"Out There"

[Mr. Atoz]

[If you know anything about UFOlogy, you may recognize the names of some of the characters in this story. None is intended to represent or even to parody any particular 20th or 21st century person, living or dead. Any such resemblance is coincidental.]


OUT THERE>>>

Captain's Log, Stardate 53065.5: On our way to Alpha Cygni, our course takes us through the Omega sector. At the request of Science Officer Weir, we are making a brief stop at system 696 for research purposes.

The starship Odysseus emerged from warp while still nearly half a million kilometers distant from the planet. From this vantage point, Omega 696-IV was visible on the main view screen as a small blueish-white pea against the pristine black of space, its one moon making a tiny complementary dot to its upper right.

"Vector in for a standard orbit, Mr. Caeli," Captain Atoz said, "Impulse factor one, quarter speed."

"Quarter speed aye, sir," the helmsman repeated.

Atoz sat back in his command chair and watched as the planet gradually grew from the size of a pea to that of a bean. A moment later, he casually turned towards the Sciences station on his right.

"Is this good enough, Diane?"

Lieutenant Commander Weir looked up distractedly from her sensor console. "Oh yes, sir," the Science Officer said with a smile. "This system has a slightly abnormal orbital configuration, which has gone largely uninvestigated because the planet is uninhabited and so far off the beaten track. These readings will help Lt. Stephano's study immensely."

Atoz shrugged. "We're not due at Starbase 218 for ten days, so I can let you have, uh... 16 hours. Will that be long enough?"

"Should be more than enough, sir. Thank you."

"Captain," said Lt. Rosh at the Tactical station, "I am picking up the engine pattern of a Federation vessel, bearing 021 mark 33, distance approximately 9 light-minutes."

"We're a little off the space lanes, lieutenant," Atoz replied, leaning back in his chair. "What kind of vessel is it?"

"The Galileo, class 7 civilian transport, configuration 5," Rosh said, as he quickly queried the library computer. "Registered to the Questor Foundation of Alpha Centauri."

Atoz had never heard of it before. At any rate, they were a long way from home.

"Captain," said Weir, looking up sharply from her Sciences console, "that position puts them dangerously close to the asteroid zone!"

Atoz shifted uncomfortably in his command chair. An asteroid belt was normally spread so thinly, it presented no hazard at all for a starship. You could sail straight through the thickest part of one and never realize it. In fact, cruise liners usually had to make special effort to find an asteroid sighting for their passengers. But Omega 696 was one of those rare systems which had thick swarms of debris held together by iogenic fields. If this were an inhabited system, warning buoys would be in place. As it was, possibly the ship was unaware of the danger.

"Ensign Penner, hail the vessel."

"Hailing frequencies open, sir," the young comm officer said. "They're not responding."

"Galileo, this is Captain Atoz of the starship Odysseus," Atoz said. "You are proceeding into a hazardous area! Reverse course immediately!"

Penner, listening intently to her earpod, shook her head. "No answer, Captain."

Maybe their comm system was out for some reason. "Come about, Mr. Caeli," Atoz said. "Plot an intercept course."

"Course plotted and laid in, Captain," the helmsman replied, as the starship turned away from the planet.

"Warp one. Engage."

"Warp one, aye."

Rosh glanced into his tactical display. "Captain, there is a cluster of several hundred small planetary bodies ahead, in sizes ranging from one meter to one thousand meters. The Galileo is changing course... directly into it."

"What--? On screen!" Atoz said.

On the main view screen, the swarm appeared as a wide band of rocky debris, the larger ones cratered and pitted from numerous collisions. The civilian vessel, shaped like a slightly stretched ovoid with two jutting engine nacelles port and starboard, looked small and fragile in comparison. At Atoz watched, the ship seemed to hesitate, then accelerated into the swarm, veering around one huge asteroid, only to narrowly avoid another.

"Are they blind? Ensign Penner, warn them again!"

"Still no acknowledgment, Captain."

The Galileo disappeared into a narrow gap where the Odysseus couldn't follow. Emerging from the shadow, the ship made a steep swerve to starboard as her port wing glanced off a boulder-sized fragment. At the velocity the ship was going, deflectors had little effect. The impact sent a quiver through its entire structure.

"Damage to his port engine, Captain," Rosh reported. "His shields are badly strained."

Atoz rubbed his chin. "Prepare to raise our forward shield and extend to cover him, Mr. Rosh."

Meanwhile the Odysseus was rapidly coming up on the asteroid field at the speed of light. "Reduce to sublight, Mr. Caeli," Atoz ordered. "Impulse factor three. Stay with him if you can."

The young helmsman swallowed hard. "Aye-aye, Captain," he said, as his fingers danced over his panel. With a flash of displaced tachyons, the starship dropped out of warp speed and plunged into a gap in the asteroid swarm. Caeli kept his eyes glued to his proximity warning panel as he worked the thruster controls by feel alone, threading the Odysseus through narrow openings even a smaller ship would never have dared.

