Dax heard their gasps echoed on the other side of the rift.
"Chief!" Kira said at the same time as Dax said: "Don't move!"
O'Brien froze. Out of the corner of her eye, Dax saw Bashir get up and move carefully toward them. She glanced at him and saw shock written all over his face, glinting from his wide eyes. She scanned the anomaly; it was more active now than it had been when only Magellan had been activating it.
"Try it now, Kira!" Dax called through.
"Take my hand," O'Brien said. He nodded a moment later, then pulled his hand back. A sharp Bajoran curse came from the other side and O'Brien returned fully to the present, without Kira.
Dax could hear a quick conversation on the other side, but she couldn't catch the words. Presumably, whoever was talking was standing far enough back from the anomaly that their words weren't traveling clearly through the rift.
"We have an idea," a new voice said then, and Dax heard the undertones of authority. It was a voice used to command. "Chief O'Brien, can you put your hand back through the temporal rift?"
O'Brien glanced at Dax, who nodded. He moved his hand back through. Magellan's hand was still there, although somewhat lower, as if her arm was getting tired. There were a few minutes in which nothing happened on their side, then Magellan said:
"I think we've got it. Chief O'Brien, it appears I'm related to you. If our readings are reliable, you're my great-great grandfather. The woman who was just speaking to you is Captain Kira Trenlei. She's your Major Kira's great granddaughter."
O'Brien's eyes widened in shock and Dax raised her eyebrows.
"If our theory is right, Major Kira was able to pass through because of Captain Kira's presence here. I am able to pass through because of your presence there, Chief. And vice versa."
"Why would it be linked biologically?" Bashir asked.
"We'll have to study that," Magellan replied. "Chief, pull you hand back and take mine."
O'Brien complied, grasping the small hand that seemed to be hovering in mid air.
"I'm going to pull gently, but I'm not going to pull you through," Magellan said.
"Understood," O'Brien replied.
Dax watched as Magellan's wrist and the bottom of her hand vanished and O'Brien's hand edged toward the anomaly. Suddenly, part of the scene before her vanished and there were several people standing on the hill, slightly hazy, as if seen from a great distance. Dax could make out Magellan the best: a young woman with pale brown skin and jet black hair. Behind her was a Bajoran woman in what was probably a Starfleet uniform, Kira, another woman who looked human, and a Vulcan. Magellan looked over her shoulder toward Kira.
"Try it now, Major. Carefully."
Dax stepped forward, scanning the whole time as Kira approached the anomaly. The major hesitated, then carefully put one foot in front of her, across the threshold. It appeared in front of Dax, clearly. Kira eased herself the rest of the way through, then stood still for a moment, looking surprised that it had worked.
"Nerys," Dax said and the major smiled.
"Jadzia, thank the Prophets."
They embraced, then Kira hugged Bashir.
"You can let go now, Chief," Kira said.
"If I do that, we'll lose the break in the time line," O'Brien replied.
"We'll keep studying it from this side," Magellan assured him. "You don't belong on this planet. You need to go home."
"She's right, Chief," Kira said.
O'Brien nodded, then turned to the slightly hazy image of his great-great granddaughter.
"It was good to meet you," he said with a grin.
"You, too. Make sure you take care of yourself."
His grin widened and he nodded. Kira turned to give a nod to the other Kira, who nodded in return. Then O'Brien and Magellan loosened their hold, pulled their hands back and the scene across two hundred years vanished. The hill was empty of all but the four of them again. For a moment, there was only silence, then Kira stepped up toward the path she and Bashir had made to get to the lake. She sat down in the grass and Bashir knelt beside her, scanning her with his medical tricorder.
"Looks like you're all right," he said. "What was it like meeting your great granddaughter?"
"Very strange," Kira said. "I wonder who her great grandfather is?"
Dax grinned.
"You'll find out in good time," she assured the major, who smiled back.
"I suppose so," Kira agreed. Bashir helped her to her feet again. "Have you fixed the engines yet?" she asked.
"Not yet," Dax replied.
"Then let's get back to work on that," she said. "Even if my great granddaughter chooses to live here, I'd rather not be stuck here for the rest of my life."
"Hear, hear," O'Brien agreed.
"I still want you to take it easy for the rest of the day, Chief," Bashir said as they started down the hill toward the shuttle. "Your body still needs to recover."
O'Brien nodded in agreement and Dax saw Bashir give him an evaluating look. She suspected the doctor would be keeping a close eye on the engineer that afternoon, making sure his orders were followed. She knew it frustrated Bashir to no end when people were dismissive about their health
The computer was signaling an incoming message when they stepped into the shuttle and the four of them raced into the cockpit. Dax put the message through quickly and an unfamiliar voice filled the room.
"This is the Vulcan freighter Nadeak to the Federation shuttle Rio Grande. Do you read me, Rio Grande?"
There was relief in Kira's voice when she answered:
"This is Major Kira Nerys of Deep Space Nine. We read you, Nadeak."
"Are you still in need of assistance?"
"Yes, we are. Our engines are off line."
"Acknowledged. I will send down two of my engineers to assist you. Nadeak out."
By late that evening, they had the engines back on line. The Vulcan engineers remained on board until the shuttle had cleared the atmosphere and gone to impulse. Then they beamed back to their own ship, which returned to its original course. Dax set a course back to the station and sent a message through alerting them that they were well and on their way home. Bashir came in balancing raktajinos on a tray and distributed them to everyone. He did another medical scan of both himself and O'Brien to ensure they were all right, then another one of Kira to see if the temporal anomaly had affected her in any way. It appeared it hadn't.
"Strange, isn't it, Major?" O'Brien asked as they left the system behind them.
Kira gave a rueful smile.
"It is," she agreed.
"I would love to have known more about Professor Magellan," the chief said.
"Be glad you don't," Dax advised. "Temporal Investigations will be breathing down our necks as it is. The less we know, the better."
"It's good enough just to know they'll be out there, someday," Kira agreed. "I'm happy to leave their lives to them and go home."
Dax raised her mug and the rest of them did likewise, clinking the rims together gently as the shuttle sped back toward Deep Space Nine, stars and time streaking by through the blackness of space.