Gwyn smiled gently at the realization that Mayla would have been pleased.
Focusing her attention on the asteroid they were now approaching, Gwyn could see that the surface conditions were visibly different from the others Seven had rejected. Most of the asteroids were boring variations of red, brown, and gray. This one sported several wide veins of metal circling it. A glance at Seven’s sensor panel showed massive deposits of several common and a few unusual minerals.
“You’re looking for more of the element we discovered back on the planet, aren’t you?” Gwyn ventured.
“Not precisely.”
“Which part did I get wrong?”
“I am looking for a fragment that most closely matches the planet’s geological makeup,” Seven replied. “I do not expect to find substantial levels of the Sevenofninonium anywhere in this field.”
Gwyn swallowed the anxiety that immediately welled within her at Seven’s casual use of a term she had intended as a joke.
“I’m sorry about that, Seven. I hope you didn’t take offense.”
For the first time since their mission had begun, Seven turned to face Gwyn, her features a complacent mask revealing nothing. What I wouldn’t give to be able to do that, Gwyn thought.
“I did not,” Seven said with unexpected sincerity. “But I would question its accuracy as a designation.”
“Well, yeah. It’s kind of a silly word,” Gwyn agreed. “But it’s not unprecedented. We’ve also got Einsteinium, Curium, Californium.”
“Each of those designations was assigned to acknowledge significant scientific contributions of the individuals they were named for,” Seven said. “While I detected the unusual properties of the new element, I could not have done so without the tools Starfleet has put at my disposal or the efforts of the crews of our fleet’s various vessels. Perhaps Starfleetium or Fullcirclium would be more appropriate.”
Her face was still a mask but a new, faint light flickered from Seven’s eyes at this. She might have been teasing Gwyn.
For the first time since they’d met, Gwyn felt as if she was conversing with Seven rather than simply doing her bidding. It was a heady sensation. She’d never appreciated Patel’s longing to be included among the closer senior staff. Tasting that acceptance, as Patel surely had in the past, it made significantly more sense.
“I think I see a safe spot to land, if this one looks promising,” Gwyn said, bringing the shuttle closer to the thickly veined asteroid. Much of the surface was composed of jagged peaks and narrow, deep valleys, inhospitable but not entirely unmanageable for a pilot with Gwyn’s skills. The shuttle’s short-range sensors directed her attention to a high plain roughly three kilometers wide, which would do nicely as a base of operations for their rock collecting.
“I will transmit our coordinates and intention to land back to Voyager,” Seven said. “Take us in, Ensign.”
“Adjusting course and matching speed to bring us within the asteroid’s gravitational field,” Gwyn said. Within half an hour she had brought them safely to the surface. After two hours of essential EV safety preparations, their explorations began.
DK-1116
The first priority once Patel and Lasren had caught their breath and assured themselves that they could survive indefinitely in the cavern was to make contact with Vincent. Devi didn’t doubt for a moment that Jepel had returned to the surface as she’d ordered, and that he and Vincent were likely having kittens at the moment. Had she been in their shoes she would have contacted Voyager and requested a targeted sensor scan to confirm her and Lasren’s life signs beneath the surface. It was likely that the heavy metals surrounding them might disrupt sensors, but a skilled enough operator—and Lasren’s replacement, Vanessa Waters, was certainly one—would be able to find their signals.
Both she and Lasren had carried spare air tanks. They couldn’t have traded them out while underwater, but they would use them when they returned to the surface. If Vincent didn’t hear from them and Voyager was able to get a clear transporter lock, they’d be transported out before their explorations could begin.
Refusing to give in to dismal speculation, Patel opened her comm link. “Patel to Vincent, do you read me? Vincent, are you there?”
A sharp burst of static pierced her eardrum.
“Ow,” Patel said, pulling her mask away from her ear. Lasren had removed his as well and was tinkering with it with a tiny metal tool. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“Switching to our main emergency band,” Lasren replied. “Our ship’s communications array is a little larger than Vincent’s remote unit.” Seconds later, he lifted the unit to his ear and said, “Lasren to Voyager, do you copy?”
“Hey, Kenth.” The warm voice of Waters reverberated through the cavern. “Vincent just made contact reporting that you and Patel were probably dead. I told him we’d run a few more scans before notifying your next of kin. What happened?”
“We found our way into an underground cavern. It’s got atmosphere, and we’ve got spare tanks and plenty of power left in our lights. We’re going to do some looking around. Is there any chance you can get a transporter lock on us?”
“Affirmative. We’ve got you.”
“Don’t pull us out without our authorization. And tell Vincent not to worry. Have him switch his comm signal to this band and await further instructions. We’ll be in touch.”
“Understood. Good hunting.”
“Lasren out.”
“That was quick thinking,” Patel commended him.
Lasren shrugged. “Emergency comm protocol 101.”
“I knew there was a reason I wanted to be on your team,” Patel said.
