Chapter Four

Riker attended the 0700 hours briefing in an animated state of mind. He had woken with his immediate thoughts still on the girl from Moonbase Alpha. The night before he and Data had worked until eleven o'clock, reviewing all available information about Earth's original satellite and the research base that had been lost with it, and he had chased through the computer displays with a feeling of excitement that he recognised in himself. Looking through the sketchy personnel files, skimming the books and teledramas that had been inspired by the event over the past four hundred years, he found his concentration was sharpened by the memory of her face.

"As you know," said Captain Picard, "we've changed course for Lifeboat 898 and we anticipate reaching the present estimated position of Moonbase Alpha in approximately nine days. Starfleet Command has recommended that we cancel the mapping mission and give this one top priority. It should not, however, prevent us from arriving at Lanthenon for the wedding of Princess Amarantha and Ambassador Trewhella, as Starfleet also gives that mission top priority."

"Commander Riker and I reviewed the available data on Moonbase Alpha last night," said Data. "Commander John Koenig was in command of the base when the old moon broke away from Earth orbit, and when they were contacted again in the twenty-second century. Analysis of the recording of the subspace communication between the Enterprise and Lifeboat 898 appears to confirm that this is the same person. The other two persons who spoke appeared to be Dr Helena Russell, listed as Chief Medical Officer, and Anthony Verdeschi, of the security division."

"Maya herself wasn't listed," said Riker. "But that wasn't unexpected, Earth at that time had no contact with extra-terrestrial species. We think she must have joined them somewhere en route."

"Well, there was no doubt that she knew them and they knew her," said the Captain. "How is your patient this morning, doctor?"

"I haven't looked in on her yet," said Beverly, "but Dr Slater says that physically, she's recovered completely. I do have something to report that worries me, however. She had a nightmare last night which made her wake up screaming - it was bad enough for Dr Slater to call me. She apparently has a history of recurring nightmares."

"Who knows what kind of psychological strain these people on Moonbase Alpha have been under," said the Captain.

"This was a recurring nightmare?" said Deanna. "Do you think it was linked to a specific trauma?"

"She wouldn't talk to me," said Beverly. "It was the middle of the night and I didn't want to push it. I was going to recommend this morning that she saw you."

"Yesterday," said Deanna, "I didn't sense any immediate emotional or psychological instability. She was anxious, but her composure was genuine - I thought she was handling the situation well."

"Nevertheless," said the Captain, "we must do all we can to make her feel welcome here while she's our guest. Mr Data, as Maya is science officer on Moonbase Alpha I'm sure she would find you and a tour of the Enterprise interesting. I want you to take care of her until we re-unite her with her colleagues."

"Captain," said Riker quickly, "I'd like to request that assignment."

"Reasons, Number One?"

"From what Dr Crusher says she's obviously feeling lost. She's been living amongst Earth humans - I think a human from Earth would make her feel more at ease."

"Counsellor?"

"I wouldn't disagree with that," she said.

Although Riker kept an impeccable poker face, he knew Deanna's eyes were on him. He didn't need to look up to see the scepticism they expressed.

"Very well," said the Captain. "Make it so, Number One."

Riker enjoyed the surge of excitement from his diaphragm. He was working on instinct, almost an intuition, but it was strong and he trusted it. It wasn't exactly that he had planned how to get her into bed as soon as he had seen her, though he thought he knew exactly how her lips and her body would feel; it was a more subtle anticipation, an enjoyment of the possibilities. Two moments had ignited the fascination. The first, when she had looked up at him in the turbolift and he had seen that her eyes were full of lively intelligence. The second, when she had seen her colleagues from Moonbase Alpha on the subspace screen and smiled. It was a radiant smile which lit up everything around her. For the time being, he thought, he would be happy to see that smile for him.

Captain Picard was still speaking, and Riker refocused his attention.

"I don't need to tell you that there will be considerable media attention when news of the discovery of Moonbase Alpha and its crew gets out. Until we have them on board, Starfleet Command is not issuing that news. We may have to prepare ourselves when it does."

"We may also have to prepare the people of Moonbase Alpha," said Deanna.

"Think about that over the next nine days, Counsellor."

"Do we know what's going to happen to them after we evacuate them from the Moonbase?" said Beverly. "Where are we going to evacuate them to? We're talking about over three hundred people, aren't we"

"Three hundred and fifty-one personnel were listed at the time of the accident," said Data, "but it is possible that some have subsequently died."

"That will be a matter for the Federation Council," said the Captain. "We can, however, find out what their wishes are. Until then, we may be in for an uneventful nine days."

For the first time, Riker allowed himself a small smile.

