Part 15 (2/2)
Myra stared at her, having never heard such frank criticism of authority before. She inhaled a great lungful of breath to make up for what she had lost crying. ”I know you're right,” she answered. ”But my father takes great pride in his work. This is crus.h.i.+ng to him.”
”Someone had to break with Oscraras,” answered Ro. ”Your father was only the first. You have faith in him and in what you know is right, and people like Oscaras can't crush you.”
”Thanks,” said Myra, wiping her sleeve across her eyes. ”But it's hard.”
”Growing up is hard,” the Bajoran agreed. ”You discover that authority comes in all flavors-benign, cruel, gifted, and incompetent.”
Ro glanced at her instruments. ”Not to change the subject, but there was a series of temblors in the five range in that fissure a thousand kilometers from here. I just wonder if you've got any opinions about it.”
”Well,” answered Myra, looking professionally glum instead of personally glum, ”I have an opinion on what happened to the forest, based on our trip to the seash.o.r.e this morning. It definitely has something to do with what you're doing.”
”What do you mean?” asked Ro, her heart beating unpleasantly faster.
”I mean,” said the prodigy, ”what happened ninety years ago that wiped out the forest. If you go outside our gate and dig in the topsoil, under the humus, you'll find a lot of those small black pebbles we saw on the beach today. There are also sulfuric acids and a number of trace elements in the topsoil that can only be explained if that weird creature that lives on top of the ocean was washed ash.o.r.e here. It couldn't live, of course, and it just died away.”
Ro experienced a queasy feeling in her stomach as she antic.i.p.ated what was coming next from the mouth of this remarkable twelve-year-old.
Myra shrugged. ”There really isn't enough of that animal to be dangerous, but it does prove that a giant tidal wave-a tsunami-rolled across here and wiped everything out. The trees grew back real fast, because there were plenty of seed cones in the muck that covered the area after the water ran off. Along with the pebbles and other stuff from the ocean.”
”Could that happen again?” asked Ro.
”It will happen again,” answered Myra. ”In ten thousand years or ten years. Who knows?”
”It could happen anytime,” said Ro absently, gazing at her instruments. ”I've never lived on a watery planet, like Selva or Earth. What exactly causes a tsunami?”
”An earthquake or volcanic eruption in the ocean,” answered Myra, pointing to the seismograph. ”But it would have to be a big one that displaced a lot of water. The waves travel in concentric circles outward from the displacement, just like when you toss a rock into a pool. Sitting in a boat on the ocean, you could ride over a tsunami, but the sh.o.r.es can get hit with waves that are forty meters high. We're only twenty kilometers away, and these are lowlands-there are no mountains or hills between us and the ocean. To a tidal wave, we're part of the beach.”
”Have you told this to any of the others?” asked Ro nervously. ”They've got to be warned.”
The girl shrugged. ”They won't believe me. Oscaras and half the adults in the village were involved in the decision to settle here. This is the most stable place on the planet as far as being away from the main fault lines, but they didn't take the ocean into account. With everything else that's happened, who could tell them they put us in a tidal wave area? They wouldn't believe me at all-they don't accept my theory that the forest is only ninety years old. And where would they go? They're not gonna pick up and walk off into the forest while the Klingons are out there.”
Ro rubbed her eyes, trying to expel the monstrous headache that was attacking her frontal lobe. ”Myra,” she said, ”you've got to take me to the radio room. I have to call the Enterprise.”
”Come on,” chirped the girl, grabbing Ro's elbow.
The Bajoran tore herself away from the seismographic sensors and followed Myra Calvert through the laboratory. A handful of lab workers watched them suspiciously as they exited through the automatic door. They climbed the metal staircase on the outside wall of the two-story building and reached a landing on the second floor. Myra punched the large b.u.t.ton that opened the door, and they entered a nondescript hallway with a number of open doorways beyond. Ro knew that the replicator, sickbay, radio, and other crucial systems were located there, but she was surprised at the number of people that seemed to be milling around. Immediately three brown-suited colonists converged on them.
A big-shouldered man stepped in front of Ro and blocked the hallway beyond. ”What do you want?” he demanded.
”To use the transmitter,” she said simply.
