Reunion - Michael Jan Friedman [41]
Picard felt a slight queasiness in his stomach as he rose
and approached the Conn station. Normally, he didn’t check up on his bridge personnel-particularly Data. But there was nothing normal about this.
Sure enough, the monitor showed that they were clipping along at 9.95. The queasiness grew worse. Could this have anything to do with the attempt on Morgen’s life?
“How is this possible?” he asked the android. “I do not know, sir.” One thing was certain-the ship could not be allowed to continue at this speed. Who knew what it would do to the warp engines? The hull integrity? “Slow to warp six again,” he instructed Solis. “Immediately. his
The dark-haired lieutenant looked up at him. “Captain … I know this sounds crazy, but the engines are already working at warp six. Or at least, what should be warp six.”
Picard glanced at the viewscreen, as if it could tell him something his officers couldn’t. But it yielded nothing of value. “Mr. La Forge,” he called.
“La Forge here,” came the response.
“This is the captain. I’m up on the bridge.” Picard licked his lips. “Commander, I want you to check on the warp drive-tell me how fast we should be going.” “Should be?” asked Geordi. “There seems to be some question as to our speed,” explained the captain.
“Sir, I just checked the warp drive. I felt a surge and I wanted to make sure everything was all right.” “And?” Picard prodded. “Everything seems to be in order. As for how fast we’re going , . . let’s see.” The captain could picture
Geordi checking his instruments. “That would be warp six.”- Picard felt his teeth grinding. “Commander, what would you say if I told you we were traveling at warp nine point nine five?” The intercom system was silent for a moment. “I’d say that’s impossible,” answered the engineering chief. “And yet,” the captain told him, “our external sensors indicate that we are doing just that. Nor is there any evidence of sensor failure.”
This time, Geordi took even longer to react. “You mean we’re exceeding top speed-and our engines aren’t?” Picard managed to keep his voice free of the frustration he was feeling. “That is how it appears.”
“I’ll be right there,” Geordi told him.
The captain grunted. “Thank you, Mister LaForge.” He turned back to Data. “For the time being, Commander, I think it would be wise to drop out of warp altogether.”
“Aye, sir,” replied the android. With practiced ease, he went through the necessary routine on his board. However, even after Data was finished, Picard could feel the vibration of warp speed in the hull-could see the streaks of light darting by on the viewscreen.
“What is going on?” he asked.
“I cannot say,” the android responded. “The warp drive has been disengaged. Yet our sensors indicate that we are still proceeding at warp nine point nine five.”
The captain felt a muscle in his jaw start to twitch. With an effort, he controlled it. “Then we cannot slow down,” he concluded.
It was not a question, but Data answered it anyway. “That is correct, sir:”
Picard resolved not to panic-not even on the inside. Geordi would be here in a matter of moments, he told himself. His chief engineer would shed some light on this.
He had damned well better.
With both warp and impulse engines at rest, it was ominiously quiet in engineering. As Geordi entered ahead of Data, two faces turned simultaneously in his direction—those of Phigus Simenon and Wesley Crusher.
“Thanks for being so prompt,” he told them. “What’s the matter?” asked Wes.
“Must be something serious,” the Gnalish said. “You were up on the bridge for almost an hour.”
Geordi nodded. “It’s serious all right. That’s why I wanted the best help I could get.”
He headed for the master situation monitor and pulled up a schematic of the sector through which they were passing. The Enterprise showed up as a red blip in the middle of the diagram. They all came closer to take a look.
“You’ll note,” Geordi