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For a few seconds, the bridge fell into silence. The viewscreen, in the absence of any other signal, reverted to the default view. Finally, Torin spoke up, "Sir, the blanking effect was as small as the original one. The probe is gone." * * * "What is it?" asked one of the Adamsburg civilians. * * * Captain Thorpe gathered his senior officers, and Takoo, in the conference lounge behind the bridge. Even before he asked for the meeting, the rumour going around was that he was seriously contemplating taking the entire ship to the Small Magellanic Cloud, and it was an idea that many found disturbing. Bayanhong had already talked with Johnson, suggesting that they had to stop it. However, with just a couple of minutes to discuss the issue, not much could be decided upon, or even debated. * * * Lieutenant Commander Matsubara was again at the Odonans' compound. She had travelled there with Culins, and had met with acting governor Neteya and the two Prodakh officers. She outlined what she wanted to do, and concluded, "What do you think?" * * * Captain Thorpe had taken his own advice and returned to his quarters to sleep. The ship could function with him asleep in his bed, but he was not so sure that it could function properly if he was supervising them in a drowsy manner. Considering all that was going on and all that he was thinking about, he was surprised how fast sleep came. It was dreamless sleep too-or at least he did not remember the dreams-and he woke up almost seven and a half hours after putting his head to the pillow. He had intended to sleep only five or six hours and then continue to supervise the preparations for the lander, and also the latest attempt at trying to break into the alien structure. He woke up shortly before the scheduled start of the shift, but took time to shower and grab something to eat from the replicator. All the while, he noted that nobody was attempting to contact him. While he was awake, of course, he again thought about the situation, and the plans he had come up with. He noticed that he was missing having Matsubara here, sharing breakfast with her as they prepared for the day. He missed having her around to talk to, since with the other officers, he always felt that at least a part of him was on-duty, and he had to act like that captain, and not just like another person. Sometimes, just being a person was a hard thing for him in his current situation to do. Yet, when Matsubara was here in his quarters, it was easy to forget rank and the hierarchy and what their roles were. It was easy to be friends-and even lovers as the situation demanded. He missed that. He also realized that as long as he was the captain of a starship, he was not going to get into any other kind of long-term relationship, especially on board the ship. That just did not happen. More than ever, he wanted to do what he needed to get her back. He did want his other officers and the Adamsburg people back, but he especially wanted Matsubara back. In the privacy of his own quarters and his own mind, he thought it was acceptable to think along those lines. * * * Turokuot and Guerrero were near the structure that was called the "gateway," a portal that would instantaneously connect this location with Charamand, back home in the galaxy and two hundred thousand light years away. Guerrero did not pretend to understand the arcane discussion involving folded space and transdimensional travel and antineutrino field space and other terminology that was involved in understanding how this alien technology worked. He was simply helping the engineer as he mapped out all the components of the gateway structure to see if there was any chance, any way, to bypass the controls from the Doran complex and make the gateway operational. Turokuot was convinced that a way existed, since it seemed practical and necessary to bypass the central control system, if only in an emergency situation. He was determined to find it, even if it meant committing these tricorder readings and all the sketches and diagrams he had been drawing to memory. Taking a rare rest and drinking some of the melted ice water, Turokuot remarked, "You know what the beautiful thing is."
Chapter 9
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"How?" Thorpe asked. "How did it transport the probe? There was nothing organic about it."
"I don't know."
Dewuchun added, "I believe that the capacitor on the phaser machine has overloaded, and the system has shut down."
Torin asked, "Should we re-establish direct control of the phaser machine?"
"No," Thorpe replied, "not at this time." At this moment, Thorpe did not know what to do. The alien structure was defeating them at every turn, and he was quickly running out of options. He actually contemplated that the Adamsburg people, his missing crewmembers and most of all, Matsubara, were gone and were not retrievable. He knew that to get another chance to get into the alien structure would require a rather large commitment from a lot of other people. Was it really possible to evacuate the entire colony on Charamand, and then allow them to break into the structure without worrying about how much of the planet was "blanked?" To evacuate the whole colony would require a large number of ships, and ships like that were in short supply due to the war effort. He strongly doubted that Starfleet Command would spare the ships he would need. Alternatively, the colonists could be moved to a section of the planet a large distance from Adamsburg, so that they could allow transport effect to occur over a larger area. That led to new problems, such as providing shelter and life support to all of those people while they were left in the middle of nowhere, and then he had to worry about resettling them in their cities and towns after they had been stripped of their vegetation and all other animals. He could not see Governor Whitmore agreeing to that, and if she did, he could understand a lot of anger and resistance in those who were being moved. It was too much to ask from them. Sure, he thought, his inability to act here might condemn sixteen hundred and more people to be considered lost, to essentially be left to die, but during the war, it became easy to talk about lost populations and abandoning people and death tolls. Whatever he did would require that he not further inconvenience the other people still on Charamand. He needed to think of something different.
Turning to Takoo, the closest thing that they had for an "expert" on this alien structure, Thorpe asked, "Upto now, everything that was transported to the Small Magellanic Cloud-if that is where they went-was living, the people, the animals, the plants. The vehicles, the machinery and the like were all left behind. We sent this probe to communicate with it, and it vanished despite not having a trace of life about it."
