“I’m glad you found it instructive, Commander,” Picard said. His eyes tracked down to the puddle at Wesley’s feet.
“Yes, sir,” Riker continued. “Data has agreed to join my away team. I’ve decided to include Lieutenant Yar and Lieutenant Commander Troi.”
“An excellent choice.”
Wesley shrank inwardly as he felt the water dripping off him in what seemed like a river. It’s only a few drops, he kept telling himself. And he knew very well that even one drop on Picard’s deck was an offense to the captain.
“I have one other suggestion, sir. There’s a young lieutenant who reported on board with me. According to his medical record, he has some interesting visual capabilities that might be of help to us. His name is LaForge.”
“Very good.” Picard lowered another glance toward the puddle collecting around Wesley’s feet.
Wes cleared his throat and managed to say humbly, “Sir, maybe I should get something to wipe this water up.”
“Good idea,” Picard replied coolly. He turned and strode away.
Wesley continued to drip.
Wes found his mother in sickbay and begged a towel from her. Once he had mopped up the entire muddy trail he had left from the holodeck to sickbay, he dried himself off in Beverly’s office while he regaled her with his adventures.
“. . . and there’s a low gravity gymnasium too. Did you know they have a pair of Sondrian marsh boars on the ecology deck? It would be hard to get bored on this ship—”
“All I want to know is how you got so wet.” Beverly picked up another soggy towel coated with mud streaks. “Look at this mess.”
“I couldn’t help it, Mom. The rock I stepped on tipped and I fell in the stream and Commander Data had to pull me out.”
She went back to the medical supplies check she was running to establish the state of her inventory on hand. “I’m sure there’s a long tale that goes with that synopsis. Do I get to hear it at dinner?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. Now go and clean yourself up properly.”
“Okay.” He looked up at her hopefully, deciding to ask for the favor that he had been mulling over since the day before. “Mom . . . could you get me a look at the bridge?”
“That’s against the captain’s standing orders. Unless there’s a medical emergency or the captain specifically requests me to report, even I’m not welcome on the bridge.”
“Are you afraid of the captain, too?”
Beverly turned on him, her cheeks flaming with color. “I certainly am not!”
“But Captain Picard is a pain, isn’t he?”
Beverly paused and weighed her answer carefully. It would be easy to agree, to get Wes out of her hair for a while. But she had always been aware of her responsibilities as a single parent and had tried to answer her son’s questions honestly. “Your father liked him very much. Great explorers . . . great captains . . . are often lonely . . . no chance to have a family. . . .”
“Just a look, Mom. I could stand in the turbolift and just get a peek when the doors open. The doors are going to open and close anyway, right? I won’t get off.”
“You’re looking for trouble, Wes,” Beverly said ominously. Then she glanced at him and saw the very real want in his eyes. She sighed. Never could deny him much. “Let’s see what we can do.”
Chapter Eight
GEORDI LAFORGE WAS startled to hear his name called over the intership. “Lieutenant LaForge, please report to First Officer Riker in Transporter Room Three. Lieutenant LaForge to Transporter Room Three immediately.”
Hughes stared at him in equal surprise. “What’s he want you for?”
“I don’t know. But I’d better get to Transporter Room Three.”
“What about Commander Barton? He wanted us to report at 1300. It’s almost that now.”
Geordi shrugged. “First officer ranks him.”
When he arrived at the Transporter Room, Geordi found Riker waiting with two services officers and a sciences officer. He came to attention in front of Riker and announced formally, “Lieutenant LaForge reporting as ordered, sir.”
“Right, LaForge. You’re beaming down with us on an away mission. This is Commander Data, Commander Troi and Lieutenant Yar.”
Geordi acknowledged the senior officers, a little uncomfortable with so much rank, then he looked back at Riker. “Sir, I’m supposed to report to Commander Barton—”
“We’re aware of that. Captain Picard will clear it with the commander. On the platform, Lieutenant.”
Geordi quickly took a place on the transporter pad with the others. “Could I ask what my assignment will be, sir?”
“I need your eyes, Lieutenant.” Riker nodded to the transporter chief. “Energize.”
They materialized near the foyer into the shopping area. The mall was crowded with off duty Enterprise personnel and civilians browsing and shopping. The Bandi were busy catering to their visitors, and Riker even noted that most of them looked decidedly happy instead of merely accommodating.
