Myriad Universes_ Echoes And Refractions Part 3

"I'll try to remember that...Captain."

David smiled at Saavik's thinly veiled contempt. They both hoisted their gear and turned to their left, marching parallel to the forest's edge. Together they followed the tree line, stepping carefully through the knee-high vegetation. Even though he knew that the planet couldn't possibly harbor any advanced life-forms yet-the unknown readings notwithstanding-David still found himself feeling nervous about their inability to see what might be lurking beneath the greenery around their feet.

For the first kilometer or so, the vegetation slowly began to thin out, and the ground sloped upward. The distance from the forest edge on their left to the foot of the plateau on their right was gradually decreasing, and on the horizon they could see a point where the two would meet at the apex of the hill they presently ascended. The humid air, fresh with the scent of oxidized compounds emanating from the woods, was unexpectedly cut by the chill of a cool breeze in their faces.

David looked over at his hiking partner, and feeling that the silence was becoming awkward, decided to make a little small talk. "So...what about those Starfleet folks, huh? It was like pulling teeth to get them to let us beam down."

Saavik shrugged. "It is logical for them to take precautions when dealing with unknown phenomena."

"I guess so," David admitted. "But clearly there's something down here that wasn't part of the original matrix. Makes sense that you'd want the best scientific minds to investigate."

"I agree."

"Right. Well, luckily Captain Esteban agreed, too!" He laughed nervously. Saavik shot him an odd glance. David began to seriously regret all the years he'd spent holed up with older scientists, never having much opportunity to develop relationships with girls his own age.

He regrouped, opting for the more personal approach. "I, uh, understand you know Amba.s.sador Sarek pretty well."

"Correct."

"Yeah...I met him once, on Andoria, back when I was...oh, I dunno, about twelve or thirteen. How did you come to know him so well?"

A pause. Saavik flipped her hair back out of her face and stared off at the Regula sun, dipping down toward the horizon off to their right. "Sarek saved me from h.e.l.lguard when I was ten years old," she simply stated.

"h.e.l.lguard?" David asked. "I'm not sure I've heard of it. Is that a planet?"

"Yes, in the Romulan Neutral Zone. It's the planet where I was born."

"I see," David said, wanting to know more but being careful not to pry too deeply. "So then...your parents lived there?"

Saavik continued to look straight ahead, engaging in the conversation with all the emotionlessness of a biographer reciting someone else's profile. "I never knew my parents. My mother was a prisoner, most likely raped, and she died shortly after I was born. The Romulans later left the planet, and I was abandoned. I lived a feral existence with other orphaned children until we were found by the Vulcans, and taken to the Gamma Eri science station."

"Oh my G.o.d," David said with a mixture of both horror as well as newfound respect. "I'm sorry...I had no idea."

Saavik faced him with a look of mild confusion. "You need not apologize for something that was beyond your control."

"Well, no, I didn't mean..." His voice trailed off, and he sighed. He hadn't spent nearly enough time around Vulcans, and was beginning to realize that his comments would require a more logical foundation if this conversation was to go anywhere. "I meant to say, it is unfortunate that your childhood was so difficult. But I'm quite impressed at how, in spite of all that, you grew into such a successful young woman."

Saavik looked down, and feelings of dread crept into David's mind as he was certain that she would soon become annoyed with his clumsy attempts to compliment her. But those feelings melted away when a subtle smile softly creased her cheeks. "I am honored that you think so..." Her eyes met his. "...David. But what we make of our lives is based entirely upon the choices we make in the present, not upon events that occurred in the past."

"I agree," David replied. "Still, it's so incredible that you're helping to mend the fences with the Romulans. A lesser person might hate them for what they did to you."

Saavik c.o.c.ked her head. "It would be illogical for me to hate who I am."

David had no response.

As they finally crested the hill, the sun disappeared behind gathering clouds, and the cool breeze gained intensity until it became a swirling wind. And when they gazed out beyond the top and over the other side, it appeared as if they had transported onto another world.