"I was thinking about that," the Odonan woman replied. "The only thing I can come up with... is that this structure was designed to beam ships to the Small Magellanic Cloud. I can't think of any practical reason why it would beam people like it did. I mean, I can understand that it took that action as a self-defense measure, but its primary purpose had to be something else. The only logical explanation is that it allows this sort of travel between here and there."
"So there's a large amount of traffic between this section of the galaxy, Norg and Charamand, and the Small Magellanic Cloud?"
Takoo hesitated for a moment as she clarified in her mind her thoughts, and then said, "Maybe not. Maybe this was meant to be some kind of galactic transport system."
"That seems impractical," Johnson pointed out. "If the alien structure can beam a ship between here and the Small Magellanic Cloud, then why not simply jump from here to another similar structure in the galaxy?"
"The main reason I can see is to control the technology. As we explored the structure from within sixty-one years ago, we saw some advanced technology, but nothing shattering, nothing terribly advanced. What we realized-and what I'm thinking now-is that all the truly-advanced technology is located on the distant planet. The structure here is basically just a terminal, without the technological wonders that likely lie at the other end. That would allow the builders to control the technology more readily, and also the system. For it to work, you need the planet in the Small Magellanic Cloud, so the builders remain full control, and also have the technology that nobody could access without the builders being aware of it."
Thorpe was starting to think along those different lines. He said, "Yet, if the purpose of this structure is to transport ships, I doubt that the designers meant it to actually work by firing a phaser at it."
"No," Takoo answered. "There's likely another way, but again, with the technology two hundred thousand light years away, the controlling system here doesn't have many choices, many things it can do. Simply beaming the stuff across that great distance, either the living entities to end a threat or a ship that might be the source of that threat, are all the options that it has."
"In other words, to work this system, you really have to work from the other end."
"Apparently, with my experience notwithstanding," Takoo said.
"As you suggested, the structure on Norg might have degraded for some reason. The idea is how to get to the other end, but in addition, we have to contend with the fact that we might not be able to bring people back except for the way that we came. Maybe that's why we haven't heard from Damiko and the others yet." In Thorpe's mind, a plan was forming, a very rough plan, and one that needed further consideration and thought, and then discussion, but at least it was the opportunity to do something.
Matsubara recognized it on sight. "It's a planetary atmospheric exploration probe," she said, pointing out the coding on the side, along with the Federation logo and the labelling for the Athena.
"For what purpose was it being used at Charamand?" asked Guerrero.
"I don't know. It's either part of the attempt by the captain and the rest of the crew to get to us, or maybe all they can do is send a message."
The civilian asked, "Can you contact it?"
Matsubara started to work the tricorder, but was not fully sure if the instrument was capable of doing what she wanted. "I can try. I can try to gain access to its control systems and land it. The tricorder doesn't indicate anything overt that might be a message from the ship, but it is picking up some alien technology. Richard is going to have to take a look at that."
"That guy's almost tireless."
"I know."
It took Matsubara some fifteen minutes to get the probe to respond to commands transmitted from the tricorder, mostly because she had to improvise. She never thought of downloading such instructions before starting on this mission. When she finally had control, she guided the nine-metre long probe down to a cleared section of the cavern floor. Matsubara, and several of the other Athena officers went over to it, and scanned it some more. Turokuot also showed up, having heard about the appearance of the probe. "If there's a message on board, then they did nothing to make it obvious," the science officer finally said.
"What about the on-board memory? Surely it has to retain something," Guerrero remarked.
Turokuot managed to get the panel cover off the probe, and that allowed him to access the machinery within. Most of the space was taken up by the systems that propelled and controlled the probe, but some of that space was taken up by something that the engineer could not identify.
"What is that?" Matsubara asked.
"It looks like some kind of communications device, a subspace transceiver, but with some added-on parts that I'm not sure about."
"That's not ours."
"No," the engineer continued. "The basic design and the materials that are used here are Odonan. I can't imagine why an Odonan device would be needed if they wanted to simply send us a message."
"Since only living biological matter makes it through," Guerrero remarked, "then maybe this device is used to trick the alien structure into thinking it's alive."
"Combined with a subspace transceiver?" Turokuot retorted, shaking his head. Geologists, he said to himself, should never dabble in engineering. "No, it is possible that this subspace transceiver might have modifications to it that are somehow related to the war effort, maybe an encryption system or something similar."
"But that's not what concerns us," Matsubara finally said. "Lets check the buffer memories."
Turokuot accessed those functions with his engineering tricorder, and saw the lines of raw data and code scroll across the small screen. Guerrero looked over, but he saw nothing in those arcane symbols and letter combinations. Turokuot did, and said, "I believe that they were using the probe to relay information from the ship to something else. All of that vegetation matter that came over must've been the ship's attempt to break into the alien structure at the other end. Clearly, the zone of interference was expanding, which is the only way to account for the amount of stuff that came over, and they might've been concerned that the expanding zone might have included occupied areas of the planet, or even the ship itself. Perhaps if the instructions were relayed through the probe, the device would not expand the interference zones. The contents of the buffer memory seem to bear this out, as it was instructions one way, data, video and telemetry data judging by this, in the other."
Matsubara added, "Maybe this device was installed to mask how the probe was communicating with the ship."
"Perhaps," Turokuot admitted.
