10.

Cold stone…

He was lying on his side, on uneven paving stones. The chilly air smelled of the smoke from hearth fires, the chirp of nighttime insects filled his ears...

And, there was another sound. Footsteps on the stone, moving closer…

Jayden opened his eyes and sat straight up.

Three strangers stood in the square, staring down at him. Two men and one woman. They were dressed strangely, in clothes similar in style and material to the singed outfit he had been wearing when he first stumbled into the village. Like Jayden, they lacked the forehead markings of the Barkonians. And one of the men, whose skin was nearly as dark as Jayden's was pale, wore a curved strip of metal across his eyes.

At the sight of the metallic device, Jayden brought a hand to his damaged face…his fingers trailing gingerly over exposed metal parts and tiny blinking lights.

The dark man moved toward him but the second man - his features more a match for the Barkonians save for his smooth head - held him back, his voice soft but firm as he said, "Not yet."

"But Captain, he can see us."

"Just give him a moment, Geordi," the woman said, and Jayden cautiously climbed to his feet, brushing specks of dirt, straw, and ash from his clothing.

Regarding them curiously, he said, "Hello."

"Hello," they returned, and he cocked his head, his golden eyes running over their brightly colored clothing before fixing on Geordi's strange eye-band.

"Are you…like me?" he asked. "Do you know who I am?"

Geordi looked to the captain, who glanced over to the dark haired woman.

"Counselor?" he prompted.

The woman smiled at Jayden, and stepped closer.

"We are like you, in many ways. But, there are important differences," she said, her voice, like the bald captain's, colored by a slight, alien inflection.

Jayden tilted his head slightly, realizing for the first time that these people were not speaking the same language as the Barkonians he knew…and neither was he. From the start, he had been addressing these people in their own, strange tongue. But—

"How is it that I can speak your language?" he asked, his golden eyes rather wide.

The woman smiled again, but all she said was, "What is your name?"

"Jayden," he said. "That is the name I was given."

"My name is Deanna," she told him. "Deanna Troi. Beside me are Geordi La Forge and Jean-Luc Picard. Do any of us seem familiar to you?"

Jayden wrinkled his forehead, regarding each of the strangers in turn.

"No…" he said. "No, I do not know any of you. But, if you are like me…"

He closed his eyes and seemed to swallow, the expression on the undamaged side of his face tightening as he traced the ragged edges of his torn skin, the metallic circle where his left ear had been…

"Please," he said. "Can you tell me… What am I? Why…" He blinked, and swallowed again. "Why can I not remember who I was, or where I am from? Do I have any family awaiting news of my condition?"

The three strangers shared a long, solemn glance. Then, the dark man with the metal eye-band reached out a gentle hand.

"Come on Da— I mean, Jayden," he said, leading him to sit on a nearby stoop. The other two sat facing them on a low, decorative wall beside a small flowerbed. "Let's talk for a while. Do you mind if we ask you some questions?"

"Not at all, Geordi," Jayden said, and the man gave him a small smile. "But, I would be most gratified if you would agree to provide me with some honest answers in return."

"That seems fair enough," the captain said, the dim light only intensifying the piercing stare he cast at him.

Jayden frowned slightly, looking to each of the strangers in turn.

"You do know me, do you not?" he queried. "That is, you know the man I used to be, before my accident."

"What can you tell us about that accident?" the captain asked, steepling his fingers below his nose.

"I…" Jayden blinked, and lowered his eyes. "I do not remember being in an accident," he admitted. "It was a presumption made by the people I met here, to explain my peculiar memory loss and the state of my clothing and appearance when I first arrived."

The captain nodded, his gaze never wavering.

"I can't help noticing," he said, "your injuries… They seem quite severe. Were they a result of this supposed accident?"

"No," Jayden said quietly, his hand raising again as if to hide the little red, yellow and green lights blinking softly through his exposed circuitry. "They are not."

"Can you tell us what happened?" Deanna asked gently. "How did you come to be where we found you, lying outside in the open beside the town well?"

Jayden lowered his head, his hand still shielding his damaged face.

"It was not their fault," he said quietly. "Not entirely."

"Whose fault, Jayden?" Deanna prompted.