The forest ended abruptly at the top of the hill, and the landscape beyond was much more barren, dotted with hardier-looking plant formations, mostly cacti and tundra. And strangest of all, the ground, as far as they could see, was blanketed with a white sheet of freshly-fallen snow. The two scientists exchanged puzzled looks.

David lifted his tricorder from where it hung on the strap from his shoulder, and quickly scanned the area. "This doesn't make sense," he said. "The Genesis matrix is still actively modifying the meteorological properties of this area. It should be dormant by now."

"Is it safe for us to proceed?" Saavik asked.

David turned the tricorder toward her and swept it up and down. "As far as I can tell, yes. The matrix is no longer showing any metastatic effects."

The two of them struggled to keep their balance as a sudden tremor shook the ground beneath their feet, threatening to send them both tumbling back down the hill. David grabbed Saavik's arm, and she clasped his opposite hand in response, keeping their equilibrium steady until the rumbling ceased a few seconds later.

Their communicators both began chirping in unison. "Grissom to landing party!"

Saavik quickly retrieved hers and flipped it open. "Saavik here."

"Saavik, the geological instability we're reading is increasing throughout your sector," the concerned voice of Esteban rang out. "And we just recorded a quake at your location. Are you both okay?"

"We're fine, Captain," Saavik replied.

"Doctor Marcus?"

David flipped open his own communicator. "Marcus here."

"David, we're reading a severe and unnatural age curve on the planet. I'm getting nervous up here. Do you have an explanation?"

David paused before clicking the b.u.t.ton to respond. "No, Captain. We're reading the same things, but I'm going to have to study the data in more depth before I can formulate a theory."

"Well, theory or no, if things get much worse, I'm pulling you both out of there. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," David replied. "We're less than a kilometer from the life-form readings. We'll have something for you shortly. Marcus out."

Saavik looked at him. "David," she said with concern. "You do have a theory, don't you?"

"Later," he said abruptly, trudging off across the snowy terrain. "Let's find what we came for."

Along the distant horizon, a line of mountains could be seen, and with a flash of bright flame, one of the peaks erupted with a ma.s.sive fireball, shooting red-hot rock and ash high into the skies over the outlying lands. Several seconds later, the shock wave rattled their eardrums, and whittled away at what little fort.i.tude they had remaining.

They hiked the last kilometer in silence, awed by the bizarre weather patterns, and growing increasingly troubled by the small tremors rumbling through the ground with increasing regularity. Their path took them down into a shallow valley flanked by rocky bluffs. As the readings from their intended target began to suggest a very close proximity, the vale abruptly opened out to their left and they rounded the corner of the cliff, where before them the object of their search sat on prominent display.

Like a great monolith left behind on this primitive world by some advanced civilization eons ago, then felled by the winds of time, they beheld a ma.s.sive sheet of metal, perhaps thirty feet high, embedded in the snow-covered soil at a sharply diagonal angle, the top leaning against the nearby cliff face. The smooth surface, though seared by the heat of atmospheric friction, looked relatively undamaged and bore markings that were all too familiar to David. In fact, the only serious blemish marring the integrity of the object was down the right side, where it seemed as if the metal had simply been eaten away by some ravenous unknown force.

Saavik was already scanning the object with her tricorder. "Tritanium alloy," she read from the display, "with duranium outer plating."

"That's part of a registry number," David said, pointing to a set of figures displayed upside-down, about halfway up the length of the object. "'Seven-oh-one.' When the Genesis Device exploded aboard the Reliant, the aft section of the Enterprise was compromised by the effects of the wave. I think this is a section of the shuttlebay door."

Saavik scanned the surrounding area. "Presumably it would have impacted nearby and rolled to this position. But there is no sign of an impact crater."

"Well, the graviton waves were still in flux," David said. "It could have soft-landed."

