Read Online The Mist by Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch - Free Book Online

nearly overpowering.
    "This is an extensive menu," Sisko said.
    "Captain, please," the bristly alien said, slapping its fingered paw on the chair.
    "If you see something you'd like, I'd suggest ordering it quickly," Cap said. "You don't want to see a Quilli get mad. At least not in here."
    The bristles on the little creature were standing on end. "You have abandoned the story at a good section," it said, climbing on the slats of the chair's back. The chair tottered precariously. "I demand that you continue."
    "I will," Sisko said. Those bristles did look like quills, and if the Quilli could shoot them, like so many bristled creatures could, it would be bad. Very bad indeed.
    "Now!" the Quilli growled.
    "Are your nachos real?" Sisko asked Cap.
    Patrons began moving away from the Quilli. Some ducked under tables. Others headed toward the door.
    "Yes," Cap said, edging toward the bar, his gaze on the Quilli.
    "Good," Sisko said. "I'd like a large."
    "Captain, I demand to know what happened next!" The Quilli's bristles were trembling.
    "What happened next?" Sisko said, looking at the small creature. Its chair was wobbling. The Trill got up and steadied it. The Quilli simply climbed higher.
    "I put my entire staff on finding a way to get us phased into our own space."
    "That's all?" The Quilli's little voice was rising.
    "No," Sisko said. "That's not all."

    "Keep broadcasting warnings," I ordered Dax and Nog. "Try anything. Chief, find a way to get a signal across."
    My crew moved swiftly. I was furious. I took a step closer to Captain Victor. I wanted nothing more than to force him to return us to our home. But I knew his agenda was greater than that.
    He looked amused. His blue eyes were twinkling, although he was not smiling. Not quite. "I'm afraid that you won't be able to get any signal between the two realities. Nothing crosses from this way to the normal universe. However, we can listen in on anything going on in the normal universe."
    "Captain, I can't find the phase variance, let alone break it," O'Brien said. "Not in this amount of time."
    "He's right, Benjamin," Dax said. "Miracles simply aren't possible at the moment."
    I crossed the bridge. I stopped in front of Victor. He was my height, except for that silly yachting cap. I wanted to yank it off his head, but I didn't.
    "Take us back," I said.
    "Captain, really," Victor started.
    "Take us back," I said again.
    He shrugged. "If that's what you want, but warning your crew will only cause undue bloodshed."
    "Shift us back. Now."
    "Fine." He took off the cap himself and stuck it under his arm, like those old nineteenth-century paintings of Napoleon. I almost expected him to put one hand in his shirt. "But if you want to come back across, simply return to this point and my ship will bring you here."
    "We will not want to come back," I said.
    "Don't be so hasty in your predictions, Captain," he said, and chuckled. Then he tapped his foot, and disappeared.
    "That was a quick transport," O'Brien said.
    "Maybe he was never actually here," Dax said.
    "Check the logs later, people," I said. "Right now we have to warn the station."
    At that moment a line in space seemed to form in front of the Defiant, widening and growing with a thin, white mist. It swept over the ship from front to back almost instantly and then was gone.
    The Mist ship had disappeared.
    "The Klingon ships and the station are hailing us, sir," Nog said.
    Home. I hadn't realized how much I missed it. And yet I hadn't been out of sight of it.
    "How long until the asteroid hits the station?" I asked.
    "At the speed the Mist ships were pushing it," Dax said, "we have less than one minute. But I can no longer see it, or any of the Mist ships."
    "Put the station on screen," I said. "Make sure the channel is secure."
    "It is," Nog said.
    "Secure, Captain," Dax said, at the same time, obviously double-checking the cadet on such an important order.
    "Captain," Major Kira said as her face appeared on screen. "Where were