Mist of Shadows
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Traveling Magic Shop Part 13
🕑 Added 2024-04-20 05:13:57 +0000 UTCMyst pulled his attention away from the collection of children that were playing games at the tables and looked at the door when the bell rang. He smiled when he saw Tom and Seven of Nine walk into the shop. "What can I do for you?"
"Your shop is abducting people from alternate timelines," Seven stated without hesitation.
Myst glanced at Tom then focused on Seven, doing his best not to focus on her shiny outfit since it left very little to the imagination while still covering everything. "Do you have any evidence?"
"Do you want the short version or the long version?" Tom asked, trying to head off a lecture that he was fairly sure the shopkeeper wouldn't understand.
"Let's start with the short," Myst replied, figuring he could always ask for more information later.
"Each group of children have different amounts of chroniton radiation, suggesting that they traveled in time for different lengths of time. If they were spontaneously created, I wouldn't expect to find chroniton particles," Seven explained.
"Makes sense," Myst agreed. "Have you figured out how to get them back?"
"No," Seven stated without hesitation. "I can make a rough guess how far they traveled in time but we don't have the equipment that I'd need to figure out where they traveled from and by the time I could recreate the equipment, the trace energy that would help me narrow things down would be gone."
"Nothing…" Myst trailed off as an attractive girl in her mid to late teens walked into the shop wearing a white silk nightdress that was nearly transparent. "Can I help you?"
"I'm looking for books on magic…" the girl trailed off as Seven of Nine started scanning her with a tricorder. "Is there a problem?"
"Yes," Seven replied.
"What's going on?" the girl asked Tom, figuring he'd tell her.
"You're in an alternate dimension and the door is a one way trip," Tom explained.
The girl sighed. "So much for buying my father a present and being back before he realized I was gone, he's going to be annoyed when he gets here."
Tom shook his head. "I doubt he'll be able to find you."
The girl laughed. "He's Captain Jean-Luc Picard, he'll find me even if he has to twist Q's testicles and travel to the edge of the universe."
"The Universe is infinite," Seven corrected.
The girl glanced at Seven's ears, checking to see if she was a Vulcan. "Not the point, it's a figure of expression."
"Hey, you're empathic," Rea exclaimed cheerfully when she noticed that the new girl was psychic.
"Last I checked," the girl replied with a smile as she looked over at her fellow psychic. "I'm Kali Deanna Picard, pleased to meet you."
"Kali?" Myst asked, trying to figure out why someone would name anyone after a god of death and destruction.
"My mother named me after a god of Time, Doomsday, and Death from Earth, she figured it was appropriate considering my birth caused a war that consumed two worlds," Kali explained.
"What happened?" Tom asked.
"My mother fell in love with my father and married someone else for duty. Things spiraled out of control when my mother's ex figured out that I wasn't his," Kali replied with a shrug. "Dad ended up rescuing us and I grew up on the Enterprise."
"There are worse places to grow up," Myst mused as he used his upgrade ability to check the girl's status, curious if he'd recognize her mother's race. 'Half Kriosian? That's not ringing a bell though it probably should.'
"You're taking being trapped in another timeline better than I was expecting," Tom admitted.
"Like I said, my father is Jean-Luc Picard, he'll find me," Kali replied without hesitation or doubt. "So, about those books?"
"Follow me," Myst told her as he started walking towards the room with the books, hoping she wasn't too disappointed when her father didn't show up to save her. "How did you know about the shop?"
"Ensign…" Kali trailed off as she realized she couldn't remember the man's name or even his face now that she was thinking about it. "I don't know, I was in Ten Forward playing Durotta when my opponent mentioned an ancient chant that would let you summon a door."
"And you believed him?" Tom asked as he followed them into a room filled with books, a touch surprised that she was that gullible.
"My father regularly deals with Q and the guy seemed trustworthy. It's not the weirdest thing I've heard of and I'm an empath," Kali argued defensively, knowing that she'd fucked up but not wanting to admit it.
"Makes sense," Myst agreed, knowing there were plenty of god-like entities on the show that liked causing mischief. 'Then again, the shop might have given her a vision,' he mused as they walked into the room with books. "What exactly are you interested in?"
"Everything?" Kali asked as her eyes darted around the room.