"Mister Rosh, cover him with our shield. Try to target a tractor beam on him."

"Shields extended, Captain," the tactical officer reported. "Tractor beam locked on.".

Just then, the Galileo grazed another somewhat larger boulder, which thanks to the Odysseus' protective shield, exploded into a rain of pebbles. A second later, the two ships, now locked together, emerged into an area of open space.

"I'm getting a reply from the Galileo, Captain!" Penner said suddenly.

The main screen displayed an image of a man with a salt-and-pepper beard. "Release my ship!" he demanded angrily. "What do you mean by this invidious persecution?"

Atoz was a little taken aback by the man's choice of words, but he quickly quashed it. "Captain, you ignored my warning to stay clear of a navigation hazard," he replied. "You had better have a good reason, or you can say goodbye to your master's license!"

"Navigation hazard?" the civilian scoffed. "Is that your story? This is nothing but typical Starfleet harassment! I warn you I'm recording this!"

Rosh was gently trying to get Atoz' attention. Another swarm of small boulder sized asteroids was approaching them. "We'll talk about this later, captain," Atoz said. "Screen off, ensign. Mister Caeli, get us back into deep space."

[Mr. Atoz]

With the Galileo in tow, the Odysseus threaded her way precariously back through the asteroid field. Minutes later, both ships were in the clear and settling into distant orbit around the Omega 696 star.

Atoz used the time to ask the ship's computer about the Questor Foundation. "Working," Arachne replied, as her holographic Greek goddess avatar appeared beside his command chair. "The Questor Foundation is a scientific research institute established in 2311 by the Brotherhood of Light on Earth, for the purpose of empirical research into the organized design of the universe, especially the intelligent origin of living things. There are branches at Alpha Centauri, Altair, and New Paris. I can list the board of directors and the table of organization if you like."

"Not right now, Arachne," Atoz said. "Thank you."

"Organized design?" said the First Officer, Charles Fawkes. "How could any reputable scientific organization claim that the Universe was designed? Who do they think did it?"

"Superior beings from beyond space and time," Weir said with a deep sigh. "A long time ago they used to call it Creationism. I suppose they never do give up, do they?"

"They sound almost like Christians," said Lt. Caeli, looking over his shoulder from the helm. "The sect we have on Romana Magna never pretended to care much about science. They used to claim that stars were just the light of the Son shining through from Heaven." He grinned. "We never took them very seriously."

"You'd be surprised," Weir said, "how many people on Earth would rather believe some fantasy about superior beings than accept the prosaic truth that life evolved on its own through natural processes." She turned to Atoz, frowning. "But what are they doing out here, sir? There's nothing of particular interest to them in this system. If they wanted to study iogenic asteroid fields, there are a lot closer ones they could have used."

"Captain," said Penner at Communications, "I have a subspace message coming through from Admiral Crane, Starbase 218."

"Maybe this will answer your question," Atoz said. "Put it on screen please, ensign."

The thin, hatchet-faced figure of Vice Admiral Mike Crane appeared on the viewscreen. "Captain Atoz, I understand you've met up with the Brotherhood of Light ship Galileo."

"Ah...Yes, admiral," Atoz replied. "They strayed into a dangerous iogenic field zone."

Crane impatiently waved this aside. "That's why I want you to stay with them and look out for them. Don't do anything to interfere with their work, but give them any assistance they require. And don't let them do anything stupid."

"But, sir... when I spoke to their captain, he didn't seem to want any assistance."

"Yes, I know," Crane frowned. "He thinks you're there specifically to 'thwart' their investigation. I tried to explain that it was pure coincidence, but that kind of person doesn't believe in coincidence, obviously."

"No, sir," Atoz said. "Can you tell me what kind of research they're doing here? What do they hope to prove?"

"I don't know, and I don't care," the admiral said flatly. "But if we don't cooperate, they'll scream Conspiracy and Persecution. So give them all possible cooperation, captain. Understood?"

***


Atoz was waiting in the Transporter Room half an hour later, along with Weir and Chief Engineer Vespis, when the two people from the Galileo beamed over. The shimmering blue transport beams faded away as a man and a woman appeared on the pads, both dressed in similar dove gray suits with bold white and black slashes on the arms. On the left breast, they wore an emblem depicting two hands reaching out toward the galaxy.

"Welcome aboard the Odysseus," Atoz said, stepping forward to shake hands. "I'm Captain Seven Atoz."

"Thank you, captain," said the man with the salt-and-pepper beard, looking much subdued from the last time Atoz had seen him. "My name is Lawson, John Lawson. This is my colleague, Deborah Templeton. I regret my earlier outburst. My engineer tells me that if you hadn't come to our aid, our ship could have been severely damaged."

