Chapter 11: The Call Of The Siren.
There was quite a few terabytes of data to analyze once everyone had returned to the Enterprise. Barclay was in Main Engineering comparing notes with Geordi. Geordi and Reg were like two kids on Christmas morning, sifting through the mountains of data with wide-eyed amazement. The technology in this ship could advance the state of Alpha Quadrant propulsion technology by leaps and bounds.
Dr. Crusher made a few last-minute log entries, then stopped to take a look around at the sealed containers which contained the remains of all in the ill-fated party save one human and one android. Picard had entered the cargo hold, and Beverly interrupted her daydreaming...
"You know, Jean-Luc, if people of their time had known about this expedition they would have been hailed as great explorers."
"I have wondered why Weyland went to such great lengths to hide what he was doing. Yes, he may well have been looked upon in the same light as Ponce de Leon, a fool searching for a fountain of youth, but that didn't make de Leon any less of an explorer nor did it diminish his work."
"Weyland had quite a distinguished career long before he resurrected NASA's Project Prometheus..."
Beverly thought about what she'd said, turned to Jean-Luc, and said "Ironic, isn't it?"
Picard surveyed the cargo hold, took a deep breath, and said "Yes, it certainly is. Knowing what we now know, I wonder if the loss of this ship and crew might have been a factor in the disappearence of Zephram Cochrane. Perhaps he felt somehow guilty that something he invented led to such great loss."
"All of them deserve to be remembered."
"I agree, Beverly. Perhaps Star Fleet could do something for them. I'll certainly be an advocate for a memorial of some kind."
Just then, Picard's communicator activated. "Data to Picard."
"Go ahead, Commander."
"Everyone is in Holodeck Three as per your request."
Thank you, Data. I'm on my way."
"Beverly, you're welcome to join us if you'd like."
"Thanks, Jean-Luc, but I still have a few things to do before we leave orbit for home. Dinner later, perhaps?
"Make it so!" he smiled as he walked away.
Picard entered the holodeck, and joined Data, Riker, Worf, Geordi, and Barclay. Data began his presentation with a synopsis of the holographic Engineers and the log recordings. They confirmed Data's suspicions, that the Engineers were overcome by their own creation before they could leave for Earth. The logs went on, showing how the first contact with these people had gone horribly wrong. Picard made mental notes of all of the errors these people made, but how were they supposed to know better? We'd only known the Vulcans for 30 years then, and they really hadn't begun to educate humans about how to introduce ourselves. "Never ask for eternal life!" Picard thought to himself.
Data accessed the star maps, and worked through the steps necessary to return to the Engineer homeworld. "As you can see, their homeworld is a planet cataloged as Kepler 62f, approximately 1200 light years from Earth. At maximum warp, it would take the Enterprise over one year to make the journey. As such, it is well outside Federation space, and is not part of the Romulan Empire nor any known spacefaring civilization."
"Thank you, Mr. Data. Mr. Barclay, your turn?"
"Thank you, Captain." Barclay activated his presentation, explaining the technical details of a vessel that was extremely old by human standards yet far in advance of anything in the known worlds. Zero-point energy, quantum slipstream drive, then Barclay made a suggestion that stunned everyone in the room:
"Captain, I believe I could pilot one of the undamaged vessels home."
Data looked surprised, and reminded Reg that he was not a language scholar, at least not in Proto-Indo-European. Reg rattled off several sentences in the ancient language, which caused Data to say "I stand corrected!"
"Captain, David watched what the Engineer did to get the ship in motion. It's in the logs. I can do the same thing and we can bring the ship home. It would be easier with a crew of four, as I believe that they took turns operating the vessel under certain circumstances, just as our crew rotation does."
"Out of the question!" Picard said, suddenly feeling like less of a captain and more like a martinet. "Star Fleet has people who specialize in this sort of thing and I'm inclined to let them do their jobs. We've done ours, now let's go home. Reg, how are the Enterprise's engines?"
Reg snapped out of his funk for a moment, telling Picard that the ship was in excellent condition and was ready to go home.
"Sorry, Captain" he said, eyes looking at the floor. "I let my enthusiasm get ahead of me."
Picard put his hand on Reg's shoulder, and said "I did that last year with that Promellian battlecruiser and I almost got all of us killed to satisfy my own curiosity."
Them he looked at everyone and said "Unless anyone has any further work to do on the surface I believe that we should leave orbit tomorrow and head for home."
Everyone nodded in agreement, and Picard said "Dismissed."
(end of chapter)
