"Captain's log, Stardate 47414.2, Lieutenant Commander Data has picked up anomalous readings on long range sensors that indicate a unique structure of unknown origins is nearby. We're not due on Vondem, the Orion homeworld, for a few days, so we'll be taking a detour to investigate."
The inertial dampeners had been on the fritz for some time. The engineering crew had gone over them with all manner of instrument adjusted for any slight variation that might arise, but it seemed that the calculation in the computer was only a few fractions of a decimal off and that it would take a more in depth diagnostic to weed the problem out.
It was nothing severe. Nothing that would put anything on the ship in danger, but when decelerating out of warp it caused the ship to shudder a hair more than it should. After nearly a decade in the chair of The Enterprise Captain Picard had a feel for when the ship wasn't operating in normal parameters. After an encounter with the Borg a light rig in the turbo lift dimmed slightly, more than likely from some loose connection between it and the power coupling that ran the whole rig.
Little intimate knowledge of the ship like that gave the whole place that feeling like it was family. The ship had seen them through a lot; had been through a lot with them, but like an overbearing parent or older sibling, it could be so familiar that it became annoying.
Worf's baritone cut through the usual responsory beeps of the computers and low level chatter of the bridge crew. "Captain, the object we picked up earlier should be within visual range…now."
"Distance?" Picard asked, leaning over on his hand further, to look over his shoulder toward his chief tactical officer.
"Four thousand kilometers." Said Worf.
A sly smile appeared on Picard's lips. "Cutting it a little close, don't you think?"
Data answered for him, his head moving in precise ticks to take in the information on the screens in front of him. "The object is rather small, Captain, and of an irregular shape. Chances are we wouldn't be able to see it from much further."
Picard tugged down on the front of his uniform, adjusting his legs in the chair. "On screen." He said pointing toward the forward section of the bridge.
The view screen flickered too life with an object that Picard would definitely described as 'an object'. There was a steepled structure, circular in shape at the center of the whole thing that looked like a giant merry go round. There were walkways circling around the central area that lead out to little buildings. The walkways themselves were decorated with stonework or lavish purple carpet rolled out, as if expect royalty. Other satellite objects were held in orbit around the object by strange beams of energy. In a truly striking fashion, one of the buildings that was on a pathway that hooked out from the center had a waterfall that was dropping water off into the void of space.
Most peculiar of all was that there seemed to be no shielding up around the entire thing. There was no dome or bubble to hold in habitat atmosphere, but it appeared that this place was meant to be some kind of residence.
Commander Riker leaned forward in the chair to Picard's right. "Speculation on what—this is?"
Data's fingers wrapped on the screen in front of him faster than any humans possibly could. "There's no known data for this particular phenomenon and the markings are unfamiliar to both myself and the Starfleet database."
"It looks like a fairground. Or rather, it looks like a collection of fair rides and tents in space." Picard said. "Are there any signs of life?"
Data shook his head. "It appears to be abandoned, sir." He spun around in his chair to face the captain.
"We are being hailed, Captain." Lieutenant Worf said. The ship's counselor, Deanna Troi, shifted in her chair to the Captain's immediate left has she stifled a laugh.
Captain Picard eyed Data warily and then looked to Worf. "Put them through."
"Hiya—oh an Earth ship." The woman on the view screen looked to be fully human. Her slender form was mostly hidden in an off the shoulder dress that was a light teal color. She wore a crown atop her head that appeared to be platinum or white gold. Her blue eyes flitted around at something off screen. "Galaxy-class…some sort of dilithium crystal matrix warp drive…that could blow right up if someone shot it…" the woman trailed off.
Picard rocketed to his feet, pacing toward the view screen. "I'm Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation Starship Enterprise."
"I'm Princess Rosalina and this is…my home." The woman replied.
"You say that you're royalty. If I may ask, from where?" Asked Captain Picard.
Rosalina blinked, staring at the bridge crew through the screen. "Space," she laughed. "I mean look where I am."
Picard glanced over his shoulder at Commander Riker. "I see," he said turning back to face the woman. "Is your ship damaged or disabled in any way? We're not picking up any energy readings."
Rosalina shrugged. "No. It doesn't really give off energy—it just goes when I tell it to," she giggled slightly.
