Perchance To Dream Part 13

Chapter Eleven.

THE GLIN-KALE COASTED AROUND Domarus Four in its powerless...o...b..t while Geordi La Forge and his engineering team continued their engine resuscitation work. Knowing how he'd feel if the situation had been reversed, Geordi had felt more than a little uncomfortable invading somebody else's engine room. The Teniran chief engineer, Naladi, had greeted the Enterprise team of four with open suspicion when they'd first come aboard. But orders were orders, and the word from Captain Arit on the bridge had been precise-let them work.

Naladi had actually shooed most of his own staff out of the engine bay, as if he wanted as few witnesses to his shame as possible. But Geordi had made every effort to ask questions of the Tenirans, and to brief them every step of the way, so they not only knew what was being done but also felt a part of the process. He was banking on all the tinkering to bring about a phenomenon he'd seen often enough before-a sort of universal brotherhood of engineers.

His faith paid off. Within an hour, Geordi and Naladi found themselves working side by side.

Meanwhile, Picard and Captain Arit had returned to the bridge to find First Officer Jevlin and the Teniran command crew mesmerized by a sight both captains had come to be wary of-the viewscreen image of uncountable ribbons of color doing a frenzied dance just off the Glin-Kale's bow. The light from the tumble of colors flickered through the entire bridge.

Despite the unsettling experiences he'd already had, Picard found himself drawn toward the viewer. "Absolutely fascinating," he murmured.

"I could do with somewhat less fascination in my life," Arit said dryly as she stopped a pace behind Picard.

He turned back toward her. "Aren't you the least bit curious about what it might mean?"

"Curiosity is a luxury I can't really afford right now, Picard."

He sensed a touch of envy in her voice, as if she wished she could feel what he did. "Then you've got more self-control than I do. Ever since childhood, I have found it very, very difficult to resist the lure of a riddle or a puzzle, the challenge to know the unknown." The dancing colors from outside the s.h.i.+p reflected in his eyes.

"Unfortunately, the unknown is all too often unwelcome," Arit pointed out, tension etched into taut lines around her mouth.

"Then why explore?"

"Even in the best of times, we Tenirans have never really been explorers. And since these are far from the best of times for us, now we just want a safe place to call home."

The exit hatch creaked and opened ... halfway. Geordi and his three propulsion experts-two women and a man-squeezed through and came onto the bridge.

"I could try fixing that," La Forge offered, thumbing back at the reluctant hatch.

"We'll deal with it," Jevlin said curtly.

Picard moved over to intercede. "Your report, Commander La Forge?"

"Well, sir, we did the best we could. You've got a crack engineering team down there, Captain Arit. Between their familiarity with your propulsion systems and our technology, we managed to get things patched together. She won't set any speed or endurance records, but she'll get where you're going-as long as you're not going too far."

"Thank you, Commander La Forge," Arit said.

"You're more than welcome, Captain."

Arit turned to Picard. "Then you'll be leaving now, Picard," she said, her tone brusque.

He had not expected to be discharged quite so hastily and his eyebrows. .h.i.tched up in surprise. "Actually, I had hoped our a.s.sistance might establish a bit more trust between us."

Jevlin shouldered his way into the exchange. "I told you, Cap'n Arit-nothing comes for free."

"With all due respect, you are wrong," Picard said. "I said there would be no strings tied to our offer of help and I meant it. I just hoped you might be willing to tell us more about the Teniran people, and the circ.u.mstances that brought you to Domarus Four."

"With all due respect, Picard," Arit said with a mocking chill in her voice, "if we wish to keep our past confidential, that is our business. We have no obligation to satisfy your curiosity."

"That's right," the Teniran first officer added, thumping his walking stick on the deck for emphasis. "Just leave us to our planet."

Picard's jaw tightened. This was not going at all the way he had envisioned. He thought they'd made some real progress during the past couple of hours, but perhaps he'd only seen what he'd wanted to see. The Tenirans obviously did not see things as he did.

