Ghost Ship - Diane Carey [33]
“What was that thing?”
Worf puckered his lips in a Klingon kind of shrug and glared at Tasha.
She fidgeted. “Evidently a bombardment of pure antimatter,” she said, casting a nervous glance at Geordi and Data, still huddled on the floor. “Engineering reports the thing absorbed the energy from our shields and about half the systems on board, mostly the ones on the outer parts of the ship. The computer core itself is still intact, sir, but I doubt we could stand off another attack of that level.”
“Seventy-nine percent drain? I should think not.”
Now Riker looked up from where he knelt holding Troi and said, “I never saw such a burst of speed before. What happened? Why did it move off?”
“For the moment,” Picard said steadily, “only it knows.”
He stooped down and helped Riker lift Troi into her chair. Her eyes were crescents, and she was shaking even harder than Data. When two orderlies charged out of the turbolift, Picard directed them to her and stood to one side as they gave her a quick check.
“I’m sorry … I’m so sorry … ” she quavered.
“Can’t imagine why,” Picard said gently. “If not for your warning, we wouldn’t have had our shields up. I shudder to think what might’ve happened in that case. I want you checked out in sickbay. No, no arguments, Counselor.”
Riker stood straight and said, “The antimatter would’ve ripped the ship apart.”
“But the weapons,” Troi choked, “I should’ve warned you … I didn’t remember … “
“Remember what?” Picard prodded. “What are you talking about?”
“I knew … I knew the weapons would-Captain, I’m so sorry-“
“You knew the weapons would draw that thing’s attention? Is that what you’re saying?”
She fought to stay upright in the chair as her arms and legs shook, but she managed a very distinct nod.
“Get her to sickbay,” Picard said, impatient to have her back to normal. “This subject is not closed.”
“Yes, sir,” she murmured, and let herself be led from the bridge by the two orderlies. She knew Riker was watching, knew he wanted to come with her, but there was so much cluttering her mind-so much….
“Captain,” Geordi interjected, and waited for this attention. “According to my spectrographic analysis, it was basically the same visual structure as those beings we saw walking around on the bridge.”
Picard glowered at him. “Are you telling me it’s a big ghost?”
“Sir?” Yar looked up from her readout screen.
“Go ahead,” the captain said.
“I’m getting analysis from engineering now. The thing’s peppered with antimatter, but it isn’t made of antimatter alone. When it enveloped the ship, we became a million tiny explosions all over, wherever the bits of antimatter hit the shields. If it had broken through them, we’d-“
“Keep all systems shut down until further notice. Stabilize within that context.” Picard tightened his fists and strode toward the Ops position. He tipped downward to get the attention of the floor brigade. “Data? You functional?”
Looking more like a threatened child than an android as he knelt shivering and holding on to Geordi, Data dragged back what little was left of his energy and looked up at Picard. “F-functional … sir … “
“Were you in contact with that thing out there?”
“With something … sir … conclude that must have been the case … “
“Anything to report?”
“Nothing clear, sir; there was no … no sense to the contact.”
“On your feet, then. Can you?”
“Captain?” Lieutenant Yar seemed to really hate interrupting him again, and with more bad news, but she stiffened and pressed against the tactical station as Picard turned. “The thing’s energy output is up thirty-one percent from before it hit us.”
Riker shook his head. “Great. That’s our energy it’s got.”
From below, Geordi was driven to comment, “And we sit here like a log on a pond while Irving the Entity out there digests three-quarters of our power.”
Suddenly aware of Geordi again and feeling a renewed obligation, Riker said, “I’ll bet a starship qualifies as extra spicy. I wonder how long till it’s hungry again.”
“Colorfully put, Number One, but not much help,” Picard wryly said as he hauled Data