Myriad Universes 02_ Echoes and Refractions - Keith R. A. DeCandido [179]
“Please,” Lal urged. “We do not have much time.”
Picard nodded. “You heard her,” he said to the others with a faint smile. Then he stepped through the gateway. From Crusher’s vantage, it appeared as if Picard had simply taken a few paces forward, the captain now standing only a meter or so in front of his former position. But if Crusher leaned slightly to the right, he could look behind the gateway, and see nothing there but empty space. It was oddly disconcerting, as if the captain had suddenly stepped into a viewscreen hung in midair.
One by one the other away team members followed, Crusher last, with Lal right behind him. When they had passed through, the gateway closed behind them, like a shutter rolling down, and then it was as if it had never been there at all.
They were in a large control room of some sort, one without windows or doors. At the center of the room was a large console, ringed by controls, at which stood another Soong-type android. He looked all but identical to Data, except that he was completely hairless, and had eyes that resembled La Forge’s silvery ocular implants more than they did the golden-irised visual sensors of the early Soong-type generations.
The room was polygonal in shape, ten sides in all, and on each face of the decagon was a recessed alcove. It was in one of these that the gateway through which they’d passed had been positioned. The other alcoves were empty, all but one at the far side of the room, in which another rectangle shimmered. If Crusher didn’t know better, he’d have taken it for a holographic projection. The landscape visible on the gateway’s far side was a rugged valley shrouded by night. If not for the two moons hanging overhead, he’d have taken it for somewhere on Turing’s far side.
Lal caught Crusher gazing at the gateway. “It is the Valley of Chula on Romulus,” she explained.
He turned to her, gaping. “That’s light-years away!”
The young android gave him an amused look. “Yes.”
La Forge came to stand beside Crusher. “We knew the gateways functioned, obviously, but this…” He shook his head, whistling low.
“How are they controlled?” Crusher asked, trying not to notice that he sounded as eager as a schoolboy.
Lal indicated the hairless Soong-type at the controls. “This is the central control station of the Iconian gateway network. And it is from here that the planetary defenses are controlled as well. When my father and the others first arrived on Turing, they found this chamber still fully operational. As a security measure, they sealed this room off shortly afterward, so that it is only accessible through the gateways themselves. One of our population remains here on duty at all times, responding to requests for access.”
“Is that how you opened the door?” Sito asked. “I didn’t hear you say anything.”
Crusher thought to explain about the transceivers, but was too intent on the gateways. Before Lal could explain, he called over to her, “Do you mind if I take a closer look?”
“Feel free,” Lal said, motioning toward the hairless Soong-type, “but you should know that while we have been successful in mastering the control of the gateways, we have not mastered the underlying principles. We could not build another such system if we so desired.” Then she turned back to Sito. “Lieutenant, all Soong-type androids, even those such as myself constructed on Turing, have subspace transceivers incorporated into our bodies. As a result, we are able to communicate nearly instantaneously across considerable distances.”
“Ah.” Picard nodded. “That is how you govern yourself, is it? A kind of continuously ongoing debate within the body politic?”
“An apt description, Captain,” Lal agreed. “The ability to communicate at high bit rates over subspace is the fundamental basis of our means of governance. Our consensus is a kind of temporary group mind, you might say, made up of any number of positronic brains acting in concert.”
Picard looked