Deanna Troi locked eyes with Picard when he glanced back at her. She shrugged an indication that she didn't know what this woman, Rosalina's, thought processes were. Troi was a Betazoid and an empath, but it wasn't uncommon that they ran across a being unfamiliar to them or so beyond them in mental capacity that their thoughts couldn't be discerned.
"If you're curious how my Comet Observatory works I don't mind showing you around," Rosalina said. "I'd love to see a real life Federation flagship—huh, you are the flagship, correct? What year is it?"
Picard looked to Riker and then turned to the screen. "We'd be delighted to see your ship," he said.
"Awesome. No need to lower your shields, when you're ready just ring and I'll beam you over. Bye now!" Rosalina waved at the view screen as she cut the transmission.
Riker rose from his chair, walking over to meet Picard. "What are you thinking, Number Two?" Asked Picard.
"Well, if someone has to go over there I'll lead the away team." Riker said.
Picard gave him a knowing look. He didn't need to be a Betazoid to know what was going through Riker's mind, but his second in command went about these things in a professional way and exercised good judgement. "Good, take Mister Worf and La Forge with you."
Riker nodded before he tapped his com badge. "Riker to La Forge, meet me in transporter room 2."
"Aye-aye," La Forge's muffled voice came through the badge.
"Riker out." He motioned to Worf. "Worf, you're with me."
"First Officer's Log, supplemental, after our first contact with the woman known as Rosalina I am unsure what to expect from her on this away mission. It's not often we meet such an…unusual character of seemingly human origin."
La Forge and Worf flanked Riker on either side as they walked the halls of the Enterprise. The two members of the senior staff, pulled in tighter to his sides, as if in a flying-v formation when another crew member passed them in the halls. As they took a corner, the commander glanced back to speak to them some more about the nature of the mission. "We're not sure what we're dealing with. The ship looks too small to do any harm. We're not detecting the standard weapons arrays or defensive capabilities.
"If I may speak feely, sir," Worf said.
"Go ahead."
"We didn't detect her either," said the Klingon. "This woman, by whatever means, has remained unable to be seen by or scanners or sensed by Commander Troi."
Riker laughed. "Okay, I'll give you that. Look, I like that you're cautious about this sort of thing—it's your job, but I don't think any starship in Federation history has ever been attacked by a single person's whose first hail started with the word 'hiya'."
Worf furrowed his brow muscle below his deep ridges, turning to regard La Forge as he sucked his teeth. He said nothing as they made their way into the transporter room. Chief Salazar, who was at the controls for the transporter, began to wrap on a sequence of keys in preparation for they're departure.
"Everything looking good?" Asked La Forge.
Salazar shook his head slightly. "I'm not understanding this—the object is there but I can't target it or anything around it."
La Forge stepped over to the panel, reading through the displays. "There doesn't seem to be any sort of shielding in place around the structure, but—"
A melodic chuckle flooded through their com badges. "I told you to contact me when you're ready." It was Rosalina, somehow tapping into their communications. "I'll bring you over, on your mark…"
Riker's befuddled expression was mirrored by the other men in transporter room two. He licked his lips before speaking. "Energize?" It was more of a question than a statement of readiness.
None of the usual dematerialization process happed with them. Instead it was as if one second they were standing on the Enterprise and the next they were in a small garden between a sky filled with stars. Rosalina stood before them, her blonde hair flowing out down her back as she tended to some of the plants around the small bird fountain where she knelt.
Though she was low to the ground, Riker could tell that she was a woman of good height. She wore an evening gown, he could now see the rest of it and in one hand she carried what appeared to be a child's toy in the shape of a fairy wand, like from the old stories. Rosalina shrugged, dropping her tools and standing to her full height. "That'll do for now," she said absently.
Rosalina approached Riker first, stepping around his hand as he offered his out to shake hers and opting instead to hug him. She hugged La Forge and Worf in turn, Worf nervously wrapped an arm around the thinnest part of her waist. "Don't be afraid to get in here," Rosalina said with a laugh.
Riker pointed to his own chest. "I'm Commander William Riker. This is our chief engineer Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge and our security chief Lieutenant Commander Worf."
"It's nice to meet you all. I'm Princess Rosalina." She said pressing her wand to her chest.
"Commander, I'm not detecting artificial gravity or any life support systems functioning here." La Forge said.