Myst laughed. "Joking aside, there are a couple of rules. Rule one, don't read the books out loud, some of the chants might attract attention that you don't want."
Tom raised his eyebrows. "Really?"
"Think of them as traps set by Q or Q like entities with less morals. Most of the books are probably safe to read but saying the words out loud can get the attention of things you don't want," Myst explained.
"Why keep the books if they're that dangerous?" Tom asked.
"To quote an old Earth saying, knowledge is power," Myst replied with a shrug. "Some of the books are completely harmless, some of them could unleash nightmares that can doom galactic empires."
Tom felt the hairs on his arms rise when he realized that Myst was serious. "Shouldn't the books have warning labels?"
"Best of luck," Myst replied with a touch of frustration.
"What do you mean?" Tom asked.
"Let's ignore the fact that some of the books are probably cursed to hide until someone shows up with the 'right' talents, there are thousands of books and every time I sell a book, a new one appears in a random location on the shelves after a couple of days."
Kali pulled her attention off the collection of mismatched shelves and books and focused on Myst. "How do you find anything?"
"A bit of luck and if I'm trying to sell something, the shop gives me nudges and hints. For example if you were looking for a book on Talaxian flowers, I'd need to check the top shelf."
"The highest shelf or the top shelf of a random shelf?" Tom asked.
"I don't know, do you actually want a book on Talaxian flowers?" Myst asked.
"Sure, it would make a nice gift for Neelix," Tom mused.
Myst smiled and pointed at a tall and narrow shelf that was painted bright red, having come across the book last night when he'd been trying to do a basic inventory. "Try the red shelf."
"Is the shop sentient?" Tom asked as he walked over to the red shelf that Myst had pointed at.
"Probably," Myst replied with a shrug. "Sentience just requires the ability to perceive or feel things and that's a remarkably low bar."
"Do you have any books on learning telepathy?" Kali asked hopefully.
"I could probably find something but I could also use my psychic powers to upgrade your empathic gift if you want to skip the months or years of work you'd need to unlock it," Myst offered.
"What's the catch?" Kali asked.
"You'd have to find a telepath to help and you'd probably be hearing voices for a couple of days while you learn to control it," Myst warned her.
"How much?" Kali asked, wondering how much it would cost.
"Is it safe?" Tom asked, thinking of some of the trouble that Kes had run into with her powers.
"I don't know, give me a minute to figure out what we're working with," Myst replied as he used Upgrade to check Kali's psychic potential. "You have a decent empathic gift and you have a weak precog ability, I doubt you'd get more than hunches but they've probably helped over the years."
"Makes sense," Kali mused. "None of the tests could prove things one way or another so the testers decided to ignore it since Kriosians generally don't have precognition."
'Telepathy, Danger Sense, Empathic Metamorph?' He sighed when he checked the abilities that he could 'upgrade' her Empathy too and realized where he'd heard of Kriosians before. 'Yeah, twisting your mind to fit your partner isn't an upgrade.' He double checked the versions of Telepathy he could give her, trying to find something that wouldn't cause her issues. "Do you want Touch Telepathy or ranged Telepathy?"
"Is there a reason to choose Touch Telepathy when you can have the full package?" Kali asked.
"Less distractions and you only have to worry about reading people's minds if you're touching them," Myst replied, sort of glad that he had to use a spell to read people's thoughts since he didn't have to deal with it the rest of the time.
"That depends, can I turn it off?" Kali asked.
"Good question," Tom offered as he walked back over with a book in a language he couldn't read that had alien flowers on the cover along with a couple of Talaxians.
"Ooh," Myst said when he noticed a version of Telepathy that would give her a lot more control than some telepaths had and would let him give her mental shields. "One of the versions comes with an off switch and mental shields."
"How much?!" Kali blurted out, thinking about all of the lost sleep she'd had to put up with over the years because the crew were stressed out.
"Not sure…" Myst trailed off as Rose walked out of the door to the furniture room. "What do you think, Rose?"
"About what?" Rose asked as she walked over, curious why the girl was wearing a nightgown that didn't hide much of anything, but certainly not complaining.
"Kali showed up to buy a book for her father and she wants her Empathy upgraded to Telepathy, what do you think I should charge?" Myst asked.
Rose glanced at the books then focused on the girl. "That depends, how good are you at taking notes?"
