Star Trek: Dark Archon

Chapter IV: Generations Of Study


This time it was Captain Jean-Luc Picard who woke up unexpectedly in the unfamiliar, seven-walled room. He opened his eyes curiously and stared at the familiar face of James T. Kirk, who was seated alongside the Sentinel. Both men were watching him intently, as though studying his reaction to recent events. "I remember taking a shower and changing into clean clothes," Picard stated flatly, sitting up on the gray, lengthy couch upon which his thin frame had briefly rested.

The Sentinel nodded. "You were exhausted and I wanted you to clean up. Then my crew gave you a sedative so that they could treat your wounds while you rested," he replied with a curt shrug. "It wouldn't do any good for you to go into your next 'test' if you weren't one hundred percent, after all."

The look on Picard's face went beyond mere puzzlement. "Test?" His expression changed quickly to one of dark anger. "Is that what all that business on the planet was?"

Again the Sentinel nodded in reply, but it was Kirk who spoke first this time.

"Apparently we're rats in some sort of lab," the Captain commented, and then leaned forward intently with an expression of undeniable curiosity. "I remember everything, Captain Picard. How much of what happened to us do you remember?"

Picard glanced down briefly at the charcoal-colored jumpsuit he now wore, with its tied silver belt circling his waist. Captain Kirk was dressed similarly, and Picard watched him warily as his thoughts raced backward in search of answers. He hesitated for quite a while before answering, but eventually did discover that his memories of recent events were indeed intact. "I remember being trapped in the Nexus," he began, watching Kirk smile at his mention of the word. "I witnessed all kinds of different possibilities regarding my future. One of my most vivid memories is of my family that could have been but never was. Then my friend Guinan showed up, but she was only some sort of echo… a memory. She led me to you, and after that I remember convincing you to go back with me into the real world…"

"To stop a madman named Soran." Kirk finished the sentence softly.

"Yes," admitted Picard. "I remember everything very clearly, right up until that final moment when we left the Nexus and attempted to return to Veridian III. Why can't I remember anything after that?" He scratched the side of his head above his right ear idly, searching his thoughts for answers.

"You can't remember because you did leave the Nexus at that point, Captain." The Sentinel wore a confident, almost arrogant broad smile as he spoke the words. "And James T. Kirk also left with you, and that is why neither of you can recall events taking place after that."

Picard stared at him blankly. "I beg your pardon?"

A ghost of a smile flickered across Kirk's expression. "You and I may look and feel and believe we are the real Kirk and the real Picard, but we're not," he explained. "We're copies of the original humans, prisoners of a sort on board a large exploratory vessel called the Dokimasia."

Again Picard found himself at a loss for words. "I don't understand."

The Sentinel laughed his hearty, booming laugh. "The original Kirk and the original Picard did indeed leave the Nexus," he stated informatively. "They returned to their real world. You and Kirk-4 were created – copied actually – from that echo as you so eloquently call it… which is actually a very detailed recording of your physical and mental structure stored in the central database of my probe."

Kirk shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "I didn't understand at first either," he admitted. "Apparently the Nexus is some sort of sophisticated alien probe – a device specifically designed to generate the energy ribbon we ran across. The addictive affects on life forms inside of it, along with the destructive nature of its leading edge to nearby spaceships, are qualities that were deliberately designed into it."

"So it's a flytrap." Picard rose to his feet and tested his sore muscles, flexing his arms carefully. "You're saying that the Nexus is a lure designed specifically to attract the curious as they pass by in their space ships so that it can absorb and study the individuals who travel through space."

"Essentially yes," grinned the Sentinel, and Picard found himself realizing that the light-hearted, cavalier attitude of their captor was really beginning to grate upon his nerves. As a Starfleet Captain, he had always found himself a man tough to anger, yet somehow this strange, unfamiliar being instinctively knew how to push his buttons. As if reading Picard's mind, the alien startled him again with his next move. "Briea," the Sentinel said, as though talking to someone who was physically in front of him. "Describe to us, in detail please, the Nexus."

