Chapter Seventeen
Data looked across at Geordi when he had finished his analysis of the consoles in the generator room. "Geordi, have you found anything of consequence?" He asked, waiting for a reply while Geordi finished what he was doing.
"Actually, Data, I haven't found anything. As far as I can tell this generator is here to protect the outer atmosphere from the nebula gasses and shield the planet. As I suggested it somehow keeps the environment outside alive." Tapping the buttons on his tricorder he continued his report, "My scans say that this generator itself is about five thousand years old but that's about it. What did you find out?" Geordi asked.
"Much the same as you, Geordi. These consoles appear to have been controlled by humanoids at one point in time but that is no longer the case. The guardian of this planet, if Counsellor Troi was right in that there is one, is either not humanoid and keeps that generator and all other functions operating by some other means or is humanoid, and there is another control console elsewhere in the complex that it uses." Data and Geordi turned to see Worf entering the generator room from one of the corridors.
"There are no inhabitants of this complex, no living quarters or any signs of life. There is no way out of here either and I can't find any sign of a transporter device that might have brought us here." Worf reported looking quite impatient and annoyed at having been sent on a wild goose chase for nothing.
"What about another console that may be used to operate the generator?" Geordi asked.
"There are no other such devices in any of the rooms, Commander. All of the rooms appear empty and I cannot detect any other source of power on my tricorder that might indicate any more consoles in the complex." Worf replied. "I suggest that we look in the outer cave more closely, there may be something that we missed."
"It seems that our search is complete here. I think we should return to the ship and report to the captain. The ship's sensors may be able to scan the cave more accurately than a tricorder." Data suggested. They turned and left the complex, heading back to the ship.
Troi awoke with a start and sat bolt upright on the bio bed. She shook her head as she broke the link between her mind and Beverly's. "I can't help her anymore." She told Dr. Selar, rubbing her eyes as she got used to the light again.
"Please don't try, Counsellor," Bashir said as he came around the corner from the lab. "The blocker you've been given hasn't set to work properly yet, give it time. There's nothing more that you can do for her now."
"I can only sever the link when I'm awake, if I sleep then my mind will wander and most likely link with Beverly's again since I'm so worried about her condition and can't stop thinking about her." Troi said as she jumped down off the bed.
"You'll be able to sleep soundly when that blocker sets in and takes effect. Give it about an hour or so, you've had quite a lot of silosinen." Bashir told her.
Troi nodded to him. "Are you any closer to finding something that will help her?"
Bashir gestured for Troi to follow as he stepped back into the lab. "This vial is a solution to all of her problems... I hope." Bashir said holding up a mixture of drugs in a small hypospray bottle.
"Hope?" Deanna asked concerned that it was the best he could come up with.
"I'm afraid that we haven't had time to test it and we have to act quickly if it's going to work at all." Bashir told her, sympathetic with her concern.
Troi nodded, understanding. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Not really, Counsellor. I'm going to administer the drug, and monitor her." Bashir stepped out of the lab with Troi and Selar. He took a hypospray from a side bench and loaded the vial into it. Beverly still lay on the bio bed and Bashir walked over to her, he turned to look at Selar to see if she was monitoring Beverly's condition. Selar nodded back to Bashir, indicating that she was ready and he shot Beverly with the vial in the side of her neck.
Selar spoke up from the monitor. "Nothing is happening, Dr. Bashir."
"What?" He spun round and quickly made his way over to the console. "How is this possible? We should have had something, some indication of which way this situation was going to go, be it good or bad."
"You have done something but not what you expected." Troi looked up at them both and they stopped what they were doing. "It's a life form down on the planet, far superior to anything we've encountered before, it has a hold on Beverly's mind to try and learn more about us from her past experiences." Troi said as she stood listening to something with her mind.
"How does it have a hold on her mind, Counsellor?" Dr. Selar asked.
"It's using a sort of telepathy way beyond anything I can even begin to understand. It enters a host's mind and sits there extracting information, normally it can do this without harming the individual but not all of the time." She took a breath while she tried to gain more information. "My telepathic blocker isn't functioning at all right now, this alien has found a way to communicate with me. All it wants is to learn and the vial that you gave Beverly is hurting it in some way. It needs to move onto another host and it has selected me." She said looking them both in the eyes as they started to move closer to her, shocked by what she had just said.
"Counsellor you..." Bashir said continuing to move over to her to try and help, to at least attempt to stop her from letting it overtake her mind.
