A door somewhere in the dark creaked. Jean-Luc wasn't sure how long they
had been held captive, he had lost all track of time. All he knew was they
had been here a lot longer than three hours. Commander Riker can handle
things he assured himself Geordi and Data will be back on the Enterprise by
now, and they'll find us, soon. They have to... I have to get Beverly back
to sickbay...
His thoughts were interrupted as the door opened further and the room was
filled with light. He shielded his eyes from the luminescence, and it took
him a few minutes to realize it was just a dim lantern. He tensed.
"Nam-tor dhou vous gut?" asked a girl's voice. It took him a few
moments to realize that she was the only one who had come. He relaxed a
bit. "Nam-tor dhou vous gut?" she repeated.
It took him a few minutes more to understand what she was saying, and even
then he wasn't quite sure, except for the tone. She wasn't speaking any one
language, nobody here did. it was as if all of the languages originally
spoken by the people who settled this colony, had blended into some sort of
interlanguage, that Federation Standard English was no part of. He caught
the French word, vous. He wondered, If she could possibly speak straight
French? It was worth a try.
"Parle vous francais?" he asked.
"Oui" she replied, smiling. They continued their conversation in
French. "Are you two all right?" she asked.
"For the most part." he replied, not quite honestly.
"I've brought you a blanket, and Mother will try to get you some food
soon. I'm sorry it isn't the best, but it's all we could sneak down
here without my father noticing. It's a bit ragged around the edges,
but it's clean, and it will keep you warm. I'm sorry he was so hard on
you. Mother tries to do what she can to help, but he's quite strict in
punishing trespassers. " She explained, handing the blanket to him. He
draped it over Beverly's shoulders.
"Trespassers?" he asked, as she set her tray down.
"Yes, our colony is secluded for a reason. We have vowed to give up
technology" she spoke the word as if it were a deadly enemy, that
could come and attack her if she even mentioned it, and she had been
taught to fear it all her life, "Unlike the rest of the worlds. The
Talaydhrian government gave us this land, and my father keeps the
borders well guarded. Anything outside is theirs, anything inside we
have the right to control as we please."
"I see." Picard replied, becoming more than a bit nervous. "Do you
know of any way we could get out of here? I don't want to cause a
disturbance, but we need to get back to the sh... to where we came
from."
"Is your wife all right?" she asked.
"My wife..." he began, and almost corrected her, but something
stopped him.
He looked at Beverly, with his arms still around her. They fit together so
comfortably.... it wasn't that difficult of an assumption for the girl to
make. And from what he'd seen, or rather heard from those boys, they were
rather Puritan in their beliefs. It might be better for her to go on
assuming.
"She hit her head." he replied truthfully. The girl winced. "She was
still conscious after she landed," he tried to reassure her. "She only
has a concussion, but it would be best if I could get her back to the
ship all the same."
"I'm very sorry, but I can't help you. Mother and I have done what we
can." she replied, sadly, but with a touch of fear and anger as she
started to back away.
"I understand," Picard replied, quickly, "I didn't mean to imply that
you should do more. I thank you for doing what you have."
"I... I have to go, Father might notice if I'm gone too long." she
stumbled, almost frantically.
"Wait! can you please leave us some light?" he asked, hopefully.
"Oui, Monsieur." she replied, and lit a small, twisted knot of straw,
and placed it into a tiny alcove made from a fallen brick in the wall. It
gave off little light, at least compared to the lantern, but it burned
slowly and steadily, and would be enough to counter the pitch-blackness of
their prison.
"Merci" he replied, and with that she left, taking the lantern light
with her
*****