"Acknowledged," a soft, delicate female voice responded. It seemed to drift down around them from everywhere, and yet there were no indications of speakers or any other visible technology within the room. "The device known to our Starfleet visitors as 'the Nexus' is indeed a probe of sorts; although it is a highly sophisticated device deliberately designed with capabilities far superior to any conventional research technology. The Nexus contains a temporal core that spans all of creation... it is an intersection where all points in time simultaneously converge, thus providing access to anywhere an individual life form chooses to go. The Nexus discovered by our Starfleet guests – and two other energy ribbons just like it – were released many millennia ago into the Milky Way galaxy and allowed to roam freely about. Each of them was preprogrammed to automatically change course on a random basis every two and a half centuries to insure contact with as many space faring species as possible. Occasionally the ribbons pass through planetary bodies, asteroids and stars. Their intended objective, however, is not to study stellar objects but to instead attract, scan and fully test the capabilities of space faring life forms."

"The voice you are hearing," said the Sentinel informatively, "is that of Briea, the artificial intelligence in charge of the Dokimasia's main computer. Briea is a fully interactive, sentient life form capable of running this entire ship. Kusival and the other aliens of his race are on board solely to provide necessary maintenance and upkeep; the responsibility for actually running ship's functions and assisting me in carrying out my mission is fully Briea's." The Sentinel was doing his best to be both friendly and tactful, but the expression on Picard's face was all that the alien needed to see in order to know that he still had a ways to go before winning the Captain's trust.

"I don't care how sophisticated and intelligent your ship's computer is," snapped Picard. "Are you telling me that you are the person responsible for creating that energy ribbon? Do you realize just how many lives have been lost over the years as curious ships fly into that thing only to discover after they have changed course that they do not have the capability to escape from it?"

"Of course I know its capabilities," said the Sentinel. "Mind your tone Captain," he said sharply in warning, waving an index finger angrily in response to Picard's outburst. "Your companion Captain Kirk will be the first to tell you that undesirable behavior on this ship is promptly detected and punished." He folded the fingers of both hands together and leaned back in his seat, taking a deep breath for emphasis. "I myself did not launch those energy ribbons into your galaxy, but it was my people – my ancestors – who first designed them and made the final decision to use them as an information gathering technique. Over a lengthy period of time, they are extremely effective at accumulating detailed scans of ships as well as an accurate sampling of life forms in a galaxy. The echo recording of all who enter is automatically activated upon their arrival because inevitably some of the life forms not only recognize that they have the ability to leave the ribbon but – as in your case – actually choose to do so."

"Most of the surviving life forms collected are unwilling to leave, due primarily to the highly addictive pleasurable qualities of the ribbon," chimed in Briea, her voice sounding quite eager to contribute to the discussion. "Less than one hundredth of one percent of life forms collected end up choosing to leave… most are still trapped inside of the Nexus ribbons when they are finally retrieved and their contents analyzed. So both of our Starfleet guests are to be commended… they are among a very elite minority."

Kirk had stayed quiet, listening carefully to the discussion as it progressed. Now, however, he turned his head toward the Sentinel with several conclusions of his own. "You make a recording of all captured life forms in case they leave, like Captain Picard and I chose to. That way you can still replicate copies at a later date and interact with them if you need them. If the copying process is as accurate as you claim, then it's literally like having the real thing right here in the same room with you."

"If I need them!" boomed the Sentinel, and once again his laughter filled the room. "Those who leave are representatives of the species that interest my people the most, Captain Kirk. They are survivors; people who are able to explore space and study it in detail while at the same time adapting and protecting themselves against its dangers. There are many among my people who believe in a power higher even than ours that originally designed and created our universe. My discovery firsthand that the proverbial hand of fate brought you two Captains together makes me truly wonder whether or not to give more credence to that theory."

"So this is why you and your ship have journeyed to our galaxy?" Picard inquired. "You have collected the data from these energy ribbons and are analyzing it?"

