Part 17 (1/2)
”No, Mr. Barclay, you're with us.” The captain nodded to Data. ”Shall we go?”
”Yes, sir.” The android pushed himself away from the console and retrieved his hoverplatform. A moment later, the three visitors wended their way slowly out of the observation room. Barclay glanced back at the grieving Elaysians, who were weeping, hugging each other, and gazing forlornly out the window at their fallen comrades. They couldn't even retrieve the bodies, thought Reg glumly.
He was haunted by what Melora had told him at the instant of the disaster: This is the end. It's the end of everything.
On board the Enterprise, the command staff gathered in the observation lounge, and a solemn group it was, thought Barclay. He had only been in this room with this important group of officers a few times, and he wished he wasn't here now. He would rather be running third-level diagnostics down in engineering instead of trying to save a couple billion lives. Reg wasn't comfortable playing hero, especially when he had no idea how to get out of this awful mess.
At Captain Picard's insistence, he had kept the violet crystal around his neck, and he felt self-conscious about it. Why should he have this added responsibility when others were more deserving? Were La Forge and Riker staring at him? At least there wasn't much small talk as they waited for the last members of the command staff to trickle in.
The door whooshed open, and Deanna Troi and Beverly Crusher entered. This brought a welcome break from the tension, as everyone rose to their feet and looked at Troi with concern.
”How do you feel?” asked La Forge.
”Fine,” she answered with a polite smile. Finally, thought Reg, there was someone else to take the unwanted attention off him. Troi took her seat and folded her hands in front of her, acting as if she hadn't been smas.h.i.+ng furniture a day before.
”We're all present,” said Captain Picard, surveying the faces of his most trusted officers. ”Mr. Data, would you please brief everyone about what just happened on the sh.e.l.l.”
”Yes, sir.” In detached, unemotional tones, the android recounted the details of the failed procedure and horrific deaths of over a thousand Alpusta. La Forge frowned and looked down at the table with his opaque eyes, while Commander Riker and Dr. Crusher made notes on their padds. Commander Troi seemed lost in quiet contemplation. Reg just stared straight ahead, unable to come to terms with the immensity of the tragedy. It wasn't just the deaths that troubled him, but the death knell for the entire planet.
”There you have it,” said Picard. ”The grim reality is that neither us nor anyone on Gemworld has any idea what to do next. Shutting down the sh.e.l.l would end the collection of dark matter and, possibly, close the rift. But it would also shut off the forcefields and allow all the atmosphere to escape. Only the Lipuls would survive the loss of the atmosphere-all the other species on Gemworld would die. We couldn't evacuate more than a few hundred on the Enterprise. So any ideas are welcome.”
Geordi grimaced puzzledly. ”Are you sure we can't find the one who did this ... who corrupted the program?”
”We'll keep trying to do that, of course,” answered Picard. ”But our adversary has antic.i.p.ated every move we've made so far, and it's unlikely they would just surrender themselves and offer to fix their handiwork. Also, traveling on Gemworld is very difficult now, and the saboteur might belong to one of the distant, non-humanoid species we haven't even seen. No demands have been made, so we have to a.s.sume we're dealing with a ma.s.s murderer rather than a political terrorist. A very clever ma.s.s murderer.”
Riker stroked his clean-shaven chin. ”The problem is in the forcefields, right? Could there be some other way to power the forcefields that doesn't use the sh.e.l.l?”
”Hey,” said La Forge, snapping his fingers, ”what about the Enterprise? Could we take over powering the forcefields ourselves? I mean, we couldn't do it for very long, perhaps no more than a few seconds, but all we need to do is disrupt this endless loop for a few seconds. Isn't that right?”
The captain nodded thoughtfully. ”I believe so. At any rate, it's worth looking into. Could you do a feasability study on that, Mr. La Forge?”
”Yes, sir,” answered the chief engineer. ”How much time do we have?”
