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  For Ina

  HISTORIAN’S NOTE

  This story takes place in late 2386, seven years after the U.S.S. Enterprise-E’s confrontation with the Rom­ulan praetor Shinzon (Star Trek: Nemesis) and one year after the Athene Donald visit to Deep Space 9 (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine—The Missing). These events unfold only weeks after Julian Bashir’s mission that aided the Trill journalist Ozla Graniv’s bombshell exposé of Section 31 and its numerous clandestine activities (Star Trek: ­Section 31—­Control).

  A novel about the past, the future,

  and everything in between.

  My dear Doctor—

  I often imagined what your first visit to Cardassia Prime might be like. When first we met, I pictured us strolling through the capital, finding shade under the great and ancient ithian trees that lined the boulevards of Tarlak, stopping to drink hot bitter gelat in the corner houses of Torr, and climbing the heights of Coranum to look down upon the splendor of my city, the heart of the empire that I have loved and served. I imagined a journey into the country, to a grand house where you could see our world in all its stark beauty, and understand how the land had formed us, and the nature of the demands it put upon us.

  A pleasant fantasy, and one that sustained me considerably during the early years of my exile, when Cardassia seemed lost to me forever, and you were a rare friend. Over the years I revised the tale, not least as Cardassia became more and more fantastical to me, a place that I could scarcely believe ever existed, never mind be one to which I could possibly return.

  And I did return, in the end, but not to the Cardassia I knew.

  I was glad you did not come then. I did not want you to see our ruin, and our shame. I did not want you to see us holding out a begging bowl to the rest of the quadrant. And I knew that if you came you would not hold back from seeing all that was there. You would not hold back from trying to help; you were constitutionally incapable of that. But I did not want you to see hunger, privation, and fear. I did not want you to see us suffer through the dust storms, stand in line for water, dig up bodies with what strength we had, and then have to find the strength to bury them again. I did not want you to see. I did not want you to help.

  Then, one day, I woke up and it was spring. The sun was shining. The children were living, not dying. The buildings were tall and busy, not ruined and empty. There was life. There was hope. People change, the poet says, and smile. I hoped that you would come, and see us smile.

  You are here now, Julian, and it is not how I imagined it would be. Still, I wish that I could show you Cardassia. I wish that I could show you anything at all.

  Your friend,

  Garak

  [unsent]

  One

  There is nothing quite to compare with arriving on a new world. As the ship comes into orbit, even the most seasoned traveler cannot help but stop their reading or their moss-gathering and peer at the planet moving slowly into range. Questions form in the mind: What will I see that is new? Will I learn something? Will I be surprised? Will my visit here change me in some small but significant way? When the time comes, you board the landing shuttle and, for a while, you see little more than its sealed interior, and hear little

  more than engines thrumming as you are brought planetside. But soon enough you’re down, and safety harnesses are released, and you rise and stretch, and fumble around for your bags, and at last you come out into the spaceport, into the whirl and noise of a thousand alien strangers, busy about their lives, caring little for your concerns, anxious about missing connections or finding friends or simply getting home. You begin to find your bearings. Your journey on into the new world begins. You have arrived.

  No, nothing quite compares. You are weary. You are disoriented. You are excited too. You are struggling to get your bearings. And when the world in question is Cardassia Prime, mystique shrouds your arrival. You know that Cardassia has been at peace with the rest of the quadrant for over a decade, and all the signs are positive that the peace is lasting. You know that there is an alliance in place now, a special relationship between these people and yours, but this is an alien world after all, and one can never be too careful. You are aware of all of this, but the war still lingers in the memory, and behind it lurks the Occupation, a scar that has never quite healed. You are aware that Cardassia’s legal and judicial system is now considered second to none within the quadrant in terms of transparency, equity, and efficiency. You gather that the police service too these days is a byword for honesty and fairness. Education, healthcare, social care—all flourishing, all nurtured, and with a philosophy that prioritizes care ahead of cost. Most importantly, nobody starves in the Cardassian Union these days, and while remoter regions of Prime and some of the outer worlds might still require the more rugged and self-denying sort, nobody is thrown to the wolves. You try to shake off your doubts. This is a new world. But there remains some dark glamour to Cardassia Prime, some continuing sense that something cruel may still lurk in the shadows. Perhaps you are wondering if you are safe here. Perhaps you are wise to wonder.

