Myriad Universes_ Echoes And Refractions Part 35

"Please," Sito interrupted, "call me Jaxa."

An awkward smile quirked the corners of Ro's mouth. "Jaxa." Her expression was uncomfortable, and it occurred to Sito that Ro really wasn't friendly with anyone, and that casual conversation was probably not something covered in Advanced Tactical Training. "And you can call me...you can call me Ro."

Sito grinned. "Okay, Ro." It was probably a big step for the tactical officer. Sito couldn't imagine what it would take for Ro to allow anyone to address her as Laren.

"Jaxa, I wanted to ask you about Bajor."

"Bajor?" Sito raised an eyebrow.

"I have a cousin, whom I've not seen since my family and I fled during the occupation. She writes to tell me that she's about to have her first child, a daughter, and that she...well, she plans to name her Laren."

Sito's mouth opened and she almost gasped.

"After me," Ro explained, unnecessarily.

"Of course," Sito said. "That's so wonderful, Ro. You must be so proud." Family was a big part of Bajoran culture, and the birth of a child an extremely special and cherished event. To have a child named in one's honor was an act of great respect.

"Well," Ro said, s.h.i.+fting uncomfortably. "They have invited me to come for the naming ceremony." She paused. "On Bajor."

Sito tilted her head to one side. "I'm not sure I see the problem."

"The problem..." She broke off, and gave a ragged sigh. "The problem is that I haven't been back to Bajor, not since I was...Well, not since I was a lot younger. And to be honest, I haven't wanted to go back. Too many painful memories, none of which I have any interest in revisiting."

Sito nodded, wearing a sympathetic expression. "I understand. It was...difficult for me to go back, too."

Ro leaned forward, hands wrapped tightly about her mug. "That's what I wanted to ask you about. How was it? Going back? Was Bajor..." She averted her eyes. "I've heard horror stories about what the Carda.s.sians did to the planet during the final years of the occupation, the ravages to the landscape."

For a moment, Sito closed her eyes and saw it again, as if it were before her. "Oh, Ro, no, no. I mean, there was damage, to be sure, but if you could see the way that the planet has already begun to heal itself. And the people! How they have begun to heal, too. I mean, you can still see the scars beneath the surface, but it's becoming a living world, a thriving world." She paused, and tentatively reached out to place a hand over Ro's. "But you have to go. A niece? Named in your honor? How exciting that must be, especially considering..."

Sito trailed off, but gestured around them, a single motion taking in the rest of Ten Forward, the whole of the Enterprise, and the cold void of vacuum beyond. The message was simple: Few officers in Starfleet chose to start families in the field.

Ro nodded, thoughtfully. "It's not as if I haven't thought about having children," she said in a quiet voice. "It just isn't something that I've placed any real priority on."

With a somewhat weary smile, Sito nodded. "I know what you mean." She paused, lost in thought. "What must it have been like for Data and the others, though, to be told that they couldn't have children, whether they wanted to or not? That the law prohibited them from reproducing?"

Ro sneered. "Sounds like something the Carda.s.sians would have done." When Ro said the name, it was a curse.

Sito drained the rest of her cup. "Not exactly one of the high ideals that I joined Starfleet to protect."

"No," Ro said, finis.h.i.+ng her own cup and pus.h.i.+ng away from the table. "It really isn't, is it?"

As they stood and headed toward the door, Sito turned to Ro. "You know, if you decide to make the trip to Bajor, let me know. I'd love to visit again, and that trip is much too long to take by yourself."

Ro was clearly taken aback. "Travel...together? With me?"

Sito grinned, and shrugged. "Why not? We Bajoran girls have to stick together, don't we?"

"You wanted to see me, Captain?" La Forge stood in the open doorway of the captain's ready room, hand resting on the jamb.

"Ah yes, Number One, come in." Picard waved him in, glancing up from the computer screen. There were a handful of padds scattered on his desk, and a steaming cup of Earl Grey by his elbow.

