Chapter 13

Of Noble Heart: Star Trek, TNG

D.R. McCann

Within a few minutes all of the ship's crew knew they were trapped. Each had been ordered to report to sick bay, and now everyone wore a small radiation badge, issued by Dr. Crusher and her team. Handing out badges was a first for them and for her, and none was happy about it. But she deemed them necessary because it was no longer sufficient to know only the total amount of radiation the ship or any single deck absorbed. She needed to record exactly how many roentgens each crewman soaked up, for their immediate health and the length of their careers in space would be determined by it. She and her staff had had to explain this to each Enterprise member when they were handed their badges, and all were worried by the news.

That the Captain had ordered the ship to return to the exterior of the exclusion zone was also known. That scared them too, because they knew that he would not run from danger without good cause.

Riker and Deanna entered the Bridge. "Sir, any progress?" Deanna asked as they sat down on either side of the Captain.

"No, no one has found a reason for our being unable to escape this area. Our engines are working at full efficiency. By trial and error we have discovered we can move inward as much as we like, and even, with effort, we can run sideways along the contour, parallel to the boundary. We just can't retrace our steps, head back the way we came. Nor can we head outward in any direction from the zone's centre."

Data left his console and approached the three officers. "As the Captain said, the zone has shape. We have plotted the centre – the point from which the force appears to emanate. Whether there is something there is uncertain. We cannot detect it if there is. It may only be a central focal point of several objects or of the forces acting on us."

"In the meantime," Picard picked up the story, "while we consider our options we have stopped in an area as far out on the edge of the zone as we can reach, which has slightly lower radioactive emissions. I have also been in touch with Starfleet and informed them of our situation. They commiserate." He grimaced and shook his head slightly. "But at the moment they can offer us no suggestion that would help get us out of here."

"But to stay here is taking energy," Data continued. "We have found that we must keep the engines operational. Otherwise we move forward at a rate of 3 mt/second. A movement that is almost imperceptible to the Enterprise and her crew," Data said, "but real nonetheless."

"What sort of force is acting on us, then?" Riker asked.

"A gravimetric force, gravity waves," Data answered. "We are being dragged out of our position by a strong gravity field."

"A body or something that has gravity, but is invisible to our detectors, that is also pumping out X-ray and gamma radiation?" Riker asked.

"And other particle emissions, we've discovered as we've moved inward," Picard added.

"I don't understand," Deanna said to the others. "What sort of thing is this?"

"The reason you don't understand Deanna," Picard explained, "is because such an object, if it is an object, has never been detected before."

Deanna frowned and looked at Riker, as if for reassurance.

"What we do know," Picard continued, "is that, as you would expect, the force of gravity is acting against us more strongly the closer we get to the object, or the centre of mass, the vector of forces, or whatever it is. Our engines are having to work more all the time, just trying to keep us in the same place. Even so, we are sliding inward bit by bit."

Data continued, "Indeed, the increase in force is following the well-known Newtonian equation, where the force is proportional to the product of the two masses and inversely proportional …'

"Yes, Data, we know the equation," Picard interrupted.

"Yes, sir. To go on: within 2.37 hours, the movement will be perceptible to the crew, and in 10.48 hours, we will be approaching Impulse speed. After that, our velocity will continue to increase until the energies involved tear apart the ship. That should come in…." Data paused to calculate, '23.72 hours. Tomorrow at about this time."

His emotionless recital of their impending death left them all speechless for a moment.

Picard cleared his throat and spoke first. "Of course we need to find a solution before that happens."

Riker, recalling the reason why he and Deanna had come to the Bridge, thought it the right time to report. "Yes, on that score, we have some news that may help." He looked at Deanna.

Deanna had regained her composure and continued. "Sir, you asked us to find out if anyone outside the Federation has recorded the presence of an unexplained force or unknown entities in this area. The Commander and I may have found something."

"Yes," Riker continued. "Its an unusual entry but it may point to something of importance."

Deanna explained. "We were looking at the files which Earth scientists downloaded from the Borg vessel found in the Arctic in 2153, before the base was destroyed. There's not much there, but the Borg recorded that they had come near this zone. They crashed into the Arctic about three hundred years ago, but it wasn't clear from their records when the Borg ship took its readings of the zone. In any event, that ship's crew reported back to their headquarters in the Delta Quadrant that they had found a strong force in this region of space. They paused on the edge of the zone, and recorded gravity waves emanating from approximately the same location that Data has calculated. But they were ordered to skirt the edge of zone by their HQ, not to enter it, and to avoid the gravity waves."

"Maybe they were on another mission and didn't want to get side-tracked," Riker added with sarcasm.

"Lucky for them," Picard said. "Unfortunately, our mission sent us directly to the heart of the region."

