Danny Amor's Online Library/Danny Amor's Online Library - Volume 1.iso/html/startrek/incomplete/iftheybetwo.p11-16

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Subject: New TNG Story: If They Be Two ch. 11, 12, and 13
Date: 13 May 1995 04:05:44 -0400
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DISCLAIMER: Paramount has the most toys, Paramount wins. The story is
mine, so don't mess with it, don't sell it, and leave my name attached.
Send all comments to [e-mail].

If They Be Two
Paisley R. Mason

Chapter 11
*********

 So far all was uneventful. There had been no sign of the rock entity
since they had entered the tunnels so Torres's theory was evidently
correct; there was safety in numbers. Riker devoutly wished he could
communicate with the other teams. He reached up to make another mark on
the wall as Joyce and Carter came up out of a fissure they'd been
exploring. "Did you find anything?" he asked.
 "No, Sir."
 "Well, head that way, then," he said, pointing down another tunnel.
 He turned to his own partner, Lieutenant Bronson. "Let's go this way."
They turned left into a narrow, debris-strewn passage. About twenty meters
along the tunnel widened considerably and they walked on opposite sides,
well within range of each other. A moment later Bronson narrowly avoided
falling into one of the fissures that seemed to be so common in this area
of the tunnel network. He flashed his light downward. "Commander!"
 Riker hurried across the tunnel and followed Bronson's light with his
own. "Savin!" he exclaimed. He sat down and swung his legs over the
edge."Call the others," he said to Bronson.
 In the absence of communicators, the lieutenant resorted to a
time-honored way of summoning a group of people who were not within arm's
reach: he stepped about two meters up the tunnel and shouted. In a few
moments four more people hurried in. Riker, having reached the chasm
floor, dropped to his knees beside the unconscious Vulcan. "Savin," he
said.
 He felt for a pulse and was relieved beyond measure to feel it strongly
beneath his fingers. "Savin," he called again. He slapped the man's wrists
and patted his cheeks.
 The lieutenant's eyes opened. He blinked. "Commander?"
 "How are you, Lieutenant?" asked Riker. "Does anything hurt?"
 "No, Sir. At least... I may be a rather bruised, but I feel no indication
of anything more serious."
 "Good." Riker helped the man to sit up. "Sit still for a minute. We don't
want to move you too quickly. You've been unconscious."
 "Sir, if I may ask, how did you find me?"
 "We looked for you, Lieutenant," grinned Riker. "Now, can you tell me how
you got here?"
 Savin recounted the story of his run-in with the rock entity before he
lost consciousness. "It felt like being folded into jelly," he finished.
 "And you have no idea how you came to be here?"
 "None, Sir. If I were folded into the rock, as the evidence of Lieutenant
Bellar and my own brief physical sensation seem to suggest, It is possible
that the entity could have moved me *through* the rock as well, bringing
me here."
 "Yes," said Riker slowly, "we think that's just what it did do.
Lieutenant Jackson was taken as well, and evidently she was moved through
it. She found a way out fairly near here, when she woke up. It must move
very quickly to take you this far and keep you alive."
 He thought a moment. "Why would it have let you go, though?"
 "I do not know its motives, Sir. It is possible that it never intended to
keep me within its grasp, and saw this pit as a convenient place to put
me. There is no precedent for such an occurrence. We therefore have no way
of knowing what it wanted, or even how it operates."
 "But what is it, damn it? What can move rock like that? We're calling it
the rock, but it's not. It's something within the rock."
 "It is possible, Sir, that the rock contains a type of energy which is
causing this effect."
 "Yes, Lieutenant, we thought of that. The only trouble is, we don't know
what kind of energy, and we can't scan down here." Riker found himself
frustrated once again. "Come on, Savin, let's get you out of here."
 With the help of the other team members, they climbed out of the chasm
and paused at the top to let the still-weak Savin rest. Then they
continued out into the larger tunnel.
 Riker turned to Lieutenants Jones and Takra. "I want you two to take Mr.
Savin back to the mouth of the tunnel system. Have Geordi beam him up to
the ship, then report back to me. Without having to search, that's about a
half hour walk each way, but we need you two here. Savin, you are needed
up there. I want you to have Dr. Selar check you out, then see if you can
be of any use to Mr. LaForge. You've told us all you can and your
first-hand experience may be helpful to Geordi. He's trying to find a way
to get hold of the comm signals. After that, Lieutenant, get some sleep."
He smiled at Savin and clapped him on the shoulder. "Off you go."
 The team split up with Savin and his escort going up, and Riker leading
the three others deeper into the planet.

