Part 17 (2/2)
”You could a.s.sume that,” Picard said uncomfortably, ”although it is not a technology, per se.”
Sarek studied the Enterprise captain for a moment, then seemed to come to a conclusion. ”You have found a way to tap into the thoughts of the collective,” he said, his voice as uninflected as if he were discussing a missing uniform b.u.t.ton.
Picard cast a startled look at Sarek. ”Only in a very limited way,” he admitted. ”I will gladly explain as much as I can, but later. At this point- ”
”What was contained in this intercepted message?” Sarek interrupted. ”And what leads you to believe that it originated on the Wisdom?”
”I can't be certain it originated on the Wisdom, but it did inform the Borg of the presence of two beings who had 'appeared out of nowhere' and who claimed to be from an alternate universe. It also told of the imminent arrival of another, larger s.h.i.+p from that same universe.”
”What possible interest could that information have for the Borg?”
”I have no idea, Arbiter, but that doesn't matter. What does matter is that you and I were openly discussing the Guardian. It is therefore likely that this spy will learn-may already have learned-not only of the Guardian's existence but of its potential value.”
”If the communication you intercepted said nothing of the Guardian, is it not logical to a.s.sume that the so-called spy was not aware of it?”
”Perhaps, but it is also possible that I did not intercept the entire message. Or that the spy was not yet aware of the Guardian's nature or its importance.”
Before Sarek could reply, the turbolift doors hissed open on the bridge and Picard gestured them out.
Sarek and Kirk and Scotty came to a halt outside the turbolift doors, their eyes taking in the bridge and its crew. Kirk said nothing, just pursed his lips in a silent whistle. Sarek, not surprisingly, showed no reaction whatsoever, while Scotty, suddenly excruciatingly conscious of what his rash actions had caused, flushed and lowered his eyes, wis.h.i.+ng he had his own personal cloaking device.
As the turbolift doors hissed shut, Riker stood up to relinquish the captain's chair, but Picard gestured for him to remain where he was.
”The commander of the Wisdom is getting impatient,” Riker said, indicating the viewscreen and the angular, Romulan-like s.h.i.+p belligerently facing the Enterprise.
”I will speak with him,” Sarek said, stepping forward.
”On screen,” Riker acknowledged as Sarek made his way to stand before the screen, by which time Commander Varkan's image had appeared, replacing that of the Wisdom. Picard remained behind, near the turbolift with Kirk and Scott, silently guiding them toward his ready room.
”Arbiter, are you- ” the Romulan commander began with a scowl, but Sarek cut him off.
”As you can see, Commander, I am unharmed. Open channels to Alliance Prime and to Outpost No. 2, then stand by for orders. I will contact you when I have completed my dealings with Captain Picard.” He turned abruptly away from the screen. A moment later, at a gesture from Riker, the commander's image vanished, replaced once again by the Wisdom.
Rejoining Picard and following him into the ready room, Sarek asked without preamble, ”What can you tell me of this so-called Borg spy?”
”Very little,” Picard admitted as the door hissed shut behind the four of them. ”The message itself was surprisingly clear but there was little to identify the one sending the message. He was, however, highly emotional and obviously not a Borg, at least not a Borg like any I have ever encountered. In fact, I suspect he didn't even realize he was communicating with the Borg.”
”How is that possible? If this being was in direct mental contact with the Borg, how could he not know?”
”I don't know,” Picard admitted. ”All I know for certain is that he thought of the beings he was contacting as virtual G.o.ds and was almost overwhelmed with grat.i.tude for being allowed to serve them. He addressed them only as 'Wise Ones.'”
Scotty suppressed a gasp as he heard the words. Suddenly, a collection of what had until then been unrelated facts stored haphazardly in odd corners of his mind seemed to magically rearrange themselves into a simple and blindingly obvious pattern, not unlike the way the inner workings of some complex new piece of engineering equipment would suddenly reveal themselves to him when he finally unearthed a key piece of data.
”The Narisian!” he blurted. ”She's the b.l.o.o.d.y spy!”
Sarek turned toward him abruptly while Picard and Kirk only looked puzzled. ”Explain,” Sarek demanded.
”The communications officer, sir,” Scotty said. ”She is Narisian, isn't she?”
”She is, but what would lead you to think- ”
”Did the Narisians develop s.p.a.ce travel a wee bit faster than everyone else?”
