Chapter 25: First Contact

Dawn followed Lukarian to the backstage area. In the spotlight, Stephen tossed burning, twirling torches in high arcs, hardly appearing to touch them as he caught them and flung them spinning into the air again. A blue silk ribbon drew back his long blond hair. They saw Sulu waiting, wearing tights and a doublet, a prop sword at his side.

"Oh, Hikaru," Lukarian said.

"I'm all ready," he said.

"He didn't tell you?" Lukarian said.

"Who didn't tell me what?"

"Mr. Cockspur is on strike."

Dawn and Sulu looked at Lukarian surprised at the announcement.

"Am I the understudy?" Sulu asked. "Maybe I could go on instead."

"Could you? That would be great. Have you been onstage before? Do you know a soliloquy?"

"No, I haven't, but I do know ... I mean ..." Being familiar with Shakespeare and being able to walk onstage and play a scene were two very different things. "I guess I spoke too soon," he said.

"Could you learn a soliloquy by tomorrow?"

"Sure!"

"Okay. Auditions are a bitch, but if you think your ego can stand it, come to rehearsal tomorrow."

"I'll be there!"

In the audience, Buffy watched Stephen's act. The spectacular culminated in twirling knives and flaming torches. It was every bit as flamboyant as the man himself.

At the finish, Stephen caught the torches and knives, freed his hair from the ribbon, and bowed.

McCoy slipped into the auditorium and sat in Mr. Spock's seat.

"Bones, I think you have a future in vaudeville," Jim said softly.

"You're in trouble, boy," McCoy said. "I'm gonna borrow Ame's magic box long enough to get you into sick bay for your physical."

"Shh!" Buffy said. "I would hate to report you both to Dawn for not relaxing."

Suddenly they felt the Enterprise shudder. She and Jim leapt from their seats as the emergency alarms sounded and raced toward the bridge.

Jim slid into his seat. Sulu, incongruous in velvet doublet and silk tights, followed close behind and took his place at the helm. Buffy moved quickly to the navigation station as she wondered where their navigator was. She glanced back and saw Dawn was at the engineering station and Spock was at his station. She then looked briefly at the viewscreen and saw stars spiraling as the Enterprise tumbled.

"Something ripped us out of warp-speed!" Buffy said as she looked down at the console. "We're back in normal space."

"Warp drive's out, captain," Dawn said.

"Trying to steady our course, sir!" Sulu said. "I can only get about half power from the impulse engines!"

"Jim, you want to steady us down a little?" Dr. McCoy's slow drawl came over the intercom. "Or I'll have space sickness to deal with, as well as abrasions and contusions."

"No gravity-wave sources in this sector, captain," Uhura said.

"Dawn, relay to Mr. Scott that we need steady power!" Jim said.

"Aye, sir," Dawn replied and relayed the order.

A powerful signal appeared. "Captain," Spock said. "Anomaly, dead ahead."

The Enterprise's bucking and shuddering ceased abruptly.

An eerie peace possessed the ship.

Jim unclenched his fingers from the arms of his seat. "Thank you, Mr. Spock. Maximum magnification, Mr. Sulu."

Spock tried to match his readings to a planetary or stellar or interstellar or quasi-stellar object. He failed.

"Maximum magnification."

An enormous curved surface filled the viewscreen, hurtling closer. Buffy and Dawn glanced at each other in surprise. Since their stint on the NX-01 they had never seen anything like it.

Jim pulled back in surprise.

"Shields on full!" Jim said.

"It is several hundred thousand kilometers distant, captain," Spock said.

"Lower magnification, Mr. Sulu. Drop shields."

"My god," McCoy said. "What is it?"

No one had even heard McCoy arrive.

"Bones—any injuries?" Jim asked.

"Nothing serious, physically. A lot of concern about what happened." McCoy waited. No one made any attempt to explain. "What did happen?"

"When we figure it out, you'll be the first to know."

"Reducing magnification, sir," Sulu said.

As Sulu decreased the magnification, the iridescent curved surface resolved itself into a sphere, a mammoth pearl. It receded farther and became one pearl among many. A webbing of silvery strands connected the spheres together, forming a cluster. The magnification decreased again. The construct shimmered, as if soap bubbles had collected to create a surface. Most of the bubbles were spherical, but some extended long translucent projections, like the spines on the shells of diatoms.

Though the magnification was decreasing, the object continued to fill the screen from edge to edge. As a result, it appeared not to diminish in size, but to expand as if it had no limits.

Its enormity became clear, then startling, then frightening.

Sensors and instruments forgotten, everyone on the bridge stared in awe at the immense structure.