                                        **********

 Beverly picked her way amongst the rubble on the small cavern's floor.
"Jean-Luc, what if that thing comes back? How will we avoid it? Come to
think of it, why haven't we seen it yet?"
 "I've been thinking about that. Since we haven't seen it since we were
dropped into our respective prisons, from which you so nimbly escaped,
it's possible that it didn't want to keep us, just put us somewhere out of
the way."
 "That doesn't make sense, though. Why would it just drop us into a
convenient chasm and then allow first me, and then both of us, to go
wandering around like this?"
 "I'm not sure. It's possible that it only attacks when one is alone. I
was down here with the away-team for an awfully long time and it never
attacked except when we separated." He shook his head. "That doesn't
explain why it didn't attack when you were walking about alone, though.
I'd really like some answers on this one, Beverly."
 "Me, too," she said, unsuccessfully attempting to suppress a small sigh.
 He glanced over at her and saw that she was looking decidedly dejected.
She must be exhausted, he thought. He cast about for some way to distract
her mind from their current situation.
 "How was the conference?"
 Beverly backed out of a fissure she was examining in her search for Savin
and stretched her back. "Good, actually. The presentation went over very
well. Everyone seemed to understand what I was talking about. There was
some confusion at first, but they got it. It almost got difficult. Let a
group of scientists once grasp an idea and they immediately have a million
questions you've never even thought of. I was hard put to answer
everything."
 "There, you see. I knew you were worrying needlessly. Congratulations,
Doctor."
 "Thanks. I was really very pleased."
 "I hope you took some time off to relax." Picard ducked under a low
outcropping of rock.
 "I did actually. I spent the time with some old friends. Do you remember
Dr. Jalar'k, the Brodian man? I introduced you when we were at DS2 that
time. He's their CMO."
 "Oh, yes. Tall man. Greenish."
 "That's the one. Well, he was there. It was great to see him. He's
married now."
 "Is he?"
 "Mm hm. I also saw a fellow intern of mine, Dr. Grey. She's from Earth.
Still there, actually."
 "And she came all this way to attend the conference?"
 "Well, she was dragged here by our old tutor Dr. Lucien. He told me that
he insisted she come. He told me it was because he thought she was growing
stale." Beverly's voice took on a melancholy note. "He was right. It was
rather sad, Jean-Luc. She's just lost so much of the freshness and sparkle
she used to have. Not that she's not very vivacious and cheerful, she is.
Just too much so. She's like a child still. I don't think she's aged a day
and on her it comes across as being all wrong."
 "Most people would love to have it said of them that they hadn't aged,"
remarked Picard.
 "Not me." She turned right down a wide passage. "Would you have your
youth back if you could?"
 "Actually, I have in a way. My early youth, that is."
 Beverly chuckled. "I'd forgotten about that."
 "Yes, well, I'm in a unique position to tell you that I wouldn't do it
again. The person I was then and the person I am now are two different
people."
 "Would you do anything differently?"
 "No. I've done that, too, and I didn't like the way it turned out."
 "But if you could change one thing and keep everything else the same,
what would you change?"
 Picard was silent for a moment and Beverly felt one of her teasing
attacks coming on. It wasn't nice, but she was suddenly, unaccountably
jealous, and said it anyway. "Would you have married Jenice?"
 Picard was silent for a second. "No," he said quietly.
 "Why not?"
 "For the same reasons I didn't marry her the first time. I have a career
in Starfleet... Besides," he said after a moment, "we would have been
unhappy."
 Now Beverly's curiosity was piqued. She looked over her shoulder at him.
"Why do you say that?"
 "When I left Jenice in Paris," he said slowly, "there were a lot of
things that hadn't happened to me yet. Those things would have gotten in
the way."
 "I suppose for the same reasons, you didn't marry Nella." It was an old
wound and she rubbed it with the perverseness that compels us to revel in
our own unhappiness from time to time.
 "There was never a question of marrying Nella," said the captain,
wondering if this was entirely true. "And yes, there were a lot of things
that would have gotten in the way. A lot of things which in fact, did get
in the way."
 "Such as?"
 "Why the sudden desire to know all the most intimate details of my life,
Beverly?" he asked rather testily.
 "I'm curious."
 He stared at her for a moment and then said deliberately, "I think you
know some of the reasons."
 He was giving her that damn look again. That look that did funny things
to her insides. He's been looking like that a lot more lately, she
thought. Beverly had been asking for it, but as usual the thought that
what one gets is one's own fault was small comfort. She felt profoundly
discomfited to actually hear him say anything of the kind. Why, she asked
herself, did she do things like that? Something told her that she knew
exactly why, but she pushed the thought away and said lightly, "Well,
that's an excellent argument against marriage: you never know what might
happen," she said.
 "Yes," he said thoughtfully.


