The old Delphic Expanse was still riddled with odd spatial anomalies and the ruined remains of gravimetric spheres. Geordi, Marty, Mike, and the android B-4 set up a series of automatic scans.
"What are we expecting to find?" asked Mike.
"I have no idea," Geordi admitted. "But we've got the pinging, we've got the firing of a pulse shot on that Gorn ship, and upheaval in the Terran Empire, and – maybe – something going on with some sort of a temporal cold war."
"Plus Augments, possibly," Marty added, "as if all of that wasn't enough. I like the idea in theory, but I'm not really looking forward to meeting any of them. Everything I've read about them says they're nothing but trouble."
"Well, they're innocent until proven guilty, just like the rest of us, I suppose," Geordi mused. He listened to the pinging for a second. "Sounds like it's our pattern. Can you confirm, B-4?"
The android cocked his head and listened for a moment. "Yes; the pinging is identical in pitch, tone, and frequency to that found in the Denab and Kreetassan Systems."
"So it's the same source?" asked Mike.
"The probability is greater than 99%," B-4 reported.
"Just for laughs," Marty suggested, "let's get out a star chart and draw a line from the Kreetassan System to the Denab to here, and see what we get."
Geordi fiddled with controls and projected an image into midair in a section of Engineering. "Well, will you look at that," the engineer said as soon as the virtual model was fully assembled. "The heart of it, where all three lines intersect is at Lafa II, in the Lafa System. More specifically, it's at Point Abic."
"So there's a Calafan connection again," Marty concluded. "I say we make this quick, if we can. I think our real business is on Lafa II."
"You're probably right," Mike allowed. "Say, why aren't Dana and Tamsin here?"
"They're supposed to be interviewing the former team members," Marty said.
"Supposed to be." Geordi snorted a little. "I get the feeling that Dana and Tamsin don't get along too well."
Marty backed up slightly and held both hands up. "You didn't hear it from me."
=/\=
"We'll start with night shift personnel," Dana decided.
"Um, okay." Tamsin already seemed to be bored.
"You got a better idea?"
"Uh, no. I just wanna know why we're stuck doing this and not what the guys are doing. Uh, whatever that is."
"Well," Dana explained, "what they're doing is at a higher confidentiality level than you have access to, and I haven't been officially made privy to it, yet, either. Plus the people we're going to be interviewing worked under me in the prime timeline. Just like you do, now."
"But it's so – yes," Tamsin changed her tune in mid-whine when Dana shot her a look.
"I don't think you're happy here," Dana concluded. "Do you wanna go back to the Talos? Rick said you're supposed to be there."
"No. I just don't wanna be doing this."
"Well, it's gotta get done. C'mon," Dana commanded as Tamsin followed behind and none too closely.
=/\=
"Speaking of Tamsin," Mike said, "Do you think she really has a counterpart?"
"If she does, then things are a lot worse than even Rick thinks they are. But I don't think so," Geordi said. "After all, there's a lotta differences, to be sure, but there's also a ton of sameness. It seems to me as if a true counterpart for Tamsin would be such a radical difference that a lot more would have had to have gone wrong."
"I hope that's true," Marty said.
=/\=
The two women commandeered a conference room. "Okay, first up is Darren Shaw," Dana declared. She hit the pin on her uniform top. "Get me Darren Shaw, please."
"This is Shaw."
"This is Dana MacKenzie. I have a few questions for you. Can you come to conf – actually, better yet, can you come to Ten Forward?"
"Sure; I'll be there in ten or so. Shaw out."
"Why the change of venue?" asked Tamsin as they strode over.
"I want these people relaxed. I don't want them to think that they're in any sort of trouble."
They found a table and Tamsin got them both club sodas. In a few minutes, Shaw walked in. He was a big bruiser type of a guy, and came right over. "Ladies?"
"I don't think you know Tamsin Porter. She just transferred over here."
"Hi," Shaw said, shaking Tamsin's hand. "And?"
"I like a guy who can cut to the chase," Dana stated. "I know this is going to be kind of an odd question, but do you ever feel out of place here?"
"Huh; that is definitely an off the wall question," he commented. "I played football in High School and college. I tell you, there are days when I wouldn't mind chucking it all and going back to that. Er, why do you ask?"
"I see," Dana replied. "And, uh, let me ask you this next question before I tell you that – would you do anything about this dissatisfaction?"
"Like what?"
"Oh, I dunno. What if it was a chance to make some big discovery, or radically alter your life? Would you take it?"