”They did,” Sarek admitted after a moment's reflection, ”but why would that point to their being spies for the Borg or for anyone else?”
”They had help, that's why! The Narisians had help-from the Borg!” Scotty raced on to tell them of Garamet and Wahlkon, the Narisians he had encountered in the future of the original timeline, and how he had feared it might have been someone in the Federation that had violated the Prime Directive and given them their boost from gunpowder to warp drive.
”But it was the Borg,” he finished. ”In both timelines! It has to be! But in our timeline, the Borg abandoned the Narisians generations ago, don't ask me why. Here, they didn't. Or haven't yet.”
”It's possible,” Picard admitted with a frown. ”Perhaps in our timeline, their invasion was delayed for some reason, so they abandoned their 'spies.' But here they established a major beachhead much earlier and kept their spies active.”
”Or the other way around,” Kirk said. ”Their invasion was more successful here because they kept their spies active. Or they just made more and better use of them. As I understand it, the Borg need someone else's eyes and ears to let them know what's going on. That bunch isn't particularly observant when it comes to spotting anything new or unexpected.”
Sarek nodded. ”Once they do become aware of something that poses a threat, however, they quickly modify themselves and their s.h.i.+ps to become virtually invulnerable to it.”
Picard nodded his uneasy agreement. ”It is the same in my experience. Members of my crew and I have been inside Borg s.h.i.+ps more than once, unnoticed. If any so-called spies had alerted the Borg to our presence, we would almost certainly have been killed or a.s.similated long ago. The Borg certainly had the power to do whatever they wanted with us.”
Sarek turned abruptly to Scotty. ”a.s.suming Picard is correct and this spy does exist, can you identify it for certain? The communications officer is not the only Narisian on board. I am aware of at least one other, in engineering.”
”A sensor scan might do it,” Scotty said. ”Garamet had a neural implant of some kind. Among other things, it kept her from revealing the truth to anyone outside the 'inner circle.' Proctors, she called them. Before the implant was damaged and her brother removed it, it literally made her sick to even think about giving away any secrets.”
Or a scan might not do it, Picard thought, remembering back to his own experiences after escaping from the Borg. Scans had been able to pinpoint all the discrete nano-devices the Borg had implanted in his brain and body, allowing them to be removed. But whatever it was that still enabled him to ”overhear” occasional Borg thoughts and messages had never been detected by any device other than his own mind.
”It is certainly worth a try,” he said, standing up and leading the way to the bridge.
As he had feared, however, a remote scan revealed nothing. Both Narisians on board the Wisdom registered as being completely normal, with no implants of any kind, as did everyone else.
”So you play it safe and lock them both up,” Scotty said as the last readout vanished from the Enterprise screens. ”And stun them so they can't let the Borg know they've been found out.”
”It may come to that, Mr. Scott,” Picard said. ”However, the Borg will almost certainly link with them again, and there is no guarantee that they cannot extract information from unconscious minds as easily as they can from conscious. It might even be easier for them,” he added, remembering the dream-like state he himself had been in during much of the link. ”Nor is there any guarantee that the Narisians-if they are indeed Borg spies-are the only ones.”
”What are you suggesting, then, Picard?” Sarek asked. ”Surely you do not propose that we allow them to continue pa.s.sing information to the Borg.”
Picard shook his head. ”Of course not. What I am suggesting is that we determine for certain who the spies are before we proceed to tip our hand.”
”Have you not already tried and failed? Your sensors were unable to detect anything useful, or am I mistaken?”
”You are correct, Arbiter, but there is another method we could use,” Picard said and went on to explain. When he had finished, Sarek was silent for several seconds.
”Very well, Picard. If you will transport me back to the Wisdom, I will make arrangements with Commander Varkan. When you can a.s.sure me the spies, if they indeed exist, have been nullified, we can then attempt to find this so-called Guardian.”
With a brusque nod, Sarek strode to the turbolift. Behind him, Picard began issuing the necessary orders.
Commander Tal had not been happy with Guinan's request, but he had not been able to bring himself to deny it. She rarely requested anything, particularly something as specific as this, but whenever she did, interesting-and often beneficial-things happened. Most recently, it had been her suggestion that had caused him to alter his patrol pattern in such a way that the D'Zidran had been the s.h.i.+p closest to the Arhennius system when the detonation of one of the Klingon interphase mines had been detected. And it had been at her insistence that instead of simply following the unknown s.h.i.+p's warp trail, he try to contact them.
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