Chapter 12
*********

 They had been walking forever. In point of fact it was probably about two
hours, but in this difficult environment it felt like a week. Picard
stopped for a moment and stretched. This was not easy terrain. Where he
had been crawling through sloping, but simple tunnels before with the
away-team, he and Beverly were now in tunnels which had cliffs and chasms
added to them.
 They stopped for a moment. Beverly sat down, sank back against the wall,
and shut her eyes. "Let's just rest a minute, Jean-Luc."
 He sat beside her and turned the torch on its end, between them, the
light shining upward.
 For a little while they were silent, then Beverly said unexpectedly,
"What do you think Wes is doing now?"
 The question caught Picard off guard. "I imagine he's off in some far
corner of the galaxy studying some fascinating people," he said lightly.
 "I miss him."
 "I know you do," Picard said softly.
 They were quiet again until Beverly spoke. "He is my only son, Jean-Luc.
My only child. I may never see him again. His life is so far removed from
mine that I can't even get occasional news of him. I love Starfleet and
what I do, but I sometimes regret that he was never given a real
childhood. He was just taken with me everywhere I went, like a parcel. I
sometimes wonder if he would have made the same choices if his life had
been different."
 "We just said that we would all have made different choices if life had
been different. And as we are now, we wouldn't want to change our pasts,"
he replied.
 "I know, but what if he forgets all about me and I never see him again?"
 "Hey." Picard turned her face toward him to look into her eyes. "Wesley
will not forget about you, Beverly. You are his mother. He will remember
you no matter what plane of existence he is on, and he will love you."
 She reached out and clasped his hand gratefully.

                                       **********

 Picard struggled up over the cliff and dropped, breathless, beside
Beverly. She flopped back against a convenient boulder. "I'm starving,"
she said.
 "Don't start," he snapped. They were both exhausted, not to mention
thirsty. Picard's shoulder throbbed. Tempers were getting rather short.
 "Well, I am. I'm so hungry I could eat fried Cardassian Vole."
 "I could eat Terralian Cricket Pie - no salt," he said, chuckling.
 Beverly laughed. "I could eat Bajoran Lumpas filet with Cardassian
Kampala Sauce!"
 Picard nearly choked from laughing. "I could eat Bregit Lung!"
 "I could eat Gagh!"
 "Oh! I don't think I can top that one, Doctor, unless possibly with Blood
Worms."
 "Which amounts to the same thing," she said merrily.
 With that they laughed until they could not breathe, and lay gasping for
air on the cavern floor, feeling much better. "Oh, my. We'd better keep
going." He grinned at his companion. "Come on, up we go." He lent his left
hand to help her up, and, still chuckling, they made their way down into
the next tunnel.