  Katherine Pulaski was not immune to glamour, but like most things it had to work fairly damn hard to cast any kind of spell on her. This morning, Cardassia Prime, as if sensing a worthy opponent at last, was pulling out all the stops. The spring sunrise unfolding beyond the transparent-aluminum walls and ceilings of the spaceport was a veritable symphony of color. A bass line of rosy pink warmed the sky. Gentle arpeggios of yellow rippled through, counterpointed by sharp and sudden purple leitmotifs. The whole opened out into a faultless final movement: the vast unbroken blue of spring over the Cardassian capital. Welcome, Katherine Pulaski, Cardassia Prime seemed to be saying. Ta-da! This world is like no other. Enjoy your stay here. We promise you the trip of a lifetime.

  Pulaski yawned, stretched, and scratched. “Look,” she said to her traveling companion, pointing ahead. “Coffee. Goddammit, Peter, they really are civilized here after all.”

  Her companion, a lean man in his midthirties with black hair and space lag, peered above the rims of his dark sunglasses, and muttered, “Praise be.” His name was Doctor Peter Alden, and he and Pulaski were colleagues and, sometimes, such as in meetings, archenemies. Grabbing their in-flight bags, they shambled across the arrivals hall to the small café that Pulaski had spotted. She sat Alden down with the bags, and put in their order with a friendly young Cardassian male who was excited to see two humans and chattered about the human teacher he’d had at his school as a kid. Pulaski smiled and nodded and managed a facsimile of friendliness: no mean feat for her. When their order arrived, she and Alden sat in silence until Alden had finished his coffee, leaned back in his chair, and taken off his glasses.

  “Of course,” he said, “the reason that there is coffee is down to us.”

  “What?” Pulaski said. “I’m willing to take credit for a lot of things, but I can’t see how I can get away with that one.”

  “Starfleet—the Federation—we were here for years. The reconstruction effort. All mixing with the locals—like that young man there who brought us our drinks. I bet we won’t struggle to find human food and drink.” He looked thoughtful. “I could murder a curry.”

  Pulaski smiled. “If you’re
offering analysis and feeling hungry, I’m going to guess that your space lag is better.”

  Alden stretched and looked up through the ceiling. “Well,” he said, “it’s a nice morning.”

  “It’s beautiful. Who would’ve expected it from Cardassia Prime?”

  Alden grunted. “I gather it has its charms.”

  Pulaski contemplated her companion as he leaned forward and started making short work of the pile of small iced buns that she had brought with the coffee. Pulaski’s current assignment was on board a scientific research vessel, the Athene Donald. Scientific research vessels were plenty in the Federation, sure, but the Athene Donald was special. Its crew was the most diverse yet assembled, drawing as it did not only from Federation species, but from allied and not-so-allied worlds. Ferengi, Cardassians, even a Tzenkethi, mingled freely with the humans, Trill, and Vulcans. The idea was that a untrammeled scientific community would find ways of working together that were not bounded by diplomatic needs or constraints. It was a truly utopian vision. There had been numerous complications, but one of the most irritating, to Pulaski’s mind, had been the appearance at the very start of the ship’s mission of Starfleet Intelligence, in the form of Peter Alden.