Finally its limits came into view. Extraordinarily beautiful, it shone with its own light. A luminescent skeleton supported the soap-bubble skin. Patches and sparks and streams of light followed its branches and formed a webbed translucent pool above its center. At this magnification, the soap-bubble surface became a smooth and translucent pearl-gray skin stretched between the glowing ribs.

"It looks ..." McCoy said slowly. "It looks alive."

"Buffy, Dawn do either of you recognize it?" Jim said.

"No," Buffy said. "Since our stint on the NX-01, we've never seen anything like it."

"It does not belong to any member of the Federation," Spock said.

"Thank you, Mr. Spock," Jim said.

"Its diameter is ... nearly seven thousand kilometers," Mr. Spock said.

"That's half the size of earth!" Uhura said.

"Half the diameter," Spock said calmly. "In terms of mass, of course, it would be much less."

"Captain," Sulu said, "that structure isn't on any charts. Also, the sensors were on long-range scan. They detected nothing. It wasn't there a few minutes ago. It wasn't anywhere within range a few minutes ago."

"What are you saying, Mr. Sulu? That it moved here under its own power?"

"Yes, sir."

Buffy and Dawn looked at each other. They had never seen the Borg craft that had brought the Borg through time to when they had been helping Cochrane build the Phoenix. They wondered if this could be it. Could this be a first contact with the future enemy, they wondered.

"Mr. Sulu is correct, captain," Spock said. "The sensors detected nothing—no approach of an unknown craft, no planetary body in our path—until after the gravitational perturbations that altered our course."

"What did it do, Spock?" McCoy asked. "Appear out of thin air?"

"Certainly not, doctor. There is no air."

"I was using," McCoy said, "an idiomatic expression."

Spock raised an eyebrow at the word "idiomatic."

"A metaphor," McCoy said. "It doesn't really mean what it says."

Uhura caught her breath. "Captain, listen—"

A cascade of high-pitched song and low wails, thunderous rumblings and electric spatters of noise filled the air, calling and pausing and answering. J

"I've never heard singing like it," she said. "And it has no words I recognize. The universal translator thinks it's random noise. The safeguards are routing the transmissions into storage—the translator can't find a way to work with them. It's ambient transmissions, sir—radio frequency energy, over a broad spectrum. It isn't—it doesn't seem to be—broadcasting a message toward the Enterprise."

Dawn stood up from the Engineering station and walked over next to Uhura and looked at it and frowned.

"Dawn?" Buffy asked.

"I don't think this is what we were thinking about," Dawn said.

"Commanders?" Jim said as he glanced from one sister to the other.

"It's classified, Jim," Buffy said. "It's not part of our files that you have clearance for because it holds facts from a future time."

"Based on what I am seeing, this is not them anyways," Dawn said.

"You two are sure?" Jim asked as Buffy and Dawn nodded. "Alright let's introduce ourselves."

"Wait a minute, Jim," McCoy said. "They aren't even aware that we're here—are you sure you want to tell them? Or it? We don't know who they are, what their intentions are —"

"Before you decide to fear them, Dr. McCoy," Spock said, "you might wait for evidence that 'they' exist. To gather such evidence, we must attempt communication."

"What kind of evidence do you need, Mr. Spock? What does that thing look like to you? A little lost planetoid? The product of erosion? I know! The effects of magnetism on interstellar dust!"

"It is not impossible to imagine a natural process whereby such a structure might be created. It would be rather unstable, of course—"

"'Not impossible'—only for a Vulcan! That thing was obviously created by a culture to which we might be nothing more than monkeys—or cockroaches!"

"Whatever their intentions," Spock said, "we must demonstrate our goodwill."

"Dawn," Jim said. "Take over for Lieutenant Uhura. No offense, Lieutenant."

"None taken," Uhura said as she stood. "Dawn told me she is actually fluent in more languages than I. She might be able to make heads or tails of all of this better than I can."

Jim nodded as Dawn sat down in Uhura's vacated seat. "Hailing frequencies, Dawn," Jim said. "And keep an ear out."

"Hailing frequencies open, Jim," Dawn said.

The alien cacophony faded to a background whisper. Jim hesitated. "This is James T. Kirk, captain of the starship Enterprise. I represent the United Federation of Planets, an interstellar alliance dedicated to peace, to knowledge, to friendship between all sentient beings. Greetings, and welcome. Please reply, if you receive my transmission."

The background noise ceased.

Dawn scanned through frequencies that a moment before had hummed with energy. "Quiet on all channels."

"The silence would seem to be some evidence of intelligent intervention," Spock said.

"Jim, at least raise the shields again!" McCoy said.

Jim chuckled.

"Dr. McCoy," Spock said, "an entity with the power to move that construct would make short work of our shields. Raising them might be regarded as provocative."

"Hailing frequencies, Jim, are still open. Want to try again?"

"This is James T. Kirk, of the starship Enterprise, on a mission of peace. Please respond."

