Part 6 (2/2)
”There are no records of similar situations with which we could compare readings,” Data said. ”However, basic chronometric theory suggests that any such radiation triggered by the arrival of a chronologically alien object would be quickly damped out in a stable timeline, as would radiation triggered by any changes caused by the object.”
”Which means what, Mr. Data?” Picard asked. ”That we are seriously altering the timeline just by being here? Or that if Mr. Scott survived-either an overshoot or a second jump-he is still out there, still making changes?”
”Either is possible, Captain. Basic theory, however, suggests that a level of radiation this high and this steady is more likely the result of an earlier disruption so great that the timestream was rendered incapable of stabilizing itself and therefore continues to generate high levels of chronometric radiation.”
”Or perhaps,” Worf broke in, a touch of annoyance in his rumbling ba.s.s, ”your theory is simply wrong.”
”That is of course possible,” Data conceded, unperturbed. ”The theory should be considered tentative at best since it contains a number of unproven a.s.sumptions and has never to my knowledge been tested in a real-world situation, certainly never one of this complexity.”
Riker snorted, almost laughing. ”So what you're really saying is, you don't have a clue.”
”Quite the opposite, Commander. In a sense, clues are all we do have. In theory, the level of chronometric radiation could be considered a.n.a.logous to the ripples generated when a rock is thrown into a river. If the rock is large enough, it could even send the river over its banks or block it altogether. The radiation is believed to be directly-some say exponentially-proportional to the size and force of the 'chronological rock' thrown into the timestream. It could also be seen as a measure of the timeline's instability.”
Picard nodded. ”According to that theory, then, this timeline is highly unstable. Are you suggesting it is so unstable it might self-destruct? And do what? Allow the original timeline to restore itself?”
”Theory does allow for that possibility. However- ”
Data broke off, his attention returning abruptly to the scan results still streaming across the viewscreen.
”There was an explosion?” Riker asked sharply.
”No indication as yet, Commander. The sensors have, however, detected traces of dilithium ore in the system's innermost planet. There are also indications of mining operations approximately one hundred years ago, which is also approximately the time at which the low-yield photon torpedo detonations occurred.”
Picard frowned. ”But the Federation never found dilithium here.”
”That is perhaps because the Arhennius system was never closely examined. The dilithium deposits are beneath several kilometers of rock, undetectable by Federation sensors of that time unless the scans were done from low orbit. And records indicate that when long-range scans found no possibility of life of any kind, the Federation never actually sent a s.h.i.+p into the system.”
”But in this timeline they did-someone did,” Picard said. ”Ensign Raeger, set a course for the planet in question, full impulse.”
As the ensign complied, Picard turned toward Guinan, still seated in Troi's place. Though she had seemed to listen intently to every word the others had said since they had arrived in this time, she had spoken not a word herself.
”Guinan?”
Again she displayed uncharacteristic behavior by averting her eyes as she replied. ”Yes, Captain?”
”You still have no... feelings as to what we should do? Or not do?”
”My feelings are irrelevant. You must do as you see fit.”
”Your feelings are one of the major reasons we are here, Guinan,” Picard said, unable to entirely suppress a brief flash of annoyance. ”I don't recall your being at all reluctant when you asked-when you demanded that I trust those feelings, that I trust you, and follow Captain Scott through time.”
She turned from the viewscreen to face him. As she looked up at him, she seemed more fragile than he had ever seen her. Instead of looking regal in her floor-length gown and the distinctive circular headgear that normally gave the impression of a crown, she looked small and beaten down.
Most of all, and most uncharacteristically, she looked uncertain.
”I'm sorry, Captain, I truly am, but nothing I say at this point could be trusted.”
”d.a.m.n it, Guinan- ” Picard began but cut himself off as she turned and hurried past him to the turbolift, her shoulders hunched as if to ward off invisible blows.
Anger flared through him for a moment but vanished as quickly as it had come when he remembered the state she had been in when she had urged him to follow Captain Scott. She was at least as lost as he. And it had been his decision, not hers, that had brought them here. She had urged, virtually demanded, but he had made the decision. She could in no way be blamed for what either Captain Scott or he himself had done.