When no one answered immediately, Data c.o.c.ked his head. ”That is an excellent question, Geordi. I have started running a modeling program based on the growth of the mutant crystal and the increase in thoron radiation, but I have not had time to input recent data. I will take more sensor readings and update my model as soon as this briefing is over.”
”Make it so,” replied the captain. ”Next time we talk to them, I want to have all the facts.”
”We're not beat yet,” said Riker confidently.
”They'll never let you shut down the sh.e.l.l,” proclaimed Deanna Troi, her voice cutting through the note of cautious optimism. ”They're too afraid.”
”I don't see that they have much choice,” insisted Riker.
”Nevertheless, they'll fight you.”
Reg opened his mouth to refute the counselor, but he really couldn't. Although he didn't want to admit it, Troi was probably right.
”It's too bad there's no way to evacutate everyone,” said Doctor Crusher. ”Or no way to give them individual breathing devices. Are we sure they don't have the technology to survive without air, even for a few seconds?”
”We'll look into that, too,” answered the captain. ”We're going to explore every avenue.”
La Forge shook his head. ”The problem is, how do we replace the atmosphere once it's gone? The sh.e.l.l might be able to regenerate the air over time, but how much time? It could take years.”
”Once we get rid of the rift, we've got all the time in the world,” answered Riker. ”We could send for a whole fleet of s.h.i.+ps to evacuate the planet.”
A beep sounded. ”Bridge to Picard.”
”Go ahead.”
”Sir, there's a s.h.i.+p coming out of warp!”
”What?!” exclaimed the captain with concern.”Hail them! Tell them not to.”
”I have. The interference-”
The captain charged out of the observation lounge with Data, Riker, Barclay, and the others right behind him. Since the room adjoined the bridge, they reached their usual stations in a matter of seconds. Not having a station on the bridge, Barclay hovered near an auxiliary console, in case he was needed.
”On screen,” ordered Picard.
”Yes, sir,” answered the officer on ops a moment before Data replaced her.
At first, there was nothing on the viewscreen but the sparkling starscape. If Reg looked hard enough, he could almost see a dark rip in the glittering firmament, although maybe that was just his imagination. A brilliant glow appeared in the void, and a sleek star s.h.i.+p emerged. Judging by her twin nacelles, she was a Federation s.h.i.+p. Normally a s.h.i.+p coming out of warp was a beautiful sight, but not now ... not here.
”Fools!” Riker exclaimed. ”What are they doing?”
”I would say they are trying to rescue us,” answered Data.
No sooner had the s.h.i.+p emerged than it tilted at an obscene angle and began to slide backward toward the unseen anomaly. Thrusters rippled along her stern, and impulse engines were obviously on full; the s.h.i.+p jerked and heaved as it tried unsuccessfully to escape from the deadly singularity.
”Akira-cla.s.s,” said Data, working his console. ”The Summit. They are unable to compensate for the gravitational pull of the rift.”
”Tell them to use their tractor beam!” ordered Picard.
Data worked his console, then shook his head. ”They are not responding. They are so close to the rift, they cannot receive our hails. Their reactor is close to overloading.”
Everyone on the bridge watched in horror-helpless, unable to do anything to save the struggling s.h.i.+p. The captain's jaw clenched in anger, and Riker pounded a fist into his palm. Dr. Crasher slumped into a chair and lowered her head while La Forge leaned over Data's shoulder and peered at his readouts. Only Counselor Troi stared unblinkingly at the disaster unfolding on the viewscreen.
The nacelles on the Summit suddenly erupted, and plasma clouds blossomed outward ... a moment before the stars.h.i.+p exploded into a ma.s.s of silvery confetti. Even the debris couldn't escape the hungry maw of the rift, and the clouds were swept into blackness. A second later, there was no trace of the Akira-cla.s.s stars.h.i.+p.
”Lost, with all hands,” reported Data.
”Why didn't they listen to us?” muttered Riker.
The captain scowled. ”Because we're Starfleet, and we're always trying to do the impossible. If another s.h.i.+p was marooned here, we would probably try to save her.”