“Don’t worry, I won’t let it go to my head,” Lasren teased. Playing his light over the cavern walls, he continued, “What do you think this place is?”
Patel had been formulating hypotheses from the moment they’d surfaced. Checking her tricorder, she was thrilled to see new geological data populating her screen. “I have a theory,” she admitted, stepping past him and focusing her hand beacon on a large metallic deposit twenty meters beyond their position. The ledge between her and the area wasn’t wide, but she stepped carefully to avoid slipping back into the water. “Your scans confirmed lots of large caverns in this direction. Many of them read as being filled with water, but obviously some of them aren’t. Beyond them, a little deeper, are a number of sensor holes. They could indicate anything.”
“So you’re telling me that when you risked our lives getting here, you did it on a solid hunch that this cavern was here?”
Patel turned to face Lasren. She knew lying to a Betazoid was pointless, but even if that hadn’t been true, he deserved the truth. “I knew it was possible.”
“Fifty-fifty?”
“More like eighty-twenty.”
Lasren shook his head. “I understand wanting to make your mark and get ahead. But the next time you pull a stunt like that, you’re doing it alone.”
Patel nodded. “Understood.”
They continued along the edge of the water for twenty more meters until the shore widened at a vast wall composed largely of the same metallic ore that had marked the entrance to the cavern.
“These deposits share certain characteristics with the osmium constructs in other biodomes,” Lasren noted. “But they are significantly denser and more varied.”
Patel stepped forward and ran her gloved hand along the nearest metal band. “I wonder if this was the source of the materials used to construct them.”
“Without analyzing all of them, I couldn’t say. But I don’t think so. There’s none of Seven’s element here.”
“But our scans detected large amounts of it in this area.”
“Those deposits aren’t anywhere near here,” Lasren said, shrugging.
Patel continued studying the wall, stepping gingerly along the shore. Suddenly her breath caught in her throat.
“Devi?”
She had turned her body to face the wal
l and was wiping both hands over it. “This is smooth. There’s a door here,” she said.
Lasren joined her, brushing away several layers of dirt until large sections of a perfectly smooth circular door were revealed.
“Should we knock?” Lasren asked.
“Because there’s someone back there four thousand years later who can answer?” Patel asked.
“I was kidding.”
“There’s no handle or hinges or visible activation panel,” she said.
“Perhaps it only opens from the other side.”
Patel stepped back, playing her light around the edges of the door. “Do you see anything that looks like a manual override?”
Lasren studied the rest of the wall but found nothing. Stepping forward he said, “I’m going to try something.” Placing both hands on the door, he closed his eyes and slowed his breath. He seemed to be listening really hard, but the only sound was the faint lapping of the water at the shoreline. After a few minutes like this, he opened his eyes.
“There’s something here.”
Patel’s eyes widened. “Could you possibly be more specific?”
Lasren shook his head. “I’m not getting a person, individual consciousness per se. But there is something that feels like life; something pretty big.”
Patel swallowed hard. Her heart rate accelerated and she felt her extremities begin to tremble. To steady them, she reached again for her tricorder. “I’m not reading any life signs.”
“It’s not life like we’re life, Devi. It’s powerful, but not terribly organized, if that makes sense.”
Lasren removed one of his diving gloves and ran his hand over the surface of the door. Near the center of it, he paused, resting his hand there.
“What is it?”
“I think it’s getting warmer here.”
Suddenly, the door was illuminated by a bright blue light. It looked like an energy field had snapped into existence, but it carried no current. Patel quickly removed both her gloves and placed her hands next to his. “It could be bio-sensitive,” she suggested.
They waited there for almost a minute until the light vanished.
Patel emitted a frustrated huff. “What are we doing wrong?”
“It’s automated. It sensed our presence but maybe it recognized us as someone who isn’t allowed to access this area.”
“Or maybe it needs more data,” Patel posited.
“What kind of data?”
Patel squared her shoulders and placed her hands on the door once again. “I am Lieutenant Devi Patel, of the Federation Starship Voyager. I am human and my planet of origin is approximately fifty thousand light-years from our present position. We come in peace and seek only to better understand this world and those who inhabited it.”
Both waited tensely for a few moments for any response. When none came Lasren added, “Devi is an Aries and in her spare time enjoys calculating black-hole densities and kayaking.”
The blue light returned, but this time only in a small circle near the center of the door. Patel inhaled sharply. She moved her right hand so that it rested within the lit area and immediately noted a difference.
“It’s not solid anymore,” she said. “It’s softer, squishier.” Seconds later, Patel cried out and pulled her hand back in alarm.
“What happened?”
“It cut me,” she said, holding her hand under Lasren’s light. A circle of shallow pricks could clearly be seen on her palm. They weren’t deep, but small drops of blood bloomed and pooled in her palm.
“I’ve got a small medkit,” Lasren said, shrugging out of his shoulder pack.