                                      **********

 Abblewhite stared into the fissure, trying to see again what she'd just
thought she'd seen. "There," she said quickly, pointing her light at it.
For just a moment Erickson saw it, too. A faint motion in the corner, like
a passing shadow.
 "What do we do?" he asked.
 "It won't attack us together. I want to get a sample."
 "What?" Erickson couldn't believe his ears. "You can't get a sample!"
 "Well, I can't get a reading and I want to know what it is," she
whispered. "Dr. Selar said she needed a sample and I'm going to get her
one."
 "And just how do you plan to get a sample?"
 "I'm going to go in there alone. You stand here with a phaser. When it
tries to grab me, fire, then run in. It'll know, however it knows, that
you are there, and it'll go away again."
 "This is nuts! Commander Riker would never let you do this, and I can't
fire! What if I hit you?"
 "Yes, he would. It is for the good of our missing crew. Now come on, we
have to start heading back to the ship soon. Fire accurately."
 "Just how do you intend to get this sample?" asked Erickson, placing a
restraining hand on her arm.
 "I don't really know. Maybe if I just grab at it, some of the plasma will
stay in my hand."
 "Oh, good idea! Grab hold of it and hope an unknown plasma stays in your
hand and doesn't hurt you!"
 "It won't hurt me. Jackson was carried through the rock by it and she's
fine."
 "This is a bad idea."
 Abblewhite pulled rank. "Ensign, I am going in there. I order you to fire
on my mark."
 She put away her own phaser and took a deep breath. She walked into the
little cave and stood near the wall, her face toward the entrance.
Erickson, around the corner, was out of sight.
 From behind her came huge arm-like extensions of rock. She saw them out
of the corner of her eye. Her hands shot out to either side, grabbing at
the rock as she shouted for Erickson. She felt her hands close over
something gooey and as her partner leapt round the corner, she dropped to
the ground, giving him a clear shot. The rock, stung by the phaser blast,
slipped back and vanished into the wall again. Erickson hurried to help
her up. She stood and cautiously opened her hands. Within them lay a small
amount of a clear, jelly-like substance.


Chapter 13
*********

 Commander Riker scrambled over the last cliff and followed his team to
the mouth of the tunnel. He could not allow himself to look as dejected as
he felt. They had, after all, found Savin this time out, and that was
certainly cause to be pleased. Riker was, in fact, delighted and relieved
to have found the lieutenant, but he desperately wanted to find the
captain and doctor. He brightened slightly when he remembered that they
had been out of communication for a long time. The others may have found
them.
 They arrived at the tunnel's entrance and found Data waiting, having sent
his team on ahead. "Did you-?" began Riker, but Data's long face told him
the answer.
 "I have communicated with the _Enterprise_. None of the other teams have
found them either," said the android sadly. "All are up except Lieutenant
Abblewhite's team. They may have found them. No doubt they will be there
in a few moments." He did not sound too hopeful. He tapped his comm badge.
"Data to Enterprise: please beam up Commander Riker's away-team."
 The transporter room took on solid shape in front of Riker. He stepped
down from the pad and turned to his team. "Well done, everyone. Go and get
some rest. We'll reconvene at 0-800 hours."
 Data had materialized behind him and the two senior officers headed for
the observation lounge to meet with the other team leaders. They were just
outside the Turbolift when they heard running feet behind them. They
turned, startled at this breach of ship decorum and saw Lieutenant
Abblewhite sprinting toward them, her blond braid flapping behind her.
"Commander Riker, Commander Data! I've got a sample of the plasma! I have
to get to sickbay!" she shouted.
 "What?" said Riker for the umpteenth time that day. "Well, hurry up,
Lieutenant!" They all rushed into the Turbolift.
 The lift seemed to take forever, but they were soon in sickbay and Dr.
Selar, called in for the tests, was scraping the plasma off Abblewhite's
hands into a petrie dish. "Wash your hands with this," she said,
replicating a vial of special soap when she was done. "Nurse Perry will
run a scan on you to make sure you have suffered no ill effects."
 Selar returned to Riker and Data. "I will run full diagnostics on this,
Commander," she said to Riker. "It will take about three hours."
 "Thank you, Doctor," he answered. He went over to Abblewhite. "Very well
done, Lieutenant. We all thank you very much. I thank you." He smiled and
Abblewhite grinned back at him.
 Data cocked his head. Despite his emotion chip, he was still not getting
any better at this human behavior called flirting. He decided he needed to
work on his smile.

