Pantheon - Michael Jan Friedman [54]
“What a damned sorry mess,” said Greyhorse.
“Could have been worse,” said Jack. “She could have succeeded.”
“True,” said the Gnalish.
Suddenly, Joseph stood. “Sir,” he said, addressing Picard, “I want to take full responsibility for what happened. If there are any repercussions—”
“We will all assume responsibility,” interrupted the captain.
The security chief seemed mute for a moment. He hung his head, and when he spoke again, it was in a softer tone. “It’s just that I don’t know how this could have happened…”
“…could have happened,” said a voice outside the lounge.
Drawing himself up to his full height, Picard saw Riker entering alongside Data. The android’s brow was wrinkled ever so slightly.
“It does seem highly unlikely,” remarked Data.
“What does?” asked the captain.
Both Riker and the android regarded him.
“That what happened in the holodeck could have been an accident,” said the first officer.
Data nodded as he pulled out the middle seat on the side of the table facing the stars. “That is correct, sir. It is possible that Lieutenant Worf inadvertently mis-programmed the holodeck, calling for a Level Three scenario to automatically follow Level Two. However, he could not have inadvertently instructed it to ignore his command to abort.” Seating himself, he went on without pause. “The holodeck computer’s mortality failsafe is designed to resist such instructions, to make them difficult for the user to implement—in order to avoid just this sort of occurrence.”
Riker sat too—at his usual place, on Picard’s left. “Of course, there could have been a malfunction—but you know how rare those are. We check the holodecks on a regular basis. Certainly, we would have caught on to a flaw that profound.”
Halfway through Data’s observation, Dr. Crusher, Counselor Troi, and Commander La Forge filed into the room. Geordi had something in his hand.
“And even a simple malfunction,” said the android, “would not account for Chief O’Brien’s inability to end the program from without. That would have depended on a different circuit entirely.”
“In other words,” expanded the first officer, “both circuits would have had to go haywire at once. A pretty big coincidence.”
“Yes,” confirmed Data. “The only practical explanation is that—”
“Someone tampered with the holodeck circuitry,” said La Forge, tossing his burden on the center of the table. It slid a foot or so on the smooth surface before finally coming to a halt. “And that’s exactly what happened.” As he, Troi, and Crusher took their seats, he pointed to the bundle of wires and small black boxes. “There’s the evidence. We found it behind one of the lead panels.”
Picard picked up the bundle and turned it over in his hands. “Looks fairly complicated,” he concluded.
“It is,” said his chief engineer. “Ingenious, in fact. And made from parts one might find around the ship.”
“Naturally,” said Riker. “A device like that would have been detected in the transport process.”
“It appears,” said Troi, “that someone among us is out to get Morgen. Or Worf. Or both of them.”
The captain felt a muscle in his jaw beginning to twitch. He did his best to control it.
Riker frowned. “Someone was after Morgen once before. On the Stargazer.”
Beverly turned to the captain. “But that was twenty years ago. And she was apprehended before she could carry out her mission—wasn’t she?”
Picard nodded. “Gerda Asmund was found guilty of attempted murder and remanded to the rehabilitation colony on Anjelica Seven. She spent eleven years of her life there before the authorities judged her fit to rejoin society.” He sighed. “Shortly thereafter, she died on a freighter en route to Alpha Palemon. The ship was passing through a meteor swarm when its shields suddenly failed. Gerda was working in the hold; it was punctured, and she was lost with seven others.”
“Her body?” asked Riker.
“Never found,” said the captain.
“Then she could still be alive,” Geordi concluded.
“Not likely,” said Picard. “There were no containment suits missing. No shuttle craft unaccounted for.”