”You need permission from President Oscaras,” the man replied.
Myra snapped in outrage, ”Says who? This is Ensign Ro of the Enterprise, and she wants to contact her s.h.i.+p.”
”I'm sorry,” said the man, who clearly was not sorry, ”but access to the subs.p.a.ce radio is restricted to authorized personnel.”
Ensign Ro bristled. ”The Enterprise will return even sooner if I don't contact them.”
”I don't know anything about that,” growled the man. ”I only know you need the permission of President Oscaras to use the radio.”
”My dad will vouch for her,” proclaimed Myra.
The man stared down at the child and sneered. ”Your dad has been restricted to quarters. Now get out of here, both of you.”
This devastated the child, but she tightened her quivering lip and glared at the guard. The other two colonists also crossed their arms, looking like they meant business. Out of habit Ro lifted her hand to tap her communicator badge. But who was she going to call? The Enterprise was out of range by a couple dozen light-years, and what good could Worf and his party do in this predicament? They probably had their own hands full, and she didn't want to draw them into this maelstrom.
Down the hallway a man emerged from one of the adjoining rooms with four phaser rifles in his arms. He was besieged by a number of waiting colonists, who eagerly inspected the weapons.
”Very well,” said Ro, ”I'll get his permission. Will you alert me when the Enterprise calls and wishes to speak with me?”
”Uh,” stammered the man, looking uncertain, ”of course.”
”Thank you,” replied Ro. She put her arm around the girl's shoulder and steered the angry youngster out the door.
When the door slammed shut behind them Myra burst out, ”My dad will kick their b.u.t.ts!”
For the girl's sake Ro tried to suppress the fear that was churning in her stomach. She turned blandly to Myra and asked, ”Why don't we go talk to your dad? Is he at home?”
The girl averted her eyes. ”Um, I don't know.”
”I think you do know,” said the Bajoran. ”The three of us have to stick together until the Enterprise returns.”
Myra bowed her head and plodded down the stairs. ”He's home,” she murmured, ”but he's been drinking his allotment of mulled wine, and he hardly ever drinks.”
”Come on,” said Ro, charging down the stairs, ”let's splash some water in his face.”
Gregg Calvert was not falling-down drunk, but he was depressed and surly by the time his daughter and Ensign Ro reached the house. He poured the last of a bottle of amber wine into a gla.s.s and gulped it steadily while he listened to Myra's tale of their trip to the communications room.
”Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds,” muttered Gregg, staring vacantly at Ensign Ro. ”Oscaras has them all stirred up against you and me, and the Enterprise, too. I was such a d.a.m.n fool to cast our lot with these idiots-now Myra and I are stranded here!” He shook his head, took a deep breath, and added, ”I hate to judge them too harshly, though. They're just innocent dreamers whose dream has turned into a nightmare.”
Ro responded, ”It's a lot more complicated than that. Your daughter thinks we're in an area that's p.r.o.ne to tidal waves, and I have to agree. We just had a major earthquake in the ocean, and it might be only a foreshock. I wanted to call the Enterprise to tell them to evacuate this planet immediately.”
Gregg snorted a laugh and tipped his gla.s.s toward her. ”Good luck to you, Ensign. Raul Oscaras is not big on listening to reason, as you probably noticed. They won't be able to think about tidal waves until they do something about the Klingons. And the spy-he doesn't want to deal with that at all.”
Ro paced the drab enclosure. ”He must be planning to do something,” she declared, ”because he had your replicator busy making phaser rifles. Look, I don't have to convince Raul Oscaras he's wrong, but I do have to get access to that radio and contact the Enterprise.”
Gregg Calvert slapped his thighs and stood uneasily. ”Okay,” he muttered, ”let's see what we can do.” He turned to his daughter and smiled. ”I'm sorry I got you into this, sweetheart. Stay here and try to keep out of everyone's way.”
”But, Dad!” she protested. ”I want to go with you and Ro!”
”No,” he said sternly. ”This may get ugly. Stay here and keep a low profile. Don't go to the lab or anywhere. We'll be back as soon as we can.”
Myra flashed him a brave smile and nodded with a chin that quivered just a little.
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