"I want my wife and the two others with her beamed over to this ship!" Jones ordered after appearing on the Romulan ship and finding himself face to face with Sela.

She snorted "You're no one to make orders around here!" she dropped not even looking at him, where she was sitting in the command chair "Count your blessings, that I went along with providing you a route of escape! Breaching the Treaty of Algeron is by no means forbidden by the Senate, but getting caught in the act means a court martial - the only thing I took that risk for is to set up our dilithium business again!"

He stepped up to her with blazing eyes, and grabbed her arm making her look into his eyes "If I don't have them, you can say goodbye to your little business on my planet!"

She dragged her arm away from his grip "Who do you think you are to threaten me, human?!" she stood face to face with him "Don't you think we haven't tried beaming them over?! Not that I'm interested in either your little concubine or the other humna, but the android would be something I'd get three ranks of promotion for! But he's too clever, he scrambles the transporter signal. We cannot lock on to them!" she retorted.

His features straightened as he seemed to be thinking for a moment "Then scare them out of there!" he hissed.

"What?"

He looked into her eyes with his usual smirk "Once they're on the planet, they're mine!"

"In case you've forgotten, the planet cannot be scanned thoroughly because of the kelbonite crust! Once they're on the planet, they could be lost forever, you obtuse primate!"

"You don't need scanners if you have the wits!" he retorted, then snorted in arrogance "You, people of the 24th century are so dependent on technology that you forgot how to use your heads!"

"I'd be more careful about how to phrase my remarks, human, before you get a taste of Romulan disruptor technology!" she hissed but then grimaced "What are you planning?" she asked on a lower voice.

"If they are trapped on the planet, there's only one place they can go to. One place that I've had watched for weeks now, waiting for just the right time!" he smiled, and his eyes glinted with triumph "The Resistance!"

"Tactical!" Sela's voice snapped harshly in her native tongue "Target the propulsion system of the shuttlecraft! Fire!"


Geordi was scanning the rubble left after the explosion of the runabout the third time and growled under his breath "Why couldn't you call me earlier? What would it have taken to say 'Geordi, scan the runabout for lifeforms'? No, you have to tell me in the last second..."

"Geordi, please..." Deanna tried to sooth him but to no good.

"Geordi, please" he repeated on a mocking high-pitched voice "Of course, you can ask me now! AFTER my best friend blew into a thousand pieces along with his girlfriend!" he grumbled on tapping the engineering console angrily.

"We don't know that yet!" Will snapped "Stop complaining and just do your job!"

Geordi swirled to him, his eyes were flashing with anger "You know what? I wouldn't have to do THIS job, if you've done yours properly!"

Will stepped up to him fuming "Are you accusing me of something?! Come on, out with it!"

"I'm not accusing you of anything, but if you notified me earlier, I could have done SOMETHING maybe more useful than scanning for their remains!"

"Stop it!" Beverly called out stepping between the two of them. They looked at her taken aback and in the sudden silence, heard Juliana sniffle from where she was standing at a corner with Deanna. Their hearts sank, and looking at Beverly who also had unshed tears in her eyes, they felt very guilty.

"Gentlemen." Picard stood next to Beverly "All of us is extremely stressed out. Pointing fingers to one another won't help anyone. Mr. La Forge, I refuse to accept that they're gone until we have solid proof of that, so please continue your scans." he looked around "If there's anybody who feels that he or she needs a break, take one, but I want people on the Bridge who are able to focus. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Captain." the Bridge crew replied on a silent humming.

They continued to work for another half an hour and finally, Geordi walked up to the command chairs, where the Captain and Will were sitting.

"Yes, Mr. La Forge." Picard straightened his back listening.

"It seems I have good news." the Engineer told them steepling his fingers for a moment "I could not find organic tissue nor any of Data's component elements within the rubble."

Beverly, Deanna and a visibly shaken Juliana gathered around him.

"Does this mean, they're alive?" she asked on a hopeful whisper.

Geordi turned to her and nodded "It seems so. Though human tissue might disintegrate completely in an anti-matter explosion, if they had been on the runabout, we would have found some residue of Data's component elements. Duranium for example." he shook his head "None of these elements turned up on the scans."

"Thank god..." Deanna breathed relieved and squeezed Juliana's hand in hers.

"The question is: where are they now?" the Captain asked on a grim voice.

"They must have beamed off to the planet. That was their original plan." Beverly told them a little surprised that they were having doubts about it.