The speakers remained silent.

"Nothing, sir," Dawn said. "Complete silence."

"Go to visual," Jim said. "Simplest protocol. Black and white bit map, one bit per pixel. Give them the horizontal and vertical primes so they'll have a chance of deciphering the transmission before next Tuesday."

"You're on visual ... now," Dawn replied.

"Everybody look peaceful," Jim said. Trying to appear relaxed, he gazed into the sensor. He rested his hands on his knees, palms up and open. The other people on the bridge faced the sensor and opened their hands. Aware of the irony of proving his peaceful intentions by opening his hands to beings who perhaps did not even have hands, Jim thought, You do what you can with what you've got.

"I'm getting a transmission!" Dawn said.

"Let's see it." Jim said.

Picture elements formed lines; lines built up to form a two-dimensional surface.

Jim whistled softly.

"My mother's magnolias," McCoy whispered.

A being gazed out from the slightly blurred image on the viewscreen. It possessed a humanoid shape of delicate proportions.

"I am James Kirk," Jim said, articulating each word with care. "Welcome to the United Federation of Planets."

He spread his hands, offering them palms up to the being who gazed at him in silence.

The being did the same.

Then it sang.

The melody soared and dipped in unfamiliar intervals, reaching above Jim's range of hearing, gliding below. The voice created several tones at once and sang in chords.

"Remarkable," Spock said.

"Dawn?" Jim said as she shook her head. He then had an idea. "Lieutenant Uhura ... Would you consent to sing it something?"

Mesmerized by the voice, she did not react at first. Then began to sing. Uhura painted a picture with her voice.

The image had begun to take on color and detail. The being had turned a dark red, the land behind it gray-green. It stood some distance in front of a high wall built of great pearly spheres.

Uhura let the final note fade to silence.

"Thank you, lieutenant," Jim said.

The being's large, pointed ears rose from the sides of its head. The bristly tufts at their tips stiffened.

"A cousin of yours, Mr. Spock?" McCoy said softly.

"This is hardly the time for your feeble attempts at levity," Spock said, his voice as cold as liquid nitrogen.

For once Jim agreed with Commander Spock. "This is not a good time for the two of you to argue," he said.

The being raised and spread its hands.

A new image radiated onto the viewscreen, taking it over with intense colors and sharp detail.

Dark lines, center-streaked with light, formed the shape of the alien construct, spreading, curving up, curving in like some ghostly, skeletal ceramic pot. A tiny spot of light, a glass miniature of the Enterprise, hovered in the foreground. It moved toward the structure, sailing over it, into it, and among the glowing lines. It vanished.

"Can you give me a similar schematic, Mr. Spock?"

"Certainly, captain."

"Dawn, transmit this to our friends."

A rectangle in the corner of the viewscreen cleared. An image of the alien structure appeared, made tiny by perspective; in the foreground, the Enterprise hovered. The computer sketched the outlines, which remained as the rest faded.

"And a humanoid stick figure, inside the Enterprise."

Spock raised one eyebrow, but complied.

"Now dissolve the stick figure, trail the bits to the alien craft, and reform them."

"Are you out of your mind, Jim?" McCoy said.

"Don't you want to come along?"

The new being returned to the viewscreen. It touched its sensory mustache with its tongue. Then, with a gesture perfectly comprehensible, it pointed at Jim and at the ground beneath it. Sharp nails tipped its long, delicate, three-fingered hand.

Jim touched his own chest, and pointed toward the being.

"Well, Bones?"

"Captain Kirk," Commander Spock said, "Dr. McCoy has not recently updated his first-contact clearance. It has expired. Mine is current."

"I actually might be the best choice," Dawn said. She then tapped her head. Spock, Jim and McCoy all nodded in understanding.

Jim pointed at Dawn, then at the new being.

The being showed them its hands, palms up, fingers spread, empty.

"An invitation, I believe, Dawn."

"I believe so," Dawn said.

"Buffy, take the conn. And—make an announcement about what's happened."

"Yes, sir."

Jim rose and took the stairs from the lower to the upper bridge in one stride. The turbo-lift doors slid aside for him. Dawn, Spock and McCoy followed.

"You can't go traipsing off—" McCoy said.

"I told you to update that clearance!" Jim was furious. "What are you doing out here, anyway, if you can't be bothered to keep up your credentials?"

McCoy started to retort, then deflated. "You're right," he said. "It was a stupid oversight."

"Ready?''

"Yes, captain." Spock and Dawn said. The three of them wore suits designed for working in alien environments that did not typically have an oxygen atmosphere along with other added benefits.

McCoy grumbled as Jim, Dawn and Spock stepped onto the transporter platform.

"Energize," Jim said.

"Energizing," Kyle said.