  Pulaski didn’t want spooks aboard her ship. She didn’t like their games, and she thought it made a mockery of their mission. Alden came anyway. By the end of that first voyage, however, Alden had been what Pulaski called “cured.” He quit the intelligence service, signed up on the Athene Donald, and had completed his doctoral studies in xenosociolinguistics in record time, working with Ferengi and Tzenkethi advisors. Since then, Pulaski and Alden had enjoyed sparring with each other whenever they could. When she had been invited to Cardassia Prime, she told him he should come along. Alden agreed immediately, to the vast amusement of their colleagues. There was a pool on the ship (neither of them knew this) as to how soon she would make him the fourth Mr. Pulaski. There was also another pool (they perforce knew nothing about this either) as to how quickly she would divorce him.

  Their quiet, restorative breakfast was interrupted by the sudden arrival at their table of a rather harassed-looking young Cardassian male. He was breathless from hurrying across the concourse, and he was waving a piece of cardboard on which PULASKI had been written in big block letters.

  “Doctor Pulaski!” he cried. “Doctor Pulaski!”

  “Watch it, Kitty,” Alden said. “I think someone wants your autograph.”

  The Cardassian screeched to a halt at her elbow. “Oh, thank goodness!” he said, between gasps of breath. “I thought I’d missed you.”

  “Well, sonny, don’t worry,” Pulaski said. “You’re back on target.”

  “Oh, thank goodness!”

  She smiled at him. “Who are you, exactly?”

  “Me? Oh, yes, my name is Metok Efheny. I’m from the chief academician’s office at the university. I’ve been assigned as your aide during your visit, and I’m here to take you into the city. We have everything . . .” He looked anxiously into their cups. “Oh my goodness, I’m sure we can find you something better to drink than that noxious brew . . . Anyway, I’m so glad I’ve found you! Professor Therok would’ve been furious if I’d missed you!”

  “Hanging offense, huh?” said Pulaski.

  Efheny blanched. Quickly, he said, “I must assure you, Doctor, Cardassia is nothing like that these days—”

  Alden covered a laugh. Patiently, Pulaski said, “It’s just an expression. I wasn’t expecting to face the death penalty—not this early on in the trip, anyway.”

  “Really, we don’t do anything like that, not ­anymore—”

  “Sonny,” said Pulaski, “stand down. This is a great welcome, this is great coffee, and you’re doing just great.”

  That did the trick. Efheny looked relieved and very grateful. Pulaski stood up, Alden close behind. There was some fuss and bother while Efheny found their luggage, and then he led his guests out into the bright morning. Alden put his sunglasses back on, but Pulaski enjoyed the heat of the sun upon her skin. She’d been on board ships a lot the past few months.

  “What a great morning!” she said, and Efheny smiled happily. Nice kid.

  With some further hustle and bustle, Efheny got them to their skimmer, packed in the luggage, and settled them into the back. It was a very nice skimmer, Pulaski noted, with some satisfaction. Plenty of room for the three of them to sit, with Alden and Pulaski facing Efheny, and a driver up front beyond a barrier. Being a very important person was very fine, Pulaski thought. Alden nudged her, and she saw that Efheny was looking at her anxiously. “Say something nice,” Alden muttered.

  “Gorgeous skimmer,” Pulaski said. “I feel like a star.”

  Efheny went pale with pleasure. “You really are an extremely honored guest. What you did to solve the Andorian genetic crisis . . .”

  Pulaski was embarrassed. “Well, it was a team effort,” she said gruffly. In all honesty, she wasn’t sure why she had landed this gig on Cardassia Prime. But the University of the Union wanted to pin a medal on someone, and given that Julian Bashir was . . . Well, Katherine Pulaski was always ready to take one for the team. One keynote speech on biomedical ethics, one medal ceremony, a few receptions and dinners—­she was happy to oblige. Though she knew it was Julian Bashir who really deserved this accolade.

  “The Distinguished Impact Medal is the highest honor that the university can bestow,” Efheny said. “I hope we are able to do you and your work justice.”

  “I know you will,” said Pulaski. She flicked through the itinerary that Efheny had sent to her padd. “I was hoping to see Julian Bashir,” she said. “See how he’s doing.”

