Big Doors
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine. This is an AU story.
Chapter Eight: Contagion Catastrophe
"Captain, magnetic seals in the antimatter chamber are decaying!"
"Captain!" Picard's tone took on an extra note of urgency. "Donald! Come in!"
The badly distorted screen image snapped out completely, and then the Yamato flared up and exploded in a giant fireball.
"Shields up." Picard sounded dazed to say the least.
Tasha reacted on instinct and managed to get the shields up just seconds before a large fragment of debris collided with them. The saucer section came into view, and it was clearly burning up.
"Sensors indicate no life readings, sir." Data spoke in the calm tone that only he could under such circumstances.
Tasha's console beeped, and she managed to tear her eyes from the wreckage long enough to glance at it. "There's another ship coming into sensor range. Romulan."
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"Ouch!"
"Tasha, are you all right?"
"I'm fine. But the cup my tea was in just - shattered for no reason. Dish towel," she added. The replicator shimmered, and a plate of spaghetti shimmered into existence.
"That should not have happened. Data to La Forge."
"What now?" Tasha noticed that Geordi sounded more annoyed than was typical for the usually easygoing man. Data, of course, noticed nothing.
"We appear to be having some difficulty with the replicator in Tasha's quarters."
"Yeah, well no offense but the replicators are not a priority. We're having the same problems the Yamato did. Random systems are malfunctioning all over the ship."
"You don't think-" Tasha began.
"I don't know." Geordi sighed. "I'm hoping to prevent a crisis, though."
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"Is that Iconia?" Will asked.
"Captain Varley died believing that it was." Picard's words were still heavy with the weight of this loss.
A light flashed on the surface, and Will's attention was immediately grasped. "Did you see that?"
Tasha's console beeped a warning. "There's been a projectile launched from the planet's surface."
"Its size and composition match the probe which scanned the Yamato, sir." Data reported.
"Shields up. Prepare a tractor beam," he ordered. "Mister La Forge, I'm going to assist you in your research. A probe has been launched from Iconia. I'm going to capture it."
"The probe will enter tractor range in one minute."
"Thank you, Mr. Data. Let's hope this sheds some light on our situation."
"The probe will enter range in fifteen seconds."
"Tractor beam ready." Tasha had barely finished her sentence when the turbolift door opened with a strange sound and Geordi tumbled out head-over-heels.
Will was at his side in an instant. "Are you all right?"
Geordi scrambled to his feet, and Tasha noticed for the first time that he was clutching his VISOR in one hand. "Destroy the probe, sir! Quickly!"
"Tasha, target phasers!"
"Phasers locked on target!"
"Fire!"
The probe exploded, and Picard turned to Geordi. "Welcome to the bridge, Mr. La Forge."
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"Captain, there is a vast underground power source which is controlled by this console. I believe my triggering of the gateway has caused a dramatic upsurge in power level. Ah, I have access." Data's last pronouncement was cut short when an energy discharge hit him. He stood motionless for a moment before collapsing into Tasha.
"Data, can you hear me?" Picard demanded. "Data, respond."
"Captain." Data's voice was choppy.
"Are you all right?" Tasha asked.
"No, I am damaged."
"How bad is it?" Picard was clearly trying to stay calm.
"The Iconian program is attempting to rewrite my software. Physical manifestations, blindness, motor con-"
"Captain!" Tasha gasped as the gateway shifted again. "The Enterprise!"
"How long is the interval?"
"About four minutes."
"The next time the Enterprise appears, go through it with Data. Geordi will be able to learn from him. Maybe help him."
"Yes, sir."
"Destroy the tricorder."
"But sir, all the information..."
"Is precisely why it must be destroyed. How long?"
"About three minutes." Tasha placed the tricorder on the ground, set her phaser to maximum, and fired, vaporizing it.
"I'm running out of time. We all are. Data. Data, I have to destroy this. This control room and its technology must not be allowed to fall into Romulan hands."
"I understand, sir." Data's voice was getting choppier each time he spoke.
"How! How do I do it? How do I destroy everything? The control room, the probes, all of it."
"The power source, sir."
"I detonate it. But how? How do I do that?"
"The probes, sir."
"Probes? The probes. Launch? I launch the probes? But why? What's good will that do?"
"Doors, sir."
"Doors?"
"A launch bay!" Tasha finally figured out what Data was saying.
"And if the doors are closed, then the backwash from the rockets will spill into the power grids and there'll be an overload."
"Yes, sir."
"But the doors will open automatically when the launch begins." He paused, then realized the last piece of the puzzle. "And I will override."
"Correct, sir."
"Which control keys? Damn. Of course, you can't see."
"Describe, please."
"I'm standing directly in front of the gate. To my left there is a small triangular screen."
"Right one meter."
