Pantheon - Michael Jan Friedman [144]
Ruhalter regarded Eliopoulos beneath bushy, gray brows. “Assuming for the moment that your guests were telling the truth, what made them decide to return to our side of the barrier?”
Eliopoulos smiled a tired smile. No doubt, he had grown weary of disseminating the information.
“They say they’re here to warn the Federation about an impending threat—an immensely powerful species called the Nuyyad, which has been conquering the scattered solar systems on the other side of the barrier and sending native populations running for their lives.”
Ruhalter stared at Eliopoulos for a moment. They all did. Then the captain said, “I see.”
“Quite a revelation,” Picard remarked.
“Stunning, actually,” said Leach. He cast the second officer a sideways look. “Assuming it has some basis in fact.”
“You sound skeptical,” Ruhalter observed.
“I’m more than skeptical,” the first officer told him. “I’m afraid—and not of the Nuyyad.”
“Of what, then?” asked Picard.
“Of Daniels and Santana,” said Leach. “Think about it, Commander. If these people’s ancestors went through the galactic barrier more than two hundred years ago, they might eventually have developed some of the same powers Gary Mitchell displayed. And in Mitchell’s case, those powers came with a need to dominate others.”
The second officer smiled patiently. “But that doesn’t mean—”
“I know what you’re going to say,” Eliopoulos interrupted. “The need to subjugate might have been a quirk of Mitchell’s personality. But I have to confess, I had the same concerns as Commander Leach. I had to be careful—I had a starbase to think about.”
Ruhalter cocked his head. “Wait a minute…didn’t Mitchell’s transformation have something to do with extrasensory perception?”
“It did,” Eliopoulos agreed. “He was a documented ESPer and therefore more sensitive to the barrier effect. So, apparently, was the affected crewman on the Valiant.”
“And so was that other crewman on the Enterprise,” Cariello added. “The woman who became Mitchell’s ally…”
“And later turned against him,” said Eliopoulos. “That would be Dehner. And yes, she was an ESPer as well. However, the Enterprise had better shielding with which to filter the barrier’s effects. The Valiant was all but naked, by today’s standards.”
Picard tried to imagine it. The chaos…the destruction…the blinding flash of powerful, unknown energies…
“For all we know,” Eliopoulos told them, “even a hint of ESP might have been enough to trigger an eventual transformation—and how many humans aren’t blessed at least a little in that regard?”
There was silence around the table. Werber was the one who finally took the air out of it.
“So what did you do with them?” the weapons chief asked. “Daniels and Santana, I mean?”
Eliopoulos scowled. “I did what I had to do. I had the two of them placed in detention cells, pending orders from Starfleet Command.”
He paused, looking just the least bit uncomfortable with his actions. And Picard knew why. The pair was human…and as far as he could tell, they hadn’t done anything to merit imprisonment.
“They seemed disappointed, of course,” said Eliopoulos. “And more than a little displeased, I might add. But not surprised.”
“Why’s that?” asked Ruhalter.
Eliopoulos scowled again. “They said their colleagues had warned them that they would be taking a chance. As they were escorted to the brig, they quoted a twentieth-century Earthman…a fellow named Thomas. Apparently, he’s the one who said, ‘No good deed ever goes unpunished.’”
Picard smiled a grim smile. “It sounds like the type of remark one might make if his ancestors were Earthmen.”
“Or if it served one to create that impression,” Leach added cynically.
“Go on,” Ruhalter instructed the bearded man.
“Naturally,” said Eliopoulos, “I didn’t like the idea that I might be detaining innocent people. But when I contacted Command, Admiral Gardner-Vincent applauded my judgment…and ordered me to run a battery of tests on Daniels and Santana.”
“Tests?