"Not necessarily." Picard told her leaning forward and steepling his fingers "We know that Premier Jones was beamed off the Enterprise by a Romulan transporter, most probably to the bird-of-prey we've seen. What if they managed to beam Data and the others over to the Romulan ship?"

Geordi shook his head "I don't think, that's possible, Sir."

"Why?" Deanna asked curious.

"I could not get a lock on anything on the runabout exactly because it was jamming all transporter signals. Romulan transporter technology works on the same principals ours does. If they wanted to beam them off, they couldn't have more luck with it than we did."

"So they are on the planet for sure." Will mused.

"I could try to check the remains of the runabout's transporter, there might be something in the logs - if they're still legible." Geordi offered.

"Why do we waste time on that?" Beverly asked impatiently, and they all looked at her "We know Emma wanted to go to the Resistance, and we do have the coordinates. Why don't we just beam down and check?"

The Captain nodded "Agreed. That would be the simplest way to make sure where they are. Number One, arrange an away-team. And before you object, I'm leading it." he declared and stood up.

Will looked away with raised eyebrows not even trying to defy him this time "Yes, Sir." he said standing.

"Captain!" they all heard Juliana suddenly "Wait a moment, please."

"Yes, Doctor Tainer?" he looked at her and gently touching her arm added "I understand that you wish to accompany us, but I'd rather you stayed-"

"It's not about that, Captain!" she shook her head, and they all looked at her curious "I've been meaning to speak to you earlier. About my findings of the tectonic activities of Epsilon Four."

"Tectonic activities." Picard frowned a little impatiently.

"Yes, Captain. Ever since we left the planet, tectonic activities increased by at least fifteen percent. The quakes occur more often and are more violent than they had been before. This is what I wanted to report to you. The planet is starting to be geologically unstable."

They all frowned surprised "But why? What could cause such a thing?" Geordi asked.

"Though I'm not entirely sure, I believe I can give you a hypothesis." she started to explain "When we were underground in that mine shaft, over ten thousand meters deep, the quake that buried Emma and trapped us was the first sign of a rare chain-reaction process started inside the dilithium lattices."

"Chain-reaction?" Deanna asked curious.

"Yes. If and only if the dilithium crystal lattices are aligned, they tend to cause tremors. You might remember this from your mission in the Drema sector, eight years ago. The reports of that mission are now standard educational material in all geological faculties. It has also been determined that the alignment of the lattices in itself cannot cause catastrophic geological phenomena. Tremors should be mild, as they've been so far on Epsilon Four."

"But Doctor," Will cut in "in the Drema sector, those planets seemed to tear themselves apart from inside."

She nodded "I know. There, the natural heat of the planet started the chain-reaction. Compared to Epsilon Four, planets in the Dreman solar system have a much hotter climate, because they're close to several stars. They absorb a lot more thermal energy, therefore the natural heat of the planets are much higher. The climate of Epsilon Four is different. It's much like that of Earth's, a lot colder than the Dreman planets."

"So this chain-reaction you're talking about is not caused by a natural phenomenon?" Picard asked wanting to get to the bottom of this.

"No, Captain. I believe when Premier Jones fired that Romulan disruptor several times in the mines, the dilithium lattices absorbed the thermal energy of the shots, the heat of the ricochets, amplified it and transported it from one lattice to the other. From this point onwards, the process is the same as it was in the Drema sector. The heat is focused by the unusual crystalline structure of the dilithium, and then it's turned into mechanical energy which causes ever more violent tremors and quakes. This is a self-reinforcing process. Once started, it will not stop on its own, but continue until the tension is relieved by a catastrophic event."

They all gaped at her shocked, and Beverly asked what they all had on their minds "So you're saying Epsilon Four is in the process of tearing itself apart, if we don't do anything to prevent it?"

"I believe so." she nodded and then went on turning her palms up "I'm sure their geologists already recognized that there's something terribly out of place with their planet. However, with the methods and technology of the twenty-first century, they won't be able to identify the problem, let alone solve it."

A heavy silence descended on all of them, and the Captain spoke on a grim voice "There are over three hundred thousand people down there... How long a time do you think they have?"

Juliana slightly shrugged unsure "Hard to say. Before the planet rips itself apart, their buildings and other structures will first be destroyed, presumably killing some of the population. But in a few days, the quakes will start to become so violent, that they will start to take victims of their own."

Geordi turned to her curious "Doctor Tainer, in the Drema sector, we were able to stop this process at one of the planets. Do you think, we could do the same here and save the population?"

