Part 3 (1/2)
”Granted,” Picard admitted. ”But how does this help me with my decision?”
”If Mr. Nayfack can indeed locate the tunnel for us, then we could conceivably traverse it. If he cannot, then the question of intervention becomes academic.”
”But if he's lying,” Worf growled, ”then he might lead us into a trap. If we diverge from the safe tunnel, the s.h.i.+p will be torn apart by the tachyon fields. We must consider the possibility that Nayfack came aboard our s.h.i.+p precisely to make certain that we do not report our discovery back to Starfleet. Leading us astray would be an effective way to do that.”
The thought was definitely not a pleasant one. Picard saw the faces of the team tense at the idea. The effects of the beta tachyon particles on living tissue was not pleasant. There were nastier ways to die, but not many. ”Could we send a probe into the tunnel first?” he asked Geordi.
The engineer shrugged. ”Hard to say, Captain. In field strengths like that, we'd probably not be able to monitor it for any useful distance.”
”There is,” Picard added, ”another aspect to all of this.” Everyone focused on him. ”If Mr. Nayfack is telling any particle of truth at all, we are obviously looking at a very severe breach in the Prime Directive. And I am certain I do not need to remind any of you of our duty in that case.” He was understating the case, as was his habit. It was quite clear from the expressions on everyone's face that his team understood the problem here.
”I wish it were that simple, Captain.” Beverly Crusher put in. The Prime Directive prevents interference with the natural functioning of a viable planetary society.” She gestured at the glorious cloud outside the viewport. ”The planet that Nayfack is talking about may not exactly qualify. It is an artificially seeded world, for one thing. And, second, the society was placed on a world which appears already to have stunted its natural evolution. The Preservers obviously don't obey the Prime Directive.”
Picard smiled; he might have known that she'd pick up on the one crucial point. ”Precisely what I was getting to,” he told her. ”Is this world under the Prime Directive or not? If so, are the activities of this gang of mediocre crooks really harming it? I am inclined to accept Mr. Nayfack's estimation of their capabilities as being somewhat on the poor side. Everything suggests that they have found themselves in a situation where they are completely out of their depth. To take a valuable find like the Preserver map and the field generator and then to utilize it merely to reap a profit from unscrupulous hunters! It is evidence of a lack of imagination on a staggering scale.”
”But if it should occur to the gang to try and sell this technology to one of the Federation's foes ...” said Geordi. He didn't have to complete that thought: The implications were obvious.
”There is still a further complication,” Data added. ”If Mr. Nayfack's account is correct, then these dragons he speaks of are presumably an endangered species. We are bound by the Federation charter to protect them from outside exploitation.”
”But not from internal exploitation,” Geordi pointed out. ”If the world is Prime Directive material, then we cannot impose our conservation laws on the natives.”
”Are we even going to think about protecting an animal species that preys on humans?” asked Ro. ”Surely that's something for the natives to decide and not us.”
”We have to think about it, Ensign,” Picard said gently. ”These ... dragons were native to this world, it seems, before the humans were. To simply allow them to be exterminated is not an option any of us would willingly consider.” Picard sighed. ”In short, gentlemen and ladies, we have a ghastly mess. There does seem to be only one possible course of action: We must have further information. Therefore we must investigate.” He rose to his feet, signalling that the meeting was at an end. ”If this Castor Nayfack can indeed lead us to a tunnel through this dust cloud, then we must penetrate it and then investigate this planet. Mr. Worf, please contact your security representative and have him escort Mr. Nayfack to the bridge. It is time for him to prove at least the first part of his tale.”
The Klingon officer looked even gloomier than normal. ”You intend to trust this man, Captain?” He quite obviously was not as willing.
”I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt for the moment, Mr. Worf.” Picard watched the others file out of the room, returning to their posts on the bridge. Beverly remained behind. She smiled at him, but there was no humor in it. ”Is something troubling you?” he asked gently.
Her face twitched for a moment. ”Have you ever seen the effects of tachyon fields on the human body, Jean-Luc?” she asked.
”No. But I have read up on them.”
”I'm sure you have,” she agreed. ”But I had to stand by and watch three people die as a result of a small slip in a laboratory accident. There was nothing I could do to save them. Nothing anyone could do. The tachyons ripped apart their molecular structure, basic particle by basic particle. They died in terrible agony.”