"It is almost time for Stage Three," announced Briea unexpectedly.

The Sentinel paused briefly as he pondered her words. "My additional time interacting with you two is likely to be quite limited for awhile," he admitted finally to the two men. "Thus I encourage you to interact with Briea during the many times when I am unavailable. You are free to ask her any question you like on any topics that interest you. I also encourage both of you to thoroughly tour the Dokimasia." His expression darkened noticeably. "Do not, however, attempt to take advantage of my hospitality by trying to interfere with my crew or this vessel's functions. You have been copied, perfected and passed my admittedly tedious array of tests, both physical and mental. I am very interested in preserving your species for all time… humanity is a race that can regularly produce individuals with a rare combination of emotion balanced by sound wisdom and logic. But if you choose to give in to foolish ideas like escape, sabotage or subterfuge, I may find myself reevaluating my decision regarding the future of your race. My people require loyal, reliable assistants in order to fulfill our highly complex, detailed missions throughout the galaxies in our multitude of universes. Test me to my limits and I shall have no qualms about changing my mind about you. If that happens, your race will be casually discarded along with the rest I have selected."

There was a brief silence in the room as the full meaning behind his warning settled over the two Captains. Kirk broke the silence first with one word. "Preserve," he repeated softly with a distinct note of recognition. "I have heard that term before."

"Indeed Captain James T. Kirk, your speculation is accurate in this case. I am indeed a being from a race that you know as the Preservers… perhaps this will be the first topic of discussion between you and Briea." The Sentinel stood up, rising to his full six foot height and buttoning his gray jacket at the waist. "Kusival will stop by shortly and assign you both to guest quarters. Once again I would like to welcome you aboard the Dokimasia. I encourage both of you to begin studying our history and exploring your new future here." With that said, he walked directly toward the wall with the exit and its door snapped expectantly open for him. In seconds he was gone.


Picard remained on his feet, carefully examining the well tended, bandaged cuts and bruises on his arms and legs. Kirk remained sitting, deep in thought, analyzing the Sentinel's last words carefully. Finally, he looked at the other Captain. "That blowgun idea should have worked on most humanoid species," he remarked with a dark hint of a smile. "I have no memory of any tests conducted on the planet's surface, apparently because the previous copy of me failed to survive."

"If I hadn't been beamed aboard this vessel, I would have certainly fallen to my own death. My hands and arms were fatigued to their limits after hanging off the side of a precipice. And for the record, the blowgun idea was my last choice for a weapon," replied Picard grimly. "It took four tries to actually score a hit, the poison could have just as easily killed me instead of my opponent, and I had to get too close to the target in order for it to have any reasonable chance at accuracy. I had lost him for hours until I tried that maneuver, but my opponent immediately picked up my trail again."

"I understand the basic concept of how they work, but I'm not certain I could have built one."

Picard paused for a moment as a torrential flood of memories poured through his thoughts. "My primary hobby – something to occasionally take my mind off the stress of command – is archaeology," he pointed out. "Particularly I have studied artifacts and antiques from alien cultures. I took a class on the construction techniques of ancient weapons used by primitive species just prior to my posting as Captain of the Enterprise." Kirk flinched slightly at the mention of the starship name but said nothing. Picard also remained silent for a moment and then asked a simple question. "What is a Preserver?"

James Kirk casually lifted his feet up on the couch and crossed his legs before responding. "In my time, there were always myths and legends on planets I visited, but many had a common theme. They speculated in great detail about an ancient, alien race that once passed through our galaxy. These aliens had apparently discovered indigenous life flourishing on many worlds and sought to spread it to other planets by transplanting some of the humanoids they found. As they 'seeded' our galaxy's planets with life forms, each new culture naturally began developing at its own pace and maintained its own myths and rumors about the 'ancestors' that had originally created their world. As the generations passed, some referred to them as gods and goddesses, others called them Archons, but most – most of the cultures that I met – knew them only as 'the Preservers'."