Juliana glanced away troubled "Theoretically, it's possible. I'd need to go over the calculations, and we'd need to figure out how to properly measure where the latices are located beneath the kelbonite surface. But I believe, it could be done."

"Question is, do we have the authority to do it?" Will asked "If they don't accept any kind of help from the Federation..."

"We could help them without letting them know about it." Deanna proposed "The Dremans had no idea about our help either except for the little girl, Sarjenka." she reminded them.

"We used her plea for help as an excuse to breach the Prime Directive." the Captain growled remembering "But this is not as simple as that with Epsilon Four. No one asked for our help, and Epsilon Four doesn't fall under the Prime Directive, neither Federational jurisdiction. We may help them, but only if they request it. Without an official request, our hands are bound. Officially, of course..."

Beverly shook her head frustrated "But we will not receive any such request, since the Epsilonians have no idea what is going on with their planet. And Jones will not talk to us - even if he did, and we could explain this to him, he'd think we're trying to trick him. Back where we started."

"What a perfectly vicious little circle..." Will growled.

Geordi let out a frustrated breath massaging his neck "Data... he has the worst of lucks: they jumped out of the frying pan right into the fire."

"As any member of a society can make a request for help on behalf of their people," Deanna began "why couldn't Emma or Mr. Mils make that request as a full citizen of Epsilon Four? Just one more reason to find them quickly!"

"And since Jones must be already looking for them, probably with the help of the Romulans, we better hurry!" Beverly reminded them.

"Let's waste no more time!" Picard declared, and they all went to prepare.


Data, Earl and Emma had been walking in a thick forest for an hour, climbing a steep hillside. Data turned back and held out a hand to Emma to pull her up to the ledge he was standing on. She accepted the offered hand, and he pulled her up to him in one motion. She held on to him to steady herself, and for a brief moment, she felt the security of his arms around her waist again. Her pulse spiked as she gazed into his beautiful eyes, standing there suddenly so close to him, and she found herself overwhelmed by a need to just push herself up against him and kiss him as deep as she could.

But he just looked at her a little confused before releasing her and bowing to help Earl up too. She looked at him longingly as he turned and stepped ahead to lead the way without a glance at her. His visible ignorance felt like a bucket of cold water in the neck, and she suddenly felt really angry - she wasn't even quite sure at whom.

"So, tell us again, how did you screw up the coordinates, Deadpan?" she asked pointedly frowning as they walked on on the narrow pathway.

Data didn't turn back as he answered patiently "I did not 'screw' anything up, Emma. As I have mentioned, I simply ran out of time to provide the full coordinates to the transporter before the anti-matter explosion occurred. Once the computer acknowledges that the coordinates are not provided in the correct manner, but the executive override is given, it fills the missing digits with zeros. Thus, we are not far from our destination coordinates. Only thirty kilometers away from the once studio lot. This is the north side of the Ridgeback Mountains, Ethel city and the lot is to the south."

"Thirty kilometers..." Earl grunted under his breath. He was panting from the effort of climbing a mountain.

Emma turned back to her old friend - and fought off a wave of dizziness - she smiled at him feeling her heart melt at the thought that they were together and going home... "Stop grumbling, Earl." she chided softly "This little excursion might give us an extra leeway!" she entwined her arm through his as he looked at her with a slight annoyance as she explained "I'm sure the Captain will be looking for us at the Resistance, even if Bev says nothing to him about our plans. He is a loyal officer and not a stupid one at that. But once he acknowledges that we're not there, he might be content with the fact that we actually died in the blast! At least I hope-" she trailed off, and the next thing Data heard from behind was Earl's alarmed voice:

"Emma!"

Data turned back and gaped seeing Emma lying in Earl's arms on the ground, limp, with closed eyes. He jumped back to them and crouched opposite Earl, where he was squatting at her side.

"Little bird!" the old man whispered stroking her cheek, while Data scanned her lifesigns with a tricorder.

"She lost consciousness, but otherwise she is unharmed. In effect, she is asleep." he said putting the instrument away.

"Give her some medicine!" Earl urged the android worried, but Data shook his head.

"No. Doctor Crusher warned us about her getting exhausted, if she does not rest. She refused my offer of carrying her, so now at least, her body will get a chance to regenerate and rest." he explained and putting his palms underneath her, picked her up as if she weighted nothing. "Let us proceed." he commanded on a silent voice, and they made a move again.