Saavik raised an eyebrow as she again retrieved her communicator. "Fascinating," she said, as she flipped it open. "Saavik to Grissom."

"Esteban here," came the reply. "Have you found anything?"

"Yes. It would seem that we have discovered a section of the Enterprise hull."

"d.a.m.n...Saavik, do you detect any proprietary Starfleet technology attached to the wreckage?"

She continued to scan the object as David approached it, ducking his head into the shadows cast upon the ground behind it. "Negative. It appears to be nothing more than a section of the outer door to the shuttlebay."

"Well, we'll have to check it out anyway. I'm sending down a Starfleet landing party to doc.u.ment your findings. What about the life-form readings?"

"Saavik, look at this!" David shouted from his half-concealed position behind the door.

"Stand by," Saavik said, and she approached David, who had stepped back and was scanning the ground at the base of the wreckage.

In the soil directly behind the object, sheltered from the surrounding snowfall, dozens of small flat wormlike organisms, each about an inch long, slowly maneuvered their way along the ground. Though clearly primitive, their size was shocking to the sensibilities of the two scientists, who knew that nothing more advanced than embryophytic plant life should have been manufactured by the Genesis matrix. David completed his scan. "Apparently these were microbes on the inner surface of the door, probably left there by the bay crew on Enterprise."

Saavik studied them with puzzlement. "But how could they have evolved so quickly?"

Their communicators crackled to life. "Marcus and Saavik, stand by to receive the landing p-" The end of the transmission dissolved into incomprehensible static.

Saavik held her communicator close and spoke loudly. "Grissom, this is Saavik. You're breaking up. Are you receiving interference?"

Esteban's voice struggled to break through the noise. "reading an artificial disturbance"

"-energy surge from astern, sir!" came the voice of Grissom's communications officer.

Additional static. "-G.o.d! Red alert! Raise shields!" Esteban's voice shouted out with marked panic.

David met Saavik's eyes and they shared a horrified look. "What's going on up there?" he asked rhetorically.

"Take evasive action! Stand by on-!"

Another burst of intense static, and then complete silence.

"Saavik to Grissom!" she implored. "Come in, Captain!"

No response.

"Oh my G.o.d!" David cried out. "What the h.e.l.l just happened?"

Saavik's hand shook as she closed the communicator. She swallowed. "It would seem that the Grissom was just destroyed by an enemy attack."

"Wha-? Then how are we going to get off this planet? We've got to call for help!" He fumbled to find his own communicator in his jacket.

"David!" Saavik shouted. "Logically, the only people within range of our transmission would be the ones who just destroyed the ship."

David stared at her for several seconds, then removed his empty hand from his pocket. "You're right, of course." He took a couple of unsteady steps, then leaned back against the nearby rock and covered his face with his hands. "Oh, G.o.d..."

He pressed his fingers into his eyes, hoping to somehow blot out the truth of their circ.u.mstances-to expose all this as a surreal nightmare and end it swiftly and conclusively. He was brought back to reality by a hand on his shoulder. "David...this planet is destroying itself, isn't it?"

He dropped his hands from his face, wringing them firmly as he stared up at the sky. "Yeah, I think so."

"What went wrong?" she implored him.

He sighed. "I used protomatter in the Genesis matrix."

"Protomatter," she echoed. "An unstable substance that every ethical scientist in the galaxy has denounced as dangerously unpredictable."

"It was the only way to solve certain problems." His voice was racked with guilt. "My mother never even knew. That aspect of the project was entirely my responsibility."

"I understand your desire to demonstrate your worthiness to your mentors," Saavik said. "But in this case, your impatience has placed us in an untenable situation."

David attempted to collect himself. "All right. So...these people who destroyed the Grissom. Are they more of Khan's men? They already killed all my friends at the Regula One s.p.a.celab-the ones who sacrificed themselves so that we could escape with Genesis. Naturally, they would be trying to track down the rest of us."

