone knew how much difficulty the ruler was having with his leap into the future-and then Sisko saw the corners of the Supreme Ruler's mouth twitch with suppressed mirth.

Sisko laughed, and so did the ruler.

"Come," the ruler said to the general. "We have a long trip back, and I'm getting cold out here. You know how I hate cold."

The Supreme Ruler winked at Bashir. Bashir shot him a startled look and then smiled and winked back.

The ruler laughed again. He waved his staff over all of them, an ancient, formal Jibetian thank-you, and then he led the general through the airlock. Sisko watched them enter the Nibix, the ship of dreams.

And nightmares.

But the long night was over now.

The day had begun.