Chapter Sixteen
As they walked into the room they noticed the source of the mysterious energy readings. A huge generator extended from the ceiling of a large underground complex that stretched as far as the eye could see. The height of the generator must have been about fifty meters easy, and it seemed to disappear into the floor and go on for another fifty or so. The width of it was truly spectacular as well, being about twenty meters in diameter, the room it was housed in just about held it, and there were several corridors reaching out to different rooms at different angles.
Consoles were concentrated on the right of the generator and looked operational enough. The room was silent other than the soft thrumming noise of the generator and the echoes of the away team's voices as they spoke.
Data scanned with his tricorder but he came up with no answers. "The generator is producing too much interference for the tricorder to function adequately enough, Commander."
"It looks to me as if this generator has been running for hundreds if not thousands of years. It's in quite a bad state but it's still functioning." Geordi said as he walked around it; looking it up and down it's entire length. "This thing is huge, the whole room is. If we're going to get anywhere today I think we ought to spread out."
"Agreed, we should meet back here in one hour." Worf said and Data and Geordi both nodded in agreement.
"I'll take a look at this generator and see if I can figure out who built it or how it works." Geordi said moving closer to it with heightened interest.
"I will examine the consoles over there." Data pointed then turned to Worf. "Mr. Worf, search the complex and see if there are any inhabitants." Worf nodded and went off.
*****
Beverly finished the last dance and looked up smiling as she caught sight of the judges' pleased expressions. She breathed hard and walked steadily off the dance floor and to a chair at the side of the room to await the results. She put some warm clothes on over her costume so that she wouldn't get cramp, and took a long drink of the fresh orange juice she had brought with her. The other dancers in the competition seemed to be sitting on the edge of their seats while the judges conferred with one another.
In the corner of the room Beverly noticed a blue, hazy light start to appear. It seemed like smoke with a blue light shone on it, constantly changing form. Beverly watched it intently for a few seconds, blinking so that she could see if her eyes were playing tricks on her- they weren't. I don't believe in ghosts, she said to herself shutting her eyes and hoping it would go away. She forced herself to look once more but it was still there and the cloud was becoming more humanoid in shape. She stood up ready to go over and see exactly what it was when the judges spoke up over the speakers, announcing the winners of each of the dance groups. She glanced away momentarily interrupted but when she looked back the humanoid form had disappeared.
The results came over the tannoid loud and clear and were as Beverly had expected to hear to start with, and then it was the turn of the results of her groups to be announced. She took a deep breath knowing that they had to pick her after all of the effort she had put in.
"And the winner of the jazz dance competition is... Veronica Ford from Cambridge University in England." A cheer went through the crowd and stunned silence hit Beverly, she knew she should have won that competition... there was still one more chance though and she tuned in to what the judges had to say once more. "Last but certainly not least is the most popular of our competitions, the tap group. The winner of this section is... again Veronica Ford from Cambridge." A cheer hit the crowd again and Beverly sunk lower into her chair feeling disconcerted; her thoughts mixed with emotion.
"I won this competition, she came in second." Beverly said to herself in astonishment at the results. "This isn't right." Looking across to where the blue haze had been a moment before she noticed that it had returned once more but this time it looked more like a person, and the blue coloring was in fact the colour of the clothing it was wearing. The way it stood and faced her made it look as though it were laughing at her. She stood quickly wanting to make a fast exit. Everything was confusing her at the moment and she didn't know what to do.
Turning on her heel fast to make a quick get away from the ghostly apparition she stumbled forward and hit the floor with a thud, sinking immediately into unconsciousness with the impact.
Inside her mind she woke up in a strange place. Had she been here before? It looked vaguely familiar to her but she didn't know how. She stood up from the ground and looked up at the sky.
The dark grey clouds loomed ominously overhead as she stood waiting. Great masses of swirling gasses closed in on each other blocking out any sun light that might try to sneak past, and causing everything below to go dim, and depressingly colourless. The air was still and calm and carried no far off noises to the ears of anyone who might be listening.
