Myriad Universes 02_ Echoes and Refractions - Keith R. A. DeCandido [197]
Getting reports from the Enterprise was problematic at this juncture, with the ship’s constant motion making it all but impossible to open a gateway onto the vessel, but Picard thought it a better than average chance that Commander Ro was dealing with the subcommander in command of the Haakona, and that Isaac and the others were prisoners on board the warbird.
Lal was talking in low tones through a tiny gateway no larger than a few centimeters on a side. With the subspace network still inoperative, she had been forced to communicate vocally with the various Turing residents her search had located. From his vantage, Picard could not see what lay on the other side of the small gateway, but if he strained he could just hear the low responses to Lal’s questions.
“The Romulans are approaching our position,” came the voice through the gateway, scarcely above a whisper. “It is concluded that we should retreat to the security of the gateway chamber.”
“Agreed,” Lal said after a moment’s consideration. Then she turned to the hairless android at the controls and instructed him to expand the gateway to full size.
Picard watched as the tiny gateway a few centimeters square expanded, growing taller and wider, until it was a rectangular space roughly the size and shape of a door. Lal stepped back, and in the next instant a Romulan stepped through.
“Alert!” Picard called out, drawing his phaser and taking a defensive position. His crewmen were well-trained, and Sito pulled back into one of the unused alcoves, her weapon drawn and ready, while La Forge and Crusher crouched on the far side of the control console, sighting their phasers.
“Do not fire, please,” Lal said calmly, raising her hand. Picard noted that the Romulan was dressed in simple, unadorned civilian clothing, like that favored by the Turing populace. “All is not as it seems.”
“Hold your fire,” Picard ordered the others, but didn’t lower his phaser.
The Romulan stepped to one side, out of the way of the gateway, and behind him came three more, likewise dressed simply in civilian attire: a Klingon, a Cardassian, and a Breen.
Lal ordered the gateway closed, and as it winked out, she turned to Picard. “You and your crew,” she said, “are not the only ones whom we would wish to hide from the prying eyes of Subcommander Taris and her shock troopers.”
Picard narrowed his eyes. “I thought your world had remained isolated, since Data led the others from the Federation. Have these four come through the gateways from their respective worlds?”
Lal glanced from the four to Picard and shook her head. “Oh, I see the source of your confusion. No, Captain, the four individuals you see before you are positronic androids, like myself, who have been cosmetically altered to pass for the natives of the represented interstellar powers. You are well familiar with androids who are all but indistinguishable from humans, such as your crewman A. Isaac. Is it so surprising to learn that androids can pass just as successfully for other humanoid species?”
Picard was far from satisfied, but it was La Forge who gave voice to his suspicions. “And why would an android need to pass for a Romulan, exactly? Much less a Breen?”
Lal exchanged glances with the four androids, and then turned back to Picard with an unreadable expression. “That is perhaps a matter best discussed at some later time.”
Ro Laren managed to keep still in the captain’s chair, but just barely.
“Any progress with that antiproton beam, Ensign Thomas?”
“Still searching, Commander.”
She gripped the ends of the chair’s armrests, anxious for action. She realized her legs were twitching, and had to concentrate to keep them from moving.
“Too much raktajino,” said Doctor Quaice from the seat beside her. “Makes you edgy.”
Ro shot him a dark look, but then her expression softened into a