Actually the ship had been severely damaged, but Atoz didn't say so. "If you'd like, my Chief Engineer can beam over and have a look," he said. "Lt. Commander Vho Vespis."

Both of the civilians moved closer, fascinated. Templeton was about 40, with a halo of platinum blond hair, carrying a tablet. "You're an Andorian, aren't you?" she marveled, shaking Vespis' hand.

"Uh... yes," the engineer confirmed, her two antennae wriggling with what Atoz recognized as wry amusement. "Yes, I am."

"Then you understand, don't you?" the Earth woman continued warmly. "Andorian legend tells of the Strangers from the Sky. The Creation Hymn of Sesran Ad!"

Vespis blinked in astonishment. Andorian legend? The Hymn of Sesran was regarded on Andor as a children's story, and a pretty obscure one at that! "Well, actually..."

Atoz cleared his throat. "And this is my Science Officer, Lt. Commander Diane Weir."

"Yes, of course," Lawson said coldly, as his eyes slid over Weir's blue and black uniform without really looking at her. "I hope you don't expect us to subject our work to her approval, captain?"

"Don't be rude, John!" Templeton said, tearing herself reluctantly away from Vespis and looking warmly into Weir's brown eyes "It's just that we've come to expect blind opposition from the scientific establishment of Starfleet."

"I never blindly oppose anything," Weir said, raising one eyebrow.

"That's good! That's all we ask... that you keep an open mind."

In the briefing room, Lawson and Templeton set up the tablet on the conference table and projected a holographic diagram of the Omega 696 asteroid zone. Weir leaned closer. It looked astonishingly detailed -- far too detailed to be real, in fact, since the iogenic fields that held the swarms together continually jostled against one another, making mapping pointless. It dawned on her that what she was seeing was an idealized representation, not a real map.

"I'm sure you're all wondering," Lawson began, "what brings us all this way." The diagram pulled back to show the entire sector around Omega 696, as a bright red point appeared several star systems away. "2354: the Battle of Ajul IV in the Quellar sector, 2367: the USS Lindstrom vanished without a trace only 40 light-years from here. 2368: the Cardassian Cruiser Joilarix, also lost without a trace..." He continued in the same vein, a recitation of every slight ship malfunction and anomalous sighting reported in the sector, the hologram adding a new red dot each time until the map was covered with about twenty of them.

"And if that weren't enough," Templeton added, as the map vanished and was replaced by a fuzzy, computer enhanced image of a what looked vaguely like a football, "there have been many sightings of space-dwelling lifeforms moving toward or away from this star system."

"Really!" said Lawson, with the air of someone proving a point. "Did you seriously think Starfleet could cover this up indefinitely?"

"Cover what up?" Vespis said artlessly.

The sector map reappeared. Lines snaked out to connect the dots, converging, not surprisingly, on the 696 system. The map expanded and rotated, so that convergence of lines sketched out a dodecahedron, centered right in the middle of the asteroid belt! "The Stargate!" Templeton announced. "Left behind by the superior beings who created Mankind, so that one day we could join them in their Transcendent Realm!"

Weir sat back in her chair, folding her arms silently across her chest. The methodology was such an absurd parody of the scientific process, she was speechless.

Vespis, however, burst out laughing. "You've got to be zekking me! Most of those ship disappearances date back to the Cardassian War! And I don't know where you got the picture of the space creature, but it looks like a Denebian puffer fish!" She glanced over at Weir for support, but the Science Officer just sat there.

"Vespis..." Atoz cautioned.

"Quite all right, captain," Lawson said. "We understand you've all been ordered to do everything you can to hide the Truth. I only have one question. Once we uncover the evidence, are you going to prevent us from taking it back to Alpha Centauri? Can your conscience live with that?"

"Doctor Lawson," Atoz said slowly. "And Dr. Templeton. My orders are to give you every possible support and cooperation. That's what I intend to do. So I ask you in return. How do you propose to proceed?"

The two civilians looked at one another as if they were still skeptical. But Templeton said, "We have equipment of our own design aboard the Galileo, which is far more sensitive than your Starfleet sensors. We intend simply to take her into the asteroid field. We think that--"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Atoz said, shaking his head. "Your ship sustained considerable damage to its superstructure and deflector shields. I can't allow you to run that risk."

"Aha!" said Lawson. "Here it comes! The part where we get turned back for our own safety!"

"But," Atoz continued, "our runabouts are designed to take a pounding. I'm prepared to let you use one of them."

"Well, that's very gracious of you, captain," Templeton said. "We would use our own team of scientists, and our own sensing equipment?"

Atoz nodded. "Naturally. This is your expedition. Of course, I have to insist that one of my pilots fly the craft. He will be under strict orders to go wherever you wish, and not to interfere in any way whatsoever."

