A/N First of all, I owe you an explanation about my decision of splitting this story in two parts. It was not intended as a sort of dramatic effect, simply as a failed attempt to overcome a problem I encountered with the Document Manager. In particular I could not upload more than 15 chapters for my story (originally consisting of 18 chapters). I still don't know why. Now it's too late not undo what I've done. I don't know how to do it and I don't have enough time at the moment to try hard.
I corrected some misspelled words in the upcoming chapters. Sorry for the inconvenience, but words such as Subspace or Hypospray were not listed in my spell check system. I also corrected the errors in the previous chapters, but I don't dare to try to replace them. I fear to mess things up even more.
I hope you enjoy my story anyway.
Suggestions and constructive critics are always welcome. Some words of encouragement are more than welcome.
Thank you for reading!
13. AWAY TEAM
The first thing they saw, as soon as they materialized inside the cave, was a complete cold and oppressive darkness. Fortunately, the flashlights alleviated the sense of claustrophobia. Around them appeared a series of narrow tunnels, that reminded Riker of something he studied during the course of Ancient History, at the Academy. 'Catacombs' was the right name, if he well remembered. However, the main immediate problem was to determine the right direction. Riker stared silently at Data, whom immediately scanned the area with his tricorder. A few moments later, the android raised his eyes from the device and pointed at one of the tunnels on their right.
"That passage leads to a larger room and I am picking up some faint life signs from the same direction".
"In this case, we'll go that way. Be careful".
The air was so cold and humid they could see their breath.
Deanna Troi fought back a shiver and tried to focus on her empathic perceptions, following the others. They had to proceed in line because the passageway was not large enough for more than one person at a time. A couple of times they had to fire their phasers against the rocks blocking their way, trying not to provoke any further breaking – downs.
When they finally reached the end of the tunnel, Deanna approached B'rent. "Are you sensing anything?" she asked.
The man nodded slightly. "There is someone else in here" .
"Yes" Troi confirmed, trying hard to distinguish the feelings within her.
In the mean time the others had surrounded them, with quizzical looks.
"Humans" Counselor Troi eventually announced.
"The colonists?" Riker asked.
"I believe so" Deanna answered. Then, with more conviction she added "There is surely human life here".
"Tricorder readings are still too faint to be reliable, but I believe the colonists are around here" Data confirmed.
"Very well, let's go look for them" Riker replied. "B'rent, Beverly and Carson, with me. Denise, you with Data, Deanna and Moretti, inspect the other side of this cave".
They split in two different groups to search in a more efficient way. Captain Rank's group headed to the direction Riker had suggested, following the rocky wall, until they reached another tunnel getting deeper down. The cave's walls were wet, as well as the rocky ground becoming more and more slippery.
"Watch your step" Denise instructed from ahead. Troi was right behind her, followed by Data and security officer Moretti. Suddenly a bright glittering appeared before the group, forcing it to stop.
"It looks like a force field" Denise suggested.
"Confirmed" Data echoed her, studying the tricorder readings. "It is of a kind I had never seen before. Probably made by the aliens".
Denise activated her combadge. "Rank to Riker. I think we've found something interesting".
"On our way" William replied.
In a couple of minutes the second team reached the first one, near the force field.
"Is there a way to neutralize it?" Riker asked.
"I have to find out the right impact frequency" Data explained. "It will take a few moments".
"Something is wrong" Dr. Crusher said abruptly. "If the cave has been isolated how can the aliens maintain this force field in place?"
"Perhaps it's powered up by an auxiliary generator" Denise suggested.
Riker murmured his agreement without conviction, then decided to contact the ship in order to verify.
"Riker to Nimitz".
"Picard here. Go ahead, Will".
"Sir, there's a force field still in place down here. We would like to have confirmation that the cave is safely isolated before proceeding any further".
"La Forge here, sir" the engineer's voice came in. "Our dampening field is still holding perfectly. No emission from the rupture has passed through it. You're completely isolated".
"Very well" Riker replied, satisfied. "We're proceeding".
"Be careful" Picard urged, before ending the transmission.
"Sir" Data said a moment later "I should be able to neutralize the force field, now"
"Proceed" Riker ordered.
