Perchance To Dream Part 15

Gina snickered. "You're so articulate when you're astounded." Then she sighed. Never in her life had she seen anything like some of the wonders hidden deep inside this enigmatic world; it was just plain frustrating that she did not have the time to explore them properly. If she could summon up the nerve, she planned to ask Captain Picard for a return trip to Domarus-that is, if they ever got off Domarus. "I wish I at least had an hour to do a painting of all this."

"But we don't. We'd better get going." He paused and squinted into the darkness at something just above the lip of the waterfall. "What are those things up there?"

"What are what things up where?"

He pointed and she followed his finger. Then she saw them too-a pair of slowly twirling sparks of fire, one golden, the other a brilliant ice-blue, splinters of brightness pinwheeling in place above the narrow stream just before the falls. She immediately rose up on her toes with excitement. "Oooh, I don't believe this! Two of them!"

"Two of what? Have you seen these things before?"

"Yeah-I mean, at least it looks like what Wesley and I saw near the shuttle. But we only saw one of them."

"One of what? What are they?"

"I have no idea," Gina called as she advanced right to the edge of the path, wis.h.i.+ng she could get closer. "The one we saw disappeared before we had a chance to scan it with the tricorder."

"Whatever they may be, they are most intriguing," a new voice said from behind them-Data's voice, making them both jump.

"Commander!" Gina gasped, clutching her chest and trying to calm her breathing. "If you weren't an android, I'd think you were really ticked off at us."

"If I were not an android," he said, "I would be. Your unauthorized excursions will not enhance your performance evaluations for this mission."

Kenny, who had been rendered speechless by Data's surprise arrival, found his voice and pointed across the cavern. "Hey-look what they're doing."

Data and Gina aimed their lights over just as the sparkles seemed to stall. But their stillness only lasted for a few seconds. Then the tiny energy motes burst into a frenzied dance that quickly became too rapid for the human eye to follow in detail. In their wake, they threw off streamers of colors that coalesced into a multihued helix, spinning and whirling and caroming off the cave-cathedral's walls, seeming ever on the verge of changing, yet always holding its fundamental intertwined shape. A second helix formed, then another and another, and others after that.

Ken and Gina, and even Data, stood transfixed by the luminous energy spirals as they sp.a.w.ned and linked, finally forming a vibrant grid that seemed alive as it filled the entire core of the grotto and enveloped the walls-yet leaving a buffer around the three stars.h.i.+p visitors. Starting at the low threshold of their hearing, a chorus of clinks and jangles rose in both pitch and intensity, quickly drowning out the roaring waterfall and forcing Ken and Gina to cover their ears.

Their android chaperon continued to listen and observe-Gina knew his sensory circuitry could simply compensate for the excessive input, probably without limit. She wished she could do the same.

Simultaneous with the explosion of sound, the energy helixes blazed to a super-white brightness too painful for humans to watch. But Gina struggled to keep her eyes open against the overwhelming radiance because of what she thought she saw behind it-impossible.

The walls of the grotto-solid rock-seemed to be running, transfiguring like molten ore. But she felt no heat at all. What's happening here?

She surrendered to the bright light, clamping her eyes shut, ducking her head and burying her face in her arms as she turned away and fell to her knees, ending up curled into a protective ball.

After an interval that seemed like hours but was really only a matter of five seconds, Gina became aware that the sunburst had faded. She sat up and tried to look, but her eyes were slow to adjust after the blinding brightness she'd tried in vain to witness moments before. Her heart raced with impatience as she blinked deeply, waiting for a return of visual clarity. She felt Kenny next to her.

"Are you okay?" he said, a quaver in his voice.

"Yeah, I guess so. How about you?"

"I'm all right, I guess. Are your eyes okay?"

"Getting there." As she spoke, it dawned on her that she wasn't shouting. The waterfall thunder that had filled the grotto was gone, replaced by stunning, crystalline silence. There was no sound at all other than their breathing. What is going on here?!

She felt Data's cool strong grip on her arm as he helped her to her feet. He had picked up her flashlight and added that beam to his own, one in each hand, illuminating as much of the cavern as he could.

Gina's eyes finally accustomed themselves to the dimmer light, and she looked around. With a wide-eyed s.h.i.+ver, she discovered that the interior of the cavern had changed. The slope of the walls, the patterns of the mineral veins, it was all different.

And the waterfall really was gone-without the slightest remaining hint that it had ever been there.

Ko's twirling slowed perceptibly as the realization set in: the live things still did not comprehend. Nor had she gained any understanding of them.

Her companion felt Ko's disappointment and made a halfhearted attempt to soothe it. :You tried your best, Ko. Perhaps Mog was correct. Perhaps they are not intelligent.: :I cannot accept that, Tef. They must be intelligent. They MUST be.: There was one observation that Ko kept to herself. This longer exposure to the mysterious visitors had given her the time to notice that there was something different about the tallest one. It was not like the two smaller ones, which seemed to be subservient to it. The colors she felt from the tall one were somehow cooler, less variable. Except for the fact that it seemed to behave in much the same ways as its companions, Ko might have doubted that the tall one was a live thing.