Lawson slowly nodded. "That sounds acceptable," he said grudgingly, as if he were looking for the catch.

"One other thing..." Atoz hesitated, but went on. "I would feel better if Lt. Commander Weir accompanied you, strictly as an observer, mind you. But that's entirely up to you."

Weir sat up suddenly in her chair, darting him a muffled look of outrage. She wanted no part of this farce!

Templeton smiled. "We would be glad to have her join us, captain."

[Mr. Atoz]

It took close to an hour to complete the modifications to the Charybdis, partly to install new equipment to her external sensor pods, and partly to disable most of her own sensors, apart from those needed for navigation. Lawson claimed that they would take up too many computer resources, but Vespis got the distinct impression that he just didn't trust Starfleet sensors.

"I'm sorry about this, Diane," Atoz said, as he strolled down the corridor with Weir. "You don't have to take part. I just want you there in case they start to do something that could get them killed."

"I understand, sir," she said, forcing a somewhat rueful smile. "And besides, Dr. Templeton assures me that I will be given credit in their book! Imagine what that will look like on my CV when it comes time to apply for promotion!"

They arrived at Hangar Bay One, where the rest of the party was assembled. Atoz was briefly introduced to the other four members of the team -- Randles, Jessup, Kean and Jacobs -- before they boarded the runabout. Lieutenant Caeli was already at the helm, making last minute checks. Weir slipped into the co-pilot seat beside him. As the hatch was closed, Atoz and Vespis backed out of the way to give the craft a wide berth.

"Charybdis to Odysseus," Caeli's voice said over their comm badges. "All secure for departure."

Commander Fawkes, on the bridge, replied. "Odysseus to Charybdis. Any time you're ready, lieutenant."

The runabout's grav units lifted it off the deck and gently glided it through the force field airlock. "We have cleared the hangar doors," said Caeli's voice. "Engaging thrusters."

As the Charybdis swung around and shot smoothly past the starboard side of the Odysseus, Weir turned away from the copilot station. Templeton and Lawson had loaded their "map" of the asteroid field into the big holographic chart table amidships of the runabout's thingypit, and were busily trying to work out the most direct route through it.

"Helmsman," Lawson said finally, "at four degrees right rudder, there should be a large gap."

"I see it," Caeli said uncertainly. "Here goes nothing." The runabout plunged into the swarm of asteroids. At first it was easy going. The helm officer took it slow, easing the craft in and out among drifting rocks no larger than two to three meters in diameter. Passing close under the shadow of a much larger fragment, they emerged into another open area.

"OK, good," Lawson said, consulting the map again. "We need to come five degrees back to the left now. There ought to be... no, wait... make that six degrees..."

Weir left them to it and wandered back into the passenger compartment. The other four team members, ignoring the sensor station against the starboard bulkhead, had set up their equipment monitors on the table in the center of the room. They were chattering excitedly among themselves, Jessup and Randles watching the devices while the other two stood at the aft portholes looking out at space with hand held tricorders recording the view.

Many of the ongoing scans were unfamiliar. One device was monitoring "teletheric" activity, whatever that was. Another was cycling through a spectroscopic examination of each boulder as it passed. A third was simply recording microwave frequencies in the space outside, which was completely pointless as far as Weir could see.

"Would you like me to explain our setup?" Templeton asked, coming up behind her.

Weir gently shook her head. "I'm not supposed to interfere."

"But you're curious," the other woman said, smiling. "I can see it in your eyes. You're dying to know what we're up to, aren't you?"

***

Captain's log, supplemental: The team aboard the runabout has been exploring the asteroid field for five hours. The Odysseus and the Galileo remain at a safe distance following them by passive scans only at their request so as not to interfere with their readings. Periodic contacts assure us that all is going well, although they have nothing definite to report.


The turbolift doors slid open to allow Vespis onto the bridge. Fawkes, slouched in the command chair, stood up and stretched elaborately. "So? Are they all squared away in the Galileo?"

"Pretty much," the Andorian replied. "Had to replace their shield generator and shore up the main support strut of their port nacelle. But they're shipshape now. Zarkhon, I'm getting spoiled in Starfleet! Their engineer didn't even know where the self-sealing sten bolts were kept!"

Fawkes gave her a half grin. "Try to remind yourself that even you were born a civilian."

"Speak for yourself, darkskin," Vespis said, her antennae wiggling impishly. "My parents were both Imperial Guard officers! According to them I was born on the engineering deck in the middle of an After Action inspection. Got an Exemplary rating, too!" She reached up and draped her arms around his broad shoulders. "Ready to eat? I'm starved!"

"The Captain's at dinner now. When he gets back."

