The Devil's Heart

the long version

The Devil's Heart—a legendary object of unsurpassed power and mystery. Worlds that believe in magic consider it Darkness's mightiest talisman; worlds of science consider it a lost artifact of some ancient and forgotten race. Some say the Heart enables its possessor to control people's minds and to amass wealth enough for a dozen lifetimes, while others think it capable of raising the dead, perhaps even changing the flow of time itself. But to all, the location of this fabled object has remained a mystery—until now. An isolated archaeological outpost has suddenly stopped responding to repeated requests for information. Sent to discover why, the USS Enterprise-D crew finds a devastated outpost and a dying scientist, whose last worlds fall on disbelieving ears: the Devil's Heart has been found. Now, as the quest for the Heart unfolds, Captain Jean-Luc Picard discovers the awful truth behind all the legends and age-old secrets: Whoever holds the Devil's Heart possesses power beyond imagining…