"It has moved into my mind now." Troi sat down, she was talking but her gaze was now distant as if she was listening to something inside her. "It is a very powerful non corporeal life form, capable of many things. It feeds off the essence of its host and gains information that way also.
"There were inhabitants on the planet below; humanoids. The alien came from a far off place to this planet thousands of years ago. It inhabited all of the humanoids and eventually the race was killed off. The alien felt sad and decided to maintain the planet in the hope that another race would colonise it.
"The star began emitting radiation and the alien became stranded on the planet as it slowly became engulfed and lost inside the nebula. All it wants to do is to learn and it hasn't been able to do that since no one was able to penetrate the nebula. It lives on the planet but its mind is so powerful that it can reach out into the nebula but no further, it can't leave here unless a ship comes with more hosts.
"It was inhabiting the mind of the dead shuttle pilot when Beverly was examining him down on the planet. It had taken all of the information it could from the crewman before it had to move on to its next victim. Beverly was remembering about a time when a shuttle crash landed and it found the memory interesting so it chose her."
"What about Beverly though? Has it left her for dead or will she survive now it's moved on?" Bashir asked the alien presence inside Troi.
"She will regain consciousness soon." Troi replied as the alien told her what would happen.
"What about the Washington or Voyager?" Selar asked. "Does it know where the crew of the two ships are?"
"The Starship Washington is on the planet with part of the Enterprise but it hasn't come into contact with Voyager." Troi told them as the alien communicated through her.
"Why did the alien take the ships?" Selar asked.
"It wishes for a race to colonise the planet since it hasn't had contact with anybody for such a long time."
"It's lonely?" Bashir asked.
"Yes."
"Will the alien let the crew and ships go?" Bashir asked, wondering if they had a hostage situation on their hands.
"Yes, it has gained enough information from us for the time being, and it doesn't wish to cause more harm." Troi said as the alien presence spoke to her once again.
"What do we do now?" Selar asked the alien.
"It wants to speak with Commander Riker." Troi replied.
"I'm sure that can be arranged. Commander Riker must be desperate for some answers by now." Bashir said as he turned to look at Selar who nodded in agreement.
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Data looked across at Geordi when he had finished his analysis of the consoles in the generator room. "Geordi, have you found anything of consequence?" He asked, waiting for a reply while Geordi finished what he was doing.
"Actually, Data, I haven't found anything. As far as I can tell this generator is here to protect the outer atmosphere from the nebula gasses and shield the planet. As I suggested it somehow keeps the environment outside alive." Tapping the buttons on his tricorder he continued his report, "My scans say that this generator itself is about five thousand years old but that's about it. What did you find out?" Geordi asked.
"Much the same as you, Geordi. These consoles appear to have been controlled by humanoids at one point in time but that is no longer the case. The guardian of this planet, if Counsellor Troi was right in that there is one, is either not humanoid and keeps that generator and all other functions operating by some other means or is humanoid, and there is another control console elsewhere in the complex that it uses." Data and Geordi turned to see Worf entering the generator room from one of the corridors.
"There are no inhabitants of this complex, no living quarters or any signs of life. There is no way out of here either and I can't find any sign of a transporter device that might have brought us here." Worf reported looking quite impatient and annoyed at having been sent on a wild goose chase for nothing.
"What about another console that may be used to operate the generator?" Geordi asked.
"There are no other such devices in any of the rooms, Commander. All of the rooms appear empty and I cannot detect any other source of power on my tricorder that might indicate any more consoles in the complex." Worf replied. "I suggest that we look in the outer cave more closely, there may be something that we missed."
"It seems that our search is complete here. I think we should return to the ship and report to the captain. The ship's sensors may be able to scan the cave more accurately than a tricorder." Data suggested. They turned and left the complex, heading back to the ship.
Troi awoke with a start and sat bolt upright on the bio bed. She shook her head as she broke the link between her mind and Beverly's. "I can't help her anymore." She told Dr. Selar, rubbing her eyes as she got used to the light again.
"Please don't try, Counsellor," Bashir said as he came around the corner from the lab. "The blocker you've been given hasn't set to work properly yet, give it time. There's nothing more that you can do for her now."
"I can only sever the link when I'm awake, if I sleep then my mind will wander and most likely link with Beverly's again since I'm so worried about her condition and can't stop thinking about her." Troi said as she jumped down off the bed.