"Oh pooh!" the Andorian said, looking around the bridge. Ensign Penner was at her dinner break. Ensign Nickel had taken the helm in Caeli's absence, Ensign De Jager was at Sciences, and Lt. j.g. T'Pana at Ops, leaving the Tactical officer as next ranking crewman. "Lieutenant Rosh can take the con for a few minutes! It's not as if anything important is going to happen!"

***

On board the Charybdis, the mood had become noticeably less cheerful. Kean, living up to her name, was hunched over the table, trying to watch three different monitors at once. Jacobs was sitting by the stern portholes, nursing a cup of coffee from the food slot, his tricorder lying unused on the deck next to him. Randles and Jessup were sprawled on the bunks, resting. Templeton had returned to the chart table with Lawson.

Weir watched as Kean noted something of interest on the monitor showing boulders drifting past with auras of blue and green superimposed. One had a prominent blob of red in the center, which Kean scribbled down excitedly in her notebook. Weir was bored enough to ask. "Excuse me, but what is this?"

Kean glanced up and shot her a look of pity. "Spectroscopic molecular examination," she said. "Fancy a Science Officer not knowing that!"

"I know what it is," Weir replied coolly. "I just don't know why you're bothering. With the setup you have, you're only doing a superficial scan of the outer few centimeters. Since the objects are at space normal temperature, you can't be getting a deep probe in only the second or two we pass by them. Your pictures look pretty, but basically all you're doing is amplifying the reflection of the runabout's running lights off the hydrogen ice scattered on the surface."

"What--?"

"The red streaks are probably deutridium deposits," Weir continued. "Quite common in asteroids of this nature."

Kean stared at her for a second, then said, "I don't understand why you oppose what we're doing so strongly."

"Me?" said Weir. "I don't oppose you at all. I think you're wrong, but—"

"I mean the scientific establishment in general. Isn't it obvious that the universe must be part of an intelligent plan? How can you believe that you're nothing but a random collection of atoms just bumping together? It makes everything you do or say or dream of so meaningless. I don't see why you don't just shoot yourself."

Weir blinked incredulously.. "I don't know what gave you the idea that the universe was random, Ms. Kean. The fact that we can understand it at all means there's an underlying order. Otherwise science wouldn't exist at all! The evolution of complex systems, both in physics and in biology, shows a definite pattern, a history if you will, of nonrandom selection. Underlying it all is the order imposed by the laws of physics."

"OK but where do the laws of physics come from? Don't you see they can't be random? They had to be imposed on the universe by some intelligence!"

"I don't see that at all. Let's assume for a moment you're right, and that some intelligence designed the universe. That means the universe itself would have to be finite, even smaller and less complex than the designer. In that case the universe and all the laws of physics become nothing more than a game that this intelligence put together to amuse itself. And nothing that I did, and nothing that the Human race could ever hope to do would ever make the slightest bit of difference. Even trying to understand it would be pointless. That's what would strike me as meaningless."

The runabout abruptly changed course slightly, and a moment later Templeton appeared in the doorway. The other members of her team all roused themselves to look at her. "Everybody on the alert," she said. "We've located what looks like a promising area up ahead."

Weir resisted the urge to say, "That's what you said an hour ago. And an hour before that..." But from the looks on the other four's faces, they were all thinking the same thing anyway. Kean bent intently over her instruments while the others dragged themselves to the table and took their places. Weir stood back out of their way.

"Dr. Templeton," Jacobs said, indicting something on the monitor in front of him. "What's this? I've never seen anything like it!"

The woman leaned forward over his shoulder. "It looks like a multiphase overlap! Corsi, raise the threshold on your positronium locater to level four. What reading do you get?"

There was a brief pause. "It's fluxing! Uh... nine point nine, doctor."

Kean gave Weir a look of triumph. "I'm getting increased activity on the MVP monitor!"

"This is it!" Templeton cried. Quickly she went to the passenger compartment doorway, calling to Lawson. "Stop here! I think we've found it!"

Lawson joined her in the doorway. "You're serious? We've... found it?"

"The Stargate!" Templeton sighed, pointing to a spot on the chart table..

Lawson turned towards the helm. "Turn two degrees right! Increase speed!"

Caeli grimaced. At least the area he indicated looked fairly clear of asteroids. "Whatever you say."

[Mr. Atoz]

Fawkes and Vespis were just about to step onto the turbolift.

"Commander," said Ensign De Jager at the Sciences station, "I'm picking up a burst of neutrinos from somewhere. No visible source. It's not--"

A flare of light suddenly flashed on the main view screen. Fawkes took a step towards the command chair. "What was that, Rosh? Is the Charybdis all right?"

When the Tactical officer didn't answer right away, Fawkes repeated his question. "Mr. Rosh? Report!"

"Commander, there is no sign of the runabout on passive sensors."

The First Officer was beside the chair in two strides. "Go to active scans! Sweep the area!"

