“We have three lifesigns,” pointed out the doctor, “out of a crew of eighty-nine, so time may be important. We can’t use transporters because of the radiation, but I have a backup plan. We lock on with tractor beam and tow the ship out of the radiation field, if we can.”
“Although the Barcelona may be the source of the radiation,” cautioned Data.
“I like that plan,” said Riker with a quick smile, “better than the first one. But I want to think carefully about who goes over there.”
“They may be injured ... dying,” insisted Crusher.
“What we don’t know is what else may be over there,” said the captain with finality. “Data, you lead the away team. Take three security and three medics. Dr. Crusher and—”
“Ogawa, and the duty officer,” she answered. “Dr. Pelagof. We all need radiation suits, even Data.”
“We still have some of Dr. Brahms’ phase-shifting radiation suits,” said Riker. “They’ll withstand anything, including the Genesis Wave.”
“They may be needed,” answered Data, “unless we can succeed in lowering the radiation levels on the Barcelona. It is difficult to understand how anyone could still be alive.”
“Unless they have the suits, too,” said the doctor. “Conn, take us to tractor-beam range.”
“Yes, sir.”
Crusher turned and looked apologetically at Captain Picard. “Excuse me, sir. Did you wish to assume command?”
He waved his hand and smiled. “I haven’t relieved you yet, but I will now. Well done, Doctor.”
[21] She hadn’t accomplished much, but words of praise from Jean-Luc were always welcome. The doctor nodded and said, “Computer, transfer command of the bridge to Captain Picard, effective immediately. Crusher reporting to sickbay.”
“Command transfer acknowledged,” replied the computer.
“We’ll need signal amplifiers to beam you and the survivors out of there,” said Riker, leaning over the transporter console. He lifted his recently clean-shaven face and surveyed Crusher, Data, Ogawa, and the other members of the away team gathered in transporter room two. “So you’ll have to go aboard and find the life-forms. I know it’s going to be hard to carry anything else, but you’re going to have to take the amplifiers.”
Beverly nodded, which wasn’t easy in the bulky environmental suit. These were standard issue suits, not even the larger prototypes developed by Leah Brahms. Tricorder, medical kit, utility belt, phaser, air tanks, and other gear already hung from her, and she waited patiently while Riker hung a long cylinder with telescoping legs over her shoulder. If she got a chance, she would shorten the strap later.
The first officer returned to the transporter console, ready to do the honors himself. He studied the readouts for a moment, then nodded. “The radiation is down sixty percent since we moved the Barcelona, but that’s as good as it’s going to get. Prepare for boarding.”
Crusher and the other six members of her party stepped upon the transporter platform. Data was in charge, so she assumed he would be taking the lead, which made sense, since he was unaffected by the moss creatures. The medical team would follow, each one of them guarded by a security officer. On this mission, she wouldn’t mind having a bodyguard, thought Crusher, because she remembered all too well when she had beamed over to inspect the Neptune. She had [22] been tricked by the moss creatures into thinking Wesley had returned, but it wasn’t really her son. The doctor shivered in the hot, bulky suit.
Data checked his team, then nodded to Commander Riker. “Energize.”
The first officer plied the controls, and Crusher felt the familiar tingle that told her that her molecules were about to be disassembled and reassembled. The flutter in her stomach was a bit stronger than usual, due to her nervousness. It can’t happen again, she told herself. I won’t let it happen again.
They beamed aboard the bridge of the disabled starship, where they found the red-hued emergency lights shining eerily. The three security officers instantly leveled their weapons and formed a protective triangle around the others. Crusher, Ogawa, and the chubby Tellarite doctor, Pelagof, opened their medical tricorders, while Data stepped to the ops console.
“Hmmm,” said the android with a slight cock of his hooded head. His voice was amplified in Beverly’s helmet. “They were on red alert with reports of a hull breach. I do not recall any sensor readings which indicated a hull breach.”
“Me either,” answered Crusher. “How long have they been like this?”
“Since the Genesis Wave struck seven-point-eight days ago,” answered Data, working the board. “Their shields were destroyed immediately.”