La Forge slid into the chair opposite the Captain and leaned back, crossing one leg over the other. "I a.s.sume this isn't about those crew performance evaluations I sent you?" he said with a slight smile.

Picard shook his head, wearing a sad smile of his own. "I wanted to talk with you about Data."

The first officer gave a weary sigh. "That's a name I wasn't expecting to hear again for a long while, Captain, I can tell you that. After you showed us that recording, you could have knocked me over with a feather."

"Yes, and don't think you were the only one. Still, I imagine that this might be more...difficult for you than it is for the others."

La Forge pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Captain?"

Picard leaned forward, his elbows resting on the desk. "Geordi, you've served on the Enterprise almost as long as I have. It has been my observation that you are the kind of man who makes acquaintances with some ease, and who tends to work extremely well with others, but that you are not the kind of man who makes friends easily. In the time that I have known you I have seen you develop what one might call strong bonds with only a handful of others. Worf, perhaps? Riker, to some extent. And most definitely with Data." The captain paused, raising an eyebrow. "You'll forgive me for speaking candidly, but does this seem an unfair a.s.sessment?"

La Forge let out a breath through pursed lips. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting when summoned to the captain's ready room, but it wasn't a close scrutiny of his personal habits. Even so, he had to admit that the captain wasn't wrong. "No, sir. That doesn't sound unfair." He nodded. "I think you could say that Data was a friend. Was probably my best friend, for that matter."

Picard was thoughtful. "You know, when Deanna was still on board, I often called on her to gauge the emotional states of the crew, and occasionally of the senior staff themselves. But since she went to serve on the Excalibur with Will, I haven't had a counselor that I can call on in quite that way. So you'll have to forgive me for being so blunt, but I must know. Are you emotionally prepared for this coming mission?"

"Captain?" La Forge sat upright. "It isn't like I was abandoned by a spouse or anything like that. We were just friends."

Picard shook his head. "Of course not. You were simply friends, as you say-two individuals who worked together for years, developing deep bonds of trust and friends.h.i.+p, and then one day Data simply left, without warning, explanation, or apology." He took a deep breath through his nostrils, held it, and let it out. "Geordi, it isn't an admission of weakness to say that you felt betrayed by one of your closest friends, nor to admit that there was an emotional component to that reaction. I'm simply asking you whether your personal feelings in this matter will interfere with your ability to carry out your duties."

La Forge straightened. "No, sir." He shook his head. "I'd like to get an explanation..."

"As would we all," Picard put in.

"But beyond that it's water under the bridge, sir. I'm a Starfleet officer with a job to do. The fact that my feelings may or may not have been bruised a decade ago is immaterial."

Picard nodded. "That's what I wanted to hear." He paused, and added, "Of course, there is always the possibility that it is not Data that we are traveling to meet, but rather some impostor."

La Forge shook his head, his jaw set. "No, sir. It is Data; I'm sure of that."

A. Isaac stood at his station on the bridge, reviewing what they knew about their destination. Detailed information about the depths of the Romulan Neutral Zone was somewhat rare, given the provisions in place for so many years restricting Starfleet's ability to venture within. Long-range scanners had been employed, of course, gathering what information they could about the systems within the zone, but there were limits to the kind of information long-range scans could provide. Infrared spectroscopy could tell a lot about the elemental makeup of a star, for example, but while gravitational microlensing could help identify the ma.s.s and position of planets, moons, and other satellites, it did nothing to specify whether a world was inhabited, much less to which planetary cla.s.sification it belonged. Unless a planetary culture were bleeding electromagnetic radiation out into the void, as Earth had done for so many centuries in the form of television and radio waves, it could easily go unnoticed at a distance of only a few light-years. That was the purpose of planetary surveys, to seek out new life and new civilizations that would otherwise remain hidden. But with no planetary surveys in the Neutral Zone, there was a considerable amount that could remain hidden.