"Nothing, Commander," Rosh repeated. "No trace of the runabout."

"Ensign Nickel, bring us about, course 045 mark 12!" Fawkes tapped his comm badge. "Bridge to Captain. We need you up here, sir."

***

Without warning, the Charybdis seemed to strike some kind of interface and spin out of control. The proximity alarm warbled jarringly as the ship narrowly avoided a fairly big chunk of rock, and then, as Lt. Caeli tried to pull her around, she flipped over with such violence he was flung out of his seat head first into the instrument panel.

A moment later, everything went still. The portholes were all dark. Overhead the light panels flickered on and off like strobes, casting shadows everywhere. Weir, lying crushed against what felt like the starboard passenger compartment bulkhead, heard groans from injured people. The equipment had been swept off the table, littering the deck.

"Don't panic, everyone," she said, feeling her way towards the workstation. "Lie quietly until emergency power kicks in. Dr. Templeton, are you all right?"

"I believe so," Templeton said.

Weir called the names of the others one by one, getting a response from everyone except Jacobs and Lt. Caeli. By the time she was done, the power had stabilized and the lights burned steady, if slightly dimmer than usual. It became instantly obvious that Jacobs hadn't answered because he had been thrown forward into the waste disposal cubicle. He came out looking a little bruised and sheepish. Caeli proved to be unconscious, with what looked like a concussion. Gently they moved him back to one of the bunks.

Weir slipped into the pilot seat, looking over the instrument panel. The navigation screen was completely dead, but engines seemed in good shape, and so did communications. "Weir to Odysseus," she said. "Come in Odysseus, we need assistance."

"You don't really think they can hear you?" Templeton said, hovering over her shoulder.

"I don't see why not," Weir answered. "The Comm system is all right..." Belatedly she noticed that the portholes were all polarized, with was the reason they were completely dark. If she were going to try and fly the runabout without benefit of the navigation system, she had to be able to see where she was going. Looking over the console, she found the right control and flicked it, causing the windows to become transparent again.

Right away Weir heard a gasp of surprise from the other five. The view outside the runabout was bright, as if they were inside a seething, churning white cloud. There were no stars visible. They were not in normal space at all!

"We passed through the Stargate," Templeton said, her eyes wide with awe as Lawson, Kean and the others clustered behind her. "The Others must have brought us here! This is like nothing anyone has ever seen before!"

"The Others!" someone sighed. "We could be on the other side of the known Universe!"

"That's absurd," Weir said.

"We could even be Beyond," Kean added, deaf to her objection. "Outside the Universe as we know it!"

"Listen to me," Weir said patiently. "Transporting an object across space consumes a great deal of energy. That energy has to come from somewhere. The sensors on the Odysseus detected no evidence of a wormhole in this star system. Your own devices -- your microwave receiver for example -- showed nothing capable of generating that much power!"

Kean brightened as her eyes met Templeton's. "There were those teletheric signatures I detected in the asteroids!"

"That was just the reflection of the running lights..."

Templeton still had that maddeningly calm smile. "There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Commander Weir. That's the problem with your science. You can't open your mind to things you can't understand empirically."

"I feel sorry for you," Kean said to Weir. "Your mind is so closed, you can't see what's right in front of your face!" She spun on her heel and went back to the passenger compartment. The others followed one by one.

***

"I'm sorry, Captain," said Ensign De Jager. "I've run the scan twice and there's no sign of the runabout. No wreckage, no ion streams, no traces. Nothing."

Captain Atoz stood grabbing hold of the back of his command chair, fighting down the urge to run the scan himself. "I'm sure you did a thorough job, ensign," he said.

"Well we can't just stand here!" Vespis blurted. "Let's take the other runabout out and search for them!"

"Slow down, luv," Fawkes said. "If the ship's sensors can't locate them, a shuttlecraft wouldn't do any better."

"So we do nothing?"

Atoz took a deep breath while his crew waited for him to make a decision. What would Diane do in this situation? She would use logic! But logic had to have some kind of data to work on! There was something... He turned back to De Jager. "What was it you said you picked up just before the runabout vanished? Neutrinos?"

"Yes, sir," the science officer said, clearly relieved to have something to report. "A burst of them. But there was no visible source."

"Arachne!" Atoz said.

The computer's holographic avatar appeared. "Yes, Captain? Something you wanted?"

"We have a problem. Neutrinos with no visible source. What could cause that?"

"Working," the AI said. "Neutrinos are elementary particles formed from nuclear reactions in the hearts of stars as well as in artificial fusion power plants. If the source is indiscernible, there could be four proximate causes. One: the source is a fusion powered space vessel operating under a holographic or multiphase cloaking screen..."

"Not likely, Captain," Fawkes volunteered. "We've been here five hours. A cloaking device uses up a lot of power. It would have shown itself by now."

