DISCLAIMER: Star Trek and all related characters are the property of Paramount Pictures, Inc. No copyright infringement is intended. This work of fiction is for entertainment purposes only and no money has changed hands. The original characters and events are the sole property of the author and may not be used without permission.

STAR TREK:

THE GOD MACHINE

by Darrin Colbourne

The USS Enterprise emerged from a textbook Space Warp traveling at Full Sub-light Speed. Number One reversed the Sub-light Engines and throttled them up to slow the ship to "Standard" while Commander Adams and his officers did a quick check of the ship's systems to make sure there was no damage in transit. Neither senior officer expected anything untoward, so they were duly surprised when Captain Christopher Pike said his next words:

"Where the hell is the system?"

Number One glanced back at him. He was looking at the main viewscreen. She understood what was wrong when she followed suit. Had the ship reentered normal space where it was supposed to there would have been one large, bright star outshining the others on the screen. That would be the target star. Instead, there was a typical starfield.

She turned to the Navigator, who was already trying to figure out where they were. "Sir," he said, "we overshot the system."

"Say again?" Pike said.

"We reentered normal space three light-years beyond the AOR."

Pike turned to Adams. "Engineering?"

"We just finished diagnostics." Adams said. "The Main Engines and Navigation system are functioning normally. That shouldn't have happened."

Pike turned back to the screen. "Let's try that again."

"Laying in course." The Navigator said.

Number One keyed her Intercraft control. "All Decks prepare for Space Warp."

"Engage when ready." Pike said.

Number One made the proper course correction and throttled the Warp Engines. This time the trip seemed to take only a split-second. They reentered normal space without incident, except -

"It happened again, Sir." The Navigator said. "We reentered three light-years away."

"I see that." Pike said. Again, there was no bright star on the screen. "ChEng…"

"It's not the Machinery, Captain." Adams said. "The Engines and NavCom are doing what they're supposed to do."

"Except they keep missing the target." Pike protested.

Adams frowned. "Give me one to go over the flight data." He said.

As Adams worked, Pike turned to his Science Officer. "Well, what do you think is going on?"

It took Montoya a minute before she realized he was talking to her. She'd been staring intently at her monitors, trying to interpret the data she was seeing. She was flustered when she answered. "I-I don't know."

"Take a guess. If ChEng is right about the engines working and the NavCom working, what could cause us to miss the system by three light-years?"

"Well, only some sort of power surge in the engines, I suppose. You see, the main purpose of the Warp Drivers is to draw enough energy to themselves to open a string between…"

Pike huffed. "I know how a Warp Engine works, Commander."

"Sorry." Montoya said, chastened. "At some point during transit the engines must have drawn more energy than necessary, and only a power surge could make them do that. If Commander Adams is right about the engines, then the only logical conclusion is that the extra power came from somewhere else."

"That's the only logical conclusion?" Pike said.

"Yes, Sir." Montoya said.

"She may be right, Sir." Adams said as he walked out of Engineering and into Control. "According to the flight data, each time we tried to reach the AOR the engines were given an energy boost, enough to extend the Warp Jump by about three light-years. Now, the energizers were functioning at normal levels and no one hit the wrong control or anything, so wherever the extra juice came from, the source has to be external."

"Okay," Pike said, "so where is this external power source?"

He was asking Montoya again, and again she had no answer. "I…need time to study the data. We may have to try another Space Warp to…"

"What's to study? It's only happening when we try to get to the one system, right?"

"We don't know that yet. That's why we need to…"

"Okay, let me put it this way: It's happened every time we try to go to that particular system, right?"

"Yes, that's true."

"And the engines are getting the same boost each time, enough for three light-years, right?"

"Again, true."

"Then doesn't it stand to reason that there's some intelligence behind it, one with the technology to make it happen and a desire that we not get into that system?"

"That's a conclusion I'm not ready to support. As I said, I need more data."

"Then let's get you more data. One more time, people."

