I can’t speak for any of you, but… my reaction to this story, as a reader, would be, “Holy…! If this is only the third-place story, I wonder what’s next?”

Michael was the "show horse" last year, too, with his wonderful “Pax Libertas.” This time he gives us a more traditional exploration story—so long as one recalls that infinity is immanent as well as transcendant.

"At The Edge Of The Sea"

By Michael Gray

Luciano Mantovanni bolted up from the bed in his quarters. The alarm klaxon blared, but it seemed muffled to him, as if it were a wounded animal bleating its final cries before the death stroke.

"Mantovanni to bridge… report!" he demanded from the comm system, doing his best to shake the slumber from his mind.

The deck heaved, tossing him across the room. He scrambled to his feet with far less agility than he'd expected,his muscles reluctant to follow the orders his brain shouted.

His ship was under attack. He had to make it to the bridge.

From the corner of his eye he saw it only a moment before it hit. Out the window where there should have been only stars, a large undulating mass of moist, black flesh smashed into the hull.

Mantovanni instinctively stepped away, but less than a second later realized it was not enough to escape.

The dark, slug-like form smashed its way through the metal skin of the starship Liberty and took only a brief pause to locate its target.

Captain Luciano Mantovanni stared at the five meter length of the slithering apparition as it turned toward him and opened what appeared to be a mouth. It lunged for him.

He spun about, making a leap for the door, but was too slow. He felt the creature's mouth close on his waist, his legs kicking at the wet interior of its throat. The slug lifted him into the air and as he slid down deeper into its bowels an odd thought occupied his mind. Where was the explosive decompression when it came through the hull? Why wasn't I sucked out into space?

Darkness.

Mantovanni opened his eyes. Rather than drowning in the digestive juices of the creature's innards, he found himself lying on a large bed inside what appeared to be a spacious hotel room. The walls were covered with ornate scrollwork which ran all the way up to the ten foot ceiling above. Plush chairs sat scattered about in no recognizable pattern. He rolled over to the source of light filling the room. Two large French doors stood open and beyond them a balcony overlooked a calm sea. Bright sunlight came down from a perfect blue sky.

"What the hell is going on?" He sat up on the bed and peered out the doors. He noticed a figure with its back to him, standing at the edge of the balcony. The strong winds off the ocean caused the gown she wore to billow out around her. Her long dark hair rose and fell in steady rhythm with her garment.

She turned to him. "Why do you ask questions you know the answer to?"

He found it impossible not to smile. Her bright green eyes gazed at him with such longing he felt as if some magnetic force struck out from them like lightning, pulling him toward her.

She was perfection. Every curve, every detail of her supple figure seemed to be exactly what the human female body was meant to be.

She glided toward him with the grace of an angel, but her eyes were filled with desires far from heavenly. Her hands opened the gown and it slid off her shoulders as she made her way to the bed. Her lustrous skin gave not hint of imperfection.

She came to the edge of the bed and crawled across it toward him. "Now I'll have what I came here for."

Mantovanni's mind urged him to get away from this woman, but his body, now aroused, would obey no such thoughts. He found it difficult not to stare at her perfectly rounded breasts as she straddled him. "Do I know you?" he asked.

She chuckled. "You will." She tore his shirt open and ran her slender fingers over his chest. "You're going to enjoy this." She reached down and licked at his nipple.

He ran his hands over the silky skin of her back, losing himself in the moment. That is until he felt her teeth bite down on his chest.

"Hey!" he pulled her head off of him. "Take it easy."

She regarded him a moment with a grin. "That's not what you want, Cicero." She reached up and pushed his arms away and above his head. "We're going to do this my way."

He tried to pull away, but she was stronger than she appeared. He took a deep breath and pushed her away.

Her hand came across his face with a slap. "Do as you're told!"

He set his jaw. "I don't think so." Mantovanni tossed her off him. "Now, who are you?"

She barely kept herself from rolling off the bed, but she didn't appear discouraged. She smiled and pulled at his pants. "The woman you've always wanted."

He pulled away from her and sat up on the bed. "A real answer would be appreciated."

"You'll have all the answers you need when I fuck you."

He frowned and stood to his feet. "Where is this place?"

She watched as he walked toward the doors to the balcony. "Am I going to have to get rough with you?"

"I believe you'll find that won't avail you much."

She stood from the bed and took a deep breath. "You're going to regret this, Mantovanni. All you had to do was come over and talk to me."

