Ultimately, she realized that the majority of the scenes were covering the same area of the biodome. Within a grove of tall blue trees, one of the metal constructs that had first caught Seven’s eye was in the process of being built. No, not built, she realized. Grown.
Patel’s breath caught in her chest as understanding struck her. The planet had once been some sort of working scientific lab. This room appeared to be its library. Given enough time, she could learn all the secrets of those who had once inhabited DK-1116.
Patel was anxious to examine some of the other spheres, but allowed Glorf’s record to play through to completion. Eventually, the number of life-forms diminished until all that was left was the metallic sculpture they had cultivated in their biodome.
When the playback was done, Patel lifted the sphere from the workstation alcove and returned to the sphere room. She released it and it floated back to its waiting alcove.
Patel was about to step back into the blue pillar when she stopped dead in her tracks. The fourth door, the one that had screamed at them the first time they had approached it, had vanished.
Patel considered this new reality as calmly as she could, despite the fact that her heart was now pounding so intensely she could feel it in her toes. Perhaps the screaming had simply been some sort of alarm. Perhaps her ability to interface with the system had deactivated the security protocols.
She stepped closer to the open doorway. The area beyond it was dark. In the distance a few small patches of faint blue light were present. A sick sense held her at the entrance. Curious as she was, she had no desire to explore this area alone. Instead, she tapped her combadge.
“Patel to Lasren, do you copy?”
She waited through ten full seconds of silence before trying again.
“Patel to Lasren. Kenth, can you hear me?”
Nothing.
Patel stepped back from the doorway. As she did so, the clear sound of metal scratching against metal met her ears.
Something was down there. Something angry, if Lasren’s empathic abilities were to be trusted. And there was no longer anything separating it from Patel.
Worse, she had lost contact with her team.
For the first time since this adventure had begun, Patel wished she weren’t the senior officer present. She had no idea what to do next.
• • •
“I don’t know, I think I might have been too hard on her,” Jepel said as he, Lasren, and Vincent made their way down the hall toward the wide metal staircase at its end.
“I think she got the message,” Vincent said. “She seemed genuinely sorry.”
“She’s putting herself under a lot of pressure,” Lasren said. “You need to understand that it’s different on Voyager. When you guys shipped out on Vesta and Demeter, you were part of their first crews. Voyager has history. Devi and I are part of it now, but the most important part, that’s shared by a select group and it’s hard to feel like you’re not spending all your time playing catch-up.”
“Do the senior officers make you feel that way?” Jepel asked.
“Not intentionally,” Lasren replied. “And after the first couple of years on board, I think most of us felt like we’d earned our places. Except Devi. She was more or less replaced when Seven joined the crew.”
“How come she didn’t just request a transfer?” Vincent asked.
Lasren considered the question. “I’m not sure. If I had to guess, I’d say it was because Devi would have considered that a failure and she has a hard time accepting those.”
They reached the steps, and Lasren noted that each tread was considerably longer than would be comfortable for a standard humanoid’s stride. For each step that you took, another short step was required before you could descend again.
They continued down for about fifty meters before ending abruptly at another circular door.
“Any takers?” Lasren asked.
The naked fear in Vincent’s eyes and clear trepidation in Jepel’s settled the matter. Stepping forward, Lasren took a deep breath and placed his hand at the door’s center. Nothing happened.
“Huh,” Lasren said. “I was sure that would work.”
“I’ll try,” Jepel said, stepping up. Again, the door remained stubbornly closed.
Vincent shrugged. “I guess it’s my turn.” Following the example of Lasren and Jepel, Vincent placed his hand near the center of the door.
“Ow!” he cried out. When he pulled his hand away, a ring of punctures was centered on his palm. “How much blood am I going to have to lose on this planet?”
“Why did it react to him and not to us?” Jepel asked.
Lasren considered the question. “Both Vincent and Patel are humans,” he said. “Maybe that matters.”
The door opened. As soon as it did, Vincent gasped.
Lasren and Jepel crowded in behind him. “By the Prophets,” Jepel said softly.
“What the . . . ?” was all Vincent could manage.
Beyond the door lay a vast cavern, several kilometers deep and extending so far into the distance it was impossible to see the far end.
Staircases like the one on which they stood ran along the walls in every direction, with long catwalks between them and several large visible landings. The walls themselves were hard, brown stone studded throughout with long veins of silver and black metal.
This was the least interesting sight that met their eyes.
Continuing down the staircase directly in front of them and crossing several wide landings, they came to a vast, circular plate. In the center of it stood a wide metal box covered with bright white panels that reminded Lasren of the same technology as the columns they had seen in the upper chambers. Behind it, extending up from the base, was a series of mechanical arms. They were dozens of meters long, and each was articulated with at least two joints. At the end of each was a three-pronged extension, two that looked like pincers and the third that was a simple tube. At rest, the contraption looked like a gigantic spider resting on its back with its legs in the air.