“By what?” asked the doctor.
“Unknown,” answered the android. “All systems seem to have failed except for emergency life support.”
“Yet they weren’t in the path of the wave,” said Crusher puzzledly. “According to our records, they were merely monitoring and charting its course.”
“If this ship had been in the wave’s path, it would no longer exist,” replied Data, “in any recognizable form.”
[23] Pelagof snorted importantly. “Doctor, I’ve got a life-form reading on a level just below us. It’s very weak, and I suggest we hurry.”
Data motioned to the security officers to follow him to a rear corner of the bridge, where he bent over and, with a twist of his wrist, popped off the access panel for the Jefferies tube. The android singled out two security officers and motioned them down the hatch to the ladder which ran between decks. Perhaps Data could eventually get the turbolifts working, thought Crusher, but this was faster and more certain. Still it was disconcerting to think about crawling into a confined space on this nearly deserted vessel.
After a long minute, security reported back that the way was clear, and the team descended one after another into the Jefferies tube. They emerged through a bulkhead hatch into the corridor a deck below, which was also illuminated by emergency lighting. Data consulted his tricorder, got a fix on their target, and led the way down the corridor. He was flanked by security guards, weapons leveled.
At an intersection, the android stopped and held up his hand, pointing out a row of phaser scorches on the bulkhead. Within one deep phaser hole, sparks shot intermittently from damaged circuits. Despite the signs of a battle, there were no bodies or blood in sight, although the life-form registering in Crusher’s tricorder was close to death.
“We have to hurry,” she said.
“Understood,” answered Data. The android stepped out into the intersecting corridor and was instantly drilled by a phaser beam. Fortunately, his extraordinary reflexes allowed him to duck away from the blast, which struck his upper arm instead of his chest before he could dive behind the corner.
One of the security officers rolled into the corridor to return fire, and he was struck in the collarbone. He kept rolling into the next corridor as one of his comrades leaped out to fire. She managed to jump after her comrade before the foe’s weapon could orient upon her, and the phaser beam went wide. Already two crew members [24] were wounded, thought Crusher, and no contact had been made with the life-forms onboard. Data stepped forward, leveling his phaser.
“Wait!” yelled the female security officer named Kosavar. She panted to get her breath. “I saw something on a tripod. I think it’s a phaser rifle ... automated.” After reporting that, she knelt down to inspect her wounded comrade.
“Probably on motion sensor,” said Data. He activated the comm channel. “Away team to transporter room two.”
“Riker here,” came the response.
“We have encountered phaser fire,” said Data, calmly touching the burn on his upper arm. “Two injured—myself and Ensign Tyler. Ensign Tyler needs to report to sickbay immediately. I can continue, but my environmental suit has been compromised.”
“Set up Tyler’s signal amplifier near him,” ordered Riker. “We’ll direct-beam him to sickbay, and I’ll send down another suit for you. Who’s firing at you?”
“We believe the phaser fire was automated, keying upon motion sensors.”
“Don’t take any chances,” ordered Riker. “Remember, I can’t beam you out unless you set up the amplifiers. I’ll send more security, too, if you need them.”
“It would be advisable to keep them in reserve until we investigate the nature of the threat. Data out.”
Crusher glanced to the other side of the corridor and saw Kosavar already setting up the signal amplifier. If the wounded officer wasn’t getting help soon, she would have tossed her medkit over to his companion.
“Ready an electroplasm dispersal grenade,” said Data, nodding to the security officer on his side of the intersection, a Bolian named Wapot. He opened a pouch on his belt and removed a small, round device.
“That won’t hurt the survivor, will it?” asked Crusher.
[25] “Not if he has survived the radiation levels on this ship,” answered Data. “But it should cause the phaser and controller devices to malfunction.”
The security officer nodded that the grenade was ready, but Data waited until Ensign Tyler disappeared in a cloud of shimmering transporter particles. Where the wounded man had lain, there was now a neatly folded environmental suit. Data held out his hand to take the grenade, while he motioned the others to move back down the corridor.