He spun about and stared at her. That face... He did know her. But only the face was right. He searched his memories for the place and time, but whenever he came close, his thoughts evaporated. "Who are you?!"

She shrugged her shoulders. "You had your chance."

The next moment, Luciano Mantovanni stood upon the sands of a desert which stretched to infinity in every direction.

"What do we have here?"

He turned to the source of the voice and looked upon an impossibility. Making its way toward him, a two meter long ant walked across the sand on six legs.

Only briefly did his thoughts become fearful. But after that passed, he smiled. "You can't exist."

"And why is that?" the large figure asked as it stopped a short distance from him, its antenna twitching rhythmically.

"Ants, assuming you're supposed to be that insect from Earth, don't have lungs. At your present size, you'd suffocate."

The ant's compound eyes stared at him a moment. "Perhaps you're the one who has changed size."

Mantovanni shook his head. "With my mass concentrated into this small a space, I should have sunk into the sand."

The ant tilted its head up, looking off into the distance. "Crawl onto my back."

"I think I'll stay right here."

"Aren't you curious to find out what I'm doing here?"

He didn't have too many options. If he remained where he was, it was likely something even more impossible would come by. He had to find out what was happening to him, and while a two meter long ant was the last creature he'd ever imagined riding, he had to admit it did have an adventurous attraction to it.

Mantovanni approached the creature, looking for a way onto its back.

"Try between the middle and back legs," it told him.

He followed its directions and crawled up onto its thorax. "Where are we going?"

"Back to my nest. Its being threatened."

"Are you sure that's wise?"

"I'm an ant, it's what I do."

Ten minutes later, the pair came over a hill and stopped. A large ten meter wide cylinder crashed down out of the sky into a mass of ants and sand down in the valley below.

"What is it?" Mantovanni asked as he slid down from his ride.

"An attack from beyond," the ant told him, watching his fellows, scrambling around the invader from above. "I do not think we shall survive this time."

"Then run; get away from this place."

"This is our home," the ant replied as the cylinder dug deeper into the ground. Ant bodies flew in every direction.

"Why would anyone do this?"

The ant turned to him. "I would very much like an answer to that question, little Luciano."

Mantovanni stepped back at the dark tone in his companion's voice. "I'm not responsible for this."

"Aren't you?" His antenna reached forward. "Don't you remember?"

Liberty's captain now saw the ant had been joined by twelve others, all moving to surround him. "No."

The ants moved closer. "A boy is up there. He's just read about the queen in an ant colony from an encyclopedia entry on Earth lifeforms. He's searching for her with little concern for the thousands who are about to give their lives to protect their home." The creature's mandibles opened. "And now, for the first time, we can stop him."

Mantovanni did his best to remain calm. There was an answer here. He had to keep his wits about him.

"Your curiosity has consequences, human."

Thirteen sets of razor-sharp jaws fought for their chance at the small fleshly thing before them.

Filled with sudden fear, he cried out.

He opened his eyes. He was back in the hotel room where the woman was atop him, riding him for all she was worth. He nearly pushed her off, but reconsidered. As much as this troubled him, it was far better than being torn limb from limb by angry, giant ants.

She looked down at him and smiled. "Better?" She leaned down and touched her lips to his. "You've wanted this for so long, why fight it?"

Ariel... Ariel Berne... That was her name.

"Captain?" a woman's voice asked from seemingly light years away.

Mantovanni tried to place it.

"Cicero!" the voice shouted, this time with a tug at his shoulder.

He tilted his head and saw Sera MacLeod standing next to the bed. "Commander?"

"You can see me?"

"Yes, but what are you..."

Ariel kissed him again. "Don't listen to it! Stay here with me!"

"Captain," MacLeod said, regaining his attention. "Concentrate. Use the mental training Sevek gave you."

He closed his eyes and entered the meditations his mentor had taught him to gain control over the emotions of his human heritage. After a minute, he looked up at Ariel. "You're not real," he whispered.

The woman making love to him closed her eyes and rolled off of him.

Mantovanni turned to Sera. "I assume you've figured out what's going on."

She raised an eyebrow as he stood. "You might want to put some clothes on, sir."

He looked down at himself. "I don't remember taking them off."

"You're dreaming," the Vulcan told him. "You will have to use your mind to either find the clothes or..."

Before she could finish, Luciano Mantovanni wore his Starfleet uniform once again. "Dreaming?"

She glanced over at the woman on the bed. "Evidently, some dreams are more base than others."

"There are worse experiences." He thought a moment. "If I'm dreaming, how are we conversing?"