After another hour, Earl couldn't hold on any longer, and asked for a short break to catch his breath. He sat down on a flat stone and took a few gasps of air stretching his sore limbs. Data simply stood there holding the still sleeping Emma in his arms and gazed out over their surroundings. In the silence, only the sounds of the forest could be heard, the air was warm as the autumn sun shone through the canopy of leaves.

"Nice, isn't it?" Earl asked after a few minutes looking out to the forest. Data turned to him and looked at him waiting for him to go on. Earl stood and lazily walked up to him "We used to go hiking with Emma and my son and some others from the Resistance in this forest. We tried to at least pretend that we have a normal life. For a few hours, we believed it." He looked from the sleeping Emma out over the forest again "We'll need to find shelter for the night. We won't be able to take the remaining kilometers, while the sun is still up." he chuckled wryly "That is, I cannot walk that much in a few hours' time..."

"I could carry you too, if you were willing to hold on to my neck." Data offered casually, and Earl chuckled at first thinking that he was joking.

Then seeing the android's expression, he shook his head "I must decline, my friend." Data was about to ask why, but the old man went on before he could pry on "There used to be a small cabin, a shed somewhere among the trees. We found it once or twice, but my memories are quite vague about where it actually was."

"If you can explain its surroundings to me, I might be able to find it." Data offered.

Earl looked at him frowning suspiciously "You might. How?"

"I have a contour map of the Ridgeback Mountains stored in my memory banks. Before the mission, I looked up all available data on the planet, this was among the ones I never thought I would consider useful one day."

The old man nodded appreciatively "Very well, lets walk, and I tell you what I remember." he said but stopped short seeing the android standing there rigid, unmoving "What is it?"

Data looked around with a deep frown "Do you not hear it?" he asked on a whisper.

"Hear what?" Earl asked stepping back to him alarmed.

"The birds. They grew completely silent!"

No sooner than he uttered the words, the ground began to move under their feet, and they had to counterbalance to steady themselves.

"Don't worry, it'll pass in a moment." Earl told him knowing the tremors of Epsilon Four pretty well.

But instead of it dying down as it should, it became stronger! So strong that Earl finally felt he lost his footing and had to hold on to Data's upper arm for support - he had no idea, how the android managed to remain standing, especially with Emma in his arms! There was a cracking noise, and Data turned to cover Emma's (and Earl's) body from getting hurt by the enormous tree falling across the path just a few meters from them. They stumbled to a rocky ledge and crouched underneath it for cover. The tremor became a quake, and Data tried everything to protect the two vulnerable humans with his body. The quake raged on for ten more minutes. Huge rocks and dirt slid about them everywhere, and they even saw animals running frightened to death down the slope. Data could tell that Earl was no less afraid, and somehow amongst these most unsettling circumstances, he sensed a certain contentment that Emma did not have to consciously experience this extreme natural phenomenon. The quake then slowly subsided and peeking out on the path, they saw that the trunk of the huge tree that had fallen next to them was blocking their way.

Earl let out a long breath "Something is not okay here..." he whispered still visibly scared, and Data looked at him questioningly. He shook his head "From time to time, there are tremors, but not as violent as this, that huge trees are twisted out of their roots!" he said motioning at the trunk.

Data cocked his head "Perhaps the tree was rotten inside. But you are correct in your assessment of the strength of the tremor. My mother and I examined the tectonic activities of Epsilon Four before we arrived here, and nothing indicates that their magnitudes should go above 4.9 on the Richter scale. By my estimation, this was around 6.3. And the Richter scale is a logarithmic scale!"

"Whatever you want to imply with that..." Earl - not being a man of numbers - grumbled grimacing.

Data started to explain readily "I wanted to say that the range between the two values on the Richter scale are in actuality bigger than they seem by their seemingly linear nature, since the value represented by each equidistant mark on any logarithmic scale is the value at the previous mark MULTIPLIED by a constant-"

But Earl put a hand on his arm "Data, if I haven't understood it in my last seventy years, I won't start now! Let's make a move! We have a tree to climb over - and who knows what else fell onto our path!"

Data nodded with a slight frown. He couldn't help to be reminded of the Captain when he would usually tell him that the explanation of a technical problem needs to be conducted at a later time. The memory gave him a sense of missing his family and their little customs he became so used to, that they were almost an integral part of him. The sensation reminded him what it felt like to experience nostalgia - but he had no time to brood about the comparison of the feelings he experienced in an emotional state and his basic sensations he experienced in his unemotional state. They stood and started to walk.