The whole group stepped back a little bit to avoid any possible rebound effects. Data fired his phaser and the force field dissipated. The android took the lead, still holding the weapon in the left hand and the tricorder in the right one. Once he verified there was no danger, he signaled the others to join him.
What Data had just entered was a real room with coated walls and covered floor. Strange devices were all around.
"It looks like a lab" Riker commented, looking around.
"Yes, sir" Data confirmed.
They had just spread in the room when Deanna was absolutely sure she had found the colonists. "This way" Troi called, heading to a closed door on the other side of the laboratory.
"Counselor, wait" Carson stopped her, surpassing the Betazoid and entering the room before her, to verify it was sure. Inside they found four biobeds linked to a strange piece of equipment. On the beds laid down four humans, two males and two females, all unconscious. Dr. Crusher run toward them to verify their life signs. "This equipment must interfere with our tricorders. I can't have a satisfactory readout" Beverly explained. "However, their conditions seem stable".
"I believe they've been sedated someway" B'rent suggested. "I can't reach their minds".
"Yes" Riker confirmed. "This is their usual way of behaving. Unfortunately, it occurred to me as well".
A few meters ahead, Moretti was studying his tricorder readings. "Commander Data?" the man called, without diverting his gaze from the wall before him. "There's something strange here. You should take a look at it".
Data walked toward him, opening his own tricorder. But suddenly he stopped halfway as if he had just noticed something terribly upsetting from the data he was reading.
"Lieutenant, get away from there!" Data shouted wide eyed. But Moretti did not even have enough time to hear the whole sentence, that the wall he was studying exploded right in front of him, letting out blinding bluish flashes. The man was thrown back violently as if he were a puppet and landed a few meters away, hitting the ground with a loud thump. The energy vortex lifted all the furniture inside the room. Falling back, it hit everything in its trajectory. It was like watching a storm of meteors.
"Everybody, cover up!" Riker yelled.
One piece of equipment, a big metallic cylinder, was propelled directly against Troi's position. Fortunately Denise noticed it and pushed the Betazoid in a wall alcove. However, that move made of Denise an easy target. Quickly, Data threw the woman down and shielded her with his body.
Just a few seconds later everything seemed to be over. Carefully, Riker and the others got up again. Beverly ran toward Moretti to offer medical assistance. But there was nothing she could do for him.
"He's dead" the doctor announced sadly.
Admiral Picard's voice spread in the room almost simultaneously. "Nimitz to away team. Are you all right?"
"Lt. Moretti is dead, sir" Riker answered. "The rest of us is all right".
"What happened exactly?" Picard wanted immediately to know.
Riker turned to Data, waiting for an explanation.
"A subspace rupture has just been created, sir" the android replied. "As a result, an enormous quantity of channeled energy has been unleashed".
"I believed the rupture was under control" Captain Riker objected.
"It is, sir" Geordi La Forge's voice said. "That one is another rupture entirely, much bigger than the first one. I fear that's a counter measure from the aliens".
"They are trying to force a passage to our universe" Data suggested.
While the officers were discussing, B'rent highlighted a more urgent problem. "Data, the tetryon particle emissions are rising exponentially" the Salusian said with urgency.
Data tapped his combadge. "Geordi, cease our own tetryon emissions immediately" he ordered the engineer.
The levels lowered a little bit and the immediate danger was over. However, the situation could become critical at any moment.
"Admiral" Riker said "we found the colonists in a specifically designed room, inside the cave. They appear to be unconscious but in Beverly's opinion they are well enough to be transported".
"Acknowledged, Will. We're getting you out of there" Picard replied.
Even if he could not see him, Riker imagined his former captain rising from the command chair, at the center of the Bridge and taking control of the situation.
Admiral Jean – Luc Picard rose up from his chair and without wasting time he contacted the transporter chief.
"Picard to Transporter room. Lock on the away team and the four colonists and beam them immediately aboard" he ordered.
It took a few moments for the answer to arrive to the Bridge and unfortunately it was not the one they were waiting for. "Kelso to Bridge. I'm sorry, sir, but I can't get a lock on them".
Picard felt a heavy burden upon him. Eleven people were stuck underground in great danger and he could not do anything to help them. "Keep trying, Mr. Kelso" he instructed. Then, approached La Forge near the science station. Dr. Ender was seated next to the engineer.