Perhaps this different one is the key, she thought. She would not give up. She could not. But she knew her time was running out.

With gulps of total disbelief, Gina and Ken stared at each other, then became aware that the two tiny sparkles that had seemed to precipitate the magical transformation were now hovering above them. The sparkles circled overhead, and Gina twirled in place with them, as if joined in some improvised ballet. Then they spiraled up into the darkness and vanished, leaving her lightheaded. Data steadied her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Commander," Kenny said, his voice once again husky with fear, "if those things-whatever they are-did all this to solid rock-what if they change all these tunnels around? We might never find our way back."

"That is a very real possibility, Mr. Kolker. In which case, haste would seem to be in order."

"In other words," Gina said, "let's get the h.e.l.l out of here."

Chapter Thirteen.

JEAN-LUC PICARD held up a long loaf of bread, fresh from the oven, still warm to the touch, perfectly crusted yet soft inside. He broke off a hunk, and gave it to Captain Arit. The splendid and varied aromas of baking filled the tiny boulangerie-the sweetness of the pastries, the hearty smell of the bread-and brought a smile to Picard's face.

The baker behind the counter was a tall, barrelchested old fellow with white hair and a bushy moustache that remained incongruously dark. As usual, he had accented his florid complexion with powdery streaks from the flour on his hands. In his childhood, Picard had wondered if everything in Henri's house, including his wife and gaggle of children, were similarly streaked. The old baker reached for a giant mitt and, with a proud flourish, slid another fresh rack of bread loaves out of the big oven at the back of the shop. The heat of the oven produced beads of sweat that trickled down through the powder on his face. "Jean-Luc," he called as he patted away the dampness with his white sleeve, "how is it?"

"Wonderful-c'est toujours delicieux, Henri," Picard said with a reminiscent grin. "Can I pay you next time?"

Henri replied with a short burst of staccato laughter that set his belly and jowls aquiver. "Just like when you were a boy, eh, Jean-Luc? Toujours un pet.i.t polisson!"

"What did he say?" Arit whispered, feeling a bit left out.

"He said I was always a little rascal. When I was a boy, I would stop in here every week and pick up a loaf of bread. I would always ask if I could pay next time, and Henri would always say yes."

"And did you pay next time?"

Picard turned sheepish. "I'm ashamed to say I didn't. But Henri and my father were good friends, and I am quite sure Henri got his share of free wine from our vineyards." They reached the door and Picard opened it, tripping the little bell mounted overhead, causing it to jingle a merry farewell.

"Merci, Henri. Au revoir."

The jolly baker waved. "Au revoir, Jean-Luc. Come back soon, and say h.e.l.lo to your family for me!"

The two s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p captains exited onto the cobblestoned main street of the sleepy village, nestled in a gentle valley between rolling hills. Vineyards spread into the distance in every direction.

"What did you say the French word for 'bread' is?" Arit asked.

"Pain," Picard said, p.r.o.nouncing it "pan," with the inaudible French "n" swallowed at the end. He listened approvingly as she repeated it. "Very good."

"So is the bread," she said, swallowing the last bite.

He handed her half of the rest of the loaf and took a bite from his own chunk. As villagers on foot or riding bicycles went about their business, Picard and Arit strolled past shop windows shaded by awnings, then stopped at a sidewalk cafe and sat at a table facing the street. A pretty young waitress with raven hair and blue eyes appeared with two stemmed gla.s.ses and a bottle of red wine. With a flirtatious smile at Picard, she poured for them, then moved on to other tables and patrons.

Picard appraised the bottle label. "Not a great vintage, but reasonably good." He took a taste and gave it a genteel swish around his mouth before swallowing. "So what do you think of my home village?"

Arit sipped the wine and smiled at him. "A refres.h.i.+ng distraction, Picard-which is what you had in mind, isn't it?"

Picard gave a confessional shrug. "Guilty as charged. Once the immediate threat to your s.h.i.+p had been taken care of, I thought a bit of diversion might benefit both of us while we waited for Commander La Forge's evaluation to be completed."

"Well, I hate to admit it, but you were right. Our basic conflict has yet to be resolved. Some time to clear our heads couldn't hurt." She shook her head in amazement as she glanced around. "But I still can't believe we're on your s.h.i.+p's holodeck. I've never seen technology like this. It all seems so real."

"Well, it is real, in a sense. This is a perfect reproduction of what Labarre was like the last time I was home, just a few months ago. Right down to Henri and the lovely waitress."

Arit gazed wistfully off into the distance. "Home," she sighed. "Could this holodeck of yours recreate my hometown?"

"It can simulate any setting, real or imaginary, if the computer has enough information to design a sufficiently complete matrix. Why do you ask?"

"Mmm, no special reason," she shrugged. "You know, my daughter never got to see Tenira. She was born after we resettled. She has no idea where she came from, what her homeworld was like, before ..."

As her voice trailed off, Picard could sense her regret, but the intercom tone sounded before he could say anything sympathetic. "Riker to Captain Picard."

Picard touched his insignia communicator. "Picard here. What is it, Number One?"