"The unfortunate thing is that whatever the ship was doing, it failed. They don't know that right now, only the inbound system works-that's why the probe is here. The outbound system doesn't work. The only other option is to get inside the structure and work that gateway, but they can't get in."
"So they're going to keep on trying," the geologist said.
Both Turokuot and Guerrero turned to the science officer, but it was Turokuot who spoke. "Commander, of everybody on the ship, you know the captain the best." He said those words, and got a slight blush from the woman. She had to know that her relationship with Captain Thorpe was not a secret at all. Who on the Athena did not know about it? "What would he do in this situation?"
"It depends," she started. "It depends if he expected the probe to be transported, but I don't think he did expect it to go. If he had even the slightest anticipation that it would go, then he would've included a message. I'm certain of that, even if the message said only that they're thinking of us and doing all they can to get us out of this. This must've caught him completely off guard. Because we know from talking to the Odonans that they had managed to open the gateway at their end in Norg, that must be the information that the Odonans gave him. What else can he do but continue to try to break in?"
"How hard can it be?" Guerrero asked. "The Odonans managed it with no problems."
"I don't know." Matsubara paused again, to look over the probe and the mounds of rotting vegetation behind them. "Maybe in time, we might see more stuff brought over. They might need to move people further away from Adamsburg before they can try again. The risk is that they might use ever more power to break in, and if they use too much, they might destroy the structure. The Odonans did something-I don't know what-to destroy the one on Norg. What we really need to do is somehow get the outbound function operating again."
"The Dorans won't allow it."
"We need to ask."
"That's risky."
"I know," Matsubara finally said. "We can wait here and hope that the Athena can do something before they destroy the structure, or we can do something here, despite the fact that the Dorans might not be co-operating."
"You're thinking about it, aren't you?"
"Yes," she answered, without really looking at the man. "I have to think about it."
"It could be a very foolish decision."
"I know."
Thorpe looked over the other officers. He was tired. He had been up for a long time, and had spent much of that time thinking about Damiko, and letting his mind furiously work through ideas and plans. Takoo was tired too, as she was sitting in her chair yawning and struggling to keep her eyes open. It was late in the second shift, and Thorpe knew that he had been on duty for the better part of nineteen hours, with only a couple of cups of coffee and a couple of sandwiches to keep him going. And yet, he had to think of all of those people at the other end, on some world in the Small Magellanic Cloud.
"This is the situation," Thorpe started, looking over the other officers. "Lets operate under the assumption that Commander Takoo has given us, that this is some alien's idea of a galaxy-wide transport system."
"Wildly impractical," Johnson said.
"Is it really? If structures like this are located on uninhabited, or formally inhabited, planets like this one, then a ship that is not far from it could have easy access to any point in the galaxy. The ship would approach the structure, trigger the device, and end up on that distant planet. They then move to another location on the planet, trigger the device at that location, and end up somewhere else, the Delta Quadrant, the Gamma Quadrant, wherever. It would be almost as fast as the wormhole, but with destinations all over the galaxy."
"It would be much more logical to use the technology to directly go from one point to the other."
"Perhaps, but as Commander Takoo has pointed out, the structures here don't have the technology to do this. The technology is at the central location to allow the alien race that built it to control it. If somebody else got one of the terminals, they would have gotten nothing, and could not use the structure to travel or to threaten. Think of it like our own transporter. Imagine that we have ground stations, communicators really, and to transport, we call the ship, beam up to the ship and then beam down somewhere else. The technology is strictly on the ship, and secure."
"Okay," Johnson admitted.
"Now," the captain continued. "We can't break in to the structure easily. We've tried. To go further in our attempts would require that we somehow remove everybody from this immediate location, a task that is very difficult. It might be far more logical to simply take the ship-or some vessel-through to the other side. Doing so would have the following advantages. We would have the information that the fifteen who went over already do not have. We would have access to the resources on the ship to help them understand the structure that they are in, and to help them work it. More importantly, since a control centre might not necessarily be included in the structure, the ship would have some mobility to travel around the planet, to visit the central location, if such a place exists. All the fifteen have is their feet."
Vorwoorts spoke up, "All of that is good, but there is one real risk. The risk is that we cannot work the technology from the other side, or are prevented form doing so. We'd become trapped there too."
"I understand that," Thorpe started. "Risk is part of the situation."
Takoo spoke up, saying, "I'm sure that Captain Padda would volunteer to have the Bluestar take this trip. The Athena might be too large to be able to actually get through the opening at the other end, if I remember it correctly."
"No," Thorpe remarked. He instinctively did not want the Bluestar to be the vessel that would make the trip, since that would leave Padda and Takoo in charge. This was his mission, and he did not want to relinquish the authority to anybody else. Oddly, he could not actually say that. "There's no need to take the entire ship."
"A shuttlecraft, or even one of those Danube-class runabouts-ships like this one have such a ship on board, don't they?-simply will not do. The full resources of a starship-"
"Are available to us. We'll take the lander."
"The what?" Takoo asked.
Thorpe had to remember that only a few Nebula-class starships had smaller, separable starships docked to them in place of the weapons or sensor pods that were more common on this class. "The upper pod is actually a separate starship."
"That's... unusual," Takoo had to admit. "I didn't expect that. I mean, that structure is fairly large, although only about half the size of the Bluestar."