  She looked up. Efheny’s mouth was opening and closing like a gasping fish. “I’m afraid that I . . . I’m not sure that I . . .”

  Pulaski became aware of Alden’s hand upon her arm. “I suspect,” said Alden, “that this is something that we can take up with the chief academician. Or perhaps the castellan himself, when we meet him.”

  Efheny gave Alden a grateful look. Alden gave Pulaski’s elbow another nudge.

  “Of course,” she said. “All right, sonny. Let’s see what you’ve got lined up for me.”

  * * *

  Professor Natima Lang looked up from her padd and began wrapping up her lecture.

  “And so we see,” she said, “that the enigma tale is a more complex, more disturbing form than perhaps we are in the habit of thinking, and one that is surely standing on the verge of significant transition. A form that, like no other, deals with that peculiarly Cardassian trait—guilt.”

  Her audience laughed knowingly. Lang smiled out at them. This was the last in her series of lectures on contemporary literature and, as usual, she had filled the hall. Lang’s lectures attracted interest from well beyond her immediate students. She saw colleagues here, people eminent in their own fields, who had come week after week to hear what Lang had to say about the books she had been reading. Her heart filled with joy to think that her civilization was now one where reflections on literature could attract such interest and lively response, rather than suspicion and outright hate. Her heart burst with pride to think of the transformations her people had wrought upon themselves.

  “In the enigma tale as we have known it,” she said, “we have evidence that literature—that art—encodes into itself, despite all attempts at extirpation, critiques of the world in which it is created. In the enigma tale, these authors tried to address—through the medium of the puzzle, the riddle—what we could not discuss in public: the nature of our guilt, its role in our past, and its impact on our future.”

  She paused and took a small sip of water. Nearly done. But she wanted them to listen to this final part—really listen. So she paused, and quietly cleared her throat. When she knew she had their full attention, she continued.

  “Literature such as this creates within its b
ounds a microcosm for society. In the country houses of the Second Republic, the mansions of Coranum, or”—she gestured around puckishly—“the lecture halls and committee rooms of the university, we see our world writ small. The crimes and misdemeanors of the wider world, the perpetrators and offenders, were concentrated and offered for our consideration.”

  They were smiling. They were with her.

  “But Cardassia has changed—changed almost beyond recognition. Some of us old villains are still around, yes”—she tapped her chest and they laughed—“but my question now is—what might the enigma tale look like under our new dispensation? We have seen how, in the past, the question was not which of the characters was guilty, but how were the characters each guilty? Is it possible that in the future an enigma tale might contain a character who is—I can hardly imagine it—innocent?”

  More laughter. Good.

  “The Cardassian way of life has for a long time meant that we have all felt ourselves tainted in some way by guilt, by our treatment of each other, our actions on Bajor, our perfidy during the Dominion War. But will that be the case in the future? And to have dealt so successfully, so honestly, with our past—where might that lead us? Where might it lead our culture, our stories, ourselves—and our Union? Where does the enigma tale—where does the Union—go next?”

  She turned the last page and rested her hands upon her padd. “As yet, I have no answers to these questions. I can only put them to you.” She looked out at her audience—most of them so young, with bright and constructive futures ahead of them, and she smiled. “They will, I think, be questions for you to answer. In the meantime—thank you for listening.”

  The applause that followed was rapturous. Lang was almost embarrassed. This was good work, she thought, but by no means her best. That had been done years ago, under the shadow of the old Union, when every day she had feared the knock at the door, arrest, torture, hard labor, perhaps even execution. She would not go back to those days, by any means. But she knew that she had done her finest work then, desperation at the plight of the Union and what she knew would be its inevitable self-immolation driving her to write as if all their lives depended on it. Those writings, those words, had been read by many, and moved many. She gathered even the castellan had her work on his shelves—but then, he was rumored to be a great reader.