Captain Picard nodded in recognition. "I too have studied many of these theories regarding the 'seeding' of life throughout our galaxy," he admitted. "Although I don't think that I've ever heard the term 'Preservers' before."

"Many of Starfleet's original five year missions located actual physical evidence of a super species," continued Kirk. "On one planet we found what looked to be a peaceful, transplanted Native American Indian population. Its people were thriving on a world whose orbit constantly passed through a dangerous belt of asteroids. To protect their colony, the Preservers left behind an 'obelisk' of technology with its control systems set on automatic. All the inhabitants knew was that it was there, they had no idea what it truly was or that it was set to fire a deflector beam each time an asteroid passed too close. When my ship and crew first arrived at the planet we didn't know about the obelisk, but we had detected an asteroid getting dangerously close and planned to warn the inhabitants. We located the technology soon enough after beaming down, discovering eventually that over the years it had malfunctioned. My First Officer restored the deflector to full operational status in time to save the planet, but we never did discover just who had left it behind so many years ago in order to protect those people."

"Did you teach the inhabitants how to make use of the technology?" Picard's curiosity was stirred, even though his physical body remained battered and bruised to its limits.

Kirk stared straight ahead for a brief time, remembering about those days long past and then slowly shook his head back and forth. "No," he declared finally. "Although the aliens had violated our Prime Directive, we decided to simply have a starship stop by now and then to make certain the deflector was on-line and functioning properly. Anything else would have been a disruption in the normal way of life for the planet's inhabitants. My prolonged presence there had disrupted them enough."

"That technology could have been left by anybody… it didn't necessarily have to be the Preservers."

"The device you speak of was left by the Preservers." The brief sentence was the first time Briea had spoken since the Sentinel had left.

"How do you know that?" Kirk wondered. "It's a big galaxy out there and I never specifically mentioned which planet we were on."

"I have access to the Nexus database and thus also to your memory files. In addition to the incident where you met the woman known as Miramanee, your starship journeys have brought you in contact with many civilizations touched by the Preservers. I can also confirm that another planet you visited – the one where you found the super computer peacefully controlling its population – was also a project initiated by the Sentinel's people. I believe you knew the creator of that computer as Landru."

"Oh now there was a wonderful experiment if ever I've seen one," snapped Kirk acidly. "It was a peaceful planet, but only because everyone's brain was hooked into the central mainframe. With few exceptions, most of the inhabitants had absolutely no independent initiative; virtually every aspect of their daily lives was run by software." He paused, thinking. "Was Landru a Preserver?"

"No but he had direct contact with them for a time and came to know them as Archons. He was trained by them… an experiment to see if the Preservers could assist primitive people in evolving more quickly into a modern society. The attempt failed and there was brutal war for many years until Landru created the computer that enforced peace and a simpler way of life upon all citizens."

Picard shook his head in disgust. "Based upon everything I have observed since coming here, it sounds to me as though the Sentinel and his people like playing God."

Briea the sentient computer was quick to agree. "There have been many great debates in recent centuries about that very subject," she informed them. "Many of the Sentinel's people agree with the concept of spreading life in the hopes that more of it will flourish, but not with the often violent, invasive tests that are frequently conducted on test subjects from those cultures. Many consider it barbaric, but there are a growing number of Preservers who believe that such actions are necessary in order to maximize the propagation of life everywhere."

"You can officially list me in the category of those who consider it barbaric," growled Captain Picard. A thought struck him and he decided to pursue it. "Does part of this 'transplanting of life' process also include terra-forming?" he asked inquisitively. "Is that why so many worlds in our galaxy just happen to be habitable?"

"Affirmative," confirmed Briea. "Terra-forming is still considered a massive endeavor even by the people in your century Captain Picard, but the Preservers can go far beyond simple terra-forming. With the proper resources available to them, they can and often will build whole new worlds," she told them. "Vessels like the Dokimasia can actually change the orbit of a planet, relocating it to a distance ideal for plants, animals and humanoids. Larger vessels from our vast fleet of colony ships can actually refuel and relocate entire stars, if necessary."