"Skoran and the others…" Jayden slowly raised his eyes. "They were frightened, and so they lashed out against what they believed to be the cause of their distress. I tried to explain, but was unable to convince them of my findings."

Picard leaned forward.

"Why did you come to this village?" he asked.

"I do not know," Jayden said. "I walked here, from the mountains. I had no reason, only…"

He blinked, and furrowed his brow.

"I suppose it is a natural instinct, when one is injured, to seek out civilization. Would you not agree?"

The captain grunted slightly, his folded hands shielding his mouth, and expression, from view.

"Did you have anything with you when you arrived?" he asked.

"A black box was in my hand," Jayden told him. "I did not realize I was holding it until Garvin – the first man I encountered here – pointed it out to me. The box contained a number of small metal fragments, each quite malleable and slightly warm to the touch, and there was strange lettering on the front that read 'Radioactive.'"

He blinked and straightened.

"The writing – it was in your language," he realized. "The language we are now speaking! Please, can you tell me what it means? Is it a warning?"

Troi regarded him closely.

"You don't know the meaning of the word printed on the container you were carrying?"

"I do not but, given recent events, I must theorize that it has something to do with the dangerous nature of the metal fragments it contained," Jayden said. "Is this a correct supposition?"

Geordi glanced at the captain, then Troi before answering, "It is."

Jayden nodded just slightly, his expression turning thoughtful.

"Then, in a sense, Skoran was correct. I was the source of the plague. I brought the dangerous metal to this settlement, and it is because of me that the fragments came to circulate throughout the village population."

He glanced up at them.

"Is that why you have come?" he asked. "Am I to be held responsible for the metal-sickness?"

Troi looked like she was about to respond, but Picard spoke first.

"I'm curious," he said. "What was in the bucket we found beside the well?"

"It was a compound I made to counteract the effects of the particles that emanate from the metal fragments," Jayden said. "I put it in the well water to ensure the curative would reach everyone who has been adversely affected by the metal."

"What are these 'particles'?" Picard pressed. "Can you explain?"

Jayden shifted his position uncomfortably, and Geordi shared a slightly worried look with Troi.

"I cannot say precisely," Jayden admitted. "But, my experiments with the metal fragments have revealed them to be an energy source. When placed before fabric that has been coated with the liquid used in lamps, the fabric sparkles with dancing patterns of light. These shifting patterns indicate the metal fragments emit invisible particles. It is my theory that these unseen particles are largely responsible for the sickness that has spread so rapidly through the village."

"How did you develop the compound to counteract these particles?" Picard asked.

"The idea first occurred to me while Garvin's friend Talur was observing the lesions that had broken out on his hands," he said. "She used a magnifying lens. I speculated that, if I could design a similar device capable of reaching a higher level of magnification, I would be better able to see the specific effects of the lesions on the structure of the skin itself. Garvin's daughter, Gia, helped me gather the materials I required to construct this device, and the village printer was kind enough to sell me several medical and scientific texts he had bought in the city. From these books, I learned about the layers of the skin, the benefits of various topical ointments and tonics derived from local plants, the chemical reactions that produce these beneficial effects, and the theory of elemental particles from which all things are made. Armed with this general information, I returned to Garvin's specific case, trusting that, if I could develop a compound capable of neutralizing the particles emanating from the metal, I could block them from exerting their negative effects inside the body in rather the same manner the black container blocked them from casting light patterns on the treated cloth. It took a great deal of trial and error, but I believe I have succeeded. Garvin and Gia both showed improvement shortly after ingesting the compound and I believe that, despite some dilution, the treated well water will aid the other villagers in their recovery."

Picard nodded and raised his head, his expression much lighter than before.

"Thank you, Jayden," he said. "Your explanation has been most helpful."

"I am pleased you found it so," Jayden said. "But, you have yet to answer my questions. Who are you? Why have you come here? Was it to find me?"

"It was," Troi said. "As for who we are…"

"We're your friends," Geordi said. "You're one of us."

"Can you tell me what I am?" he asked. "Why I appear so different? Both inside, and out…"

"You appear different because you are different," Troi said. "You are someone very special. And, if you would like to come with us, we would be very glad to have you back."

"What was my name?" Jayden asked. "My real name? Who was I before I lost my memory?"