Maya remembered where she was before she opened her eyes, and she felt very much more in possession of her senses than she had the day before. It was like waking up feeling well again after struggling with a fever that distorted perception and thoughts.

As she turned her head and saw the young doctor at the other side of the room, working at a computer terminal, her spirits sank. She remembered how she had woken in a panic, exposed to these strangers. She didn't want to be here. If it was going to take ten days to get back home, then she wished that she could find somewhere to curl up and hide. The thought of having to talk to people and explain herself made her miserable.

When Dr Slater moved she closed her eyes and pretended to be still asleep. To her dismay she heard the distinctive sound of the door opening, and a low conversation. She decided to take some control, and sat up before Dr Crusher approached her.

"Well, good morning," Dr Crusher said, smiling briefly and looking over the instruments above the bed. "How do you feel?"

"I feel much better."

"All your life signs are back to normal, as far as I can estimate for your species. I just want to do some tissue scans and then we can see how you handle breakfast."

"Can I have a shower?" Maya asked, as Dr Crusher moved some equipment to the bedside. She wondered whether it was too mundane a request. Perhaps there was nothing on the Enterprise as low-technology as a shower.

"Of course, as soon as I'm through with these scans."

"Where are my clothes?" It registered for the first time that she was wearing pyjamas in some kind of silken material.

"The clothes you were wearing when you came through the transporter were badly damaged. I put them into the matter recycler."

"You destroyed my uniform?" said Maya, suddenly angry. "Shouldn't you have asked me first?"

Dr Crusher blinked. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise it was important. We can replicate any kind of clothing you want."

Maya bit back the flare of emotion, desperate not to let any more of herself out. She waited tensely while Dr Crusher ran her scans. Even her hair, she realised, was unbound. She had nothing of her own left. At least when she escaped from Psychon she'd had the dress and jewellery she had been wearing.

"Beautiful," said Dr Crusher, after studying a screen. "You'd never know there'd been any damage. Would you like to see?"

Maya had looked at the scans yesterday, but she shook her head now.

"I am sorry about your uniform," said Dr Crusher. "I just didn't think."

"It doesn't matter. Really."

"What would you like to wear?"

"Whatever women normally wear here."

When she got up she didn't feel unsteady as she had yesterday, and Dr Crusher showed her to a bathroom that was incredibly spacious and luxurious compared to the tiny cubicle on Alpha. Maya washed with a slab of scented soap like one that Helena had lent her once, but larger and obviously new. There were soft towels and perfumed lotions in bottles. She touched everything with a sense of dismay, realising how cramped and shoddy Moonbase Alpha was in comparison.

Dr Crusher had laid out a dress for her made of a material that was opaque, but so soft and light that she could hardly feel it when she slipped it on. The skirt fell in swirls. On Alpha she had three things to wear. When she looked in the mirror, she hardly recognised herself.

She wanted to go home. Overwhelmed by sudden misery, she clenched her fists and fought back the immediate thought that she had no home. From day to day it wouldn't occur to her that she wasn't one of the Alphans; but something always made her remember in the end. So far away from the familiar texture of her life there, she felt vulnerable to these doubts.

There was an area of the sickbay that looked like a patient lounge, with tables and chairs against the wall. It had a more relaxed, pastel appearance than the hospital room. Someone had laid out a pot of strong-smelling black liquid and a crumbly fragrant pastry which Maya fingered in wonder before she bit into it. Its soft, fresh, sweet texture brought back a burst of memory; she couldn't pinpoint when she had last tasted newly-baked pastry, but she saw herself sitting on the patio of her house at Tamyara, ten or eleven years old, the sun baking the golden stones and dappling through the old tree, eating sweet bread straight from the oven.

"Coffee and croissants," said Dr Crusher, coming in. "I hope you like it, I chose something neutral."

"I've never had it before."

"I thought that since you've been living with people from Earth, you might have."

"But we have nothing on Moonbase Alpha like this! Apart from a few fresh vegetables grown by hydroponics, all our food is based on a protein fungus and chemically engineered starch."

"I guess so," said Dr Crusher. "Of course, no replicators."

She poured some of the coffee and tasted it. It was pungent and bitter and bore no resemblance to what the Alphans called coffee; a powder that was mixed with hot water to make a pale musty-tasting drink. Tony hated it and had often told her that it was nothing like real coffee. This presumably was the genuine item. She put it aside and started on the second croissant.

"Let me know if it makes you feel ill," said Dr Crusher cheerfully, and left her alone again.