"Decent, why?" Kali asked.
"Because I could use the help taking inventory," Rose replied as she handed the girl the futuristic datapad she'd found in the gaming room, unwilling to admit that she didn't know how to use it.
"I can do that," Kali agreed. "At least until my father shows up to rescue me."
"Works for me," Myst agreed as he spent the mana to upgrade Kali's Empathy to the best Telepathy version she had available. 'Just as well that I have mental shields and that her Telepath is short range,' he thought as he spent the mana to upgrade her psychic ability to include mental shields. "Do you want your precog ability boosted?"
"What are my options…" Kali trailed off when she realized that she was getting actual thoughts along with the emotions she could sense or at least bits and pieces as everything was sort of blurring together. "I probably should have started with Touch Telepathy."
"Are you okay?" Tom asked Kali.
"Give me a second," Kali replied as she tried to focus on a single voice. 'I wonder if she'd sign a picture?' she caught the mental thought coming from the red haired girl of her signing a picture without her clothes. "We'll see," she told Rose with a smile, appreciating the fact that she was interested.
"What's it like?" Rose asked.
"It's like walking into a room with a bunch of people talking and you're only able to pick up bits and pieces of the conversations," Kali replied as she caught Tom's thoughts about a telepath named Kes that were mixed with affection and loss. "It's going to take a bit of time to figure out how to ignore people."
"Take a couple of hours and talk to the telepaths, you can always work on the inventory when you've got a handle on things," Myst suggested, figuring the sooner she got help, the better.
Kali smiled at Rose, rather amused at the thoughts that were drifting through her mind about the two of them and a rather large bed. "Don't worry, I'm looking forward to helping with the inventory, I'll be back in a bit."
Myst glanced at the book Tom was holding. "Let's get everything rung up then we can get the long explanation from Seven."
"Works for me," Tom replied as he followed Kali back into the main room, trying and failing not to think about how attractive she was, as he was long out of practice in controlling his own hormonal thoughts and pushing down the feeling of loss that automatically accompanied it.
0o0o0
"The sensors are detecting massive amounts of chronotron radiation," Lieutenant Kim said, speaking up.
"On screen," Janeway ordered as Seven of Nine walked onto the bridge.
"There's nothing to see captain," he replied as he pulled the section of space the radiation was coming from on the screen.
"There's always," Janeway smiled slightly as a wormhole-like portal was ripped open, "something to see."
"Temporal wormhole," Seven suggested as part of a ship started coming out of the wormhole.
"Is that?" Kim asked, recognizing the front of the ship.
"USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)," Tuvok announced, as if they couldn't all read the words as the ship finished exiting the anomaly.
"We're being scanned and hailed," Lieutenant Kim said.
"Put it on…" Janeway trailed off as the wormhole closed once the Enterprise had completely exited the wormhole. "It's gone."
Tuvok scanned the area. "All of the radiation has vanished."
"It's like it was never here," Kim complained as he accepted the hail and brought it up on the screen.
"Picard? What's going on and how did you get here?" Janeway asked, hoping that he had a way to reopen the wormhole so they could return to the Alpha Quadrant.
"I called in a favor," Picard replied. "Do you know where my daughter is?" he asked, having already scanned the ship and found nothing.
"I wasn't aware you had a daughter," Janeway admitted.
"We're from another timeline," Picard told her, not surprised that things were different.
Janeway looked over at Seven. "Have you seen his daughter?"
"Kali Picard?" Seven asked, wanting to make sure they were talking about the same person.
Picard glanced at Lieutenant Data then focused on the woman with borg implants that was wearing clothes that weren't even close to regulation. "Kali Deanna Picard. Where can I find her?"
"She's safe and currently helping an alien take an inventory of a room filled with books in the pocket dimension that is currently attached to the ship," Seven explained.
Picard rubbed the bridge of his nose when he realized that sounded exactly like something Kali would do if she ended up somewhere strange. "I'm going to need more of an explanation."
Janeway relaxed a touch now that she wasn't quite as worried about the captain doing something drastic. "We're still trying to figure out how the door to the shop can teleport between dimensions or why it collects children from various timelines but the door leads to a pocket dimension filled with items infused with strange abilities. The shopkeeper claims that he can't leave for another six days and is hopeful that the shop will stop collecting people now that we have enough children."
