Boogeymen - Mel Gilden [48]
“She fainted,” Riker said.
“She’s all right for the moment,” Dr. Crusher said, “but I should get her to sickbay.” An orderly gently maneuvered Troi onto a null-grav stretcher and carried her away.
“What about Baldwin?” Picard said.
Dr. Crusher nodded and hurried across the bridge to the ready room.
“That’s not all, Captain,” Riker said. “We’re cruising at warp eight.”
“Who gave the order?” Picard said as he sat down in his command chair.
“No one, sir. And we can’t stop.”
Picard looked at his first officer inquisitively. Worf growled. Whatever the answer was, Picard knew he wouldn’t like it.
Riker said, “We can’t stop because we’re cruising at warp eight without using the warp engines.”
Chapter Ten
AS A STARFLEET CAPTAIN, Picard had experienced many strange things, things that other people might have considered bizarre or even frightening. He was trained to react in a reasoned and appropriate manner to any situation, expected or not. Yet here was a situation that seemed so impossible on the face of it, Picard’s first reaction was to be surprised, and then to be disbelieving. While he considered an appropriate response that would be more useful, he marked time by asking a simple question he hoped had a rational answer. “What is our heading, Mr. Crusher?”
“Two two seven mark four, sir.”
Riker said, “Back to Tantamon Four.”
“Mr. La Forge,” Picard called.
“Here, sir.”
“What is the condition of our warp engines?”
“Checking, sir.” After a moment of silence, La Forge said, “This is impossible, sir.”
Picard and Riker shared a glance. Picard said, “What is, Mr. La Forge?”
“We’re traveling at warp eight, but the warp engines haven’t been engaged.”
“Do you have any instant theories, Mr. La Forge?”
“No, sir. But I think this is a little out of the Boogeymen’s league.”
“Agreed. So far our velocity is not life threatening. Continue to work on the virus.”
“Aye, sir.”
Riker said, “The teardrop ship we encountered in the Omega Triangulae region traveled at warp speed without a warp drive. According to Data, that ship wasn’t even equipped with one.”
“Indeed,” said Picard. “There is an obvious connection. Moreover, you may recall that the humanoids aboard the teardrop ship were sleeping. Our people began to faint at approximately the same moment the Enterprise slipped into warp drive—perhaps at exactly the same moment.”
“Another apparent connection.”
Picard nodded. “Yet the Enterprise is not an alien ship. It has not the means to move at warp speed without using the warp engines.”
“Evidently it does,” Riker said. He didn’t look happy about it. Picard knew that he took every technical puzzle as a personal challenge, sometimes as a personal affront.
Worf said, “The only teardrop ship in this area that we are aware of is the one on Tantamon Four.”
“Which is where the Enterprise is taking us,” Riker said.
Picard shook his head. “But why now?” he said.
The bridge was silent for a moment. The stars on the main viewer poured toward them.
“What about the virus?” Riker said.
“Yes, what about the virus?” Picard said. He had guesses, theories, many questions, but no answers. Nothing he could act on. A frustrating, frustrating business. He stood up, pulled his tunic straight, and walked toward the turbolift. He said, “The crew members who seem to be in the most immediate danger are the ones who fainted. I’m going to sickbay. Call me immediately if our situation changes.”
“Aye, Captain.”
Picard got on the turbolift and said, “Sickbay.” The doors closed, opened, closed again, and then a Boogeyman laughed menacingly. It said “sickbay” over and over in a range of voices from a rumble to a squeak. While Picard wondered if he should have taken the emergency gangway, the turbolift jerked along. A few times Picard’s weight seemed to change, and for a few seconds he floated near the ceiling. At last the turbolift doors opened and he stepped out, noting that the lift had stopped a few centimeters above the floor of the corridor.
Picard walked along the