Maya heard voices outside the room, and had the feeling that she was about to be disturbed once more. When he strode in, she remembered the first officer from the day before, but she could not recall his name. He was, she saw now, a person of great physical presence because of his sheer size; unusually tall and broadly-built, he seemed to fill the small room.

"Good morning," he said with a pleasant smile. "I hope I'm not disturbing your breakfast."

"No, I've nearly finished."

"I'm Commander William T. Riker, first officer of this ship. We were introduced yesterday but I thought you might have had your mind on other things."

"I do remember you, Commander Riker."

"You look much better this morning. How are you feeling?"

"Yes - much better, thank you."

He took possession of the other seat by the table, swinging it under him with a movement that seemed to make it into a piece of child's furniture. "I've been assigned to look after you until we reach Moonbase Alpha."

"Am I considered a security risk?"

"Not at all, I'm nothing to do with security. When I said look after you, I mean just that - make sure you're comfortable and at ease, and keep you entertained."

"Thank you," said Maya, immediately more uncomfortable. She thought that the first officer of what was obviously a huge ship ought to have something more important to do with his time. He was looking at her in the way that men often did; a gaze just a little too long to be accidental, followed by a blink and a forced casual expression when she met his eye.

"When you feel up to it I thought you might find a tour of the ship interesting. In the meantime, I'll show you to your quarters."

At first Maya felt conspicuous, walking along the wide corridors of the ship in the company of Commander Riker. She was sensitive to the way that people moved aside for him, and she knew she was getting curious glances as an unfamiliar face in the company of the first officer. She also noticed that not all of the people on the ship were Earth humans. Some were much more obviously alien than she was.

Commander Riker kept up an easy flow of information. "There are forty-two decks altogether on the Enterprise, connected by turbolifts. This is a turbolift. Most of the living quarters are on decks seventeen through twenty. Deck nineteen," he said into the air, tilting his head.

Maya looked up instinctively. The lift moved with a barely noticeable sensation.

"Voice activated," Commander Riker explained, with a sudden grin. "If you want to address the ship's computer, just shout."

"That's very impressive," said Maya. "I'm surprised - " She broke off, wondering if what she had intended to say would be tactful.

"Surprised at what?"

"That the Alphans' technology has advanced so far in such a short time. Moonbase Alpha is very much more primitive than this."

"Moonbase Alpha was built right at the beginning of the human race's exploration of space, before warp drives, before contact with other intelligences. Once we had that input, technology did develop rapidly."

"We weren't spacefarers on my world," said Maya. "We didn't have warp drive technology, and we knew there were no inhabited planets close enough to reach at sub-light speeds."

"Where do you come from?"

"A planet called Psychon."

"I don't know it."

"It no longer exists," Maya said, trapped into the admission and steeling herself against sympathy and curiosity. She wondered how much of the awkwardness she felt with new people was caused by the great discontinuity in her life, the fact that she had nothing left of her past. It was impossible to make small talk about herself without coming up almost immediately against the tragedy, which then killed the conversation.

Commander Riker, however, seemed to take the information without embarrassment. "What happened?" he asked, almost matter-of-fact.

"It became seismically unstable over several years, and in the end the planet's core exploded."

"When did it happen?"

"Two years ago."

"Is that how you came to be on Moonbase Alpha?"

"Yes - Commander Koenig rescued me."

The turbolift stopped at its destination. Commander Riker held out a hand to indicate that she should step out first, a gentlemanly gesture which Maya had almost forgotten. And, to her relief, he did not ask her any more questions about her past.

She had thought she was adjusting to the different scale of the Enterprise, but when she saw her quarters she stopped in astonishment again. The living room alone was four times the size of her entire quarters on Alpha, which had never seemed unnecessarily small to her. Beyond, there was a separate bedroom, and a bathroom attached to that. Maya was amazed to see a bathtub sunk into the floor.

"Where do you get all the water?" she asked.

"It's replicated," said Commander Riker. "No problem. I always have a shower, myself."

He showed her how the matter recycler and the replicator worked. Maya recognised the compartment set into a wall in the living room as the same apparatus which had puzzled her on the lifeboat station.

"This is a food replicator," he said. "There are matter replicators on other parts of the ship."

"There's a difference?"

"Not a fundamental one. The food replicators are more finely-tuned, that's all. What would you like?"

"I don't know what kind of food you have here."

"Any kind of food you like," he said, with that direct grin again. "Or drink."

"Beer," said Maya.

He looked surprised. "Okay! Touch this button here, and voice your request - beer."

The air inside the compartment shimmered, and a tall glass materialised from nothing. At Commander Riker's invitation Maya picked it up - it was icy cold - and sipped it cautiously. It tasted rich and malty and almost sweet, with a dry undertone. "This is beer?" she said.