"You'll be able to sleep soundly when that blocker sets in and takes effect. Give it about an hour or so, you've had quite a lot of silosinen." Bashir told her.
Troi nodded to him. "Are you any closer to finding something that will help her?"
Bashir gestured for Troi to follow as he stepped back into the lab. "This vial is a solution to all of her problems... I hope." Bashir said holding up a mixture of drugs in a small hypospray bottle.
"Hope?" Deanna asked concerned that it was the best he could come up with.
"I'm afraid that we haven't had time to test it and we have to act quickly if it's going to work at all." Bashir told her, sympathetic with her concern.
Troi nodded, understanding. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Not really, Counsellor. I'm going to administer the drug, and monitor her." Bashir stepped out of the lab with Troi and Selar. He took a hypospray from a side bench and loaded the vial into it. Beverly still lay on the bio bed and Bashir walked over to her, he turned to look at Selar to see if she was monitoring Beverly's condition. Selar nodded back to Bashir, indicating that she was ready and he shot Beverly with the vial in the side of her neck.
Selar spoke up from the monitor. "Nothing is happening, Dr. Bashir."
"What?" He spun round and quickly made his way over to the console. "How is this possible? We should have had something, some indication of which way this situation was going to go, be it good or bad."
"You have done something but not what you expected." Troi looked up at them both and they stopped what they were doing. "It's a life form down on the planet, far superior to anything we've encountered before, it has a hold on Beverly's mind to try and learn more about us from her past experiences." Troi said as she stood listening to something with her mind.
"How does it have a hold on her mind, Counsellor?" Dr. Selar asked.
"It's using a sort of telepathy way beyond anything I can even begin to understand. It enters a host's mind and sits there extracting information, normally it can do this without harming the individual but not all of the time." She took a breath while she tried to gain more information. "My telepathic blocker isn't functioning at all right now, this alien has found a way to communicate with me. All it wants is to learn and the vial that you gave Beverly is hurting it in some way. It needs to move onto another host and it has selected me." She said looking them both in the eyes as they started to move closer to her, shocked by what she had just said.
"Counsellor you..." Bashir said continuing to move over to her to try and help, to at least attempt to stop her from letting it overtake her mind.
"It has moved into my mind now." Troi sat down, she was talking but her gaze was now distant as if she was listening to something inside her. "It is a very powerful non corporeal life form, capable of many things. It feeds off the essence of its host and gains information that way also.
"There were inhabitants on the planet below; humanoids. The alien came from a far off place to this planet thousands of years ago. It inhabited all of the humanoids and eventually the race was killed off. The alien felt sad and decided to maintain the planet in the hope that another race would colonise it.
"The star began emitting radiation and the alien became stranded on the planet as it slowly became engulfed and lost inside the nebula. All it wants to do is to learn and it hasn't been able to do that since no one was able to penetrate the nebula. It lives on the planet but its mind is so powerful that it can reach out into the nebula but no further, it can't leave here unless a ship comes with more hosts.
"It was inhabiting the mind of the dead shuttle pilot when Beverly was examining him down on the planet. It had taken all of the information it could from the crewman before it had to move on to its next victim. Beverly was remembering about a time when a shuttle crash landed and it found the memory interesting so it chose her."
"What about Beverly though? Has it left her for dead or will she survive now it's moved on?" Bashir asked the alien presence inside Troi.
"She will regain consciousness soon." Troi replied as the alien told her what would happen.
"What about the Washington or Voyager?" Selar asked. "Does it know where the crew of the two ships are?"
"The Starship Washington is on the planet with part of the Enterprise but it hasn't come into contact with Voyager." Troi told them as the alien communicated through her.
"Why did the alien take the ships?" Selar asked.
"It wishes for a race to colonise the planet since it hasn't had contact with anybody for such a long time."
"It's lonely?" Bashir asked.
"Yes."
"Will the alien let the crew and ships go?" Bashir asked, wondering if they had a hostage situation on their hands.
"Yes, it has gained enough information from us for the time being, and it doesn't wish to cause more harm." Troi said as the alien presence spoke to her once again.
"What do we do now?" Selar asked the alien.
"It wants to speak with Commander Riker." Troi replied.
"I'm sure that can be arranged. Commander Riker must be desperate for some answers by now." Bashir said as he turned to look at Selar who nodded in agreement.
A/N: Please leave a review. Thanks