"But the lander is adaptable," Thorpe continued. "It's flexible, designed for situations like this. As has been pointed out before, Epic-class ships like the Bluestar are built for speed, and seem to be all engine to me. We don't need that kind of speed here. The lander might be the most suitable vehicle for this mission. We can land it. We can provide enhanced replicator support, since it is likely all of those people over there could have problems with food and water and who knows what. It is the best option available to us."
"You sound like you've made up your mind," Johnson said. She actually had no desire to end up two hundred thousand light years from home with no chance to get back.
"I have not made up my mind, but I have focused on the fact that we don't have many options. We can do this, and take our chances with this method, or we can go through extraordinary means to continue to attempt to break into the structure and hope that what Takoo knows about the way to connect to the other end is true."
"What does that mean?" asked the Odonan woman.
"Your description of the structure on Norg indicates that it was deteriorating, perhaps through a breakdown in its systems. Given what we've seen here, we can't make the same assumption. Therefore, other assumptions about what we find inside are not necessarily valid. The security measures you encountered at Norg might not be so easily defeated here, or might be more numerous."
"Of course," Takoo admitted. She had already drawn the same conclusion, since if the structure here was in the same state as the one on Norg, they would have already broken into it.
"Therefore, our original plan might not be so easily carried out, and it requires that Governor Whitmore agree to evacuate large numbers of people from this region, and that we can do the logistics of that, and that the people will co-operate, and so on. Alternative two is to take the lander across and attempt to work the system at the other end. Alternative three is to throw up our hands and say we can't do anything more and go home." Thorpe once more looked over the officers. "If anybody has an alternative four, I'd like to hear about it now." Again, he looked at the others. They fidgeted. They thought about it. They pondered scenarios and rejected the outright as impossible or too ludicrous. Maybe they were thinking of the simplest thing, and that was to simply give up. The Odonans had given up. The Federation could give up, and just wait for a third alien structure to show up. It was not his nature, though. "Anybody?"
Johnson finally said, "Maybe we can at least talk to Governor Whitmore."
Dewuchun added, "Maybe we should try alternative ways to break in, perhaps using antimatter explosives, or something powerful like that. If Captain Padda is willing, we can develop a device using the quantum-implode mechanics of the self-destruct mechanism to produce a rather powerful explosion."
"Which unfortunately would be mostly directed away from the structure."
"I'm sure that given the current situation, we can sacrifice the town. They could always rebuild."
"But such a powerful explosion might have long-term effects, and might even reach as far as Charamand City, especially if it is going to have any effect. Remember, we can't carefully place and set up the explosive, because that would require beaming somebody down there, and those people could be transported."
"I'd still like to at least try some simulations."
"Sure, go ahead," Thorpe remarked. "Nevertheless, I'm taking the position that we should undertake the mission using the lander, but we will need time to prepare. We'll need to outfit the lander with additional replicator capacity, including base matter stores. We might need weapons and defensive technology, and of course, we're going to need engineering equipment. Commander Johnson, I want you to supervise the outfitting of the lander. Commander Rocha will assist you. It is possible that something might come up-those at the other side might even solve the problem themselves and suddenly show up-but I want the lander ready should I go ahead with it."
Johnson asked, "How many members of the crew will be required?"
"Standard lander complement, and then we'll need security officers and engineering, and medical personnel too to deal with the problems that might have arisen among our crewmembers and the Adamsburg people. However, given the risk, given the non-zero chance that we might not be able to solve the problem at the other end, this mission will be strictly voluntary." Thorpe was fairly confident that on board this ship, he would be able to find enough volunteers to go along with him.
"Understood."
Takoo spoke up, saying, "Captain, I'd like to be on the lander."
"Of course," Thorpe answered.
Most of the other officers left the room, with Takoo already talking about returning to the Bluestar for equipment, and perhaps volunteers among the Odonan crew, which Thorpe would not turn down if he needed their numbers. The others filed out, some to rest, and some to keep on working. Thorpe, as the captain, was thinking that he would have the luxury of resting, knowing that he was doing something to help Damiko and the others. As was his custom, he would be the last to leave. He noticed that Johnson was lingering too, trying to make sure that she was the next to last one out. When the door closed in front of her, that left just the two of them in the room.
Johnson turned to face the captain. She made the request that most captains faced with some degree of trepidation. "Permission to speak freely, sir."
"Of course," Thorpe said softly, as he continued to sit tensely in the chair.
"I believe, captain, that this is a very bad idea."
"I agree with you. I also believe that all the other ideas we have are worse."
Johnson could not come up with an immediate response to that statement. She knew perfectly well that if she opposed the decision that the captain was leaning towards, she would have to come up with another. She really had no others. She had been the one talking with Whitmore, and knew that she and her people were having problems dealing with all the evacuated people, some of whom were threatening to return home, despite the risk. If they had to evacuate them to another part of the planet or off the planet entirely, that would be a large problem. Johnson had to try another approach. "You do realize the risk that you're taking?"
"I have thought about it," the captain admitted. "The possibility exists that we will be unable to operate the alien technology and could remain on that planet in the Small Magellanic Cloud. At the very least, we would have the lander and the technology and resources on board it to help us survive, and perhaps give us an edge in a longer-term endeavor to find our way home. It would increase the probability of survival among the Adamsburg people. The alternative is to do nothing."