Picard gently took her elbow. He knew that Beverly took every death as a personal loss. ”I promise you,” he a.s.sured her, ”that my s.h.i.+p will not enter that cloud unless I am convinced that we will all be safe.”
”I know that, Jean-Luc.” She gave him a real smile this time. ”And I'm not trying to influence your judgment in any way.”
”Yes, you are,” he replied good-naturedly. ”And if you didn't, I'd have much less trust in you than I do. Do you want to watch this from sickbay or the bridge?”
She shrugged. ”The bridge, I guess. If anything happens, there's precious little point in trying to prepare sickbay anyway. We'd have at most thirty seconds before we all died.”
Picard nodded solemnly. Whatever lay ahead for the s.h.i.+p, they were skirting the edge of disaster. One false step could kill every single person aboard in a horrifyingly painful manner.
Chapter Six.
THE s.h.i.+FTING TENDRILSOF COLOR writhed in the huge viewscreen on the bridge. Picard, seated in the command chair, was fascinated by the patterns and whorls in the cloud. It was so easy to become so lost in the beauty of Creation that one could sometimes forget the savage fury that often underlay it. Furies that could shred his vessel and crew into shattered subatomic particles in microseconds.
Still, it was beautiful.
Ensign Ro was back at her seat in navigation. ”Course set and on the board,” she reported. ”Holding steady at two-thirds impulse.”
”Sensors show no evidence of any tunnel so far,” Data reported from beside her.
Nayfack winced under the look of distrust that Riker shot him. ”If it were visible at this distance, Captain,” the agent responded, ”then it would have been discovered before now, wouldn't it? Believe me, you can't detect the thing until you're right on top of it.”
Beverly stared at the screen in awe. ”I have to confess, it seems a little hard to believe. Why would the Preservers go to all this trouble over one small planet? Driving a hole in the protocloud and building a tunnel like this? It seems like a tremendous waste of time and effort.”
”Who knows why the Preservers did anything?” Deanna answered her. ”Perhaps simply because they could do it.”
”Or to ensure that this world was left strictly alone,” Riker suggested. ”A kind of controlled experiment, cut off from the rest of the galaxy?”
”Well, it's not alone now,” Nayfack said bluntly. ”You'll see.”
”Indeed we will,” agreed Picard. He continued to watch patiently as the Enterprise moved slowly along the coordinates that Nayfack had supplied. The cloud s.h.i.+fted shape as they approached it, and the colors danced throughout the spectrum.
”No change,” Data reported.
Picard could see the tension of all but the android in every move they made. Data's lack of emotions made him immune to the undercurrent of nervousness that everyone else felt. While Data was just as likely to be destroyed as the flesh-and-blood members of the crew, he simply could not worry about it. Everyone else could-and did. There was a knot of tension in Picard's own stomach. One mistake as they approached the cloud ...
”Coming up on the target,” Ro reported. Her voice was even, but there was strain showing. The s.h.i.+p was far closer to the raw, primeval forces than anyone had expected to go.
”s.h.i.+elds holding,” Worf called out. Not that they would be able to withstand graviton pulses if Nayfack's information was inaccurate.
Slowly the cloud drifted on the scanner.
Data suddenly inclined his head slightly. ”Sensors are detecting an anomalous reading,” he reported.
”Clarify!” Picard snapped. This could be the first sign of trouble, or- ”It appears to be a dilation in the substance of the cloud.”
”It's the tunnel!” Ro said, grinning widely.
”I believe I just said that,” Data told her.
There were audible sighs of relief all around as the screen focused in on Data's anomaly. It did indeed resemble nothing as much as a tunnel. The colorful swirls of the ga.s.ses in the clouds looked as if someone had bored a long, narrow hole straight into the heart of its substance.
”Sensors show zero tachyon activity in the anomaly,” Data reported. ”It appears to be safe to proceed.”
Picard held back the order for a moment. He caught himself strumming his fingers on his chair arm and forced himself to stop. It was a bad habit he was given to in times of great stress. This was a way in-if the tunnel didn't suddenly collapse. There was no reason why it should-and just as little reason why it shouldn't. As the Enterprise hung in s.p.a.ce directly aligned with the tunnel, Picard asked: ”Data, can you probe inside the anomaly at all?”
Data shook his head. ”My instruments can only penetrate about a quarter of the way in. They show nothing beyond that at the moment.”
”Would there be any point in launching a probe?”
”Negative,” replied the android. ”It is unlikely to increase the depth of our scanning ability.”