"Then we are back to our unresolved conflict," he said evenly, his tone and phrasing expressing quiet insistence-he was not going to back down. "We still have not ascertained the fate of our missing shuttlecraft, and this is not your planet for the taking. We have all witnessed the same evidence suggesting that Domarus may harbor sentient life. For your own safety, if for no other reason, I should think you would want to cooperate with us in figuring out whether or not Domarus is inhabited by-"

"By those colored energy patterns?" Jevlin said dismissively. "They're not any evidence of anything-and you've got no authority to order us around. Now unless you want yourselves to be considered prisoners-"

Arit cut her first officer off with an imperious wave of her hand. "Jevlin has a nasty temper at times, Captain Picard," she said, intentionally calm now. "You are, of course, free to go, with our thanks. But, if necessary, we will fight for our right to settle here."

"Captain Arit, I do not believe combat to be the solution to your dilemma ... and I don't think you do, either. There are other alternatives."

"For you, Picard, there may be alternatives-not for us. Here is where we choose to stay, and let me be clear about this: after all we've been through, we are willing to die for that choice. If the Enterprise uses force to try and stop us-"

"We will not," Picard said. "But if there are advanced life forms on Domarus, they may perceive you as invaders. They may use force-in ways we cannot even begin to imagine."

"If that's the case, then it will end here after all, Picard."

"Arit, I cannot believe-"

Before Picard could finish, before anyone could react, he and Arit were suddenly enveloped in a rush of swirling colors. An instant later, the colors vanished from the bridge as abruptly as they'd appeared, and the two captains vanished with them.

"s.h.i.+elds up!" Jevlin shouted. "Defensive priority!"

On the Enterprise bridge, Lieutenant Worf growled deep in his throat.

"What is it, Mr. Worf?" said Riker from the command seat, turning to face the Klingon security chief.

Worf's brow ridges deepened into a glower. "The Teniran s.h.i.+p has just raised its s.h.i.+elds, sir."

"What the h.e.l.l?" Riker said, eyes narrowing as he stood. "Raise our s.h.i.+elds and open a channel to the Glin-Kale."

"s.h.i.+elds up-channel open, Commander."

Riker took two strides toward the viewscreen and planted his feet in a belligerent stance. "Enterprise to Glin-Kale. This is Commander Riker. You have violated our truce accord by raising your s.h.i.+elds. Why?"

First Officer Jevlin appeared on screen, standing in the center of his bridge. The old Teniran's eyes flicked from side to side, as if trying to keep track of chaos around him, betraying the agitation he struggled to banish from his voice. "We have our reasons," he answered in a lame attempt at defiance.

Riker could see Geordi and his trio of engineers waiting just behind Jevlin, apparently unharmed and unrestricted. But where is the captain? Dammit-I knew I shouldn't have let him stay over there. "Let me speak to Captain Picard."

"That is not possible, Commander. Let me speak to Captain Arit."

Riker's eyes narrowed. "We don't have your captain."

"Then they're both gone, G.o.ds know where."

"Geordi-"

La Forge stepped forward. "Here, Commander."

"Is he telling the truth?"

"I'm afraid so, sir. Same deal-that multicolored energy pattern again."

"And until Captain Arit is returned to this s.h.i.+p," Jevlin said harshly, "your engineers will stay right here in our custody. Glin-Kale out."

Seconds after Jevlin's determined face faded from the viewscreen, the now-familiar whorls of color and their collateral sounds filled the heart of the Enterprise bridge. Worf leaped over the railing, intent on protecting Riker more effectively than he'd been able to protect his captain a day ago.

But this time, the enigmatic energy phenomenon hadn't come to abduct anyone. Instead, it deposited Picard and Arit near the big viewscreen, then promptly dissolved.

Picard found he was getting accustomed to these precipitous changes of venue, and he recovered his balance quickly, tugged at the hem of his tunic to straighten it, and acknowledged the gapes of his stunned bridge crew with an unruffled nod of greeting. Then he turned to the shaken Teniran commander. "Captain Arit-welcome to the Enterprise."

For as far back as she could remember in her sixteen years, Gina Pace had never feared the unknowns lurking around the next corner or hunkered in the dark shadows just beyond her vision. As a child, she had never given this lack of fear much thought-just followed her natural curiosity to know and see what she hadn't seen before.

But now, as she neared adulthood, new perspectives presented themselves. And she would occasionally find herself wondering why some people-like Kenny Kolker, for instance-approached the unknown so differently from the way she did, freighted with dreads and anxieties that for some reason simply didn't intrude on her life. Not that the wondering had changed her. She still followed her nose, more or less, with unwavering faith that whatever waited around the next bend would be worth the journey-and would not kill her.