All that was known about their destination was that it was a planetary system surrounding a main sequence G-type star. There was nothing in Starfleet's records about any of the handful of planets in the system, and in fact nothing worth noting about any of the other solar systems in a radius of several light-years.

Why Data had requested that Captain Picard come to these particular coordinates was a question Isaac was unable to answer.

That did not mean, however, that Picard shrank from repeating the question.

"Report, Mister Isaac."

"Nothing substantial, Captain," Isaac responded, turning away from his station and stepping nearer the railing, better to address the captain in his seat below. "There is no record of either Romulan or Federation activity in this system, or of any other intelligent activity, for that matter. And long-range scans show nothing remarkable about its physical properties."

"Any guesses about what might be waiting for us out there?" La Forge asked from the first officer's chair, sitting at Picard's right.

"Guesses, sir?" Isaac asked, c.o.c.king an eyebrow.

"Conjectures," Picard replied, "theories, hypotheses?"

Isaac shook his head, somewhat perplexed. "Hypotheses are based on observation, and in the absence of data I do not see how hypothesizing would be productive."

La Forge chuckled, darkly, his silvery eyes half-lidded. "'In the absence of Data...'"

"Yes, quite," Picard said. He pursed his lips, taking a deep breath in through his nostrils and letting it out. Then he nodded, as though having reached some decision. "Very well, Mister Isaac. Keep monitoring long-range scans."

"Aye, Captain."

From the forward part of the bridge, Flight Controller Sam Lavelle glanced back over his shoulder, his hands still resting on the controls. "Captain? We're coming up on those coordinates."

"Prepare to drop out of warp," Picard said.

A few moments later, Isaac could almost feel the slight lurch as the inertial dampeners compensated for the reinsertion into normal s.p.a.ce, and the forward viewscreen went from displaying streaks of red-s.h.i.+fted light to a static starfield.

Proximity alarms on Isaac's console began blinking almost immediately, but before he could respond Tactical Officer Ro had noticed and taken charge.

"Sensors are detecting a s.h.i.+p in orbit above the second planet, Captain," Ro called out in clipped tones, hunched over the tactical displays. She looked up, lips drawn into a tight line. "It's Romulan."

"Red alert," Picard replied, automatically.

Isaac scanned the information scrolling up his display, faster than a human eye could follow. "It appears to be a 'wardrone,' Captain. A warbird modified for automation, unmanned and governed by a crude approximation of a positronic matrix." He looked up from his display, turning toward the captain's chair. "It appears to be derelict."

"Commander Ro," Picard said, half turning in his seat, "hail the Romulan vessel."

Ro opened her mouth to reply, but before she did she was interrupted by a voice from the far side of the bridge.

"I do not think that would be a wise course of action, Captain."

Isaac's responses were quicker by orders of magnitude than any of the organic officers on the bridge, so he was the first one to lay eyes on the figure standing a few short meters away: an early Soong-type android, dressed in a simple tunic and pants, a faint smile on his face.

If Isaac was the first to see the newcomer, though, La Forge was the first to respond.

"Data?"

The android's smile broadened. "h.e.l.lo, Geordi. It has been a long time."

3.

Geordi La Forge sat with his arms crossed over his chest. He was sure that he was probably scowling, but just as sure that he didn't care.

He and the rest of the senior staff were seated around the table in the observation lounge, with Picard at one end and Data at the other. It was almost like old times, having Data back here in the conference room, all of them gathered together to solve some puzzle or other. Almost, but not quite. Because, unlike those fondly remembered old days, this time Data was the puzzle to be solved.

"Do you mind, Data, explaining just how it is that you managed to get aboard?"

La Forge noted that Picard didn't call him Mister Data, just Data.

"With our s.h.i.+elds raised, Captain," Ro put in, eyes narrowed suspiciously. "But even if they hadn't been, s.h.i.+p's sensors should have detected the beam-in."

"But I did not beam in, Commander Ro," Data said, his voice quiet and calm. "At least, not in any way that you would understand."