"Agreed," said Atoz, turning back to Arachne. "Next?"

"Two: the source is near a pulsating quantum singularity, allowing neutrinos and x-rays to escape while keeping other forms of electromagnetic radiation trapped within its gravitational field..."

"No x-rays," said Rosh, "and no hyper-gravity effects have been detected here, Captain."

"Three: the presence of a type one subspace wormhole, redirecting the radiation stream from another location..."

De Jager shook his head. "I don't think so, Captain. I haven't detected any leptons or antiparticles associated with wormholes, either."

"Four: the presence of a pocket of null space, absorbing all electromagnetic radiation and allowing neutrinos to escape via eighth dimension transduction."

The bridge fell silent. Arachne looked quite satisfied with herself.

"That's got to be it!" Vespis said, and then groaned. "Ugh... null space!"

"A highly localized subspace distortion," the AI explained unnecessarily, "which warps gravitational fields and absorbs all forms of electromagnetic radiation. Conventional impulse and ion thrust engines, tractor beams, transporters, life support and so on have impaired function within the pocket."

"So how do we get them out?" De Jager said. He wilted a bit under the stares of the senior officers who turned to look at him. "Uh... sir? I mean, sirs?"

[Mr. Atoz]

"Greetings fellow space travelers," Templeton said into the microwave transmitter they had set up in the passenger compartment. "We come from a tiny planet called Earth. We came seeking your wisdom. We await your reply."

Weir, sitting at the pilot station in the thingypit, sighed. It was a waste of power the runabout couldn't spare, broadcasting it uselessly into null space like this. But they refused to listen. All six were convinced that there was no danger, that some sort of superior beings must be out there in that bright, churning cloud, waiting to pass on their wisdom.

She tried once again to restart the engines, but thanks to the energy drain, the manifolds wouldn't charge. And the bitrium fuel cells wouldn't last much longer, not with the Questor people squandering what power they had!

"Greetings fellow space travelers," Templeton said, repeating the same meaningless plea to the void.

Think! What would Seven... that is, what would Captain Atoz be doing to rescue them?

Assuming that with the aid of Vespis and Arachne, he had figured out that they were trapped in a null space pocket, he would first have to locate it, not an easy task with something that absorbs sensor probes! He would probably send out shuttlecraft using photon bursts to chart the boundaries of the pocket. But the iogenic fields in the asteroid zone would throw off the alignment!

What could she do to help? What kind of message could she send when the null space pocket itself absorbed all energy frequencies? Of course the neutrinos generated by the runabout's fusion cores would eventually work their way through the subspace barrier, but that could take hours, even days! Could she speed up the process? No! There was nothing! Nothing she could do!

"Greetings, fellow spa--"

"That's enough of that!" Lawson suddenly flared out, interrupting her. "This is pointless!"

"Calm down, John," Templeton replied. "We must have patience. Patience and faith."

"Faith!" he spat. "Maybe that Starfleet officer is right, Deborah! Maybe we're wrong about this Stargate thing!"

Weir got up and walked to the doorway. The others were all standing stock still, watching the argument play out. Kean was still working at the "spectroscopic" readout, but other men in the team – Corsi, Jacobs and Randles – seemed to be on Lawson's side. Somewhere, something made a hollow bump sound... possibly one of the ionic tanks heating up from the ambient energy outside the runabout.

Suddenly the lights dimmed to about half strength. The monitors all powered down, as the computer's pleasant female voice said calmly, "Warning. Power conservation protocol engaged. Life support will expire in one hour."

"What does that mean?" Templeton said, suddenly frightened. "Turn our instruments back on!"

"Unable to comply," the computer said stubbornly.

"No," Templeton said. "The Others brought us here! We're here for them! They wouldn't let us die!"

Lawson turned on Weir. "You've got to get us back to our part of space!"

"The engines are no longer operating," Weir said. "We're trapped in an area of space which is draining the ship's power. As of now there is only enough for life support. And that for less than an hour."

The men stood stunned into silence. Templeton merely closed her eyes and shook her head slowly, as if none of this was happening. Kean rushed around the table. "Commander Weir, you've got to do something!"

"What do you expect from me, Ms. Kean, empirical science? I thought you didn't approve of empirical science."

"This is no time to throw my words in my face!" the woman glared. "You're a Starfleet officer! Do something!"

Weir bit her lip. "I'm sorry, Ms. Kean, but I can't change the laws of physics!"

Again something went bump. It was clearly not a mechanical sound, but something outside, brushing against the hull of the runabout. Through the stern porthole, Weir could see a small asteroid boulder, which had apparently drifted through the null space barrier. Heating up from the concentration of energy inside the pocket, it was steaming as the frozen gases on its surface evaporated.

Wait a second! If that boulder had deutridium deposits on it...