And for the present, she believed Kenny would be around the next bend in the maze of Domaran caves and tunnels. Or around the bend after that. She would find him.

She followed a tunnel that narrowed to the point where she had to crouch and scuttle to keep moving forward. The pool of light from her lantern cut the gloom and revealed a fork just ahead. She chose the left branch and was pleased to find that it opened up in both width and height, permitting her to stand. A good omen maybe ... ?

Or maybe not. She panned her light beam ahead and saw that the tunnel dead-ended, and- "There's no way out this way," said a voice in the darkness, making her heart jump with reflexive fright. "Believe me."

Kenny's voice!

She swept her flashlight beam across the tunnel and found him against the cave wall, huddled on a flat outcropping of rock, the fingers of one hand fanned out before his face as he tried to block out the glare of her light.

"Sorry," she said, pointing it up like a torch.

"That's better." He flicked his own light on and together they provided softer illumination for the small cul de sac. "How did you find me?"

Gina shrugged. "I just did, that's all. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I'm feeling a little hungry. A little tired." His expression betrayed his inner uncertainty. "A little stupid. Other than that, okay."

She came closer to him, shaking her head. "What in the whole wide universe possessed you to pull a stunt like this?"

"It wasn't a stunt," he protested. But the reality of the situation drained the fight out of him. "I just thought ... I might find a way out."

"Oh," she said neutrally. "Did you really do this to impress me?"

"No!" he bleated indignantly, then sighed and hung his head. "And if I did, the plan sure backfired."

"Maybe it did ... maybe it didn't."

He glanced at her from beneath his embarra.s.sed frown. "What do you mean? I blew it. I disregarded orders-and on top of that, I got lost. How much more could I have screwed up?"

"Let me give that some thought. Not that I'm defending what you did or your obvious lack of success."

"Great ... kick me while I'm down."

"I'm just saying that what you did was kind of, well ... sweet. Stupid ... but sweet."

"Yeah?" he said, brightening.

"Yeah." She managed a shy smile, then extended her hand and pulled him to his feet. "We better get back. I'm sure they're having a fit looking for me by now, not to mention you."

Gina's hidden meaning dawned on him. "Huh? You mean, they don't know you went looking for me? You did the same thing I did?"

The comparison obviously offended her. "The same as you did? Not exactly. After all, I did find you-and I'm not lost. C'mon."

"Maybe I should return to the Glin-Kale, Jevlin ... maybe you're right. But I'm not ready to come back. Not yet."

Captain Arit leaned across the conference-room table, looking at the disapproving image of her first officer on the table-top viewscreen. Picard, Riker and Dr. Crusher sat there, too, waiting.

"How do I know you're not a prisoner, Cap'n?"

"I'm not a prisoner, any more than Picard was on our s.h.i.+p. But we've got things to discuss, and now is the time to do it."

"But, Cap'n, our people are ready to take this Domarus Four and make it home."

"Not without my authorization ... and I am no longer sure that Domarus is the place for us, Jevlin."

The Teniran first officer jumped to his feet and pounded his walking stick on the deck. "Don't tell me you're going along with Picard's fantasy tales about intelligent life down on the planet."

"Intelligent life? Who knows. But something unexplained is going on down there, and only a fool would send her people down to settle a place that could pose grave dangers. I may be a lot of things, Jevlin ... but I am not ready to answer to 'fool.' "

She saw her old friend slump back into the Glin-Kale's command seat, subservient for the moment. "I suppose you'll be wanting me to release these engineers then."

"I think Captain Picard would like them back, yes. If it's not too much trouble for you, Jevlin," Arit said tartly.

"Our s.h.i.+elds are being lowered now, Cap'n. They're free to go."

Riker activated his insignia communicator. "Riker to transporter room."

"O'Brien here, sir," came the intercom reply.

"Lock onto Geordi's team and beam them back."

"They're as good as here, Commander. O'Brien out."

Picard rested his clasped hands on the table. "Thank you, Captain. And I am pleased that you chose to stay and discuss the situation. The fate of your people rests in your hands-I do believe you've made the correct choice."

Arit c.o.c.ked a skeptical eyebrow. "That remains to be seen."