Part 9 (1/2)

”None, Commander.”

”Are there any personal possessions in the crew's quarters?” asked Picard.

”You are not here to ask questions, human,” came the angry response.

”Answer him,” said Valak.

There was a brief, surprised hesitation. Then the Romulan replied irately, ”What do I know of such things? We Romulans do not clutter up our s.h.i.+ps with frivolities. How would I distinguish human personal possessions from s.h.i.+p's stores?”

”Look for non-uniform garments in the closets,” said Picard, ignoring the warrior's condescending att.i.tude. ”Likenesses of family members, personal mementos, items of personal hygiene in the medicine cabinets-”

”I have no time for such-”

”Do as he says,” Valak said curtly.

After some time had pa.s.sed, the Romulan came back on. ”Personal items appear to have been removed from the quarters,” he said.

”All of them?” asked Picard. ”Or does it appear as if the crew departed in a hurry after packing only a few things?”

”Almost completely, although some items have been left behind,” the Romulan replied grudgingly.

”So they had time to prepare to leave the s.h.i.+p,” Picard said.

”Which means there was another Federation vessel here,” Valak said accusingly.

”Or perhaps an alien s.h.i.+p,” Picard said. ”You said yourself a good commander considers all and any possibilities, Valak. And there is yet one other. The crew might have gone down to the planet surface.”

”But the planet surface will not support human life,” said Valak, ”and our sensors have detected no constructed shelters.”

”Something is holding this s.h.i.+p in orbit,” insisted Picard, ”and your sensors have not detected that, either.”

”Nor have yours,” Valak replied, a touch defensively.

”Precisely,” said Data. ”I would suggest that if there is nothing on the planet surface, then there must be something beneath the surface.”

”Of course!” said Valak. He spoke into his communicator. ”Valak to Syrinx.”

”Talar here, Commander.”

”Launch a deep scanner probe to the planet surface,” Valak ordered, ”and report on what it finds.”

”Acknowledged,” Talar replied.

”Kylor to Commander Valak.” It was the voice of a member of the away team elsewhere on the s.h.i.+p.

”Report, Kylor.”

”Commander, we have reached the main engineering section,” Kylor said. ”Everything here has been shut down. There is no power to any of the systems, and the shutdown appears to have been a purposeful act. There is no one anywhere on board this s.h.i.+p. There are no bodies and no signs of violence. The s.h.i.+p could have been evacuated due to some sort of malfunction, but that cannot be determined at this point. Some supplies were removed from s.h.i.+p's stores and from the sickbay. The crew unquestionably evacuated this s.h.i.+p in an organized and orderly manner.”

”But how long ago?” Picard wondered aloud. ”None of this makes any sense, Valak. Human or Romulan, no one simply powers down a s.h.i.+p and jettisons all the antimatter storage pods so that the s.h.i.+p cannot be powered up again. Unless perhaps ...”

”Unless what?” asked Valak.

”Unless it was done precisely to prevent the crew from ever going home again.”

”Why would they have done that?” Valak asked.

”Perhaps there is something down there on the surface of Hermeticus, or beneath it, that would be too threatening if it were ever to be brought back,” Picard said. ”I remind you that this world was quarantined.”

”And yet, according to your own story, if it is to be believed, some of the crew did try to go back,” Valak pointed out. ”Or at least they tried to escape.”

”They must have known that they would not survive,” Picard said. ”A s.h.i.+p's shuttle has a very limited range, as you well know, and this far out, the odds against encountering another s.h.i.+p would have been astronomical.”

”So what was the point of leaving?” asked Valak.

”In their desperation, they might have made a suicidal attempt to escape,” Picard said. ”Perhaps they felt that certain death aboard the shuttlecraft was preferable to what would happen to them if they remained behind.”

”Then why did not the others do likewise?”

”I can only guess,” said Picard. ”Perhaps they had no choice. If they were exposed to some sort of a disease, some kind of organism that infected them or took them over, then the ones who attempted to flee in the shuttlecraft might have been the only ones who had escaped infection. Or perhaps it was not an attempt to escape but a desperate attempt to warn others to stay away.”

”As you said, all this is merely conjecture,” Valak replied. ”In the absence of any evidence, it is all meaningless theorizing.”

”Hermeticus Two was placed under quarantine some thirty years ago,” Picard said. ”That is not meaningless. And that quarantine has remained in effect for all this time, despite advances that have rendered quarantines unnecessary except in extraordinary circ.u.mstances. That, too, is not meaningless. And the location of this planet was cla.s.sified top secret and has remained so for close to a century. That is the most meaningful thing of all.”

”To me, the most meaningful thing of all is that you seem to be very anxious to keep us from discovering whatever is down there,” Valak said.

”If you insist on believing that I am attempting to deceive you,” said Picard, ”there is nothing I can do to convince you otherwise.”

”Talar to Commander Valak.”

”Valak here. Report, Talar.”

”Commander, we have launched a deep scanner probe to the planet surface, and we are receiving its transmissions, but the readings are confusing.”

”What do you mean, confusing? How?”

”They are intermittent. We are not picking up any life-form readings, but we are picking up traces of enormous power emanating from beneath the planet surface. Commander ... Hermeticus Two is hollow.”

”Hollow?” Valak said. ”You mean caverns? Excavations?”

”Neither, Commander,” the Romulan science officer replied. ”Given our readings, there is only one possible conclusion. Hermeticus Two is not a planet... . It is a s.h.i.+p.”

Chapter Six.

”A s.h.i.+P!” said Valak with disbelief.