"I –"
Guinan, the El-Aurian proprietress of Ten Forward, came over. "It's funny," she said. "And I'm sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing you a bit. See, Shaw here isn't the only one who doesn't belong."
"What do you know about it?" Tamsin asked.
"I know that there are a good forty people who shouldn't be here. It's the three of you, for starters. It's M'Belle, and Wesley Crusher, and Yi'imspi. And others are in the wrong places, like Mike Daniels being the night shift Tactical Officer when he's supposed to be day shift."
"Well, that's not much. But as for me, I don't understand," said Shaw.
"Your names, too," Guinan continued. "Your identities are completely different from what they're supposed to be."
"Do you know what's going on?" Dana asked, point blank.
"I, uh," Guinan beckoned Dana over, and they stood to one side. The El-Aurian quietly said, "Come at 2000 hours, and bring Commander Madden with you. No one else."
"Uh, all right." Dana returned to where Tamsin and Shaw were still sitting. "I'm sorry you were cut off before," she said to Shaw. "You were saying?"
"I was just gonna say that I wouldn't be looking to make a big discovery or anything like that. It's just what I said – I'd be chucking it all and quietly or maybe not so quietly playing football. I don't need the rest of it, not really. I mean," he paused for a breath, "I like being a counselor and helping people, to the best of my abilities. But if I still had decent knees, and I couldn't do this, I'd be quarterbacking. Pro, hopefully."
"Sounds good. And thanks," Dana said. Then she remembered to add. "You had asked why we were asking. Well, a lot of it's confidential. But the bottom line is that things are," she caught Guinan's eye for a second, "a little out of kilter. I'm sorry but I can't really explain any more about that." She thought for a moment. "Do you have any questions, Tamsin?"
"No; I'm good."
As Shaw left, Dana engaged her communicator pin. "I'd like to talk to Yi'imspi, please."
=/\=
Geordi had been monitoring their scans in Engineering, when he said, "Hey, wait a second. That's odd."
"What is?" asked Mike.
"Over here, see? This field, here." He hit a few keys, and the image on his screen was magnified. The others came over to look.
"What are we looking at?" asked Marty.
"See, right here? This is the remains of an old gravimetric sphere. So's this, and this, and this, here."
"And?" Mike pressed.
"And this part that looks like debris is of the same vintage, and it's got the same gravimetric signature."
"So it's a part of a sphere?" Marty asked.
"Nope. It's soil and rocks. This is the remains of a moon, or even a planet."
"So does this mean the Augments are doing a little target practice?" Marty asked.
"Negative," replied B-4. "I have performed an analysis, and the destruction of this world appears to have occurred at the same time as the destruction of the spheres. This is likely a rogue planet or moon, captured by a sphere's gravity."
"What are those readings over there?" Mike asked.
Geordi's jaw dropped. "Those are refined metals. Holy cow, there was a civilization on this world!"
=/\=
Rick beamed to his cloaked ship briefly. He checked on the craft and then dictated, "Temporal Agent's report, preliminary. The Enterprise-E is in the old Delphic Expanse. One of the vertices of the spatial pyramid is right where the NX-01 – the one kicked back in time due to a Kovaalan particle wake – grew crops. It's the site of what had been a small, dim, chilly moon that the people on Jonathan Archer's ship named Speakeasy, because it was so well-hidden. Essentially, we have four vertices – the Kreetassan System, where a temporal change sent LaForge and Wesley Crusher briefly to 1941; Speakeasy, where the NX-01 spent time after being kicked back to 2037; and the unknown connection to the Denab System. Oh, and the fourth is currently unknown. While this does not account for all possible historical temporal interphases, it does account for some of them. This pyramid does answer a few questions, even as it raises others – in particular, the question regarding the placement of the fourth vertex. My next task will be to make contact with the El-Aurian, Guinan."
=/\=
Yi'imspi was a knockout Calafan, a species similar to humans but bald during its youth and with solid silver or copper extremities, depending upon an origin in the prime universe or the Mirror. The precious metal color would break down and form a pattern, eventually fading and then altogether disappearing when an individual was near death. Yi'imspi, with short silvery-blonde hair and mottled silver extremities, was not yet forty. She spoke. "What can I do for you?"
"We're curious," Dana began, "about whether you ever feel, I don't know, out of place on the Enterprise."
"What are you driving at, Dana?"
"I'm just wondering if the whole setup is, I dunno, itchy and strange and just kind of out of sorts."
"What's the purpose behind this inquiry?"