"There is one other alternative," Johnson said, as she came up with something new. "We know that the device can be made to transport a ship. Why not send an unmanned vessel? Put on board all the information that we know, supplies, replicators and the like."
"The shuttles would not be enough space, considering that we might have to deal with power supply. The lander by itself cannot operate automatically."
"Really? I did not know that."
"Because lander features are integrated with the main ship when attached, any system of remote operations could make the lander vulnerable to being hacked, which in turn could give those breaking in to the systems access to the main ship."
"I see," the first officer said.
"These landers on starships are something of a new thing in Starfleet. They're still working on the security angles. Anyway, sending across an unmanned ship might not help. What we really want to do is not to simply supply the survivors, but help them get back home. We may need the ship and people on board to do that."
"I see."
"You seem to have a problem with this, Nadine," Thorpe started.
"I do. I know that we can't simply abandon those who are on that distant planet, although it is an option. We can try to continue to break into the structure, but that exposes the rest of the population of Charamand to being transported to that planet. We can also try alternative means to break into the structure, using antimatter charges or whatever."
"I am allowing them to consider that angle."
"But the lander?"
"I'm just having it prepared. That will take time. We can follow both approaches at the same time."
"Even so," Johnson started. "This idea... it doesn't seem like a wise thing to do. I presume that you'll command the lander."
"Yes," Thorpe said, without any hesitation. He already knew that he was not going to take any criticism or argument from his first officer on this one.
"I have to wonder if your judgement is really clear on this one."
"It is," Thorpe said.
"But would you be following the exact same approach to this if Damiko was not one of those lost over there?"
Thorpe just sat there. He turned to look at his first officer, who stood by the table in the general direction of the viewscreen. "You know," he finally started, "I could say that you are out of line with that statement, but then, I did say you can speak freely. Although the appearances might be that I am acting in this manner because Damiko is one of those that is, as you say, lost, rest assured that I do think about the others too. It's not just her and people from Adamsburg not known to me, it's also Raymond Guerrero, Margaret Stanislava, Richard Turokuot, Craig Warner, Martaan Culins and others, all valuable members of this crew. A captain hates to lose anybody. I hate to lose any of those fifteen. I must do what I can to get them back."
"At the risk of more of the crew?"
"There are many times when larger numbers of people are risked to save smaller numbers, because the larger number has resources and skills available to them that the smaller number might not have. That makes survival more likely. We just can't give up."
"But would you still do it the same way? Would you get up early in the morning, and stay up far too long in this attempt to break into the structure, to lead a dangerous and risky mission, and all of this, if it was not Damiko? I'd worry about the obsession part."
"I worry about it too. It's a hard thing to explain."
"I know."
"Commander, if I did not know you better, I'd get the feeling that you think that my relationship with Damiko is somehow inappropriate."
"It is inappropriate for commanding officers to have relationships with people under their command. I recognize the situation between you and Damiko, and I know that ever since I came on board the Athena, you have handled it very well. The ship operates very well. Even so, I had long worried about the kind of incident where the relationship might rise above the better judgement, of you or Damiko."
"And you think that's happening now?"
"It's possible."
"That's not a very definitive answer."
"I guess I'm just worried that I might be wrong," the first officer admitted. "I don't have the experience, both in relationships, and in command, to be able to tell exactly, but the signs are there. Others in the crew notice it too."
Thorpe, of course, had been concerned that he might be acting a little differently during this situation. He had sent Matsubara on other away missions, some of them dangerous, and he knew there was always the chance of losing her. And yet, each time he sent her on a mission, he knew that there was a definite time for her to return, and if she could not return, a definite approach to getting her back. This was different. He did not even know her status completely, and he had no definite approach to getting her back. This was the closest that he could come up with, and it was not even the best possible choice. "Commander, I still believe that this is the best course of action that we have at our disposal. I want to solve this problem. I want to get the officers back, and the Adamsburg people back. I don't want to make it worse, or simply walk away. Could you walk away?"
At times, Johnson admitted to herself that she could walk away, but that was not what the captain wanted to hear. "Of course not."
"Well, unless a better plan comes up before much longer, we'll have to do this approach. I believe that this should be the end of our discussion."
"Very well..."
Lots Ghanash spoke up, "I'd say it is suicide."
"I would concur," Neteya replied. "The Dorans are in charge. If they control the entire network of structures, and the alien technology as well, then they could've fled to another planet a long time ago if they had wanted to. Maybe some have Maybe the Dorans still here like what they've accomplished, like how they can strut about as the rulers of this world, like how they can possess slaves and command and control them. Maybe this is what they want. Maybe that's all they're capable of."
"That's not very smart of them," Matsubara responded.
"I don't think the Dorans are very intelligent. Unless they have a sophisticated settlement out there with people that don't travel, then they're generally uneducated and uncultured, and have grown quite used to ordering people around and having things done for them. It's hard to reform such people."
"I know. But if it is true that the Dorans control the command centre, and only they can turn on the outbound system, then this is the risk that we have to take since it's the only way we can get back home. Maybe we can negotiate something... or maybe even threaten something. The Athena sent a probe through. They might be learning how this technology and its systems of structures works. We could tell the Dorans that if they do not co-operate, ships could come and could destroy their presence here."
Neteya laughed, and said, "They'd just turn off the inbound system too."
"Then why haven't they already?"