Number One sighed as she keyed Intercraft. "All Decks prepare for Space Warp." She announced as she made the new course correction. She jumped the ship again.

A moment later: "Same story, Captain." The Navigator said.

"Bring us about." Pike said. "Sensors, report all contacts."

The Sensor Officer worked his controls for a minute. "Sir, the area is clear of traffic out to four light-years. No Warp or Sub-light contacts. Reading only the major bodies of the system 3 light-years off our bow."

Pike turned to Montoya. "Do you have enough data now?"

Montoya was slightly exasperated. "Captain, there's no way to know for sure what's happening until I can see it happen for myself and record and analyze the event. The problem is there's no way for me to do that because the event is occurring during the Warp Jump, when the ship's sensors are blind to normal space. The best I could give you is a guess."

"A guess is all I asked for, Commander."

"With all due respect, Captain, that's not how I work. It's unscientific."

"Maybe, but as you yourself just implied, being 'scientific' isn't giving you the answers we want, is it?"

"Eventually it will, and answers are better than assumptions."

"Not if waiting for them means we have to sit and dangle outside of our Area Of Responsibility indefinitely. In case you've forgotten, we're on a mission here. Your mission."

"I haven't forgotten, Captain."

"Then for the sake of that mission, I'd say a few assumptions were in order. Wouldn't you?"

Her first instinct was to say "No". Instead she said: "Assumptions can be wrong."

"So can answers." Pike said. "I say we go for what we can get now and worry about verification later." And, of course, his say was final. He turned to his Executive Officer. "Number One, what's your take on all this?"

It was as if she'd been waiting for a cue. "ChEng, Navigator, send your data to my station." She said. After they complied she said "One moment, Sir," and began manipulating the data on one of her multifunction displays. She paused a couple of times to look at what she was developing, but in all it had taken her maybe two minutes. When she had what she wanted she changed the display on the main screen from a forward starfield to a tactical display of the target system.

She turned to Pike. "We've already made a few assumptions. One, the power surges we're experiencing during Warp Transit are due to some outside influence, and Two, that influence is intelligent, and therefore intentionally trying to thwart our entry into the system. So let's make another assumption: Suppose we're near the end of our transit every time the outside influence acts on our engines, say a picosecond before we reenter?" She turned back to her station and pressed some more controls. As she did, three waypoint icons appeared around the system map. They changed color from white to green as she indicated them. "Our first transit we would have been here, from the perspective of an observer in normal space. The second time we would have been here, and the third time here." She touched another control, and an arbitrary orbit around the system was highlighted. The three icons were all roughly positioned on the ellipse.

She turned back to Pike. "Now let's assume that whatever's doing this is somewhere inside that orbit, on or near one of the bodies of the system. It's a valid assumption, certainly. Our sensors have detected nothing outside the system that might be doing it. At any rate, if it's true that tells us either one of two things about the orbit: it's either the effective range of the device being used on us, or it's the arbitrary boundary the intelligence behind the device has established. A 'No-Fly Zone' for Warp ships, as it were."

"And assuming all that's true," Pike said, "how does it help us?"

"That orbit is just outside the ragged edges of the system, in cosmic terms. If we could get to a point just beyond it with a Warp Jump, we could use the Sub-light engines to get to the system proper. Granted, it would be a long cruise, a little under a month perhaps, but we'd be there nonetheless."

"What if whatever's goosing our Warp Engines does the same thing to our Sub-light ones?"

"There's only so far that you can 'goose' a Sub-light engine without damaging the ship it's in, and whoever's doing this has so far gone out of their way to simply detour us. At any rate, if we go in at Sub-light we may escape their notice."

Adams, who'd been listening in, piped up. "They'll notice we tried at least one more Warp."

"True, but if we stop before we reach their boundary, we may convince them that we've gotten the message and will make our observations from long range…or, that we're willing to come in the hard way. Perhaps they respect arduous journeys or something."

Pike took a minute to let it all sink in, nodded his head and said: "It's worth a try."