It gradually began to get warmer and darker still as the first rumble of thunder was heard off in the far distance. She moved slightly and sighed. She had been waiting for a while now but no matter how hard she tried, she could not remember why she was waiting, but she felt compelled to do so just the same, and so she waited a bit longer.
She looked up at the sky as she felt the first splash of cool rain on her face. She loved the rain, it made her think that it was the Earth's way of cleansing itself of all the badness, and so she listened intently to the splashes and drips.
The thunder drew closer and gradually louder as the storm set to work. It had been building up to this particular moment in time for days now, and it had finally arrived. The sky opened up and the rain poured down, bouncing back off the ground below. Sighing again and letting the rain splash down on her face she felt the relief that came to her when the storm finally broke. She moved to one side slightly and stood under a large English oak tree that provided plenty of shelter, as the weather became more dismal and bleak.
She looked down towards a pool of water that was forming in the middle of the road. Road? What road? She hadn't remembered a road being there when she came here, but then she hadn't remembered coming here, how she got there, why she was there or indeed where she was. All she knew was that it somehow seemed familiar to her, and she felt compelled to wait. But for what? She felt sure that the answers she seeked were not far from her mind.
The thunder rumbled loudly once again as it moved directly above her, and the sharp flash of fork lightening that stabbed at the ground one hundred meters away, made her attention snap back, and her vision to focus on the pool of water once again. She watched as the rain splashed in the puddle, causing rippling effects that moved in circles towards the outside of the pool.
Mesmerizing.
The thunder rumbled loudly once again with a sharp stab of lightening following closely behind.
The rain subsided after about half an hour of the heavy droplets pelting off the ground, the thunder had long since dissipated and the sky had lost all of it's electrical charge. It was cold now and she began to shiver slightly, she pulled her cloak tightly around her and stepped out from under the tree, moving closer to the pool of water on the road. The water lay still and clear as she moved closer to it and looked down. Something looked back at her. Her reflection? She studied the image but could not recollect it as being her. Could it be that she had never seen herself before? She could not remember. Nevertheless, she was motivated by curiosity to look again. Sure enough as she moved closer to the water again, the same image reappeared. It must be her; there was no one else here.
She moved her hand up to her hair and touched it gently, the reflection did the same, a wisp of hair fell down into her eyes and she brushed it aside absentmindedly, and as though it were a perfectly natural thing for her to do. She studied her reflection. Her hair was a vibrant reddish/orange colour and was quite long, falling about her shoulders in a neat and tidy style. Her eyes were blue and she had a healthy complexion. A warm glow about her with red cheeks, she was not hypertensive and she knew this. How? Her cheeks were red because of the cold temperature that had been caused by the rain cooling everything down.
She looked up from the puddle and glanced at her surroundings.
Mist.
She could not see anything because of the mist.
Had it been misty all along?
What she did see was a portion of the road and the large English oak tree, vibrant with life. She didn't want to go wandering off and get lost, so she decided to stay where she was and try to figure out who she was instead. She looked at her clothes. She wore a large black cloak that she hugged to herself, black trousers and black shiny boots. Not a lot of clues there, she thought removing the cloak so she could see what else she was wearing. She found that the trousers were attached to the top, which was also black in parts but with blue arms and front- and back she presumed; though she could not see. The neckline was quite high with blue braid around it and three gold pips on the right hand side. Strange, she said to herself, this must be some sort of a uniform, but for what purpose? She noticed a gold badge that stood out against the blue on the left-hand side of her chest. It was a type of delta symbol that was linked at the bottom with an upward curve, and surrounded by an oval. She touched it, admiring it slightly and knowing that it was something she was proud of, it made a chirping noise but nothing more. "Well, I'm obviously part of some sort of organisation, though what, I'm not sure." She looked down to her waist and found a hand sized grey box, which she took from its holster. "My tricorder," she said pleased that she finally recognised something, but how did she know this? Yet more puzzling questions that she could not answer at this time.