Data considered their report. "So, if we assume the Borg passed here shortly before arriving on Earth, then the force has been here for some time. It would be," he paused to calculate the probability, "unlikely but not impossible that the force was extant when the Borg passed by and later when we arrived, but was absent in the years in between."

"But when in the past?" Deanna asked.

"Well," Data began, "if it were three hundred years ago, then the zone is at least that old, but it is older if the Borg passed by here earlier. Yet for all we know the Borg might even have taken their readings in the future."

The others looked sceptically at the android, but he held his ground. "How often they time travel we do not know. Theirs could be recent readings – any time in the past, until now or …well, forever."

Deanna looked confused, and Riker was having none of it.

"Let's assume the past," Picard intervened, "for to do otherwise doesn't help us. But was it only three hundred years ago, just before their ship crashed on Earth?"

There was silence for the pragmatic supposition seemed the best.

"So, ok, the Borg information is incomplete with regards to timing," Riker conceded. "But we know that at some point they felt this force to be of significant danger, so much so that they decided not to try to assimilate whoever created it, but ran from it instead. That fact is, in itself, worrying!" He looked around at his companions, who also grimaced.

"Indeed it is!' Picard acknowledged. "Anything else you've turned up?"

"Sorry, nothing, sir," Deanna answered. "We've been through the files of as many star-faring races as we have in the computer and none except the Borg recorded approaching this area, or having any trouble here if they did."

"Let's look at this a differently way, then." The Captain rubbed his hands together and continued. "We know that whatever this, what?, this 'entity' is, it's powerful and visible at times. Surely, not only the citizens of Pranek Prime experienced the largesse of these beings before they moved on. Go back to your records and see if you can find mention of a race of superior beings who travelled among star systems in this region and were treated as gods, or something like they were treated on Pranek IV. Not just powerful in a technical sense, but godlike, with powers no one could fathom, and who were willing and capable of intervening and using their powers to change history. If you find them, see if anyone speculates about their origins. Maybe we should be more like the Pranek people and not worry about the Assessors' technological advancements. Instead, let's focus on the mythologies."

"Yes sir," Deanna and Riker said in unison. You could see they were hopeful that the Captain's insight would result in some new information.

The Counsellor took up where Picard stopped. "In our database are the origin-myths of several beings in this part of the galaxy. We can look there first," she said with enthusiasm. She and Riker nodded at each other, excused themselves, and headed toward the door with renewed confidence.

#

Ten hours later, just as Data had calculated, the Enterprise was moving inward at Impulse speed, in spite of the fact that the full force of the engines was being used to keep the ship stationary. "We are accelerating at a rate of 15mt/sec²," Data said to Geordi. The Engineer had come to the Bridge some minutes before to make his concerns known.

"I know, and it's going to tear our engines apart if we keep on trying to resist this force."

"But to bring the engines to a halt would make our slide towards the unknown force even faster, and that would give us less time to figure out what it is or maybe even how to break free," Data emphasized.

"I know. But we can't keep doing this to the engines," Geordi said. "It's damaging them to the point that they can't be repaired, not out here anyway. We could end up drifting in space."

"That is not the worst problem we face. It is way down the list at the moment, Geordi."

"What is worse," Worf, who had one ear on their conversation, asked from his station behind them.

Data turned to answer. "The gravity well will only get steeper as we move forward and inward. It is not difficult to imagine the rate of our acceleration," he explained. "Think of the force as being a heavy ball lying on a sheet of stretchy rubber. On the outside of the sheet the slope is gentle but as you move inward, toward the ball, the slope gets steeper."

Worf grunted and nodded his understanding. This was basic physics, and he recalled the description from his Academy days.

"That's how this gravity is working, so that the closer we are to the force pulling us, the stronger the gravity and the faster our inward velocity. That force will break us apart long before we start drifting without engines."

"How much longer is this going to last, then?" Geordi asked.

"I calculate that we are fifteen hours and forty-seven minutes from reaching the area where the force is focused. But the ship will break up well before that, perhaps as soon as 7.23 hours."

Geordi pondered that a moment and then asked, "what if we run with the force, Data, instead of trying to move against it? That should help conserve our engines."

"It would, until we reach a speed above the maximum the ship was designed to take."

"Above warp 9.5 then?" Geordi asked.

"Yes, we could end up shaking the ship apart above those speeds. And, Geordi, we would do that a lot more quickly than if we break apart through the strain of trying to resist the force, by going slowly. You can see the dilemma we face."

The turbolift doors opened and Riker and Deanna rushed onto the Bridge. "Where's the Captain?" Riker asked Data.

"In his ready room, Commander."

"I think we've found them Data," Riker said as he and Deanna strode quickly across the Bridge. Data's face lit up.