"Wait!" Montoya said. "All of that" - she indicated the main screen - "is absolute conjecture! It's little better than a thought experiment! Commander McDonald could be completely wrong, and we have no idea of the consequences we'll face if she is!"

With that, Number One turned to the Science Officer, shrugged her shoulders and said: "All true. It's nothing more than my best guess…but, Commander, as the Captain said, a guess is all he wanted." She said the last with as smug a smile as she could manage.

Montoya didn't have time to seethe. "Let me ask you this, Commander." Pike said, "Should we move on?"

She was taken aback by the question. "Excuse Me?"

"The only reason we're even in this fix right now is because there's supposed to be a planet in there that's the first stop on your survey list. We obviously can't get to it the conventional way. Number One has offered an unconventional method that might work, but if you won't sign off on it, then I'm perfectly happy to mark this system 'Unreachable' and move on to the next stop on the list. My question is, Is that what you want me to do?"

Pike, Number One and Adams were all looking at her now, waiting for an answer. She didn't know what to say. All her education told her she was right to question McDonald's thought process, but a nagging little voice kept telling her that, slight as the chances may be, the Executive Officer might be right, and if she were…

"We have to enter the system." Montoya said. "If there's an intelligence doing all this, and it's in there…we have to enter."

"Very Well." Pike said as McDonald and Adams returned to their posts. The Captain returned his attention to the screen and said: "Carry On, Number One."

She returned the screen to normal and told the Navigator: "Set a new course for the AOR and add a reentry waypoint just outside the boundary."

The Navigator acknowledged and went to work. "Course laid in." He said a moment later.

Number One keyed Intercraft. "All Right, People. One last time." A moment later she throttled the Warp Engines. A second after that the ship reentered normal space.

The Navigator smiled. "That's done it, Number One. We're right where we're supposed to be."

Pike looked at the screen. The target star still wasn't as bright as it should have been, but it was brighter, and ahead of the ship. "That's another Commendation Letter in your jacket, Number One. Nice job. Resume Course, Ahead Full."

"Ahead Full, Aye, Sir." Number One was grinning as she acknowledged. She throttled the Sub-light engines to full power as she gave the command: "Deflectors, Full Intensity." A moment later: "Sir, the ship is at Full Sub-light speed."

"Stop Engines." Pike said.

"Stop Engines, Aye…Sub-light Engines to 'Standby'. Sir Isaac is driving." The Enterprise was now coasting through space toward her destination at one-third light-speed.

"Very Well." Pike said. He rubbed his eyes. "Stand Down from Departure Stations. Let's get a normal Dawn Watch going in Control. ChEng, I want a detailed report on the status of the main engines ASAP, and I want to see the Senior Staff in the Wardroom in fifteen minutes." With that he stood up from the command chair, signaling the activity characteristic of a Watch Change.

This time the Communications Officer handled the Intercraft announcements. "Now Hear This: All Hands, Stand Down from Departure Stations. All Hands, Stand Down from Departure stations. Set Dawn Watch in Control. Department Heads, report to Wardroom in fifteen minutes."

Montoya was oblivious to it all. She'd been incensed at the adulation Number One had received for guessing right, as illogical as it seemed for her to be. She tried to subdue the feeling by focusing on her instruments, so she paid no attention to the watch change until a Crewman in Gold tapped her on the shoulder and startled her out of her reverie. "I relieve you, Sir." He said.

She looked around. The Captain was gone, along with most of the Officers she'd come into Control with when 'Departure Stations' was first sounded. Only Number One was still there, standing near the portside passageway. She seemed to be waiting for Montoya to join her…and she didn't look pleased.

Staying as calm as she could, Montoya stood up and relinquished her station to the Crewman, then walked over to where Number One was standing. She was going to say something, but the Exec stopped her. "Not now. My quarters."

Montoya followed dutifully as Number One led her into the port passageway and through the corridors to her stateroom. As they walked, Montoya checked her watch. It hadn't even been twenty minutes into the mission, and she was already heading for the Principal's Office.

It was then when she realized how long five years might actually be.