A Call to Darkness - Michael Jan Friedman [14]
Right now, of course, he was glad that the conversation hadn’t drawn on. There were more important matters with which to contend.
Like the strange-looking planet dead ahead, the one to which the ion trail had finally led them after a wild and woolly chase throughout the system. It seemed that the Mendel had regained a semblance of its impulse power-if only for a little while. It had been long enough, however, for the ship to keep from getting snared in the gravitational fields of the fifth and sixth planets. Some effort had been made to turn the Mendel around, to leave Trilik’kon Mahk’ti the way it had come in. Then the engines had all but conked out again-leaving the ship headed for the world on their viewscreen.
The Enterprise’s first officer had seen his share of unusual planets. But he had never seen one like this one. It looked like a perfect golden ball hanging in space-not just golden in color, but also in its ability to reflect the light of the sun.
“Confirmation, Mister Fong?”
Above and behind him, at tactical, the assistant security chief was still seeking the information Riker had asked for entire minutes ago, when the planet had been a lot farther off. He could hear him mutter something under his breath, then drum his fingers on the console.
“Not yet, sir. I… wait a second. I think I’ve got it.” A pause while he called up yet another reference file, scanned it. “Yes-here it is, sir. In an academic treatise partly devoted to the Klah’kimmbri: This people refers to its homeworld as A’klah. Our best guess is that it is the fourth planet from Trilik’kon Mahk’ti.”
Riker leaned back in his command chair, eyed the golden sphere with redoubled curiosity-and wariness. “Thank you,” he told Fong.
He could almost hear Troi asking him that question again: Are you going to tell him? She was off duty, in accordance with the captain’s order, but his response would still have been the same.
Before he contacted Picard, he would make certain that this was where the Mendel finally wound up. Maybe Troi was right. Maybe he was too solicitous of the captain’s feelings sometimes. But the man damned well didn’t need to be dragged out of a holodeck or Ten Forward or wherever he was-wherever he’d found some peace, some distraction-unless their search was really over, one way or another.
“Sir?”
It was Wesley, now at the conn. He was facing Riker, having swiveled around in his seat.
“What is it, Mister Crusher?”
“We’ve got some readings now on the planet. But I’m not sure what to make of them.”
The first officer eyed him. “What do you mean, Ensign? Be a little more specific.”
Wesley frowned. He looked puzzled-rare for him. “Sensors indicate that there’s a planet-size mass up ahead all right-but it’s not nearly as large as the planet we’re looking at. This world has some sort of mantle around it-a low-level energy field that makes it appear to be bigger than it really is.”
Riker turned back to the screen and the shiny, golden sphere. “Interesting,” he said. “Could this be a natural phenomenon?”
Wesley’s eyes narrowed in thought. “It’s possible, I suppose. But the field is amazingly uniform. And if it were natural, I don’t think that would be the case.”
The first officer considered that. “What about the planet beneath it?”
The ensign swung around again to face the conn monitor. “Can’t tell much about it, sir. Density and such, but that’s about it. The field is playing havoc with the scanners.”
“Life signs?” pressed Riker.
“Inconclusive,” said Wesley.
“But if you’re right, and that mantle’s artificial-then there has got to be someone down there. Someone with a rather advanced level of technology. And since at least one source cites this as the homeworld of the Klah’kimmbri… I’d say the Cantiliac weren’t as thorough as we figured.”
Fong cleared his throat to get the first officer’s attention. “Suggest we practice caution, sir. If this world can