Chapter 4
"There!" Geordi crawled up over the top of the cliff and pointed down. "See? Right down there where all those trees are busted up."
"If you mean that three trees in that area have been subjected to recent trauma, including one which has been uprooted; then yes, they are indeed 'busted up', Geordi. However I fail to see how you believe-"
"There are two beings down there, Data. And judging by the heat signatures, one of them is a lot bigger than the other."
Data grew very still, listening intently before turning to Geordi. "I believe you are correct."
"Of course I'm correct. Let's go, Data..."
Geordi leaped over the edge, and began running down the rocky slope. He didn't realize Data was following him until he saw his new friend speed past him, torso upright, and legs churning forward at an inhuman pace. "Whoa," Geordi breathed, as he saw Data come to a halt and stare upward.
A few moments later, he skidded to a stop himself, wrenching his knee. Stumbling before rising back up to his feet he now saw what Data had been looking at. A large figure dressed in armor hung suspended from an even larger tree. He had been speared through by an enormous horned creature, which lay apparently lifeless against the trunk of the tree. A large knife was stuck in the back of its neck.
Geordi looked on, disturbed. The warrior person had seemed unconscious at first, but now began to stir. His legs twitched and he let out a groan that sounded very similar to the screams they'd heard just minutes earlier. "How can he be alive?"
"I do not know. He has been severely injured. The creature has died," said Data, who was examining it closely.
Geordi stared upward, and scratched his head. "Not sure how we're going to get him down from there without making it worse for him, Data, but we've got to try."
As he spoke he watched as Data scrambled deftly up the tree trunk. Bracing himself back against the tree he pushed the creature outward in one swift movement. The horn dislodged from the unconscious stranger so quickly that he didn't utter a sound, and he fell. But to Geordi's surprise, he never hit the ground, because Data reached out and caught hold of his armor with his free hand, still gripping the tree with the other. The blood which had coagulated in the man's wounded side began to stream down the side of his leg. Data lifted the man and gently lowered him on to the ground, then knelt down at his side, clamping his hand over the wound to stop the bleeding.
"Amazing...you're saving his life Data, but we've got to get him a more permanent bandage or he won't last much longer. Let's carry him the rest of the way down the hill and get him under cover."
"So there is you, and there is me," said Picard as he walked along next to his new companion. He stared into the sunset, as they walked on. "Do you think we're the only ones here, Deanna?"
"I don't know." She looked over at him. "Can I ask you a personal question?"
He rolled his eyes. "Yes?"
"You told me your name was Picard."
"Yes...and?"
"And so why, inside your mind do you refer to yourself as the Captain?"
He stared silently ahead of them. "I don't like that personal question. Perhaps you'll trade that one for another?"
"Fine." She glanced over at him. "Are you hopeful about the possibility that there may be others like us? I sense that you didn't really mind it when you believed you were the only one."
Picard placed his hands behind his back as they continued to walk. "No, I didn't mind at all," he admitted after a long pause. "But now that I've met you...well, I am curious about finding other people. But even more so, I am beginning to wonder about this world we live in."
"In what way?"
"Deanna...objects have appeared or disappeared in front of our eyes, without a natural explanation."
"I had noticed that."
"Perhaps this world has properties that we simply find odd," he continued. "It is possible that what we don't understand seems bizarre or supernatural, when in fact we may just be too unsophisticated to comprehend the science of what is really happening around us."
"So you think there is some kind of order or design to what we have been experiencing."
"Do you have a better explanation?"
She shrugged, and wrapped the coat around her more snugly. It was chilly out here on this plain, now that the sun had disappeared over the horizon. "Picard...before you arrived at that oasis in the desert, I can't remember ever having stepped foot outside of it. And even stranger, I don't recall it ever being nighttime like it is now. Yet the concept is completely familiar to me."
"So you agree with me that something strange is happening."
"Yes. Your hat reappeared before your eyes after you lost it and nearly lost your life in a sand pit...and in just minutes I saw a beautiful lake transform into nothingness. Our memories don't extend beyond what we were doing just before meeting each other."
"Which means we're not losing our minds...unless we're losing our minds together," he clarified with a small smile.
"No matter what the source of these experiences are... I wonder Picard, how long will it take before I can no longer trust my own perceptions?"
Almost immediately the world grew quiet around them, and Troi found herself standing alone on a tiny piece of ground, just wide enough for her two feet. She looked down and was met with a wave of disorientation. Below her was nothingness. She could still see Picard, but he was at least fifty meters away, standing safely on the sand they had been traversing together. She shut her eyes tightly to try and regain her balance. "P-Picard..." she said through gritted teeth, trying to steady her shaking legs.
"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked.
"What's wrong? Can't you see I'm about to fall into nothingness?" Her panic began to grow. He was entirely unconcerned at her plight. How much did she know about him anyway? For all she knew he was the one manipulating their environment. "I never had these problems until you showed up, Picard!"
He was so far away now that she couldn't see the expression on his face. Did he find this amusing? Was he laughing at her?
"Deanna, what's wrong?"
"I-I'm frightened," she called out. "I can read your thoughts and you're not even the least bit worried about me!"
"That's because you're right next to me, Deanna. You're safe, we both are..."
She shook her head. "No! Can't you see what's happening?" She wouldn't be able to stand here forever. Beneath her the chasm widened, and she was certain now that it was only a matter of time until she fell into it.
He was reaching out his hand to her now, but he was so far away. Was he joking? She would die if she reached out and tried to take his hand. No, you won't, a voice sounded inside her mind. I promise you, Deanna that you are safe.
"Who are you?" she thought back.
A friend. I want to help you, but you must trust the Captain.
"The Captain? But I don't really know him. And he's so far away...I can't possibly reach him."
Yes, you can. He's right next to you. Take his hand.
She shut her eyes tightly again. When she opened them again the impossibly dry wind was howling in her ears.
"Deanna! Take my hand," Picard was urging her. "I'm right here."
Take one step forward, Deanna. He wouldn't tell you to walk into nothingness. Please trust him.
Troi took a deep breath and reached her arm out as far as it would go. Miraculously her fingertips grazed his, and his hand grasped hers tightly. Her feet crunched on the solid ground underneath. She was exactly where she had been just a minute ago. "You saved me," she breathed.
Pulling her into a tight embrace, Picard laughed. "No, you did it. You did it."