Staring after her, he wondered darkly what could have had such an astonis.h.i.+ng effect on her. Other than Data, no one he knew seemed so completely unflappable as Guinan. Even when faced by a creature like Q, she had not allowed herself to be intimidated. But now she was- ”An energy field is forming around the Enterprise,” Data announced.
”s.h.i.+elds to maximum,” Picard snapped, but even as he spoke, even as Worf brought the s.h.i.+elds to one hundred percent, the viewscreen filled with a soft glow. At the same time, a sharp tingling like static electricity enveloped Picard's entire body, inside and out. Riker grimaced, lurching to his feet next to Picard. Even Worf winced.
And the air within the bridge began to sparkle. Obviously the s.h.i.+elds were having no effect.
For an instant, Picard thought Q was about to make another of his spectacular entrances, but this was different. Q put on visual pyrotechnics, but his arrivals had never been accompanied by physical sensations like these.
The p.r.i.c.kling quickly turned into outright pain, as if he were being struck by thousands of tiny lightning bolts. Every attempt to move only intensified it. The sparkling haze itself grew brighter, denser, a thickening fiery fog.
”Engage, maximum warp!” It was all he could do to issue the command. The words felt as if they were liquid flame, searing his mouth and throat as he forced them out.
At the helm, where the haze seemed even more intense, Ensign Raeger struggled to comply, her face contorted, her hands twitching spasmodically as they reached for the controls. Data turned toward her as she collapsed face down on the control panel, but his own effort to reach the controls failed as he twitched and went limp, a ma.s.s of sparks cl.u.s.tering around him as if attracted by the circuits he had in place of flesh and blood.
Picard and Riker lurched toward the controls through air that was still growing thicker with the crackling sparks every instant. Riker's body stiffened, every muscle frozen as he pa.s.sed through a particularly dense patch. Like an axed tree, he toppled and hit the deck with a thud.
Picard, not fully enveloped by the patch that had felled Riker, lurched one last step toward the helm, tripped over Riker's outstretched arm and fell onto the still-twitching backs of Data and Raeger. The control panel, only inches from his face, was almost completely obscured by the intervening cloud of sparks, but he still managed, before the twitching of his own muscles turned to total paralysis, to hit the control that sent the s.h.i.+p lurching ahead on impulse power.
The air on the bridge cleared, the energy field and its effects vanis.h.i.+ng even more quickly than they had come.
Picard and Riker gasped and lurched to their feet while Raeger jerked upright in her seat. Behind them, Worf still stood stiffly erect, but only because his ma.s.sive hands had an unbreakable grip on the edges of the tactical station control panel.
Data's twitching ceased, but he remained motionless, still face down on the control panel.
Picard levered the dead weight of the android aside and hit the controls that switched the viewscreen to an aft view.
The image switched just in time for him to see a jagged oval filled with what looked like lightning bolts crackling in all directions while the entire display seemed to whirl like a nucleonic pinwheel.
And it was moving with them, following them.
Overtaking them!
”Maximum warp, Ensign!” he grated, his throat still raw from his last attempt to speak.
Wordlessly, Raeger complied, and the Enterprise began to pull away, even as the violence of the display continued to increase to what would have been a blinding level to the naked eye.
Suddenly, the display went through a final spasm, not spinning but giving the illusion of literally turning itself inside out.
Then it was gone, but where its center had been was now a tiny s.h.i.+p as unfamiliar as the energy display had been. No bigger than an Enterprise shuttlecraft, it had stubby, hawkish wings that had a Klingon look about them, but instead of a slender, arched neck leading up to a head, there was no neck at all, just an angular protrusion on what Picard a.s.sumed was the front of the body. What appeared to be a single warp drive nacelle was visible at the rear. For just a moment the s.h.i.+p was motionless except for a slight rotation on its axis, as if reorienting itself. Then, abruptly, it headed directly for the Enterprise, taking up right where the ball of pyrotechnic light had left off. Within seconds, despite its size, it was moving at a warp speed only slightly less than the Enterprise was capable of.
Without warning, the object exploded. The viewscreen went instantly blank as the protective circuits kicked in. Looking at the readouts on Data's control panels, Picard saw the energy signature of the explosion.
It had been a low-yield photon torpedo, similar to the ones used by the early Federation. Similar to the ones that had, according to Data's scans, exploded near the inner planet a hundred years ago.
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