                                       **********

 They had been struggling through the tunnels for about six hours now, by
his best estimation. Picard was tiring fast. His shoulder ached and he was
desperately thirsty. He needed to get some water soon. They both did. He
tried not to think about water and so of course, the thought of wine
instantly entered his head. He still had that bottle of the Forty-Seven
Robert had given him. What was it his brother had said? "If possible don't
drink it alone." He'd share it with Beverly one of these days. He opened
his mouth to tell her that and changed his mind. Why make her think of
drinking? She was probably thirstier than he was. She'd been down here
longer.
 Thinking of the Forty-Seven was a bad idea, too. It made him think about
his brother and his family. There were no more Picards making wine now. He
thought of his 'uncle' Rene. Poor little boy, dreaming of the stars and
adventures.
 "Penny for your thoughts."
 Picard smiled a little sadly at Beverly's pet phrase. "I was just
thinking about my nephew."
 Beverly waited.
 "He would have been so excited by this particular 'adventure'."
 "Adventure?"
 "Yes, I'd gotten into the habit, you know, of sending him a communique
every few weeks. He loved hearing about what he called my 'adventures'. A
rock monster would be just his cup of tea."
 "He loved you very much, didn't he?"
 "I loved him," said Picard.
 "I never thought to hear Jean-Luc Picard say he loved a child," said
Beverly gently.
 "Neither did I," he said.

                                      **********

 "Let's rest a minute, Beverly."
 They sat down side by side, their backs braced against the wall. Beverly
adjusted Picard's sling. "How's that feeling?"
 "Fine," he lied, knowing she knew he was lying.
 Beverly's guard had been up all day. Having Jean-Luc this near her in
such stressful circumstances as these was no picnic for her nerves. She
constantly had to watch what she said and did. She could not risk that
look too many times. All her defenses could crumble before it if she
weren't careful. At the moment, however, she was exhausted; so much so
that keeping up her guard was utterly useless. She didn't have the
strength it required. She leaned against his good shoulder in the
darkness, enjoying the solid warmth of the flesh and bone beneath the grey
tunic.
 Picard adjusted his arm so that he could put it around her shoulders. He
leaned his head on hers and in this manner, sharing warmth and support,
they slept.
Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!news-e1a.megaweb.com!newstf01.news.aol.com!newsbf02.news.aol.com!not-for-mail
From: [e-mail] (PRBev)
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
Subject: New TNG Story: If They Be Two ch. 14, 15, and 16
Date: 13 May 1995 04:05:56 -0400
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Lines: 269
Sender: [e-mail]
Message-ID: <3p1p94$[e-mail]>
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DISCLAIMER: Paramount has the most toys, Paramount wins. The story is
mine, so don't mess with it, don't sell it, and leave my name attached.
Send all comments to [e-mail].