As soon as they were about ten meters away, Data dashed into the intersection and threw the grenade. A phaser beam nearly chopped off his arm, but the android dove to the other side of the intersection, to join Kosavar. As they waited, he stripped off his damaged environmental suit.
The grenade exploded, bathing the scarlet hues of the corridor with a shimmering, pulsating glow. The readings on Beverly’s medical tricorder went off the scale, and she feared it had been damaged. But the device soon returned to normal, showing that the nearby life-form was still alive, but barely.
After donning his new radiation suit, Data stepped bravely into the corridor. Nothing happened, and he and the two security officers charged ahead. The three medical workers cautiously followed, tricorders leveled and blinking.
They found the survivor at the end of the corridor in a weapons storeroom, surrounded by spent phasers and power packs. He’d had his choice of weaponry to defend his position in the doorway, and he had chosen well. After growing too weak to stay alert, he had mounted a type-3 phaser on a static sentry device. The survivor was wearing a radiation suit identical to theirs, and a comrade behind him also wore the same suit. But that crew member had been dead for days—it was the first corpse they had seen.
After Data removed the phaser rifle from its tripod, Ogawa slipped past him to reach the dying man. In the confines of the [26] closet, there was room for only one of them to attend the man, so Crusher hung back and continued to take tricorder readings. Despite his suit, there was no doubt that the man was suffering from acute radiation poisoning and had only a short time to live.
“We have to get him to sickbay,” declared Ogawa. “We can’t do anything for him here.”
“Are you satisfied that he is a member of this crew?” asked Data. It was a diplomatic way of asking whether he was a moss creature.
“Yes,” said Ogawa, “I’d stake my life on it.”
Data made a rapid decision. “Very well, set up a signal amplifier. But quarantine restrictions must be followed in sickbay.”
“One of us had better return with him,” said Dr. Crusher, glancing at her medical team. “Dr. Pelagof, will you go back with him?”
“Certainly,” answered the Tellarite, not hiding his relief at the idea of leaving the derelict ship. He quickly set up a signal amplifier for both of them, while Data contacted the transporter room and arranged for two more to beam to sickbay.
The doctor and his patient had just vanished in a swirl of sparkling particles, when Riker’s urgent voice broke in, “Data, we’ve got movement on that second lifesign. It’s gone from midship, level six, to level two. In fact, it’s moving rapidly toward your position. That is, unless we’re getting false sensor readings.”
“A distinct possibility,” allowed Data. Nevertheless, he motioned to his remaining two security officers to flank the medical team. “We are on alert. Data out.”
Those who weren’t gripping weapons gripped their tricorders, and Crusher was getting a strong lifesign reading, which was only getting stronger by the second.
“That’s convenient,” said Ogawa nervously, peering at her own readouts. “We don’t have to go searching for this one—he’s coming to us.”
“Deploy more signal amplifiers,” ordered Data. “We may have to leave quickly.”
[27] They gladly busied themselves with that task, while Data tried to contact the approaching figure over several intraship frequencies. Without warning, a monstrous, churning whirlwind came whipping down the corridor. It caught the two security officers off guard and yanked them off their feet, spinning them around like marionettes caught on a ceiling fan. Their weapons flew out of their hands, and so did a stray phaser blast that whizzed by Crusher’s ear.
She hit the deck, as anyone would do in a tornado or a phaser fight. Voices crackled over the headset in her helmet, but she couldn’t understand a word. When none of them transported out of the corridor, she assumed they couldn’t. There was nothing to do but keep her tricorder running and watch the destructive living force before them—a wild funnel of debris, crackling sparks, and living beings.
Then the tricorder was ripped out of her hands, and she felt herself skidding across the deck toward the whirlwind. Crusher yelled just as a strong hand gripped her ankle, and she jerked to a stop. She saw flailing arms and looked over to see Ogawa, also in Data’s grasp. The android’s feet were locked around a conduit, which was bending under the stress of holding the two women.