"We're just trying to confirm something."
"No, I don't think you really are," Yi'imspi countered suspiciously. "That just doesn't seem right. Now, I'd like some answers – why the questioning?"
"If you'd been told that things were off the rails," Tamsin explained, "how, exactly, would you go about confirming that?"
"I suppose I'd figure out the starting point, and work back from there," Yi'imspi stated.
"That's kinda what we're trying to do here," Dana clarified. "But we're hamstrung because we can't really find the starting point. We're not even so sure that the report of a change is at all accurate."
"I still don't know what you're talking about," the Calafan admitted.
"That's okay," Dana allowed, and they let her go.
Yi'imspi went straight back to quarters – not a suspicious move, as she worked the night shift and was expected to be in bed.
She commanded her replicator, "Heavy strength sedative, specifically, coulamine."
Request denied.
"What? Why?"
A heavy sedative cannot be replicated by any unit more than once per month, due to fears of stockpiling with the intent to attempt suicide.
"Right, okay, but I can use another unit." She went to the next-door cabin and found it locked. "Unlock – authorization: Yi'imspi Lo 12,000."
The door slid open obediently, and the replicator gave her what she wanted as well. It was a pure white tablet with a capital C on one side, and on the other, in tiny print were the words Crossman Pharmaceuticals.
Yi'imspi relocked the door to the other cabin and reentered her own, locking the door behind her. She got a glass of water and her PADD, and crawled into bed. She took the tablet and lay down, clutching her PADD, and waiting for sleep.
=/\=
They had been through all of the former athletes. After 37 awkward but mercifully short interviews, Dana was ready for bed. "Well, that's Rick's list," she announced to Tamsin. Both women were yawning a bit.
"But Guinan said there were a good forty misplaced people. We've only talked to 37. Even including you and me, we're missing someone," Tamsin reminded her.
"Right, but we don't have that name."
"We could look at random crew members."
"No," Dana decided. "There are over a thousand people on this ship. Random is just not practical."
"It's not like this was productive, anyway," Tamsin complained.
"Look, there's no good way to do this. Except for some vague admissions of feeling out of place, no one could possibly know anything, anyway." Dana glanced at her PADD. "It's, um, it's after shift, anyway. Dismissed." Tamsin was out of there like a shot, not even bothering to reply.
Dana checked the time – it was 1930 hours. Then her PADD skittered into sleep mode and showed an impromptu slide show of family members, many of whom she did not recognize. She stared at it a little, looking up when her name was called. "Yes?"
"I asked you if you wanted some supper." It was Guinan.
"Oh, God, definitely, thanks." She then engaged her communicator pin. "Get me Commander Madden, please."
"Madden here."
"You want some dinner? I'm in Ten Forward and I've got some news."
"Sure thing, Myst – er, Dana," Marty was still in Engineering, so he corrected himself. "Be right there. Madden out."
=/\=
Asleep, Yi'imspi synchronized her dream to Charlie Eleven's, and they met.
"I've got news," she reported.
"It can wait. Champagne?" As it was but a dream, he produced a bottle out of thin air. "It's Grand Siècle."
"No, thanks. Look – something is up. I was just grilled by a senior officer, something about feeling displaced."
"Displaced? What does that mean, to such a beautiful creature as yourself?"
"It means," she wrinkled her nose at him as she was capable of smelling him in their shared dream, "that something is off. I think they suspect something about the radiation band cycling, and they might even suspect me."
"Have you told your superior officer?" Charlie asked, champagne forgotten for the nonce.
"No, I haven't contacted Admiral Caul yet. Something is definitely off. But I'll be damned if I know what it is."
"Do you want to drop off, wake up, and talk to Caul?"
"Not yet. How's Porter working out for you?"
"She's trying to get me a ration card."
"Good girl."
"She also means to seduce me, it seems."
"Oh?"
"She correctly notes that I'll need an heir. Further, she knows I am currently, shall we say, in a bit of a bind."
"What are you telling me this for, Charlie? It's not like I give a linfep's ass about your love life," Yi'imspi huffed, referring to a small animal, native to the Lafa System, that looked a little like a hare.
"You will care," Charlie declared. "Doctors and scientists will figure it out, or I'll keep Porter around for a surrogate. Otherwise, she doesn't matter to me. But, mark my words, there will be a breakthrough, and a Terran such as myself will be able to interbreed with another species."
"Which species?"
"Calafans – namely, you, Yi'imspi."
The Calafan gulped.