If They Be Two
Paisley R. Mason

Chapter 14
*********

 Troi looked round again at the assembly in the observation lounge.
Spirits were certainly improved from yesterday. Despite the rather early
hour, everyone was wide awake and ready to hang on Dr. Selar's every word
as she explained the nature of the plasma inhabiting the rock on Sitaar.
With two of the crew recovered and having now gained some knowledge of
their foe, there was an excellent chance that they would find the captain
and doctor.
 She turned her attention back to Selar. The doctor was ready to begin her
explanation. Geordi and Data, who'd been assisting her, were looking like
the proverbial cats who swallowed the canaries. They obviously had some
marvelous new theory to use in getting Picard and Dr. Crusher back.
 Dr. Selar cleared her throat for attention and tapped the keypad of the
Lounge view screen. A structural diagram of the plasma's energy code
appeared on the screen, revolving slowly to give a three-dimensional view.
"This," said the doctor, "is a diagram of the plasma Lieutenant Abblewhite
retrieved from the tunnels yesterday. After running every possible
diagnostic, I have determined this plasma to contain metascoriac energy."
 "Metascoriac energy?" said Riker.
 "Yes, Commander. Metascoriac energy was first discovered by Dr. Arthur
Blair seventeen years ago when he was studying volcanic disturbances on
Isis, a moon of the planet Horus. While Dr. Blair was examining scoria,
the refuse left by the melting of metals and reduction of ores in the
volcanic processes, he discovered an entirely new phenomenon. The scoria
was actually giving off energy, something inorganic matter is supposed to
be incapable of doing. This energy was capable of consolidating itself
into a kind of plasma, evidently extracted from the materials in the magma
of the volcanoes. Being itself of inorganic compounds, this energy is in
fact capable of manipulating any inorganic matter around it."
 "I remember this, now," said Troi. "There was a great deal of talk about
it at the time. There was some concern that it could be used as a weapon.
Starfleet kept it under wraps until about ten years ago."
 "Yes, Counselor," said Data. "It was eventually determined that the
energy is too unstable to permit its use as a viable weapon. Still, they
have kept tight security control of Isis. This is the first discovery of
metascoriac energy anywhere else." He turned to Riker. "We should contact
Starfleet immediately."
 "We will, Mr. Data, but first, what else do we know about this and how do
we get the doctor and the captain out?" He turned questioningly to Selar.
 "I am not an expert in this field, Commander," said Selar. "In fact, it
took me some time to realize what exactly we are dealing with, but Mr.
Data and Mr. LaForge have done considerable research since I informed them
of my findings last night." She looked to Geordi to continue.
 "Sir, the energy not only comes from scoria, it seems to feed off of it.
It has to have it to survive. If this planet had as much volcanic activity
as we think it did eons ago, there is a lot of the stuff still around.
There's even some current volcanic activity at a minimal level, so there
is still a supply which has the potential to last quite a while. This
energy may not be sentient, but you don't have to be to protect your
source of food. We think that's why it took the crew. We were getting a
bit too near dinner."
 Riker nodded. This was starting to make more sense. "But how does it fold
people into itself, and how does it get them three thousand kilometers
away? More importantly, why? Why take your enemies away and then dump them
somewhere? Why not just kill them?"
 "There is much we do not know yet, Sir. For example we do not know how it
holds on to matter, but it clearly does it somehow. " said Data. "As for
the 'why' of the question, it is possible that the original tunnel system
you explored is close to a high concentration of scoria. Lieutenant
Jackson and Lieutenant Savin were found nearer to the other entrance.
Possibly the energy beings put them over there to remove them from the
site of their food."
 "But why carry them away at all? Why not just kill them, leave them in
the rock?" Riker did not like these suggestions, but they had to be
addressed.
 "I believe, Sir," Data continued, "that the energy beings may not have
any understanding of killing. It would not be possible to leave bodies in
the rock unless the atomic structure of the bodies were broken down, as
they are in transporting someone. To keep them within the energy being
itself would be very inconvenient for the being."
 "These creatures must move very quickly if they can take someone three
thousand kilometers without the person dying from lack of oxygen,"
remarked Abblewhite.
 "That brings up an interesting point, Lieutenant," said Selar. "The scans
I did of Jackson and Savin show, as we thought they would, that they had
been unconscious for some time. They also showed, however, traces of a
chemical I cannot identify which seeped in through the nasal cavities and
mouth. This seems to have neutralized them, allowing them to remain
without oxygen for some time, and which probably caused them to become
unconscious within seconds after being exposed to it. Your own scans
showed traces of this chemical on your hands, where it would not have
affected you. However, this would not have kept the crew members alive
forever, so it is possible to surmise that the energy beings do indeed
move quickly. I will be... pleased... to inform the scientific community
of this property the plasma possess. It could have many uses in the
medical field." Selar looked nearly excited, as excited as anyone had ever
seen her, anyway.
 "Well, all right. How can we use this information to get the captain and
doctor back?" The ever-practical Riker was interested in this discussion,
but he had more important things on his mind.
 Geordi practically bounced in his seat. "That's where this gets really
exciting, Commander. Even though the energy is fairly unstable, I think it
can be used as a conduit for our comm transmissions. I just have to do a
little reconfiguration and either Data or I will have to go down to
actually install a transceiver in the rock which can link itself to the MS
energy."
 "Get on it, Mr. LaForge! How long until it's ready?"
 "Six-seven hours. We've never tried anything like this before, so it may
give us some trouble."
 "Then let's get moving."
 The gathering broke up as Riker headed to the ready room to call
Starfleet and tell them the news.