“Don’t worry about it,” Patel said, wiping her hand on her dive suit and staring at the door, transfixed.
Lasren followed her gaze and watched as the brightness at the center of the door expanded again. It grew so intense that both of them had to look away, shielding their eyes.
When they looked back, the door was gone. Beyond it, darkness beckoned.
SURFACE OF UNNAMED ASTEROID
Seven was not at all certain what she expected to find on this asteroid. A clue as to the composition of the other bodies that were once part of this solar system?
Possibly.
But in her heart, she was also seeking the answer to an absurd question that had nonetheless plagued her from the moment she’d begun to study the binaries.
Where did the B star come from?
It was an absurd question because most often binary stars were simply formed when the disc of gas and dust surrounding a new star fragmented and a second star was created. Gravitational capture of a second star by the first was not impossible, just highly unlikely and required a third body with sufficient gravity to account for the required conservation of mass. But as Admiral Janeway had noted during their first briefing, the size and composition of the B star’s asteroid belt suggested the fairly recent destruction of one or more terrestrial bodies.
For her, this was the essential mystery of this system and might actually hold the key to understanding the alien species that had created the biodomes on DK-1116. If the asteroids were composed primarily of the same material as the surviving planet, that would argue for normal binary formation with possible orbit loss resulting in destruction of one or more former planets. If the asteroids contained significant amounts of material that was quite different, her belief that the binaries had been formed by a rare instance of gravitational capture would gain credence.
“There is a significant deposit of a composite metal just ahead,” Gwyn’s voice sounded through the comm system of Seven’s EV suit.
Seven adjusted her tricorder, directing it toward the site Gwyn had indicated.
“There are trace heavy metals, iron, iridium, chromium, but the largest concentrations appear to be unique alloys,” Seven said as the list before her continued to expand.
“That’s kind of weird, isn’t it?” Gwyn asked.
“Could you state your query more precisely, Ensign?” Seven asked.
After a brief pause during which Ensign Gwyn was probably biting back her first few responses, she said, “What I mean is, aren’t relatively few alloys naturally occurring?”
“Did you not study basic mineralogy, chemistry, and molecular geology at the Academy?”
“I did. I passed those classes but never excelled at them. I always knew I was going to fly and figured I could leave the study of the worlds we were flying toward to everybody else on the ship,” Gwyn replied with a level of honesty Seven found strangely endearing. Most Starfleet officers considered themselves to be the best of the best. Competition among them was fierce in order to gain admission to the Academy and only intensified from there. Few individuals Seven had served with would have been as eager to admit to their shortcomings as Ensign Gwyn. It was true that in her case, her skill as a pilot so thoroughly dwarfed most of the other pilots Seven had known, short of Commander Paris, that her choice to focus her efforts there had certainly borne fruit.
“They are,” Seven replied, “but that does not necessarily rule out natural formation here. More interesting are the traces of significantly less common elements, many with brief half-lives and unstable isotopes.”
“So that’s weird.”
“Yes, Ensign.”
“Does it mean anything?”
“It suggests several hypotheses, none of which we are going to be able to confirm until we extract samples and return to Voyager.”
“So, I should just shut up and start digging?”
In the bulky EV suit it was difficult to simply turn one’s head and see another’s facial expressions. Seven made the effort, turning her entire torso around to face Gwyn. Despite her words, the ensign was smiling.
“We will both start digging,” Seven said.
Pointing out the nearest deposit, a massive reflective vein running through a large rock directly ahead, Seven said, “Begin here. Extract ten discrete small samples. Try and get as many unique alloys as possible. I will d
o the same from our secondary site.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Gwyn said cheerfully enough as she dropped her tool pack to the ground and began rummaging around in it for her phaser.
Seven moved off to study another formation roughly a hundred meters down a gentle slope that burst from the surface of the asteroid in an unusual spiked shape. She retrieved her phaser and set it at the lowest possible strength for cutting. A tight, steady beam was emitted, and Seven began to extract extremely fine slices from the odd deposit.
“So is one of your hypotheses that this asteroid used to be part of another planet in this system?” Gwyn asked.
“Most stars have planets, usually more than one,” Seven said patiently. “It is possible that the secondary star of this binary pair entered this system after it was formed and in doing so destroyed any other terrestrial worlds that might have existed prior to its arrival.”
“How does taking samples of these deposits help you confirm that?”
“Are you asking for your own edification, Ensign?”
“Actually, I’m pretty sure that once we get back, Devi is going to test me on every single aspect of this mission and I want to be prepared to answer her questions.”
“Lieutenant Patel is welcome to read the reports I will file once our mission is complete.”
“Oh, she’ll definitely read them. She’ll probably commit them to memory. It’s not the data she’ll be interested in.”
That didn’t make much sense to Seven. As chief science officer, Lieutenant Patel should concern herself with all of Voyager’s scientific discoveries. “I do not understand,” Seven admitted.
“Devi’s really smart.”
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