Crisscrossing the vast open interior of the cavern were thick ropes of silver and black metal, as if the stone surrounding similar veins running through the walls had been chipped away, leaving only the ore. The twisted deposits were similar to the constructs found on the surface with two notable exceptions. First, all of the long, dense veins were illuminated from within, a bright white light source dazzling the silver and only slightly muted by the interwoven blackness of the metal. The light burned from the center and played in dazzling patterns all over the cavern walls. Second, the veins were in constant motion, gyrating and undulating like massive living snakes.
Finally Lasren thought to remove his tricorder and begin to scan. The first thing he noted was the presence of vast quantities of the Sevenofninonium. “Well that’s one mystery solved,” he said softly.
Vincent and Jepel had also conquered their awe and were moving around the center platform taking their own readings.
“Um . . . guys,” Vincent said.
Lasren turned toward Vincent and saw several meters beyond him, a gigantic waterfall of sorts. Flowing over a tall, smooth stone was a viscous black liquid. Several thin cords hung above it, each one extending from one of the moving veins above. Every so often, a single drop of the black liquid fell from above and was added to the fall. It was impossible to see how far down the fall extended. Past a few hundred meters, even the light from the undulating metal did not illuminate the bottom of the cavern.
“Any idea what that is?” Lasren asked.
“Nope. The tricorder can’t even figure out its molecular structure,” Vincent replied. “Should I try to take a sample?”
“Let’s not touch anything just yet,” Lasren suggested. “Why don’t we head back? It’s going to take more people than us to unravel all of this. We should signal for one of the engineering teams to join us as soon as possible.”
“Do you think Devi will agree to that?” Jepel asked.
&
nbsp; Lasren shrugged. “Our rotation is only five days. We could spend ten times that down here and not make a dent. I think we can convince her to share.”
“One second,” Jepel said. “What is that?” he asked, pointing to another circular platform high overhead and a good half a kilometer in the distance.
Its construction was similar to the platform on which they stood, but without the giant spider. Instead, a single large white sphere rested in its center with dozens of white pipes extending from its center and terminating all throughout the cavern at different points. There were also a dozen or so pipes of dull gray, perhaps no longer functioning.
“I have no idea,” Lasren said. “But there’s plenty of time to figure it out. Let’s get back to Devi before she starts to worry.”
Nods from Jepel and Vincent settled the matter. Together they retreated to the doorway and began their ascent.
VOYAGER
Icheb didn’t even remember how he had bid farewell for the evening to Phinn. Something about an early start in the morning. It had been lame and awkward. Phinn’s face, even in the dimness, had betrayed his confusion. But Icheb couldn’t think about that right now. He had a bigger problem. As soon as he’d returned to the ship, he’d tried to contact the Doctor and been told he was tending to a patient aboard Voyager. Icheb had considered waiting until morning, but with the Doctor so near, his anxiety got the better of him.
When he entered sickbay, the lights were low. At the far end of the bay he saw a patient resting on a biobed behind a force field. Curious, he stepped closer and recognized Ensign Gwyn.
“May I help you, Ensign Icheb?” the warm, melodious voice of Doctor Sharak asked.
Icheb turned. “I was looking for the Doctor, the EMH. I was told he was here.”
“Of course,” Sharak said, gesturing toward his office.
Inside, the Doctor sat at Sharak’s desk studying the screen before him intently.
“Excuse me, Doctor.”
The Doctor looked up. “Icheb, are you okay?”
“I am,” Icheb said. “I had . . . that is to say . . . I have a personal matter I need to discuss with you.”
“Oh,” the Doctor said, glancing toward Sharak, who hovered just behind Icheb.
Icheb turned to see Sharak nod sagely before returning to his duties in the main bay.
“I did not mean to insult Doctor Sharak,” Icheb said as soon as he and the Doctor were alone.
“I don’t think you did. Have you come to me with a medical question?” the Doctor asked kindly.
“I don’t know,” Icheb replied honestly. “Would you prefer I discuss this with Doctor Sharak?”
“Sharak is an excellent physician, and as a member of Voyager’s crew, your health needs fall within his purview. But I am your friend, and will be happy to address any concerns you might have in that capacity.”
Icheb nodded. “Thank you.”
The Doctor perched himself on the front of Sharak’s desk and said, “Take a seat.”
Icheb felt his face growing warm. He looked at the empty chairs situated before the desk and shook his head. “I . . . that is . . .”
The Doctor leaned forward, his concern obvious. “What’s wrong, Icheb?”
“I experienced something I do not understand tonight. I’m afraid it might be evidence of a problem.”
“That sounds serious,” the Doctor said.
“I have never,” Icheb began, “I mean, there have been very few times in my life when I have interacted with others in an intimate way.”
Some of the Doctor’s initial concern seemed to give way to relief. “That can be a very intense experience. Do you have questions?”
“No,” Icheb assured him. “I am well aware of the particulars of sexual intimacy.”
The Doctor nodded. “Of course.”
“It’s just that, when intimate contact was initiated, I did not feel what I believe it is normal to feel under those circumstances.”