Chapter 15
*********

 Beverly woke in the darkness, startled. She felt Jean-Luc's arm about
her, though, and was comforted by his presence. She was concerned about
him and would have liked him to sleep longer, but her movement woke him.
"Are you all right?" he asked at once.
 "Fine. Go back to sleep."
 He moved his arm from behind her and stretched. "I'd prefer not to," he
said. "My arm's asleep, though."
 She massaged it for him. "How's the other one?"
 "Better now that it's been still a little while." The feeling was
returning to his arm as she rubbed it. "Thank you. I think it's all right
now. I suppose we should get a move on."
 They staggered to their feet on stiff limbs and stretched. "We're going
to need water soon or we'll become so dehydrated we won't be able to go
any farther," said Beverly. Her voice was beginning to sound gravelly with
the dryness of her throat.
 "Don't worry, Beverly" answered Picard. "Remember, in any difficult
situation it is important to think positively."
 "...think positively." She finished it with him and they both laughed as
they turned into the tunnels once more.

                                       **********

 They had been walking for hours again. The tunnels were growing steadily
steeper and had more cliffs added to them now, as if some malicious fate
was putting them there out of sheer perversity. It was impossibly dark.
Their one torch was beginning to fade a little with its constant use and
the thought of it going out all together made Beverly physically ill. She
eyed it suspiciously.
 "I hate the dark."
 Picard glanced up. "When I was a little boy, my mother would sing to me
at night, and the darkness wouldn't seem so frightening anymore."
 "Are you suggesting we sing something?" she asked incredulously.
 "Actually it works quite well. Do you remember that time the old ship was
hit by that subspace shockwave?"
 "Do I ever!"
 "Well, I was in the lift shaft with those children. They were frightened
and we sang songs to make them feel better."
 "Them?"
 "Well... I felt better, too," he admitted shamefacedly.
 Beverly quirked a smile at him. "And just what do you suggest we sing?"
 Picard thought a moment and then looked wickedly at his companion.
 "Aupres de ma blonde, qu'il fait bon, fait bon, fait bon
 -Aupres de ma blonde qi'il fait bon dormir"

 Beverly's cheeks turned faintly pink in the dimness.
 Picard stopped singing and his expression changed. That look again.
 "Let's go this way," said Beverly quickly, turning left.
 "Beverly."
 "Jean-Luc, let's go this way."
 Picard sighed quietly and followed her.