"Perhaps because in the foolishness to get some people back, those left behind could expose more people to being transported here. You said that additional rounds of blanking brought over masses of vegetation."
"Yes."
"It's also possible that the inbound system may be tied into the security systems at the remote locations, and so can't be turned off that easily, but we can't assume or trust that. We reason that the real technology is here, and the abilities of the structures in the galaxy itself are somewhat limited."
"We're working on the same assumption," Matsubara said.
Shad Kayaha spoke up, "We had been thinking about the threat angle too." As he spoke, he got looks from the other two men, as if what he was saying was privileged information, and that he should not be sharing it with the human. However, right now, they did not oppose him as he spoke. "We had developed a kind of toxin that could adversely affect their agriculture. Because they rely on growing their food, we came up with a method that we're pretty sure would basically kill all their plants and make it difficult for them to survive."
"Pretty sure?" Matsubara asked.
"We have no way of actually testing it."
"How'd you accomplish that?"
"It's actually pretty complicated, but we got some DNA from the vehicle wreckage. On board, they had a quantity of their food, as if they were going to lay siege to us or something. We analyzed the DNA structure of the plants, cultured some and even got some seeds that we were able to grow. We developed a kind of toxin and would damage the DNA and basically stop the plants from growing and developing. On our limited samples, it seems to work, but we can't be fully sure since we were dealing with plants we retrieved from the wreckage. The control plants did grow, but even so, it would require that we produce the toxin in quantity-the replicators here can't-and we'd have to spread it like a pesticide."
"I see," Matsubara remarked.
"It might work as a threat, and if we had access to a small quantity of their cultivated land, we could, ah, demonstrate. We don't know what kind of seed reserves they have, or such details. It's a very imperfect plan."
"Yes, I can see that. Would you actually do such a thing?"
Neteya spoke up, saying, "We could do that, but we Odonans find bluffing difficult. If we make the threat, we need to back it up with action. Prior to your coming here, we were not convinced that the threat would make much sense since it would not let us get any closer to home. In fact, it would not really change the situation here at all since the Dorans do not bother us."
"But the situation has now changed," Matsubara said. "If the outbound system was working, your people could make the journey to our location and make the transit to Charamand. I'm sure transport back to the Odonan Empire could be arranged."
"It would be hard for us, since the Empire, and the whole Known Galaxy, has likely undergone a lot of changes."
"It has, but I'm sure you can adjust. It's just sixty-one years. What's that for an Odonan? Hardly nothing?"
"You're right. Given the opportunity to return home, I'm sure that the others would agree in overwhelming numbers to do so."
"Then the only way is to confront the Dorans, perhaps to negotiate with them, talk to them, and if necessary, threaten them."
Neteya paused for a moment, and then said, "I hope you have not come here to ask for one of us to accompany you on this mission."
"I'm not asking. I'll take volunteers, but I'm not asking."
Both Ghanash and Kayaha looked at each other, wondering if Matsubara's statement about "volunteers" was not really a disguised request for someone to come along. Neither relished the idea of going, since both were convinced that the Dorans would simply enslave them and would never listen. On the other hand, Kayaha saw an opportunity to field test the toxin that they had developed. Even so, he was not the kind of person that would go on a mission like that. He was a geologist, not a security officer, and he would be in the company of a Federation science officer. Among officers in the Odonan Space Service, such individuals were not known for their competence in matters related to security. Neteya answered, "I'll consider it."
Finally, Kayaha worked up the nerve to say, "Okay, I'll go. I was thinking... perhaps a more united front would convince the Dorans that perhaps they should listen to us."
"Are you sure about this, Shad?" the acting governor asked.
"No, I'm not," he blurted out, "but I am sure that I've spent sixty-one years here, sixty-one years that has become very static, and if there's any chance of ending this exile, I should take it. I might have many years left, and I'd hate to spend them all here."
"I see."
"He's right," Ghanash said. "How long have we been hoping that the government might send a ship to rescue us? We know it was impractical, but did we not think it all the time? Of course we did. Now we have this chance. We have a way home."
"You're volunteering too?"
Matsubara spoke up, saying, "It might be best if not too many people make this trip. We have to take along some food as well, since I'm sure what they have is not edible. I also have other officers and other people there to think about."
"Of course."
"But I welcome it if Shad was willing to come..."
Finally, the man did tap his commbadge and say, "Thorpe to bridge."
"Bridge here," came the response. The flat, emotionally-suppressed tones of T'Kor were immediately recognizable.
"Has there been any developments in the past... eight hours?"
"Nothing significant, sir. The list of volunteers for the lander mission is available. Because of the possible medical demands of the Adamsburg survivors, two of the displaced civilian doctors, both with Starfleet experience, have volunteered to join and augment our medical staff."
"They'll be accepted," Thorpe said. "What about the explosive device that engineering was building?"
"I believe it is ready in engineering lab one."
Thorpe made the engineering lab his first stop. When he entered the room, he found that nobody was there. He did see the mechanism, however. It was a rack-like structure emulating the gentle curvature of the wall of the alien structure, and on that rack were ten tapering cylinder-like structures, with narrower section in the front. Thorpe assumed that the antimatter containment cells and the lasers used to heat the antimatter and the magnetic confinement fields used to hold the antimatter were inside. All of the components had the look of something that had been replicated in quantity. A bundle of wires came out of each cylinder, and were bundled together and wrapped around the frame to a control and communications box at the base. It was a decidedly ugly device, but then again, it was designed for a single use. However, if it worked...