She opened up the device revealing twinkling lights, and turned it so that it was facing away from her. She pressed a few buttons and moved it up and down a few times, at a distance of about ten centimeters from her body. It made a whirring sort of noise, and once it finished, she turned it back around and deciphered its readings. "B.P normal, pulse rate normal, temperature 36.9 degrees celcius," she looked up. "Everything checks out I guess." She put the tricorder back in its holster and wrapped the cloak around her again.
She thought about how she might get out of her immediate problem, which was to determine who she was. The rain splashed down on her face again, and she moved back under the tree and sat down on the bench. "Wait a minute. This definitely was not here before. What's happening?" Though she did not understand how it got there or why it was there, it was a very welcome sight since she had been standing for hours, so she sat, made herself comfortable and thought some more.
After a few minutes she decided that she would use her tricorder again, scan her brain wave patterns- that she knew were unique to every person, and cross reference the data with the tricorder- she also knew that the tricorder carried all of the information she needed to determine who she was, via cross referencing the data she collected, with the medical records it contained in it's memory. How she knew all of this though was beyond her at this point.
A few minutes later she finished the scan and began using the data to formulate an answer as to who she was. The small computer finished compiling the information it was given and then came up with the answer. The woman looked down and read the screen. "Results show positive indications that this person is Dr. Beverly Crusher." It clicked into place, she remembered who she was now but there were so many unanswered questions.
A figure stepped forward from under the oak tree; or rather it was an outline of a figure, hardly visible at all. It seemed cloudy containing a slight blue hue. She had seen this figure before at the dance competition but she hadn't known what it was then and still didn't now. It was definitely humanoid though and as it approached her she could begin to make it out a bit more clearly.
The figure stopped, held out what was presumably its arms and shook what was presumably its head. Beverly stared at it in disbelief as it vanished once more into nonexistence. It must have been trying to tell her something she assumed but what? There didn't seem to be a purpose for this "ghost" to keep on visiting her or at least not anything that she was aware of. Her heart sank as she stood in bewilderment and stared at the place the "ghost" had just occupied.
A/N: Please leave a review. Thank you.
As they walked into the room they noticed the source of the mysterious energy readings. A huge generator extended from the ceiling of a large underground complex that stretched as far as the eye could see. The height of the generator must have been about fifty meters easy, and it seemed to disappear into the floor and go on for another fifty or so. The width of it was truly spectacular as well, being about twenty meters in diameter, the room it was housed in just about held it, and there were several corridors reaching out to different rooms at different angles.
Consoles were concentrated on the right of the generator and looked operational enough. The room was silent other than the soft thrumming noise of the generator and the echoes of the away team's voices as they spoke.
Data scanned with his tricorder but he came up with no answers. "The generator is producing too much interference for the tricorder to function adequately enough, Commander."
"It looks to me as if this generator has been running for hundreds if not thousands of years. It's in quite a bad state but it's still functioning." Geordi said as he walked around it; looking it up and down it's entire length. "This thing is huge, the whole room is. If we're going to get anywhere today I think we ought to spread out."
"Agreed, we should meet back here in one hour." Worf said and Data and Geordi both nodded in agreement.
"I'll take a look at this generator and see if I can figure out who built it or how it works." Geordi said moving closer to it with heightened interest.
"I will examine the consoles over there." Data pointed then turned to Worf. "Mr. Worf, search the complex and see if there are any inhabitants." Worf nodded and went off.
*****
Beverly finished the last dance and looked up smiling as she caught sight of the judges' pleased expressions. She breathed hard and walked steadily off the dance floor and to a chair at the side of the room to await the results. She put some warm clothes on over her costume so that she wouldn't get cramp, and took a long drink of the fresh orange juice she had brought with her. The other dancers in the competition seemed to be sitting on the edge of their seats while the judges conferred with one another.