"Build planets?" Kirk was a bit skeptical, but he feigned more emotion than he felt to see just how much information he and Captain Picard could obtain from the computer. "I'd have to see that to believe it."

"But you have seen it Captain Kirk," insisted Briea. "Do you really believe that the world on which you found the girl Miri – almost an exact duplicate of your Earth – evolved purely by chance?"

James Kirk was visibly startled at the mention of Miri's name. "That world was built by you?"

"By the people I serve, yes," Briea confirmed. "Since Earth is such an unexplained, ideal world for life forms to thrive on, Miri's planet was another in a long list of experiments. The entire solar system is a Preserver construct in fact: its dying star was refueled and its radiance restored to that of a younger star, native planets were relocated to more distant orbits, and Miri's planet was created to match your Earth using material from one of the system's asteroid belts. The inhabitants transplanted there, unfortunately, became far too focused on the medicine of prolonging life instead of living it. In the end, their obsessive experiments to preserve youth ended up destroying everyone except for a few children."

"How many other unsolved Starfleet mysteries do you have the answers to?" asked Picard angrily. "Is that what you do here on the Dokimasia and the other ships in your fleet… plant sentient life on new worlds and then sit back and watch them war with each other and destroy themselves?"

"The answer may anger you further Captain Picard, but I would have to say yes," decided Briea. "You have yet to grasp the concept of just how many galaxies the Sentinel's people support… how many worlds they have populated with living, growing cultures throughout the centuries. You have yet to understand just how closely they watch those developing cultures to see which ones learn from war, and which are consumed by it."

"It sounds as though this Sentinel of yours thinks of us as nothing more than test subjects… like simple laboratory animals that he can experiment upon," prodded Kirk.

"It wasn't always that way James Kirk. But for many centuries now there has been a faction among the Preservers who have begun abandoning the older, traditional ways. As our culture has expanded our efforts to more and more galaxies – to mirror universes even – the need to recruit additional labor has grown considerably."

"So that's why we're here," growled Picard irritably. "To serve as your slaves in this vast effort to disseminate life everywhere?"

"Essentially you are correct," Briea confirmed, her voice actually sounding sympathetic. "Part of the Sentinel's plan has always been to recruit you both for your leadership skills. Pending final approval, you will be admitted into his Guild and assigned to projects that may or may not keep you in your home galaxy. Unfortunately new recruits have very little say in the matter until they earn experience points."

"What if we refuse?" Kirk had been thinking the question even as he listened to her, so he did not see a reason not to ask.

"You two have passed the Sentinel's tests and now speak for your race. If you refuse then you do so for all of humanity, and all of humanity will pay the price. The Sentinel will simply discard your race as an extinct one and choose another more willing to cooperate. He may not recruit all of the skills and experience he is seeking with your people, but in the end what he wants most is to recruit additional life forms to assist with the many projects assigned to him."

Picard glanced at Kirk, clearly puzzled. "But you have said we are copies," he pointed out. "Doesn't that mean our real selves have returned to their normal lives?

From her tone, Briea was clearly concerned at the prospect of their reaction upon learning the Sentinel's plans. "The real James Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard have indeed successfully returned to your 24th century," she admitted. "However, the Sentinel is in the process of terminating all life in the Milky Way as of the start of your 28th century." Her voice quavered as the complete and utter expressions of horror on their faces clearly agitated the sentient computer system. "Your galaxy is being purged so that life forms living in timeframes prior to the termination point can be recruited from its past. Many centuries after the termination point, a variety of new life forms will be seeded back into your emptied galaxy in order to begin developing additional new species for recruitment."

Picard sat down quietly in one of the chairs next to Kirk. "How do we stop this?" he demanded angrily. "Briea, how do we change the Sentinel's mind?"

"You can't," she replied softly. "The debate has already been held and your fate decided."