Myriad Universes 02_ Echoes and Refractions - Keith R. A. DeCandido [163]
La Forge shook his head, his jaw set. “No, sir. It is Data; I’m sure of that.”
A. Isaac stood at his station on the bridge, reviewing what they knew about their destination. Detailed information about the depths of the Romulan Neutral Zone was somewhat rare, given the provisions in place for so many years restricting Starfleet’s ability to venture within. Long-range scanners had been employed, of course, gathering what information they could about the systems within the zone, but there were limits to the kind of information long-range scans could provide. Infrared spectroscopy could tell a lot about the elemental makeup of a star, for example, but while gravitational microlensing could help identify the mass and position of planets, moons, and other satellites, it did nothing to specify whether a world was inhabited, much less to which planetary classification it belonged. Unless a planetary culture were bleeding electromagnetic radiation out into the void, as Earth had done for so many centuries in the form of television and radio waves, it could easily go unnoticed at a distance of only a few light-years. That was the purpose of planetary surveys, to seek out new life and new civilizations that would otherwise remain hidden. But with no planetary surveys in the Neutral Zone, there was a considerable amount that could remain hidden.
All that was known about their destination was that it was a planetary system surrounding a main sequence G-type star. There was nothing in Starfleet’s records about any of the handful of planets in the system, and in fact nothing worth noting about any of the other solar systems in a radius of several light-years.
Why Data had requested that Captain Picard come to these particular coordinates was a question Isaac was unable to answer.
That did not mean, however, that Picard shrank from repeating the question.
“Report, Mister Isaac.”
“Nothing substantial, Captain,” Isaac responded, turning away from his station and stepping nearer the railing, better to address the captain in his seat below. “There is no record of either Romulan or Federation activity in this system, or of any other intelligent activity, for that matter. And long-range scans show nothing remarkable about its physical properties.”
“Any guesses about what might be waiting for us out there?” La Forge asked from the first officer’s chair, sitting at Picard’s right.
“Guesses, sir?” Isaac asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“Conjectures,” Picard replied, “theories, hypotheses?”
Isaac shook his head, somewhat perplexed. “Hypotheses are based on observation, and in the absence of data I do not see how hypothesizing would be productive.”
La Forge chuckled, darkly, his silvery eyes half-lidded. “'In the absence of Data…’”
“Yes, quite,” Picard said. He pursed his lips, taking a deep breath in through his nostrils and letting it out. Then he nodded, as though having reached some decision. “Very well, Mister Isaac. Keep monitoring long-range scans.”
“Aye, Captain.”
From the forward part of the bridge, Flight Controller Sam Lavelle glanced back over his shoulder, his hands still resting on the controls. “Captain? We’re coming up on those coordinates.”
“Prepare to drop out of warp,” Picard said.
A few moments later, Isaac could almost feel the slight lurch as the inertial dampeners compensated for the reinsertion into normal space, and the forward viewscreen went from displaying streaks of red-shifted light to a static starfield.
Proximity alarms on Isaac’s console began blinking almost immediately, but before he could respond Tactical Officer Ro had noticed and taken charge.
“Sensors are detecting a ship in orbit above the second planet, Captain,” Ro called out in clipped tones, hunched over the tactical displays. She looked up, lips drawn into a tight line. “It’s Romulan.”
“Red alert,” Picard replied, automatically.
Isaac scanned the information scrolling up his display, faster than