Thorpe heard the door to the room open. He turned, and saw Lieutenant Zack Kap enter. "I thought somebody had come in here," the engineering technician remarked.
"Where's Dewuchun?" the captain asked.
"Commander Dewuchun, once he finished working on this device, went to bed. Have you ever wondered what it's like to work with a sleep-deprived Odonan?"
"I can imagine."
"The device is ready, though," Kap explained. He quickly went over the features and how it was supposed to work, adding, "If it goes according to plan, it'll deliver on the wall an energy density that is upto a hundred times higher than what the phaser was doing, and it'll be somewhat focused. This should put a hole at least a metre wide in the wall. Unfortunately, it's harder to tell what else it'll do. It could leave a crater upto five hundred metres wide on the surface."
"A small price to pay."
"Indeed. The commander has also stated that for safety reasons, he wants to transport this device down first, and then beam in the antimatter, once he has the cylinder heads properly placed. They can position themselves automatically, and then transmit their exact positions back to the ship. We're trying to keep communications and contact to a minimum, in case the structure decides to 'blank' again."
"Of course."
"When can we do this?"
Kap hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Should I wake Commander Dewuchun?"
"How long ago did he go to his quarters?"
"About four hours ago."
Thorpe thought of what he was putting his crew through, and decided that the engineers who were awake were competent enough to handle this. Megan Wilder easily could handle the delicate task of transporting antimatter-in fact, Dewuchun probably would want her at the controls anyway-but Thorpe was still worried that Dewuchun might have preferred to be on duty when this was done. Nevertheless, his own growing sense of impatience was getting to him. "Is Lieutenant Wilder on duty?"
"I believe so."
"Have her report to the cargo transporter control area. We might as well do this."
Moments later, Thorpe was on the bridge. Johnson had arrived, and relieved T'Kor. The two senior officers simply looked at each other, and said little. Thorpe sat down, and looked over the information that was on his terminal. He saw the list of volunteers for the mission, and saw that in addition to ten of his own security officers, he also had twelve from the Bluestar volunteering, mostly from their tactical security group. He had no idea that hostilities were expected, but someone clearly must have thought they should be prepared. He noticed that additional replicator capacity had been installed, especially in the staging area that was just above the docking pylon, and where the gangway ramp would be lowered once the lander landed. Additional base matter tanks were installed, and a dedicated deconstructor unit added-with all of that plant matter sent over previously being the source material if it was available at the other end. The engineers were going over the lander systems, to make sure that everything was in optimum condition.
"Have you made the decision?" Johnson finally asked.
"It's the obvious one," the captain said. "We'll try this one last attempt to break into the structure. If that fails, then we have no choice but to take the lander."
"You're commanding?"
"We've already been over this."
"I know that," Johnson replied. "Just one question, though, no, actually two. First, once the lander makes the trip, how long does the rest of the Athena have to wait here for your return? Second, if you cannot return through the alien technology, will you attempt to bring the lander home by the long way?"
"In theory, it's possible," Thorpe said. "The Small Magellanic Cloud is two hundred thousand light years away. At the top sustained speed, and including time to refuel and resupply, it might take fifty years to return."
"That would be some journey."
"Indeed," Thorpe remarked. "As for the first question, I hope you'll stick around for at least a couple of days. According to what Takoo said, it did not take the Odonans long to figure out how to use the alien technology."
"Then why has it taken Damiko and the rest of her group so much longer?"
"I don't know. Maybe the Odonans had some blind luck and did something that our people have not considered. I don't know. I sure hope it works. I'm not sure if a fifty-year journey in the lander is the way I want to spend my career, but... I hate to think of the alternatives."
"Of course."
The captain heard his commbadge chirp, and as he tapped it, he said, "Thorpe here."
"Lieutenant Wilder here, sir," came the response from the ship's lead transporter engineer. "We're ready at this end. I've had one of the engineers run the on-line converters to top up one of the reserve cells with antimatter. In order to minimize the transports we have to do, I've set up a routine that will transport all ten antimatter doses at once after the apparatus is in place."
"Can that be done?"
"Yes, since the quantity is the same for all the cylinders, and the co-ordinates of each one will be precisely defined. I'm ready to beam down the apparatus."
Thorpe hesitated just for a moment-and oddly, he was thinking about where Takoo was at that moment-and then he said, "Very well, lieutenant. Transport at your discretion."
"Aye, sir. Transporting now. Dematerializing... rematerializing."
As Wilder spoke, Torin, monitoring the science and sensor console, heard the alert tone. The information flashed over his displays. "Captain, detecting a power build-up... it's a blanking effect... oh man, the radius."
"What?"
"That one almost reached Charamand City... wait... a hundred and thirty-seven people in the vicinity have vanished."
"Damn!" Thorpe muttered.
"Sir," Wilder said over the commlink. "The device has transported, and the cylinders have adjusted for optimum position. Should I begin transport now?"
"Negative," the captain retorted. "Do not transport anything. Shut that down, now."
Somewhat startled by the reaction, Wilder still said, "Very well." She was really anxious to hear the reasoning behind that order from the captain, but she did not question him now.