"I need you, gentlemen" Picard said. "Is there any way to close those ruptures?"
Geordi shook his head. "Sir, now is no longer a matter of closing them. Even if we had enough energy to direct the graviton pulse against the first rupture, and we don't have it yet, we couldn't hit the second one" La Forge explained.
"Why?"
"Thanks to the analysis Data performed directly inside the anomaly, we know the point of origin of the first rupture. But without any data on the second rupture we wouldn't know where to direct the graviton pulse".
"We can always try to close the first rupture" Picard objected. "It may have an effect on the second one".
"Everything's possible, sir. However, our generators are not yet charged enough to make an attempt" Geordi replied.
"Isn't it possible to accelerate the procedure?" the admiral asked, trying hard to find out a solution.
Unexpectedly, Dr. Ender proposed an alternative. "Commander La Forge" the woman began "our labs on Cirri have very powerful auxiliary generators. If the phase coils were compatible we could feed your primary generator".
"If it were possible" La Forge replied "it would save us a lot of time from our original schedule".
Picard did not need to reflect on the proposal. There was not any other alternatives. "Make it so" he ordered.
Beverly Crusher, assisted by Deanna Troi, was pondering the possibility to wake up the four colonists while, a few meters away, B'rent was monitoring the spatial rupture. Riker, Rank and Data were apart, trying to focus on the situation at hand and its possible solutions.
"From the ship they're trying to accelerate the graviton pulse plan" William explained. "Which is your estimation of the possible outcome?" he asked, addressing Data.
The android's facial expression conveyed no optimism. "Sir, the problem is that I am not at all sure that closing the first rupture will effect the second one. The only thing I am certain of is that we are not going to be here to see what happens".
"What do you mean?" Denise asked, puzzled.
"Going on at the present progression, the tetryon emissions will reach lethal levels for humans in exactly two hours. And within three hours my positronic network will be completely polarized".
Denise tried for a moment to be in Data's place, who would have seen all his friends die, before being destroyed himself. The woman swallowed hard, horrified by that prospective. "We must find a way out" she said, shivering. "We could try to go back through the tunnels we used to come in".
Riker shook his head decidedly. "It's a long way up to surface. We have four unconscious people, we can't go fast enough carrying them and we can't leave them behind either".
"It would be futile nevertheless" Data underlined. "Without the transporter it would take hours to get to the surface, even at a fast pace. The tetryon emissions would reach us anyway".
William stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Fine" he commented.
"But why are they flooding this place with tetryon particles? Do they just want to kill us?" Denise asked.
"I do not believe so" Data answered. "It would not be coherent with the aliens' behavior so far. As a matter of fact they are scientists. Well, untypical ones, of course. But they have always applied a scientific method to every attempt of interaction with our universe".
"You mean that, even if their purpose were to invade us, they wouldn't do it by force?" Denise asked.
"Correct" Data confirmed. "Otherwise, why create the hybrids?"
"In this case, why are we supposed to die here?" the woman insisted. "There must be something we're still missing".
Riker could not help but feel amazed by her determination not to surrender.
An afflicted expression appeared on Data's face. "Unfortunately, I cannot find out anything useful".
"Probably they foresaw the menace we represent and want to eliminate us, just to be on the safe side" William said, with resignation. In that very moment Denise too seemed ready to accept their fate.
"So, it is really over" she murmured more to herself than to her companions. Right on those words, Dr. Crusher and Counselor Troi joined them, with the same look of resignation in their eyes.
Beverly prepared an hypospray and administered it to everybody but Data. "This will protect you from the side effects of the tetryon particles for another two hours" the doctor explained. "That's all".
The silence fell on them, together with the awareness of their imminent death. But suddenly B'rent's enthusiastic voice reached the group.
"Denise is right, they don't want to kill us!" the Salusian exclaimed.
"What?" Riker asked, fighting the sense of apathy that was beginning to envelope him.
"They're attempting to come to our side for some reason. And the enlargement of the rupture itself is causing the rising level of the tetryon emissions" the young man speculated.
"Coming to our side?" Beverly muttered. "Why? They can't survive here".