Tasha sent a practiced eye around the mall and moved up beside Riker briskly. “Recommend that someone begin by examining the underside of the station, sir. If this place was built the way most of them are, there’ll be service tunnels under the whole complex. Sometimes looking at the underside gives you a better view of the top.”
“Our sensors do show some passages down there, sir. Perhaps you and I?” Troi accompanied the suggestion with a slightly arch glance that carried another suggestion entirely. Riker looked away, troubled.
“Tasha—you and the counselor.”
“Sir.” Tasha strode away quickly. Troi shot Riker another look, one that was somewhat amused, and then followed her.
Riker turned to Geordi and Data and gestured them after him. “Let’s start with the topside. Lieutenant LaForge.”
“Sir, I still don’t understand exactly what I’m looking for.”
“There are a lot of questions about the construction of the station, Mr. LaForge,” Data explained. The most basic appear to be how the Bandi built it so quickly and what materials they used.”
“Take a good look around you, Lieutenant. Do you see anything unusual about the structural materials?”
Geordi began to scan, moving his head slowly. The VISOR allowed him to adjust his vision in a number of ways, microscopically, telescopically, and thermal register among others.
“Well, Lieutenant?” Riker prompted.
Geordi looked back at Riker and Data, shaking his head. “I can’t see through solid matter, sir, but the material so far looks very ordinary. Alloys, pure metals, woods, plasticrete, synthetics. They all read the way they should.”
Data’s eyebrows lifted slightly. “An intriguing ability, Lieutenant. Are you positive they’re all natural materials?”
“Except for the synthetics, sir.”
“And it is not an illusion? It is real?” Riker asked.
“Yes, sir. No doubt about it.”
Riker was disappointed, but it was too early to be discouraged. “Thank you, Lieutenant. I think you should join Lieutenant Yar and Commander Troi and do the same type of scan in the area they’re investigating. Data, with me, please.”
As they moved away, Geordi touched his communicator. “LaForge to Yar. Location, please.”
Riker led Data toward the back of the mall where it connected with the old city. “Data, are you familiar with the information the Bandi filed with Starfleet when they applied for official station status?”
“Yes, sir. The Enterprise has a copy of it in her record banks. I am able to repeat it back to you file for file if you wish.”
“I wish. Station construction materials.”
Data seemed to look into himself briefly, then his eyes focused; and he said, “There were detailed architect’s drawings and blueprints, but no requisitions for building materials were presented. No manufacturing orders.”
“The first contact team reported that the Bandi had no known
factories or laboratories to produce such materials, but they did have luxurious trade goods to offer. Everything the contact team could think of.”
“It is possible they have factories hidden underground, undetectable by our scanners.”
Riker tapped his communicator and spoke softly. “Yar.”
“Yar here,” Tasha responded crisply.
“The Bandi may have concealed laboratories or factories on the station’s lower levels or beneath the old city. Keep an eye out for accessways, ventilation shafts, equipment ramps, anything that would indicate an industrial or technological center down there.”
“Yes, sir.”
Tasha looked around as Geordi joined her and Troi, his boots clattering on the access ladder he used to descend from the overhead hatch. As he dropped down the last few rungs, he grinned at the two women. “Commander Riker thought my eyes might come in handy down here.”
“I was just going to contact him when he signaled,” Tasha said. “What do you think of this?” She waved her hand around, directing Geordi’s gaze to the tunnel.
Geordi whistled softly. “What is this stuff?”
The service tunnel walls were not at all what one would expect to find. They were smooth with faintly rounded surfaces that showed distinctive markings of unknown significance; and they glistened, picking up a glow from the dim light in the tunnel and reflecting it back.
“My question exactly,” Tasha said.
Geordi scanned the surfaces closely. “These walls are something I’ve never seen before.”
“Report to the commander,” Troi said. “He will want to know this.”
Tasha tabbed her communicator again. “Team Leader, we’ve found something interesting.”
“Location?” Riker’s voice inquired.
“We’re in a passageway directly under the central mall area, sir. Lieutenant LaForge is studying the structural material here, but he says he’s never seen anything like it.”
“How are you examining it, LaForge?”
“Microscopically, thermally, how it reflects the electromagnetic spectrum. None of it is familiar. Very puzzling, sir.”
Riker’s voice was thoughtful. “Puzzling. A good word for it, Lieutenant. How about you, Troi? Are you sensing anything unusual?”