To Johnson, Thorpe said simply, "We have no choice now."
Vorwoorts spoke up, "Captain, incoming transmission from Charamand City, Governor Whitmore."
Almost reluctantly, Thorpe said, "Put it on the screen."
Whitmore appeared on the screen, seated behind her desk in her office, with the familiar background. However, even Thorpe could see the angry look on the face of the governor. "Captain, what the hell is going on? The expanding zone of transports has almost reached the capital. I've just gotten reports that people vanished in that last incident. I'm hearing panic, and anger, over what has happened, and there could be fear, fear that something is out of control and that they are all in danger with no chance of escape."
"We did not intend for the structure to stage another incident of this type," Thorpe explained, as he tried to put on his best diplomatic voice. "Previously, we had been able to transport equipment in and out without the structure doing another so-called blanking incident, but this time, the structure responded as you saw. We, naturally, have to re-evaluate our procedures."
"See to it that you do, captain. I understand the desire to get back the Adamsburg people, and the people from your crew, and these who have just disappeared, but we can't continue to risk people like this. At some point, we have to draw the line. Is the chance to get back the others worth the risk of losing everybody else?"
"Of course not," Thorpe remarked.
"There's no way I can order additional evacuations, although now I fear that many who are close to the latest zone of transport might attempt to move away on their own. Things could become disorganized and chaotic down there."
"You can inform the people there that we will stage no further events that could lead to an expansion of the transport zone."
"Then what are you going to do?"
"We're working on options, but attempting to break into the alien structure is not one of them."
"Then what?"
"We have to use the alien structure in the way it was intended..."
"What?" asked the geologist.
"When we get back home, I'm learning enough that we just might be able to work with this technology. Imagine the ability to transport between planets almost instantly."
"Don't the Odonans have that with the hypergates?"
"I think there are elements of that technology here, but I'm talking about transporter stations that people can walk into. Imagine, beaming from Earth to Vulcan, or to Andor, or even Qo'nos or Odona. It would be a revolution."
"Yeah, and given the current conditions, a nice way from Cardassia straight to Earth with a million Jem'Hadar. I'd take the old-fashioned way for now. This technology might need long-term galactic peace to become adopted."
"Yeah, perhaps."
Turokuot was about to say a little more on the topic, but he was interrupted form a commotion in the cavern. They could hear someone shout, "Incoming! Incoming! Get out of the immediate area! Move! Fifteen seconds!"
Immediately, Guerrero and Turokuot made their way over to the stairs that led up to the main level of the cavern. The floor, where it was visible, glowed red, and the coils above added their red tinge to the surroundings. Neither of the two men had any idea of what was coming. Maybe it was another probe. Maybe they were sending food and messages from home and whatever information the Odonans had. Worse, it could be more vegetation. Turokuot saw how they were finding and salvaging food from the decaying vegetation, although his nose was getting numb at the odour. Now it was all going to get covered again.
The air was stirred, tossing up grass and leaves and dirt and momentarily obscuring the view. A lot of... stuff seemed to appear and then swirl and settle, with dust in the air and more insects and birds fluttering about. But this time, they could see and hear something quite different.
"Oh god, people," Guerrero remarked.
"Damn," muttered the engineer. The civilians and other Athena officers were stunned. They could hear shouts and screams, a baby crying and what sounded like cries of help from a more distant location in the cavern. As the reddish light faded, Turokuot shouted out, "Okay, lets go in there and get those people out. Ninyear, go back to the residence section and get additional people to help."
"Understood," the ensign replied, as she turned and left.
Turokuot got out his tricorder and switched it to lifeform readings. He saw one hundred and thirty-seven people among the debris that had suddenly appeared, and he was pretty sure none of them were people who had come here previously. Within seconds, he and Turokuot came across two children, a girl who was about seven and a boy who was a year younger. The girl was running around in circles, yelling out, "Mom! Where are you!"
The boy was on his hunches, and was crying and saying, "Where? What is this? What happened? Where's mom? Where's dad?"
"Oh man," Guerrero said softly. "The event separated them from their parents. They might've been ahead of them or behind them or something."
"And now two hundred thousand light years separates them."
"This isn't going to be easy." Turokuot knew that this was not really part of his Starfleet training, even though all officers had been given some information on how to deal with civilians in distress. He approached the two children, and in his most reassuring voice, said, "Please calm down."
The girl turned to face the man, and asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm Lieutenant Richard Turokuot."
"A Starfleet officer?"
"Yes."
"Where am I? Where's mom?"
"Where you are is a long story," the engineer continued. "However, if your mother is around, I'm sure that we will find her in short order, and if not, we'll make sure you have proper care until you can be reunited with your parents."
"I want to go home!" the boy cried out.
"So do we all," Turokuot answered. "We're working on that, but we need everybody to be calm."
"I don't like this place!"
The girl said, "He said that ever since we had to leave Jonesborough. I want to go home too, but... what happened? Did something happen to mom?"
"No," Turokuot replied. "Something happened to you." He just stood there, and found it easy to imagine the anguish that a woman back on Charamand must have been experiencing. Out of nothing, all the life, the vegetation, right beside her or right behind her vanished, and when she turned her children were among those who had vanished. It was a chilling thing to imagine.
"Can we go back home now?" the girl asked.
"If only it was that easy..."