"A mind meld." She motioned him toward the balcony.

He turned to Ariel, but before he could say anything to her, she vanished. He joined Sera outside.

"You were found thirty minutes ago unconscious on the floor of your quarters. Thus far, all means to awaken you have failed. Twelve other members of the crew are in similar circumstances. Since I knew you had been trained in Vulcan mental disciplines, I decided to attempt a mind meld with you, hoping we could communicate." She joined his gaze. "Oddly enough, the others are here with you as well."

"I've seen no one else from the crew. How do you know they're here?"

"When I calm myself and listen, I can hear their thoughts in whispers."

Mantovanni tried it, but heard nothing. "What caused this?"

"I was in engineering, continuing to work on finding a way back to where we belong and evidently something about the warp field I created attracted a number of alien entities. They approached the ship and then vanished."

"What sort of alien entities?"

"After my test, I called to the bridge to ask for a sensor reading of the surrounding space-time and Parihn informed me that several bodies of energy had approached. I went to a display and learned they were self-organizing, and likely living."

"Do you believe these entities are responsible for my continued dream state?"

She looked out at the endless sea as waves crashed on the beach below. "I'm not certain. But you and the others affected were asleep at the time of the encounter. I think it logical to assume they are in some way responsible."

"Do you think this is a means to seize control of the ship or merely some failed attempt at communication?"

"Unknown, but none of our warp systems have been functional since encountering the bodies of energy and I have been unable to discover why."

The warm breeze blew past him. As much as this place appealed to him, Mantovanni had to find out what was happening to his ship and crew. "How would you suggest we..." A sound caught his attention.

"Luciano..." a voice whispered.

The next moment, Sera MacLeod stood alone. "Captain?"

"Luciano," the female voice said in his ear. "Tell me again how much you love me."

He pushed the blond away from him. Her lack of a shirt gave him a good view of her petite breasts and that told him something had changed--- she wasn't Ariel.

He studied her a moment.

"What's wrong?" she asked, leaning toward him.

"Lieutenant Aronow? That's your name, correct?"

Her eyes widened. "Oh my god." She grabbed for her shirt. "Captain?"

He stood from the bed and looked around. They were in a set of quarters for junior officers.

Sera MacLeod appeared nearby. "Are all of your dreams of a sexual nature?"

Mantovanni raised an eyebrow and stood up. "This isn't my dream."

Sera turned to the Lieutenant who now had her shirt back on. "You are one of the twelve who are also in a deep sleep."

"Lieutenant Katherine Aronow from engineering."

MacLeod regarded the younger woman for a moment. "How did you break out of your dream state?"

"Evidently I was a part of it," Mantovanni stated.

Aronow cringed. "Sir, I didn't..."

His eyes joined hers. He could tell she was embarrassed. However, he could imagine how he'd feel if the real Ariel Berne had happened by earlier. "It's alright, Lieutenant. None of us are responsible for our dreams. Trust me, I know how they can have a life of their own."

She gave a brief smile. "Thank you, sir."

Sera's eyes narrowed. "She's still deep in her dream, Captain." She turned to Aronow. "You have strong feelings for the Captain, don't you?"

The Lieutenant turned away from them.

"Commander, I think she's been through enough for now," Mantovanni said, hoping to avoid further embarrassment for the young woman.

"No, sir. This is too important to set aside just to protect her feelings or your sense of propriety."

Aronow stared at Mantovanni. "Yes, I love him."

He didn't know what to say. The last thing he wanted to do was to send reality crashing down upon the Lieutenant, especially since Sera thought questioning the lieutenant was important.

"These aren't just dreams, sir," Sera began. "They appear to rise out of unconscious desires. It could be that someone is manipulating you, touching off these feelings."

"Experimenting?"

"Perhaps," Sera agreed. "You should be careful not to trust any emotional responses you might have."

"Why?" Aronow pleaded.

Both Mantovanni and Sera turned.

"Lieutenant, none of this is real," Mantovanni stated.

"But I'm real and my emotions are very much real." Aronow stepped up to him. "I do love you."

He shook his head. "Lieutenant, once we're out of this you'll think differently."

She smiled. "I've loved you from the moment I came aboard Liberty. I just never had the courage to say anything. You are the captain after all. Having a crush on your CO isn't something most people are proud to admit to."

"You don't even know me."

She placed a hand on her chest. "I know you in here. That's all that matters."

"Lieutenant, don't indulge this," Sera said. "You have to stay focused so we can find a way to get you and the others out of here."