"I guess it must be - I'm more of a synthale drinker."

"It's so easy!" said Maya, laughing suddenly and irresistibly. She checked herself as she looked at Commander Riker, who was watching her with a pleasant but uncomprehending expression. "A friend of mine on Moonbase Alpha makes this beverage called beer, he spends a great deal of time and a great deal of resources trying to get it right, and the result still tastes - well, nothing at all like this. When he finds out that all you have to do is look at a hole in the wall and say 'beer' - he is going to be so annoyed!" She laughed again.

Commander Riker joined in with a light chuckle.

A shadow fell over her. She put down the glass of beer carefully on a tabletop. "Commander - you really are taking me back to Alpha?"

"Yes we are," he said seriously. "The Enterprise changed course at about 2100 hours last night, just after we talked to you in sickbay. When I take you for a tour of the ship you can see for yourself."

"I don't mean to sound as if I doubt your word, but it is very important to me that I get back to my friends."

"I understand. And I'm sorry there's no way of reaching them in the meantime."

Maya nodded. She felt less wary of Commander Riker now. He hadn't stopped looking at her, but he wasn't doing it offensively and she judged that he probably wasn't going to press it. His manner was, in fact, professional and considerate.

"I'll leave you to settle in," he said. He paused and looked more serious. "Captain Picard would like to see you for a debriefing, if you feel you can cope."

"Certainly I can cope," said Maya, calmly.

"Good. I'll be back in about an hour to take you there. After lunch, if you like, we can do that tour." He made a gesture that was almost like a bow, and left her alone.

Maya tried another mouthful of the beer and then, feeling obscurely disloyal, dropped the glass into the matter recycler.

Riker strode along the corridors of the Enterprise, ignoring the turbolift and taking the long way round to Deanna's office to work out the energy inside him. He was full of exhilaration. He had set himself the goal of seeing her smile for him first, and she had laughed. It was a sudden laugh like a girl's giggle, but it transformed her set and slightly pensive features. She wasn't as prim as she thought she seemed. She couldn't hide the glint in her eyes; he had seen that.

He had not been able to appreciate yesterday, when he had only seen her prostrate, that she was tall and elegantly proportioned. With her evident bashfulness, she must find it difficult having the sort of looks and figure that made heads turn. He thought that she seemed quite ill at ease with herself, a sweet impression of shy naiveté behind her dignity.

He almost walked straight past someone he knew without acknowledging him.

Riker pulled his thoughts back on course. There was no point in dreaming and speculating yet. She might turn out to be married or otherwise unavailable, and he would have to judge from lunch today or dinner tonight how far her could set his sights. It might become an urgent necessity to find out what her personal situation was.

Instinct and experience made him fairly certain that she wasn't married. Married women under stress always said 'my husband' by their third or fourth utterance, and she seemed anxious just to get back to all her colleagues on Moonbase Alpha. It was very possible, however, that she had some hanger-on back on the base. He wondered about Commander Koenig, whom he had seen on the screen; he would be a serious obstacle. He had certainly been determined to get her back, and she had been pleased to see him.

It would be tricky to find out because he had no intention of asking her; that would admit an interest and contain a rejection. No, he would let her talk and see what she said.

Deanna was alone in her office, working at her terminal.

"I thought I'd look in, if you're free," he said, hanging round the door. "I want to talk to you about Maya."

"Of course, come in. Where is she?"

"I left her in her quarters, getting drunk."

Deanna looked momentarily alarmed.

"Don't worry," said Riker, grinning. "I'll take better care of her than that. I wanted to ask you how I do that."

Deanna considered for a moment. "I haven't spoken to her today yet, but I would say that she's bound to be feeling disorientated in her new surroundings and, probably, still anxious about the people she left behind. I would imagine that the community on Moonbase Alpha has become close-knit and self-reliant, and from what we saw yesterday she's obviously very important to them."

"Particularly to Commander Koenig, would you say?"

"I really couldn't tell that, Will."

"I'm just trying to get a handle on how to understand her."

Deanna blinked at him again. "Well, I think you made a good start by suggesting that she would feel more at ease with someone from Earth. The Captain's idea that she would find the ship interesting is also worth pursuing. The nightmare that Beverly reported may be of no real significance, if she does have a traumatic incident in her past, the shock of being here, and her injuries, could well have triggered the memories. As I said this morning, my initial overall impression of her was of stability and psychic resilience. I would just be friendly."

"That won't be difficult," he said, letting himself smile again. There was no point in trying to conceal his feelings from Deanna. Even without her empathic abilities, she knew him too well.