String Theory_ Cohesion (Book 1) - Jeffrey Lang [6]
Finally, as much to break the uncomfortable silence as for any other reason, Tom said, “Now, that’s interesting.”
Captain Janeway shifted her weight, cleared her throat, then said, “When you say ‘life-forms,’ Harry, what do you mean? Viruses? Single-cell organisms?”
Giant radioactive cockroaches? Tom wondered, thinking back to one of the films he had watched earlier that week.
“On two of the worlds, yes, simple life-forms, all in the oceans or under the ice caps, all small.”
Tom felt all the science types exhale. The universe was once again a sensible place. Harry let everyone relax for two seconds, then continued on. “But look at the third planet,” he said, “the one closest to the white dwarf.” The pointer blinked on the third world as the scanners zoomed in on it. Readouts danced as the circle of light grew larger and took on detail. “I’m picking up oceans, complex vegetation, animals in all the representative phyla…”
Tom forgot himself and looked back over his shoulder. Fortunately, the captain wasn’t paying attention to him. An expression of mild incredulity creased her brow. “You’re right, Mr. Paris,” she said. “This is interesting.”
Harry asked. “Worth a quick look?”
Behind him, Tom felt the war begin: Janeway the former science officer battling with Janeway the captain. Under different circumstances, Tom knew, she wouldn’t have hesitated for a moment. Not long ago, she had told them all that as long as they were in a Starfleet ship, they would act like a Starfleet crew; their mission was to seek out new life, new civilizations, et cetera.
But after their encounter with Arturis and the bogus Dauntless, the captain was feeling wary. Some miracles, no matter how wonderful, had to be ignored or they would never get home. The captain sighed, and Tom knew that Janeway the science officer had lost. “It’s tempting, Harry, but not this trip. Take readings as we pass by and send them to astrometrics. Maybe they’ll be able to make sense of what we’re seeing.”
Harry nodded and, a little flatly, said, “Yes, ma’am.” The system map disappeared from the main viewer. All around him, Tom heard the bridge crew relax and make itself ready for the end of shift. As his fingers danced across the console, securing it for the next shift, his thoughts returned to grilled mushrooms by candlelight, soft music, and B’Elanna.
“Captain, you are being too hasty.”
Tom cringed. He hit a wrong key and the console blurped at him. He corrected his mistake and waited for the other shoe to drop. Anyone else—anyone—would have couched their concern in less hostile terms, but oh, no, not Seven of Nine.
“Why do you say that, Seven?”
The former Borg stood at the secondary science station, the one usually reserved for mapping missions, staring at the scans. Something had caught her attention, but she decided to start with a critique: “Ensign Kim did not review all the data. Look at this.” Unbidden, she threw up a new overlay of the binary system on the main monitor.
“What are we looking at?” the captain asked.
“I do not know,” Seven said. “Not precisely, which is remarkable in itself. But these spikes in the EM spectrum—here, here, and here—are similar to the readings left behind by Borg wormholes.”
Tom winced in pain. His mushrooms, his lovely mushrooms. He could see them in his mind’s eye, all of them withering, shriveling unattended, unharvested, unloved. All because Seven got a bug up her—
“Assuming you’re correct,” Janeway said, “Is it your opinion that we’re seeing evidence of a Borg presence?”
“No,” Seven said. “I merely note that the situation is peculiar, especially in conjunction with the unexplained presence of life on the planets.”
Chakotay asked, “You’re recommending that we investigate?”
“I am merely making an observation so that the