"Oh, you're not detecting those things because I don't really have them."
"Is there any technology on this ship?" Asked Worf surveying what seemed to be a collection of small biomes centered around the cylinder-shaped building rising up through the column that held the whole thing together.
Rosalina's visible rolled off to the corner as she considered the question. "I think there's an iPad somewhere in my room…"
Worf and Riker looked at each other. "And you just live out here with no life support or gravity," Riker said looking down to see his feet were very firmly planted on the ground.
"I flit around without those things, yes. I really don't need them myself—they're only there now, well, because you do."
A small, yellowish blur darted at them from the side, causing Worf to stir. The small creature came to a stop at Rosalina's hip. It was a pudgy mass with five distinct points that looked to mimic the rounded shape of a child's drawing of a star. It had little black dots, eyes, but no mouth. In it's fat little nubs it carried a bottle of wine and a glass. Rosalina leaned in to run her cheek and nose against the plush surface of the little creature. "Thank you, dearest," she said with a smile.
Worf stealthily moved out of the defensive posture he had taken. "What is that?" he asked.
"This is one of my Lumas. They're all around really, but they tend to be shy with newcomers." She said.
"Are they…pets?" Asked Riker.
Rosalina glared at him. "No, they're my adoptive children. The stars didn't have anyone else, so they asked me to be their mother." She started off on down the walkway leading toward the center of the Comet Observatory with the Luma trailing behind her. "If you all would like a tour I give a mean one."
Riker nodded. "We'd be happy to see the rest of your ship."
She was pouring the wine now, pausing in the middle of the path to do so. "I'm sorry, did you want anything to drink?"
Riker held up his hand in protest. La Forge shook his head, but Worf made a small sound with his teeth, like he wanted to say something. Rosalina handed the bottle back, taking the Luma by the little paw. "Be a sweetheart, Abba, and grab the Mister Worf here a glass of our strongest Chech'tluth," she hit the hard consonants of he Klingon tongue well. "I'm sure you'll love this brew," she said smiling back at the security officer.
They walked a little further, Worf eventually got his drink and it was indeed strong. Rosalina showed them around the library of her craft and a small cafe-like area where she took her meals. None of it seemed to have much rhyme or reason for it's placement in the ship. La Forge kept his tricorder scanning as they walked through different parts of the ship. They were three areas in before he stopped commenting on how the readings didn't make any sense.
As they walked between locations on one side of the small space-station like ship, they could see the Enterprise, locked in place in what would be below them form this angle. The bow of the ship facing the bottom of the Comet Observatory. Orientation was awkward in space often and there was no real way to determine an 'up' or 'down'. Since ship's had their own relative gravitational pulls, there was also no real need to.
Picard must have brought the ship in closer, Riker thought as they entered a lavish bedroom housed in a small round building that had a roof like the cap of a mushroom. "This is the guest house," Rosalina said. "It's actually from my original world."
"What planet are you from?" Asked La Forge.
"The Mushroom Kingdom," Rosalina said, as if that were the answer he was looking for. She went into the room straightening some of the furniture pieces around them back into their places. There was a slender vase that held some flowers on a desk, she emptied the water into the basin of a sink and changed it out. "My mother died when I was small and I was lost—when I found the Lumas they were…like me, so I knew that they needed a mother and someone to look after them."
Riker surveyed some of the art on the walls. There were photos of people racing small vehicles around a track. Some of the 'people' hardly looked like any alien he had ever encountered. One of them seemed to be a turtle sitting upright and nothing else. "How long have you been out here?"
"I don't really know, at some point I got tired of aging so I stopped." Rosalina said in a matter-of-a-fact tone. One of the Lumas floated in, levitating up to the side of Rosalina's cheek and touching itself to her face softly with its little teardrop shaped body. She hugged the small creature lightly with one arm before continuing to tidy up the room. "It's been long enough that I've kind of forgotten, to be honest."
Worf moved aside as she headed for the door of the room, stepping closer to the wall to make sure that she had room to pass alongside him. "How large is this ship in total," he asked.
"Not very," Rosalina said. "I built it all myself. I'm sure if I think back I can remember exactly."