"Just what is that supposed to mean?" Ro leaned forward in her seat in an aggressive posture.

Data shook his head. "No insult intended, Commander. I simply mean that the technology involved is beyond the Federation's grasp at this stage."

"What technology?" Lieutenant Crusher asked.

"Precisely my question," Picard said, leaning back, his fingers laced atop the table's surface. "I believe, Data, that we are still waiting for an explanation. Why are we here, how are you here, and what is this all about?"

Data nodded, lifting his hands in a gesture of apology. "Tell me, Captain, do you recall the legends of the Iconians?"

La Forge raised an eyebrow. Iconians? Why was Data bringing up ancient mythology?

"Of course," Picard replied. "I studied them under Richard Galen at the academy." La Forge saw a faint smile tug the corners of the captain's mouth, and remembered him saying on many occasions that, if he were not in command of a stars.h.i.+p, there was nowhere he'd rather be than at an archaeological dig with spade in hand. La Forge felt that archaeology had lost out when a young Jean-Luc Picard had opted to join Starfleet.

At La Forge's side, Commander Isaac's head tilted to one side, his eyes taking on the thousand-meter stare of an android consulting his internal memory banks.

"An interstellar civilization that vanished two hundred thousand years ago," Isaac said after a brief moment, "said to have the ability to appear on distant planets without the aid of stars.h.i.+ps."

"Quite right," Picard said, nodding. Then, in a somewhat quieter voice, he said, "Demons of Air and Darkness, the legends called them."

Data glanced in Isaac's direction appraisingly before answering. "The current occupants of the second planet, of which I am one, have named it Turing. It has been, these last ten years, a refuge for androids, a planet-sized laboratory dedicated to exploring the limits of artificial life. But the planet was not chosen by accident. The year before I left the Federation, an archaeological expedition on Denius III unearthed a star map that appeared to point the way to a forgotten starfaring empire. A Soong-type android with whom I was in communication was on the expedition and alerted me to the findings. I was able to identify the markings on the map as Iconian in origin, and the map then led me here."

"Do you mean to suggest..." Picard began, and paused in disbelief. "To suggest that this is Iconia?"

"I do more than suggest it, Captain," Data said. "I can prove it. My colleagues and I had reasoned that there might well be a technological basis for the legend about 'demons of air and darkness,' and that, if there were, that technology could be rediscovered and used to aid in our quest."

"Wait a minute," Crusher said, shaking his head. "You expect us to believe you found functioning technology from a civilization that vanished nearly a quarter of a million years ago?"

Data glanced in his direction. "My presence on the Enterprise is proof that we did, Wesley. As is the Romulan wardrone, rendered inactive by an Iconian software virus."

"Captain! That's impossible..." Lieutenant Sito began to object, but Picard silenced her with a quick glance and a raised hand.

"Data, your claims about the Iconians and their technology are intriguing, to be sure, but there are more pressing matters of interest before us. Such as what you and the rest of the missing androids have been doing out here all this time. To say nothing of what you meant when you said that only I could avert a war."

Data nodded, hands rested palms down on the table before him. "It has been a little less than twenty-four hours since the Romulan wardrone, on a routine patrol of the Neutral Zone, chanced upon Turing and discovered our presence."

"That's a violation of treaty," Ro objected, "sending probes into the Neutral Zone."

"Yes," Data allowed. "But I doubt that raising that objection will much affect the Romulans' course of action, should they discover the existence of Turing's android population."

"I thought you said the wardrone discovered you yesterday?" Doctor Quaice said.

"Discovered us, yes," Data said, nodding. "But the consensus of the Turing population was that the wardrone should be incapacitated before it could relay news of that discovery back to Romulus. It was regrettable, since we know that the wardrone is not responsible for its own actions in any pure sense, rendered all but a slave by its programming, but there was no viable alternative. We employed the Iconian software virus that was part of the planet's original defense system, which we disabled and reprogrammed for our purposes shortly after arriving on the planet ten years ago."