"Right. Now, to my right is a larger triangular screen. The top is solid amber. To the left, red-"
"Correct key sequence," Data interrupted, "blue-amber-amber-red."
"That's the launch sequence? How do I override the doors?"
"Blue-blue-blue."
Picard half-smiled. "I hope that's not a stutter. I don't know how long a delay there will be between the launch and the detonation. I'll hold keying the launch sequence until you're through the gate. How long until the Enterprise reappears?"
"Almost time. Captain, you'll be killed!"
"I'll go through the gate."
"And end up where?"
"Very shortly, anywhere will be preferable to this room. Tasha, I am depending on you. You must get Data back to the Enterprise. He may be their only hope."
"Captain, the rotation right before the Enterprise is the Romulan ship - there, see? If you wait until you see it, you should be able to key the sequence and then get back aboard safely."
"Understood." The image shifted. "Now go."
Tasha slung Data's arm over her shoulder and half-carried, half-dragged him through the archway in a maneuver that reminded Picard of how she had carried a colonist much larger than herself the first time he'd ever seen her.
"Commander, look!" a crewman called out as Tasha and Data appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
"Tasha! What happened? Where's the Captain?"
"No time to explain. We have to get Data to Engineering, now!"
Without another question, Will took Data's other side and helped Tasha carry him to the turbolift. Thankfully, they managed to avoid an experience like Geordi's, but to Tasha, a simple turbolift ride had never seemed to take so long.
"What the hell?" Geordi quickly took stock of the situation. "Bring him over here."
Tasha and Will quickly laid him down on a table and Geordi got to work, becoming more frustrated by the second.
"Geordi!" Will finally spoke, unable to keep silent. "What's happening?"
"I don't know how to help him. But comparing recorded norms for Data to the current readings, it's clear that all his functions are just going crazy. If we had an expert, a Maddox, somebody, I -" he cut off as the tricorder's incessant beeping turned to a long whine. When he spoke again, his voice was barely above a whisper. "He's gone."
"No." Tasha just stared. "No! You're lying! Don't lie to me, Geordi! You're my friend, don't lie to me!"
He put his arms around her tightly, offering comfort while simultaneously restraining her from lashing out at him or anyone else. Movement behind her made him look up, and he gasped. "Data!"
Tasha's head snapped around. Data was sitting up, looking for all the world as if the past few minutes had never happened. "Data!"
"What the hell?" Will was just as flabbergasted.
"I am accessing." The measured, logical voice was music to Tasha's ears. She had thought she'd never hear it again.
Geordi's eyes were hidden behind the VISOR, but Tasha could practically hear them widen with realization. "The self-correcting mechanism! It's constantly kicking in to make minute adjustments in the positronic brain."
"I am on the Enterprise. How did I get here?"
"He cleared the Iconian program from his own system. How?" Will demanded.
"Iconia?" Data looked around, still puzzled. "I was on Iconia, now I am on the Enterprise."
Will ignored Data completely. "Geordi, this is critical, how?"
"Okay, give me a second to think. There was an incompatible program running through Data's system, so the mechanism started searching for a way to keep him alive. The solution. The solution was a shutdown and a total wipe of all affected memory. "
"Query: What have I forgotten?"
"Can you do the same thing with the Enterprise?"
"I don't see why not, but it will have to be a complete shutdown. We turn her off, and effect a wipe of the Yamato log including every subsequent event since we downloaded it. I'll then be able to reload all the ship's programs from the protected archives in the main core. "
"Geordi, if we shut down that means we're going to be bringing down the shields, and we're hanging nose to nose with a Romulan battle cruiser."
"Hey, Commander, whether it's Romulan phasers or our own warp engines, we're just as dead."
"Besides," Tasha pointed out, "their systems are likely as erratic as ours. I'd be willing to bet they couldn't shoot us even if they tried."
"Make it so." Will and Geordi both turned and began preparations for the procedure. Data glanced around again.
"May I help?" He'd barely gotten the words out when Tasha grabbed him in a tight hug.
"Oh, God," she whispered. "I thought I'd lost you."
Data patted her back a little awkwardly, searching his memory banks for the proper response. What he finally came out with was a simple "I am all right."
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Data looked up from his computer console when he heard the door chime. "Come in." The door slid open, and he took notice of the visitor. "Tasha. It is late."
"I couldn't sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I see you lying on that table, so still-" She choked off. "I had to come see you."
"Perhaps it would help if you stayed in here? The bedroom has never been used, but it is fully furnished."
"It might. Thank you, Data." She kissed him gently across the console.
Data half-smiled as she walked into the bedroom, then turned back to his work. It was a lot to get done, even for an android, but this didn't keep him from stopping as soon as he heard soft whimpering from the bedroom. And when Tasha, still asleep, grabbed his wrist to prevent him leaving, he decided the work could wait until morning.
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