Riker poked his head outside of the door looking up at the spread of the Comet Observatory above and around them. "You built all of this?" He asked. "If you don't mind me saying—I think that the Captain would be very interested in meeting you."
Rosalina brushed the hair away from her eye, her smile widening. "Aww, that sounds sweet. We've got to finish the tour first though."
Upon their return to the Enterprise, Commander Riker took Rosalina on a tour of the ship. She was mildly interested in the things that typically drew the most attention like the holodeck and the warp core. The first time that she seemed really involved was when they stopped at Ten Forward.
The room was all muted tones of gray, dark blue, and off white. There wasn't much in the way of light—mostly just the mood lighting that ran along the perimeter of the large space and the small spots of light that were emitted from the ceiling. There was a moderate crowd in today. A group of the younger officers were gathered around a table playing a game of cards. They were the source of most of the noise in the room and it seemed to be drawing the ire of many of the other people in attendance. For some reason Data was behind the bar serving drinks; he wasn't the type to tell them they were being rowdy.
Rosalina didn't seem to notice. She pointed to the food replicator on the wall. "Is that what I think it is?" She approached it, bending down so that she was at eye level with it.
"It's a food replicator," Riker said.
"So it can make ice cream?" She passed her hand through the open space in the center of the machine.
The commander laughed. "It can create just about any food you can think of," he said proudly.
"Can I try?"
Riker just nodded, his hands clasped behind his back.
"An ice cream sundae with three scoops of ice cream, extra chocolate sauce, crushed pecans, and topped with maraschino cherries," she said. As the food replicator whirred she pushed her face expectantly toward it waiting for her dish to finish. The swirling blue lights danced around in a little pattern until a glass dish with her sundae appeared.
"Do they not have replicators on your colony?" Asked a woman who was sitting at the bar nearby, she had a young face and there were small ridges on the bridge of her nose—Bajoran.
Rosalina froze for a moment. "Oh, I'm not from a colony. I just live out here," she said. "Rosalina," she added offering out her hand.
"Sito Jaxa—Ensign…" She was shorted than Rosalina and had a regal youth about her. Riker imagined there was something about Bajoran women…he'd actually tested that theory on one occasion.
"It's nice to meet you." Rosalina retrieved her sundae and began to eat it. "Mmhm, oh that's good. Have you ever had a sundae Ensign Jaxa?" Asked Rosalina.
"Oh, it's Ensign Sito—the surname is first," Riker corrected her.
"My apologies—Ensign Sito."
"I can't say I have," she replied.
Rosalina thrust the dish toward her. "You really must—if you don't mind."
Jaxa took spoon from the strange woman's hand, it was already filled with as much ice-cream and toppings as was reasonable to take, and examined it. She slipped it into her mouth a second later. The cold seemed to catch her off guard. "Wow," she said.
Rosalina giggled. "Wow is right. My mother used to bake and make desserts like this all the time for me. That woman loved her cakes," Rosalina said as her eyes wandered across the room. "It looks like you were busy. I will let you get back to work."
Ensign Sito smiled. "It was nice meeting you."
"Oh no, the pleasure is all mine." Rosalina said as she accepted her spoon and took another bite.
Riker started to speak. "We have other parts of the ship…"
"Are you an android of some type?" Asked Rosalina closing the gap between herself and the bar where Lieutenant Commander Data was mixing drinks for the patrons at Ten Forward.
"Yes, although the more correct term would be an artificial life-form." Data regarded her with a type of curiosity, moving his head slightly as if to attempt to take her in from different angles.
"Of course. I'm Rosalina."
Data shook her hand. "Lieutenant Commander Data."
"If you'll excuse me, Data. Rosalina, if we could, we'd like you to stop by our sickbay." Riker said stepping around to the side of Rosalina so that he was in peripheral.
"Do you think I'm ill?" She asked.
"No, we're just curious." Riker explained with his hands out in front of his stomach one palm resting on the top of the other.
There was a long pause. "I think I might have to object," Rosalina said. "I assure you that I am not here to harm anyone and I am mostly human, enough that I would be pretty indistinguishable to whatever tests you're going to run."
"Then will you at least speak with our captain?" Asked Riker.
"Sure," Rosalina said with a smile. "I'd be delighted."
Commander Riker accompanied her through the halls, leading her to the bridge. Once they were in the turbo-lift, RIker tapped the com-badge on his chest. "Riker to Picard."