Like a screaming child smashing his dolls, the dust devil hurled the two security officers against the bulkheads. Tired of them, or satisfied, it flew down the corridor leading to the bridge. Crusher dropped to the deck with a thud. Bits of shiny insulation fluttered down, covering the two female security officers with silvery snow.
Kosavar groaned and managed to turn over. The other officer lay as still as Crusher’s smashed tricorder, the remains of which were embedded in the ceiling. She staggered to her feet, anxious to help the fallen security officers. In her helmet, the doctor could hear Data’s voice and Riker’s replies—but the babble was incomprehensible. Maybe her comlink had been damaged, or her head. She heard Riker say something about “The third lifesign.”
In doctor mode but still woozy, Crusher crawled to the side of Wapot, who wasn’t moving. She appeared to be dead. Ogawa [28] stepped past her to reach Kosavar’s side; then the lieutenant took a glance down the far corridor and recoiled in horror. With a lunge, Ogawa grabbed Ensign Kosavar and tried to pull the officer out of the way of something ... approaching swiftly. Crusher could feel the deck vibrating.
The doctor’s stomach twisted with fear, and she looked up to see a misshapen beast with matted black fur, numerous circular mouths ringed with teeth, and short writhing appendages. It had so many legs it shouldn’t be able to walk, let alone gallop like it did. With steam snorting from its orifices, the monster turned to regard her; she couldn’t see any eyes, but maybe they were in the tentacles. Coldly it studied her, while exuding a fear which overwhelmed her mind. Death was going to be a relief.
three
Overwhelmed by waves of dread and nausea, trapped in a dead-end corridor, Beverly Crusher scrambled to escape from a hideous unfathomable creature. The beast reared up, turning into a wall of fur, gristle, and stubby tentacles. She realized she had left Ensign Wapot at the monster’s feet, and she considered going back for the security officer. Then a voice crackled in the helmet of her radiation suit. “Stay low!” warned Data.
A phaser beam streaked over her head, and it drilled into the misshapen beast, setting a chunk of its fur on fire. Writhing in agony, the thing stomped all over Ensign Wapot’s body, and re
peated phaser blasts failed to drive it back. Just then, a maw of dancing prism lights appeared from nowhere, engulfing both the beast and the fallen officer. As Crusher gaped in amazement, this rippling rainbow passed right through the bulkheads, seemingly coming from all directions to converge on their position.
Abruptly, Data grabbed her from behind and hauled her back to the weapons storage room. Then he helped Ogawa drag the unconscious Kosavar to cover. In front of them, the kaleidoscopic maw [30] began to turn black as it consumed both the beast and Ensign Wapot. In a short time, the swirling cataclysm of colors had turned into a jagged black rift that split the corridor in two.
Crusher had to close her eyes. When she forced herself to look back, the apparition was gone, and so were Wapot and the hideous beast. Crusher’s retinas felt burned, as if she had gazed at the sun or a strobe light without protection, and she felt drained of energy. A blurred hand hovered into view, and she blinked uncertainly at Data.
“Are you well enough to stand?”
“Yes,” she answered. But she needed the android’s help to rise unsteadily to her feet.
“I believe we have encountered all three life-forms,” said Data. “Plus one which did not register on our initial scans. That is, if it was a life-form. Radiation levels have increased by twenty-eight percent. Would you like to leave the Barcelona now?”
“Yes,” she rasped hoarsely. Crusher rubbed her eyes, hoping the side effects of gazing at the rainbow anomaly were only temporary. By concentrating, she found that her vision cleared a little. She managed to make out Ogawa, who was bent over the injured Kosavar, preparing to give her a hypospray as soon as possible.
“Four to beam up,” reported Data to the transporter room.
With considerable relief, the doctor felt her molecules rearranging themselves, along with those of Ogawa, Data, and Kosavar. As the red-hued intersection in the corridor faded from view, she looked in vain for the Bolian, but Wapot was not returning with them. Beverly shivered. She hadn’t thought she could see anything worse than a moss creature on this derelict ship, but she had seen something worse. Far worse.
STAR TREK: TNG - The Genesis Wave, Book Three Page 3