"Come on," Riker indicated to Data and Geordi. The four officers advanced to Picard's door and waited for his permission to enter. Worf, the officer on watch, stayed at his station, unhappy that he wouldn't hear their news first hand.

During this, his latest watch on the Bridge, Worf had had plenty of time to ponder the plight of the three boys and to wonder if they'd yet been found. When he wasn't watching Data work, he was keeping an eye on communications to see as soon as any message arrived from Pranek Prime.

But as the hours passed and his radiation badge registered his personal absorption of roentgens – at a rate that Crusher's medical staff recorded hourly – it dawned on him that he was grateful that Alexander was not on board. He was in danger, yes, that seemed certain. But that now appeared far less of a threat than if he'd been on the Enterprise as it was being bombarded by radiation. Worse, he could be on board when it breaks up, Worf thought. That was no excuse for his misbehaviour, that was certain, but Worf did gain some pleasure from the thought that his son was off-ship at the moment.

#

The Captain looked up to see the four of them standing at the door. "What is it?" he said, puzzled that all of them had come to bring him news.

"We've found them, sir," Deanna began. "As you said, their movements were hidden in myth, not science."

"Yes," Riker interrupted. "We have identified them in two databases. We thought Data and Geordi should hear this too."

"Please, sit, explain," Picard said, sweeping his hand to include Data and Geordi. They pulled up chairs enough and sat in front of the Captain's desk.

"Well, the Tsanabi Chronicles is the first source," Deanna explained. "These are …'

"Yes, I know," Picard interrupted. "The equivalent of the Bible or the Koran … but for the Sanabi. They lived on Sana until twelve thousand or so years ago, I seem to recall. They disappeared, but no one knows where."

"Exactly sir," Deanna said, smiling and not at all surprised the Captain had this information at his fingertips. "We are not even sure what they looked like." She turned to look at Geordi, for she felt certain he didn't know who the Sana were. "We only know of them through their recordings. They were found five centuries ago in the monastery at P'Jem on Vulcan. Later they were copied into the Starfleet archives, before P'Jem was destroyed. The original records were lost in the conflagration. Also, we aren't sure where their home planet was located."

Geordi appreciated the background information, and nodded his thanks, but the rest of her audience was less patient. "Yes, Counsellor, go on," the Captain said.

Deanna took out her padd and read aloud.

"In the last days of Ramthan II Black Zanther (bird-like creatures) fell from the air and Ajaka (seal-like animals) washed onto the beaches in the south. The Priests were frightened and warned that these portends foretold the coming of a new race of divine beings who would war with the old gods. After ten days, thirty ships of gold came at night and without waking any person, settled near the temples, where worshipers found them when going to pray at first light. The newcomers bade them not to worship the old gods, who were capricious and weak, but to follow them. Sixteen priests barred the temple doors against the New Ones. But most of the people and many young priests came forth to listen, and in the days to come, they accepted the New Ones as their gods."

Deanna looked up from her reading. "Not that different from Pranek, right?"

All three men nodded.

"Yes, I can see the resemblance," Data answered. "New superior beings arrive from off the planet and settled right in among the people."

"Exactly. But let me read what happened next," Deanna said and lifted her padd

"It came to pass that King Ramthan II died. The people asked I'so, a female, of the New Ones, to become Queen, because she was well-loved. She agreed but only if Ramthan III took her as his wife. They ruled together for forty years, and their children ruled after them. For four generations justice prevailed. It was a time of new discoveries and new wealth. Machines took the place of people in the fields and factories. Those near death were healed. Aging was slowed. Food was abundant. The weather was good. There were no wars. The gods and we became one."

"That could be the Pranek people, it is true," Data said when she finished. But you have no idea what happened to these people or their gods. Right? What makes you think these gods are the same as those the Pranek worshipped and lost?"

Riker answered. "Because of what happened next. The Chronicles don't tell the story, but the Vulcans do. The Vulcan histories report that twelve thousand years ago a star in their nearby sky went nova, but before it did, the planet disappeared. It was not in orbit when the sun exploded."

"Is that in the Federation Database then?" Picard asked for clarification.

"Yes," Deanna answered, "but to be found in an historical file, and only poorly cross referenced in the scientific listings. We found astronomical reports of a ring nebula in the same vicinity, so we know that a star exploded at approximately that time."

Riker continued. "The histories report that the missing planet had been populated by primitives, who progressed toward enlightenment, peace and prosperity even more rapidly than the Vulcans had. This sounded like the home planet of the 'children of gods' to us. Though of course we can't be sure," he concluded.