"Go ahead, Number Two," came Picard's brisk voice after a second of dead air.
"I'm on the way to your ready room with Miss Rosalina." Riker looked over at her. "She seems very eager to meet you."
"Let her know I am looking forward to it. Picard out."
Riker took a deep breath. "I'm curious about something. Why are you against a medical check up?"
"It's all rather invasive and then there's the simple fact that my body is probably the one thing that I shouldn't let anyone here look at too closely if I want to play by the rules. If you know what I mean."
The doors to the lift opened and Rosalina strolled onto the bridge with her hands clasped in front of her. A few of the bridge crew turned to look, but most went about their duties. Rosalina said Worf at the tactical station near the center-back of the room. "Ah, Mister Worf, it's lovely to see you again."
Her words seemed to catch the Klingon off guard, he regarded her for a moment before speaking. "It's nice to see you too." He dropped his head and continued to wrap away at the controls in front of him.
"This way," Riker said leading her down the side of the room to a pair of doors that opened as they approached.
The ready was little more than a long table set with chairs in the center of a sparsely decorated room. A window overlooking Rosalina's ship floating in the distance dominated one whole wall. At the far end of that table was Picard. He was slender and bald with a kind of optimistic understanding about him. He flipped his hand over to regard one of the seats at the table.
"Please."
Roslaina slid into a seat as did Riker on the opposite side of the table from her.
"Thank you," Rosalina said.
"You're welcome. I'm Captain Picard of the Federation Flagship Enterprise, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said.
"The pleasures all mine. You're kind of famous where I come from." Rosalina said.
"Where's that?" Picard asked.
"Look, I am going to tell you something, but then I think it's best my visit be over. It's been nice meeting you and being really here, really on the Enterprise, but this is a bit dangerous," Rosalina said.
"What is?" Asked Riker.
Rosalina bit at her lip. "I can't tell you where I am from because it doesn't exist yet. It won't for sometime. I say I am mostly human because my father is from…the late 1980s Earth and my mother is from the far future on a distant world. And here I am…time's little bastard. Stuck in between two things."
Riker leaned forward on the table. "How is that possible?"
Rosalina shrugged. "Warp zones—which are just small worm holes in time and space.
"Then why come back here?" Picard said.
"I flit around a bit between actually having to do something in my own time. I didn't expect to run into you, but I knew I had to stick around. History books mention this place, sure it's just the broad strokes, but made me fall in love with the idea of running into a bonafide ship from this time period." Rosalina stood up from the table, scratching at her arm.
"The medical exam would have revealed the truth about you then?" Asked Riker.
"You might have found out that I am just swimming in chronons or that I have a few thousand years worth of evolution on you. Then that would be in Starfleet data base and I could have ruined the whole timeline." She shook her head and moved for the door, but pauses for a moment. "It's been just swell, talking with you all, breathing the same air as you. I got to have ice cream with one of the first ever sentient artificial life forms. And I got to meet the real Captain Picard."
Rosalina darted across the room throwing herself onto Picard, hugging him. Riker went to grab her, thinking she might be attacking, but he stayed his hand as he saw what was going on.
"I really ought to be going."
"If you don't tell us anything there's little chance that we could surmise much," Riker said.
"I know, but I might make a reference to home or my mom or something." Rosalina walked to the door.
"Where will you go?" Asked Picard.
"Everyone I know is either long dead or hasn't been born yet. I'm playing it by ear until they need me back home," she said. "Shouldn't be long now—any minute now. Would you do me the honor of beaming me back to my ship? I hate long goodbyes."
Picard moved his hand to his chest and lightly tapped his badge. "Chief Salazar here," came the voice on the other end.
"Mister Salazar if you could lock onto our visitor from earlier and beam her back to her ship," Picard said. They hadn't been able to detect her earlier, but he guessed that she had done away with whatever that was because a moment later he got a response.
"Ready sir."
"Energize."
As Rosalina broke down into little more than a pattern of blue lines and dots, she smiled and mouthed thank you to the Captain. The second she was gone her ship rotated and shot off through space without there being any sign of it entering warp or even firing an engine.
"The things we get into…" Picard said.
He glanced at Riker, who just shook his head and laughed.