Saavik gave him a puzzled look. "That is highly unlikely. Khan was a first-generation augment from Earth's late twentieth century. His only surviving followers perished aboard the Reliant. Do you not know the history of your own world?"

"History was never my best subject."

"Indeed," she agreed. "But whomever they are, we must presume that they will come looking for us. Logically, our best course of action is to avoid capture until Starfleet sends another vessel to investigate."

"Right. Um..." He lifted his tricorder and turned around, sweeping it across the breadth of the rocky cliffs that loomed up behind them. "We can follow this ridge until it meets higher ground, a few kilometers away. Those hills contain some kelbonite ore, which should help to mask our life signs and block any transporter beams. Maybe we can find some shelter there."

"Excellent," Saavik said as another tremor shook the landscape, sending small boulders tumbling down from the nearby precipice. "Let's proceed."

The landscape grew much more difficult to navigate as they sought higher elevation, the ground becoming layered with uneven rocky soil. The snow had ceased, and the vegetation surrounding them reverted back to a more traditional arrangement of deciduous trees and bushes. The tremors continued to increase in both frequency and intensity, and the wind began to howl ever louder as it swirled about them. As the sun dipped below the horizon and the veil of dusk began to fall about them, they finally reached a plateau that jutted out from the face of a hill, where they discovered several small grottoes in the rock of the hillside that could offer protection from the elements and, hopefully, from their pursuers as well.

Within the confines of one of the tiny caverns they quickly set up a makeshift camp. The air was still reasonably warm, so no fire was necessary. They consumed a few rations as David's tricorder lay on the ground next to them, periodically flashing various warnings about the geological instability of the planet, as well as the presence of additional life-forms in the vicinity-presumably in the midst of an extensive search for the two members of the Grissom crew who were still unaccounted for.

David studied Saavik's dimly lit face as she sat staring off into the night sky, her half-Vulcan countenance only partly masking the apprehension she clearly felt. His own emotions were a jumble of remorse for his own negligence and dread from the hopelessness they now faced. In spite of this, he felt a strange compulsion to laugh, and did so, albeit halfheartedly. "How ironic is it that I took this a.s.signment because I wanted to impress my father?"

"Starfleet Admiral James Kirk," Saavik said matter-of-factly. "I had surmised from your biographical profile in the mission briefing that the two of you were not particularly close."

David shrugged. "I barely know him at all," he admitted.

"Then why do you place such importance upon his acceptance of you?"

David considered this. "Good question. Growing up, it was just my mother and me. We had each other; I never thought we needed anyone else. And from what I knew of him, well..." He laughed. "I didn't think I even wanted to know him."

"Based upon reputation alone," Saavik interjected, "he does seem to possess the trait that I believe humans call 'c.o.c.ky.'"

"Bingo," David said, smiling. "But that was before I saw him in command of his bridge...before we had our first real talk. And now I wonder what my 'c.o.c.ky' father might have been able to teach me about leadership, had I ever made the effort to include him in my life."

Again Saavik looked pensively off into the distance. "I cannot compare your upbringing with my own. At Gamma Eri, I was mentored by a scientist named Salok. He did an acceptable job of raising us to learn and appreciate the Vulcan disciplines, but he was not...nurturing...and certainly not tolerant of my emotional instability. Only Sarek seemed to understand."

"You and the amba.s.sador remained close?"

"He was able to come to the station only about once per year, but I awaited his visits with eager antic.i.p.ation. He always took a special interest in my development. He...cared about me, I suppose in a way that a father would care for his own child."

David watched her as she spoke, sitting forlornly within their dark, barren surroundings. She had never known maternal affection; he had never experienced the benefit of his father's commanding presence. Each of them was somehow incomplete, and he felt that he wanted to hold her-that together, somehow, they could both become whole.

"So then, I a.s.sume that Sarek was never married?" David wondered aloud.