"I've done my best to bury this for the last year, but I... I can't do it anymore." She touched Mantovanni's cheek. "I don't want to."

"Katherine," a voice spoke softly from the bed.

They all turned to see another Mantovanni.

"How?" the real Luciano asked.

"We're losing her," Sera stated. "She's sinking back into the dream."

"Aronow," Mantovanni said. "Katherine."

Katherine Aronow turned back to her real captain. "Yes, my love?"

"I'm sorry, but I don’t love you," he said, trying to shake her delusion.

She smiled. "I know that now." She pointed to the phantom on the bed. "But he does."

Mantovanni reached for the Lieutenant, but in the blink of an eye she vanished and reappeared in the bed with his doppelganger.

"Luciano, I do love you so," Aronow said as the other Mantovanni began removing her clothes.

"We can't help her now," Sera said, turning and exiting the lieutenant's dream quarters.

Mantovanni watched Katherine Aronow as she fell into an abyss of her own making. He turned and followed Sera through the doorway.

Out in the faux corridor, Sera ran several possibilities through her mind as her commanding officer approached.

"We have to end this."

"I am aware of that, sir, but while you have the capacity to avoid being swallowed up by this place, we have yet to find a way to wake you up." She cast him a curious glance. "If you have any suggestions, I would be anxious to hear them."

Luciano Mantovanni did his best to fight off the gnawing fear chasing his thoughts. For all they knew, there wasn't a way out of this. They were outside of the normal laws of the universe. Nothing here could be trusted, not even themselves.

All he had was logic.

He smiled. That was it. If there was an intelligence at work here, despite the apparent chaos, there had to be an underlying purpose, method, or logic to it. It might not follow their rules, but it would have its own. And even more so if this were some sort of experiment.

"We confront this directly by going to the source of it." He closed his eyes and concentrated on Ariel Berne. "Stay with me, Sera. You'll be my anchor."

She took his hand. "I'm here."

He looked out and saw the desert again. At his side, Sera stood.

"Interesting," she said.

"Whatever happens, don't let go of me."

Over a nearby hill, a horde of two meter long ants streamed toward them. "The boy must die!" they cried out in unison.

"I'd be fascinated to see what part of your psyche this comes from," Sera stated as the insects were nearly upon them.

"Guilt," he said. "The guilt of a child who's wonder about the small creatures he found, unknowingly destroyed many of them one sunny afternoon while visiting the homeworld of his species." A thoughtful smile came to his face. "Its curious the things which stick with us through our life."

"Mantovanni!" the lead ant cried out.

He stepped forward, Sera still at his side. "I am Captain Luciano Mantovanni of the Federation starship, Liberty. I wish to speak to the intelligence which has approached our vessel."

The giant insects hesitated, unsure of what to do.

The next moment, they were gone.

"Come and make love to me, Cicero."

Mantovanni and Sera found themselves back in the hotel room. They turned to the nude woman upon the bed. "We are explorers from a collection of worlds called the United Federation of Planets. We mean you no harm," he told Ariel. "Please, we wish to speak to you."

Ariel frowned. "That won't be near as much fun."

Mantovanni concentrated, and the room faded away. It was replaced by the grounds of Starfleet Academy.

"I assume this is your doing," Sera said.

"Not exactly, but I can't say I'm surprised." He looked about the grassy lawn. "She should be..." He pointed toward the large building ahead of them.

Ariel, now wearing a cadet's uniform from the twenty-third century, approached them. But behind her, the horde of murderous giant ants came from around the building.

"Now what?" Sera asked.

"When does a dream end?" he asked with a slight grin.

Sera looked at her captain. "When it ends."

"I mean when you're being chased in the dream."

"My dreams do not follow the same pattern as those of humans." She watched the large insects draw nearer. "Whatever it is you have in mind, I would suggest you do it soon."

"We're not going to do anything."

"I do believe that is the worst command decision I've heard you make," Sera said, still holding his hand. "However, I have always trusted your judgment."

"One way or the other, this is going to end."

Ariel walked ahead of the ants. "You are a killer, Luciano Mantovanni."

He gave a nod. "Yes, I am. A killer of many things both great and small."

"Some of those things would like a chance at justice."

He stood his ground. "So be it."

Sera took a single step back. "I don't think I like this."

"Whatever you do, don't let go.," Mantovanni said as the army of insects streamed past Ariel, ever closer to their goal.

"Fortunately for us, this isn't real," Sera said.