The Doctor looked away briefly, clearly processing this information. When he turned back to face Icheb, he said, “I do not wish to pry, Ensign, but can you be more specific as to the nature of the contact and your expectations?”
“It was just a kiss,” Icheb said. “It surprised me, but it was not unwelcome. In fact, it was a relief. Many concerns and questions I’d had up to that moment were answered.”
The Doctor smiled. “That sounds about right.”
“But it wasn’t. I wanted to respond. I knew in my mind that this was a good thing. But I didn’t feel anything.”
“What did you expect to feel?”
“Connection . . . excitement . . .” Icheb ventured.
The Doctor nodded for him to continue.
“My body seemed to grow cold, to shut down,” Icheb said haltingly. “It was the opposite of what I knew I should be feeling.”
“Perhaps, as much as you might have wanted the contact, you have certain reservations of which your body was making you aware.”
Icheb shook his head. “I am intensely attracted in every way imaginable to Phinn.”
“Lieutenant Bryce?”
“Yes. We have spent a great deal of time together since I joined the fleet. I consider him a good friend, and he made it clear to me tonight that he would like our relationship to proceed beyond that. I want that too. But I don’t understand my physical response. Why didn’t I feel anything?”
The Doctor rose and moved closer to Icheb. “There could be many reasons.” He hesitated for a moment, then said, “I hope you will not take this question the wrong way, but is this the first time you have engaged in intimate contact with another man?”
“Yes. Does that matter?”
“Not unless there is any hesitation on your part to engage in a same-sex relationship.”
Icheb shook his head. “It’s not something I’ve thought about in those terms. I’ve always believed that attraction was attraction. I would have been open to finding a partner of either gender. Since I’ve known Phinn, however, it’s become clear to me that he is my preference.”
“Okay. Then, I assume you have come to me to rule out any physical disorders that might account for what you experienced?”
Icheb nodded. “Yes.”
The Doctor smiled reassuringly. “That should be very simple. We’ll perform a quick physical and a few tests and if, as I assume they will, they show no causes for concern, I will suggest that you discuss this further with Counselor Cambridge.”
Icheb shook his head. “I don’t believe I am suffering from a psychological disorder.”
“I don’t think you are either, Icheb. But new experiences can be difficult to process. If the issue is not physical, the counselor is the best person qualified to address any underlying psychological challenges.”
Icheb nodded. “I have never discussed anything with him. But I know Seven regards him highly.”
“I would prefer you not share this with him, but so do I,” the Doctor admitted. “He can be maddening, and I find his overall approach a little brusque. But he is an excellent counselor. I would not suggest you speak to him otherwise.”
“Okay.”
“But, first things first. Do you have any objections to allowing Doctor Sharak to perform the necessary tests?”
“No,” Icheb said. “Seven also holds him in the highest esteem.”
“With good reason. Shall we begin?”
Icheb felt something that had been coiled tightly around his chest release just a bit. “Yes, please.”
DK-1116
Shortly after Tom Paris’s head had hit the pillow attached to his sleeping bag, he had begun to snore softly. B’Elanna had found sleep more elusive. At first, she had chalked it up to a combination of Miral’s unexpected revelation, and the ambient noise from the party still in progress by the lake. But within a few hours the noise outside had died down.
Finally, sick of tossing and turning, Torres decided a little air might clear her head. Stepping outside the tent, she r
ealized that the vast majority of officers who had been there earlier had gone back to their respective vessels for the night. She expected this pattern to repeat itself every night of the fleet’s stay in orbit.
She considered walking toward the trees, but decided to wait to share those explorations with Miral in the morning. Instead, she directed her steps toward the shoreline. As the water’s edge came into view, she immediately understood the odd quiet of those still present that were now assembled in small groups along the beach staring at the lake. Over the water, gorgeous lights—green, purples, and blues—cascaded in a spectacle of vibrant beauty that was truly stunning.
“Oh, my,” she said softly.
Natural phenomena like this one weren’t all that rare, but that didn’t make them any less worthy of wonder and awe. Not unlike the aurora borealis on Earth, the rich, pulsing colors were the simple result of the interplay between electrically charged particles released by the binaries hitting the gasses present in the atmosphere. She did think it was odd, however, that the particles weren’t blocked by the biodome’s energy field. Of course, for all she knew, the charged particles were part of the atmosphere being held within and this was just an unusual side effect.
Something about this was unsettling, but she wasn’t able to put her finger on it right away. Instead, she wrestled with the choice of whether or not to wake Tom and Miral. She knew that when they heard about it in the morning, they would both be sorry to have missed the sight.
“It’s weird, isn’t it, Commander?” a soft voice said behind her.
Turning, she saw Lieutenant Bryce gazing out at the same thing that had transfixed her.
“What are you still doing here, Lieutenant?”
Bryce shrugged. “Who knows when any of us will have a chance to walk by a lake again.”
Torres nodded, wondering why the garrulous Bryce seemed so somber. Of course, it had been a long day for both of them.
“Why do you think it’s weird?” Torres asked, looking back to the unusual lights in the sky.
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