Weir dashed to the transporter console. "Someone get me an airtight container!" she ordered, fingers flying as she overrode the power conservation lockout. "Quickly! And a glass of water!"

The group murmured in confusion, thinking that she was off her head. "Warning," the calm female voice of the computer said. "Use of transporters will reduce life support duration by 30%." The Science Officer ignored it. If they couldn't signal the Odysseus somehow, a few minutes more life support wouldn't matter.

Kean emptied out her personal carry-on bag. The replicator had been turned off, but there were half finished cups of coffee and soda water lying around. Altogether she collected maybe a third of a liter.

"That's good, the dissolved carbon dioxide will help," Weir said, still programming the transporter. "Pour the liquid into the bag, seal it, and set it inside the airlock." Bewildered, Kean did as she was told and closed the airlock door.

"Here goes nothing," Weir said, as her fingers ran down the sliders.

Through the small window in the airlock door, Kean could see the bag suddenly puff out like a balloon. What Weir had done was beam aboard some of the gaseous deutridium from the asteroid boulder, then beam it into the bag. The chemical reaction with the soda water was causing it to expand. Suddenly her plan became clear – if they could somehow launch this bag back out into normal space, the sudden reduction in pressure and temperature outside the null pocket would cause it to explode. And the Odysseus might see the explosion!

Weir rushed over, punching the controls to open the outer airlock without depressurizing it first. With a subdued whoosh, the outer door opened and the bag disappeared in the rush of expelled air. "Now, think good thoughts," Weir said, leaning her back against the bulkhead and letting out a deep breath..

***

"Photon stream lost," said Captain Atoz, in the pilot seat of the shuttlecraft Penelope, "coordinates 57 mark 24."

"Negative, Captain," replied Ensign De Jager in the copilot seat. "That was magnetic flux again."

Atoz carefully restrained from making any comment, but he was beginning to feel frustrated. Time was running out for the Charybdis. How were they going to chart the null space pocket with all this iogenic interference? A quick glance at his navigation display showed him that Fawkes and Vespis, in the Telemachus, were having the same trouble.

"Whoa! What's that?" De Jager said, as a tiny, rapidly moving object suddenly caught their attention. It seemed like a small balloon, hardly larger than a Pareses Squares ball, but it was spinning wildly, spewing droplets that instantly froze in the absolute zero of space.

"It has to be debris from the runabout!" Atoz said. "Penelope to Telemachus! Fawkes, did you see that?"

"I see it, sir," the First Officer assured him. "Converging on that spot."

Atoz didn't wait. He kicked in Penelope's thrusters and moved fifty meters to the left of the spot he had first seen the bag. Since a null pocket was usually quite small, that should be ample room. With his eyes fixed on the nav display, he deployed the magnetic grapple line and swept the area. The head of the grapple disappeared from sight with a slight flash of light. The null pocket! Telemachus took up station fifty meters to the other side as the two craft probed blindly into the void.

Long minutes later, Atoz' grapple hit something metallic! "Get ready for an atmosphere transfer, ensign," Atoz said. "Their life support will be low."

Telemachus' grapple also hooked on, and together they hauled the runabout clear of the null space pocket. "Penelope to Charybdis! Are you receiving me? Are you all right?"

There was a breathless moment. Then Diane's voice: "This is Weir. We're all right, sir."

***

Caeli was beamed directly to Sickbay, where Dr. Pierce treated his injuries. Within half an hour, the others were back on board the Galileo and preparing to depart.

"Under the circumstances," Lawson said, looking a little subdued on the bridge view screen, "we've decided to head back, Captain Atoz. Thank you again for everything you've done for us. I'll make a report to Admiral Crane to that effect."

"It was our pleasure, Dr. Lawson," Captain Atoz said, sitting back in his command chair. "In the future, please remember that it is not Starfleet's mission to cover things up. Our mission is to investigate, honestly and thoroughly."

Lawson nodded curtly, and his image disappeared. A moment later, the ship warped out of orbit, heading toward Alpha Cygni. "Do you think we made any impression?" Atoz said to the bridge in general.

"I doubt it, sir," said Weir, standing next to the command chair. "Give them an hour and they'll have convinced themselves that they really did take a stargate ride to the other side of the galaxy, and we're involved in an elaborate trick to make them think otherwise."

"I suppose so," Atoz sighed. "But still, some of them might have learned something from this."

Weir, hesitating, thought of Kean. "Maybe, sir."

"Lay in a course for Starbase 218, Mr. Nickel," Atoz said. "Warp factor two."

>>>THE END

[Thallassa]

"I was born on the engineering deck in the middle of an After Action inspection. Got an Exemplary rating, too!"

Haha! I love Vespis! Is she based on anybody you know in particular?

[Mr. Atoz]

No, no one woman in particular.

[Niemz]

Well done Sir.