In the corner of the room Beverly noticed a blue, hazy light start to appear. It seemed like smoke with a blue light shone on it, constantly changing form. Beverly watched it intently for a few seconds, blinking so that she could see if her eyes were playing tricks on her- they weren't. I don't believe in ghosts, she said to herself shutting her eyes and hoping it would go away. She forced herself to look once more but it was still there and the cloud was becoming more humanoid in shape. She stood up ready to go over and see exactly what it was when the judges spoke up over the speakers, announcing the winners of each of the dance groups. She glanced away momentarily interrupted but when she looked back the humanoid form had disappeared.
The results came over the tannoid loud and clear and were as Beverly had expected to hear to start with, and then it was the turn of the results of her groups to be announced. She took a deep breath knowing that they had to pick her after all of the effort she had put in.
"And the winner of the jazz dance competition is... Veronica Ford from Cambridge University in England." A cheer went through the crowd and stunned silence hit Beverly, she knew she should have won that competition... there was still one more chance though and she tuned in to what the judges had to say once more. "Last but certainly not least is the most popular of our competitions, the tap group. The winner of this section is... again Veronica Ford from Cambridge." A cheer hit the crowd again and Beverly sunk lower into her chair feeling disconcerted; her thoughts mixed with emotion.
"I won this competition, she came in second." Beverly said to herself in astonishment at the results. "This isn't right." Looking across to where the blue haze had been a moment before she noticed that it had returned once more but this time it looked more like a person, and the blue coloring was in fact the colour of the clothing it was wearing. The way it stood and faced her made it look as though it were laughing at her. She stood quickly wanting to make a fast exit. Everything was confusing her at the moment and she didn't know what to do.
Turning on her heel fast to make a quick get away from the ghostly apparition she stumbled forward and hit the floor with a thud, sinking immediately into unconsciousness with the impact.
Inside her mind she woke up in a strange place. Had she been here before? It looked vaguely familiar to her but she didn't know how. She stood up from the ground and looked up at the sky.
The dark grey clouds loomed ominously overhead as she stood waiting. Great masses of swirling gasses closed in on each other blocking out any sun light that might try to sneak past, and causing everything below to go dim, and depressingly colourless. The air was still and calm and carried no far off noises to the ears of anyone who might be listening.
It gradually began to get warmer and darker still as the first rumble of thunder was heard off in the far distance. She moved slightly and sighed. She had been waiting for a while now but no matter how hard she tried, she could not remember why she was waiting, but she felt compelled to do so just the same, and so she waited a bit longer.
She looked up at the sky as she felt the first splash of cool rain on her face. She loved the rain, it made her think that it was the Earth's way of cleansing itself of all the badness, and so she listened intently to the splashes and drips.
The thunder drew closer and gradually louder as the storm set to work. It had been building up to this particular moment in time for days now, and it had finally arrived. The sky opened up and the rain poured down, bouncing back off the ground below. Sighing again and letting the rain splash down on her face she felt the relief that came to her when the storm finally broke. She moved to one side slightly and stood under a large English oak tree that provided plenty of shelter, as the weather became more dismal and bleak.
She looked down towards a pool of water that was forming in the middle of the road. Road? What road? She hadn't remembered a road being there when she came here, but then she hadn't remembered coming here, how she got there, why she was there or indeed where she was. All she knew was that it somehow seemed familiar to her, and she felt compelled to wait. But for what? She felt sure that the answers she seeked were not far from her mind.
The thunder rumbled loudly once again as it moved directly above her, and the sharp flash of fork lightening that stabbed at the ground one hundred meters away, made her attention snap back, and her vision to focus on the pool of water once again. She watched as the rain splashed in the puddle, causing rippling effects that moved in circles towards the outside of the pool.
Mesmerizing.
The thunder rumbled loudly once again with a sharp stab of lightening following closely behind.
The rain subsided after about half an hour of the heavy droplets pelting off the ground, the thunder had long since dissipated and the sky had lost all of it's electrical charge. It was cold now and she began to shiver slightly, she pulled her cloak tightly around her and stepped out from under the tree, moving closer to the pool of water on the road. The water lay still and clear as she moved closer to it and looked down. Something looked back at her. Her reflection? She studied the image but could not recollect it as being her. Could it be that she had never seen herself before? She could not remember. Nevertheless, she was motivated by curiosity to look again. Sure enough as she moved closer to the water again, the same image reappeared. It must be her; there was no one else here.