"The hybrids!" Data suddenly exclaimed. "They are the missing piece of the puzzle. We did not find them because they had not been transferred here yet".
"But this means that the second rupture would have been opened anyway. It's not related to our presence here" Denise offered.
"This doesn't solve the problem" Riker underlined. "Unintentionally or not the tetryon emissions are killing us. How the hell can we get out?"
"Through the rupture!" B'rent exclaimed. "We must try to enlarge it before the tetryons reach lethal levels".
"Enlarge the rupture?" Riker asked, doing nothing to hide his puzzlement.
But Data seemed to agree with the Salusian. "B'rent is right, Captain" the android said. "Going to the other side could be our only option. If we successfully recorded the right coordinates with the tricorder, the Nimitz could locate us and seal the rupture with the graviton pulse".
As the ranking officer Riker had to decide the course of action. "Very well" he said. "Commander Data, Ambassador B'rent, find a way to enlarge the rupture enough to let us pass through it. Dr. Crusher, separate the colonists from the alien's equipment. We must carry them with us".
An efficient organization rapidly replaced the previous sense of resignation when each officer went to carry out his own assignment. Rank and Riker remained in the center of the room, supervising their colleagues' activity and praying silently that B'rent's plan worked. Not having any specific task assigned made the two officers even more nervous.
"One hour" Denise announced, checking the tricorder.
"We'll make it" William replied, trying to sound as encouraging as possible.
In that very moment Beverly approached them to report. "The colonists are free, but I don't believe it's advisable to administer them a neural stimulator. We should carry them" the doctor said.
Riker nodded. "How much longer, Data?" he asked a moment later.
"We are ready, sir" Data answered, keeping working with B'rent.
They all gathered before the enlarged rupture, emanating high intensity white – bluish lightings. The idea of entering willingly that energetic vortex was not so attractive and anxiety was clearly visible on everybody's face. They decided that Data would go first, followed by Carson, Riker and B'rent each one of them carrying an unconscious colonist. The last ones to follow would be Denise, Beverly and Deanna, together with the forth colonist.
"Ready phasers" Riker instructed. Then, addressing Data he added "Be careful".
"As usual, sir" the android replied a moment before throwing himself in the shimmering vortex and disappearing.
Riker stared quizzically at B'rent. "Is there a way to know if he's arrived?" he asked.
"Unfortunately not" the Salusian answered. "But if our modifications to the tricorders work properly, the ship should begin to receive telemetry in a short time".
"I sincerely hope so" William commented. "We've lost contact with the ship and I couldn't inform the admiral of our intensions"
"We must hurry" Dr. Crusher told them. "In a few minutes it will be impossible to survive here".
Without any further hesitation all the officers entered the rupture, following the established order. The sensations they felt once inside were very difficult to describe. The spatial rupture was a sort of tunnel connecting two space – time dimensions. It was impossible to determine precisely its length because their minds could not register the exact duration of their travel inside the tunnel. The only sensation they were certain of was that of flying in the middle of a blinding light. For Riker it was not a new experience.
Abruptly everything became dark and the officers felt the gravity pushing them to the ground again. So, without understanding how, they realized to be arrived at the other side of the rupture, where Data was waiting for them.
It was cold and they heard a strange and horrifying noise from the distance, very similar to a rhythmic ticker tone.
"Is everybody okay?" Riker asked, looking at the others. They all nodded.
"The beings are near, sir" Data informed him. "I can detect their life signs with the tricorder".
"Yes, I can hear them" Riker replied.
"How long can we survive here?" Troi asked.
"I presume the aliens keep this pocket of normal universe to interact with the hybrids" B'rent suggested. "Being partially human they couldn't survive to a long exposure to their domain as well as to our universe".
"We can assume that the aliens will destroy this environment as soon as the hybrids are transferred to the laboratory below the cave" Data concluded.
"We can only hope that the Nimitz locates us and closes the rupture before the hybrids are transferred" Denise said.
While they talked, the background noise became more intense, revealing the aliens' approach.
"They are coming this way, sir" Data confirmed, studying his tricorder.
Riker drew a deep breath and then blew it out. "Ready phasers" he ordered.
The whole group took a semicircular position, trying to offer protection to the unconscious colonists.