"Why was my daughter taken?" Picard asked, doing his best to hold his temper now that he knew she was safe.
"I don't know," Janeway admitted.
"Kali said that someone on the ship told her about the shop and how to call the door but she can't remember the man's face or name," Seven offered.
"She has an excellent memory," Picard replied. "Q…" he trailed off as he found himself on the bridge of Voyager with Q sitting on a console. "What did you do?"
"Mon capitaine," Q replied with amusement. "What makes you think I did anything other than provide transportation?"
"Because I know you," Picard replied sourly.
"I am insulted, I merely repaid the favor that you won," Q replied with a smirk.
"How did you win a favor?" Janeway asked.
"I beat him at chess," Picard replied.
"You threw the game, didn't you?" Janeway asked the omniscient being.
Q chuckled. "Of course I threw the game, the number of crew that would then challenge me to double or nothing... I don't even know what I would do with a star ship. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to run before something nasty shows up." He snapped his fingers and vanished, returning Picard to the Enterprise as the doors of the turbolift opened on the bridge of the Enterprise revealing Guinan.
Picard turned to look at Guinan. "Is he gone?"
"For now," Guinan replied. "I'm requesting permission to check the shop."
"How did you know about the shop?" Picard asked.
"Once you've been around a while, you learn to sense them, they're almost as troublesome as Qs," Guinan warned him.
"You're welcome to come with me," Picard turned back to the screen to look at Janeway, "assuming we have permission?"
"Of course," Janeway assured him, knowing she'd want to make sure her family was safe before they got down to business. "We can discuss the rest when you get here."
"Thank you, Enterprise out," Picard replied then gestured for Data to cut the transmission. "What can you tell me about the shop?" he asked Guinan.
"They're all different but they usually show up for a couple of days or weeks and cause chaos before vanishing," Guinan offered.
"What type of chaos?" Riker asked.
"It depends on what they're selling, anything from books that give people strange abilities to warp drives that change the entire direction of a species," Guinan offered.
"Lovely," Picard muttered, wondering how much trouble they'd gotten themselves into this time.
0o0o0
"How much trouble are you going to have with the crew because you're stuck here?" Chakotay asked Riker, wondering if they could pick up some crew.
"None," Riker assured him. "We took a vote before we left."
"And no one objected?" Tuvok asked, surprised that they didn't have more trouble.
"We have six thousand people onboard, of course people objected. Five ensigns and forty seven civilians that were helping with several projects wanted to stay behind for various reasons," Riker explained.
"Fifty two people out of six thousand people?" Chakotay asked, trying to wrap his head around the idea that they had nearly six thousand people that were willing to jump through a wormhole with no way back just to make sure the captain's daughter was safe.
"Six thousand and eight to be precise," Data offered.
Riker nodded. "We had a lot of visiting family members."
"How did he get Starfleet to agree to let you take the flagship on a one way trip through a wormhole?" Chakotay asked, surprised that the admirals had allowed it.
"Picard called in a favor and Admiral Kirk basically sold the Enterprise to Picard, everyone that stayed is basically on a ten year sabbatical," Riker explained.
"And the rest of the admirals allowed it?" Chakotay asked in surprise.
"Civilian ships have less restrictions," Riker admitted, thinking about the cloaking device that was currently being installed on the Enterprise. 'Probably just as well that I saved the scans of the phase cloak.'
"Like trading technology?" Tuvok asked, figuring that was the only thing that made sense.
"We picked up a decent collection of basic technology from a couple of associates of Captain Sisko's before we left DS9," Riker explained. "We're not going to compromise our morals but Starfleet is basically covering their asses on this one."
"We should compare notes, Admiral Kirk died in our dimension," Chakotay suggested, suddenly wondering if he'd faked his death in their dimension to avoid becoming an admiral.
"If you give me access to a terminal, I'll come up with a list of major events," Data offered, knowing he'd be the fastest.
"Find a terminal," Chakotay offered, not particularly bothered about everyone on the Enterprise taking a leave of absence to get things done.
0o0o0
Comments
Bable Zmith
Yup.
chxenocide
Almost any other ship in the fleet that many volunteers would seem unbelievable. With an Enterprise though...