Picard smiled very slightly, and rose to his feet.

"Your name is Data," he said, watching Jayden's puzzled expression deepen as he spoke. "You are a Lt. Commander in Starfleet, second officer of the Enterprise, and a citizen of the United Federation of Planets. Does any of this mean anything to you?"

"I am afraid not," he said. "But then, the people here believed me to be an Ice Man from the Vellorian Mountains, and that explanation did not register either. It would appear that I have much to learn. Or, rather, to re-learn."

He blinked up at them.

"Where is the United Federation of Planets? Is it very far from here?"

"Not so far," Troi said, keeping her eyes fixed on his as Geordi slowly stretched a hand behind Jayden's head. "To reach it, all you need to do is..."

"Wake up," Geordi said, rolling up the cable he'd detached.

Data blinked his eyes and stood up, his chair vanishing as he stared around at his friends and the empty holodeck grid with an oddly bleary, somewhat bewildered expression.

"What has happened?" he asked, and frowned. "Something is different…"

"What is it, Data?" Troi asked, moving to his side. "Are you all right?"

Data tilted his head with a sharp, bird-like movement, his golden eyes seeming to focus inward.

"I am accessing," he said, and looked at her, his eyebrows raised in something very near surprise. "It would seem the block has gone, Counselor. I am able to recall Jayden's memories of Barkon IV, as well as my own."

"Data, that's incredible," she said. "I was hoping this would happen, but I didn't expect to actually see it…"

"What do you mean?" Geordi asked, closing up the wall panel and moving to join them.

"Do you remember, Geordi," she said, "Data's image seemed to disappear after Skoran and his friends attacked Jayden with the shovel, tearing away his skin? I had assumed at the time that Data had entered a deeper level of sleep, but that wasn't it."

"What was it then, Counselor?" Picard asked.

"Reintegration," Troi said excitedly. "Don't you see? In his dream state, Data ceased to be an observer and became the participant, assimilating Jayden's experiences as his own. That is why his image vanished. Data's dream state had essentially 'synced' with the altered mental state that had produced the 'Jayden' persona in the first place, allowing Data and Jayden to 'merge.' In effect they, were one and the same for as long as Data remained 'asleep.'"

"And, now that he's awake," Geordi realized, "what he experienced in his dream state should carry over into his conscious memory."

"It is rather like recalling a dream," Data said, rather thoughtfully. "The full record is present, Counselor, but, there is a peculiar aspect I find difficult to describe."

"What do you mean?" Troi asked curiously.

Data seemed to struggle for the right words, his pale brows knitting in concentration.

"It is…as though the memories did not originate from me but, rather, were transferred to my mind from another source," he said. "Not unlike the memory scans the Omicron Theta colonists programmed into my positronic brain before the Crystalline Entity attacked."

"Then, you still feel as if your memories of Barkon IV belong to someone else," Troi mused.

"In a sense, they do," Picard said. "The individual we spoke with in the village square may have looked like Data, but he was not the same officer we know. He was…"

"He was someone very special," Troi said, offering Data a warm smile.

"And, definitely one of us," Geordi said, clapping the android on the shoulder. "So, are we done here?"

"I think we've learned all we need to know," Picard said. "Thank you, Mr. Data. If you wish us to keep what we saw confidential—"

"There is no need, sir," Data said. "I see no harm in remembering Jayden. In fact, his experiences not only provide valuable insight into the Barkonian culture, they also prove that neither Jayden nor I is guilty of breaking the Prime Directive. After all, Jayden believed himself to be a native Barkonian. His innovations were not influenced by knowledge of advanced technology. Rather, he studied information the Barkonians themselves had printed, and extrapolated using available materials."

"That's right," Geordi said. "Jayden was thinking like a contemporary, not with hindsight – as a Galileo or Leonardo, not a Starfleet officer. That should get Data off the hook with Starfleet Command."

"I'll do what I can to see that it does," Picard said rather grimly, and the small group exited the holodeck, the heavy doors sliding closed behind them.

To Be Concluded...

References Include - TNG: Thine Own Self; Contagion.

Next Time: The Epilogue! Thanks so much for reading, and for all your encouraging comments. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know what you think! :D