The Mist Read Online Free PDF

unsettling to say the least. It would explain, however, why the distress signal had disappeared, and why the interplanetary systems had appeared.
    "No, sir," Worf said. "We seem to be in the same place in time as we were when everything changed."
    "I've scanned for chroniton particles, sir," O'Brien said. "They were the first things I scanned for, and I haven't found anything."
    "Cadet, has that ship made any attempt to contact us?" I asked.
    "Not yet, sir."
    I glanced at him over my shoulder. "Do you expect them to?"
    "If a ship mysteriously appeared in my path, sir, I would hail them. Sir."
    "As would I," I said. "Dax, scan the surrounding area. See what else has changed."
    While she worked, I stared at the ship facing us, and the impossible star systems behind it. Moving or hiding inhabited star systems just wasn't something that was done. At least not by any science known to the Alpha Quadrant. The bridge was silent except for the beep of consoles as my crew tried to determine exactly what had happened to us.
    "Captain," Dax said, her fingers flying over the board in front of her. "Deep Space Nine is still in place and it seems to be functioning normally. We are still on the border of the Klingon Empire, and nothing about those systems seems different either."
    Of all of the news I had just received, that was the part I did not like. If the star system had simply appeared, why hadn't Deep Space Nine disappeared?
    I turned to the chief. "Are there differences between the readings we're taking of Deep Space Nine, and the readings we're getting of these new star systems?"
    "Sir?" O'Brien asked, in that vaguely puzzled tone that he always used when he didn't understand one of my orders.
    "I am thinking that perhaps the ship and the systems"
    "Were planted into our data systems," Dax said. "Of course." She bent over her console. So did the chief and Worf.
    They all looked at me at the same time, and I knew before anyone spoke what their responses would be.
    "I'm sorry, sir," O'Brien started. "But"
    "Captain," Worf said. "Three Klingon ships have just crossed the border. They are heading for our position."
    Of course. The shift had attracted their attention. Not the first time I welcomed the arrival of the Klingons.

    "That is," Sotugh said, "because you could not handle what you saw."
    Every patron froze. The woman who was part of the middle-aged human couple at the bar said, a thread of irritation clear in her voice, "It seems to me that the captain was doing just fine."
    "Fine," Sotugh said. "If he had been doing fine, he would not have needed help."
    "Don't throw stones, Sotugh," Sisko said softly. "Your part in this tale is still ahead of us."
    Sotugh stood abruptly and headed to the bar. He slammed his mug of blood wine on the wood, and the sound echoed. The strange alien at the piano brushed against the keys, seemingly accidentally, but the instrument mirrored the sound Sotugh had just made.
    Sotugh ignored it. "More blood wine," he said. "And this time, make sure it is true blood wine."
    "Our drinks are authentic," Cap said evenly. During Sisko's tale, he had moved from the front of the bar to the back. "Perhaps you would like some blood wine that dates from a different time period? The days of Kahless, perhaps?"
    "Do not toy with me, bartender," Sotugh said. "Sisko's lies have put me in a disagreeable mood."
    "How strange for a Klingon," the catlike woman said.
    "I want to hear the rest," said a small, bristly alien with a large snout. He was standing on a chair toward the back, his chin barely crossing its top.
    Sisko nodded to him. "As I said," Sisko continued, "three Klingon ships had just crossed the border...."

    "Dax," I said, "when will the Klingons arrive?"
    "In sixteen minutes," Dax said.
    I hoped we would have some answers by then.

    "Bah!" Sotugh said from the bar.
    "Sotugh," the catlike woman cautioned. "Let the man talk."

    "Everything changed when that cloud surrounded us," I said. "Let's analyze