"But what we feel will be."

Sera's eyes darted toward him. "What?"

"If I'm right, this is going to hurt like hell."

The ants' powerful mandibles tore into the two small figures, ripping them asunder.

But their hands never let go.

Luciano Mantovanni fell hard onto a sandy surface. Next to him, holding his hand, lay Sera MacLeod.

She stirred after a few moments. "You were correct. That was painful."

They both sat up and discovered they were on a beach looking out at an endless ocean. The lazy tide rolled in and out, providing a soothing chorus of calm.

"So far, so good." Mantovanni stood to his feet.

"Why did you allow yourself to be killed?"

They turned about and watched a lone female figure walk down the beach toward them.

Liberty's captain smiled. "You're Ariel Berne, a woman I met at the Academy."

"The woman you refused to meet," she said with an air of sadness to her voice. "She touched your soul, but you turned away from her."

Mantovanni's memories came to the surface. He remembered that day he'd seen her across the lawn in front of the Sciences Building, how their eyes had met, and how he'd gone to class rather than walk over to her. He'd tried to find her on several other occasions, but it wasn't until months later he'd finally tracked her down and by then it had been too late. She was engaged to someone else. Even then, he'd considered going to see her, but the part of himself he thought of as noble had convinced him to leave her to her life. He had never sought her out again.

"Who are you, really?" Sera asked.

Ariel nodded with a grin. "We are explorers, seeking out life."

"So are we."

"But you are so very strange," Ariel replied. "And confusing."

"Why did you attack our ship?" Sera asked.

"You called out to us and we came to hear your song."

Mantovanni looked at Sera. "The warp field?"

Ariel nodded.

"But why bring us into this dream world?" Liberty's captain asked.

"These are your minds as we found them."

"But you could have contacted the others of my crew who were conscious instead."

"Others?" She turned away as if looking into the unseen depths of the sea around them. "There are six hundred or so organic machines within the shell, but their minds appear to be off."

"Dead?"

"No, they still function, but they are not true living beings."

Sera nodded as she realized what the being was saying. "What we think of as our unconscious minds, is the awakened state to them."

The woman stared at them. "Is this not your true selves?"

Mantovanni smiled. "Not exactly. Usually, we're like the others on our ship."

"Astounding," Ariel stated. "But you did not answer me earlier. Why did you let yourself be killed?"

"To end the dream," Mantovanni said.

"Why would you want to end it? Were you not enjoying yourself?"

"Not exactly, but I suppose that might have been my own fault," he said. "In the world we live in, space and time follow stricter rules than they do here."

"And you wish to go back to that?" Ariel asked, appearing incredulous.

"Yes, indeed we do."

She walked up to him. "Even if you were able to meet the real Ariel?"

He looked into her eyes, still drawn to them. "I have a life I want to live."

She nodded. "You ignored your heart all those years ago, Luciano Mantovanni," Ariel said. "Don't ignore it this time."

"This time?"

She smiled. "Seek out life and life will find you. Seek out love and it will come searching for you." She kissed his cheek. "Follow your heart and the heart that loves you will come." She walked out toward the sea. "Captain Mantovanni, a member of your crew has asked to come with us when we leave."

"I don't think that would be a good idea." He paused a moment, wondering what this being was up to. "If we ever find our way home, how could they ever come back?"

"You assume they would wish to."

"No," he said. "I don't think I can allow that."

"Interesting," Ariel said. "You thwart the happiness of others of your kind because of duty and rules."

"That's not what I'm doing," he insisted. "I can't allow a member of my crew to risk themselves like that."

"But it isn't your choice."

She turned and walked into the ocean.

"No!" Mantovanni shouted. "This isn’t right!"

"Goodbye, Luciano Mantovanni and Sera MacLeod. Our kind has been enriched by this meeting."

Mantovanni opened his eyes and this time found himself in sickbay.

"Welcome back," Erika Benteen said, looking down at him.

He sat up in the biobed as a momentarily stunned Sera MacLeod looked about the room. "I assume we are back to reality."

He gave a quick smile and turned to Erika. "The other twelve… are they okay?"

Benteen hesitated a moment. "Eleven of them are fine, they woke up several minutes before you did, but we had one casualty: Lieutenant Katherine Aronow."

He nodded. He had feared that Aronow was the one Ariel had spoken of. He hoped wherever she was, that she had at least found happiness. For his part, Luciano Mantovanni intended to seek out his own the next time it crossed his path, but in real world.