She moved her hand up to her hair and touched it gently, the reflection did the same, a wisp of hair fell down into her eyes and she brushed it aside absentmindedly, and as though it were a perfectly natural thing for her to do. She studied her reflection. Her hair was a vibrant reddish/orange colour and was quite long, falling about her shoulders in a neat and tidy style. Her eyes were blue and she had a healthy complexion. A warm glow about her with red cheeks, she was not hypertensive and she knew this. How? Her cheeks were red because of the cold temperature that had been caused by the rain cooling everything down.
She looked up from the puddle and glanced at her surroundings.
Mist.
She could not see anything because of the mist.
Had it been misty all along?
What she did see was a portion of the road and the large English oak tree, vibrant with life. She didn't want to go wandering off and get lost, so she decided to stay where she was and try to figure out who she was instead. She looked at her clothes. She wore a large black cloak that she hugged to herself, black trousers and black shiny boots. Not a lot of clues there, she thought removing the cloak so she could see what else she was wearing. She found that the trousers were attached to the top, which was also black in parts but with blue arms and front- and back she presumed; though she could not see. The neckline was quite high with blue braid around it and three gold pips on the right hand side. Strange, she said to herself, this must be some sort of a uniform, but for what purpose? She noticed a gold badge that stood out against the blue on the left-hand side of her chest. It was a type of delta symbol that was linked at the bottom with an upward curve, and surrounded by an oval. She touched it, admiring it slightly and knowing that it was something she was proud of, it made a chirping noise but nothing more. "Well, I'm obviously part of some sort of organisation, though what, I'm not sure." She looked down to her waist and found a hand sized grey box, which she took from its holster. "My tricorder," she said pleased that she finally recognised something, but how did she know this? Yet more puzzling questions that she could not answer at this time.
She opened up the device revealing twinkling lights, and turned it so that it was facing away from her. She pressed a few buttons and moved it up and down a few times, at a distance of about ten centimeters from her body. It made a whirring sort of noise, and once it finished, she turned it back around and deciphered its readings. "B.P normal, pulse rate normal, temperature 36.9 degrees celcius," she looked up. "Everything checks out I guess." She put the tricorder back in its holster and wrapped the cloak around her again.
She thought about how she might get out of her immediate problem, which was to determine who she was. The rain splashed down on her face again, and she moved back under the tree and sat down on the bench. "Wait a minute. This definitely was not here before. What's happening?" Though she did not understand how it got there or why it was there, it was a very welcome sight since she had been standing for hours, so she sat, made herself comfortable and thought some more.
After a few minutes she decided that she would use her tricorder again, scan her brain wave patterns- that she knew were unique to every person, and cross reference the data with the tricorder- she also knew that the tricorder carried all of the information she needed to determine who she was, via cross referencing the data she collected, with the medical records it contained in it's memory. How she knew all of this though was beyond her at this point.
A few minutes later she finished the scan and began using the data to formulate an answer as to who she was. The small computer finished compiling the information it was given and then came up with the answer. The woman looked down and read the screen. "Results show positive indications that this person is Dr. Beverly Crusher." It clicked into place, she remembered who she was now but there were so many unanswered questions.
A figure stepped forward from under the oak tree; or rather it was an outline of a figure, hardly visible at all. It seemed cloudy containing a slight blue hue. She had seen this figure before at the dance competition but she hadn't known what it was then and still didn't now. It was definitely humanoid though and as it approached her she could begin to make it out a bit more clearly.
The figure stopped, held out what was presumably its arms and shook what was presumably its head. Beverly stared at it in disbelief as it vanished once more into nonexistence. It must have been trying to tell her something she assumed but what? There didn't seem to be a purpose for this "ghost" to keep on visiting her or at least not anything that she was aware of. Her heart sank as she stood in bewilderment and stared at the place the "ghost" had just occupied.
A/N: Please leave a review. Thank you.