                                      **********

 Geordi didn't much care for people breathing down his neck when he was
trying to work, but he understood Riker's impatience and tolerated him.
"Data," he said, over Riker's arm, "you got that connection established
yet?"
 "Yes, Geordi. I have a lock on the transceiver circuit."
 "Ok, modulating comm frequencies to the transceiver signal."
 There was a brief moment of tension when they weren't sure it would work.
"Got it! Lock established. Ok, here goes nothin'. Talk away, Commander."
 The _Enterprise's_ communications array was now configured to send its
outside signals to the transceiver Data had installed in the rock This was
just inside the entrance to the cave Dr. Crusher had first entered. Riker
spoke to the computer's comm system, hoping that the metascoriac energy
would act as a conduit through the rock to the comm badges of Dr. Crusher
and the captain. "Riker to Picard: Are you there, captain?"
 On the Bridge of the _Enterprise-E_, no one breathed. They all strained
their ears listening for a return voice from the planet below.
 "Enterprise to Dr. Crusher... Enterprise to Picard or Crusher, can you
hear me?"
 He turned to Geordi. "Why isn't this working?"
 "I don't know, Commander." Geordi's fingers flew over the keypad before
him. He stopped and heaved a sigh. "We'll have to try a different
configuration. It'll be another couple of hours, Sir."
 "Mr. LaForge, I don't know that we have another couple of hours. They are
down there with no food or water. They may be injured. We may soon lose
any ability to contact them, because they are unconscious." It wasn't
Geordi's fault, but Riker was mightily disappointed and worrying helped.
 "I'll see what I can do, Commander," said Geordi with dignity.
 Riker gave him a terse nod that indicated he apologized for seeming to
blame him, which he did not. Geordi grabbed Data and towed him off to
Engineering.


Chapter 16
*********

 "Beverly, if we don't ever leave these tunnels, I would like to say here
and now, thank you."
 "Thank you for what?"
 "Everything."
 Beverly did not like the turn this conversation was taking. She shifted
her position on the floor. "Don't be maudlin, Jean-Luc. Will will have us
out of here eventually."
 "Eventually may not be soon enough." He swallowed, trying to soothe his
parched throat.
 "What happened to the importance of thinking positively?" She sounded
peeved.
 He ignored her tone. "It's still on the books. Only there's an addendum,
which is, always say important things if it becomes necessary. I believe
you yourself have used this addendum before."
 The two of them smiled gently at each other. Beverly swallowed. "You and
I, Jean-Luc, have been friends for a long time."
 "Yes," he said. "Friends."
 She held out her hand and he took it in his own. "Get some sleep," she
said quietly.

                                        **********

 She was back on board the _Enterprise_, sitting at the table in
Jean-Luc's quarters and eating a plum. She was laughing about something.
He raised his eyes to her with that look that turned her heart over. She
stopped laughing. He got up and slowly walked toward her. He bent his head
and... "Riker to Picard."
 Beverly cursed Riker as she drifted up out of the comfortable chair and
opened her eyes. She'd been much too interested in that dream. Damn
traitorous subconscious!
 She shifted uncomfortably on the rock floor. "Riker to Crusher."
 She was still dreaming for crying out loud! "Beverly," said Jean-Luc,
"did you hear that?"
 "Hear what?" she asked, disoriented from sleep and lack of sustenance.
 "Enterprise to Picard or Crusher."
 They both heard it this time. It was faint and full of static but it was
there. Picard hit his comm badge so hard it hurt. "Picard here: Will, can
you hear me?"
 "Captain! Sir, are you all right?"
 "We're fine, Number One, just a bit thirsty." The comm link crackled with
static again.
 "We? You mean you found Dr. Crusher?"
 "No, she found me." Picard shouted, grinning at his friend. "We haven't
found Lieutenant Savin, though."
 "We found Savin, Sir. He's here and he's fine. We're working on a way to
get you out. We're trying to establish a lock on your badges so we can
figure out where exactly you are. Then we're going to try to drill through
to you. It's not something I want to do, because it may make the
surrounding area unstable, but it seems to be our only option..." The
static crackling took over and then abruptly ceased, along with the sound
of Riker's voice.
 "We lost them," said Beverly.
 "They'll get the link back." Picard smiled happily at Beverly.

                                      **********

 The feelings of relief and joy on the Bridge knew no bounds. Riker,
grinning from ear to ear, turned to clap the Chief Engineer on the
shoulder. "Did we do it?"
 "I'm afraid not, Commander. We need to reestablish that link so I can
lock on." Geordi and Data looked a trifle downcast.
 "Get on it then, Mr. LaForge," said Riker, feeling too cheerful to worry
about details like comm links.
 "I'm on it, Commander. Come on Data. I need you in Engineering again."