"Geordi is ready with his evaluation and he's on his way to the bridge."

Picard downed the rest of his wine and stood. "In that case, so are we."

"Correlation complete," the computer said in its flat female voice, then displayed a graph on the viewscreen with a green indicator line showing energy output readings recorded by the Enterprise sensors during the time the s.h.i.+p had been orbiting Domarus Four.

Geordi La Forge glanced around the conference-lounge table at Riker, Beverly, Worf, Picard and the Teniran captain as they waited for him to share his findings. The chief engineer traced his finger along the graph, beginning at the far left where the green line was virtually flat, hardly registering at all.

"Now, back here, when we first entered orbit, most of this is just normal background radiation." The indicator line rose at a gentle angle. "Then here-that's where something started happening, a noticeable increase in energy output."

"Caused by what?" Riker asked.

"I have no idea, Commander," Geordi said. As he slid his finger to the right, he reached a sudden peak in the graph, which matched up with a blinking red point. "Then we get to here-the first big jump in energy output coincides exactly with the first appearance of that chromatic energy phenomenon and the disappearance of the shuttlecraft."

The rest of the graph showed a continuing rise in energy output over time, marked by occasional and irregularly s.p.a.ced peaks separated by long, flat valleys. As time elapsed, Geordi pointed out, the peaks were coming with greater frequency and intensity.

Dr. Crusher's brow furrowed in concentration. "It's almost like contractions at the end of pregnancy."

"Doctor," Picard said wryly, "are you suggesting something is about to give birth down there?"

"I was just commenting on the parallels, Captain."

"Commander La Forge," Arit said, "each energy peak has a corresponding flas.h.i.+ng marker. I take it that means that each peak is concurrent with a specific and major incident, like the various unexplained appearances and disappearances of Captain Picard and myself?"

"That's right, Captain." Geordi pointed to one of the middle peaks, higher than the others and of considerably greater duration. "This one occurred at the time of that quake you both experienced, and persisted through much of that overnight period-"

"Meaning," said Riker, "that it matches up with the apparent creation of that new mountain range?"

"Exactly, sir," Geordi said.

Picard rubbed his chin pensively. "Mr. La Forge, are you theorizing that those bursts of chromatic energy caused these specific events?"

"We can't be conclusive about cause and effect, Captain," Geordi said. "But there's almost no question that they're related in some way."

"Computer," Picard said, "estimate probability of causative relations.h.i.+p."

"Ninety-two point four-six percent probability."

"Hypothesis: that these incidents catalogued by Chief Engineer La Forge represent attempts at communication by as-yet unknown sentient life forms on Domarus Four. Confirm or refute."

Eyebrows rose around the table as Picard's inferential leap caught the rest of the conferees by surprise. The computer took only an instant to consider the query and formulate its reply.

"Insufficient data for conclusive deduction," it said.

"All right. Just calculate the probability, then," Picard said with a casual wave of his hand.

"Eighty-six point two-two-eight-six percent probability that this hypothesis is correct."

"Do you really think there's that kind of pattern here, Jean-Luc?" Beverly asked.

With a contemplative breath, he mulled the question. "Perhaps it's a hunch as much as anything in the way of firm evidence, but I do believe there is an intelligence at work on Domarus."

"An intelligence?" Beverly repeated. "What kind?"

"If it was a life-form like our own," Riker said, "we'd probably have picked up at least some hints of that by now. So, more than likely, it's nothing like us."

Picard nodded. "Agreed. If, for the sake of argument, we accept that foundation, then it is certainly within the realm of possibility that this intelligence- whatever its form-would at some point try to communicate with us." He paused and glanced around the room. "Reactions?"

"If this theoretical intelligence is totally different from us," Arit said, "it is quite probable that we and it would not speak anything even remotely resembling the same language."

"Which fits in with your question to the computer," Beverly said to Picard. "Is something trying to communicate with us in a way we're just not understanding, or even realizing?"

Picard got up from the table and approached the computer screen. "If we follow this course of reasoning, and allow ourselves to be guided by Geordi's graph, then there is a suggestion that quite a few of the specific 'peak incidents' came about in response to actions taken by the Enterprise and the Glin-Kale-or at least considered by Captain Arit or myself." He pointed to a succession of the blinking marker spots. "Here, for instance, is our initial confrontation over the shuttlecraft-here, here and here, our escalating verbal hostilities. Each incident, followed immediately by the appearance of the chromatic energy field- and that, in turn, followed by our abrupt transfers to the planet and to each other's vessels."

"Picard," Arit said, leaning forward, "are you saying that this intelligence that we can't understand ... somehow understands us ... and keeps meddling in our encounters?"

"So it would seem."

Beverly let out a low whistle. "Am I the only one who finds that a bit unnerving?"

Captain Picard glanced her way. "Unnerving? How so, Doctor?"

"Something we can't see-can't locate-can't talk to-and it may be shouting right in our ears? Or at least, it thinks it is. And we just don't get it. If it were me in that position, I'd start to get a little frustrated after a while. And frustrated intelligence can turn hostile."

"I agree with Dr. Crusher," said Worf, breaking his silence.