The others nodded their assent and he continued. "More importantly, the Vulcans gave the coordinates of the star that exploded, and it is close to where the nebula is now. We surmised, then, that the 'gods' took that planet out of orbit, much as Rabijan IX was taken, presumably to save its inhabitants from the radiation the explosion caused. In other words, we may be tracking the same advanced beings as mentioned twelve thousand years ago in the Chronicles."

"Good work," Picard began, "that seems a better timeline than we had before. It fills some of the gap between 70,000 years ago and the present. But we still don't know who they are, these so-called 'gods'." Holding up his hands as though making quote-marks, he continued. "Headquarters will want to know more than that 'there was an illusive coloniser several millennia ago, who moved around this part of the galaxy, interbreeding with locals, who then disappeared.'" He dropped his hands to the desk, and added, "That just won't do. We have second-hand records and cross-references to their existence and activities, but we know nothing solid. And we are still only speculating about their motives, which on the surface appear beneficent."

"That's true, sir," Riker interjected. "But we found a second reference that may throw some light on those. But, sir, you are not going to like it."

"Ok. What is it?" the Captain asked with a sigh.

"We found in a file written by a Cardassian monk."

"A religious monk?" Geordi asked in astonishment.

"Yes, they had such people a few centuries ago, before they took up war and colonisation as their primary activities. Anyway, this monk was reporting on a series of events that took place nearly five thousand years ago. Not that Cardassians were in space then. He said this was a story reported to him by a humanoid who claimed to have come from the stars, who had pointed ears and fine features."

"Sounds like a Vulcan," Geordi said.

"Or a Romulan," Deanna added. "He might have been either, or neither. No way to know where he originated."

"Anyway," Riker continued, "the visitor said he was a refugee, a survivor from a battle that took place between two powerful races. One group, he claimed, was not humanoid, but were "devils". Hard to know what that means exactly," Riker looked at his fellow officers and they nodded.

"But the humanoids, he said, were 'the children of gods,' who were protected by beings with mighty weapons. They 'could move whole worlds', he claimed, and eliminate their enemies 'merely by looking at them.'"

"Perhaps hyperbole," Picard replied. "Exaggerated claims to scare an enemy."

"Yes, we thought so too," Riker said, looking at Deanna. "Except that the visitor then told the monk about the battle, during which the 'gods completely eliminated their rivals'. He said the 'devils' ships' were totally destroyed while not one of the gods' ships was damaged. The description of the battle indicated that some sort of particle beam weapon was used, which did not cause an explosion as much as it vaporised, or reduced the opponents to dusty grey molecules."

Picard frowned. "So, what you are saying is that if they are our quarry, they have a weapons system that may be far in advance of ours?"

"Yes sir. Millennia ago they were already using laser weapons to vaporise whole ships."

The Captain was silent a moment and his scowl said it all. "This is what Worf fears. Give him your information, and we can see what he makes of it. Let me get back to Starfleet with your new …."

The whole ship jolted once and the alarm began to ring. Riker grabbed a hold of Deanna to keep her from being thrown from the chair. Data spread his feet solidly on the ground. Geordi grabbed the corner of the desk.

Picard hit his comm. button. "What was that?" he asked Worf.

"We have accelerated, sir. Another 17mtr/sec.² The engines are fully operational but engineering report that the inertial dampener is being affected by the strain on the engines. We have reached Warp 1."

Geordi stood as though awaiting the Captain's orders. "I need to get back to Engineering," he said. The Captain nodded his agreement and the Engineer was out the door in a flash.

"Geordi's on his way back to Engineering. In the meantime, increase power," Picard said. "Try to keep us from moving forward."

"We are trying sir, but the ship doesn't respond. The helm reports being unable to keep us from moving inward toward the centre of the zone."

Picard stood. "I am coming to the Bridge," he informed Worf as he and the three officers hurried toward the door. They arrived on the Bridge to find Worf standing over the helmsman, watching the flashing lights and urging the young officer to increase his speed.

"Turn off the alarm," Picard shouted to comms. The lights stopped flashing, and he was able to scan the Bridge and see that everyone was at their station. All appeared under control. Nonetheless, Worf looked relieved to see the Captain.

Picard and Riker turned to the viewing screen. Stars that had passed by slowly when the Enterprise was at Impulse speed were now streaks of light. "How fast are we moving?" Picard asked.

"We are approaching Warp 2," the helmsman said, "and accelerating, sir."

"Where exactly are we?" he turned to Worf.

"We have been drawn another 1.6 light years inward, sir, even though we have tried to stay on the contour near the edge of the zone."

The lift doors opened and Dr Crusher rushed forward. "Sir," she said when acknowledged, "we all are absorbing large doses of radiation. This isn't tenable," she said looking around her at the younger officers. They sat at their duty stations, but each and every one of them was staring at her. It had passed the time when she could hide the danger from the crew. "Captain, we have to do something! Now!"