Troi frowned as she activated her communicator. She was reluctant to answer because she knew what he would ask of her, and she did not look forward to complying. “Sir, I’ve avoided opening my mind. Whatever I sensed in the groppler’s office became very uncomfortable.”
“I’m sorry, Counselor.” Riker’s voice was soft but insistent. He understood the courage it took for her to do this. “We need more information.”
“Yes, sir. I understand.” Troi glanced at Tasha and Geordi. Tasha was sympathetic, but she could never really grasp what occurred when Troi lowered the barriers she carefully kept in place. Young LaForge might comprehend it a little better. His eyesight was enhanced mechanically as her sensitivities and mental perceptions were enhanced telepathically. Perhaps he could understand how she sometimes resented the “gift” of that enhancement.
Slowly, Troi thinned the mental shielding she maintained. There were many minds around her, each with its own busy thoughts. She could not “read” the content of those thoughts, merely the feelings that accompanied them. The wash of emotions she sensed now was normal, with a few strong peaks of feeling pushing up here and there: LaForge’s curiosity and farther away, on the very specific emotional band that was Riker, his concern. A smile twitched her mouth. She would have recognized his mental emanation anywhere, so closely attuned had they been.
Tasha was watching her closely, impatient for action. Suddenly, Troi emitted a short, sharp scream and sank to her knees. “Such pain,” she gasped. Tasha leapt in beside her, a supporting arm around her shoulders. Troi swayed under the feelings of agony that buffeted her mind. “Pain . . . pain. . . .”
Vaguely she could hear Riker’s voice over her communicator. “Hang on, I’m coming. Enterprise, lock us onto her signal!”
Geordi had joined Tasha, trying to comfort Troi. She could hear the murmur of their voices, but the pain gripped her mind so deeply, she was forced to shut them out while she tried to close her sensitivities off again. She had managed to pull the barriers almost all the way back when the transporter beam began to sparkle in the air near them, and Data and Riker slid into solid form.
Riker strode quickly to Troi, taking her hands gently and helping her to her feet. “I’m sorry. Can you close out the pain?”
Troi nodded, leaning against him for a moment. The woman in her drew strength from his loving concern. She pushed that revelation aside for the moment, and the professional in her took over. “Report, sir,” she began. “I—”
“What was it?” Riker coaxed. “Was it just pain or—?”
“No—more than that. Unhappiness . . . terrible despair.”
“Who?” he asked.
“I don’t know! No life form anything like us. Not the Bandi either. Their mind patterns are completely different from what I felt.”
“Then who is in pain?” Data asked thoughtfully.
Riker shook his head and looked around at the glowing walls. “What in hell kind of place is this?”
The Enterprise bridge was only nominally manned. Picard almost felt as if he had it to himself. Worf was hunched at the Ops panel at the front of the bridge, but the few other station keeping crew personnel worked quietly at the aft stations, routinely monitoring ship’s systems. Picard had felt too edgy to stay cooped up in his ready room waiting for the away team’s report. The spacious bridge at least gave him room to pace if he felt like it. The sound of the aft turbolift doors opening automatically brought his head around to see who it was. Picard stiffened in his chair as he realized what he was looking at.
Beverly Crusher stood just inside the turbolift door. She was caught squarely by Picard’s dark look as he frowned at her and at Wes, who stood beside her in the lift. She shot a swift glance at her son. He was staring out in wonder and awe at his dream place, taking in as much as he could possibly see in this one brief and limited view. Beverly started to step forward onto the bridge, gesturing to Wes to stay in the turbolift. Better get this over with, she thought.
She had a nice little speech she had thought up and a decent reason for her to personally come to the bridge to speak to Picard rather than to merely report to him over the intership. She had discovered a serious shortage in one of their essential medical supplies. Her inventory check had uncovered the fact the Enterprise was carrying an overabundant supply of vitamins and food supplements and was dangerously low on the elements to create artificial whole blood which might be required in an emergency. The error had apparently occurred due to the mislabeling of medical containers at their original supply point. This was a mistake that had to be rectified as soon as possible, and she was justified in bringing it to Picard’s attention.
“Permission to report to the captain. . . .” Beverly began.
Picard’s cool voice dropped the bridge temperature at least ten degrees. “Children are not allowed on the bridge, Doctor.”
Encounter at Farpoint Page 13
